Dremora are a race of intelligent war spirits in the service of the Daedra Lord Mehrunes Dagon. They are immensely gifted in both magic and physical attacks, making them highly destructive agents of the Lord of Destruction and are almost always involved in his nefarious plots around Tamriel. They are seen exclusively in the Elder Scrolls game universe.
Dremora Appearance
Dremora have an overall humanoid appearance, although they lean to what many might consider a demonic theme. Their skin is black with red markings, and wear heavy armor, from which smiths derive the shape of Daedric armor. Dremora are also horned, ranging from short spikes to long, curling, ram-like tusks. The higher ranking Dremora seemingly carry these long horns, and their skin bears less armor, as seen in Battlespire.
Dremora Combat Style
Dremora are skilled in all weapon types and all colleges in magic. The level of skill depends on the rank of the Dremora. The difference between Dremora weapons and armor, and Daedric weapons and armor is that Daedric Armor is forged by the Daedric princes' forges for their personal minions. The Dremora weapons and armor are created by average Dremora across Oblivion.
Ranking System
The Dremora are daedric servants of the Daedra Lord Mehrunes Dagon and function similar to a modern military; they have ranks, names, tactics, weapons, etc. Dremora ranks are as follows:
Dremora Churl: Churls are the lowest rank of Dremora: obsequious to their superiors (such as Dagon himself), extremely and ferociously cruel to humans and other Daedra (as seen in the various planes of Dagon's version of Oblivion when various mutilated human corpses can be seen either on the ground, in lava or having being hung by rope). Churls always carry Dremora Maces into battle and are known to use various spells such as fireballs, icebolts and a spell that either damages the players health, weapon, armour, or all. Churl mages are capable of summoning lesser daedra into battle.
Dremora Caitiff: Dremora Caitiff's are the second rank of the Dremora and are basically the same as Churls, only possesing increased health, magicka, fatigue and stronger armour. They favour the use of Dremora Maces and Dremora Caitiff Shields in battle and will often use magic and potions to fortify themselves in battle. Like the Churl and all Dremora, they are immensely cruel, only keeping prisoners alive for sport and torture (as seen in Mankar Camoran's Paradise when previously killed Mythic Dawn Agents who have become immortal and are being dipped over and over into lava.) Also, like Dremora Churl mages, Caitiff mages are capable of summoning lesser daedra into combat and also posses a wider array of spells.
Dremora Kynval: The Kynval is the Dremora's third rank, being akin to knights. They are easily recognisable from the lesser ranks of Dremora as they carry no shields or maces, but instead carry powerful, sometimes enchanted, Dremora Longswords, which act as "mythic weapons" in the game, allowing the player to battle ghosts, wraiths, will-o-the-wisps, etc without needing a specific spell. Kynvals favour using magic at range, most notably health damaging spells, and are masters of close combat. Again, like all Dremora mages, the Kynval mage can summon lesser daedra onto the field and have a vast array of combat potions and magical scrolls which they will not hesitate to use on the player.
Dremora Kynreeve: Kynreeves serve as officers in the Dremora forces, and are equipped similar to Kynvals, only with shields and sometimes are seen wearing helms. They command squads of lesser ranked Dremora and are exceptional fighters and magic users and often carry poisons with which they coat their swords in to give them an edge when the fighting starts.
Dremora Kynmarcher: Dremora Kynmarchers are the high officers of the Dremora, often commanding entire battle units of lesser Dremora and are used primarily to command citadels, outposts, Oblivion Gates and fortresses in Oblivion itself. Kynmarchers are notable for their full armour plating and heavy Dremora Claymores which are heavy two-handed blades capable of exceptional damage to the player. Their weapon is often enchanted with hampering effects, which is a great deal of trouble to the Kynmarcher's foe. They are also proficient spellcasters and mage Kynmarchers are somtimes capable of summoning a Frost Atronarch or Fire Atronarch into battle, another note of their superiority.
Dremora Markynaz: Markynaz Dremoras, or grand dukes, are members of the Council of Lords, which Mehrunes Dagon himself created. This means that they are extremely dangerous in battle and come almost exclusively equipped with enchanted Dremora Claymores and are very hard to kill as their armour is nigh indestructible. These Dremora are the ones that have been through years (sometimes centuries) of fighting and as such are some of the most battle hardened Dremora in Dagon's service. Mage Markynazes are also intimidating in battle, while not having the same armour as their non mage counterparts, they make up with this with a nasty array of destructive spells, allowing them to kill the player in seconds on higher difficulties.
