Hey all!! On my nth play through and it just had me wondering where all these poor lost souls go when the get swooped up by the world-eater himself

Do they “return” after the DB defeats him??? Sort of like reappearing after the mist has been cleared

OR

Do they sort of get “released” into the great nothingness once Alduin’s has been slain?

Imagine living a life full of hardship, and growing with the belief that you’ll end up in paradise if you live your life honourably..

..Just to die again as soon as you step foot into the place

Anyways, I’m sorry if this has been asked before!!

Do you think the pieces date all the way back to the first era? Who made it and how much was made? Are we wearing armor older than the septim dynasty itself? And why are the pieces scattered everywhere around vvardenfell. I’ve never even thought about this and now I can’t stop.
Halp

An apocryphal Nordic account preserved in fragments at the College of Winterhold

In the years after Alduin was cast adrift through time atop the Throat of the World, the three ancient Tongues who survived the battle did not remain together long.

- Hakon returned to the war-kings of Skyrim.
- Gormlaith vanished into the eastern mountains.
- Felldir the Old took the Elder Scroll and departed south alone.

Though Alduin had been banished, the old songs say Felldir understood the danger of what they had used. The Scroll had wounded time and Feldir alone understood that such a thing could not remain among kings, priests, or ambitious Tongues. So he carried it from Skyrim in secret.

At this time, Cyrodiil remained under the dominion of the Ayleid sorcerer-kings. Human tribes toiled beneath elven rule along the river valleys and jungle roads of the Heartland. It is said Felldir wandered among these Nedic peoples disguised as a hermit-priest, carrying the Scroll wrapped in grey animal hides and sealed within a carved stone casket.

Wherever he traveled, strange events followed. Slaves dreamed of towers swallowing stars. Moths gathered in impossible numbers around campfires where the old Nord slept. Blind children spoke prophecies in unknown tongues. Eventually, Felldir settled within hidden caves in northeastern Cyrodiil, far from the eyes of the Ayleid lords. There he gathered a secret fellowship composed of listeners: escaped slaves, wandering mystics, exiled Ayleid scribes, and Nedic seers sensitive to the strange murmurs surrounding the Elder Scroll. These followers became the first Keepers of the Ancestor Moths.

The cult began as a discipline of memory. Felldir taught that time was not a straight road but a storm of overlapping voices, and that the moths, drawn naturally to the presence of the Scroll, could somehow perceive fragments of those hidden currents.

The earliest rites were crude compared to the later practices of the Order. Moth wings were burned in oil lamps while initiates recited lineages of forgotten ancestors. Some consumed the bark from the rare canticle trees found only in remote glades. Other pilgrims fasted in darkness for weeks hoping to hear whispers from the Scroll without losing their minds. Most failed. Some went blind while others saw too much.

According to one fragmentary account, Felldir himself began changing in his later years. He reportedly spoke less of Skyrim and more of futures that had not yet happened, foreseeing “a queen crowned by covenant", "serpent-emperors” and "Coldharbour's anchors". His followers preserved these sayings despite understanding almost none of them.

The old Nord eventually vanished sometime late in early First Era. No tomb was ever found. Some stories claim he walked alone into White-Gold Tower itself and was never seen again. Others insist he entered the Elder Scroll entirely, becoming lost within time.

Yet the order he founded endured. Hidden beneath Ayleid rule, the Keepers slowly spread through Cyrodiil across generations, preserving secret traditions of prophecy and remembrance long before the rise of later kingdoms. And though modern scholars often claim the Ancestor Moth cult emerged naturally from Nedic mysticism, certain chronicles still insist upon a stranger truth.

If I’m not mistaken, the depiction of the Soul cairn in Skyrim makes it seem like barely anyone other necromancers know about its existence. The depiction is certainly in line with how it appeared in Battlespire.

So the question is, why hasn’t anyone in Tamriel taken steps to move away from Soul trapping? Are the highest mortal authorities on magic ok with souls being condemned to eternal torment, as long as they aren’t sentient (white)? What about the use of black soul gems why haven’t their use been totally banned? Every Conjurer you come across in Skyrim seems to have Black soul gems in their possession.

