Recorded by Divayth Fyr, High-Sorcerer of House Telvanni
The Daedra are commonly described as immortal spirits who did not participate in the creation of the Mundus, and thus remain unbound by the limitations that afflict those who did. This description is broadly serviceable, though it tends to be repeated by those who mistake absence for refusal and consequence for intent. Regardless, their influence upon Nirn is constant and pervasive. One may avoid worship, summoning, or scholarship, but not consequence.
The distinction between Aedra and Daedra is not moral, nor metaphysical in the way mortals prefer, but genealogical—elvish, and therefore partisan. “Aedra” means ancestors; “Daedra” means not ancestors. That is all. Everything else accretes afterward. The Altmeri insistence that the Aedra are creators and the Daedra abstainers is a cultural narrative, not a universal truth, though it is a powerful one and enforced with enthusiasm. It is worth remembering that titles applied after creation rarely describe what existed before it.
What can be said with confidence is that Daedra possess Vestiges rather than mortal souls. These Vestiges are fixed patterns of being, tethered to Oblivion. When a Daedra is destroyed, it is not slain but unmade temporarily, its Vestige drawn back into the waters of its native realm and reconstituted through chaotic creatia according to its immutable design. This process is unpleasant, never educational, and rarely perfect in its symmetry. The Daedra themselves find this mildly irritating, which is perhaps their most relatable quality.
This immutability defines them. A Daedra cannot become other than what its Nymic dictates. Mortals misunderstand this and assume immortality is an advantage. It is not. A Daedra cannot meaningfully choose to change its nature. Even the Princes—whose power eclipses most mortal frameworks of understanding—are bound to their own definitions. Destruction must destroy. Knowledge must know. Rage must return. Attempts to escape one’s sphere result only in delay, never absolution.
This is why mortals matter.
Mortals possess a quality Daedra lack: the ability to alter their own trajectory without rewriting their essence. They may fail spectacularly, but they may also succeed where success should not be possible. Several Princes have acknowledged this limitation with a mixture of envy and disdain. I have observed both emotions expressed simultaneously.
Daedric forms vary wildly, though variation should not be mistaken for growth. Lesser Daedra are often created directly by their progenitor Prince, shaped from realm-stuff with purpose already embedded. Some exist to serve, some to test, some merely to persist. Others arise through more esoteric processes: dreams given shape, thoughts externalized, names splintered and repeated until identity becomes arithmetic. The Planemeld produced several such errors, which scholars now insist on classifying.
Procreation among Daedra is rare, inconsistent, and usually intentional. When it occurs, it resembles manufacture more than birth. Demiprinces are notable exceptions, arising from deliberate conjoining of creatia and another essence—often mortal, occasionally stranger. These beings occupy an uncomfortable space in most taxonomies, which is usually a sign that the taxonomy is inadequate.
Daedric Princes themselves are best understood not as rulers of realms, but as coincident with them. A Prince’s plane is an expression of will, memory, and metaphor, filtered through the perceptions of whoever is unfortunate enough to stand within it. Distance, landscape, even time are interpretive conveniences. Oblivion is not built to be understood, and it resents attempts to impose order. Some realms respond by folding into paradox; others simply vanish.
Despite their power, the Princes are constrained—by ancient pacts, by mutual annihilation risk, and by agreements with mortals clever enough to bind them. The Coldharbour Compact remains the most notable of these, though it is already fraying in places. Treaties with immortals always do.
The Princes do not comprehend mortal morality, but they understand utility, amusement, and attention. Worship provides all three. That mortals continue to offer devotion to beings who view them as curiosities should surprise no one who has studied history. Religious authorities discourage such practices loudly and ineffectively.
Lesser Daedra are legion, infinitely variable, and frequently interchangeable. Allegiance is contractual, not inherent. A Daedra serves the strongest will available, whether Prince, mortal, or concept. Many cultures—particularly my own—have exploited this fact to great effect, though few admit it openly.
In summary: Daedra are not demons, nor gods, nor devils in any moral sense that survives scrutiny. They are fixed ideas given agency, constrained by definition, incapable of true change, and therefore eternally fascinated by those who are not. One should not hate them. One should not trust them. One should understand them just well enough to know when to stop.
