placid pasture
It is no secret that Daedric Princes are as dangerous as they are powerful. They wreak destruction, craft devious plots, sow madness and cause untold deaths across Tamriel. And yet, many mortals still turn to worship them...
What reasons can you think of to worship Malacath, Defender of the Betrayed, the Pariah King, and Daedric Prince of Curses, Grudges, and Hypocrisy?
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lament pike
I know next to nothing about him, but itd be cool to know that if i get betrayed theres someone thatll have my back
placid pasture
Honestly Malacath is a G. If nothing else I can trust him to be mad on my behalf, bro does not forgive fucking with his crew.
I've got a lot of thoughts on him but not a lot that I can put in a two sentence half-jokey format so maybe another time
lament pike
keen shard
It is no secret that Daedric Princes are as dangerous as they are powerful. They...
With the exception of the pariah folk themselves, the actually ostracized and downtrodden of the world could find comfort in Malacath I would assume.
My only issue is, by comfort, that usually means vengeance. Malacath is the outrage of injustice, and not the compassionate care of say Mara.
Malacath is for the people who have been wronged or faced with injustice and cannot let it go, the reason Malacath may appeal is because in many cases the anger and need for retribution could be justified.
Malacath certainly appeals to me, personally, I've always been drawn to ostracized characters and characters who are "friend to the friendless" types but Malacath is not your friend, Malacath is the voice in your head telling you that justice is only served when someones head is by their feet. Malacath is the fury detonating within the soul of a someone pushed beyond their limits by deciet and betrayal. Malacath is the voice in someones head saying "You're not dying now, your enemies need to die. Get. Up."
He's the driving force behind brutal, bloody justice and the one who cares when you are wronged.
Malacath is not a soother of woes, but a corrector of mistakes.
The violent nature of this correction, as well as his general ruthlessness and association with Orcs, casts him in a violent light, but underneath that is the protector, the little part of Trinimac that could never be wiped away determined to still protect those he deems his people (I am using that for emphasis, I dont know if any spark of Trinimac endures whatsoever)
sly portal
Malacath is not a soother of woes, but a corrector of mistakes.
I like this a lot
Yeah, he’s your guy for when you’re wrong, when you’re ostracized, when you’re scapegoated, and when something in the world needs correcting.
keen shard
And, to add to that, when the divines, or when the law cannot help you
The law and divines both tend to stand firm against the justice malacath deals in
Stendarr would have you believe that Justice also requires Mercy
But thats justice when things are fair and balanced
Malacath is who you turn to when the scales of justice have been thrown aside
placid pasture
Malacath is not a soother of woes, but a corrector of mistakes.
Alright now that I've got time and brain bandwidth, I agree with this, but
placid pasture
There's a strong throughline of Malacath or Trinimac being cosmically vilified not just for being an outcast - but that he is an outcast because of what he is. In simpler words, he is basically the reason everything went wrong and will never stop going wrong
keen shard
How so? The Lorkhan stuff? Or even before that?
placid pasture
Trinimac/Malacath is he who never lets go of a grudge
The very first grudge, the first oath of vengeance in the whole world, occurred because of him
Trinimac, Auriel's greatest knight, knocked Lorkhan down in front of his army and reached in with more than hands to take his Heart. He was undone. The Men dragged Lorkhan's body away and swore blood vengeance on the heirs of Auriel for all time.
keen shard
Ah
placid pasture
Trinimac's teachings are considered to be forbidden among the Velothi for this reason. It's emotion that clouds reason. Passion for vengeance that forbids apology and forgivenness.
keen shard
Sensible
placid pasture
"When pigs fly" ❌
"When Malacath forgives a grudge" ✅
keen shard
God of people with low emotional intelligence
placid pasture
So that's simultaneously what makes Malacath appealing and what makes him the outcast
On the one hand, he will never be sensible and he will always be an outsider because he can never be civil. He never forgives or forgets a grudge and he can never move past his oaths of vengeance
keen shard
Im surprised "The First Grudge" was never a title for him, I guess Keeper of the Bloody Oath sounds more fitting
placid pasture
On the other hand, that means he will similarly never let go of a grudge for an ally
If you are an outcast, he will avenge you
keen shard
Me when I die brutally as an outcast but the guy who everyone hates has my back
I guess its also fitting that they spend eternity settling grudges in the Ashpit
Unless im remembering that wrong
placid pasture
They don't settle them, no
keen shard
On the one hand, he will never be sensible and he will always be an outsider bec...
