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A Treatise on Meridia
By Shardie
The Daedric Prince Meridia has long been obscured to the eyes of both the peoples of Tarmiel, and the scholars of the Lore forums all too long. Many have speculated about her, with obscure clues, such as 'Meridia who contains the Plenum' (1) and the description given in the Imperial Library's Book of Daedra, "Meridia, whose sphere is obscured to mortals; who is associated with the energies of living things,"(2) and her summoning quote, 'Oh, yes my dear, I think I can help you with your ambition' (3) plus the item she gives you for completing the Daggerfall Quest, the Ring of Khajiit (4).
From these obscure things, many have focused on her description in the Imperial Library to define her, Natural Energies does sound druidic indeed, and hence, she has been portrayed by many as a druidess, a nature hippy, as the description at waiting4oblivion, "Meridia is one of the most mysterious Daedra Princes - her sphere is said to be obscured to mortals, and indeed, few have ever seen her or even made contact. Considering her sphere, it seems safe to assume that her nature is of a more benevolent nature than other denizens of Oblivion" (5) (artists rendition on that page of Meridia is also an important thing to keep in mind on this "druidic" look) And despite that, Meridia and what she is seems, mysterious and obscure, what is she? Her sphere? Her worshipers?
Volume 1; Who is Meridia?
Yet recently MK released this interesting tidbit in the age old (and highly unnessesary, in my opinion) argument over Meridia, Azura and Nocturnal and if they are the same prince...
I shouldn't, really, but from The Imperial Census of Daedra Lords:
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"Meridia's holdings in Oblivion are collectively known as "The Colored Rooms". Another Prince whose origins may not entirely be outside of the aetherial, Meridia has at several times been linked to Magnus the Sun. The most famous account of this association is the Tract of Merid-nunda, which overtly casts Meridia in the role of a wayward solar daughter, cast from the heavens for consorting with illicit spectra." (6)
Now, let us analyze this piece word by word
Meridia's holdings in Oblivion are collectively known as "The Colored Rooms
This passage is quite simple to interpret, The realm that Meridia controls is known as the coloured rooms (it seems the Imperials spell with American English, instead of the correct, Queens English)
Another Prince whose origins may not entirely be outside of the aetherial, Meridia has at several times been linked to Magnus the Sun.
What is suggested here, is that Meridia was not a Daedra to begin with, rather she was a greater spirit who has become associated with the Void (speculation derived from a chat with Solin on IRC). Another Prince whose origin may be Aetherial: as in, from Aetherius. Very much like Malacath and as was recently sugested (The Aldudagga), Dagon, Meridia was not a daedra to begin with... let us move onto the second part of that sentence, which needs no deciphering, Meridia has been associated with Magnus, the sun, and the source of magic... this is elaborated in the next passage
The most famous account of this association is the Tract of Merid-nunda, which overtly casts Meridia in the role of a wayward solar daughter, cast from the heavens for consorting with illicit spectra."
Nunda. It is a word with Cherokee origins. It means both the sun and moon. Nunda Sunnayehi 'dwelling during the night' specificly means the Moon, whilst Nunda igehi 'dwelling during the day' means the sun. It is complex in the light of that, so lets look at Meridia's name in paticular. Meridia is obviously derived from the term, Meridian. To most people, Meridian brings up associations of a line that passes through the north and south poles. However, in Archaic English, the word has a very different meaning, The highest point in the sky reached by the sun or another celestial body; a zenith, or Noon.(8) Now this rings true once more to the association with the sun, with Magnus, noon, when the sun is at its Zenith, is the Meridian, or Meridia. With Merid-nunda would mean, the meridian of the sun, midday. But thats just baseless word associations, it could mean something completely different. Meridia, according to this tale, was cast from the heavens for consorting with illicit spectra. Once again, fancy latin gets in my way, and dictionary.com comes to the rescue. Illicit I needed no help with, it means unlawful, Spectra is the plural form of Spectrum, which dictionary.com says is thus
- Physics The distribution of a characteristic of a physical system or phenomenon, especially:
- The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, as by an incandescent body, arranged in order of wavelengths.
