Such love in Zerith Var

Malyore

I'm going through the story quest in reapers march for the first time, and it's so refreshing to hear Zerith comment on story progression from a quest that existed 10 years before he did. I couldn't find his remarks on the UESP page, but when looking through his dialogue I see he even comments on the types of pets, skins, and armor the player uses.
This level of detail in a companion is great. I hope it remains the baseline from here on.

karthrag_inak

Just don't put on Dro-m'athra skin. Whooboy.

Malyore

karthrag_inak wrote: »

Just don't put on Dro-m'athra skin. Whooboy.

I could never.

Lekjih

Zerith-var is a treasure and just in general a pleasure to have around.

Elvenheart

He’s been my favorite companion by far in every respect, his skills, storyline, and his personality. My favorite quote, “My moon claw draws me to you.”

LadyLethalla

He's the only one I can stand, for... well, even a short time.

tsaescishoeshiner

While I much prefer characters with more grounded backgrounds, and certainly not ones with glowing eyes ... they really just did such a great job with Zerith-var, his story is so well-told. Like BioWare companion–level questline for sure.

LadyBriala

I really like him as a companion, but hes currently blocking me from being my true-vamp self and I have to play all non-vamp skills with him out as hes absolutely disgusted with me if I do anything vamp-related... so ya.. rip.

Goona get him to 20, finish all his story and then ride off into the sunset with Ember as she really doesnt gaf what I am or do, she just wants to be a pew pew kitty 😺

LootAllTheStuff

One thing I found a little weird with Zerith-Var is that he will quite happily go into an Outlaws Refuge with you, but if you fence something? Nuh-uh!

Apart from that one little inconsistency, though, I have to agree with the others. His story-line is compelling, and he's great to have around. As for the glowing eyes - well, nobody's purrfect!

emilyhyoyeon

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

While I much prefer characters with more grounded backgrounds, and certainly not ones with glowing eyes ...

Same, those are the only things holding him back from being perfect IMO!


One of my favorite things about him is all the ta'agra he uses. I really want ESO to utilize and add more to the in-universe languages in general, even the dead (?) ones like Ayleidoon. This goes for Bestheda as well, in the future singleplayer games: more TES world languages content, even if it's just lore books.

My wish is for them to get the amount of attention/depth as the George RR Martin/Tolkien/etc ones, for example, but realistically I'll take anything I can get.

whitecrow

karthrag_inak wrote: »

Just don't put on Dro-m'athra skin. Whooboy.

Haha, do you lose all rapport?

SirBanana1992

he's my second favorite just behind Sharp-As-Night (Can't beat "Skill Issue").

My only gripes with Zerith are gameplay related ones and it's that his skills are not setup to take full advantage of being a necromancer equally across roles, namely from Corpse creation and consumption. You have one tanking skill that generates a corpse and one damage skill that consumes and that's it. Additionally, a skill like Varmiina's Visage has practically no benefit over his scythe except being able to cast at range, otherwise same damage but no additional effect, creating a corpse could distinguish it. His spirit Mender equivalent also as a skill does not generate a corpse despite the player version of it generating one.

I think his kit needs to be revisited so each role has one skill that creates and one skill that consumes, otherwise in fights with no adds Zerith doesn't really get to be a necromancer much or otherwise forces you to take a skill that might not benefit his role to play his class.

AScarlato

As someone who plays a "good" aligned necromancer, I really enjoyed Zerith-Var and the lore around his character. It was a nice change of pace from just the standard necro-villain.

I also felt everything was well-written and suitably mature for the subject matter. Him and Sharp are my favorites for sure.

ViggyBoi

They have really been knocking it out of the park with these recent Khajiit characters. Mogh and Zerith and now Kuzam-jo.

Lekjih

LootAllTheStuff wrote: »

One thing I found a little weird with Zerith-Var is that he will quite happily go into an Outlaws Refuge with you, but if you fence something? Nuh-uh!

