The Staff of Chaos (sometimes called the Staff of Unity and Chaos) is an ancient relic of untold power. The staff, also called Balac-thurm, was created by Loreth, a pupil of the hermetic enchanter Dalak. Loreth created the ebony staff, sometime after 1E 480, based on his own findings and skills. Having been forged from the essence of the very Land itself, it is nigh-indestructible. It has the power to open gateways into other worlds and is capable of obliterating the entire corporeal form of a living creature.
The staff played a central role in the Imperial Simulacrum. In 3E 389, the Imperial Battlemage to Uriel Septim VII, Jagar Tharn, who had stolen the staff from beneath the city of Mournhold, used it to imprison the Emperor and General Warhaft in the realm of Oblivion. He then used it to destroy his apprentice, Ria Silmane in order to prevent the Elder Council from learning of his betrayal.
To solidify his grasp over Tamriel and ensure nobody had a chance to rescue the true Emperor, Tharn knew he had to dispose of the staff. Unable to destroy it, he did the next best thing, splitting it into eight fragments and hiding each piece within the most forgotten and dangerous places throughout the provinces.
In the event the staff were reacquired, Tharn planned ahead. He drained the staff of all its magical potential, placing it within the Jewel of Fire underneath the Imperial Palace. If one were to relocate the staff and reassemble it, they would find it to be utterly useless.
When the Eternal Champion reunited the eight pieces of the staff and linked it to the Jewel of Fire, the combined energies of Tharn's lifeforce and the Staff of Chaos were released in a powerful surge of energy, culminating in the destruction of both the Battlemage and the Staff itself. The release of energy opened a gate to free Uriel Septim VII and Warhaft from their otherworldly prison, and destroyed much of the Palace interior.
Notes
- In The Real Barenziah, Part IX (which appeared in TES II: Daggerfall), the staff is referred to as the "Staff of Unity and Chaos", though it is simply the "Staff of Chaos" in later versions.
See Also
- For game-specific information, see the Arena article on the Staff of Chaos.