Elder Scrolls Lore » Discussions


Prophecy and Fate

  • January 3, 2016

    We all know that there is a lot of prophecies in TES world. Some of them come from the Elder Scrolls, some are visions of people, and we can many times hear that something was 'destined'. So it got me wondering, is there such a thing like fate? And if there is, how does it work?

  • January 3, 2016

    Well, from what I know of the Elderscrolls, or what I've read, they kinda sorta know to look for the person who's supposed to find them. That's kinda like fate. 

    The Elves definitely have a word for it. Chasca. Means both fate and destiny, so at least in Aldmeri-based languages, the concept exists to a point where they have assigned it a word. 

    Hermeaus Mora is the Daedric prince of fate. 

    I'll look into this further and will, lol, hopefully have something more intelligent to say.  

    Just thought I'd kick things off with little nuggets. 

  • January 3, 2016

    They kinda know to look for the person who´s supposed to find them? That´s interesting.

    I´m kinda curious if that apply to events of Oblivion too, namely the Grey Fox thing. Who was supposed to find the Elder Scroll? The Grey Fox? Or the one who stole it? Was there a fate in work there?

  • Member
    January 3, 2016

    I wonder how Dawnguard plays into this. When supposedly one can "create" a prophecy and write it in Elder Scrolls... Or maybe it was already written and was simply used by Vyrthur (this goes against what the game tells us, but does not have the problem of someone altering Elder Scrolls)

  • January 3, 2016

    Whoa! I always thought HM was involved only with secret knowledge. That he deals with fate too makes things even more interesting))

    I've read about the Elder Scrolls, and it seems to me that they are a kind of an intrument of fate, they somehow establish some important events that are bound to happen, I'd say to maintain the basic plot)

    There are also people who have insight into the future, where do their visions come from (since they are not always from the Elder Scrolls)?

    And the gods? How far do they know the future? And how much of the world they are aware of? (that's more to the topic of CHIM and Amaranth, but as I see it, the fate and the prophecies are connected to that pretty close)

  • January 3, 2016

    I think it's the latter. Who knows, maybe Vyrthur had seen that scroll earlier, before it Harkon got it?

  • Member
    January 3, 2016

    Yeah, this sounds like the logical answer. If mortals can alter Elder Scrolls and create prophecies... all ES lore can go straight to Recycle Bin 

  • Member
    January 3, 2016

    You misinterpret the meaning of what Elder Scrolls are in the colloquial Tamrielic. When taken in this context, to "write an Elder Scroll" is "to make history".

    A deeper meaning is meant, too, but not very many laymen bother with that. Until a prophecy is fulfilled, the true contents of an Elder Scoll are malleable, hazy, uncertain. Only by the Hero's action does it become True. The Hero is literally the scribe of the next Elder Scroll, the one in which the prophecy has been fulfilled into a fixed point, negating its precursor.

    If we put that in context of Vyrthur's prophecy maybe we can rearrange our thinking on how a prophecy is written? How many of us are picturing him huddled over some desk with quill and ink?

    The lore is very vague on Elder Scrolls and their nature (lol) so we don't know how he did it. How do you get an Elder Scroll to take notice of a possible outcome or intent to the point where it feels it must come to pass in some form or another?

    The nature of the Elder Scrolls setting is that it is all a story or a long-assed musical. Themes get repeated as riffs over and over again. Maybe it's a Kalpic meme, that some things just happen again or again like a riff in a song.

  • January 3, 2016

    Exactly) I think the Elder Scrolls are too basic an element of the universe for anyone to alter them, even gods, not to tell mortals)

    @ Vazgen, kinda off topic, but nice to finally talk to you) People were saying that I was your Thalmor loving friend back when I got here, lol)

  • January 3, 2016

    I might be mistaken, but I have an idea about what the Elder Scrolls really are. As for their uncertainty... they obviously contain much more information than just the prophecy that gets fulfilled.

    The Hero is literally the scribe of the next Elder Scroll, the one in which the prophecy has been fulfilled into a fixed point, negating its precursor.

    More like the Hero just establishes which part of the next Elder Scroll will be relevant for this reality... remember the c0das?..

    Whoa... But that would mean that the Scrolls are the fate....