There is a lot of speculation on fan-forums that Champion of Cyrodiil (Oblivion Player Character) is in fact an avatar of Shezarr (Imperial version of Lorkhan/Shor). Is it so? Why do you think it is/isn't so?

I don't think so, he mantled Sheo... Or Sheo mantled him or Sheo became him or Sheo replaced him... Whatever, I don't think Lorkhan would allow something like that to happen. Also, your actions affiliate in the MQ affiliate you more with Akatosh then Lorkhan

The CoC is the Emperor's genocidal errand-boy, much as was Pelinal the Shezzarine. That's pretty much the entire argument.

Well, actually Martin is affiliated with Akatosh, and with CoC being Samwise to Martin's Frodo it would make sense for him to be Shezarrine, since Pelinal was Samwise to Alessia's Frodo, and Alessia was affiliated with Akatosh..
Not only that. CoC is called, if I remember correctly, a reincarnation of Pelinal, by the end of KotN. Also, Pelinal was known for being crazy - sometimes he is goody-goody, then he turns into a mass-murderer, which is not unlike CoC after all of guilds' quests. And the crazy part makes perfect sense with CoC entering Shivering Isles without any effect on him and taking Sheo's place.

I think so. Or at least mostly so. But there's more to the argument than that.

In Knights of the Nine, you mantle the Pelinal Whitestrake, who was a Shezzarine, thereby making you a Shezzarine. You even have a symbolic death-resurrection sequence at the end of the KotN.

In Shivering Isles, you mantle the Madgod. The whole plot is like a serious parody of the Space God - Time God, Rebel - King, Lorkhan - Auri-El, siamese-twins sort of conflict that these two deities have going on. Pelinal is deeply tied to this conflict "Oh Aka, for our shared madness I do this! I watch you watching me watching back!" In addition to this dual nature, Pelinal was absolutely crazy. So Shivering Isles blends in well with this idea.

So Pelinal was a dike?

No. I don't think there was anything divine about the CoC until he his body was possessed by Sheo's douchebaggery.

Well, no, I don't think there was anything inherently divine about the CoC. But the CoC becomes divine.

A character in Morrowind (I can't exactly remember who) says something to the player (when asked if you are the Nerevarine) says something along the lines of "No, you are not the Nerevarine. But you can become the Nerevarine."

So was the prisoner sitting in that lonely jail cell in the Imperial Prison being verbally abused by Valen Dreth a Shezzarine? No. I don't believe so. Was the Champion of Cyrodiil, Reincarnation of Pelinal, Champion of Sheogorath, a Shezzarine? Yes. Until he became Sheogorath, at least.

Well my CoC never became Sheogorath (My Nerevarine from Morrowind actually did, but that's another story ) He was only the CoC and the Divine Crusader so my character def. was a Shezzarine. The only thing the hero has to do canonically is the MQ. That's not to say that the CoC couldn't be: leader of the fighter's guild, Archmage, Listener, Gray Fox, etc. I think the only expansion/questline that's set up to be completed by the "original" game's character is Tribunal... Which I viewed more or less an extension of the MQ. Even though my CoC is def. a Shezzarine, it might not be true for others depending on how they play.

I don't know much about the topic but isn't the dragonborn closer to being a shezzarine since he is dragonborn like talos who i think filled shezzar/lorkhan/shor's place in the pantheon or something like that.

Whether or not the Dragonborn is a Shezzarine is another question entirely, and not one really relevant to the Champion's being a Shezzarine, I think. They can both mantle Shezzar, and many mortals have, in the past, mantled Shezzar. It's not an either/or proposition.

My CoC was basically an anticipation of Skyrim's Dragonborn (my game has the Dragonborn being a descendant of the CoC).
Which is what I love about the ES games, it gives us room to make our own relations and happenings between the PCs of different games. Hell, I know some people who use the same character that they've done since Morrowind, which is viable.

I don't see those as mutually exclusive. Effectively, CoC becomes the hole in his own heart.

Nah. No Shezzarine for him.

Unless you're sayin he's the Sheozzorath.

Well...
Indeed, Pelinal Whitestrake, Nibenay warlord of the Elven Pogrom, mistook the khajiit for another strain of Aldmeri and killed many of their number before realizing his error. (PGE)
He wrought destruction from Narlemae all the way to Celediil, and erased those lands from the maps of Elves and Men, and all things in them, and Perrif was forced to make sacrifice to the Gods to keep them from leaving the earth in their disgust. (The Song of Pelinal, v3)
And the worst one: Pelinal grew furious, and made names of Umaril, and made names of what cowards he thought he saw around him[...] (The Song of Pelinal, v4)
Kinda, yeah.

Why is he held in such high regard? Did people just forget about that little psycho part?

I have done that kind of stuff many times in Elder Scrolls games though.

Because he's an awesome dike. Same reason people like Sherlock Holmes and House and every character Clint Eastwood has ever played.
not the greatest examples but you get my point.

The end justifies the means, I suppose. Compare to Clint Eastwood's nameless gunslinger. Kind of a dike, but still gets things done.
Still, resorting to name calling. That's low.

[EDIT]
Haha, associationninja'd!
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hahaha oh wow, what're the odds. I like the way you think.

I think you would appreciate this definition from Urban Dictionary:

Magnificent Bastard:

There's a certain type of character that defies such definitions as hero or villain, good or evil, friend or enemy. Love him or loathe him, you have to admire him. And at the end of the day, there's only one thing we can call him... a Magnificent Bastard.

The Magnificent Bastard is intelligent, capable, supremely competent, and always in control. He can be playing everyone from both ends, or making it up as he goes along with such consummate skill he gets away with it. He might be cynically exploiting all around him for his own ends, or persuading everyone to do everything for him. He might be a lying sneaky bastard playing everyone for his own selfish ends, but he goes about it with such breathtaking skill and panache you admire him for it. Above all else, what defines a Magnificent Bastard is his ability to evoke not just amazement, but grudging admiration, from friend, foe and audience alike.

This question plays into my Big Question: If you mantle an incarnate, do you become an incarnate yourself?

Case in point: The CoC mantles Pelinal who is a Shezzarine. Do you in turn become Shezzarine because you mantled one? I used to think you would, but I don't like it now. It would just muck up too much.

Furthermore, I take Nu-Hatta's statement about mantling and reincarnation literally, and if the two can be mixed together, there's no real point in having two separate forms of ego inheritance.

Wow, in my days it was the Antihero.


Well, you become a mantler, definitely. Incarnation is inherent. Nu-Hatta says the same.