Elder Scrolls Lore » Discussions


Do Aedra Choose their Champions?

Tags: #Aedra  #Champion 
  • Member
    April 30, 2018

    Is there any metaphysical weight to being declared as an Aedra's champion?

    This question came to mind when I was thinking about how Gelebor calls you a champion (presumably a champion of Auriel). Auriel (as far as we know) turned his back on Vyrthur the minute Vyrthur was infected with vampirism, but Gelebor still calls you a champion fit to wield the bow even if you're a vampire, which my current character is. Unless this is just Gelebor waxing poetic, it doesn't add up.

  • Member
    May 7, 2018

    I think there is something, yeah. Unlike the demons, the gods lack agency. This is most apparent in the Knights of the Nine dlc for TES IV in which we essentially become Pelinal reborn. The chapels were being desecrated, the worshipers slaughtered, and there wasn't a thing the gods could do to stop it on their own so they needed a mortal champion. The interesting thing is that we only have circumstantial evidence that we were a champion of the Divines: We prayed at each shrine and got their blessings, but beyond that we really only have the Prophet's word, a prophet who could well have been an avatar of Talos bestowing the crucial blessing on another avatar of Talos. For if we are Pelinal reborn as is strongly hinted, then the CoC is also a Shezarrine, a mover and shaker who turns up at just the right moment to fulfil a prophecy or avert catastrophy.

    Those are strong parallels with the events of the Dawnguard dlc. The game strongly hints that we are again a Shezarrine, while also hinting that we are Auriel's champion. It could well be that Aurial doesn't have a lick of choice in the matter because of all the people on Nirn and beyond, we alone are free. Because we're also the Dovahkiin (again, another thing we simply have to take at face value because Akatosh himself is silent on the matter), we could say we are the champion of the gods once again and that it's just a weird coincidence there is any Lorkhan involvement at all. We just happen to show up at the right place and the right time to avert catstrophy and fulfil a prophecy, just like last time and just like the next.

    Edit: So I think that's quite clever because there is enough in the game to allow us as players to believe we are a champion of the gods, but equally enough to say we are just a meme, a person who will do these things because they are ordained to happen, or that we are more akin to the Missing God and doomed to wander for many phases. Interpretation then becomes the deciding factor, freeing us to pick that which suits us best.

  • May 7, 2018

    There are many ways you could think about this; for one, you could think of being a champion as being the Nerevarine, where it's less that somebody is preordained to become the Aedra's champion and more about said person to both have goals that are aligned to that of the god in question and the capacity to fulfill said goals (for example, an argument could be made that the Dragonborn was chosen by Akatosh to defeat Alduin, when in reality it may just be that I got lucky enough to get a dragon soul and was bored enough to go murder the guy).

    Another line of reasoning could be the good old "I CHOOSETH THEE AS MY CHAMPION GO KICK SUM ASS BOYE", in which case there may be some weight to the title. Of course, since the Aedra are somewhere between dead, comatose, and in space, it may just be that people like throwing titles around that fit their worldview, as you said about Gelebor (who is an Auriel fanboi).