Good day everyone, Madman97 here, back to give you my thoughts on another matter that seems to divide a lot of people here. I have had a few arguments myself on the matter, and I am here to provide points that may help to clear up some arguments. This will be a neutral argument for both sides. So without further ado, let us begin to see who is stronger than whom. The Daedra or the Aedra.
In some versions of the two entities creation myths and legends, it is said that when Padomay decided to fight Anu to bring about change, the blood spilt formed the Aedra and Daedra. Daedra were formed from soley Padomay's blood, and the Aedra from the mixture of Anu and Padomay's blood, allowing them to be good and evil. The Aedra are spirits who involved themselves in the Creation of Nirn through the trickery of Lorkhan and the Eight Divines are the ones who gave the most to the creation, being Akatosh, Arkay, Dibella, Julianos, Kynareth, Mara, Stendarr, and Zenithar. This will not include Talos, because he is not an Aedra. The Divines, being incapacitated from their interventions and dealings with Lorkhan, are confined to their own realms, what mere mortals on Nirn see and comprehend as the planets. And then there are there is Magnus, god of Magnus, tore a hole through Mundus, what we see as the sun, in his escape from Nirn, and the Et'Ada, who followed him later and became the stars. Some degenerated into mortality, in Elven Religion they are the ancestors of the elves. In fact, that's what Aedra means. "Our Ancestors." That's all well and good.
However, influential as the Aedra were, we have a more physcial dealing with their counterparts, the Daedra. These are beings of change, while the Aedra are beings of stasis. They seem to like involving themselves with mere mortals, and give us pretty immoral quests to do, most of them anyway. There are a few fun ones, like ones involving Ol Uncle Sanguine and that ever loving madman Sheogorath. The others though...are a different story. While Sheogorath and Sanguine at least conceal their evil nature through fun, the other Daedra are just outright rude, being creatures of destruction and change. Azura and Meridia being the exception. And maybe a little bit of Nocturnal. She never seems to be up to anything, or maybe being the patron of shadows, maybe not suspecting she is up to something is the whole point. But anyway, I digress.
This is just a quick re-run of knowledge people should already now if they are into the Tamrielic Lore. Basic stuff. And now, to why this blog is. Many people state that the Daedra are stronger. They are beings of change, destruction, and can only be banished. The others, including me, but for the sake of neutrality, I will not argue for them, say the Aedra are stronger. While the Nine Divines are incapacitated, not dead, incapacitated, they still have the strength to take on full on Daedric Assualts and send them back to the Nether regions, I.E. Akatosh and Mehrunes Dagon. (Then again, Akatosh is just sort of all-round bad@$$).
The Daedra are immortal and did not suffer a loss of power like the Aedra did in the Creation of Nirn. When a Daedra is defeated, their essence is simply sent back to Oblivion. I think it even says it on a loading screen in Skyrim. Hmm, I don't really remember. Oh well. But anyway, given this fact, the Daedra are able to come back again and again without reprieve given the means, and thus translate into being unstoppable.
Argument against this: It has been theorized that if a Daedra is killed in Oblivion, they truly die, but since hardly anyone has ever tried, it is not known. Though the Hero of Kvatch probably knows. Too bad he/she doesn't share their knowledge with the world. It would probably be very helpful. Plus, I am not sure anyone paid attention to what happened with the Daedra you just axed in the face when your trying to get that Stone in the tower. Anyway, Daedra are somewhat easy to combat, a mere mortal can defeat one. I think when someone tries to argue that the Daedra are stonger than the Aedra, I think they are thinking about the Daedric Princes vs. The Divines in mind. The Daedric Princes are certainly powerful, immortal probably as well, but they can be defeated, and the Aedra have done that too many times. Even mortals have outdone Daedric Princes before. But, the main idea is that the Daedra, besides the Princes, can be killed if done so in Oblivion. If I can bring in my Daedra Home theory, Each entity is strongest where it's from. If killed where it is strongest, it may be enough to drain all of its power away completly and be enough to kill it. Who knows? If you manage to defeat a Daedric Prince on it's own soil, it could be enough to kill it. In fact, according to Mankar Camoran, Lorkhan was also a Daedric Prince. While I don;t think it's true, one should take note of it. So you could say the Daedra are immortal, but not invincable. So that leaves this arguement at a stalemate with the Aedra. Power wise, the Aedra are still very powerful, even after they are knocked out. Akatosh defeated Dagon with some ease. Bringing back my Daedra Time theory, the power to seal off Daedra from Nirn is still working quite well. And the blessings you get from alters are very real. And when we look at an Aedra's realm, we can only comprehend them as planets. We can look at Oblivion quite fine, but the Aedric realms are still a mystery. I do hope we see a physical appearence of an Aedra, even if it comes in just a vision or a dream. It would be quite fun. While the Divines have lost their powers, the rest of the Aedra still remain as powerful as ever.
Never have I seen such a demonstration of power such as the one Magnus did when he exited Nirn from the Daedra. Magnus pulled out of Nirn in time and retained all of his power, making magic limitless, and thus making Magnus's power limitless, and I am sure that the Et'Ada, who lost some power and made only the stars, still retain some level of power. It is said that Magnus pulled out in disgust of his creation that he himself cordinated, giving a reason why he doesn't show himself. Heck, if he did, we would all be disintergrated from his sheer presence alone. Personal thought about if a Daedric Prince went up against Magnus, the Prince would have no chance in Oblivion. So when people argue that the Daedra are strongert than the Aedra, they probably only think about Princes Vs. Divines. While the Princes may be stronger than most of the Divines, Akatosh excluded, and maybe Talos too, but again, not counting him, they are not stronger than the rest of the Aedra. Besides the Princes, the Daedra can be defeated by mortals alone. So it can be said the Daedra, as a whole, are a lot weaker than the Aedra as a whole. Only a small few Daedra are able to stand up to the might of the Aedra, but even they will meet their match and more when it comes to the Aedra.
This argument is basically the only one for the Daedra. They are immortal and are still very powerful. Their nature of change can come into play here. They can change things up a bit. Their craftiness is something to be reckoned with. Ask Malacath and Boethia. Or Sheogorath for that matter. Read some Sixteen accounts of Madness. Man, I wish we had more than just three of those to read. Their element of change is another factor why one would believe that Lorkhan is a Daedric Prince. Creating a new world is an odd form of Stasis for an Aedra, wouldn't you think?'
I hope this may clear up some things for you in the next Lore Flame War you have in the forum section, and remember, this all just speculation. Feel free to drop in your own little theories in the comment section below, and if you have GTA V for Xbox, join "The Madmen of 97th" crew if you want to drive some players crazy. Stay Ranty people, and as soon as I am ready, Season 3 of Wabbajack Grinding will be coming here soon. Good Day.