(My conclusion is hardly a new idea, granted; but I felt like recycling some old themes to see if anything worthwhile might come out. So read and debate!)

As we understand the sources, Umaril the Unfeathered was an Ayleid sorcer-king who challenged and was defeated by Pelinal Whitestrake in the wars of the Alessian Rebellion. However, due to an association with Meridia, his spirit survived in the Colored Rooms, from whence he returned following the Oblivion Crisis, to attack Cyrodiil when the empire of man was in a weakened state. Umaril was defeated by the champion of Cyrodiil, who restored a lost knightly order dedicated to the Nine Divines, and mantled the Shezarine in order to destroy Umaril’s spirit once and for all.

Why Meridia? Meridia is a daedra about whom we know vanishingly little: she is associated with the http://www.imperial-library.info/content/morrowind-book-daedra, abhors the undead, and is http://www.imperial-library.info/content/imperial-census-daedra-lords. It also seems that she is (or was) associated with the Ayleids. She agreed to the pact with Umaril, after all; moreover, http://www.imperial-library.info/content/oblivion-song-pelinal-3 refers to White-Gold Tower as: “where the Ayleids had made pact with the Aurorans of Meridia, and summoned them, and appointed the terrible and golden-hued “half-elf” Umaril and Unfeathered as their champion.” White-Gold tower was the center of the Ayleid Empire: the fact that the pact with Meridia was made there suggests she had a prominent place in their pantheon.

Meridia is associated with living energy and light (hence the sun, hence Magnus). Our understanding of magicka as coming from Aetherius through the sun and stars appears to be of http://www.imperial-library.info/content/oblivion-magic-sky. In fact, Aetherial magic in general seems to be associated with Ayleids: notice how even today, mer typically are much more adept in the magical arts than men. Men, in contrast, are associated with nature-based powers: consider the importance of Kyne to the Nords. Thus, a pact with Meridia makes perfect sense.

Following his defeat by Pelinal, Umaril’s spirit was banished to Meridia’s realm. This appears to suggest that Umaril’s immortality is due to his pact with Meridia. However, according to http://www.imperial-library.info/content/oblivion-song-pelinal-3, “Umaril had the blood of the ‘ada and would never know death.” http://www.imperial-library.info/content/oblivion-song-pelinal-7 also reports that before his battle with Pelinal, “the half-elf showed himself] bathed in [Meridian light]… and he listed his bloodline in the Ayleidoon and spoke of his father, a god of the [previous kalpa’s] World-River.”

So which “god of the previous kalpa,” is the father of Umaril? Well, http://www.imperial-library.info/content/oblivion-song-pelinal-6 quotes Pelinal in a fit of divine rage as declaring: “O Aka, for our shared madness I do this! I watch you watching me watching back! Umaril dares call us out, for that is how we made him!”

Here’s where it gets interesting. Akatosh doesn’t exist yet. Akatosh, the chief god of the Cyrodiilic pantheon, is an amalgamation of the http://www.imperial-library.info/content/morrowind-varieties-faith-empire, and thus only originates after Alessia overthrows the Aylieds and creates the Eight Divines. The most obvious resolution of this puzzle is to recall the fact that Pelinal is from the future. But if that is the case, it raises some terrifying implications.

There’s additional evidence that this terrifying implication is, in fact, the truth. http://www.imperial-library.info/content/oblivion-song-pelinal-1 testifies to men giving thanks to the Eight for Pelinal, which like Akatosh, do not yet exist as a pantheon. http://www.imperial-library.info/content/attack-chapel-anvil. “Our ancient enemy has returned, from the deeps of time, to exact his revenge upon the gods. The gods, the Eight Attendants of Saint Pelinal when he smote Umaril the Unfeathered.”

Both the Song of Pelinal and the Prophet himself explicitly state that Pelinal went to do battle with Umaril alone. So how could he have Eight Attendants? There seem to be two answers, and I think each is correct. One answer is that the Eight Attendants are represented by the Pelinal’s weapons and armor, which come from the future, and were granted to him by the Eight Divines. The second answer is that there were others present when Pelinal defeated Umaril. They cut him into http://www.imperial-library.info/content/oblivion-song-pelinal-7.

That number is no accident. According to http://www.imperial-library.info/content/oblivion-adabal, Pelinal reported to Morihaus: “Our enemies of undone me, and spread by body into hiding. In mockery of divine purpose, the Ayleids cut me into eights, for they are obsessed with this number.” So, is the mythical significant of Eight a merish or mannish creation? Again, the implications are terrifying.

"... and left you to gather sinew with my other half, who will bring light thereby to that mortal idea that brings [the Gods] great joy, that is, freedom, which even the Heavens do not truly know, [which is] why our Father, the... [Text lost]... in those first [days/spirits/swirls] before Convention... that which we echoed in our earthly madness. [Let us] now take you Up. We will [show] our true faces... [which eat] one another in amnesia each Age."

The meaning of empire might be -- and is -- debated for whole eternities. But let us not overlook the crucial question: how do we win a victory with no antecedent?

RE: Pelinal from the future

Is it possible that the reason for Pelinal's madness stems from the fact that he's the Champion of Cyrodiil, who after mantling Sheogorath, went bonkers?
I mean, Pel's an avatar of Shezzar, who is Lorkhan, and Sheo was created from the removing of Lork's heart (then there's the whole thing with Arden-Sul having his own heart cut out).

And my guess about the god of the previous kalpa, is that Umaril's daddy is Dagon. Well, the http://www.imperial-library.info/content/fight-one-eating-birth-dagon (aka Magnus, who became Mehrunes Dagon), anyway. Which would make Umaril and Meridia brother and sister, which would explain their connection. And also explains why Merida of all people was an antagonist in KotN, after having a clearly antagonistic daedroth like Dagon in the main game.