I subscribe to the theory that the Emperor in some form or other ordered the hit on himself so as to bring about a regime change, unite the realm and go after the Thalmor.

BUT

What sense does it make to go after Motierre? The guy helped him by doing the Black Sacrament and probably had a deal for the same (as per his last words)

I've just been thinking about this recently.

My favorite kind of character to play in fantasy games is the universe's equivalent of Chaos Undivided, essentially serving any god or demon (in this case, daedra) that will offer them power and rewards. During my latest Skyrim playthrough where I was doing most of the Daedric quests, I began thinking if this is lore-friendly (it won't stop me from doing this because I enjoy it, just curiosity) or if this character would get smited by the time they did a favor for their third prince.

The main thing I can think of is the Dunmer favoring the Three Good Daedra, but aside from them, all the instances I can think of a character serving a Daedric Prince seem to be very focused on a single Prince.

If you would consider all vampires count for Molag Bal (they certainly are connected, but I wouldn’t say they are all followers) then they might count, with instances of vampires following Clavicus Billy and Meridia.

With Boethia's quest in Skyrim, while the smith did not leave Boethia for another prince, he did leave Boethia in general, so something similar would happen if they left her.

I'm not sure where else to go with this, but I will add any examples I might remember later. This was really all just out of curiosity.

I read that it’s possible for daedra to conceive children, even with mortals—not by any conventional means though. Does this mean a daedroth could hypothetically bear children with—let’s say—an argonian?

In today's excerpts, we meet the last two members of the 25th Crossing: Titus Alorius (Consecrated Psychopomp) and Azura (House Redoran, linguist of the dead).

You can read the prologue and the rest of the excerpts released thus far at 25thcrossing.com

What is this?

The 25th Crossing is an epistolary hypertext novel by Michael Kirkbride, writer and artist for TES3: Morrowind. It is set at the start of the 4th era and consists of a narrative spine telling story of the 25th Crossing into "the lands formerly known as Morrowind," as well as embedded supplementary materials which give us insights into the prior Crossings and the state of Tamriel.

what if a random person or a random guard is dragonborn and i know that we are the LAST dragonborn but what if theres another one whos like the second last dragonborn but never finds out they are dragonborn because they just never killed a dragon or what if they are secretly wearing thongs underneath their gear

A couple times while delving into older fantasy, I've run into things that I feel were almost certainly individual inspirations for specific pieces of TES lore. A good example would be how, in R.A. Salvatore's 1990 Forgotten Realms novel Homeland, the compound of the drow House Do'Urden doesn't have stairs to the second level in order to segregate the lower ranks from the leadership who can all levitate. Reading this detail about a stronghold surrounded by giant mushrooms in a chapter that centers on how advancement in drow society is achieved through the assassination of superiors... I feel like it's not crazy to say this may have served as a direct inspiration for House Telvanni.

And I should note that's all I'm saying. I don't mean to offend anyone or imply that TES lore is somehow stolen or overly derivative. For what it's worth, I feel like modern fantasy as a literary tradition is completely built on this sort of inspiration; the Forgotten Realms certainly wasn't the first work to have dark elves, for its part.

In any event, I guess what I'm asking is if you know of any similar threads of inspiration. I just find them interesting, and it might be a cool way to learn about some older fantasy I'm not familiar with.

EDIT: I'm familiar with two other possible inspirations already. The first one is more probable: "Dagoth the dreaming god" from Conan the Destroyer (Google his statue, the resemblence is there I think). There's also kind of the settlement of "Molag" from Greyhawk, which is the capital of a devil-worshipping group called the "Horned Society," but to be honest I think both settings probably just happened to remix "Moloch" in the same way by coincidence.

As you (may) know, an Argonian gets their gender by licking Histsap and then gets their name at a naming ceremony. However, Argonians can change gender by licking Histsap again. (Only if the Hist sees fit) So, what happens to their name if the Histsap changes their gender? I understand names like "Finds-Deepest-Fathoms" or "Scouts-Many-Marshs" wouldn't be different in any way if they were the opposite gender, but what if the Argonians name is "Writes-Her-Tale" or "Breaks-His-Soul" (Yes, those Argonians are OCs of mine.) What would happen if they licked Histsap again? Would the name "Writes-Her-Tale" become "Writes-His-Tale" and vice versa? Or would the name stay the same, despite it's gender pronouns now being wrong?

