I beat the main quest today for the third time, and I just realized what he said at the one point.

{SPOILER WARNING}

When Martin says "When the next Elder Scroll is written, you shall be its scribe.", does that mean that canonically, the Champion is an Elder Scrolls scribe?

Also, when he says "...the fate of the Empire; these things now belong to you.", what does he mean? Does he mean that canonically, the Champion has political influence?

I'm confused.

Think of the Elder Scrolls as the game. The game you are playing is the metaphorical book, and you its author. It's very tongue in cheek.

He's just reminding you how dead he is, by breaking the fourth wall.

Best to remember Martin as a parody of yourself, and move on.

In referring to you as a "scribe" I don't think he means the player will be te one to write the next Elder Scroll. I think he's talking about how you were witness to both the beginning and end of the Oblivion crisis, and were there for everything in between. With Martin gone to Aetherius, you are effectively the last one to pass on his story.

I think he means that you're going to be written down in history and change the future of the world based upon your actions, so in a sense you're an active force in the next Elder Scroll. The things you do will affect the world forever.

The CoC did become a Hero of the Empire, after all. Only 6 others, ever.

THIS
My words exactly.

I think that may well be what he meant. If the Elder Scrolls tell of important events in Tamriel's history, than seeing you will write the next scroll may simply be a metaphor for you having a central role in major events in Tamriel, and saying that the Empire's fate is now in your hands could certainly be taken that way. Of course, it could be Martin poking through the fourth wall by essentially saying that the player will once again play a major role in future stories.

Its a flowery turn of phrase, like "children are our future" or "the fate of the world is in your hands."

He is just messing with you, caused he is pissed that he is dead.

Oh okay, thanks for all the replies. I was mad when I first beat the game, I thought he meant I was going to be emperor, or part of the Elder Council or something.

You misinterpret the meaning of what Elder Scrolls are in the colloquial Tamrielic. When taken in this context, to "write an Elder Scroll" is "to make history".

A deeper meaning is meant, too, but not very many laymen bother with that. Until a prophecy is fulfilled, the true contents of an Elder Scoll are malleable, hazy, uncertain. Only by the Hero's action does it become True. The Hero is literally the scribe of the next Elder Scroll, the one in which the prophecy has been fulfilled into a fixed point, negating its precursor.

Also, Martin mantled Akatosh and dragon-[censored] Dagon silly, so his outlook on time in quite unlike our own. In fact, he said those words during the dragon-[censored] fight and you only remembered them later, a comforting memory that the Jills mended back into your timeline.

Yes.

Awesome.

I need more nonlinear time in my life.