Dremora Valkynaz/Fyrenaz: These are the most battle hardened Dremora in service to Mehrunes Dagon and serve as his elite guard and special operations forces and are the most dangerous foes in Dagon's version of Oblivion. (There has been some confusion to this rank, as when the player ventures into the Great Gate to stop the daedric Siege Crawler, the player has a chance to encounter Dremora Fyrenazes. These Dremora are essentially the same to Valkynazes and the differences in ranks is never apparent).
Dremora Sigil Keeper: Sigil Keepers hold the keys to Sigil Rooms, which hold the Sigil Stones that "anchor" the plane of Oblivion into the real word, thus allowing it to remain open indefinately until the stone is either removed or destroyed. Sigil Keepers are usually of Churl to Caitiff rank, but carry stronger, sometimes enchanted maces and also carry keys to the Sigil Rooms in the citadels present in all planes of Dagon's Oblivion.
Role in the game
In Battlespire, they are one of the many factions of antagonists. They are usually fought, but it is sometimes possible to talk or even negociate with them by exploiting their pride and their rivalry with the other types of Daedra.
In Morrowind, outside of their appearance as random encounter in the various Daedric ruins, some Dremora are bound to serve the Tribunal Temple, re-enacting constantly a role in various pilgrimages.
In Oblivion, the Dremora act as the bread and butter units of daedra under the service of the Prince of Destruction, Mehrunes Dagon. During the main quest of the game, Dremora play a main role of attempting to hamper the players progress by attacking him/her. Mostly seen inside Dagon's Oblivion plane, Dremora attack the player on sight, the only dialogue toward the player being threats of death and eternal torture. There are four exceptions to this:
a) In the Kvatch Oblivion Gate, the Dremora Sigil Keeper will approach the player without attacking and offer a death threat in which he states that "your flesh is mine" before attacking.
b) In the Thieves Guild quest "Misdirection" a Dremora delivers a note to Hieronymus Lex, Captain of the Imperial Watch. The note, which Lex drops and skitters away, is from Raminus Polus. It is possible that Raminus used a "Conjure Dremora" spell and used the summoned Dremora to deliver the note to Lex, rather than do it in person.
c) Whilst in Mankar Camoran's Paradise (in the Main Quest)a Dremora named Kathutet (a Dremora resembling the main appearance of a Kynval) offers you a quest to free the Xivilai named Anaxes from a small band of immortal Mythic Dawn Agents who are sick of being killed over and over by Anaxes. Completion of this quest allows you to proceed further into Paradise. He also implies that he was at Kvatch when it was attacked.
d) Kathutet's brother, Orthe and two other Dremora named Ranyu and Amkaos, fully knowing the players identity order him/her to be killed by being dipped into lava, but they never attack the player and are never seen again after this event.
In Kvatch's Oblivion there is a bug wich result in that one Dremora archer, of unknown reason, always lies dead near the entrance of the large tower. He can be find togather with a Dremora Bow and some Dremora Arrows. The number of arrows is never the same.
Physiology
Dremora are always seen in their trademark black and red battle armour, which is made to look demonic and hellish to those who look at it. The pauldrons have curved spikes which point down and a helmet which has glowing red slits where the eyes would be looking out of and a somewhat caged mouth area and three spikes pointing up on the top of the helm and four or so spikes pointing backwards. The Dremora gauntlets also have spikes pointing in the direction the hand is facing, and the boots have a pointed tip and lack spikes, as do the grieves. The Dremora themselves are never seen without their armour on, save for their heads and hands. Their skin can come in a variety of colour mixes, including, red, black, blue, purple, white and sometimes pink. They also have mottled hair which can be a pungent brown or a sickly green colour, and their eyes are normally reddish black in colour, and their teeth looks as though they have never been cleaned. Dremora are also noted for the horns growing out of their foreheads, a reference to demons from popular fiction with horned demons.
Significance
The Dremora are a significant presence in the game Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion as they are the main fighting force of Mehrunes Dagon and are seen almost every time the player enters Oblivion (and when daedric attacks are initiated on the mortal world, and are seen in the mortal world in the ruins of Kvatch and during the Battle of Bruma.) They also show that they are "innumerable" with their near suicidal attacks on the player, as a daedric soul, upon death, merely recycles into Oblivion and restored to their body and as healthy and ready for battle as they were before death. They are also significant in the game as they attack the player regularly and serve as a main antagonist in the Main Quest line of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and furthering the storyline in some rare cases.