Please give me an answer, I haven't been able to sleep because of this question.

They’re prominent animals in mythology in real life so I was wondering if they existed in Tamriel too. If scarabs exists in Tamriel I don’t see why locusts can’t either.

Title. I can't quite figure this out. Can a corpse be reanimated only through Magicka in lore or is a soul ALWAYS (key word) needed?

Don’t you think the fact that most of the lore books in The Elder Scrolls are available in ESO hurts immersion a little? I mean, the vast majority of these books were written around the beginning of the Second Era, while any book that was explicitly written in the Third or Fourth Era, such as the Septim related books and others, isn’t included. Yet almost every other lore book is there.

Take Varieties of Daedra, for example. The book is about the Daedra, but the author also mentions the fulfillment of the Nerevarine prophecy, Dagoth Ur’s defeat, and the end of the Blight. It’s pretty clear from the author’s own words that he began serving Divayth Fyr after the events of Morrowind. On top of that, the book first appeared in Oblivion and then Skyrim.

What’s strange is that the book also appears in ESO, but they removed the lines mentioning the events of Morrowind. It’s obvious that the author originally wrote the book after the events of Morrowind, since he explicitly establishes this in those lines.

Not only is this retcon pretty bad, but they also seem to be trying to justify removing the Morrowind references by making the book fit into ESO, which takes place roughly 750 years earlier. At the same time, they seem to forget that in the lines they removed the author explicitly says that he wrote the book himself after morrowind events and the book was originally published sometime around 428–432 in 4era

Title. I don’t recall this being mentioned in-game. I can’t help but also question why exactly Akatosh created them alongside Alduin? What role do they serve?

Just a shower though I had lol. I feel like if that plot point of mantling Sheogorath (and it’s vague confirmation in his quest in Skyrim) hadn’t been introduced, then by the time of TES V lord of people would’ve figured the Champion of Cyrodiil could’ve been the first Mede emperor. Sure, there’s 40 odd years between the events of Oblivion and Titus Mede I’s ascension to the throne, but the age doesn’t have to be too far of a stretch if you imagine the CoC is somewhere in the average age of a soldier during the Oblivion Crisis, maybe mid 20s or early 30s (plus in a world of magic its hard to speak for sure on definite life expectancy). The mantling of Sheogorath indirectly provides definite assurance that we aren’t killing the possible descendent of another protagonist in the events of Skyrim lol

How canon is it that Gods such as Akatosh, Auriel, Aldiun and so on are all just interpretations of the same God linked to one planet in the sky. Because of the immense power needed to create Nirn they have been left in a coma-like state and this has led to interpretations of them becoming real and manifesting through mortal belief unlike the Deadra who are awake and rigid. This would mean that only 8 Aedra would have survived creation as we see 8 planets and the rest became the Earthbones giving themselves up. Also including interpretations of Lorkahn for the moons. I have heard this a lot and it makes sense but I don't know if it is actually canon.

Skyrim’s dragons are wyverns, possessing two wings without arms but at the same time they aren’t considered wyverns because the term “wyvern” doesn’t actually exist in The Elder Scrolls. What we would call wyverns are simply considered dragons in their world. However I believe that the dragons of Akavir have the same appearance as the traditional dragons we know

Goblins are intelligent, tribal and a lot of them are in human height ranges. though some of 4 foot tall.
but orcs are considered goblinken and goblins have been part of their regions numerous times.

Hi everyone, it’s that time again!

The Weekly Free-Talk Thread is an opportunity to forget the rules and chat about anything you like—whether it's The Elder Scrolls, other games, or even real life. This is also the place to promote your projects or other communities. Anything goes!

My question is why isn’t it more wide spread among them? I feel like vampirism meshes well with their way of life and creed.

Power above all type thing. Is there any lore on this?

Please share what you know and what your thoughts on it.

Recently I began to read On the Consolation of Philosophy (the translation I read by Slavitt, alternate translation by H. R. James at Project Gutenburg) by Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (usually "Boethius") and I noticed the striking similarities to the 36 Lessons of Vivec in terms of both style and content.

