Do we really know the score? : The Elder Scrolls Series Discussion

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 12:20 pm

Ald son of Ald, [censored]es.

Alduin is the first-born of Akatosh because there is no difference between kin and self. Akatosh is the over-soul, his aspects many, Alduin first among them, as he is world-eater, father and son of his self that fathers and succeeds his self. People talk like Aka is a person like they talk like Talos is a person. It's hard to imagine an intelligence-swarm where every node is in itself an intelligence.

I like this one. It feels like something MK would want.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:54 am

I like this one. It feels like something MK would want.

I'm sure he's too busy counting his fat stacks of Skyrim cash to care

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 5:09 pm

Maybe once Akatosh was mantled by Martin, he had to dis-mantle his previous avatar, Alduin. Sure, there are 200 years between Oblivion and Skyrim, but I'm not sure linear time means much to the time-god.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 6:05 am

The Tsasesci have a radically different creation myth to other races. For all we know that is the correct one.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 5:41 am

The Tsasesci have a radically different creation myth to other races. For all we know that is the correct one.

Using hard-to-understand symbolism doesn't mean it's that different. It actually sounds pretty close to the Yokudan and Argonian myths, in some ways.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 8:43 pm

Akatosh is the name that Alduin refers to the Dragon God as, actually. That name had to come from somewhere. Maybe it's from the dragon tongue, long forgotten until Alessia needed a legit name to apply to her exciting new rebranded religion.

I think it would have been neat if Aka was actually the word for dragon in draconic. That would have tied in previous lore much better. Too bad they replaced it with dovah.

Akakiin, Akakiin, naal ok zin los vahriin ...

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 7:16 pm

I keep seeing this argument a lot, but have yet to really understand it. He's the Dragon God of Time, just with a new name and shiny new pro-Man bias. I think you've said in another thread today that the Marukhati didn't really do anything to him, b/c Akatosh is just another way of looking at Auriel, but I always felt that they did do something (else, why have the Dragon break for so long?). This is getting sidetracked from my main point, though...

It shouldn't matter WHEN Akatosh is created, the exact same as it doesn't matter WHEN the Tribunal ascended. They made it so they always were, which means they never weren't. It reminds me of something I read, once, let me see if I can find it...

Whoa, what. No you're thinking way too complex. We've had the obscure text version, http://www.imperial-library.info/content/shezarr-and-eight-divines for a long time now. It first appeared in Knights of the Nine as http://www.imperial-library.info/content/shezarr-and-eight-divines. No need to bring in the whole Selective.

The relevant bit: "This slavery lasts for generations. The isolated humans eventually begin to venerate the pantheon of their masters, or at least assimilate so much of High Elven religious practices into their native traditions that the two become indistinguishable."

"Akatosh [that is Auri-El - Prow] was an Aldmeri god, and Alessia's subjects were as-yet unwilling to renounce their worship of the Elven pantheon. She found herself in a very sensitive political situation. She needed to keep the Nords as her allies, but they were (at that time) fiercely opposed to any adoration of Elven deities. On the other hand, she could not force her subjects to revert back to the Nordic pantheon, for fear of another revolution. Therefore, concessions were made and Empress Alessia instituted a new religion: the Eight Divines, an elegant, well-researched synthesis of both pantheons, Nordic and Aldmeri."

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 9:27 am

Except that Akatosh was a deity create by Alessia in 1E243 to appease both Nordic and Elven parts of her empire

Unless we ignore everything dealing with Alduin, Akatosh, and Auriel from previous lore, it's not as simple as Alduin being made by Akatosh.

I'm not so sure about that.

The Khajiit call him Alkosh. Unless Alessia took the name from the Khajiit (and if so, why?), I'm inclined to believe that Akatosh is his real name, and names like Tosh Raka (again with the similar name), Auriel, Alduin and Alkosh are just variations of that.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:23 am

I'm not so sure about that.

The Khajiit call him Alkosh. Unless Alessia took the name from the Khajiit (and if so, why?), I'm inclined to believe that Akatosh is his real name, and names like Tosh Raka (again with the similar name), Auriel, Alduin and Alkosh are just variations of that.

Maybe the Khajiit took the name Alkosh. A lot can happen in two thousand years, and the Khajiit are notorious liars.

» Thu Dec 08, 2011 4:20 pm

They have the same etymological root.