Is there much lore on karstaag the frost giant? the relationship between the skaal and karstaag? karstaag's origins? the rieklings?

I couldn't find much, and am a bit disappointed, as karstaag is a very interesting specimen. is karstaag a reminent from the kamal invasion, or from atmora? or are the frost giants common in skyrim?

Nothing is known other than speculation. It seems pretty plausible that he could be left over from the Kamal invasion as Solsthiem is within swimming distance of Morrowinds island of Vvardenfell. All BM rumors has to say that the Skaal havn't heard from him in a while and its been peaceful or something like that.

i agree, what ever he said!

how disappointing for a magnificent beast.

Kaarstag is a unique monster. What else could be said? People like to theorize that he may be a giant from Atmora, or a Kamal from the ancient Akaviri invasion, or something else perhaps; but in truth all that is known is that he's a unique monster.

He's as likely to be a Bosmer gone wild than anything else. (See the Wild Hunt, in which the Bosmer turn into monsters in order to hunt down and eradicate their enemies... And are never able to change back into their former, normal selves.)

The truth is nowhere to be found. It's a mystery, and not a particularly relevant one, so it probably won't be explored further.

There are many unexplained monsters in the world. Perhaps this one is a lesser son of some Daedra, like Molag Bal, who is said to be the father of many monsters? That's entirely unfounded but is as likely a theory as any. This beast serves just one purpose in the storyline, a final obstacle between the player and the Avatar of Hircine. It's an interesting monster, sure, and I'd like some more lore on him, much like the Udyrfrykte, but we didn't get any and aren't likely to unless other Frost Giants appear in future games. (They may turn up in Skyrim for instance. Who knows?)

But he had a castle!

As just a gut feeling, I feel like him being a leftover Kamal makes the most sense. We have nothing definitive clearly, but that one would just feel right to me.

You mean it's the coolest answer, which winds up making the same thing as sense.

Well, Mysterious Akavir says this about their land:
"Kamal is "Snow Hell". Demons live there, armies of them. Every summer they thaw out and invade Tang Mo, but the brave monkey-folk always drive them away. Once Ada'Soom Dir-Kamal, a king among demons, attempted to conquer Morrowind, but Almalexia and the Underking destroyed him at Red Mountain."
So, I'm not sure that a species that needs to wait until summer thaw them out to be active would really make sense in the northernmost reach of Solstheim. Unless Kaarstag would stay frozen in a big icecube forever? Then it'd make sense.

Well, coolest is a question of opinion. As far as I'm concerned, I'd rather have him as a Fargoth whose ring was stolen one time too many...

To put that into perspective, Atmora became too cold for the Nords and some are walking around naked in Solstheim. So Kamal can be cold as hell, if not colder because even the devils freeze in.

edit:

For clarity, this is mostly an objection to the idea that Solstheim is cold enough to be like Kamal. Kaarstag seems to be just an other monster.

He sentient, and not just that but intelligent enough to meet Hircine's lofty standards. He's probebly more intelligent then half the Nords on the Island.

I don't know about you guys, but I always envisioned the Kamal being something like Ice Balrogs...

Perhaps thats just my Lord of the Ring's fancy kicking in though...

He's a big, hairy guy dressed in a loincloth lording over an isolated castle inhabited by a bunch of tiny males. Do you really want to know?

Can't really think of anything worse then Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

How does being sentient and intelligent prevent monsterhood?

i always took the "thawing out" part not literally "thawing out" but perhaps hibernation. once it's warmer, they become more active. and then they prepare to hibernate when the intense cold hits.

Demons trapped in ice and freed when the ice melt is so much cooler than a bunch of bears...

but demons trapped in ice also sound rather stupid, like once they have their fun they just go back to the frozen wastes to freeze up and do it again next year? wouldn't surprise me though, as the devs were insistent about the tsaesci as snakemen despite any evidence in-game.

since we're talking about coolness you obviously have no idea what it is.

1. Starting hypothesis: the Kamal are imprisoned in ice and they don't like it.
2. Consequence from 1: when summer arrives and they thaw out, they try to move to a warmer clime so that they won't be frozen alive again.
3. Consequence from 2: they invade the neighboring Tang Mo lands.
4. Consequence from 3: the Tang Mo defend their homeland and fight the Kamal back.
5. Consequence from 4: the Kamal invasion fails and they have to retreat to their own land.
6. Consequence from 5: the Kamal are caught by wintertime and become frozen again.
7. Conclusion: what happens is exactly what the only source of information on the Kamal we have says is what happens.


Also, evidence in-game points that elves, humans and beastfolk are all incapable of sixual reproduction and instead pop up advlt, clad, and fully-formed in the world.

daggerfall and arena had children in-game, nice try though

Nope, no kids in Arena. Try again!

In human culture, the more intelligent a villain is, the less they are regarded as "monstrous" and the more they begin to be regarded as "sinister". However, Karstaag isn't even villian. He the enemy of the PC enemy, and both were forec to fight against their respective wills. in fact, if you play Hircine's side you actually help out Karstaag in the mq. So to regard him as beastly just based on appearance is quite limited. Like I said, based on merits of intelligence, the so-called "good" Nords are more monstrous then him.

Karstaag is a monster according to the mythological notion of what a monster is. I'm not talking about morality. And intelligence has nothing to do with it in either case. I've never heard it said that "so or so wasn't a retard, so he wasn't monstrous but sinister" or "so or so is a total idiot, let's call him a monster".