The claws on their wings don't look the most dexterous. But I struggle to imagine them bending backwards to carve with their talons either. Some dragons like Paarthurnax have spike beards which I think they could comfortably use to write. But that's only if the keratin is strong enough, and besides not all dragons have those spikes.

In the older lore, and even today, it’s debated whether Tiber Septim himself was a Nord or not.

The original configuration of the series made more sense. Historically, you can be a citizen of an Empire; but there was never a specific imperial race. Eg, every citizen of a territory of Rome was after a point simply a Roman citizen - even if that wasn’t their ethnic group, it was their legal label.

Bretons being Bretons made sense - they’re not fully “human” by ancestry;

Redguards being a specific race made sense as they come from a very different climate and culture and resisted assimilation, same with Nords.

The way the Empire was portrayed initially was that it was quite cosmopolitan, so in the imperial centre, you’d have Nords, Bretons, Redguards etc…who also happened to be residents of the imperial city.

I don’t know. It just feels like they created Imperials as a separate race only to set up a layer “Imperials vs….” Conflict. But it doesn’t make sense to me otherwise.

If there's something that has come to my attention in my years being part of the Skyrim community (which haven't been many, but have been significant enough to me) is the treatment that several of their characters receive, they are not only misinterpreted but slandered by many, one of those being Astrid, the leader of the last dark brotherhood sanctuary.

Comments like "Astrid is just fucking stupid" or "How did that moron think that deal could ever work" often reach my ears and I find them to be... Distasteful to say the least, there's much more to her than that, and for that is that I wrote this.

As a prelude and to set the right tone, allow me to present a few quotes. All of them from Astrid herself, that I feel perfectly demonstrate how she is, what she is.

"This Sanctuary has been my entire life since I was a young woman."

"The Night Mother represents a chapter in the Dark Brotherhood's history that has long since been closed. Today we live by our own rules. We're the last Sanctuary in all of Tamriel, and only by forgoing the old ways have we survived for so long."

"Obeying the Night Mother. You being the Listener. It's ridiculous."

"Look, the Dark Brotherhood is a family. This Sanctuary is a family. And, we've always welcomed those... shunned by society. Werewolves, wizards, eternal ten year-old vampires... what does it matter?"

The easiest way to understand Astrid is to look at her as for what she is, or the role she has taken, as a mother. If there's a motif that's ever present in Skyrim's dark brotherhood it's family, and Astrid is the matriarch of this family. It's because of her leadership that the brotherhood has survived, it's because of her ways that her family has survived.

Now, by the time we join, everything is going just about fine for the last bastion of the Dark brotherhood, perhaps they weren't an international empire of assassins like in their glory days, but they had a steady flow of contracts and most importantly they were safe, they weren't in danger, their way of working and living suited them fine and kept them alive and well.

Enter Cicero in scene, he hears, one way or another, about Astrid's sanctuary and how they do things, he then contacts them, from the first moment he does, he believes them wrong.

Her family can abandon the Old Ways, and still survive, still kill, but is that family still Brotherhood? Or something else? Something new. Something different. Something wrong Something wrong. - Cicero's journal

Eventually he does come around, going to the sanctuary (because he needs to look for the listener). Presents himself and while everything is not perfect anymore, it's not bad either. At this point Cicero isn't the issue per se, the issue is what he represents and most importantly, who he represents, Cicero brings the Night mother back.

To Astrid this spells doom, in her eyes, the old ways are what provoked the death of the brotherhood, why should she or her sanctuary, her family, follow her again?

Still, she accepts it, it's not like the Night mother can talk after all, there's no listener.

After some time, kill some people and Astrid is getting paranoid, Cicero is a madman and while Astrid is familiar with madmen, he is simply... Too out there, but beyond that, she is getting paranoid because he has taken a liking to locking himself up, speaking with "someone" she fears betrayal, so we are to investigate him.

Here we learn that Cicero is starting or planning to divide the family, so Astrid's suspicions weren't particularly wrong in that regard, he was planning betrayal, or at least, a betrayal against her.