See, it's all connected.

Of course, I could just be talking [censored].

Whoah. I read this post and heard a swishing sound as it flew over my head. What exactly, in layman's terms, are you suggesting? What are these terrifying implications?

Wow, for slow folks like me it's amazing for stuff to be condensed like this. Damn, I'd never seen all of it connect like that.

I dunno if it's true or even accurate, I just figured Oblivion and its expansions seem to have some kind of common thread, and Dumbkid's post just seemed to put it all into place for me.

(An enjoyable read, nice work sir dreugh. I'd honestly never noticed the anachronistic nature of Akatosh and the Divines here, and must have missed it in past conversations, indeed, I think I missed most initial conversation on Pelinal. You state that your conclusion is hardly a new idea, and while your thought progression seems solid I find it difficult to pin down what that overall thesis is, whether new or old. Now, moving along.)


My copy of Song of Pelinal has been neglected for some time, and so I go from there. Concerning Pelinal's Eight Attendants I see no incongruity, given that it places them as gods. The simplest rendering would acknowledge the blessings of the Divines, thus allowing them to 'accompany' him into the battle, either metaphorically or literally - of the two I prefer either, and wonder about interesting symbolism concerning the Aylieds having conquered the Eight Divines in the process of killing Pelinal, or else the Divines having abandoned him before his death.

As to Pelinal's parentage, you begin to go down this road but seem to get distracted by the tangent of Aka's anachronism. It is interesting that Akatosh isn't an established deity at this point; it's also interesting that 'parentage' is in some nature attributed to Pelinal & Akatosh.

And can there be any parallel between an Aylieds pact with Meredia at White-Gold and a later pact with Akatosh at White-Gold by those who weren't Aylieds, but who were utilizing an Aylied artifact?

I'll ponder terrifying consequences & antecedents and come back around later...

Pelinal is mortified and re-purposed by the Ayleid...* Interplanar gods infiltrate the Tamri-El, in echoes of Convention! We must warn the Third Era of their impending harvest... I will go, in the skin of a nameless Prophet, walking in the steps of our dead.

Our mantle of Madness must pass to another!


I love the scent of conspiracy theories in the evening. Thanks Dumbkid!


Edit:
*They were corpse magicians, after all.

I interpret the final quote as the voice of aliens - perhaps the true face of the gods - lifting Pelinal from what has become . Indeed, legends of Kyne Battle_itch, lifting the head of Magnus to [Heaven], applaud the theory Magic from Madness is our only release. As Mor purportedly had intimate doings with the head of Pelinal, before the Star-Mad Knight rose Up - or at least swapped secrets and immortalized Pelin-El in song - I imagine the Citadel Taker took from Pelinal the Tower.

I often avoid stating my theses explicitly. This is partly a matter of personal style, and partly with the intention of getting the reader (you!) to try to make the connections yourself (see Jara's post, for example).

My initial post assumes that the reader has the following background knowledge. The human empire was born when humans led by Alessia overthrew their Ayleid slavemasters. The eight divines plus Lorkhan/Shezzar is an amalgamation of earlier pantheons created by Alessia and her followers to secure religious and political power. The champion of Cyrodiil defeated Umaril the unfeathered, a divine Aylied sorcerer-king who wished to cast down the "false gods" (the current 8 divines plus Talos). Finally, in the world of TES, ages transpire in a somewhat cyclical manner.

The "terrifying implications" are the various connections between the empire the champion of Cyrodiil is fighting to save (the human empire), and the empire he/she is fighting against (the Aylied empire, as represented by Umaril). Arynel knows what I'm saying. But then again, he should.

Nirn (Female/Land/Freedom catalyst for birth-death of enantiomorph)/ Anu-Padomay (enantiomorph with requisite betrayal)/ ?* (Witnessing Shield-thane who goes blind or is maimed and thus solidifies the wave-form; blind/maimed = = final decision)

There is antecedent to liberty.

"... and left you to gather sinew with my other half, who will bring light thereby to that mortal idea that brings [the Gods] great joy, that is, freedom, which even the Heavens do not truly know, [which is] why our Father, the... [Text lost]... in those first [days/spirits/swirls] before Convention... that which we echoed in our earthly madness. [Let us] now take you Up. We will [show] our true faces... [which eat] one another in amnesia each Age."

nice stuff -caught this last sentance - that forgetting and the clear inference that Pelinal and co traverse cycles ...

Now, I've been playing around a lot lately with retroactive effects to an event, so naturally I enjoy this theory (like for instance, Kagrenac tried something else and because the Heart was connected to Numidium, the Numidium that was turned on for realz at the end of the 2nd era reached backwards to complete itself so that it could be turned on). My question is that is it Sheogorath-as-CoC-as-Pelinalite-Shezarrine who IS Pelinal? Or is it Sheogorath mythically connected to Pelinal, retroactively exerting his Madness on Pelinal? A better question then would be if the Pelinalite can be an Elf, then where does Pelinal get his genocidal tendencies from?

Meh. Maybe because I'm not buying the whole MD is Magnus thing, but this seems TOO speculative to be true. Almost like everything's trying to be tied into one neat little bow.

You can't parse the Star-Made Knight. Unless you want a mouth full of moths.*

*This isn't a victory.

Freedom is Shezarr, where does Shezarr come from? In the aetheric thunder of self-applause that followed (nay, rippled until convention, that is, amnesia), is it any wonder that the Time God would hate the same-twin on the other end of the aurbrilical cord, the Space God? Alessia was a libertine sorceress. That's obvious, she was making love to a bull.