Jyggalag Guide

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James Gibson

James Gibson is a writer for Venture 4th Media specializing in the fast-moving, ever-evolving, gaming market. James has been writing content within the gaming sector for many years, alongside myriad scriptwriting and reviewer roles all whilst being fully immersed in said sector. He also believes that articles related to gaming should be at all times, simultaneously light-hearted and informative. James has a passion for RPGs in particular and can often be found playing these games rather than writing about them.

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Jyggalag is the Daedric Prince of order and deductive reasoning. He is the main antagonist of the Shivering Isles DLC, wherein we find him and his alter ego, Sheogorath, engaged in a battle of wills.

There are many great things about having a franchise as long-running and complex as the Elder Scrolls series. One of these things is the complex lore system that builds over time as more and more talented writers contribute to the fiction world’s melting pot, which we all love. 

In my opinion, one of the most significant pieces of world-building and subsections of TES franchises lore is that detailing the Daedric Princes. The amount of detail and thought that goes into every single one of their characters is truly immense. This, combined with how true the writers and developers stick to their original conception of these characters over the decades the series has been running, is truly outstanding. 

With this in mind then, this guide will take a deeper and more complex look at one of the Daedric Princes who sometimes gets overlooked. I don’t know whether this is because of his rather silly name or because he has never been included or mentioned in a base Elder Scrolls game. Still, I believe Jyggalag deserves his own special mention when it comes to the best Daedric Princes and characters in the world of TES. So, what are we waiting for? Let’s get right into it!

Who or What is Jyggalag?

First of all, one thing which has to be remembered right at the beginning of this guide is that Jyggalag is a Daedric Prince, and because of this, he shares many commonalities with his fellow Oblivion ruling Princes. One of these commonalities, and possibly the most important, is that he is a creature consumed with a specific subset of thought or way of thought. In Jyggalag’s case, his domain is anything relating to order. 

The Prince of Order

You are probably asking yourself, “what does it mean to be the prince of order, and how does that make Jyggalag interesting or powerful?” Well, let me answer your perfectly formed question.

First of all, as he is the Daedric Prince of order, Jyggalag must concern himself with anything pertaining to logical thought processes, deduction, and manners of thought. To do this effectively, the Daedric Prince has had to and continues to monitor and record for himself every little thing which happens throughout Nirn and the plane of Oblivion. 

In Brief:

• Jyggalag is the Daedric Prince of order and law; he possesses knowledge of everything which has ever occurred across all plains of existence.
• There is not much lore about Jyggalag due to his lack of inclusion in most of the Elder Scroll’s titles. For example, he has only been included in TES4: Oblivion as part of a DLC.
• Jyggalag is the main antagonist of the Oblivion DLC, The Shivering Isles.

Power and Loss

As you might imagine, the fact that Jyggalag has complete and total recall of all events throughout time and space, across myriad dimensions, makes him a somewhat knowledgeable fellow indeed. And how does that old saying go? Knowledge is power.

For this very reason, Jyggalag found himself not only capable of amassing great power within the plane of Oblivion but also in a position to rule over his other Daedric brothers and sisters. You see, Jyggalag managed to use his immense powers of deductive reasoning and ability to predict the future to win battles and install himself as the head of a dynasty, powerful and all-seeing. 

Jyggalag reigned over his brothers and sisters for a great deal of time, the exact length of this reign is unknown, but we could hazard a guess and say it would be somewhere in the thousands of years category.

During this time, he and his ‘Knights of Order’ ruled over the plain of Oblivion with iron fists, extinguishing and flames of rebellion before they could ever turn into a roaring blaze. It is said that this time period within the realm of Oblivion was not only the most peaceful but also the most ‘perfect’ and orderly in the history of time itself.

This trend of expansion and dominance did not go unnoticed by Jyggalag’s brothers and sister, causing great distress among them as those who continued to live outside of his sphere of control assumed, correctly, that it would only be a matter of time before they would kneel before the agent of order.

Therefore, they decided that action must be taken, and a drastic decision was made. A decision which still, to this day, has never been repeated again. The Daedric Princes decided to unite as one in order to defeat the prince of order and law. 

