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Does j'zargo envy the player so much that he wanted to kill him

    • 168 posts
    April 7, 2016 11:31 AM EDT

    The more I think about J’zargo and his exploding scrolls, the more I think he wanted to kill you because he greatly envies you. First of all, he is highly competitive and strives to be the best of the College's students, using all available means necessary, including stealing and reckless experiments, such as his exploding scrolls. It can be safely presumed that with J'zargo's arrogance, he became less than popular with the other students and you can hear a hint of envy in his voice when he says "J'zargo has seen that Tolfdir likes you. You must be very skilled with magic, yes?". Brelyna also shows a hint of his envy of you when you agree to help her with her experiment, saying, "Oh, good. I was worried I would have had to ask J'zargo." Having survived his exploding scrolls, you may even confront him about his supposed plot ("Were they supposed to explode? Because they exploded."), which he of course fervently denies and instead of apologizing, he says "But... J'zargo is pleased to see that you are here, and not in pieces! ".  Given his philosophy on competition and a less charitable interpretation of his quest, it's very clear that he is actually attempting to eliminate a powerful rival (you) by using customary Khajiiti cleverness.

    That's what I think and that's why I ask J'zargo to be a test subject of my experiment - A barrage of incinerate followed by a soul trap and once I trapped his soul, I say "So, J'zargo, have you mastered the Expert level Destruction spells yet? Because I have!!".

    What about you? Do you think J'zargo wanted to kill you with his scrolls in order to eliminate competition?

    • 113 posts
    April 7, 2016 11:29 PM EDT

    I personally think even if he does envy the player at the beginning, he starts to respect you when he sees the player survived the scrolls. That is why khajiit follows him/her, no?

    • 168 posts
    April 8, 2016 10:30 AM EDT

    If putting my life on the line by testing unpredictable spells for J'zargo is the only way to earn his respect, then I'd prefer J'zargo to envy me until the rest of his days. And what if the player didn't survive? Would he feel himself guilty or he would simply say "One less to worry about". Magic within the lore is often unpredictable, as we see with the apprentices within the college. There's the group of apprentices who left, and you find some of their bodies later, usually a charred husk surrounded by flames. Being turned into a horse by accident when testing spells also count. Tolfdir talked about that during the quest First Lessons and J'zargo simply ignored him, saying that he and the others want to learn something practical. Although I have no direct evidence to support this claim, I think J'zargo decided to be your friend after you survived the ordeal in order to catch you with your guard down.

    • 207 posts
    April 18, 2016 2:24 PM EDT

    I don't think this would be how J'Zargo would try to become the best. He seems more like a guy who wants to be better than you. He might steal artifacts of arcane power and do questionable experiments, but he wants to be better. If he kills you, he isn't a better mage than you. He wants to be better than everyone else, he doesn't want to be the best, if you understand me, 'cause out of context this sentence doesn't make any sense.

    • 1441 posts
    April 18, 2016 2:32 PM EDT

    Wait, one turned into a horse? I wondered why there was a random horse near that camp

  • April 18, 2016 2:36 PM EDT
    Yeah I think he's more about truly overcoming the competition which doesn't mean removing the competition.

    Great theory though! Never looked at in that way before. Very interesting.
    • 52 posts
    April 19, 2016 5:31 AM EDT

    This is one of the funniest discussions I've read especially that last part! This really made the end to my long night early morning. Thanks man! 

    Honestly, I have never have gotten involved with the Winterhold students questlines yet. But based on what I've seen from him. He looks up to you as a rival who is desperate on accomplishing I common dream that most have. Wanting to be the best for power and fame and fortune.