A few questions that have been bugging me.. : The Elder Scrolls Series Discussion

» Wed Feb 20, 2013 12:35 pm

I'm a longtime lurker, and most of my questions are answered by simply observing and learning, but I have a question that I haven't seen answered or discussed. Is Tosh Raka the Akaviri Akatosh? The names are very similar and I wonder if it could be more than coincidence.

I have also read that Akaviri surnames were a source of pride in Tamriel, and was wondering if there were any known Akaviri surnames.

» Wed Feb 20, 2013 8:00 am

I'm a longtime lurker, and most of my questions are answered by simply observing and learning, but I have a question that I haven't seen answered or discussed. Is Tosh Raka the Akaviri Akatosh? The names are very similar and I wonder if it could be more than coincidence.

I have also read that Akaviri surnames were a source of pride in Tamriel, and was wondering if there were any known Akaviri surnames.

Well, on Tosh Raka's relation to Akatosh, there's this quote from Michael Kirkbride:

Don't forget that gods can be shaped by the mythopoeic forces of the mantlers-- so Tosh Raka could be an Akaviri avatar of Akatosh with a grudge against his mirror-brother in Cyrodiil.
Just like Akatosh-as-we-usually-know-him could time-scheme against his mirror-brother of the Nords, Alduin, to keep the present kalpa-- perhaps his favorite-- from being eaten.
Notice all the coulds.

This certainly suggests to me that Raka is intended to have some relation to Akatosh. But as it is, he's just a king of the Ka Po'Tun and is regarded as divine, so no explicit equality like with Auriel and Akatosh. The most straightforward discussion of Tosh Raka is in Mysterious Akavir:

Ka Po' Tun is the "Tiger-Dragon's Empire". The cat-folk here are ruled by the divine Tosh Raka, the Tiger-Dragon. They are now a very great empire, stronger than Tsaesci (though not at sea). After the Serpent-Folk ate all the Men, they tried to eat all the Dragons. They managed to enslave the Red Dragons, but the black ones had fled to (then) Po Tun. A great war was raged, which left both the cats and the snakes weak, and the Dragons all dead. Since that time the cat-folk have tried to become the Dragons. Tosh Raka is the first to succeed. He is the largest Dragon in the world, orange and black, and he has very many new ideas.
"First," Tosh Raka says, "is that we kill all the vampire snakes." Then the Tiger-Dragon Emperor wants to invade Tamriel.

On Akaviri surnames: we don't have much. The only recorded Akaviri names that spring to mind are the potentates Versidue-Shaie, Savirien-Chorak and the snake captain Vershu. Tsaesci in all three cases. There's even fewer of other Akaviri races (Ada'Soom Dir-Kamal for one), but Tsaesci are the ones with a connection to the Cyrodiils.