Lore:People P

Overview | A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

---

Paarthurnax (?b - ?b)

Paarthurnax, a legendary dragon whose name means "Ambition Overlord Cruelty" in the Dragon Language, acted as the lieutenant of Alduin, his older brother, during the Dragon War, purportedly committing many atrocities in the process. Eventually, the dragon rebelled against Alduin and taught mortals how to use the thu'um (Nords believe this was ordered by, or at least willed by, the goddess Kyne). When Alduin was defeated by being cast forward in time through use of an Elder Scroll, Paarthurnax used meditation to overcome his draconic instinct and lust for power. He retired to the peak of the Throat of the World, where he took up practice of the Way of the Voice, a philosophy discovered by Jurgen Windcaller. He served as the leader of the Greybeards, a monastic order also dedicated to the Way of the Voice. Paarthurnax evaded death because of the protection provided by the Greybeards, although he remained a high-priority target of the Blades.

Throughout the eras, Paarthurnax spent most of his time meditating, rarely communicating even with the Greybeards. In 4E 201, Alduin reappeared and the prophesied Dovahkiin arrived in Skyrim. The Dovahkiin was soon summoned to High Hrothgar by the Greybeards, and eventually met with Paarthurnax, who aided him in defeating Alduin. Paarthurnax then took it upon himself to teach the Way of the Voice to the remaining dragons who had been resurrected by Alduin, so that they too could control their lust for power. However, the Blades discovered Paarthurnax's whereabouts, and appealed to the Dovahkiin to kill Paarthurnax as punishment for his ancient crimes against humanity. Paarthurnax's fate is currently unknown.

Paxti Bittor (?b - c. Imperial Simulacrum)

Paxti Bittor was the Exalted Summoner and Lion-Lord Invoker Pursuivant of the Battlespire, and a master of verse incantations. He was the traitor who opened the portal to allow Mehrunes Dagon to enter the Battlespire. He was to escape and inform the Emperor, becoming a hero and receiving his own province. Instead he was betrayed and murdered by the Daedra and Sirran Angada, a leechcrafter retainer of Jagar Tharn. His soul was set adrift in the Soul Cairn, where he became a powerful wraith. His spirit was later destroyed by an unknown hero as an act of revenge.

Emperor Pelagius Septim (?b - 3E 41)

The emperor of Tamriel after his grandfather Tiber Septim, from 3E 38 to when he was assassinated in 3E 41 by the Dark Brotherhood while he was praying at the Temple of the One in the Imperial City. Although short, his reign was called just as glorious as his grandfather's. He had no living children, so the throne passed to his first cousin Kintyra, the daughter of Tiber's brother Agnorith. Barenziah came to live with the Septim family when she was young, and Pelagius reportedly loved her like a sister. According to The Arcturian Heresy, the Underking approached him to act as an advisor.

Emperor Pelagius Septim II (?b - 3E 99)

Pelagius II was crowned the sixth Emperor of Tamriel after the death of his father, Uriel II, in 3E 82. Pelagius II inherited not only the throne from his father, but the debt from the poor financial and judicial management. Pelagius dismissed all of the old Elder Council, and allowed only those willing to pay great sums to return. He encouraged similar acts of his vassals, the kings of Tamriel, and by the end of his seventeen year reign, Tamriel had returned to prosperity. His critics, however, have suggested that any adviser of wisdom, but without gold had been forcibly ousted. Pelagius was father to Potema, Cephorus, and Magnus, who were all involved in the War of the Red Diamond in 3E 121. Pelagius II died in 3E 99 (many say poisoned by a vengeful former Council member), after 17 years of rule, and was succeeded by his son Antiochus. He was a character in the popular historical fiction The Wolf Queen.

Emperor Pelagius Septim III (3E 119 - 3E 153)

Thoriz Pelagius Septim (3E 119 - 3E 153), more commonly known as Pelagius Septim III or Pelagius the Mad, was Jarl of Solitude until 3E 145, when he was crowned Emperor of Tamriel after the death of his father Magnus Septim. Legend accuses Pelagius III of murdering Magnus, but that this generally dismissed as false, as Pelagius seldom visited the Imperial City, and it's documented that Pelagius was in Solitude when his father died.