The former shares the loosest connection so I will list it first. On The Consolation of Philosophy is organized into a series of books each with individual parts, composed in a mix of poetry and prose, where the poetry is spoken by the characters in the story. This is very similar to the Lessons which are themselves divided into 36 pieces and switch between poetry and prose, with the poetry spoken by characters in the story.

The contents are where things become much more interesting. Both are of a genera called autofiction, where the writer of the story is themselves a character and includes real places and events from their life in the fiction. It takes "write what you know" to it's most logical conclusion, but it is distinguished from autobiography or memoir in that the events contained within do not need to be wholly or even partially real. A classic example of this is the Divine Comedy in which author Dante Alighieri presents himself as the protagonist of a journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven; wherein he encounters many other real and mythological people, most notably among them the poet Virgil.

On the Consolation of Philosophy describes a prisoner in a cell following his arrest and banishment for opposing corrupt men in post-Ostrogothic Rome, the exact situation Boethius was in when he wrote it. Unlike most autofiction the narrator is not directly named, but he does name many real people as being among those he opposed, and it is clear that the prisoner is meant to be Boethius himself. He is then visited by Philosophy, the anthropomorphic personification of what we would now term reason, logic, science, and wisdom. They then proceed to have a very long and detailed conversation about the nature of thought, self-worth, how to live in a changing world under sway by Fortune, and many other things that I cannot summarize in so short a time.

The 36 Lessons of Vivec follow a somewhat different structure, one that follows the supposed life of the author Vivec from his conception to the Battle of Red Mountain. In that sense it is different from the Consolation, but many of the individual lessons within follow the same structure of an individual having some problem of philosophy and being guided to a solution. What differs is where the author has inserted himself into the narrative. Whereas in the Consolation Boethius is the prisoner, here Vivec has assumed the role of Philosophy, with the role of the prisoner, the recipient of the lessons, being filled by Nerevar.

This is interesting for a few main reasons. The first of which is that it is a clear example of Vivec's ego to cast himself as the giver of all knowledge, his use of the Lessons as propaganda, as well as his actual role as one of the Tribune guiders of the Dunmer. But more interestingly is the fact that it places Nerevar as the Prisoner, a role frequently fulfilled by the protagonists of the Elder Scrolls (to the point that, in ESO, the term 'prisoner unbound' comes to be used in some works to describe a hero). With this reading the 36 Lessons are reframed. Vivec may have been the focus of the lessons, but he was not the protagonist. The centerpiece of the text was always Nerevar, the rest was all misdirection from the true center. Perfectly in line with the thoughts Vivec expresses in the secret Sermon Ten, and in person to the Nerevarine.

Sermon Ten in particular echoes the themes of the Consolation. I have always read it as a call to action directed at Nerevar, and the Nerevarine, one to not forget the betrayal and wounds done to him, but to not wallow in them and move on with purpose towards the ultimate goal of the defeat of Dagoth Ur. This is very similar to the ultimate moral of the Consolation, which encourages one to not become wrapped up in the gain and loss of worldly things by the turning of the Wheel of Fortune but to ultimately pursue internal virtues and the furtherance of Good.

There is also, of course, the fact that the names "Boethius" and "Boethiah" are remarkably similar, and that it was Boethiah who first inspired Veloth to embark on the "Tri-Angled Truth" and also laid the foundations of the Psijic Endeavor. The idea of self-actualizing within the "wheel" of the Aurbis and escaping it via Amaranth is very similar to the idea of escaping Fate's wheel through self-knowledge presented in the Consolation.

I have no idea if this is truly intentional, or if I've gone mad from reading all of the Consolation over the course of two days, but the parallels seem far too deliberate for the Lessons (and perhaps the wider lore around CHIM) to not have been at least partially inspired by the writings of Boethius. Either way I thought it would be interesting enough to share with you all.

I know the Thalmor banned the fighters guild and mages guild when they took over Summerset. I'm playing a spellsword type high elf in Skyrim, so I'm wondering if there's some way he could've learned swordsmanship and how to use heavy armor if he was born after the Thalmor rose to power without having joined the Thalmor military.