Villainpedia: Miraak

here in my temple here in my shrine greetings people and welcome back to the  villainpedia today let's have a look at meerak   the secondary antagonist featured in the elder  scrolls 5 skyrim and more specifically the final   dlc pack titled dragonborn mirak is a mysterious  dude and a villain with an origin story that dates   back to the early stages of recorded history  and even before in the elder scrolls universe   so who was this guy well before we get into the  nitty-gritty i thought that like the dagother   video we would cover a few key terms and topics  for the non-hardcore fans so that everyone can   follow along you know we have a family program  here and these things will become more clear as   the video gets fully underway so let's start  with number one the dragonborn dragonborn are   mortals blessed with the blood and the soul of a  dragon by akatosh the deity and father of dragons   dragonborns are pretty damn rare and are usually  given the ability or discover they have the   ability to speak the thumb the dragon language  and harness it to wield great power number two   hermaeus mora the daedric prince and deity of  forbidden knowledge his slice of oblivion is known   as apocrypha it's this kind of sick huge endless  library of ancient secrets from all corners of   civilization and time he often appears to mortals  as a mass of like tentacles and eyes so super   lovecraftian number three i hope you know this  one actually alduin the main bad guy of the skyrim   main quest line he's the world eater dragon who  has just arrived through time after thousands of   years to once again rule over the world all right  so with all that junk out of the way let's dive in mirak's story begins in the merethic era which  is over 4 000 years before the events of skyrim   and before any recorded history period amongst the  estimated 2 500 years that that era alone spanned   there was a time where dragons ruled over  mortals it was at some point in there that   mirak presumably a nord was serving and living  as a dragon priest in the northeast of skyrim   in an area that is now the island of solstheim  he was given the name mirak meaning allegiance   guide so he obviously was trusted you  know as a devout member of the dragon cult   but at some point in time merak grew a little  restless you know mirak desired more he sought   out hermaeus mora hungry for more knowledge and  definitely more power interested in possibly   trading one master for another through the use of  one black book which we will come back to later   mirak was face to face with the daedric prince  now hermes mora knowing mirak to be a dragonborn   in fact to be the very first ever dragonborn  offered mirak become his champion and thus   granted him the knowledge of his dragon blood and  his ability to use the thumb or dragon language to   bend dragons to his will also awakening in him his  innate power of absorbing their souls for himself   mirak gladly wielded his newfound knowledge  on the dragons who had ruled over him and just   like went ham he killed dozens of dragons though  possibly even many more like close to a hundred   merak also had assembled some of his boys  around him other dragon priests azidal dukhan   and zakrisos mirak dubbed them the acolyte  priests now in regards to mirak being the first   ever dragonborn it's thought that akatosh actually  bestowed this power upon mirak he was not actually   born a dragonborn this was perhaps to quell the  dragons and deal with alduin as alduin meanwhile   had turned his back on his duty to devour the  world and started anew and instead decided to   conquer it or perhaps you know hermes morrow  was pulling all these strings of dragonborn and   destiny and simply wish to create a super powerful  play thing that would be in service of him either   could be the case depending on your point of view  at any rate during the ensuing conflict the dragon   war mortals and dragons fought for supremacy over  the world nordic heroes of legend like hakkon onei   and his lads tracked down mirak and pleaded with  him to use his dragon blood to help them kill   alduin and end the war but birac pretty much said  nah i'm good and left humanity to fend for itself   mirak felt that you know if he wanted to and  it benefited him he could kill alduin someday   so even like 4 000 years ago mirak had this cocky  attitude that really fitting for a villain like   him in nordic legend mirak is remembered as  the traitor referencing turning his back on his   kin but there was another dragon priest of alak  remembered as the jailer so valk still loyal to   the dragons at the time was the one who discovered  that mirak had been engaging with hermaeus mora   and confronted him they must have had like a  dragon ball z level duel because the sheer force   of their one-on-one fight ripped what became the  island of solstheim from the mainland of skyrim   vallock actually defeated mirak but before  he could finish the job and kill him   hermaeus mora plucked him out of  existence and stashed him in apocrypha   or maybe mirak slid into the black book to  hide right before death depending on who you   ask mirak's temple was then burned down  by the dragons and valok was tasked with   ruling over solsteim and making sure mirak stayed  wherever the hell he was earning him that title   the jailer entire ages passed and mirak shifted  into legend but the dude was very much alive   bound almost as a prisoner outside of time  by hermaeus mora in apocrypha he was stuck   there reading and learning all he could about  the arcane arts in the histories of the world   what he wanted was to escape re-establish  himself as the first true dragonborn   or in some way reach into the material plane and  in the fourth era during the events of skyrim   it's exactly what he finally did i want to briefly  take this moment to just touch on something very   key in elder scrolls games and especially skyrim  and that is the sense of prophecy so it's foretold   in the prophecy of the dragonborn part of what we  see depicted in alduin's wall that it would be the   very last dragonborn the player character who will  finally slay alduin and bring an end to the threat   of the world eater it's kind of the ultimate  climax of the entire elder scrolls story to date   but it didn't have to be this way i mean as  we just learned mirack thousands and thousands   of years before was killing dragons like he  was squashing bugs and when confronted with   the possibility of squashing the biggest bug  out of arrogance he declined he was the first   dragonborn wielding the power of his blood in full  force and really turned his back on his destiny   as alduin a subject for another video altogether  was a prisoner of time so too was mirak   it's almost as if this suspension of destiny and  removal of a potential hero and potential villain   led to everything