I can't get myself to accept that if some commoner from Cyrodill spends their entire life pretending to be Akatosh, they will become Akatosh.


This Mantling concept is just not making sense...

You don't pretend, is how it works. You act as someone would act until they become you. Then it's not acting. Think of the trope "becoming the mask" as a starting point. But it needs more than just thinking "I'm going to act like Nerevar today." It needs extreme amounts of time and effort. Nerevar united the warring ashlanders and house Dunmer, which was no small feat. Doing the same thing in his name makes you Nerevar 2.0, allowing you to do as he was trying to do (get rid of the Heart) with the benefit of time and yet further experience.

EDIT: A better example would be, Pelinal didn't walk out one day and say "I think I'll pretend to be Shor to become him." He fought for humans against elves, and because that was as Shor did, he became a Shezzarine. This isn't something that gets intentionally tried, it just sort of happens. But like the whole "human belief influences gods" discussion from a while back, it takes more than just saying it.

Manteling is walking the walk and talking the talk.
You effectively live as the the person being mantled.

Pelinal is a special case. He might be the Chim el-Adabal from the future turned fractal mirror-knight. Wulfharth, Arcturus, Ysgramor, are all the way described two posts up, but probably not Pelinal.

Noooooo. Pelinal didn't mantle by steps of the dead. Being a true Shezzarine, he was a Scarab that Transforms into a New Man.

There are 6 paths. Copying people is only one of them, the fourth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Tablet.

And http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+2&version=NIV.

(Not trying to start a discussion of religion. It's just an example of mantling from outside TES.)

Didn't MK say we haven't seen anyone yet successfully walk the sixth? And from what I gather of its description, Pelinal definitely didn't.

Isn't Amaranth the sixth?

Nobody has gone that route yet.

Amaranth is not path, Amaranth is destination.

Yeah MK has stated that we haven't seen all of the Walking Ways yet. I want something that blows my mind as much as CHIM.

Bah. CHIM is little more than your run-of-the-mill transcendental enlightenment. Try ready hermetic texts, Hindu texts, basically anything other than contemporary monotheistic religion.

True, yet I was mighty surprised the first time I came across it in the lore, I guess it still feels kinda fresh to me. I wanna see a direct example in-game.

Is there anywhere I can read about mantling and the different paths?

Would it surprise you anymore?

Loveletter from the Fifth Era, Vehk's Teachings. I think that's about it. I've also seen links to the Emerald Tablet at Wikipedia.

Perhaps not, but I wanna see a nod to hardcoe lore lovers. Bethesda usually just simplifies it a little bit for casual players.

Lets not get into another simplification argument.

Its impossible to do any of these metaphysical things in game. How would you code cosmic realization and the power it brings? The most you can hope for is a reference in some occult in game text (*cough*mythigdawncomentaries*cough*), and thats entirely appropriate, since the existence of this stuff is not common knowledge.

Carefully craft your responses and actions throughout the game such that you achieve http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kg7115uEqk

I like to whimsically suppose that the construction set and console are CHIM.

It's considered bad form to point that out, apparently. While we're at it, though, the Esc menu is also a manifestation of CHIM.

Well its not "bad form," it's just completely wrong.

Why so? Isn't it fitting that the deepest and most esoteric metaphysical concept in The Elder Scrolls should ultimately be found in the player's relationship with the game?

In short, no. It cheapens the concept. Pressing the escape button is nothing like a long, rare, theosophic journey to realize your unity with the world, and it is nothing like managing to keep your individual identity despite realizing that you have none. There is nothing mystical, transcendent, or cool about it.

Fair enough. I don't think it does, but I can how you might.

The words mean something and that just isn't what they mean.