Forest Warden, Volume II

The Tale of the Unsung Hero of Valenwood

By Alariel

The first volume covers the actions of the Forest Warden, more commonly called the Boskara in Aldmeris, during the Camoran Civil War. Though it is for those renowned deeds that she is known and named, they were by no means her only ones. Most sources on the Boskara end with her triumph over the Twisted One, with only a few going on to describe her later life. Combined with other accounts of the Tiber Wars, we can piece together an idea of what the Boskara did following her most famous adventure despite the Empire's best efforts to cover up this information.

The shamans of Valenwood claim that the Boskara joined their ranks, but only stayed with them for a short time. Her curiosity on the mysteries of magicka grew and a simple life in service to the forest was not enough for her. The shamanistic legend honouring the Boskara says that she went off to join the Mages Guild, but the Falinesti variation of the tale states that after giving her farewells in the graht-oak city the Forest Warden was whisked away by a wizard in grey robes (the garb of the Psijic monks), suggesting that she had been inducted into the Psijic Order. As the Mages Guild split off from the Psijic Order in the Second Era, the two were known to be mistakenly conflated in these times. The Mages Guild records do not list a 'Boskara' among their ranks, though it is very likely that she was registered with her birth name, which is now lost to time. Obtaining any form of census on the secretive Psijics is, needless to say, impossible.

Wherever it was that she went, the Boskara studied there for around four decades. In that time, Tiber Septim's conquest had reached Valenwood, and all of the Aldmeri Dominion's campaigns in the region proved futile. While they held Tiber's forces at bay on the sea, they were quickly losing control of Valenwood. According to the Dominion records that survived the war, the Forest Warden suddenly resurfaced when the Elven army was routed and inspired them into a renewed charge. With her knowledge of magic and experience of warfare, the Aldmeri Dominion won their first victory on land in the war, and this attracted Tiber Septim's attention. Hearing of the Boskara's command of the magical arts, Tiber dispatched his Imperial battlemage Zurin Arctus to deal with the hero.

The two legendary mages fought at Reaper's March. All accounts agree that the Boskara was defeated by Zurin Arctus, but not on how. One source says that Arctus meticulously studied the Forest Warden's deeds and quickly subdued his foe, while another claims that the two actually had a duel which extended for three days and three nights before Arctus finally emerged victorious. A third version asserts that Arctus never defeated the Boskara in combat and instead exploited the weakness of the rest of the Aldmeri army by focusing the troops on them. When the soldiers had killed or cut off all her allies they surrounded the Forest Warden and overwhelmed her. Regardless of how it transpired, the Boskara was captured by Zurin Arctus while the Elven armies scattered, quickly losing control of Valenwood.

None of the accounts state that Forest Warden lost her life in the battle or was executed afterwards, but almost all of them end at this point. From here on only one source brings up the Boskara again. Apparently, she was still held prisoner when Arctus finally took a stand against Tiber Septim. It is unknown why she was not killed; perhaps she was being interrogated for her knowledge of magic or Arctus had already been planning to turn on his master at the time of her capture. When Zurin Arctus (or Ysmir Wulfharth according to The Arcturian Heresy's version of events) returned as the Underking, he freed the Boskara from her arcane cage and she became one of his companions when he destroyed the Numidium.

No other texts make mention of this, but they have no doubt been erased by the Septim Dynasty along with most other tales that paint their founder in a poor fashion. The Forest Warden did not merely fight against Tiber during the war, but actually assisted in destroying his greatest weapon and humiliating the conqueror for once. That is why the Empire refuses to acknowledge the life and achievements of the Boskara. Whether or not Arctus was right to betray Tiber Septim is not something that this book will attempt to argue, and it does not matter. To many Bosmer and Altmer, the Boskara will always be a hero.