Now THAT theory, I like.

Serious answer: Sul could very well be the dunmeris word for "great" or "stalwart" or something like that. So a lot of famous Dunmer are called "_____ Sul" for the same reason a lot of famous western figures are called "____ the Great" or a lot of Muslim figures have titles ending in "-al-din."* We don't meet a whole lot of Dunmer with this name because, until the despair of the 4th era forces the Dunmer to cling to any remaining scraps of pride, it was considered arrogant to hand out such names on a regular basis. Once the ministry of truth fell, the chaos and prevailing hopeless shame allowed a House Sul to rise.

*The al-din suffix of names like Saladin just means "of the religion [Islam]" and goes to show that this sort of formulaic high-title doesn't need to be about something as generic as "greatness," explaining why every great Dunmer isn't called Sul.

If it makes you feel any better, I also think there is some greater mystery/riddle behind the occurrance of the Sul line/name. Also, yall forgot Sul-Senipul, guardian of the bone-biter bow (The Bow of Sul) and the only ghost merchant in morrowind. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:MW-quest-Meet_Sul-Matuul.jpg

From here: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1361197-pentannual-census-of-the-houses-of-morrowind-post-red-year-4e-166/


Sul of The Infernal City is the son of Sul-Matuul? I've never read TIC, but does it support this? I'm considering it entirely true regardless of course, but still.

"Sul" as a title seems to work until you consider Sul of The Infernal City, whose name is simply that.

Exactly this.I've actually never understood why so much fan fiction is posted in the lore forum instead of the *ahem* fan fiction forum where it belongs.

I can assure you, without it the lore forum would be a far less interesting place.

...and the addition of it would make the fan fiction forum a far more interesting place?

There are many ways to learn the lore.

Participation happens to be the most fun.

Except that it is. It's an ape of fiction: Monkey Truth.

I'm not talking about extended lore, monkey truth, fan fiction, etc. Want to write stories? Fine by me. What I'm talking about is having someone ask a question and be given an answer that is entirely made up, and not being told that it is so.

(I'm ignoring the "glorified fanfiction" comment on purpose. Done arguing that, points to the contrary can be found elsewhere.)

Linguist point of view: I too have always thought that those with Sul in their name wear it like a title, like countless Serjos for example. It's possible that at some stage, this title just dropped / was forgotten. This would've been followed a period without any Suls. Later, accidentally or according to heritage or whatever, the word might've gotten a new use as a regular name.

Or, the title never dropped, just that its original meaning was forgotten and mer began to comprehend it as a regular name. Language can change like that due time.

Or, every Dunmer knows it used to be - and still might be - a title, but it became a name nonetheless. Like, for example, that aforementioned Smith. Or King.

Just speculation. Just to say that it's not necessarily wrong to assume it is (or was) a title (as well as a name).

As for whether there's a Big Mystery behind the name... I don't think so. The "many famous Suls all around lore must mean something" argument kind of flukes, unfortunately, because

1) it might be a significant Dunmer family. Or many families with the same name. Heck, it might even be, like, avatars of a same God or something, just that this is unlikely since there seems to be nothing to back this up. Good find, although we don't believe there's anything to it. Just look up for new evidence for their connection and present it here again if you find it! That'd teach us damn sceptics...

2) lore doesn't tend to list anything but big events and famous names anyway.

[+1 Like]

Oh, I love the lore. I just hang around the more "less popular" areas of Elder Scrolls lore. If no one loves it, then I will sort of thing.

But he has a point. People try to put truth into everything. Pretty soon we are all going to talk about bacteria in the Elder Scrolls.

See, the thing is that that sounds increeeeedibly interesting to me. The reason I wrote my bit on alchemy was because I'm a Chem major, and I love the idea of science in a world where sunlight is explicitly and literally magic.

The problem isn't with people making stuff up. It's with people making stuff up and giving it as answers to people's questions, without indicating its speculative nature. Which faux pas has not been committed in this thread, as far as I can tell. Bit confused why this came up.

And I see no reason why we can't talk about bacteria in TES. I mean, fungi are well established, so why not other microorganisms? There may even be actual evidence of bacteria already, though I can't remember anything off the top of my head.

So far this thread has given no hard evidence either way:

Those who think "Sul" is mundane either are debating the entire counter-idea's legitimacy on grounds of i'm-tired-of-possible-monkey-truth-being-flung-like-monkey-poo, or ask us to make the leap that it is of some evidence-less etymological origin of which we have no knowledge and can therefore not test it's veracity = conjecture.

Those in the camp of I-think-OP-is-on-to-something have also been unable to lay down any facts or writings as to what the mystery or correlation is, or if there is any to begin with. Just a vague feeling or sense that there is something more to this. Some have wild theories based on literary obscura, but not much else.

Let's all step back for a moment and remember this thread's debate before we lose our way in lore-forum-spear-comparison:

What, if any significance, is there to the Dunmeri name "Sul"? Is it ordinary, like a title or family line, or is it mythic, like a totem role or enduring spirit? Or is it entirely a mere coincidence?

Might be off topic, but how the hell do we know something about the fifth era? Did someone travel in time...? Tes lore never cease to confuse me :/

The Loveletter from the 5th Era. read it on TIL.

What the hell is TIL?

Edit: The Imperial Library?

Yes.