Lore:Exclamations

There have been numerous exclamations throughout the history of The Elder Scrolls. These phrases give insight to the culture, beliefs, and the execution of vulgarity among the people of Tamriel and beyond.

RACES

Altmer

Oaths

• "By Auriel"
• "By Auri-el"
• "By Auri-el’s hand"
• "By Auriel’s grace"
• "By Syrabane's sacred ring"
• "By the Firmament"
• "By the Fixed Center"
• "By Xarxes"
• "By the Highest One"
• "By the White Crystal"
• "By the Wood of Elborn"
• "By the Blue Divide"
• "By the Otherworld"
• "By the First Spirit"

Exclamations

• "Auri-el's breath"
• "Blade of Cassimoran"
• "Lorkhan's doom!"
• "Nebarra"
• "Stars above"
• "Three-and-five venerations"
• "Thrice-damn"
• "Y'ffre's bones!"
• "Faerielight"
• "First Spirit of Tamriel"
• "Blade of Cassimoran"
• "Crystals of Sumurset"
• "Auri-el strike me blind"

Maxims and Proverbs

• "Only a fool trusts a sea snake"

Argonian

Oaths

• "By bark and birth"
• "By bark and bite"
• "By the Egg"
• "By the Gods"
• "By the Throne of Aphicles"
• "By the Blades of Fate"
• "By the Lonely One"
• "By the Swamp Spirit"
• "By the Mother-goddess"

Curses

• "May he burn in the glare of a thousand suns"
• "May their spirits never find dirt"

Exclamations

• "As mud is my mother"
• "Hist guide me"
• "Host of Stormhold"
• "Xuth!"
• "Mire of Murkwood"
• "Bogfire"
• "Kaoc"
• "My doubt-spine quivers"
• "My knowing-tree is barren"
• "My tail sinks" (an expression of disappointment)

Exhortations and Blessings

• "Lay the facts onto the stones"
• "I was hatched ready"
• "Bristle your war-spines" (get excited for battle)

Colorful Adjectives

• "Swamp Devil"
• "You hilarious deek-beeko"
• "Mammal-licker"
• "Limp-fin"
• "Flat-toothed" (a demeaning reference to those without the sharp teeth of the Naga)
• "Tail-lifting savage"

Colorful Metaphors

• "The mud of justice flows in your direction." (when witnessing a crime)

Maxims and Proverbs

• "The river has brought us here for a reason"
• "Taking a life closes more doors than it opens"
• "Fools and maniacs both bleed red"

Bosmer

Oaths

• "By the Green"
• "By Y'ffre"
• "By the Elden Grove"
• "By the Timber Spirits"
• "By the Lore of Wood"
• "By Mistria's Curse"
• "By Caliron's Heart"
• "By the Root"
• "By the Fire"

Curses

• "Thrice-blasted son of a dreck-sifting, root-munching, bread-baking sot! May your ears be stuffed with whirlifly larvae, your bow-hand bitten by a rabid stoat"

Exclamations

• "Baan Dar's toes!"
• "Bug shells!"
• "Spirits of the Wood"
• "Faeries of the Grove"
• "Fire of Eldenroot"
• "Rabbit dung!"
• "Yffre's bones!"

Colorful Metaphors

• "The boggy end of the swamp" (describing a situation involving difficulty, complexity, and uncertainty)

Breton

Oaths

• "By Sheor's beard"
• "By Starfall's Waters"
• "By the Crypt"
• "By My Lady"
• "By the Mists"
• "By the Wolf"
• "By the Dark Lord"
• "By the ArchDruid"
• "By Pelagius"
• "By the Dragon"

Exclamations

• "Bless My Lord"
• "Death Be Damned"
• "Spirits of High Rock"
• "Madness"
• "Damn the Dragon"
• "Dibella's legs"

Colorful Adjectives

• "Draighing"

Chimer

Oaths

• "By the Avenger"

Daedra

Exclamations

• "Oh fathomless Prince"

Dunmer

Oaths

• "By Almalexia"
• "By Almsivi"
• "By dawn and dusk"
• "By the fires of Red Mountain"
• "By the Three"
• "By Vivec" (sometimes “B’vek”)
• "By the Black Isle"
• "By the Dark Ones"
• "By the Fires of Dagoth-Ur"
• "By the Mad Queen"
• "By the Black Maw"
• "By the Night"
• "By the Soulless One"
• "By Malacath's toenails"
• "By Malacath's hairy knuckles"
• "By the Green"

Curses

• "To Red Mountain with you"

Exclamations

• "Dagon's eyeballs"
• "Fetch"
• "F’lah"
• "Dark Goddess Protect Us"
• "Soul of the Black Knight"
• "Fireblood"

Exhortations and Blessings

• "Three protect you" (a blessing and hope for protection from harm)

Colorful Adjectives

• "N'wah"
• "S’wit"

Maxims and Proverbs

• "My basket is already full" (an Ashlander expression reflecting that someone already has a lot of problems they're dealing with, and can't spare the time for new problems)
• "You harvest from the seeds you plant" (which means you get what your labors deserve, in both a positive sense of reward and negative sense of punishment)

Imperial

Colorful Adjectives

• "Ignominious corpse-herder"

Maxims and Proverbs

• "The farmer doesn't thank the cow when it voids itself on the field, but it still makes the crops grow taller."

