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Clavicus Vile

Author: 
Xan

Clavicus Vile, whose sphere is the granting of power and wishes through ritual invocations and pact.

The summoning date of Clavicus Vile is 1st of Morning Star. Clavicus Vile can also be summoned in his shrine, if the summoner offered 500 gold.

Clavicus Vile in DaggerfallClavicus Vile in Redguard

Clavicus Vile's statue in Oblivion

Circa 2E 896, Clavicus Vile is recorded dealing with N'Gasta, the Sload Necromancer of Stros M'Kai. N'Gasta created "Soulsnare", which gathered lost souls. The Daedric Prince Clavicus Vile granted N'Gasta favors with every soul sent to him. Cyrus the Redguard hero, in his desperate quest to find his sister, managed to destroy N'Gasta by using the Flask of Lillandril. Using the N'Gasta's Necromancy Book, he performed a ritual to transport himself to Clavicus Vile's realm in Oblivion.

The detail of the ritual is following. In order to make a gate to Oblivion appear, Cyrus had to mix Orc's blood with Amber (jacinth - rising sun), mix the Unicorn's horn with Hist Sap (snow - grass), mix the Daedra's heart with Ectoplasm (night - mid-day sky) and then poured the mixtures on the symbol in the center of the N'Gasta's room, in that order. Then a gate appeared. Cyrus went through the gate and was taken to Clavicus Vile's realm.

Then he dealt with Clavicus Vile, who was the holder of his sister's soul. Expecting to give back his sister's soul, Cyrus gave the Flask of Lillandril, but instead Clavicus Vile returned with a riddle. If Cyrus could answer it he might get back her sister's soul, but if he failed Cyrus' own soul would be Clavicus Vile's. Eventually, the wit of Cyrus served him well. The detail of the event can be read in The Story of Redguard.

Circa 3E 430, the scholars recorded a Necromantic threat in Dagon Fel, Morrowind. A Necromancer by the name of Sorkvild the Raven terrorized the area. He somehow had acquired the Masque of Clavicus Vile after an unknown deal with Clavicus Vile. Sorkvild met his doom in the hand of an agent of the Imperial Legion, which is also the Nerevarine.

About the masque, the "Tamrielic Artifacts" says:

Ever the vain one, Clavicus Vile made a masque suited to his own personality. The bearer of the masque is more likely to get a positive response from the people of Tamriel. The higher his personality, the larger the bonus. The best known story of the masque tells the tale of Avalea, a noblewoman of some renown. As a young girl, she was grossly disfigured by a spiteful servant. Avalea made a dark deal with Clavicus Vile and received the masque in return. Though the masque did not change her looks, suddenly she had the respect and admiration of everyone. A year and a day after her marriage to a well connected baron, Clavicus reclaimed his masque. Although pregnant with his child, Avalea was banished from the baron's household. Twenty one years and one day later, Avalea's daughter claimed her vengeance by slaying the baron.

The masque was owned by the Hero of Daggerfall as well, sometime around the year 3E 410. Obviously after dealing with Clavicus Vile. The Prince asked the hero to slay certain werewolf. After the deed was done, the hero was rewarded with the masque.

A worth-checked fiction, written by Waughin Jarth, tells a story of a scribe and his enchanted quill, "Feyfolken." In fact the quill was a gift by Clavicus Vile. The quill gave a great benefit to the owner, but sooner or later the owner was doomed to always use the quill and could not be separated. When that finally happened, Clavicus Vile took the quill back from the owner and also his soul. This is the typical characteristic of Clavicus Vile's gifts.

Circa 3E 433, the Champion of Cyrodiil approached the Shrine of Clavicus Vile and managed to deal with the Prince. Clavicus Vile asked the champion to procure Umbra. An evil sword that has the power to capture the soul of its victim; however after long uses the sword usually consumes the wielder. The sword will possess the wielder. The sword somehow has the characteristic of the Clavicus Vile's artifacts. The "Tamrielic Artifacts" says: 

"The Umbra Sword was enchanted by the ancient witch Naenra Waerr, and its sole purpose was the entrapment of souls. Used in conjunction with a soul gem, the Sword allows the wielder the opportunity to imprison an enemy's soul in the gem. Naenra was executed for her evil creation, but not before she was able to hide the Sword. The Umbra Sword is very choosy when it comes to owners and therefore remains hidden until a worthy one is found."

The main purpose of Umbra is "entrapment of souls." Calvicus Vile said that the sword contains the soul of Umbra, a hero he had been dealing sometime before and wanted to finish it. Learning from the history, where Clavicus Vile was interested on the N'Gasta's work and also Sorkvild's, which is Necromancy, probably Naenra Waerr had also a Necromancer and had dealt with Clavicus Vile for something. This raised some speculations but it is not in the scope of this guide to explore. For procuring Umbra, Clavicus Vile offered his Masque to the champion.

The weird thing happened, the hound statue of Clavicus Vile jumped in to the champion's bag, and it introduced itself as Barbas. Further it said that it would be best if Clavicus Vile not to retrieve the sword at all. Somehow returning the Umbra Sword to Clavicus Vile is a mistake, likely to cause great ruin to Clavicus Vile's domain. It is unknown whether the champion followed the instruction of Barbas or not, but most likely the champion would follow Barbas' instruction. This "sword causes great ruin to Clavicus Vile's domain" is indeed bring more speculations. Detail conversation of the event can be read here.

Apparently Clavicus Vile managed to retrieve the Umbra sword. The events following this deal can be read in the lengthy tome called The Infernal City. Here is a brief synopsis.

From the "Manifesto Cyrodiil Vampyrum," we can take a note that Clavicus Vile altered the Vampire blood of Cyrodiilic Vampires, made them be able to walk during daylight and most importantly can deal among the common folks as another commoner - if they were well fed. This actually a great gift for the Vampires. What Clavicus Vile's asking for the payment of the great service is unknown.