You all are going to hate me, and this post might indeed even be blocked/blacklisted, and for that I completely apologize. I played the crap out of Morrowind and Oblivion, and in preparation for Skyrim I have been trying to learn as much of the lore as possible. Despite my research, I have yet to find anything really explaining to me what the Elder Scrolls are, what exactly they foretold/say, and all that good stuff. Could anyone link me a good page regarding this topic, or anything like that. The best I've found is a piece of parchment depicting the scroll you steal in Oblivion with the star chart on it. Thank you for your understanding of a n00bs desire to learn more!

lol Dont worry man, you are asking a simple question, I dont see a need for flames and blacklists :tongue:

As for the scrolls, we do not really know much about them, just that they make you go blind :bolt:

I believe the intention of the devs is to keep understanding of the Scrolls themselves to a bit of a minimum.

Rather than tell what we do know, I'll tell you what we don't.

We don't know:

• Who makes them
  
• What they're made of
  
• Where they come from
  
• When they were made
  
• Why they're made
  
• How many there are

All we know is that Moth Priests are the only people capable of reading them, and that they're a bit fuzzy on events until they happen, at which point they tell with unshakeable validity what occurred.

Beyond that -- your guess is as good as mine.

We're not that bad!
Welcome to the fora!

As for your question... The scrolls are a bit of an erudite mystery. They're prophetic parchments, origin and nature unknown. They contain knowledge of the future, but reading them causes temporary blindness, and continual reading will result in total loss of sight, in fitting with the "blind oracle" trope. Hence the "Blind Moth Priests".
I get the impression that they potentially foretell everything. I'd have to do some research to tell you what they've specifically be known to foretell in our experience, though.

Someone else might know more, but I think that's the basics.

edit: Oh yeah, also note that in a certain way of looking at it there's a literal link between them and the games that share their names, as per Martin's speech at the end of Oblivion.

Weren't the Elder Scrolls responsible for alerting the Emperor about the coming of the Nerevarine? I can't quite remember.

There must be ways of avoiding loss of vision by an automated system of translation.

If someone translated passages into something akin to braille I doubt you would lose your sense of touch.

Personally, I would imagine a good place to start is to uncover the fixation with the moths themselves. One quote comes to mind:

"...whether or not Pelinal was indeed the Shezarrine is best left unsaid (for once Plontinu, who favored the short sword, said it, and that night he was smothered by moths)." - Song of Pelinal

Perhaps the best indication would be this, however:

"The Order of the Ancestor Moth is as ancient as it is noble. We nuture and celebrate our beloved ancestors, whose spirits are manifest in the Ancestor Moths. Each moth carries the fjyron of an ancestor's spirit... Adepts of our order are gifted with prescient powers. The wisdom of the ancestors can sing the future into the present. For this reason, our order and our order alone has been given the priviledge to interpret the Elder Scrolls." - Pension of the Ancestor Moth

"They must chant the mantras constantly to maintain skin contact with the ancestor-moths, a discipline that they endure for the sake of some cosmic balance." - Pocket Guide, First Edition

If I had to make a wager, the moths/spirits of the ancestors give something of a doorway of perspective to the dreamsleeve/collective consciousness of, well, God/I Are All We-ness. That would be my wager, anyhow, from the sources used/available.

Hey....I'm not that cruel.

*ahem*

Anywho..........here's my explanation. The elder scrolls are a giant meta joke. To explain this, here is what is said about them.

The elder scrolls tell an event, often vague, with what happens depending on the reader. The blind moth priests also go blind after looking at it for too long.

Now, take that, and apply this:

The elder scrolls (the game) tell an event (the MQ), with what happens depending on the reader (the player). The blind moth priests also go blind after looking at it for too long (staring at a screen for too long can lead to your vision going bad).

See?

The priests go blind after reading the scrolls at all, but yeah, they're kind of a meta thing in that you, the player, are the scribe of the scrolls.

In the sense that it's a "do whatever you like" sort of game, and we "write" our own futures in it.

Exactly! It makes me lol.

Thank you so much folks! This actually really helped me understand how to interpret and appreciate the scrolls/games as a whole as the player. I suspected that I was meant to be in the dark, and I'm glad to see that everyone is (as that's part of the lore). Your understanding has been really welcoming. Praise be to Akatosh! This community is excellent!

..never praise Alduin :flame:

All hail Shor!

Praising Shor is so First Era. We're all worshiping Ruptga now.

Ruptga's cool.

These games really have nothing to do with the "Elder Scrolls" do they? What/who was it that foretold of the skyrim kerfuffles?

They're magic scrolls that tell everything that has happened, is going to happen, and is happening, provided you can read and understand them.

My question is this: what happened to them after the Empire's collapse? Unfortunately, I haven't gotten either TES novel yet. Was the white gold tower destroyed? What happened to the scrolls?

Welcome to the forums
Now that all is answered and such,



I suddenly pictured Elder Scrolls for the visually impaired ... except with hot combustible ink. Calloused, insensitive fingers after brailling for too long
Or, heebie jeebies, death by 1000 paper cuts

Ruptga is for mainstream trenders.

The cool kids venerate Ebonarm.

Baan Dar save us from the filthy hipsters.

Umbala, the Yoku god of we have way too many gods, is where its at.

Perhaps they are what's left of the last kalpa and they kind of keep track of important events that once happened and may or may not happen again. Kind of a message/warning from the past. Yeah, yeah, time is cyclic in TES.