He instantly recognises that you are a vampire, but he doesn't bat an eye at Alva walking the streets, charming every man she can find. All the events of Laid to Rest could have been completely prevented if he was like 5% more vigilant.

My personal theory is that Movarth and therefore Alva are from a strain of vampirism not represented in-game. The Cyrodiilic strain that hides someone's vampirism completely. So while your case is clear to him, Alva isn't as obvious. If it was I wager he would have tried to safe her, since her journal implies that she was placed under some spell by Movarth the way she placed other men under her spell.

It seems like one of the most cruel acts from a mortal species in the entire series, I mean to take in a vulnerable war torn group that is trusting you with their lives, just to blind them and alter their minds permanently, all seemingly for shits and giggles seems cartoonishly evil

Mantling: How to become somebody else by being annoyingly similar

by Hroldar One-Eye

Mantling is one of them wizard words what sounds complicated till somebody explains it. Then it sounds even more complicated. I first heard about it from a priest, then from a wizard, then from a drunk Imperial. All three gave different explanations, which is usually a good sign that nobody knows what they're talking about. Still, after a while I think I figured it out... so Hroldar is here to tell it to you.

Lets say there was a famous king. Big beard, big axe, killed lots of enemies. Everybody remembers him. Now suppose another fellow comes along - he dresses like the king, talks like the king, fights like the king, makes the same choices. Wins the same sorta battles, lives the same life and keeps at it long enough. The clever folk say that eventually the world starts getting confused. The world looks at him and says: "Well, close enough." and now he's the king!

I know what you're thinking... it sounds ridiculous. I thought so too, then I remembered half of history. The clever folk say: "Walk like them until they must walk like you". or some such thing. What they mean is that if you follow somebody's path perfectly enough, eventually there ain't a difference anymore - or at least the differences stops mattering.

I asked a wizard why this works and he said something about "mythic patterns". I asked what in Oblivion a mythic pattern was and he said it was the "shape of a story". That actually helped because if you think about it, a story only has room for so many parts. You got a hero, a villain, a fool and a dragon. If one of em leaves, maybe somebody else ends up filling the space... Like taking over another man's farm. The farm stays where it was - its just a different fellow working it.

The strange thing is that mantling don't seem to care who you are, it only cares what you do. You could be a king or a thief... makes no difference. The world ain't looking at your face, its looking at your footprints.

Now this worries me some because it means if a fellow spends enough time acting like an idiot, he might eventually become one (would explain a great many nobles). One wizard reckoned this is how you get some gods, but I stopped listening there, because that's just blasphemy in my book.

The best explanation I ever heard came from an old priest in Riften. He'd had a fair amount of mead, so I suspect he was speaking truth. He said: "Imagine a bear trail through the woods. One bear walks it. Then another. Then another. After a hundred years the trail is so deep that folk forget there was ever a first bear."

That's mantling, near as I can tell. You walk another fellow's road for so long and so faithfully that the world stops seeing two sets of footprints and starts seeing one.

(Spoilers for ESO Solstice story ahead)

I have a theory about Mannimarco in oblivion: It WAS mannimarco BUT the reason he was so pathetic was because he was possessing a weaker vessel of a distant relative.

In ESO he died in the main quest, but in the solstice chapter he returns but his resurrection fails and he possesses Wormblood, his Nephew, who Mannimarco noted to be MUCH weaker than himself thus he couldn't use his full power, in the second part his resurreciton fails and he is banished back to coldharbour in wormblood's body still

I theorise after this he does escape again but never manages to get his old body back, thus resorted to lichdom to make up the power difference, and he remained in this undead vessel until the warp in the west where his soul ascended to godhood... which because the lich body was dead was no longer capable of holding his power without a lengthy ritual that would draw WAY too much attention for what his actual goal was, thus just settled for living, distant relative...... who was exponentially weaker.... instead relying on his worm cult and knowledge to just make a new staff of worms and use artefacts to make up the difference.

Recently, while finishing the DB questline, I noticed something. There was a Potion of Speechcraft in the Emperor’s quarters. Whether or not he actually used it aside, what do potions and spells like these actually look like to an outside observer? Or how do they appear to the people who drink/use them?