Well he is the aspect of life and death personified. Lorkahn/Shor introduced the concept of limits. The ultimate limit is mortality. Without mortality, Arkay would be nothing. At least that's my educated guess.
From what I've gathered, this is pretty much correct. Before Mundus, Arkay was, as the Redguard pantheon appropriately puts it, the God of Nobody Really Cares, because there was no cycle of life and death. It was after Mundus was created that Arkay found purpose. Other sources cite Arkay as being mortal himself before being a god.