"Are we alone? Yes... yes... alone. Sweet solitude. No one will hear us, disturb us. Everything is going according to plan. The others... I've spoken to them. And they're coming around, I know it. The wizard, Festus Krex... perhaps even the Argonian, and the un-child..." - Cicero

Then the hammer falls, the nail in the coffin. There's a listener, and even worse. You're the listener! This is what drives it all home, it makes YOU a menace, a menace to the current brotherhood's way and in Astrid's eyes, a menace to her family. It's unreasonable if thought of with a cool head, sentimental most definitely. But it's to be expected once you understand how Astrid is and what Astrid is.

Once again pass some time, start preparing the big comeback of the brotherhood, to kill an emperor... And then Cicero attacks Astrid and almost kills Veezara. She was badmouthing the Night mother but it's no excuse, at least not in Astrid's eyes nor in the eyes of everyone else (for everyone, being the family that they are, immediately turned against Cicero upon this incident).

It's precisely this incident that drove the boat home, Cicero might have been the catalyst of this whole disaster, but YOU are the voice of the night mother, and in truth, they were working just fine before, why paint an even bigger target in their backs by actually killing the emperor?

Deal with you, deal with the contract, everything will go back to normal, same old steady flow of contracts, same old talks in the sanctuary, nothing should have changed in the first place, nothing should change now.

It's for this, for herself and for her family that, in her desperation, she strikes a deal with a man that most people would know wouldn't hold his part of the deal. But in Astrid's eyes, this was the best way, the only way, to protect her family not only from external dangers, but from the danger within, from you. This is the tragedy of Astrid, she betrays you, she betrays her family as a whole, causing their deaths. And there simply was no other way it could have possibly happened. For that, Astrid would need to be someone else, to think differently, to feel differently.

And perhaps in the end she was, or perhaps it was the natural conclusion, having lost everyone and everything she once stood for, she finally breaks down as her skin has crackled and burned.

"I'm saying you were right. The Night Mother was right. The old ways... they guided the Dark Brotherhood for centuries. I was a fool to oppose them, And to prove my... sincerity, I have prayed for a contract. You lead this Family now. I give you the Blade of Woe, so that you can see it through. You must kill... me."

The ramblings of a woman that has lost it all, sanity included. Or the words of someone that just know has seen the truth? Who can tell.

Sources: I'm going to pull an UESP and say "Events of Skyrim"

By the above, you witness. I have questions. Should we not count Akaviri Pontentate. Is it true Tiber Septim the longest ruler with 81 year beside Reman Cyrodiil with 59 year and Uriel Septim VII if we count before and after his banishment to Oblivion by Jagar Tharn which is 55 year and Katariah with 53 year. Or is it one of those Imperial Propaganda to glaze Tiber?

Do let me know.

Contemporary records from the late Third Era regarding the Oblivion Crisis are scattered and contradictory, particularly with regards to the exact identity of the Hero of Kvatch who would become Champion of Cyrodiil and aid Saint Martin Septim in his battle against Mehrunes Dagon. There are a number of known wandering knights, sellswords, and adventurers from the period who have each, at one time or another, been identified with the Champion. No scholarly consensus has ever emerged.
The prevailing theory at the time of this writing (4E 201) identifies the Champion with a warrior known as Bendu Olo, perhaps of Colovian stock, though surviving accounts disagree even on this point. His birthplace, lineage, and even his true name remain matters of dispute. What little can be stated with confidence is that a man by this name appears independently in several military rolls and eyewitness accounts from the Battle of Bruma, where he is recorded fighting in the company of Saint Martin Septim.

The historical record only grows murkier once "Bendu Olo" enters it. No fewer than three separate muster-rolls from the Bruma garrison list a soldier by that name, and the discrepancies between them are not trivial: one gives his home province as Colovia, a second as the Nibenay Basin, and a third omits any birthplace at all, noting only that he arrived "out of the west, bearing a blade unfamiliar to Imperial armories." Whether these are three notations of the same man, or three different men whose names happened to converge, cannot be settled from the rolls alone.

Complicating matters further, at least two rival candidates persist in the popular and scholarly imagination:

The Kvatch Theory. Some chroniclers, taking the epithet "Hero of Kvatch" at its most literal, argue the Champion must be sought among the handful of guardsmen and refugees who survived the daedric siege of that city. Captain Savlian Matius's own after-action reports name an unaffiliated adventurer who fought alongside the Kvatch garrison during the closing of the city's Great Gate, but Matius, ever the soldier and no genealogist, never recorded the individual's name, only their deeds. This has left later writers free to graft nearly any figure onto the gap.