Despite the great divide which stood between the Daedric Princes at the time, and till this day, they managed to work together, and before any great length of time had passed, they managed to amass enough power to curse their enemy. Unlike anything ever cast in terms of its power, this curse managed to strip Jyggalag of the very thing he relied upon the most, the thing which gave him all of his power, his mind.

The spell cast by the Daedra managed to turn Jyggalag into an entity so far removed from himself that the new being in his place deserved a new name and identity, Sheogorath.

The curse has well and truly sent Jyggalag back into the recesses of his own mind as the corruption caused by the spell ensured that the new being in his place was one of madness and unbalanced thought. Therefore, the prince of order was officially turned into the mad-God, the Prince of Madness.

In Brief:

• The realm that Jyggalag controlled before his fall from grace is unknown.
• Jyggalag was defeated by the other Daedric Princes coming together and casting a curse of madness upon him.
• Jyggalag is now known as the Daedric Prince of Madness, Sheogorath.

The Punishment Continues

You know, in my opinion, I would say that something as drastic as causing someone to have a severe and permanent mental breakdown, wherein they could monitor their own actions but could do nothing to stop it as prisoners inside their own addled minds, would be enough of a punishment for Jyggalag. However, this is possibly the reason I am not a Daedric Prince; maybe I am just too kind. 

You see, the Daedric Princes were not done with their punishment of Jyggalag. Instead of leaving him as Sheogorath permanently, they decided that Jyggalag would be allowed to return to his own sane mind once every era as part of their spell.

It is unclear if an era in this sense is the same as an Imperial Era, one defined by humans, or an era determined by Daedra. However, the result is the same, at the end of every era, Jyggalag is restored to his former glory, and mental capacity as Sheogorath is placed back inside the depths of his mind. 

The Daedric Princes allowed this because they knew that due to Jyggalag’s severe need to restore order out of chaos, he would always seek to instill order in the realm that Sheogorath managed to create for himself in Jyggalag’s absence.

Of course, this land named the Shivering Isles would be rife with chaos and drive the Daedric Prince mad, pulling his focus from world domination for just long enough to restore balance to the place. 

As time passed with Jyggalag back in the driver seat of his own body, he would eventually succeed in his battle across the Shivering Isles, restoring it to a place of order and control; this event is known as the ‘Greymarch.’

This is when the true evil of the other Daedric Princes would kick in, as when the Greymarch was officially over, and Jyggalag had won back the Isles to a place of order, the curse would restart and kick the Daedra back into his own mind, replacing him, once again, with Sheogorath.

With Sheogorath back in control, not only does Jyggalag have to watch from behind the confines of his own mind as the mad version of himself destroys his perfect order, but there is also the added punishment of Sheogorath coming back to his realm and seeing that it has been destroyed by his alter ego.

Therefore, this battle between the two sides of the Daedra is a continuing cycle of madness and loss, perpetuated by their own very natures and the curse itself. I honestly could not think of a worse and more devious curse to inflict upon someone.

In Brief:

• The Shivering Isles is a land of chaos created by Sheogorath. At the end of every Era, Jyggalag returns to his sanity and restores order in a time called the Greymarch.
• Once the Greymarch has ended, Sheogorath returns and undoes all of Jyggalag’s work; this cycle then continues ad-nauseam. 
• Jyggalag is aware of all of Sheogorath’s actions but can do nothing to stop them when the curse is in effect.

The Shivering Isles

One of, if not the most critically acclaimed pieces of DLC ever released for an Elder Scrolls title, The Shivering Isles, sees the hero of Kvatch travel to the realm of Sheogorath in order to prevent the forthcoming Greymarch. From this, we can not only see that Sheogorath and Jyggalag are aware of one another and the cycle they have been placed in but that they also seek to free themselves from it. 

When the player first arrives on the Isles at the request of Sheogorath, the Daedra will, at first, maintain an air of caution around the player, appearing to hold back some key information for the hero of Kvatch as to the true nature of his situation.

As time goes on, his stories and excuses continue to not match up, but the DLC continues anyway, with the player character growing increasingly suspicious of everything going on around them.