Listen, he's not trying to be judgemental and make assumptions but if you fence something then you definitely did something wrong 😂

loaganb16_ESO

He is lovely. A wise companion from another time who has a lot of lore to share. Unfortunately he is not energetic enough for my character(s). A certain tailed mage is much better suited for them.

Number_51

Malyore wrote: »

I'm going through the story quest in reapers march for the first time, and it's so refreshing to hear Zerith comment on story progression from a quest that existed 10 years before he did. I couldn't find his remarks on the UESP page, but when looking through his dialogue I see he even comments on the types of pets, skins, and armor the player uses.
This level of detail in a companion is great. I hope it remains the baseline from here on.

He also has a good bit to say during the Vastarie/Ashen Scar questline. But you have to remember to talk to him during the different stages as he doesn't always just automatically comment.

I always do the "Eyes of Azura" and "The Unquiet Dead" quests in Grahtwood before meeting Vastarie for Ashen Scar quests, but I don't recall him having anything to say there. It's kind of a whole extra mini-story/choose your own adventure with Zerith that I like to do each time I get him as a companion.

DerAlleinTiger

I don't mind him as a character, but his actual storyline was utterly devastating to Khajiit lore. It completely obliterated their religious lore, contradicted previous statements from as recently as Southern Elsweyr, and destroyed all of the vibes that came with them that drew so many of us Khajiit fans to them in the first place in favor of making them wannabe-Dunmer. I can never forgive his storyline for the damage it's done in the RP sphere for us, but he himself is neat as a character and I can appreciate the detail they put into him as a companion and the systems behind it. I just wish it didn't come with such a huge cost to Khajiit lore that ZOS had until then actually done an amazing job on... before completely ruining all the good they did.

JaxontheUnfortunate

If you have the dro’mothra non combat pet be also comments on it sometimes.

AScarlato

DerAlleinTiger wrote: »

I don't mind him as a character, but his actual storyline was utterly devastating to Khajiit lore. It completely obliterated their religious lore, contradicted previous statements from as recently as Southern Elsweyr, and destroyed all of the vibes that came with them that drew so many of us Khajiit fans to them in the first place in favor of making them wannabe-Dunmer. I can never forgive his storyline for the damage it's done in the RP sphere for us, but he himself is neat as a character and I can appreciate the detail they put into him as a companion and the systems behind it. I just wish it didn't come with such a huge cost to Khajiit lore that ZOS had until then actually done an amazing job on... before completely ruining all the good they did.

Can you explain this in more detail? I'm not Khajiit expert but I got the sense Zerith and his orders are now pariahs that are hunted and far from accepted.

Number_51

AScarlato wrote: »

DerAlleinTiger wrote: »

I don't mind him as a character, but his actual storyline was utterly devastating to Khajiit lore. It completely obliterated their religious lore, contradicted previous statements from as recently as Southern Elsweyr, and destroyed all of the vibes that came with them that drew so many of us Khajiit fans to them in the first place in favor of making them wannabe-Dunmer. I can never forgive his storyline for the damage it's done in the RP sphere for us, but he himself is neat as a character and I can appreciate the detail they put into him as a companion and the systems behind it. I just wish it didn't come with such a huge cost to Khajiit lore that ZOS had until then actually done an amazing job on... before completely ruining all the good they did.

Can you explain this in more detail? I'm not Khajiit expert but I got the sense Zerith and his orders are now pariahs that are hunted and far from accepted.

I'd be curious as well. As far as I know, before the blasphemy (my opinion) of the Riddle'Thar, the Khajiiti pantheon included many Aedra and Daedra. One of the more popular being the mother of all Khajiit, Azurah. I didn't really notice anything contradictory to that in a sect (the Order of the Hidden Moon) of Azurah worshipers and their method of helping those along "the Path".

whitecrow

JaxontheUnfortunate wrote: »

If you have the dro’mothra non combat pet be also comments on it sometimes.

I gave him the dro'mathra or the rad'mathra mount and he didn't seem to mind.

msetten

I like him too. The only annoyance is that I have to remember to unsummon him when doing my weekly round of trader bids. He doesn't like that for some weird reason.