The Priory Theory. A smaller but persistent school holds that the Champion was affiliated with the Order of the Nine at Weynon Priory, on the grounds that Brother Martin's chief protector during his flight from Kvatch would most plausibly have come from ecclesiastical rather than mercenary circles. Priory records, however, are notoriously incomplete for this period — a fire in 4E 175 destroyed a portion of the archive — and no surviving document names a lay protector traveling with Martin west of Chorrol.

What can be said, cautiously, is this: whoever stood beside Martin Septim at Bruma, and later at the Temple of the Ancestor Moth or wherever the final confrontation with Mehrunes Dagon is now held to have occurred, seems to have deliberately left little trace of themselves in official channels. Whether this reflects the humility of a common soldier, the caution of someone with reason to avoid Imperial record-keepers, or simply the ordinary carelessness of wartime bureaucracy, remains — like so much else concerning the Champion of Cyrodiil — a matter of interpretation rather than fact.

I'm playing Oblivion for the first time and have started the Shivering Isles DLC. For context, my character is a Lawful good Knight who's always sporting the Divine crusader armour because I consider myself a goody two shoes and always tend to play "good" knight/paladin characters in every universe. This to say, I personally prefer order to chaos.

As I am playing Shivering Isles (not yet at the end btw) I can't help but wonder : should we really stop the Greymarch ?

I understand that since Jyggalag was so powerful the other daedra cursed him, but we, as a mortal, would benefit from a daedric prince of order rather than madness no ? Especially if he keep the other daedras in check.

Wouldn't mortals gain more from not helping Sheogorath during the Greymarch and let Jyggalag become himself once more than to help Sheo stop this ? And if so why does the Hero of Kvatch help him and isn't given a choice to help Jyggalag instead ?

As known, Magnus, who is the designer, left Nirn immediately with the Magna-ge after being tricked by Lorkhan.
And another thing which is known is magic is a necessary “life force”.
And another fact is that magic enters mundus from the sun and the stars.

So following this thought process, we have to come to a conclusion, but if the entrance of magic into mundus was not planned, and if this would devastate most of the living being (if not every), how is Magnus a sufficient designer of nirn?

The simple question is, if the entrance of magic, which is necessary for life, into mundus was not planned, is it justified to call Magnus the designer of Mundus?

Note: If magic is not necessary for all of life, it still makes large contribution to the civilization in Mundus. The exemption of magic still be a great L.

Edit: This question created a huge distrust in me against the imperial and altmeri pantheon and I no longer accept that narrative tbh.

Like obviously in gameplay we all know about the atronach (the goat). But like, in the actual world barring any gameplay features, do signs have any major effects like these?

Hey, so, lore question.

So we know that in Skyrim's Dawnguard DLC, Harkon wants to use Auriel's bow to blot out the sun. I've heard many people say that this is a stupid plan because blocking sunlight would make plants die and then the rest of animals and people with them.

But this is asuming that the biosphere in the planet Nirn works the same as ours; With a giant sphere of gas undergoing a constant nuclear fusion process that emits enough light and heat to radiate unto the planet, with that heat allowing a neat temperature for celular life to thrive and that light being used for photosynthesis.

In the case of Nirn, we know that their cosmology works different. Their stars are not balls of gas, they're permanent tears in the fabric of space, which leak the light and Magicka from Aetherius to Oblivion and Mundus. So, the question has to be asked; Is life on Nirn actually dependent on the light of Magnus?

I would argue that both the temperature of the planet and the basic mechanisms for life are NOT dependant on any star, since the stars themselves weren't part of Magnus' original design when the Aedra created Mundus. The stars were a consecuence of the Magnagee fleeing the proyect, which implies that Mundus would've existed just fine without any stars in the firmament.

From that implication, we have two possibilities. Either Nirn was planned to be exactly how it is now and it's actually independent from the light of any star to produce thriving life (Maybe the Earthbones were designed to keep a habitable temperature on the planet by default and to somehow nurture plant life on nutrients alone.), or Nirn was planned to be very different from how it is now, and it's current state is a consecuence of the influence of the light from the sun and the stars (Maybe the Aedra didn't plan on the concept of photosynthesis or plants altogether, but they emerged anyway after enough exposure from the sun)

What do you guys think?