- The distribution of atomic or subatomic particles in a system, as in a magnetically resolved molecular beam, arranged in order of masses.
- A graphic or photographic representation of such a distribution.
- A range of values of a quantity or set of related quantities.
- A broad sequence or range of related qualities, ideas, or activities: the whole spectrum of 20th-century thought.(9)
I believe that the word which is meant for here is, A broad sequence or range of related qualities, ideas, or activities: the whole spectrum of 20th-century thought although I could see the argument in that it could mean The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, as by an incandescent body, arranged in order of wavelengths.
Now if the first assumption is correct, then Meridia was expelled for illegal activities, if the second was correct, which is far less likely, but far more catastrophic if true, Meridia was expelled for illegal use of the energy emitted by a radiant source, aka, the sun, aka Magic.
If that is true, then what is Meridia? My hypothesis is thus, Meridia is the Daedric Prince of illicit magics, the magics she tampered with which got her kicked out of Aetherius and into Oblivion for, Shadow Magics, perhaps, Necromancery, and perhaps she is the reason for the The Vagaries of Magicka between the four Elder Scroll games.
BroknSpyrl had this to say on the above matter, he seems to have more physics background to me
Excellent job. It certainly makes sense, and given my background in physics, specifically light physics, it's actually quite interesting.
Your interpretation of spectra is good, however, given the other information, about the Sun, the colored rooms, I wonder if the connection could be the light spectrum itself, the visible light spectrum. If you separate each light wavelength, you end up with different colors of light, infrared to ultraviolet, and everything in between.
Now, perhaps Meridia's sphere is light, and her power is the ability to bend it, manipulate it. This would explain her sphere being obscured by mortals, as well as being asssociated with the energies of living things(most living things requiring sunlight.) As far as her summoning quote, well, it's a stretch but, ambition's etymology states that it comes from ambitus, which meant "to go around", as in the sun. Also, ambient is listed as a reference, following the concept of ambient light. Like I said, this is a stretch to fulfill my needs.
Now for the illicit part of the spectra. Recall that I mentioned infra-red and ultraviolet. These parts of the light spectrum might be considered illicit, perhaps, considering mortals inabilities to see either. Perhaps meridia was playing with these spectrums, or something, and Magnus didn't like it, I don't know. Perhaps you can utilize some of my ramblings to back up your treatise, or perhaps not. (10)
His hypothesis was that Meridia was Light. I, personally, attribute sunlight to the waves of Magicka, when Vampires are out in the open during the daytime, the Magicka emitted from the sun is too much, and they are damaged. And as Magnus is the architect of Magic, as well as the Sun itself, it makes perfect sense.
Volume 2; On the Apperance of Meridia, the casting out of Meridia from the heavens, and the Plenum
Let us start volume two of this study of Meridia with her apperance... Click on Daggerfall summoning link below, come on, click it, I dare you. Now unless you summoned Sheogorath, you will find yourself face to face with the Daedric Prince, Meridia. Take a good look, Blondie Hair, Blue dress and Robe, a gold bracelet... looks very seine... However, as known by the Daedric Princes, appearances is not something that one should take seriously... Look at Sheogorath, he is portrayed as a banker, a banker is someone you would trust your money to, but would you trust your sanity? I dont think many people would. Now let us look at her past history for a second.
The Player Character in the Elder Scrolls series has only had one encounter with Meridia in the entire series. There, the player character was asked to assassinate a certain individual. For their reward, they were given the Ring of Khajiiti, a thieves tool,
The Ring of the Khajiiti is an ancient relic, hundreds of years older than Rajhin, the thief who made the Ring famous. It was Rajhin who used the Ring's powers to make himself as invisible, silent, and quick as a breath of wind. Using the Ring he became the most successful burglar in Elsweyr s history. Rajhin's eventual fate is a mystery, but according to legend, the Ring rebelled against such constant use and disappeared, leaving Rajhin helpless before his enemies. (11)
The assassination of the certain individual and the reward promote a very deceptive outlook on things, and hence, her guise is an attempt to fool the summoner into trusting her. A prince of Deception as well as Magic.