I suppose even Boethia can be subtle when needed, Malacath doesnt even have that.
And he's not as... loudly unsubtle, like Dagon is with the fire and storms and disaster
placid pasture
They do the opposite
They pass through a cleansing flame which takes the grudges that the soul carries and passes them on to their descendants
placid pasture
Yeah no Malacath is literally a blood curse upon the orcs lmao
keen shard
Do you think much would be different if it were still Trinimac or would the damage still have largely been done?
keen shard
Protector avenger
placid pasture
Dagon is the guy you pray to for a glorious revolution to shake the world
Malacath is the guy you pray to because you were wronged
Structural vs personal
keen shard
And boethia is the person you go to when you want a prince who occasionally succeeds
(Big L for dagon as usual)
placid pasture
"This world is wrong and needs a factory reset" vs "This specific motherfucker hurt me and I want him annihilated"
placid pasture
And boethia is the person you go to when you want a prince who occasionally succ...
Pardon?
keen shard
Oh god does he/she suck too
keen shard
Oh she's good at his job
Misunderstood the direction
Actually on the note of dagon being a failure
The Oblivion Crisis was still a wild shakeup of Tamriel, I mean that changed... everything, a lot of things
So that probably still counts as a success... partly
Change was enacted, and it also probably began the death knell of the third empire since after the crisis a lot of provinces went the more independent route, what with cyrodiil supposedly being prioritized
placid pasture
The Oblivion Crisis was still a wild shakeup of Tamriel, I mean that changed... ...
Yeah, exactly
Even if Dagon did not completely annihilate Nirn he still succeeded
keen shard
All the while Malacath was like "fuck this guy".
God VS ant style
placid pasture
He has brought about a revolution on unprecedented scale
One of these days we gotta get Malacath content fr
keen shard
Didnt seem to do jack shit in Leyawiin tho-
keen shard
One of these days we gotta get Malacath content fr
Orsinium was more of a little taster as to the whole Trinimac/Malacath thing, but really we need some more.
Plus really it wasnt about them
Felt more like it was about Kurog and Bazrag + you guys
keen shard
What do they accredit him with?
placid pasture
The Blight
keen shard
Dark Elves are delusional as fuck arent they
placid pasture
And blights in general
placid pasture
Blights are considered curses rather than diseases by the Dunmer
keen shard
Ooh
placid pasture
Skin-curse, curse of flesh, etc.
keen shard
And malacath is your curse god
placid pasture
Yeah, as the King of Curses
keen shard
Thus blight
placid pasture
One piece of concept art that is not represented in the game has some theological groups of Dunmer ascribe the skin-change to him
Calling it "curse of shadow"
keen shard
That would make some sense in a way I suppose
Consider it retribution for the use of the tools of lorkhan, but most stories point out Azuras involvement more clearly, since she was associated with Moon-and-Star heavily
I mean even that title, Moon-and-Star is a reference to her
placid pasture
Keep in mind that the whole thing with it being retribution also ties it back to Malacath
Because Azura's retribution was first and foremost for the fact that the Tribunal broke an oath not to use the Tools
keen shard
Doesnt need to be physically present for it to fall under his jurisdiction
keen shard
And its not like Azura would invoke the Pariah god directly when her own vanity is hardly a secret
She does like reminding people of who she is
That makes me wonder if anyone ever roleplayed their Nerevarine as a worshipper of malacath enacting vengeance on the tribunal and Dagoth Ur for their respective betrayals
Malacath doesnt strike me as particularly patient, though
placid pasture
I mean something something, vengeance is a dish best served cold
keen shard
I thought it was revenge not vengeance
Though on that note, I cant remember what the difference is
placid pasture
None
jolly bough
"Uhm acshually 🤓"
