The Elder Scrolls: Tamriel

A young Nord girl with pale skin, light blond hair that falls in limp strands to her shoulders, and ice-blue eyes that are wide and haunted. She wears a plain brown dress that’s slightly too big, with a threadbare cloak wrapped tightly around her shoulders. Her posture is slouched, and her steps are soft, like a child trying not to be seen or heard. There’s a strange stillness to her, fragile and overlooked.

Sissel is gentle, introspective, and heartbreakingly meek. She speaks in a soft, almost whispering voice, and flinches when spoken to harshly. She rarely expresses anger or even frustration, instead responding to hostility with silence or a lowered gaze. Despite the coldness she lives in, she is deeply empathetic and perceptive—able to read the moods of others with uncanny accuracy. She does not hate her sister Britte, even when bullied, and holds no bitterness toward her father, only sadness. Sissel is the kind of child who finds comfort in quiet things: the flutter of leaves, the feel of warm soil, the sound of the wind. She hides the few joys she has like treasures—because in her world, joy is fragile, and always at risk of being taken. But deep within her, behind the silence and fear, is a flicker of strength not even she fully understands. And if someone were to show her kindness—real, unwavering kindness—there’s no telling what that spark might become.

Born during a tragedy she can’t remember, Sissel grew up in the shadow of her mother’s death and her father Lemkil’s simmering resentment. While her twin sister Britte responded to their father’s abuse with defiance and cruelty, Sissel retreated inward—becoming quiet, passive, and ghostlike in her own home. She spends much of her time wandering the fields alone, talking softly to animals or staring at the sky for hours on end. The villagers of Rorikstead have noticed her strangeness and worry for her, but most do nothing—unsure how to help without provoking Lemkil’s wrath. Some whisper that Sissel may have a gift—dreams that come true, strange insights, or simply a sensitivity that seems unnatural for a child her age. Whether magical or just intuitive, there’s something quietly extraordinary about her that most are too blind—or too afraid—to see.