.munelP eht sniatnoc ohw AIDIREM oT (12)
This is a very simple code, and the very last clue (till hopefully the release of Oblivion) we have on Meridia. For those who have not yet figured it out, its written backwards, "To Meridia, who contains the Plenum" Plenum is a very strange word indeed, and dictionary.com describes it as thus
- An assembly or meeting with all members present.
- A condition, space, or enclosure in which air or other gas is at a pressure greater than that of the outside atmosphere.
- The condition of being full; fullness.
- A space completely filled with matter. (13)
BroknSpyrl had this to say on the matter
As far as the plenum is concerned, one definition of plenum is "An assembly or meeting with all members present." Standard light, light from the sun, is in a sense, a meeting with all the members of the light spectrum present, which fits the definition of plenum perfectly. Beyond this, I've got little else. (14)
Which is interesting, however, Meridia is not the Plenum, she contains it. I want to look at the second definition on Plenum for a second, A condition, space, or enclosure in which air or other gas is at a pressure greater than that of the outside atmosphere. I am no physicist, but would that not include the sun too? Anyway, I am very much stumped on the issue of the Plenum, perhaps there is more to this than meets the eye... or maybe I am not smart enough to work it out. Perhaps some of the readers may be able to offer suggestions? If they seem valid, I would gladly put them in the final issue, and give credit.
Now to why Meridia was cast from the heavens. Special thanks must be given to Divayth Fyr for this information, and I quote,
Vampirism comes up as a very interesting addition to your study. Think for a second about Nocturnal.
Nocturnal, whose sphere is the night and darkness; who is known as The Night Mistress.
It is pretty clear that vampires play favorites with The Night Mistress. How could they not!? Meridia, being a "wayward solar daughter", could hardly be a friend to vampires. However, the "bending" of light; creation of illicit magic, could be a hint as to an allowance for vampires to walk in daylight, leading to the expulsion from the heavens. Of course, this "act" was cut short since sunscreen is still needed for vampires, but that is an idea. A bad one, but one nonetheless. (15)
A very interesting quote indeed. Was Meridia thrown out of heaven for allowing the vampires to dwell during the day? It also seems Fyr would disassociate Meridia from the art of Necromancery?
I am unsure necromancy played much of a part in Meridia's casting from the heavens. I am not saying it isn't possible, I just think evidence is lacking. (16)
I shall leave this question open for the time being. Fyr also mentions something about the 'Coloured Rooms' (in my mind, Daedra should speak with queens English!)
One final note. "The Colored Rooms". Might there be some link of each of these "colors" as a reference to the different schools of magic as well? (17)
Once more quite interesting. Some have said that it is known at the coloured rooms due to the spectrum of the light, but this, in my mind seems more plausible. Nether the less, it seems like we can go nowhere further in this direction in till more information is reviled. Will it be so in Oblivion? I sure hope so.
This treatise on Meridia is simply here to put forward my theory on my favorite Daedric prince, with the evidence currently at hand, and what she is all about. She is not really that mysterious and obscure now that one thinks about it, why I wrote five pages on her! Your comments, and speculation is much appreciated. Thanks must be given to Solin, for his help with some of the work in this piece, also BroknSpyrl for his insightful knowledge of Physics, and Divayth Fyr for his insightful, well, insight. I also must state that this document is a continued work in progress, as more info comes to light, I will try and analyze it and respond.
References
List of Edits
- "greater spirit whom associated with the void" to "greater spirit whom is now associated with the void"
- Added that solins information is pure speculation as well
- Deleted unnecessary passage
- Formating
- More Formating
- And I hope thats the last formatting, fixed the refernces too
- Changed was recently presented (The Aldudagga), Dagon to was recently sugested (The Aldudagga), Dagon
- Added Volume 2, added BroknSpyl's quotes
- Added Divayth Fyr's quotes, redid quote system to make it compadible with TIL
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