Almost from the start of the reign of Pelagius III, the eccentricities of his behavior were noted. He embarrassed dignitaries, offended his vassal kings, and, on one occasion, marked the end of a grand ball by attempting to hang himself. His madness is speculated to have been caused by Potema the Wolf Queen, whose own insanity was said to have been infused in Castle Solitude, infecting the next king to rule there.

The madness of Pelagius eventually cost him the throne. Empress Katariah, a shrewd diplomat hand-selected by Magnus to be Pelagius' wife in order to hide his son's problems, was made Empress Regent of Tamriel. Pelagius III, meanwhile, was sent to a series of healers and asylums until his death at the age of thirty-four. He died on a warm night in Sun's Dawn after a brief fever in his cell, at the Temple of Kynareth on the Isle of Betony. The 2nd of Suns Dawn, which may or may not be the anniversary of his death (records are not clear), is celebrated as Mad Pelagius Day, the time when foolishness of all sorts is encouraged. The Temple of Kynareth in which Pelagius died was destroyed shortly after his death. A group of heretics known as the Apostles later took the stones of the Temple, and rebuilt it in exact detail in the Shivering Isles. It is now known as the Howling Halls because it is said that Pelagius' screams can still be heard. The pelvis of Pelagius was discovered in these ruins in 3E 433, and was put on display in Crucible.

Even in death, Pelagius was trapped by his own madness. In 4E 201, the Last Dragonborn received the hip bone of Pelagius in Solitude from Dervenin, the Priest of Mania, and was transported into the dead emperor's mind, where he found Sheogorath. The Mad God had retired within Pelagius' mind to try and cheer the dead emperor up, but to no avail. The Prince tasked the Last Dragonborn with cleansing Pelagius' mind of paranoia, suspicion, self-doubt, anger, and torment using the Wabbajack. This finally allowed Pelagius some peace, and Sheogorath and the Last Dragonborn left him to his rest.

Emperor Pelagius Septim IV (3E 314 - 3E 368)

Upon Empress Morihatha's assassination, she had no children, and her sister Eloisa had died of a fever four years before, so Eloisa's 25-year-old son Pelagius was crowned Pelagius IV in 3E 339. Pelagius IV continued his aunt's work, slowly bringing back the seditious kingdoms of his Empire. He had Morihatha's patience and deliberate pace in his endeavors, but, alas, he did not have her success. The kingdoms had been free of constraints for so long, even a benign Imperial presence was odious. When Pelagius died in 3E 368 after an astonishing twenty-nine year reign, Tamriel was stable, prosperous, and closer to unity than it had been since the days of Uriel I. He was succeeded by his son, Uriel VII. During his reign, he was suspicious enough of the Psijic Order to refuse to allow them into the Imperial City, and reputedly invested heavily in the infrastructure of his Empire.

Pelinal Whitestrake (?b - 1E 243)

Pelinal Whitestrake was a legendary warrior who came to Tamriel from Atmora as part of Ysgramor's Five Hundred Companions, and who fought alongside Morihaus as the champion of the Slave Queen Alessia in the First Era's Alessian Rebellion. During his life, Pelinal alternated between periods of lucidity and stretches of homicidal madness, during which he slew indiscriminately and took a toll on the very landscape itself.

For more information, see the complete article.

Perrif

See Alessia.

Queen Potema (3E 67 - 3E 137)

Queen Potema, the "Wolf Queen of Solitude, Daughter of the Emperor Pelagius Septim II, Wife of King Mantiarco, Aunt of the Empress Kintyra II, Mother of Emperor Uriel III, and Sister of the Emperors Antiochus and Cephorus", is best known for her role in the War of the Red Diamond. In 3E 120, she launched a rebellion, and overthrew her niece Empress Kintyra II the following year so that her son could become Emperor Uriel Septim III. Although the war ended in 3E 127, it was another ten years, capped off by a month-long siege at her castle in Solitude, before Potema herself was defeated. She's been described as "unambiguously evil", and is remembered as one of the most dangerous necromancers in the history of Tamriel. For more information, see the lore article.