Forums » Elder Scrolls

Your Personal Pantheon?

    • 367 posts
    May 22, 2015 11:38 AM EDT
    You see, hete's where I have issues. The last line.
    And now walk among the stars.

    Id tather walk amonst the wolves in the hunting grounds. Stars!!!! Naa not enough deer around up there unless my game glitches cause then theres the odd mamoth flying over my head.
  • May 22, 2015 11:42 AM EDT

    Talos? Stars? The stars are the domain of Ruptga. Unless Talos is partial to being pancaked, I would suggest he retract that statement.

  • Rob
    • 12 posts
    May 22, 2015 12:18 PM EDT

    I would worship Hircine and Meridia, because hunting undead is a favorite pastime. :P

    • 33 posts
    May 22, 2015 12:20 PM EDT
    I would 100% worship Azura. I would quest for her ring and her star. I would use frost and fire magic to mimic dusk and dawn. And I'd spread justice under the name moonshadow.
    • 1483 posts
    May 22, 2015 6:14 PM EDT

    Nocturnal

    First, having a goddess of luck at your side is great.

    Second, you do not have to go all religious when dealing with her, it works more like a business arrangement and I like it :)

    • 40 posts
    May 22, 2015 7:40 PM EDT

    Dibella orgies all the way

    • 78 posts
    May 22, 2015 8:05 PM EDT

    And then there are the ancient pagan gods who are neither willing to prevent evil, nor able to, nor willing to. They are named "gods", yes, but not with the meaning christianity gave to the word. They are literally aspects of forces of nature.

    For example, take Thor. He was born of Odin (mind, wisdom) and Fjorgyn (earth), so naturally, his name means "strength of earth". He wields a hammer named Mjolnir, which always returns to his hands no matter where he throws it. He is responsible for the rain and thunder which fall on the earth. So, what do we make up from all of these? Thor is gravity. Like you and me can throw a rock in the air and it always returns to our hands, the ancients created the myth of the hammer (=rock) Mjolnir which always returns to his hand. They named him "strangth of the earth" because that's exactly what he is, and called him responsible for the reason water comes down from the sky. The ancients knew about gravity long before Newton "discovered" it through their not-so-godly pantheon. 

    Just an example that came into mind.

    • 78 posts
    May 22, 2015 8:07 PM EDT

    I worship the ancient nordic gods of war, love and wisdom. The original non-imperial Akatosh, Shor, Kyne, Tsun, Ysmir (Talos) and all the others. 

  • May 22, 2015 11:03 PM EDT

    I'm never a terribly devoutly religious person, but there seem to be a few aedra and daedra commonly preferred by my characters. These are my gods in order of preference.

    I like Julianos for his emphasis on logic and reason.

    I like Hermaeus Mora for his love of knowledge and the knowledge which he can provide.

    I'm a fan of Magnus for his badass life story.

    Anyone who days that Sheogorath is not one of the most illogically endearing characters in TES is lying.

    Mara has always seemed to me to be a sort of balancing force in a world which is very cruel and harsh. 

    Kynareth and Akatosh are on equal ground for their roles in making most of my characters Dragonborn.

    Most of my characters are basically good, but with many major flaws, so Azura is appealing for her place in between night and day.

    I used to view talos as a false god whose few heroic deeds were far over-emphasized and whose bad deeds were entirely glossed over, but as of late, I have come to a greater understanding of him  and am now very conflicted about how I feel toward him.

    I also have many aedra and daedra which are my least favorite. Most of them are the gods which are either too morally absolute and dogmatic themselves (e.g., Meridia), or those who have followings which are overly moralistic (e.g., Stendarr and his Vigilants).

  • Tom
    • 624 posts
    May 23, 2015 2:14 AM EDT

    Is he neither able nor willing?
    Then why call him God.

    • 35 posts
    May 23, 2015 2:28 AM EDT
    Hircine, Akatosh/Auriel, Kynerath, Talos, Hermaeus-Mora and Boethia
    • 78 posts
    May 23, 2015 8:15 AM EDT

    As I said, they are not gods. They are aspects/personifications of the forces of nature. We use the term "god" but not with the terminology christianity gave it. The word "god" had been used before christianity, you know, and it had nothing to do with the meaning christianity gave it after it took over Europe. That's one of the reasons we write the word with a small "g" instead of the christian capitalized one. But really, we mostly avoid using the word at all. We prefer things like "deities" or the Æsir/Vanir etc. 

