#shadyart

Trying out any and all art styles to have some fun, and after seeing an art piece with heavy heavy shadows cross my dash I wanted to try a hand at it. Which lead me to try and draw out my feelings and thoughts about Kerasil and her relationship to Molag Bal and Meridia.

It is Mannimarco who sacrifices your soul in the name of Molag Bal, and your soul is trapped in Coldharbour until the end of the Main Game. It is Meridia that pulls it out of Coldharbour and presents it again to you in her Colored Rooms.

That is two Daedric Princes that have touched your particular soul and interacted with it; for good or for ill. I like to imagine that after the Main Game the Vestige is a kind of immortal Daedric being as a result of being messed around with so much.

Kerasil after the events of the Main Game is pretty discombobulated and, after the shock of everything settles, feels pretty alienated from the people around her. She isn't mortal anymore, she doesn't even know if she can age anymore and follow the flow of time anymore. And world events keep happening around and to her that require her to take up arms again and save Nirn from Daedric Princes. Over and over and over and over again.

Frankly, and I've talked about it in another post of mine, she's tired of it and willing to punch any and all Daedric Princes she meets. Sure she'll take the title of Champion as that is Y'ffre's will, but she isn't going to not complain about it.

She's not enjoying the fact it happened to her in such a traumatic way. And she certainly isn't enjoying the fact that while she kicked Molag Bal's ass six ways to Sundas, she hasn't gotten any revenge on Meridia using her as a tool to fight Molag Bal. And after the events of Summerset Isle where she had her friend Darien returned to her and then ripped away (possibly permanently) by the clutches of Meridia. Yeaaah no she dislikes Meridia to put it lightly.

Then there is the fact that outside of Second Era, no one has heard or speaks of this legendary hero. The Vestige, the Hero of the Alliances, Savior of Summerset, etc etc etc etc. Nothing. And while that can be chalked up to ZOS writing this as a prequel to the rest of the mainline games, I would like to use it literally as Molag Bal getting his own pull on Kerasil and fulfilling his threat:

"I will ensure no tales are told of your valor"

Thus the inspiration of this piece: caught between two Daedric Princes (Molag Bal's dolmen chains behind Kerasil, and Meridia's symbolic light rays over her shoulders) that each had their claws around your soul and influenced you in ways you cannot understand. You are no longer a person. You were the means to an ends of higher forces.