Rhayfel was once a normal Wood Elf living in Whiterun and training to harness the Thu'um. Although she wasn't Dragonborn, she learned the skills fairly quickly and soon graduated from the Greybeards to being a potions vender in Arcadia's Cauldron. One of the customers was... odd, to say the least. He ordered a mead. She denied, saying it was a potion shop. After an hour of bickering the Nord revealed himself to be the Daedric Sanguine, and, not bidding his orders, cursed a confused Rhayfel to be a Hagraven and Argonian monster. She fled to Dragonsreach, pleading the Jarl and court mage to undo the curse... but to no avail.

She was captured and mocked in the town for being a freak. But later that night, a little girl from a family of traders due at Helgen, took pity on the suffering Rhayfel and pickpocketed the key. The Wood Elf was freed, and took her opportunity to flee to Shimmermist Cave, to the northeast of Whiterun, only returning when the Dragon Hunt begins. She has had a festering hatred for the Jarl and Daedra since.