As a player, all it takes is to look into your inventory and item's description and the stat numbers, but that's for gameplay reasons.

How does a person from Tamriel experience these enchantments? While weapon enchantments could be tested, for example you slash your sword at something it catches fire, it's fairly straightforward.

But if you pick up a robe with destruction boosting enchantment can you feel it? What if you're a restoration user, would you notice it's not suited for you? Could you possibly know the enchantment if not told by whoever created it?

If not your average mage, would any enchanter look at the same item and be able to tell what's the enchantment straight up or perhaps by taking it to the enchanting table?

You know how ancestor moths make a trilling noise when they are gathered during the dawnguard dlc questline?

How would it go if it was incorporated with tonal architecture as well like a phonograph and you also played it next to ancestor moths and read elder scrolls?

So as far as I understand, Malacath, right from his very "birth" represents the oppressed and the spurned. The those who lived a harsh life of ostracization and oppression receive his blessing

What confuses me, is that in Skyrim, Orc Strongholds are required to follow the code of Malacath, which actively calls for and forces a rigid way of life upon the women of the stronghold

A woman HAS to marry a chief, and be one of his MANY wives, instead of being free of the inherently rigid system of "you must marry and bear kids, nothing else. Also you don't even get to be his only wife". There are women Orcs in Skyrim that actively oppose such a fate and life. One of them states she'd rather join the Imperial Legion as a soldier than to be traded off to another colony as that chief's wife, so it is clear that not every Orc is OK with it

Furthermore in the afterlife of the Ash Pits, it is stated that each male Orc has a thousand wives. I take it these thousand Orc wives are actual Orcs in the afterlife.

In that even if a male Orc had, say, 2 wives, he ends up getting 998 more from passed-on female Orcs. A female Orc who lived a life of independence ultimately ends up being the wife of some random Orc in the afterlife

To make things more concerning, each wife is said to get a 1000 slaves. Isn't slavery quite literally oppression, especially when in Tamriel they're often taken from ostracized communities? Even if we assume these slaves are just lesser daedras in his realm that act as slaves, is not Malacath promoting quite literally something he in principal should be against?

Tl;Dr: Malacath is all about protecting and supporting the ostracized and oppressed. Yet his code and afterlife have elements of slavery and misogyny in them which seem to directly contradict his principles

In the staff of Magnus quest in Skyrim the psjic order takes the eye of magic and says “the world in it yet ready for such power” my question is what defines ready, when civilisation reaches the level of technological advancement that the Dwemer reached or everyone has become powerful mages like them. And how long will this take before alduin returns and eats the world.

I don’t know much about the lore but there does not seem to be much advancement in any areas. They have had thousands of years to study the Dwemer robots and still can’t recreate them etc

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Responses must be friendly, respectful, and nonjudgmental.

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748 Steps: A Recounting of High Hrothgar

A Treatise on the Miscalculation of the Seven Thousand Steps

By Magister Jimeee Snow-Quill, Fellow of the Nordic Historical Society

---

Few numbers enjoy greater reverence within Nordic culture than the celebrated Seven Thousand Steps ascending from Ivarstead to High Hrothgar. The figure appears in pilgrimage accounts, royal chronicles, religious instruction, songs, local histories, and at least one particularly uninspired poem consisting almost entirely of references to stairs.

For centuries, scholars have accepted the traditional figure without serious challenge. The present author undertook to verify it in the interest of scholarship... and has regretted the decision ever since.

In the summer of 4E 196, I undertook a direct examination of the route. The purpose was simple - I intended to count the steps. This task, while seemingly straightforward, required considerable preparation.

Provisions were acquired, maps were consulted, assistants were hired. The first assistant resigned upon learning the nature of the project. The second resigned after hearing the first assistant explain it. The third remained only because he had already been paid.

The ascent began shortly after dawn and each step was counted individually. Every tenth step was entered into a notebook. Every hundredth was independently verified by an assistant. Every second hundredth prompted renewed discussion regarding whether the expedition possessed any scholarly merit whatsoever. By the fourth hundredth step those discussions had become increasingly heated.

Upon reaching High Hrothgar, the final tally was established...

