Obviously in Skyrim, The Nords used to have a religion that based the 8+Shore resembling certain animals. However by the time Skyrim took place. The 9 (or 8 damn Thalmor...) Divines seem to have replace the old religion. So Why did the Nords dropped that religion? Did the Dragon wars slowly made the lose interest? (After all the Dragon seem to the most important animal God) Or is that because Skyrim has been part of the Empire for so long that they slowly been consumed into the 8 (9) Divines? Or since The Nords see Tiber septim as a hero, they converted to the 9 Divines since Talos became the ninth?

No, as of 400 years prior to the events of Skyrim, the Nords revered http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Varieties_of_Faith... and they sang http://www.imperial-library.info/content/seven-fights-aldudagga.

Adding that Mehrunes Dagga and Molag of the Cold Harbor have particular significance, as does Sheog, Lord of the Blue Palace Pelagius, the One Beside Me on the Path.

Then what happened recently that made the Nords to head to the Imperial religion instead of their own?

Very recently? I don't know. Nothing. The authors of this version of Skyrim didn't care for the author of the Varieties anolysis. I know, it's sad.

Yeah, when Skyrim was in development, I was hoping to see something different then the Nine Divines. Wait! There is something different! We have the 8 Divines!

S'called Hegemony, bra'.

When a province is colonised by a more powerful and technologically advanced civilisation the natives tend to adopt the new religion? No [censored], brah.

Glad we see eye-to-eye.

Yup. Even in Varieties the gods are largely versions of the 9, and an additional 400+ years haven't helped. There are indications that the more Nordic variants are still worshiped, and the totem animals may be part of the way gods are depicted iconographically, but it's been thousands of years since Atmora.

You have trebuchets and we have thu'um ( and treebuckets )? No contest. Skyrim wasn't conquered, Skyrim conquered Cyrod. Rather, Skyrim is Ald Cyrod.

Partially true. Nords did help Al-Esh evict the original owners.

Also, Cyrodiils have much worse than thu'um.

Well, not the Cyrodiil of Morrowind, Oblivion and Okyrim. They're daffodiils and iconic t-shirts, not the legions of Reman, who were fearsome and Dreaded.

You're right, they cast the Voice of the Emperor greater power, once a day. Septims buy everything. (money talks) ;D

Here's the thing. Tiber septim never conquered Skyrim. Hell if anything it was Skyrim that conquered Cyrodiil.

The only Imperialization I see is Arkay being in nordic Halls of the Dead and the names being Imperialized. The Amulet of Akatosh has him taking a sword down the gullet, Mara's statue is crying (tear-wife of Shor), Shor and Ysmir are still referenced by nords....

Medic propaganda from the Great War. Note how even the Patron jarl of traditional worship (Ulfric) is ex-Legion.

Religion changes. The problem is that we don't learn enough about the change.

I agree with French Ninja. I don't think the religion changed much at all.

Furthermore, if we look at it from an external point of view, I maintain they were given Cyrodiilic names so as to ease the transition between Oblivion and Skyrim lore. A good author doesn't lob heaps of new information on the reader, but rather, introduces new information piecemeal and in a meaningful way. Alduin and Shor are good examples of new gods being introduced in this way. But to overload the player with a whole host of unfamiliar gods deprives him/her of a foundational knowledge of the pantheon, which they now must re-learn. And if most Nord deities have direct equivalents with the Imperial ones...why not just keep the original names? ADD HERE more jibberish about developing a developer - consumer trust, yadda yadda...

You just gotta wonder what they're going to do once we arrive in the Summerset Isles. There's absolutely no way the Imperial deities everyone has come to know and love since Daggerfall will be able to be represented, even in a diminished "Imperial Cult" status. Kids, its going to get interesting...

Then how does one rebel against the Empire, when they are not already in charge?

Because they're not. The Nords being in charge exists only as an idea in Skyrim, and Tiber propaganda that portrayed Skyrim as the "Fatherland." Nords during Tiber's time were rather indifferent to him. The only reason Nords really care about the Empire is because Tiber's propaganda was so successful.

They may have helped, along with the Colovians, to give the Empire a jump start. They then become a source of manpower for Tiber's legions, along with the Colovians (with the latter outnumbering the former). Cyrodiils achieved all the important positions, as most Nords simply laughed at Tiber's propaganda. Then the ones who grew up with it fell for it.

What SilentColossus and Haute said hit the double bullseye. And trust me, this does come as a giant disappointment to me, who was truly hoping for something other than the religion of the Nine being the dominate religion, again, and with much more focus on Shor. Yeah, Shor wasn't forgotten, but stuck to the proverbial "omg"

Completely true. Well played!

I guess I can see the misunderstanding though. After he did took over Cyrodill, Talos changed his name to Tiber Septim and pretty much went from Nordic to Cyrodiilic.

You're all dinguses.

Cyrodill was conquered by Alcaire. Hence the ubiquity of sweetrolls and related psychological tests, an ancient Alcairien tradition.

Do Nords even organise religion, let alone use scripute? Why wouldn't it drift?


That would explain why Imperials are such Breton wannabes, ripping off their pantheon, architecture and such. That would be a funny double retcon though. Good luck incorporating their supposed imitation of Summerset Isle.


Except the Imperial pantheon is partly based on the Elven one. What's more, Alexandre Simon says that Auriel is essentially Akatosh to High Elves. It would be rather odd for the more worldly divines like Kynareth to still be there.

"Ma breff is looong wintah!" Skyrimizes the South, or when North and South grew legs and talked.