#also shoutout to Wes Johnson and the ZOS VO devs who came up with the idea that Mora sounds a bit different to every person

[svartalfhild]

I can't stop thinking about how completely different the Vestige's relationship with Hermaeus Mora is from the Last Dragonborn's.

Like, for the Dragonborn, Mora is this incredibly ominous, threatening figure who manipulates and destroys people in horrifying ways to get what he wants.

For the Vestige, Mora is a friend. There's a gentleness and even warmth in the way he talks to them. He's still deeply selfish, as is his nature, but he's also very generous and fair and never hurts or tricks the Vestige.

I have to wonder why this stark difference exists. Sure, one could argue that he wants the Vestige to think well of him because he needs them to save reality, but to that I would say that, if the Dragonborn's experience with him is any indication, he really doesn't need to be nice to get what he wants. So why the warmth? Like I'm not joking; there's parts of Necrom where he almost sounds fond of the Vestige. What if, for some reason, he really is fond of the Vestige?

I kind of have this headcanon that he thinks that the Vestige is just neat, on top of being useful, and loves watching them get up to all kinds of high-stakes nonsense (like full watching with popcorn as they ruin the plans of half his siblings and shit), especially since they have only ever helped him and never done anything to screw him over. Maybe he even lowkey hopes that he can more or less collect them some day by convincing them that it would be cool and fun to just come hang out with him in Apocrypha when they die, because who wouldn't want to go into an afterlife where you're besties with the god who runs the place?