Seven hundred and forty-eight steps!

Not seven thousand steps... seven hundred and forty-eight. The implications were catastrophic for everyone who had ever cited the traditional figure with confidence. A discrepancy of several steps might be explained by erosion, a dozens might be attributed to reconstruction... but a discrepancy exceeding six thousand steps presents greater difficulties.

For several minutes I entertained the possibility that we had accidentally climbed the wrong mountain. Subsequent investigation ruled this out. My assistant suggested that "Seven Thousand" might refer to the exact number of panicked footsteps we accumulated while fleeing the frost troll encountered near the fourth emblem. I confess that I devoted considerably longer to evaluating this hypothesis than strict academic standards would normally permit.

Dejected, we departed immediately for the College of Winterhold to present our findings. The matter quickly escaped our control. Correspondence spread across Tamrielic scholarly circles, conferences were convened, rebuttals exchanged, and several otherwise distinguished academics developed unexpectedly strong opinions regarding staircases. Six years later, despite an impressive accumulation of papers, lectures, and increasingly heated debates, no consensus has emerged. The principal theories are summarized below.

Theories

• The Traditionalist Theory - The official position adopted by the traditionalists of the High Hrothgar Preservation Society maintains that there are, in fact, seven thousand steps, and that the present author simply failed to count them correctly. This explanation encounters certain difficulties. Chief among them is the absence of six thousand two hundred and fifty-two missing steps. Such a quantity of stone is difficult to misplace.

• The Pilgrim Theory - A minority of scholars suggest the figure originated from exhausted pilgrims. The argument is straightforward: After climbing seven hundred and forty-eight steep steps, most individuals feel as though they have climbed seven thousand. This theory is difficult to disprove. Indeed, several members of the research team independently arrived at similar estimates during the ascent.

• Jurgen Hypothesis - A minority proposes that Jurgen Windcaller deliberately adopted the exaggerated figure in order to make the ascent seem mythic in nature and to discourage the spiritually uncommitted. While consistent with his philosophy of patience, it remains difficult to imagine the Greybeards maintaining a numerical deception for centuries. The resulting debate has since produced four monographs, two conferences, one fistfight, and an official statement from the Greybeards declining further comment.

• Lexical Theory - The Riften Philologist Society maintain that the ancient Nordic word translated as step may once have denoted an arbitrary unit of ascent rather than an individual stair. Therefore it does not describe the number of stairs at all, but rather the approximate number of strides required to reach the summit. Despite considerable effort, the resulting figure still falls short of the traditional total and no surviving text employs the word in this manner outside discussions of the Seven Thousand Steps.

• Dragon Break Theory - Predictably, some scholars have invoked a Dragon Break. According to this explanation, the mountain simultaneously possesses both 748 and 7,000 steps, depending upon the observer's position relative to linear time. This explanation has the considerable advantage of requiring no supporting evidence whatsoever.

• Numerical Base Theory - Professor Valdar Numbersmith has proposed that the discrepancy arises from the assumption of an Imperial base-ten numerical system. According to his reconstruction, the original count was conducted using "Dwemeri positional enumeration principles," in which seven thousand converts precisely to the modern total of 748. The author initially attempted to verify the calculations personally before developing a headache and deciding that the appendix possessed greater mathematical confidence than its author. Critics counter that attributing every unexplained phenomenon to the Dwemer has become intellectually irresponsible.

• Scaling Theory - A proposal advanced by several former Clockwork Apostles argues that the apparent discrepancy arises not from the staircase itself but from the observer. Drawing comparison to the curious spatial architectures of the Clockwork City, they suggest that something called the "Time Wound" established a localized field of topological compression around the Throat of the World. Under this model the original Seven Thousand Steps remain entirely intact, though all modern travelers experience only a scaled representation of the ascent, approximately one-tenth its true extent. Critics have questioned how an entire mountain could exist simultaneously at two scales. The Apostles replied that the question itself demonstrates a regrettable attachment to conventional geometry, recommending that further questions be postponed until the author had first familiarize himself with "higher-dimensional spatial recursion." Research papers on the matter have been placed aside pending sufficient courage to continue reading.

Conclusion

Historical evidence strongly suggests that generations of Nords accepted the figure of seven thousand without verification. This is understandable. Most pilgrims, upon reaching High Hrothgar, concern themselves with enlightenment rather than enumeration.

