But there's no chance he was Imperial, right?

Alright guys, stop the thread - this is pretty much the official stamp.

You mean a Cyrod? I suppose he could have been. We pretty much know that Hijalti was involved in some way shape or form and can be traced to Alcair, and the heresy leaves him the only one left alive at the end. The real question we should be asking is what race was Hijalti, not who was Tiber Septim, since he's technically three people.

An argonian, without a doubt.



Ahem, I honestly have no damn idea. The Imperial Library most likely has, or hasn't, got the answer to this, somewhere. In the end, however, what difference does it make if he was a nord, breton or imperial?

All the maybes are listed on the site somewhere, but all the answers are maybes. I agree that it makes no difference. He is the human god, and that is important, not what race of human he was. He grew up, at least in some form, in High Rock, was proclaimed Ysmir by the Greybeards "in the name of Kyne, in the name of Shor, and in the name of Atmora of Old," and founded a new Empire of Cyrodiil. Basically, the only human culture he wan't extensively immersed in were the Redguards.

Being from Alcaire doesn't make him a Breton. But he could not have been from Atmora, which was frozen.

Barring Redguards, the human races of Tamriel can't be flawlessly distinguished. Talos' lineage could have been anything. What matters is that he took on a Nordic identity and name.

No, what matters is that, culturally, Tiber Septim was involved in several human races, whatever his birth heritage.

I like the notion that he was a Nord who was born in Highrock myself, but then again I am slightly biased in favor of the Nords as is.

All of which was treated was inferior to Colovian/Nordic culture in Tiber's own propaganda.

Edit: Well, the Raga Forebearers are treated nicely. Compared to anyone else who isn't a real Man.

I am not certain, but I go more towards nord. The reason os that Arngeir mentions that they greybeards of that time greeted the young Tiber Septim when he was still Talos of Atmora. Then again he did not live at the time so he might be wrong.

IIRC, he doesn't use the words "Talos of Atmora." I think he uses "Young Talos."

But remember: Talos seems to also be the term for Dragonborn. Wulfharth was Ysmir, was Wulfharth of Atmora, and he (according to Balgruuf) was also Dragonborn. He served as Tiber Septim.

Tiber Septim did come from Atmora. Hjalti Early-Beard did not.

I seem to remember him saying "the young Tiber Septim, when he still was Talos of Atmora", but it is a long time since I have heard any of this dialoge so I might be wrong.

The Elk said all that needed to be said in response to the question as originally framed. Tiber Septim is not the name of a single individual with a single race. Heck, he doesn't even have a single history which combines the many entities who end up forming part of him in a single way - we're told there was a dragon break at Rimmen. The waveform is one that stubbornly refuses to be observed and collapsed.

I think the question that's really being raised here is why does Hjalti from Alcaire have such a Nordic name? And the answer seems to be: dunno, many possible reasons. There's evidence (the portrait, his birthplace, his documented lack of shouting after a fishy and convenient 'wound to the throat') that Hjalti was a Breton. However, Hjalti Early-Beard sure sounds like a Nord's name, and his Nord warrior's ghost greets him and treats him as if he were a Nord following Nordic traditions. Then there's that whole bit with the unnamed Breton nightblade who murdered the king. For those who favor the Imperial theory, well, there are the Real Barenziah books, in which he seems to look a lot like an Imperial and be treated as an Imperial.

If you're the sort who can't handle competing realities and needs to nail it down, one plausible explanation is that Alcaire, being an island, had a population of invading Nords on it, as many High Rock islands did in earlier times. Maybe Hjalti's dad was a Nord and his mother was a Breton, which would give him a Nord name and a Breton appearance.

Thanks, Allie.

None of these people are the people you think you know. That's the point of myth. They always escape you. Or they're simply not worthy of myth.

Which was my point when I said the things about Wulfharth. Wulfharth is just as Tiber Septim as Hjalti, only Hjalti won (I think).

My point was that the young man from Alcaire took on a Nordic persona and there would have been no way of disproving it because showracemenu doesn't exist in the lore.

If we're gonna get all gamey, you could ask him to demonstrate his racial power. But it does seem, according to books, that confusion about race is possible.

Tiber Septim was a breton, Wulfhearth was a nord, and Zurin Arctus was....ff[censored] if I know. The parts where Tiber = nord came from the fact that Wulfhearth was Tiber's doppelganger, and those who fought with 'Tiber' was actually fighting with Wulfhearth.

Funny thing with Tiber, the myths surrounding him have made it so that, in essence, he was just Man.

"The Emperor? I didn’t kill him."
"Of course you did; you were the Hoon Ding."
"No I didn’t and no I wasn’t."

Just because the Heresy is the only completely coherent version of the story we have, doesn't mean we should this internal concept document as the whole truth. Even if it's sometimes impossible to escape its take on events. See the Elk's post.

I don't wanna!

Out of all the possibilities to pick from you choose the one that's obiviously propaganda..... Why?

I thought Tiber Septim was the name Hijalti gave himself and Talos was the 3 person oversoul.

Talos means stormcrown, which is what people started calling Hjalti after Ysmir started hanging out over his head.

Or what they called Ysmir after Hjalti started hanging out below his cloud.

Right. The man we knew as Tiber Septim in the end was the man we knew as Hijalti Early-beard. In the end the other two were dead and the three of them together create Talos the God.