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Miraak's Chant

  • Member
    April 15, 2016

    Miraak's Temple by Spirit-Alu

    Miraak's Chant is possibly the best thing in the Dragonborn DLC but what does it mean? This little lore shot aims to shed some light on it for those less familiar.

    If you would prefer to hear Miraak himself repeat his mantra to you:

    The first part of the verse is a reference to Miraak being the greatest of all the Dragon Priests on Solstheim and possibly all of Skyrm.

    Here in his shrine, that they have forgotten.

    He had a posse of priests Ahzidal, Dukaan and Zahkriisos, who erected his the Word Wall in Bloodskal Barrow. This is not a solid truth but their masks indicate it and if we look at the Word Wall's inscription we can see it was built in honour of Miraak:

    All praise glorious Miraak
    Most power(ful) servant of all
    Dragon Priests, whose 
    Strength (was) granted
    by (the) gardener of mankind

    Already this is interesting as it grants the first word of Miraak's own Shout, Dragon Aspect. As it was built before he was snatched away by Herma-Mora, it tells us Miraak ruled Solstheim (at least) and that his ties to Hermaeus were known and respected. So that line, "Here in his shrine, that they have forgotten" is a reference to the forgotten truth of Miraak's might and authority - he had his own temple!

    The next line is pretty easy as it just references the sleepers who work to bring Miraak back:

    Here do we toil, that we might remember.

    Miraak is using his influence to regain a place in Tamriel. He is brainwashing them and the last word is echoed later on.

    The next line is referring to the people who work at night while sleeping, while the last part is mentioning Vahlok the Jailor, aka The Guardian, who fought Miraak for his blasphemous killing of Dragons. Miraak is the Traitor in the Skaal legend. Was Solstheim ripped from mainland Skyrim in their epic duel? Either way, Miraak was beaten and his kingdom was stolen.

    By night we reclaim, what by day was stolen

    Next is fairly simple, Miraak is using the power of the stones to bring himself back to Tamriel. This has a nice parallel with Aevar Stone Singer.

    Far from ourselves, he grows ever near to us.

    Now it gets a bit deeper and we see the spirituality and enlightenment aspect of this chant. Miraak is bringing the truth. Nice reference to the Black Book Waking Dreams?

    Our eyes once were blinded, now through him do we see.

    Next is the fact that the folks are erecting temples and corrupting stones for him, their hands are his voice, intention and will.

    Our hands once were idle, now through them does he speak.

    Finally the best bit, the last sentences:

    And when the world shall listen, and when the world shall see, and when the world remembers, that world will cease to be.

    Existence is a dream in TES lore. Anu's dream - the Amaranth. Lorkhan knew this and kept his identity, achieving CHIM, but failed to become the new Amaranth, that is to say his own Tower, become the new Godhead - he did this on purpose so that mortals could learn how to do it: The Psijic Endeavour, Veloth's teachings and the whole backbone of Dunmer philosophy.

    Yet it is also possible to fail at achieving CHIM, as we can see in et'Ada, Eat the Dreamer, a book quoted from in the KotN dlc. This Moth Priest is zero-summing, failing to reconcile the I AM of his existence (+1) with the I AM NOT realisation (-1) that he is actually a fragment of Anu's dream.

    Miraak, it seems,wants to make the entire world zero-sum... or bring about new Amaranth. Similar to how Vivec wanted to drag the entire Dunmeri race to enlightenment.

    Complicated stuff, hard concepts to grasp so don't sweat it too much. The point here is that Miraak has big plans.

    Agree, or not?

  • April 15, 2016

    I agree, he does have big plans and I agree that he was probably the most respected of the dragon priests and probably the cause of the original dragon war.  Further evidence, in my mind, for TLD being indeed a Shezzarine. Miraak tries to destroy you, the one person who can challenge this, the, IMO, true dreamer. But I may be completely wrong. 

  • Member
    April 15, 2016

    It's a shame Hermy killed him before he could reveal his big plans.

  • Member
    April 15, 2016

    The cause of the original Dragon war? I like that  I imagine One Eye, Golden Hilt and The Old must have been terribly confused when he refused to kill Alduin.

  • Member
    April 15, 2016

    Kinda is isn't it? Miraak, best NPC. I reckon if he was a follower he'd be the best in the game. That voice, that snark.

  • Member
    April 15, 2016

    You know, I´ve always wondered about his mask. I figured that, either its a mask Mora gave him, or its his original one, altered a bit by Mora. I do agree that he is quite the schemer, and, considering how old he should be, either A. The Nord´s lifespan was longer than we knew, or B. He has achieved some form of immortality

  • April 15, 2016

    Why would he want everyone to zero-sum? What benefit would he gain from that?

    On the other hand, the next Amaranth is a possibility. But what it really makes me wonder about is what Hermaeus Mora wants?

  • April 15, 2016

    Trust me, they will be. 

  • Member
    April 15, 2016

    We had a big discussion about the nord lifespan a couple years back, subverting the Dragon Cult iirc. There is "evidence" that the Nords had a longer life, Hoag Merkiller is supposedly present during the conquest of Morrowind and also the Battle of Glenumbra Moors. Hundreds of years between both events.

    As for the Mask, that is interesting. For the longest time I was convinced that the Akaviri symbol for Shout, as depicted on Alduin's Wall was a pictorial reference to Miraak's mask.

  • Member
    April 15, 2016

    Hard to say Thorien. I mean, there are strong parallels between Miraak and Dagoth Ur and so it is like asking Dagoth, "why?" For reasons. Lol, seriously though, Dagoth was a dreamer.

    As for Hermaeus that is complicated. It is entirely possible the whole thing, the subversion of the Dragon Cult, his lessons to Miraak and all that was just so he could get his appendages on the Skaal secrets. But that is not satisfying is it? 

    The schemes of a Daedric Prince are unknowable but Mora is obsessed with Dragonborn. As such he is obsessed with Time. Being the master of the tides of fate, time is very much his domain and some of the books in his library are from the future. In many ways he is the Daedric shadow of Aka, a piece of him which first fragmented and sought knowledge. So having a Dragonborn, engorged and full of time, could be something very important to him. If Aka is trying to collect all his shattered pieces and become whole, maybe Mora is doing the same thing?