Khajiit

Oaths

• "By the Rat-god"
• "By the Sands of Elsweyr"
• "By the Blessed Water"
• "By the Hand of Ibrahad"
• "By the Dry Heart"
• "By the Water of Life"

Exclamations

• "Whore of Alizahad"
• "Dust of Orcrest"
• "Desert Sun"
• "Devil of the Sands"
• "Kes kridesi" (an exclamation of incredulity; something unthinkable)
• "Kra" (a mild curse)
• "Ziss" (a mild curse)
• "Hahl Fajh'na" (a strong curse)
• "Kss" (a sound of exasperation)
• "Var, var" (expressing a sense of being humble or demure)
• "F'ah" (a term of exasperation or distaste)
• "Moon's mercy" (invoking the sacred link of the Khajiit with the moons)
• "Moon Mother be praised"
• "Jode's light" (an exclamation of alarm)

Colorful Metaphors

• "Sand between my ears" (a description of feeling dazed)

Kothringi

Exhortations and Blessings

• "Z'en's blessings"

Colorful Adjectives

• "Dung-guzzling Worm Cultists"
• "Lousy mushroom-nibblers"
• "Miserable toad-lickers"
• "Moss-gargling cultists"
• "Torchbug-gobblers"

Nord

Oaths

• "By Thorig's Beard"
• "By Olfor's Hammer"
• "By Shor's shiny arse"
• "By the White Wolf"
• "By the Frozen Wastes"
• "By the Hoarfather"
• "By the Cliffs of Solitude"
• "By the Northern Sea"
• "By the Beard of Thorig"
• "By the Whale" (technically from old Atmoran totem worship)

Curses

• "Born under a bad star"

Exclamations

• "Mother of the Ice"
• "Frostfire"
• "Shor's Blood"
• "Shor's Bones"
• "Troll's Blood"
• "Herma-Mora's wagging tongue"
• "Orkey's gullet"
• "Arkay's beard"

Colorful Adjectives

• "Skeeving horkers"
• "Milk drinker"
• "Steely-eyed blighter"
• "Western beard-pullers" (referring to Nords from the western end of Skyrim)

Colorful Metaphors

• "Mad as a box of frogs"
• "Happier than a hairy skeever in the larder"

Maxims and Proverbs

• "If you avoid all of life's abrasions, you'll never be polished enough to shine"

Orc

Oaths

• "By all the snot in Malacath's right nostril"
• "By the Bloody Curse"
• "By the bloody fangs of Mauloch"
• "By the First Forge"
• "By the stench of Mauloch's gaping maw"
• "By Yashnag's axe"
• "By the Twelve Holds"

Exclamations

• "Malacath's nethers"
• "Malacath’s rage"
• "Malacath’s teat"
• "Malacath’s tusk"
• "Malacath’s wrath"
• "Mauloch's fang"

Colorful Adjectives

• "Son of a troll"

Colorful Metaphors

• "That's when the troll dung hit the horker."

Maxims and Proverbs

• "Conquerors name the wars"
• "The past is a wolf. The clever hunter keeps his eye fixed on it, while the foolish hunter looks away and is devoured."
• "A chief who does not listen to his wives is not chief for long."
• "The battle is won in the stomach first."
• "The Orc who shirks his duty and the Orc who becomes bitter doing it drink the same poison."
• "What Orc strength alone cannot achieve, Orc steel can."
• "An inexperienced warrior in the finest armor still trips over his leg-guards."
• "An Orc who complains about his chief, but does not challenge him, is still complaining a year later."

Reachmen

Oaths

• "By Hircine's hounds"
• "By the spirits"

Exclamations

• "Gods take me"
• "Where in Namira's hide have you been?"
• "Hircine's hind"
• "Namira's blood"
• "Blood and briar"

Exhortations and Blessings

• "Spirits guide you"
• "Hircine will guide our strikes!"

Maxims and Proverbs

• "Anyone can be a king in the Reach. No one can be a king of the Reach."
• "You've got to listen to the spirits."

Redguard

Oaths

• "By the Dragon's Teeth"
• "By My Father's Name"
• "By Rourken"
• "By the Great Hammer"
• "By the Dwarf-King"
• "By the Guardian's Blood"
• "By the First Wyrm"
• "By the Blade"
• "By Divad"
• "By Katrica"
• "By The Maiden"
• "By Frandar"
• "By The Sun"
• "By the thousand scales of Satakal"
• "By my father's blade"

Exclamations

• "Dragon's Teeth"
• "Cursed Darvak"
• "Beard of the Dwarf-King"
• "Spirit Sword"
• "Stendarr Preserve Us"

Maxims and Proverbs

• "A man is only as great as the beard that wears him"
• "A fool and his fingers are quickly parted"

FACTIONS

Arcanists

Oaths

• "By Mora's eyes" (sometimes "many eyes")

Curses

• "Apocrypha take you"

Exclamations

• "Twitching tentacles" (expressing alarm)

Colorful Adjectives

• "I have no Aurbisal idea" (flatly denying any knowledge of an event, a subject, etc.)

Colorful Metaphors

• "Stubborn as the abyssal sea."

Mages

Exclamations

• "Like a ray of sunlight from Magnus himself."

Exhortations and Blessings

• "Faster than you can say 'eye of Magnus' three times fast"

Colorful Metaphors

• "He cuts through guild politics like a spellforged blade"

Maxims and Proverbs

• "Seeing and understanding are two different things."
• "Not everything you need to know is on the page."