I'm wondering if the 20 possible base identities for the Nerevarine and Champion of Cyrodiil constitutes enough causal leverage to cause a sort of "mini" Dragon Break, where ol' Aka maybe just throws out his back and time becomes semi-linear. This would explain, in-game, why the gender and race of the previous game's protagonist never seems to be recorded - Bendu Olo is both male and female, and every race, at exactly the same time.

Also note that at the end of Daggerfall player gave the totem to all six faction AT THE SAME TIME!!!

I don't think so... Those two protagonists are just uncertain and vague, not every simultaneous possibility at once.
And there would be nothing to explain what's breaking the Dragon in their cases, that I can see.

seems like a stretch. I think the uncertain race and gender is due solely to gameplay, not lore. Also with the exception of the Warp in the West I don't think any event in TES games have been severe enough to cause a dragon-break.

You're reasoning in a circle here. You're citing diverging stories as a cause for a Dragon Break while that Dragon Break was in fact made up to explain diverging histories.

At its inception, the Dragon Break didn't even have anything to do with the cop-out explanation for Daggerfall's endings. It was simply a means of filling a strange 1000-year hiatus in the timeline of the First Era. Later the term was craftily extended to raise Daggerfall's multiple endings above the level of mere gameplay mechanics, but that does not yet invite contrived applications to just about anything you want to explain away. In other words: Yeah sure, you might imagine that. But it's doing the idea injustice.

Well, my understanding of the phenomenon is thus: a variable number of outcomes for event X occuring simultaneously leaves Akatosh hurting.

In Daggerfall,event X is the PC gifting the mantella and totally reworking Tamriel's geopolitical situation.

My hypothesis is that the variable gender and race of the heroes poses the threat of a similar paradox, if only of a lesser magnitude. Individuals, after all, are as much a product of history as anything else. The probability of a specific guy meeting a specific girl under the right circumstances to allow them to join in coitus is astronomical, not to mention the tricky business of gene expression that determines what their offspring will be like.

Also recall that TES's special brand of chosen-ones, as part of their continuing campaign to subvert fantasy clichés, seem not to have their lot determined by the circumstances of birth (i.e. were specifically, especially destined to fulfill the prophecy); but are rather distinguished by their actions. They aren't born the heralded heroes, but rather they become them. In this way they are simultaneously bound by fate and possessed of free will. Remember what the Underking said:



Moreover, I just think it's a much more compelling handwave than the milquetoast "...and then he rode off into the sunset, but we never did get a good look at him." excuse we've received in the past.

You could probably logic it out that way, if you really wanted. I don't really understand how you conclude multiple events (in linear time?) cause a Dragon Break and not vice versa. Apart from that, your proposal can't be judged for probability or right/wrong; it's just an unwritten idea. I just happen to not be a particular fan of it.

I think a good policy on Dragon Breaks is to avoid invoking them if at all possible. And in this situation it is definitely possible.

"A Hero (or Heroine) is a mortal blessed (and cursed, from another point of view) with a special fate and the ability to rule his or her own destiny. Heroes are closely related to the Elder Scrolls. They often grow to become far more powerful than most other mortals." From the lore on http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Hero on the UESP. Don't know if that answers the question, but it is the only thing known about them(except Cyrus). Also see see the statement of Zurin Arctus on that page.

There are also well known heroes, who aren't player controlled. Almost unanimously, heroes are executors of human will - if humanity needs a hero, they appear - and when the hero isn't needed, their story just ends.

Yeah, that makes sense. It might be a curse that makes sure no one remember who they were, only their actions(similar to the Gray Fox).

It's not a curse or any such explanation, it's just how the world works.

Still very wired that no one remember who they were :shrug:
It is possible that the ending of an Event(see signature) create a dragonbreak as something drastic each time. The Ethernal Champion used the Staff of Choas, the Hero of Daggerfall activated the Numidium, the Nerevarine destroyed the enchantment on the hearth of Lorkhan and the Firmanent was permanently closed at the end of the Oblivion Crisis. In other words: It isn't impossible that dragonbreaks happen. But that's just me though.

It's possible in the same sense that it's possible that between the orbits of Earth and Mars there is a teapot revolving around the sun. There is no information that can prove or disprove either of these claims and as a result both points are meaningless.

I don't think there are mini Dragon-Breaks; a Dragon Break is so game-changing that it's happened less than a handful of times, as far as I know. Maybe twice? The Warp in the West and the time the Marukhati Selective danced on the tower.

Vivec becoming a god and reality rearranging itself so that he existed prior to his mortal birth might qualify as another Dragon Break, but I'm not sure.

Four times, to varying degrees. ALMSIVI at Red Mountain, Marukhathi Selectives, Numidium at Rimmen, Warp in the West.

The thing about no one remember the champion is more gameplay than anything. We can assume that there are people who remember them, but they aren't the people you talk to. With the exception of the Champion of Cyrodiil (maybe), the heroes just aren't that public. In Arena, you traveled the world collecting artifacts, like any other adventurer. In Daggerfall, you were a message boy for kings. In Morrowind, you're actively persecuted...alongside half a dozen others claiming to be the Nerevarine. By the time you're certifiable its all Red Mountain and god-killing for you. Oblivion is the only one where you do your thing in public, and even then you're far from unique (we learn that others have closed gates and there are certainly plenty of Blades around). Its perfectly reasonable that the average person won't remember the specifics of who you are a few generations after the fact.

Well, he IS the Champion of Cyrodiil. By the end of the game he's attained a very unique and distinguished position (with that spiffy armor and all). His existence and the things he did will certainly be noted long after his passing; by bards and historians and other heroes, if not by Farmer Joe.

But the important thing is that his identity will not be remembered.

The Champion of Cyrodiil will be remembered for being the only guy crazy enough to walk up to the small, tiny remnants of a destroyed city's guard, ask "Can I help?" when he notices the Daedra pouring out of an oblivion gate, and then is crazy enough to stride into Dagon's deadlands by himself as if he was dealing with a goblin infestation in a mine. There was something seriously wrong with that guy.

Occam's razor, sure, but where's the fun in that?

The dragon break occurs when time shatters, apotheosis occurs when a person shatters.

Also (though I haven't finished the SI expansion yet), doesn't the CoC become Sheogorath? His identity definitely would become erased outside of his role as the Mad God. (Makes me wonder how much of his mind is changed when he becomes Sheogorath; would he remember anything of his mortal life, or would the CoC become completely absorbed?)