    So, when christians say things like "your heathen gods are false! Ours is the only true God!" they have some truth in them; because in their perception of what "god" means, our gods are truly false. They are not allmighty, allpowerful, allwise, allseeing and all that crazy stuff. What is allmighty, allpowerful, allwise, allseeing etc. is nature herself, which is the unity of all those forces/"gods" you can find in the universe. And that's what we worship. Nature. And by worship, I don't mean falling down on our knees kissing the floor and saying things like "oh, save me high ones and please don't send me to hell!". We worship our gods by just enjoying life, trying to not harm the enviroment around us as we go. And there is not a thing such as hell or heaven either. 

  • Tom
    • 624 posts
    May 23, 2015 10:11 AM EDT

    You do know that Epicurus lived a few centuries before Christianity, right? His argument was designed for pagan deities.

    I didn't really need a refresher course in religion, but thanks for the earful anyway. My point still stands no matter how you wish to define god, little or big "g". ("God" was used by pagans anyway.)

    You say it yourself.

    They are not allmighty, allpowerful, allwise, allseeing and all that crazy stuff.

    All you've done is anthropomorphized nature into something it's not. You've given it a sense of agency and declared it god. The "worship" you've described is called existing, and brownie points for trying to existing without screwing things up for other people.

  • Tom
    • 624 posts
    May 23, 2015 10:13 AM EDT

    Non-Imperial Akatosh doesn't exist. Before that he was/is Auri'El/Auriel the elven deity of time/and or the sun.

    • 1441 posts
    May 23, 2015 10:15 AM EDT
    Well, you guys have Nifelheim, and you guys do have Hel, granted she's probably a lot nicer than my religion's Hell
    • 490 posts
    May 23, 2015 10:19 AM EDT
    I love you.

    Also, in this case, these deities or other worldly beings do exist and, in the case of the Deadra, meddle about in the lives of mortals. That's kind of why I like the Daedra even though they may be considered "evil" in the most general sense.

    Daedra take the time to challenge mortals and give them powerful artifacts FAR more often than any other other worldly being does. Kind of cool.
  • Tom
    • 624 posts
    May 23, 2015 10:36 AM EDT

    I love you too.

    I have other objections that are more Elder Scrolls specific. But in a world with extraplanar beings and magic that allows normal people to alter existence at will (at least temporarily) or even achieve their own "godhood" if you look or move the right way at the universe, I don't see how you can state anything is a "god" in the traditional sense of what people mean.

    There aren't "gods", there are just beings of extraordinary (yet limited)power and knowledge, and let's not even start with morality.

  • May 23, 2015 10:42 AM EDT
    I'd probably end up worshipping entities that shared my personality, if not necessarily my values, with special emphasis on duality and opposition. I'd worship a couple Aedra and Daedra whose spheres were in opposition; after all, isn't duality an inescapable fact of life?
    Dibella/Namira
    Zenithar/Nocturnal
    Hermaeus Mora/Magnus Talos/Phynaster
    You know, deities who all hate each other and would be willing to fight each other over my soul. The afterlife lasts forever, so why not make it more interesting?
    • 490 posts
    May 23, 2015 10:43 AM EDT
    I think most of the time using the word "god" is just a shortcut and less letters to type hahaha.

    Divines, Daedra, other beings could be called "gods" in a sense as a definiion of "being able to do things mortals cannot" to me at least.

    That's why I enjoy the Daedra who give you artifacts without really caring what happens. Sanguine says "here, take this stick that summons something to fuck shit up for fun". That's my bag.
    • 1483 posts
    May 23, 2015 10:56 AM EDT

    Well, Aedra are credited for the creation of Nirn. In that sense, they fit some of RL definitions of "God". 

    • 490 posts
    May 23, 2015 12:05 PM EDT
    Oh! Totally forgot to add my own:

    Daedra:

    Sanguine - Likes to party, doesn't take things too seriously. Hands out my favorite artifact, The Sanguine Rose.

    Sheogorath - Just a fun guy and also hands out a favorite artifact, The Wabbajack.

    Aedra:

    Mara - Very fond of her connections with peace and healing.

    Dibella - More connections to love.
  • Mr.
    • 763 posts
    May 23, 2015 12:57 PM EDT

     The New Temple, the Good Daedra, the Reclamations: Boethiah, Mephala and Azura. And, of course, the ancestors. Those are the ones I'd worship, depending if I could choose the circumstances and my hypothetical upbringing in Tamriel...

     ...As I'm merely an observer (a player), for now, until we can all be transported to Nirn, my characters are the ones who follow my beliefs...

     I also admire Auri-El, Julianos, Zenithar and Arkay. I must confess that I do also like Dibella...

    • 490 posts
    May 23, 2015 1:02 PM EDT
    Definitely, good point!
    • 78 posts
    May 23, 2015 2:36 PM EDT

    Holy crap I just wrote a huge comment and it didn't show up. Let me rewrite that.

    • 966 posts
    May 23, 2015 2:43 PM EDT

    My panteon has only 1 god; me.