| Eternal Champion | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race | Unknown[nb 1] | Gender | Male[nb 2] |
| Born | 3E 370 |
||
| Resided in | Tamriel | ||
| Appears in | Arena | ||
The Eternal Champion, also known as Talin, was a hero born in 3E 370. They are best known for ending the Imperial Simulacrum by killing the impostor emperor Jagar Tharn in 3E 399 and rescuing the true emperor, Uriel Septim VII, and the general of the Imperial Guard, Warhaft,[nb 5] from a realm of Oblivion where they had been imprisoned for ten years. The hero was then given the title of "Eternal Champion" by the emperor himself. The Champion was also credited with obtaining several Aedric, Daedric, and mortal-made artifacts.
HistoryEdit
The Champion was the adopted ward of General Talin Warhaft, who they treated as their father. His father fought in a battle at Borim Valley, and they 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. They became friends with Ria Silmane after they were summoned to the Imperial Court to learn under her tutelage the ways of sorcery. At the Imperial court they were considered only a minor member of no real consequence. On their seventeenth birthday they were bidden by their father to go out and explore Tamriel and return as a member of the Imperial household,[nb 3] at one point returning briefly to the Imperial City to celebrate the Mid Year's Festival.
In 3E 389, Jagar Tharn would overthrow Emperor Uriel, imprison him and the Champion's father, Warhaft, in Oblivion, and kill Ria Silmane. The Champion would coincidentally return home from their year-long journey immediately after this occurred. They would be imprisoned by Jagar Tharn in the Imperial Dungeons and left to die.[nb 4] 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 Uriel VII. Silmane aided the Champion in this task by using her magic to mask the Champion's identity, which successfully concealed the Champion's name from Tharn until seven of the Staff's eight pieces had been recovered.
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, 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, the Black Gate and Red Mountain on a quest that spanned the course of ten years, 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) by draining the Jewel of Fire of it's power and restoring the Staff of Chaos to it's full power, killing Tharn in the process. They would then free Emperor Uriel and their father General Warhaft from Oblivion and be proclaimed by the Emperor as the Eternal Champion. They would then take their place at the emperor's side and would be tasked with seeing to the needs of the Empire.
The Eternal Champion became somewhat of a culture hero to Imperial Loyalists, many of whom retrace their steps as part of a pilgrimage. Some remember him as one of the greatest warriors in the modern eras.
NotesEdit
- The Eternal Champion is the player character in Arena and so can be of either sex and any race during the game.
- 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, only Uriel VII is seen leaving Oblivion, with no mention of Warhaft whatsoever. The general was ultimately patched back some time during or before update 1.06.
- In Arena the game starts in 3E 389, however, according to 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 the Daggerfall Chronicles, occurred in 3E 391.
GalleryEdit
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A datamined screenshot depicting Talin as a Breton -
A cut intro slide from Arena