Eventually, the prince will tell the player that Jyggalag is coming and soon. Therefore, he wants your help to defeat him by setting traps and in single combat.

This all seems perfectly reasonable at first until Sheogorath makes some rather pathetic excuses as to why he will not be able to be there when Jyggalag finally arrives, thus placing the player at the center of the success of the plan. Of course, by this point in the guide, we know why they cannot be in the same place simultaneously, but back then, when my 14-year-old brain couldn’t process nuance, I was simply confused. 

Eventually, though, before Sheogorath becomes Jyggalag and the Greymarch officially begins, the mad-God comes clean to the player about his dual nature. Instructing them that they must take on some of Sheogorath’s power in order to actually defeat this great foe.

This process of adopting some of the prince’s power is successful at first until Jyggalag finally comes to his senses and prevents the passing of the final seal of power from Sheogorath to the player in the form of Sheogorath’s Staff. 

The Greymarch 

Now that Jyggalag has reached the surface again, the process of the Greymarch must begin again as he is repulsed by the chaos he sees all around himself within Sheogorath’s Shivering Isles. There is only one problem with his plan; however, this time, Sheogorath has been smart and has brought in outside assistance in order to prevent his realm from being taken over by his enemy and alter ego. 

During the remainder of this DLC, the player must try and gather more power in order to finally face off against Jyggalag and his Knights of Order. To do this, they travel throughout the Isles in order to find the knowledge and power necessary to defeat this foe. 

Eventually, the player is directed to the Library of Order, a location that was once heralded as the greatest assembly of knowledge in all of creation. A place constructed by Jyggalag to preserve history, knowledge, and his own formulas of fate.

Once the player arrives at this location, they will find that the former great library has all but been destroyed by the mad-God, and most of what remains are of no help whatsoever. However, from the time of Jyggalag’s reign, one thing still seems pretty intact, if not a little rude: the librarian and former Chamberlain, Dyus. 

After speaking with Dyus, it is pretty clear to the player that he thinks you simply have no chance of defeating his former master, so he deems it inconsequential to point the player in the right direction in how they can create a Staff of Sheogorath for themselves.

Essentially, he tells the player that they must complete a series of dangerous tasks in order to gain the necessary power and supplies to create the staff. When the player eventually manages to complete these difficult mini-quests, the librarian will be shocked. Not only to see the player alive but also because you have managed to defy Jyggalag’s formula of fate, which predicted the player’s downfall. 

The Final Battle 

After this, the player will eventually find themselves at a place where they can actually fight the Daedric Prince of order and deductive reasoning. This time just so happens to be right at the apex of the Greymarch, and therefore Jyggalag’s defeat must come quickly. Therefore, the player and the Daedra will fight, and with some skill, quick saves, and perhaps some luck, the player will emerge victorious from the altercation.

Once this is done, the player will be visited by the spirit of Jyggalag, who will thank the player. Apparently, since the player managed to defeat him, the cycle imposed on both Jyggalag and Sheogorath has been stopped as the Greymarch did not actually succeed this time around, thus freeing both of the deities to continue their own works, returning Jyggalag to the plane of Oblivion where he can roam freely for the first time in thousands of years. 

Throughout this exposition dump, the prince of order will also fill the player in about everything which occurred between himself, the other Daedric Princes, and how he and Sheogorath came to live aside one another. After this, the DLC is completed, and Jyggalag returns to the planes of Oblivion, declaring that the player character themself is the new Sheogorath, as there must be a sitting Daedric prince of madness. 

The Combat Mechanics

When fighting a being that is literally a God within any game, we can expect to come up against a fair bit of resistance. This is, therefore, also true in our final fight with Jyggalag.

When the player finally manages to reach the stage of the DLC wherein the Greymarch has almost ended, the Hero of Kvatch must defeat the prince once and for all. To start the fight properly and summon the crystalline warrior to the field of battle, the player must wade their way through droves of his Knights of Order and place a ‘Heart of Order’ in each of the Obelisks which surround the final battleground. Doing this will see the prince drop from the sky and move towards the player. 

