Forums » Elder Scrolls

Some Questions About Elder Scrolls.

    • 41 posts
    September 1, 2013 7:18 PM EDT

    I have some questions about Elder Scrolls (The in game thing rather than the series of games).

    1) What exactly are they, or are we not meant to know?

    2) Where do they come from/Who made them?

    3)How many are there?

    4)What can they be used for (other than prophecies and seeing the past)?

    These questions might be really dumb, but I was just wondering.

    • 291 posts
    September 1, 2013 7:41 PM EDT
    1. They are, in essence, a coagulation of time and space.  Part of their power lies in describing events that are happening, going to happen, and have happened.  They have a peculiar quality of describing future events in such a way that when those future events occur, those events are understood in precisely the same way the scrolls described (no matter how an individual initially interpreted the prophecy).  However, there is another aspect of their power that is largely unknown.  What we do know is that their power is great enough that you must be trained to read a scroll without permanently damaging your eyes (and your brain).  It's likely that they possess such an innate understanding and view of the universe that mortal eyes cannot see the entire contents of a scrolls without going crazy.  In other words, to read an Elder Scroll is to look into the core of the universe itself, unfiltered and from the perspective of a god.
    2. We don't know.  No one made them.  The understanding is that they just...manifest themselves according to the movements of time and space in the universe.  Personally, I see them as physical manifestations of time...like seeing an eddy in a current.  But we really don't know where they come from.  Unless you want to say "everywhere and nowhere".
    3. The number varies.  The best example of this is described in An Accounting of the Elder Scrolls:

      "I had thought you meant there were too many to be counted."

      "There are, but that is not the least of their complexities. Turn to the repository behind you, and tell me how many Scrolls are locked therein."

      I ran my fingers over the metal casings, tallying each rounded edge that they encountered. I turned back -- "Fourteen," I said.

      "Hand me the eighth one," he said, reaching out his hand.

      I guided the cylinder into his palm, and he gave a slight nod to acknowledge it. "Now, count again."

      Humoring him, I again passed my hands over the Scrolls, but could not believe what I was feeling.

      "Now... now there are eighteen!" I gasped.

      The old monk chuckled, his cheeks pushing up his blindfold until it folded over itself. "And in fact," he said, "there always were."

    4. Their power behind prophecies remains largely unknown.  We do know from the events of Skyrim that an Elder Scroll can be used to cause a localized Dragon Break to send an entity or object outside of time or into the future.

    By the way, these aren't dumb questions.  The nature of Elder Scrolls is one of the large mysteries of Tamriel that goes right alongside the disappearance of the Dwemer.

    • 47 posts
    September 2, 2013 12:49 AM EDT
    2. Actually the gods created them, that's why "if the scrolls didn't want you to find them, you wouldn't."
    • 856 posts
    September 3, 2013 9:41 AM EDT

    Do you have a source that the 'gods' created them?  (please and thank you)

    • 47 posts
    September 3, 2013 10:04 AM EDT
    The gods created these heroes correct (ex:Dovahkiin)? If they didn't want theses heroes to find the scrolls they wouldn't find them. The scrolls can also simulate time travel (as seen in TES IV: Skyrim), no man, woman, nor Mer can do that. This has led me to believe the gods (Aedra and Daedra) created the scrolls.
    • 41 posts
    September 3, 2013 3:09 PM EDT

    Interesting, thanks. One more thing. Have they featured in any other ES games? Skyrim is the only one I have played extensively.

    • 291 posts
    September 3, 2013 5:43 PM EDT

    As far as picking one up?  Yes.  I know there was one in Oblivion that you actually had to steal.

    As far as being referenced?  Fairly certain.  I'm sure every game to date has at least mentioned the Elder Scrolls in some way.

    • 773 posts
    September 3, 2013 6:22 PM EDT
    Isn't it reasonable to assume that the specific number is kept deliberately vague so that Bethesda can have a virtually infinite number of new iterations of the series?

    Something which pleases me no end BTW