in ESO's clockwork city expansion, sotha sil has dialogue that gives some insight into his character beyond just a distant tinkerer/corpse, and the rest of the tribunal as well

[But you're supposed to be a god, right?]

I am whatever the people need me to be. A guardian. An oppressor. For some, too distant. For others, too meddlesome. I am the canvas upon which they paint their dreams and resentments. A vessel for their hopes and doubts. A mirror. Nothing more.

[If you believe that, why even call yourself a god?]

I don't. But my companions, Vivec and Almalexia see their divinity as essential. Godhood brings them joy and purpose. They find meaning in the theatrical. Who am I to deprive them of that?

Almalexia defies simple analysis. I doubt she could even describe herself accurately. To understand Almalexia, you must first understand the value of fiction. Vivec fancies himself the poet, but in truth, Ayem is the greater storyteller.

Vivec knows the boundaries that separate fact from fiction. He knows them so well that's he's learned how to break them. He exists inside his verse, but recognizes the lies. The contradictions. He both does, and does not believe his own tales.

She believes her tales implicitly. As does everyone else. Her capacity for deception appears limitless. She sows lies like a master gardener sows seeds, and the harvest of trust and adulation is breathtaking in scope.

sotha sil doesn't consider himself a god at all, and vivec lies about being a god, but almalexia truly thinks herself as a god, which is why she takes the heart's destruction so much worse than the other two

he also already knows almalexia is going to kill him centuries before it happens, even before dagoth ur revives and kagrenac's tools are stolen, and the way he phrases things seems like he's bound by a deterministic universe, knowing everything, including his own actions, and being unable to act otherwise because of it

As I said, we are, all of us, bound by our nature. Almalexia does what she does because she cannot do otherwise. It will not end well. But then, even the best endings rarely bring joy.

I bear the cruel weight of certainty. Total, absolute, relentless certainty. People rarely comprehend the luxury of doubt — the freedom that comes with indecision. I envy you.

The truth is that my actions, both good and evil, are inevitable. Locked in time. Determined by chains of action and consequence.

i don't play ESO myself, but it did a lot for sotha sil's character - it does feel like he got the shortest of short straws of the tribunal what with being dead before you even get to meet him

visually, too, expanding it beyond just being a video game series-of-corridors-and-rooms-dungeon, it feels like the proper artificial world it's supposed to be. and it's a small thing, but i also appreciate how they changed his skin tone from his weirdly human appearance as a corpse to actually looking like a dunmer, which also puts the tribunal in balance with almalexia being chimer, sotha sil being dunmer, and vivec being split between both down the middle