» Tue Oct 07, 2014 3:11 pm Let’s face it everyone: all of The Elder Scrolls heroes are pretty much [censored]s, deadpan snarkers, jerkasses, and dikes all combined together into a single package. This includes many individuals within the lore itself as well as the Player Characters. Sure, they end up doing some good things but at the end they are all horrible people that hardly ever gets called out on their actions.
You see, there is a theme that appears in every TES game since the first: the PC always starts off as a Prisoner. In Arena, it was the Imperial Dungeons. In Daggerfall, it was the tutorial cave. In Battlespire, it was aforementioned space station. In Redguard, it was Cyrus’s sense of honor. In Morrowind, it was the Imperial Dungeons (again). In Oblivion, it was the Imperial Dungeons (again!). In Stormhold, it was the Stormhold Dungeons. In Dawnstar, it was the aforementioned village. In Shadowkey, it was the war. And in Skyrim, it was to the Imperial Legion.
But why are the Heroes always Prisoners? There is a reason. You see, the Prisoner is a very important person in the grand scheme of things; they alone can go outside the boundaries of what should be, can be, and what is and basically flip all of those upside down in their quest.
What gives the mythic archetype of "the Prisoner" so much power? Where does it stand in relation to the King/Rebel/Observer? – Michael Kirkbride
What in the Aurbis makes the Prisoner such a powerful mythic figure? – Michael Kirkbride
The Prisoner, in my opinion, represents and is TES’s equivalent to the Wild Card. There are three definitions to the phrase that fits perfectly with the message of this post:
- 1st Definition (Regarding the actual card): a playing card that can have any value, suit, color, or other property in a game at the discretion of the player holding it.
- 2nd Definition (Regarding an individual): a person or thing whose influence is unpredictable or whose qualities are uncertain.
- 3rd Definition (Regarding computing): a character that will match any character or sequence of characters in a search.
The Prisoner relationship with the King, Rebel, and Observer is that they all want them but at the same time none of them can control them. The Prisoner does whatever they want to do, but is usually steered by one of the three before breaking off to do their own thing. You can try to force them to do something, but they’ll just look at you funny and do their own thing. They’re a living weapon that no one can use, unaffected by the enantiomorph the three cause because they simply do not care about it and are free spirits: no one can influence the Prisoner to do something completely except the Prisoner themselves. Because of that, the Prisoner is placed in a jail by the Rebel/King/Observer (Warrior/Thief/Mage) so they can’t be a problem until they are needed. But even then they still escape, because they are so free bonds like that can’t hold them for long.
So, why is the Prisoner always an ambiguous person? Because since they are a weapon that cannot be controlled by no one, the King/Rebel/Observer sees it fit to make sure they can’t be used against any of them by making it forget who it is.
The Mage is the one who incarcerates the Prisoner within their jail. Now, they have no home and can now live in or be of any land of their own choosing.
The Warrior is the one who guards the Prisoner, and unsteering them from their former path in life. Now, they have the ability to walk any path in life regardless of where it takes them.
The Thief is the one who steals the Prisoner’s identity, allowing them to be of any race or gender because no one will remember who they are no matter how hard they try.
The Serpent is the one who overshadows the Prisoner’s importance. Without it they are just another person in the world, one who faces no true consequence for their actions because they are so insignificant.
In short, the Prisoner is the most dangerous and powerful force in the Aurbis because by unmaking them as a person and making them nothing, it gives them the ability to do and become virtually anything. By making the Prisoner a nobody, he has become anybody. They are so ordinary it makes them extraordinary.
What happens when you take away someone’s personality, appearance, and history? You get an unknowable masked emotionless person who doesn’t know what they’re doing or how they’re going to do it, but they’re going to do it anyway. Well, emotionless isn’t the right word. The Prisoners have emotions, they just don’t truly care about the consequences on acting on said emotions.
But why are they dikes?
The prison the Prisoner is always in is the Tower. Inside the Tower lies the secret (CHIM) that leads to ultimate freedom (Amaranth). They are kept in the next cell over from the secret, but they know its there and want to learn what it is. But the Prisoner never learns this secret, for they are released from their prison back into the world a new person. But they can still feel that secret itching in the back of their mind, an itch they can’t scratch. They want to learn it and will go out to try to retrieve it. Some do, but most cannot; so some decide that they will simply act as free as they can in the world they know now, not dwelling on the consequences of their actions. That is why they are dikes, because although they’re free it’s not the free they want. They have no history, no appearance, no personality, so they always go out and forge a new one. And when they get killed or returned to the cage, they do the same the next time around.