There are two main things that the player has to worry about when fighting this enemy. First of all, he will hit you with lightning bolts throughout the entire combat; therefore, staying at a distance or using ranged attacks on this boss might not be the best call. Possibly consider a more brawler, sword, and shield style. Secondly, he will be using the Sword of Jyggalag, the single artifact that this Daedra has to his name.

This blade that Jyggalag wields in his one hand is classed as two-handed when looted at the end of the battle. Also, the sword appears to be classed as part of the Daedra’s character model; therefore, when he hits the player with it, the damage is classed as hand-to-hand combat, so take this into consideration in reference to spell and armor selection. Otherwise, the sword is fairly basic, maxing out at a damage of 24, a hefty weight of 58, and a value of 4200 gold.

It is actually fairly straightforward if you keep this in mind when entering your final battle against Jyggalag. However, I would recommend ensuring you have plenty of health potions, considering the number of other violent NPCs that populate the area.

In Brief:

• At the end of the Shivering Isles DLC, the player becomes the new Sheogorath. The Daedric Prince of Madness.
• Jyggalag is defeated by the player at the end of the DLC, most often by the use of their own, newly created Staff of Sheogorath.
• The librarian Dyus is shocked when the player survives the trials necessary to forge a new staff of Sheogorath. This is because Jyggalag apparently predicted the hero of Kvatch’s arrival in the Shivering Isles.

Jyggalag Post the Final Greymarch

At the end of the Shivering Isles DLC, Jyggalag is free from the cycle of continual torment which he has been trapped in for thousands of years. He, therefore, leaves the player at the helm of the Isles and returns to his home plane of existence, Oblivion.

After this, not much is known about what Jyggalag has been up to post his release. One would assume he would be amassing some form of an army in order to punish his Daedric brothers and sisters, who tortured him for so many years.

However, not a word is said referencing Jyggalag in the next installment in the TES franchise, Oblivion, even though Sheogorath does make an appearance.

So, Where is He?

There are two main theories that fans will talk about in reference to Jyggalag and Sheogorath after The Shivering Isles DLC events. The first of which is that the Sheogorath we meet in Skyrim is simply Jyggalag once again, trapped in another curse.

This theory states that once Jyggalag was freed from his eternal bondage and returned to Oblivion, his Daedric brothers and sisters simply got back together again and inflicted the same curse of the Daedra of order all over again.

Personally, I don’t put much stock in this theory myself. Not only because it would be poor and repetitive writing on the developer’s side, but it is also repetitive and boring for the player, effectively removing one of the most interesting Daedric Princes from future installments of the franchise for no good reason. 

The second and most likely theory that fans will have in reference to the Jyggalag is that he is simply reforming and growing in power back within the plain of Oblivion. This theory suggests that instead of Sheogorath being the same man we met back in TES4: Oblivion, in Skyrim, he is, in fact, the Hero of Kvatch, driven to madness by the Shivering Isles and the power which was bestowed upon him as the mad-God of that realm.

This theory also states that since Jyggalag had no corporeal form at the end of the DLC, he is taking a great deal of time to return due to the sheer amount of power and energy reforming his previous form entails.

I like this theory a lot, as it places the Hero of Kvatch within the world of Skyrim and actually gives the player a sense of how our old player character ended all those centuries post-Oblivion it also speaks to a return of Jyggalag. Something I would welcome happily. 

In Brief:

• Jyggalag has not been included or directly mentioned in an Elder Scrolls game since the events of The Shivering Isles DLC.
• At the end of the DLC, the Daedra tells the player he is returning to the plane of Oblivion, most likely to regain his lost power. 
• At the end of the DLC, the player is anointed as the new mad-God, taking on the mantle of Sheogorath and ownership of the Shivering Isles themselves.

So, there you have it, a complete and rather detailed guide into one of the most interesting Daedric Princes ever to be included in TES franchise and one who is scarcely talked about or known to players who have joined the series post-Oblivion. 

Hopefully, from this guide, you have not only learned something/everything about Jyggalag but also TES world as a whole and how certain characters interact with one another, and how vast and deep the lore for said characters really goes at times. Now, with that being said, why don’t you jump back onto your old console and boot up your Oblivion save file? I know I will. Best of luck and happy exploring!

Jyggalag Guide: FAQs