General:Announcing 'The Nameless Mage' Contest Winner

Originally published May 5, 2015. The original article can be found here.

After reviewing over 5,700 entries for our Nameless Mage contest (and yes, we read every one of them!), we're happy to announce that we've chosen our winner.

Arriving at our decision was not an easy one, though. We enlisted the help of members of The Elder Scrolls Online Dev Team, and it was challenging to choose just one winner out of so many inspiring entries.

The winning entry had not only a creative and unique name for our Dark Elf mage, but was also coupled with an interesting backstory that our Content Designers will be able to seamlessly integrate into The Elder Scrolls Online. The character that our winner imagined has a unique point-of-view, along with knowledge of Oblivion itself. He will no doubt be a valuable ally to you when you step foot into Molag Bal's realm, Coldharbour.

Without further ado, we would like to introduce you to our Dark Elf mage, Malkur Valos.

Malkur Valos was the only child of the Dunmer wizard, Maros Valos. When Malkur's mother died in childbirth, Maros summoned a Golden Saint to protect and care for his son. Maros was killed in a mage's duel and Malkur's Daedric protector honored her commitment to the infant by taking him to Lord Sheogorath's realm.

The son of a powerful Dunmer wizard, Malkur is naturally gifted in the arcane arts and shares the distrusting, disdainful temperament of his race. Under the tutelage of the Aureals, Malkur acquired steadfast principles of honor, duty, and fidelity to his word. The inescapable influence of the Shivering Isles imbued him with a measure of unpredictability in his methods.

Eventually, Malkur was drawn to return to his native Tamriel, where his talent, honor, and innovation soon caught the attention of Vanus Galerion. When Malkur swore to uphold the principles and objectives of the Mages Guild, those principles and objectives became the unwavering core driving his every action, though that was not always apparent to superficial observers.

Gavis Velas, who died (3E 427) while avenging his brother, Ovis, is a descendant of Malkur Valos.

Congratulations to Jim from Albany, California, for scoring the opportunity to provide our mage with a name and story! We thoroughly enjoyed reading every entry, and hope everyone had fun participating in this contest. Be sure to keep an eye on our Facebook page where we'll be posting some of our favorite entries throughout the week!

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