thereafter and  the choices of the first dragonborn   demanded the actions of the very last we will  come back to this later on but i wanted to   just introduce the idea here to uh butter  you up a bit so now we know who mirak is   but what is he doing i mean why do we  the last dragonborn even need to step in   when we the dragonborn first arrive on solstein  things are very strange some of its citizens are   seemingly like bewitched or zombified or something  and are stuck in a trance of doing menial work   around some old rocks but these aren't just any  old rocks actually these are the all-maker stones   created at the beginning of time to help  maintain the balance of nature in the region   the six stones represent different elements  of life beasts earth tree sun wind and water   the local and ancient skull people rely  on these stones for their nature magic   mirack and all his endless years of study and  apocrypha had found a way to tap into these all   maker stones on the island somehow by corrupting  them with his nasty green magic he's able to lull   sleeping citizens into working on these stones the  plan being to empower them further somehow to aid   in his escape from the daedric prince's realm so  there are your unconscious supporters of merak but   there's also totally lucid and willing people who  have formed a sort of cult around the legend of   merak who've been communing with him as well and  those are actually the butt heads who will first   alert you to his presence by kind of jumping you  so mirak has followers both sleeping and awake   but he's still stuck in apocrypha  right i mean what can he really do   well it seems that he has begun to bust out after  killing these cultists and heading to the island   to investigate who's claiming you to be a false  dragonborn your search leads you to his decrepit   temple and the discovery of one black book of  hermaeus mora these black books are a major key   in mirac's tale they were made by the man himself  hermaeus mora they hold forbidden and dangerous   knowledge knowledge that will capture the mind  of a mortal and transport them to apocrypha   when we first find this book and casually flip it  open for some light reading we find ourselves face   to face with mirak he kind of bonks you on top  of the head and you know calls you a weak fake   baby dragonborn and that if you want to see  him make his big comeback you can wait with   the rest of tamriel you're then teleported back  to solstheim but the next time you kill a dragon   meerak appears as you're going to absorb the soul  and intercepts it talks some more smack and then disappears is clearly a present threat and is gaining power  by the day so by working closely with the local   skull people and cleansing the all-maker stones  on the island the dragonborn is able to whittle   away at the strength of mirak the dragonborn also  finds other black books and ventures into them   with hermaeus mora keeping a watchful eye on both  of his little dragonborn playthings you know he's   sure to be a winner regardless of how things  turn out and at the climax of the questline the   first and last dragonborn meet at the summit of  apocrypha mirak is indeed powerful he's created   his very own shout if you can call it a shout  to bend the will of the dragons and use them as   mounts and pets he's also amassed like thousands  of years of forbidden knowledge and magic and   somehow kept his sanity intact upon working on  this video i'm just realizing how cool mirak is   and it's really refreshing to have an adversary  that's just a nord you know it's not this great   ancient dragon i mean sure he's a dragonborn  but so are we at any rate now that we know who   mirak is how he's stirring up trouble why does  he fail you know what's his legacy as a villain to me mirac's legacy is one of immense power  and opportunity squandered by arrogance   like many villains he overestimates himself  and underestimates his opponent even if you   meet him after having defeated alduin in  the main storyline he'll give you props   before boasting about his own power  and how he could have done it he swears but let's fall back to the bit about prophecies  now just i know this is weird but bear with me   and listen to this a chosen one turns his back  on destiny and his kin for selfish reasons he   refuses his master and turns on his order finding  comfort in a new master who promises great power   he is then defeated by an old colleague and  one still loyal to the order i know it sounds   goofy but i think the similarities are rather  striking just in terms of origin story material   mirak even has a sort of robotic monotone voice  and wears a mask of course the key difference   here is that mirak does not redeem himself you  know this is the life that he has chosen a path   that led to imprisonment and eventually death  at the hands of his master because when mirak is   finally defeated it's hermaeus mora who delivers  the final blow with a nice tentacle through the   torso but it's not until he's face to face with  the last dragonborn that he realizes the corner   that he's really backed into hermes mora means  to replace him with this new shiny dragonborn   and the last dragonborn means to kill him to  bring an end to his treachery on the island   i would definitely in a future video love to dive  deeper into hermaeus mora and his intentions with   mirak and the last dragonborn so let me know if  that's something that would interest you at all   but in the end mirak was really meant to be  replaced he turned his back on destiny and   although it took like 4 000 years his replacement  eventually showed up to kind of remove him from   the equation and clean up his mess unlike our  last elder scrolls villain entry i don't find   mirak to be tragically villainous at all  but more selfishly villainous he truly   doesn't care about anyone but himself and his  own legend and reputation so it's no surprise   that he's pretty easily manipulated and used  to his own demise and to reiterate i think he   deserved a much bigger role in the main quest line  of the game what if he was the penultimate boss   a loose threat of time that needed cleaning up  before we could fulfill the prophecy with alduin   at any rate mirak has a fascinating story  and is one of the more interesting characters   in all of skyrim thank you so much for watching  this video who's a villain you would like to see   next in the villainpedia i personally would  love to look at some dark souls bad guys and   bosses but let me know down in the comments  and subscribe for more stuff until next time peace

Channel: Ghostcharm

Views: 207,731

Keywords: miraak, skyrim, lore, elder scrolls, tes

Id: 3A89_AZN3PM

Length: 14min 41sec (881 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 25 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Did you find this on YouTube?