Night Mother

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The Night Mother is the bride of Sithis, the Unholy Father of the Dark Brotherhood. Those who wish to have someone assassinated pray to the Night Mother, and she extends their requests to her Listener, who in turn passes the task on to the Speakers. It is debatable whether she was a real person or if she is the Lucky Old Lady of Bravil.

[edit] Identity

According to Dark Brotherhood beliefs, she is the mother of Airdrie Stronach, a being of divine and frightening power..

The Night Mother is likely to have lived during the Second Era, as indicated in the in-game book The Brothers of Darkness. Her tomb is located underneath the Lucky Old Lady Statue in Bravil. There are skeletal remains of one adult and five children in her tomb. This takes into account her children in Dark Brotherhood beliefs. The Night Mother might also be the same person as the Lucky Old Lady. One indication of this is that the Lucky Old Lady's statue sits atop Night Mother's tomb.

According to the Stealth skill book, Sacred Witness, she was a member of the Thieves Guild, around the time when it was just beginning. She was one of many at the time that found it easier to just strangle the occupant of the house, rather than go through the bother of sneaking the entire time. She suggested the Guild have a special group of those who specialized in such a task, just as there were for pickpocketing, lock-picking, fencing, etc., but they decided encouraging murder would be bad for business and refused. However, realizing the possible profits from killing for hire, the Night Mother began performing assassinations, and left a calling card of two stones, one white and one black, in each eye. The following she developed did not become the Morag Tong, however. According to her supposed words, the Morag Tong existed long before her time, and she merely took on those members that split from the group after the murder of the last Potentate, as she was "the only other murder syndicate of any note". According to the editor's note at the end of the book, the book was originally published anonymously, but that anyone can recognize the familiar writing and cadence of Enric Milres. It goes on to say that shortly after the publishing of this book, Milres was found "strangled, and two stones, a black one and a white one, crushed into his eyesockets. Very brutally."

In the game, she appears in ethereal form during the final Dark Brotherhood quest, Honor Thy Mother. Mathieu Bellamont attempted to attack her to no avail during this quest. Her tomb has much loot at the end of that quest, so be sure to grab all the loot you can carry, as there is no returning once you leave here.

[edit] Night Mother Ritual

For prospective clients to contact the Dark Brotherhood, they would carry out a ritual called the Night Mother Ritual. This ritual would inform the Night Mother of their intentions. When the Listener of the Black Hand prays to the Lucky Old Lady Statue in Bravil, Night Mother will inform the Listener about location of those prospective clients. The Listener would then relay this information to Speakers of the Black Hand.

Quoting Black Horse Courier on the Night Mother Rituals!:

As documented in the rare and taboo work "A Kiss, Sweet Mother," the Black Sacrament involves an effigy of the intended victim -- created from actual body parts, including a heart, skull, bones and flesh -- within a circle of candles. To proceed with the ritual, one must stab the effigy repeatedly with a dagger rubbed with the petals of a Nightshade plant, while whispering the plea, "Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear." As gruesome as this ritual may be, even more frightening is its intention -- the summoning of a mysterious assassin (who some witnesseses claim is always clad in a black hooded robe) who will then receive money to kill an innocent victim. No remorse. No regret. It is, as the merchant's say, simply business. And that's what worries Adamus Phillida.