And although the Prisoner is completely ambiguous, there are three things that we always know for a fact about them. They are always driven forth by a sense of duty, whether this is by prophecy or by their own will (the events in the games, Tiber Wars, the War of the First Council). There is almost always some divine force backing them while they are doing their thing (Azura, HoonDing, Akatosh, Numidium, Divines, Lorkhan, ALMSIVI, etc.). And once they do what they were meant to do, they fade away into the obscurity only to be remembered by the Elder Scrolls themselves.
"Each event is preceded by Prophecy. But without the hero, there is no Event." – Zurin Arctus
“The Mnemoli? They're the keepers of the Elder Scrolls. They cannot be fixed until seen. And they cannot be seen until a moment. And you, your hero, makes that moment.” – Michael Kirkbride
The Prisoner is the convict that repeatedly goes to jail, but gets off on bail only to go back again. Then they either get released on bail again, serve their time, or escape from their prison only to late return to jail. Each time they get freed, they try another way to stay free but they always get captured (or killed) again. But the Prisoner doesn’t care. They know one day their going to be free forever, so they simply keep trying. The Prisoner is the ultimate determinator that wont stop they have what they want.
Good Examples In Lore:
- Nerevar: Pretty much the most excellent example in the lore is Lord Indoril Nerevar. In Foul Murder, ALMSIVI kills him and literally unmakes him as a person. Sotha Sil (Mage) cut off his face, so he could be of any race. Almalexia (Warrior) removed his feet, so he could walk any path. And Vivec (Thief) speared him through the chest, so he could be of any gender. Arguably one could say that Dagoth Ur (Serpent) overshadows his importance (perhaps he got rid of his body?), as he becomes more important. In the end, Nerevar is now able to virtually anything, even though we know for a fact that he was a male Chimer and Hortator.
- Tiber Septim: An interesting case. Tiber’s origins are a complete mystery, and no one can decide if he was a Breton, Nord, or Atmoran. He had many names (Tiber Septim, Hjalti Early-Beard, Talos Stormcrown, Ysmir). We also don’t know his true home (High Rock, Skyrim, Atmora). He was definitely Dragonborn (or maybe not) and Shezzarine (or maybe not); those could’ve been Wulfharth Ash-King or Zurin Arctus (or maybe not). He walked many paths in life (warrior, general, god), although those titles are often disputed (Thalmor, Underking). We don’t truly know who he was, except that he was a male general that conquered Tamriel who also had CHIM.
- Vivec: Another interesting case. He has had many names (Vivec, Vehk, Vehk and Vehk, Warrior-Poet, etc.). He is definitely a man (or maybe not), but is also definitely a woman (or maybe not). He was a Chimer for sure (but he looks half-Dunmer so is he fully Chimer?). He walked many paths in life (street rat, warrior, general, god) because he literally rewrote his history (Dragon Breaks are weird). He or she is a blank slate, but we know for a fact that they attained CHIM, fought at Red Mountain, and help killed Indoril Nerevar.
- Cyrus: Probably the most interesting case of all, as Cyrus seems to have enforced this on himself. He has had many names (Cyrus the Restless, Sura of the Bend’r Mark, the Maverick-Sword of the Crowns, HoonDing). He is definitely a Redguard (or Yokudan. Or Yokudan God, who knows though because that could’ve been a sword). He has walked many paths in life (pirate, mercenary, mass murderer, lollygagger, god-avatar-thing, etc.) and has abandoned his own history because of his past deeds. He wanders around constantly because he no longer has a true home (Hammerfell, Argonia, Yokuda, the Moons, Morrowind, Skyrim, Thras) because he shirked it. We do know for a fact that he was male dude that saved Hammerfell during the Tiber Wars.
- Every Player Character: They don’t really need an explanation.
And that is why all of Tamriel’s heroes are dikes: their Prisoners who have been locked next door to absolute freedom, and after being released from their sentence they want to act in such a way that reminds them of that absolute freedom, to the point where they don’t care about everyone else as long as they get to do what they want to do. I leave these wise words with you all to mark the end of this post, for they are the ultimate embodiment of this post:
"It does not matter to M'aiq how strong or smart one is. It only matters what one can do." - M'aiq the Liar