The term "Daedra" is an all encompassing term that refers to all beings that originate from Oblivion. Everything from the lowly Scamp, to an Atronach, to a Daedric Prince like Molag Bal, can all be considered "Daedra". These can broadly be broken down into Lesser Daedra and Greater Daedra, but that does not narrow it down much. Lesser Daedra refers to any daedra that is not a Daedric Prince, Daedric Lord, or Demiprince, Whereas Greater Daedra are exclusively Daedric Princes and their offspring, the Demiprinces. Therefore, we must have further classifications of Daedra to accurately denote which type we are speaking about.
The term "Tanaari" refers to any Lesser Daedra that appears like a typical monster with flesh and bone. Tanaari have the capacity to act intelligently due to their daedric nature, but are animalistic, intrinsically evil, and fundamentally do not act in any way that would allow them to mingle with Mortals. Some good examples of Tanaari are the Scamp, Hunger, Ogrim, Daedroth, Lurker, and Daedric Titan.
The term "Dremora" refers to all Humanoid Daedra that are capable of plotting, schemeing, conversing, forming clan hierarchies, etc... Dremora are the Daedra that are as intelligent as Mortals, and are humanoid in appearance. Dremora are a very diverse morphotype of Daedra, with different types of Dremora serving almost every Daedric Prince. They often form strictly defined clan hierarchies, have alignments ranging from Lawful Evil to Chaotic Evil, and see themselves as vastly superior to the Tanaari. The type of Dremora that the term itself is most often mistakenly attributed to, are the red-skinned warriors that serve Mehrunes Dagon. They are more acccurately known as the "Kyn". Some good examples of Dremora are the Kyn, Mazkyn, Aureal, Spiderkith, Nocturnal Shrike, Auroran, Skaafin, and Xivilai.
These elemental Daedra can be mistaken for constructs, as they do not speak, and appear to be physical manifestations of the element that they represent. Atronachs are found on almost every plane of Oblivion, serving whichever master has bound them into service. However, Atronachs do have home planes in the infinite expanse of Oblivion, and in these home planes are found greater varieties of elemental Daedra. The Auranochs are pure elemental quintessence given form. These are essentially larval atronachs that were recently spawned from the chaotic creatia of their home plane. Conversely, the elemental planes are also home to ancient, intelligent elementals known as the Elemental Lords. The Elemental Lords that scholars have currently identified are known as the Frost Monarch, Flame Sultan, and Storm Regent. Each elemental plane, like all planes of oblivion, is infinite in scale, so Elemental Lords both 1. rule over vast swaths of territory in their realm, and 2. are equally innumerable in population as the Auranochs and Atronachs. The known Elemental planes of Oblivion are as follows:
Mantylmarr - Daedric plane of Earth
Infernace - Daedric plane of Fire
Rimelgard - Daedric plane of Ice
Aquillanos - Daedric Plane of Water
Tempessia - Daedric plane of Air and Storm
Daedra lords are powerful Daedra that often rule over their own pocket realms of Oblivion. They are the least powerful type Greater Daedra, but often command legions of lesser daedra to do their bidding. Many Daedra lords are supreme commanders of Dremora clans, or chief advisors and powerful servants to a Daedric Prince.
A Demiprince is the offspring of a Daedric Prince and a mortal. They emerge from a unique conjoining of Chaotic Creatia from the realm of the Daedric Prince, and the uniquely powerful black Soul of the Mortal. Demiprinces often inherit aspects of the prince that spawned them, but are often quite eccentric. Some are given minor realms of Oblivion to rule, although many of these pocket realities are bizarre even by the standards of Oblivion. Much like the Daedric Princes, Demiprinces shape their domains via their will. Though they enjoy great power and prestige in Oblivion, they try not to attract attention. for this reason their identities tend to remain unknown, even among the Daedra.
The Daedric Princes are unequivocally the most powerful Daedra in existence. They are rulers of the most influential planes of Oblivion, with some Daedric Princes being primordial beings from before the current iteration of Nirn, who have persisted across Kalpas. The realm of a Daedric prince is said to Be them, in the most literal sense. The most powerful artifacts on Nirn are items created by one Daedric Prince or another. Daedric Princes are often worshipped as Gods by mortal cults who seek a quick path to power. Aedra (actual gods) very rarely interact with Mortals, so Daedra worship, while often vilified, is a real way to acquire power.