Song of the Askelde Men appears in Skyrim, and I can find little or no discussion of it.

The Askelde Men seem to be some type of Ysmir/Wulfharth followers. Sort of guerrilla fighters trying to keep outsiders from Skyrim - "Elves, Orcs, and traitor men".

But I can't find any definition of "Askelde" itself. My guess is that the first element, "Ask", corresponds to "ash" in some Norse-derived language (which would be fitting, considering that they are described as covering themselves with ashes - the ashen remains of their fallen comrades). The second element, "-elde", seems related to "elder". So, "Old Ash Men"? Related back to the so-called Ash King, this seems fitting.

Anyone have any other ideas?

"Askelde" roughly translates to "ash-fire."

Thank you! May I ask what language it is?

Fantasy Norse.

Hmm. I'm not familiar with that... Do you mean that it's just a pseudo-Norse? If so, what parts are from an actual, historical language? "Ask" as "ash" makes sense with what little I know of Old English/Norse, but "-elde" as "fire" is unexpected.

I don't know where the "official" translation might be, but in a very well-researched fan-made language that I personally subscribe to (the conlanger uses any words with given translations he can find), there are two words for fire (likely having different shades of meaning): bal and eld. It should be noted that the word for old or ancient is ald, which comes from the Aldmeri.

According to the online dictionary I've been using for my writings, "eldr" does translate to "fire" in Norse.

"Eld" is Norwegian and Swedish for "Fire", "Eldur" is Icelandic and "Ild" is Danish. "Eldr", as Jiub just said, is Old Norse. "Elde" isn't a thing in either of these languages, but it's close enough given the context.

Fantasy Norse because there's this tendency of just taking Norse(-sounding) words and sticking them together. Sometimes they're legible to those who speak North Germanic languages and have an actual meaning, sometimes they're just gibberish. Askelde, Jorrvaskr, Sovngarde, Draugr, Karstaag, Skaal, Yorgrim, etc. So yeah. Pseudo-Norse.

Great - thanks for clearing all that up, everyone.

I don't suppose there's any lore floating around about these Askelde Men, apart from the single book in Skyrim?

Somebody make an Askelde Men mod where you have a fringe Nordic terrorist unit in the name of Ysmir striking against Orc strongholds, Imperial camps, Forsworn camps and rescuing people from the Thalmor. Then have them be allowed to exist and a tool to use for the Stormcloaks ala the Forsworn Conspiracy. And have them be joinable.