Ereth Khial, also known as the "Pale Queen," is the goddess of the Elven Underworld, the Mirai, in the Elven Pantheon, with her son, Nethu, its guardian. She is one of the group of Elven deities who represent the darker aspects of mortal life named the Cytharai who are particularly venerated by the Dark Elves of Naggaroth. Long ago she attempted to seduce the Elven creator god Asuryan and, when he spurned her, she grew enraged, stole the souls of the Elven dead and hid them in the horrific realm known as the Mirai, the "Black Pit."[2a]
The Pale Queen has never forgotten Asuryan's slight. Whilst he lies beyond her power, the Elves do not, so it is they who suffer Ereth Khial's wrath. Should a protective waystone of Ulthuan be destroyed, Ereth Khial sends her wraith-like servants, the Rephallim, to seize what Elven souls they may, and bear them away to dwell in Mirai in eternal torment. Such thievery must be quick, for Slaanesh, the Dark Prince of Chaos, suffers no one -- not even the Pale Queen -- to take even the smallest of scraps from his table.[2a]
Worship among the Elves[]
High Elves[]
While the Asur fear the Pale Queen, they know she must be dealt with. The priesthood of Ereth Khial on Ulthuan conduct rites of sanctity designed to ward off her wraith-like rephallim servants, using golden chains to make a deceased body too heavy to be carried away and inscribing the skin of a corpse with runes of warding in silver ink. They do not seek to glorify or bargain with the goddess, but appease her and stay her wrath.[3a]
Ereth Khial's deeds may have made her outcast from Asuryan's court, but many of the Elves' darker deities, the Cytharai, acknowledge her as their mistress. Even so, she is seldom worshipped in Ulthuan. Most folk do not entreat Ereth Khial's blessings but hope to avoid her attention altogether, wearing sprigs of weirdroot or blackhame to avert her vengeful gaze. Some Elves, however, think it better for their souls to endure eternity in torment, rather than meet oblivion through Slaanesh's hunger, and thus secretly court the Pale Queen's fickle favour.[2a]
Such obsessions must of course be kept secret, for the worship of Ereth Khial is widely considered the sign of a diseased or ill-adjusted mind on Ulthuan. Those marked by the Pale Queen's touch are inevitably exiled or imprisoned should their terrible secrets be laid bare, yet her priests and celebrants have never been entirely eradicated from Ulthuan's shores.[2a]
Dark Elves[]
In Naggaroth, Ereth Khial is a much-courted deity, for the Druchii see their own perceived betrayal echoed in her fate. The Pale Queen alone offers the Dark Elves some salvation from Slaanesh's hunger, for her own armies are forged from the stolen souls of the Elven dead.[1a]
This is not to say all the Elves who have ever died now labour in Ereth Khial's service, since countless souls remain bound to Waystones and the Tree Kin, and greater still have been devoured by the Dark Prince of Chaos. Yet still, year after year, the Pale Queen's army grows. One day, her shadow legions will tear down Asuryan's vaunted creation in payment for his insults of old.[1a]
Though most Dark Elves care little for the fate of their souls, some fervently worship the Pale Queen, seeking to ensure that she will come to their aid when death claims them. It is far better, they believe, to perform abased service in the Underworld's grim embrace than to meet oblivion at Slaanesh's hand. Such ideals are woefully misguided, and it is probably little consolation that most will never find out how mistaken they are -- since Ereth Khial can risk only the subtlest of thefts from Slaanesh.[1a]
There is a rumour in Naggaroth, however, that there is one soul Ereth Khial yearns to seize beyond all others. In the Witch King Malekith, the Pale Queen sees a consort whose ruthlessness is fit to match her own, and she has sworn that it is he who will one day lead her final vengeful assault on creation.[1a]
Trivia[]
Ereth Khial is likely a name based on Ereshkigal, the real world Sumerian goddess of the Underworld.