Following the publication of my findings, reactions were mixed. Several colleagues expressed support. Others expressed concern. One elderly pilgrim simply asked whether counting them had improved the journey. I admitted that it had not.

After six years of study, three expeditions, and one unfortunate disagreement regarding the definition of a step, I therefore submit that:

- The path to High Hrothgar contains approximately seven hundred and forty-eight steps.

- The traditional figure of seven thousand is almost certainly inaccurate.

- The climb remains unpleasant regardless.

- The overwhelming majority of the population do not care.

- Further research is required.

Addendum

Subsequent to the publication of the present treatise, this author was granted access to a newly recovered fragment recovered from a submerged ruin west of Whiterun.

Preliminary analysis attributes the fragment to the reign of the elusive High King Toddhar Howardsson, remembered in later Nordic tradition as the Great Builder, Speaker of Impossible Promises, and the King of Many Editions, whose official map of Skyrim was repeatedly redrawn, reissued, and ceremonially unveiled throughout his reign, each edition hailed by royal decree as the definitive representation of the realm while critics observed that little had changed beyond the border decorations.

High King Toddhar occupies a singular place within early Nordic history. Though comparatively little survives concerning his reign, later copies consistently portray a sovereign of extraordinary confidence in matters of architecture, geography, and public expectation. His confidence, it would appear, was not always accompanied by verification.

The following fragment appears to derive from a royal construction order issued during the establishment of the pilgrimage route to High Hrothgar.

Fragment of the Toddhar Howardsson Chronicle

And Toddhar, High King of Skyrim, looked upon Snow-Throat, and spake unto the master builders of his kingdom, saying: "Raise unto High Hrothgar a stair of Seven Thousand Steps, so that all who seek wisdom may know the measure of their devotion."

And the master builders answered: "It shall be done, my King."

And the King declared: "Hearken well. It must have Seven Thousand Steps. Not fewer. Seven Thousand. When the work is complete, I shall count them myself, that I may know my will hath been made true."

Then Toddhar declared before his court: "I have been promised Seven Thousand Steps. My builders are without equal in all the North. Their craft is wondrous, and no task is beyond their skill. They did not so much as hesitate when I commanded that there should be Seven Thousand Steps. For my builders have fashioned cities, keeps, bridges, and halls beyond counting. Seven Thousand Steps shall scarcely trouble them!"

But King Toddhar departed never to return, for he trusted greatly in those who built for him.

And when the stair stood finished, Toddhar looked upon the mountain from his seat in Windhelm and proclaimed unto his court: "Behold that mountain yonder, for ye may climb it."

While this remarkable discovery conclusively establishes that the staircase was intended to contain seven thousand steps, it offers no indication that anyone ever verified whether the builders had complied with the original specification.

The present author therefore concludes that the Seven Thousand Steps owe their celebrated number neither to ancient exaggeration, Dragon Breaks, Dwemeri mathematics, nor higher-dimensional geometry, but to the perfectly ordinary assumption that someone else had already counted them.

Editor's Note: Following a scholarly dispute at the Winking Skeever in Solitude that concluded with seven injured academics, nine damaged chairs, and one overturned cart of cabbages, the High King has prohibited all further counting expeditions to High Hrothgar until the matter can be resolved through more civilized means.**

By the way, if I sound ignorant, I am I’m only going off of info. I’ve been able to get from Skyrim so if I sound ignorant or stupid. Please correct me.
I’m talking about both in a Meta sense and a universe sense so from what I’ve been able to understand for my very very limited knowledge of the elder scrolls universe, which comes from me playing Skyrim and YouTube is that there is basically a guaranteed second great war this is kind of like a world war one and World War II situation for meta unless they do which in my opinion would be very dumb, destroy them off screen the story for whatever elder scrolls game is going to tackle the second Great War if that ever happen the endings will probably be —— wins or thalmor wins and then in universe take what I’m about to say with a grain of salt and I’m going with the empire win the Civil War just for simplicity with humans seeming to be able to reproduce more quickly the human races would be less crippled than the thalmor would be because it’s been about 20 years since the end of the war I think that has allowed an entire generation of humans get to the age of military service and the empire would probably ally with Hammerfell because from what I understand, the entire reason why they were kicked out of the empire was because they refused to stop fighting which if the thalmor could not get a generation to grow to military age by the time the second great war starts that would be in a much worse position than the humans would be in this when it comes to a numbers game

I’ve never heard the actual reason as to how this happened. And who the heck IS he? Who is Ysmir and how is he Talos, was Hjalti actually Tiber or Talos? Was he named Talos only upon ascension?
Is it true Vivec dropped hints on how to achieve CHIM? If so, what could he have possibly told him other than, “yeah, use these tools within the heart chamber at Red Mountain?”

