Lore:Eternal Champion

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Eternal Champion Talin
Race Unknown[nb 1] Gender Male[1]
Born 3E 370
Resided in Imperial Province
Appears in Arena
"Tharn, you will not escape me so easily." - The Eternal Champion before escaping the Imperial Dungeons[1]
The Eternal Champion on horseback

The Eternal Champion, also known by their given name Talin,[1] (b. 3E 370)[2] was an otherwise unknown hero best known for ending the Imperial Simulacrum in 3E 399 by bringing together the pieces of the Staff of Chaos and killing the impostor emperor Jagar Tharn[3] and rescuing the true emperor, Uriel Septim VII, and the general of the Imperial Guard, General Talin Warhaft,[nb 2] from a dimension of Tharn's choosing[4] where they had been imprisoned for ten years.[5]

History[edit]

Early life[edit]

The Champion's childhood home

The Champion was the adopted ward of General Talin Warhaft,[UOL 1] who he treated as his father. The Champion's father fought in a battle at Borim Valley, and he had a great-aunt and a great-uncle who each lived in separate villages close to the Champion's home village. During his childhood, the Champion worked at the stables of his home village and was taught how to fight by Armsmaster Festil, an elderly warrior.[6] He became friends with Ria Silmane after he was summoned to the Imperial Court to learn under her tutelage the ways of sorcery.[1] At the Imperial Court he was considered only a minor member of no real consequence.[7] On his seventeenth birthday, he was bidden by his father to go out and explore Tamriel and return as a member of the Imperial household,[UOL 1] at one point returning briefly to the Imperial City to celebrate the Mid Year's Festival.[1]

Imperial Simulacrum[edit]

The Staff of Chaos

In 3E 389, Jagar Tharn would overthrow Emperor Uriel, imprison him and General Warhaft in Oblivion, and kill Ria Silmane. The Champion would coincidentally return home from his year-long journey immediately after this occurred. They would be imprisoned by Jagar Tharn in the Imperial Dungeons and left to die. Using what little of her life force remained, Silmane contacted the Champion from between the mortal world and the afterlife and guided him to freedom, tasking him with reassembling the Staff of Chaos and rescuing the emperor.[nb 3] Silmane aided the Champion in this task by using her magic to mask the Champion's identity,[7] which successfully concealed the Champion's name from Tharn until seven of the Staff's eight pieces had been recovered.[8]

Using Silmane's guidance to find the location of the pieces, with covert assistance from Queen Barenziah and King Eadwyre who through contact with Silmane would gather intelligence on the locations of the pieces of the Staff of Chaos to be passed on to the Champion,[9] the Champion journeyed to Stonekeep, Fang Lair, the Fortress of Ice, Labyrinthian, Selene's Web, the Elden Grove, the Temple of Agamanus, the Halls of Colossus, the Temple of Mad God, the Crystal Tower, the Mines of Khuras, the Crypt of Hearts, the Vaults of Gemin, Murkwood, Black Gate, and Red Mountain on a quest that spanned the course of a decade, before ultimately descending into the depths of the Imperial Palace to face Tharn. The Champion would defeat Tharn in 3E 399 (their battle doing considerable damage to the Imperial Palace[10]) by draining the Jewel of Fire of its power and restoring the Staff of Chaos to its full power, killing Tharn in the process. The Champion would then free Emperor Uriel and General Warhaft from Oblivion and be proclaimed by the Emperor as the Eternal Champion. He would then take his place at the emperor's side and would be tasked with seeing to the needs of the Empire.[11]

Later life[edit]

After the Imperial Simulacrum, the Eternal Champion would often be called upon to investigate evidence of "Tharn's aborted master plan", though little of great relevance was ever uncovered by 3E 405.[UOL 2]

Legacy[edit]

The Eternal Champion became somewhat of a cultural hero to Imperial Loyalists, many of whom retracing his steps as part of a pilgrimage.[12] Some remember him as one of the greatest warriors in the modern eras.[3]

Notes[edit]

  • 1 
    The race of the hero is never canonically confirmed and ultimately player determined. A pre-release screenshot depicts Talin as a Breton.[nb 4]
  • 2 
    In the Floppy Disk releases of Arena, General Warhaft is shown leaving Oblivion with Uriel VII, and thanks the Champion for his service. In CD-ROM releases, Uriel VII alone is seen leaving Oblivion, with no mention of Warhaft whatsoever.
  • 3 
    The events of Arena start in 3E 389, however, according to the Biography of Queen Barenziah, Barenziah assisted the Champion's escape from the Imperial City Prison, but that only occurred after the death of Symmachus, which, according to The Daggerfall Chronicles, occurred in 3E 391.

Gallery[edit]

References[edit]

Note: The following references are considered to be unofficial sources. They are included to round off this article and may not be authoritative or conclusive.