Well crap guys, if this doesn't give me a headache then I don't know what will :D
So, when I need to think like this, who better to turn to than MareloRyan? This is his theories which I am an advocate of. I don't like being this high up in lore as a general rule, so having someone lead the way and make it make sense is great.
The jump to Amaranth, then, is the realization that if there's an I, that means there's something that isn't I, something from which I distinguishes itself. That something has to be the Godhead, the blankness.I'd wager this is symbolized within the context of the Wheel first by the Void, then by Oblivion, then by the oceans. What's across the Godhead from Anu? Other Amaranths. What's across Oblivion from Mundus? Other realms, the Princes. What's across the oceans from Tamriel? Other continents.
The Dreamsleeve, all the parts of the Godhead that aren't Amaranths, is the infinite river of data. It contains and transmits all information, all possible things, all possible ideas. But it's incoherent. It's jumbled, almost impossible to parse, indistinguishable from random noise, and so, despite being utterly full of stimuli, it provides the sensory deprivation necessary for an Amaranth to start up a Dream. It's like a white noise machine.
Finally, in a recent thread, there has been a lot of discussion about Hermaeus Mora, the oceans, and mortal memories. If, as the Mora worshiper in that screencap says, all mortal memories go into the water, then that implies a connection with the Dreamsleeve.
I'll posit the following to thread these all together: The oceans of Nirn, as discussed before, are symbols of the Dreamsleeve. In the same way that Amaranths might provide access to each other through the symbolism of continents, oceans and other bodies of water might provide access to the Dreamsleeve through their own symbolism. Mortal AE might pass through the oceans to join up with the infofoam of the Dreamsleeve; perhaps they even leave imprints of themselves in this process, memories, which might be called up again from the depths.
And it's especially fitting that Hermaeus Mora be a sea-god, in light of this. The Dreamsleeve contains all possible information, roiling about in an incoherent mess (according to me, anyway). The oceans contain all mortal memories, perhaps churning about in the depths. Mora contains an infinite library, impossible to navigate, with unlabeled books and snippets of sense lost without the context required to decode them.
So, once again I fall on the side of symbolism rather than literal interpretation with this new information. The oceans are still the oceans, but, through their symbolic nature, they can serve as gateways to higher-order concepts, such as the Dreamsleeve, Oblivion in general, or Mora in particular. It all depends on how you interpret them, and whether you have the mastery or inherent nature required to feel the connections.
Well crap guys, if this doesn't give me a headache then I don't know what will :D
So, when I need to think like this, who better to turn to than MareloRyan? This is his theories which I am an advocate of. I don't like being this high up in lore as a general rule, so having someone lead the way and make it make sense is great.
The jump to Amaranth, then, is the realization that if there's an I, that means there's something that isn't I, something from which I distinguishes itself. That something has to be the Godhead, the blankness.I'd wager this is symbolized within the context of the Wheel first by the Void, then by Oblivion, then by the oceans. What's across the Godhead from Anu? Other Amaranths. What's across Oblivion from Mundus? Other realms, the Princes. What's across the oceans from Tamriel? Other continents.
The Dreamsleeve, all the parts of the Godhead that aren't Amaranths, is the infinite river of data. It contains and transmits all information, all possible things, all possible ideas. But it's incoherent. It's jumbled, almost impossible to parse, indistinguishable from random noise, and so, despite being utterly full of stimuli, it provides the sensory deprivation necessary for an Amaranth to start up a Dream. It's like a white noise machine.
Finally, in a recent thread, there has been a lot of discussion about Hermaeus Mora, the oceans, and mortal memories. If, as the Mora worshiper in that screencap says, all mortal memories go into the water, then that implies a connection with the Dreamsleeve.
I'll posit the following to thread these all together: The oceans of Nirn, as discussed before, are symbols of the Dreamsleeve. In the same way that Amaranths might provide access to each other through the symbolism of continents, oceans and other bodies of water might provide access to the Dreamsleeve through their own symbolism. Mortal AE might pass through the oceans to join up with the infofoam of the Dreamsleeve; perhaps they even leave imprints of themselves in this process, memories, which might be called up again from the depths.
And it's especially fitting that Hermaeus Mora be a sea-god, in light of this. The Dreamsleeve contains all possible information, roiling about in an incoherent mess (according to me, anyway). The oceans contain all mortal memories, perhaps churning about in the depths. Mora contains an infinite library, impossible to navigate, with unlabeled books and snippets of sense lost without the context required to decode them.
So, once again I fall on the side of symbolism rather than literal interpretation with this new information. The oceans are still the oceans, but, through their symbolic nature, they can serve as gateways to higher-order concepts, such as the Dreamsleeve, Oblivion in general, or Mora in particular. It all depends on how you interpret them, and whether you have the mastery or inherent nature required to feel the connections.