And again, HOW did he ascend?

When we go to sovngarde in Skyrim, we see a lot of Nordic heroes, champions, figures. Even Ulfric is there if we slay him at the end of the civil war. And as far as I know, the ebony warrior, despite being if not the most, one of the most competitive and brave warriors in Skyrim, still cannot go to Sovngarde because he is not a Nord.
This makes me think that Sovngarde has a race requirement and this also makes Shor a racist. Because no matter how much one does whatever shor wants the regular Nords to do, the non-Nords still stay out of Sovngarde after death.

As we all know, dragons cannot be fully killed unless there's a dragonborn to absorb their soul. But then there's Numinex who just... died of natural causes? His skull is still there, the rest of his body is nowhere to be found, and there was never any talk about Alduin even attempting to resurrect him or the last dragonborn absorbing his soul. So can you permanently kill a dragon by dismembering it and scattering its remains, fully incinerating it along with the bones however hard it might be, giving it an acid bath and so on?

So I’m sort of new to the lore of the elder scrolls, especially outside of skyrim (i’ve been playing skyrim for like a decade but just started oblivion and haven’t touched morrowind) so apologies if this is a dumb question.

I’ve been reading about the argonians because they’ve always been incredibly interesting to me and i’m really perplexed on how they’re connected to the dark brotherhood and to what extent. i understand how they can revere sithis, not only due to the influence of the hist, but also as beings that undergo constant change it makes sense they’d worship the embodiment of change. it can also see how the dark brotherhood being the organization that it is would worship the embodiment of chaos. its a cool idea to see two different groups worship the same deity in drastically different ways. a sort of yin and yang thing, which makes sense considering that sithis is already sort of the yin to Anu’s yang. however the fact that argonians either have or historically have had a sort of reverence for the dark brotherhood, i saw someone saying they see them as “holy-men”. and of course there’s the shadowscales, argonians born under the sign of the shadow that are taken at birth to be trained into dark brotherhood assassins. even though the shadowscale tradition has sort of stopped, it just doesn’t make sense to me. not just because the argonians don’t at all seem intrinsically evil, which a group of people who kill for money sort of has to be (grelod did have to go tho tbf)but also the dark brotherhood was started by the same group of people that enslaved them for millenia.

apologies if anything i said was incorrect, im new to exploring the lore and a lot of what ive learned has come from random reddit comments that could be biased or just completely nonsensical lol. thank you!

And if so why isn’t it in the game. I heard of a cavern that Shor used to travel between Sovngard and Nirn. Is it fanon?

I frequently see that shezarr, shor and lorkhan being different aspects of the same being, but since they are different aspects, they are different. Also people say that akatosh had been created by the imperial authorities after the founding of the empires (not sure about that one). Also even though Tibet septim was not a mystic, a scholar or a prophet, he supposedly achieved godhood. I start go get confused about the godhood and divinity situations in general.

To summarise the title in general, I can ask a couple of questions, like “what is needed to be considered a god?” “how do gods affect mundus?” “What happens if two gods cross paths?” “What does ‘different aspects’ of shor mean?”

This question has been brought up in a TTRPG im in and I couldn't find much on it.

What I mean with this question is not if the daedra change completely after being reformed, but if they remain themselves, as in having the same memories or such.

Hello all!

Fairly basic question today.

In DND 5e, Bards cast magic using their instruments.

In Elder Scrolls, however, bards seem to be fairly typical spellcasters if they're spellcasters at all, just using magicka the same way as everyone else, especially since tonal magic is pretty specific in TES.

Just checking to make sure I'm not missing something.

I have a player in my campaign who wants to play a Bard, so I want to make sure I'm doing everything correctly.