Dagoth Ur

"What a fool you are. I'm a god. How can you kill a god? What a grand and intoxicating innocence. How could you be so naive? There is no escape. No Recall or Intervention can work in this place. Come. Lay down your weapons. It is not too late for my mercy."

Dagoth Ur, also known as Voryn Dagoth   and the Sharmat, was the immortal Lord High Councilor of House Dagoth, the forgotten Sixth Great House of Morrowind, and primary antagonist of ''The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind. ''His actions led to the War of the First Council, the disappearance of the Dwemer and the transformation of the Chimer into the Dunmer. During the events of Morrowind, Dagoth Ur would return, bringing about a reformed Sixth House and the spread of the Ash Blight, thus creating the race of ash creatures that serve him.

The War of the First Council
As a mortal, Lord Voryn Dagoth was one of only five people in the whole of Tamriel who knew of the Heart of Lorkhan, alongside Vivec, Sotha Sil, Almalexia and Indoril Nerevar. Dagoth claimed that the Dwemer high priest Kagrenac was using special tools to draw power from the Heart, all to create a mechanical god known as Numidium that he would unleash against the Chimer. After the Daedric Prince Azura confirmed Dagoth's story, the five of them took action to stop the Dwemer, sparking the War of the First Council. The end result of this war would be the disappearance of almost every single Dwemer on Nirn and the transformation of the Chimer as a whole into the Dunmer.

Following the Battle of Red Mountain, the Tools of Kagrenac fell into the hands of the Chimer, and Lord Nerevar was left with the burden of deciding what to do with them. At first, Dagoth himself urged for their destruction, either of the Tools or the Heat itself, which led Nerevar to believe he could be trusted to guard them whilst Nerevar consulted with his councilors, the Tribunal of Vivec, Almalexia and Sotha Sil, and the Dunmer's Daedric patron Azura. The Tribunal would lead Nerevar to spare the Tools, to be preserved but never used.

Unfortunately, when Nerevar and the Tribunal returned to Red Mountain, Dagoth refused to give up the Tools, stating that he had been entrusted with guarding them. Unbeknownst at the time, Dagoth had been experimenting with the Tools on the Heart during Nerevar's absense, and had somehow managed to steal some of its divine essence. Henceforth, he would be known as Dagoth Ur, though whether he called himself that or Nerevar coined the name is unknown. Nerever and the Tribunal's guards defeated Dagoth Ur, who was driven off and assumed killed. House Dagoth would come to an end, the remnants either killed or absorbed into the other Great Houses. However, Nerevar would suffer a mortal wound and die shortly afterwards.

It is unknown what happened to Nerevar. Some claim that he was killed fighting Dagoth Ur. Others claim that the Tribunal murdered him when he left to consult with them, and in actual fact, they fought Dagoth Ur for the Tools whilst Dagoth fought to avenge his friends death. This is likely false, as both the Tribunal Temple and Dagoth Ur contradict this, with Dagoth admitting that he and Nerevar came to blows beneath Red Mountain. Regardless, the Tribunal did not obey Nerevar's dying wish. Years later, the Tribunal would return to Red Mountain and, having learned their secrets from Sotha Sil, would use Kagrenac's Tools to steal divine powers for themselves. Dagoth Ur, despite being believed dead, had also managed to forge a connection to the Heart of Lorkhan, and would remain alive and immortal, albeit temporarily bodiless.

The Return
In time, the Tribunal's ambition would be their undoing, despite the many heroic deeds they accomplished in their divine states. In 2E 882, the Tribunal would journey to Red Mountain to renew their connection to the Heart in a bathing ritual, only to once again encounter Dagoth Ur, now reborn into a new incarnation and with divine power that could match their own. Unable to enter Red Mountain's Heart Chamber, they'd be force to retreat. With complete control over the Heart of Lorkhan, Dagoth Ur's power would grow stronger from this point, whilst the Tribunal gradually weakened.

Later successes would allow Dagoth Ur to expand his sphere of influence further. At first, this would only mean the conquest of forgotten Dwemer citadels, but would later come to include the means to spread the Ash Blight disease. In 3E 417, Almalexia and Sotha Sil would attempt to recapture a few of these Dwemer citadels, with disastrous results. Sunder and Keening, two of Kagrenac's Tools, would be lost, and the two living gods would have to be rescued by Vivec. Eventually, the Tribunal were forced to retire from their previously active lives and devote most of their time to maintaining the Ghostfence they had erected to prevent Dagoth Ur's sphere of influence from spreading. This was only a partial success, as blight infested creatures such as Cliff Racers could fly over the Ghostfence, and the lost Dunmer fortress of Kogoruhn, the former stronghold of House Dagoth, held a secret passage which could allow diseased and Corprus-infected creatures to escape Red Mountain.

Now possessing only one of Kagrenac's Tools, the gauntlet Wraithguard, the Tribunal didn't dare pass beyond the Ghostfence to recapture the others. As Sotha Sil and Almalexia withdrew from the world, only Vivec remained to maintain the Ghostfence, an effort that took so much of his energies, he was unable to leave his palace, letting his Temple's Ordinators run out of his control and become even more fanatical and rigid as the faith of the Dunmer wavered. Meanwhile, Dagoth Ur set about consturcting the Second Numidium, known as Akulakhan, a brass machine god he would use to conquer all of Tamriel.

The Coming of the Nerevarine
All this would change with the advent of the Nerevarine circe 3E 427. This outlander to Morrowind was the reincarnation of Nerevar prophesied by Azura, who would return to rectify the dishonorable acts of his councilors. Knowing better than to dismiss the Daedric Prince of Dusk and Dawn, both Vivec and Dagoth Ur prepared as best they could for the Nerevarine's arrival, despite not knowing where, when or even by whom the prophecy would be fulfilled. The Nerevarine met with Vivec, who offered him advice on how to defeat Dagoth Ur, despite knowing the Nerevarine's success would mean the destruction of the Heart of Lorkhan and, by extension the loss of his power as a demigod. Dagoth Ur, meanwhile, offered the Nerevarine power and the chance to use Akulakhan to drive the Empire out of Morrowind.

The deception, treachery and confrontation that Dagoth Ur encouraged among his followers left him unable to understand the Nerevarine; he could not deduce beforehand whether the Nerevarine sought to fight or join him, even when the Nerevarine finally confronted him in the bowels of Red Mountain. Ultimately, the Nerevarine would sever Dagoth Ur's connection to the Heart of Lorkhan, destroying Akulakhan and returning Dagoth Ur to mortal form. Although he was a mighty sorcerer, Dagoth Ur would fail to defeat the Nerevarine and would be slain, either by blade, spell, or crushed under rock as the Heart Chamber collapsed in on itself.