InterAirplay said:
Isn't it ENTIRELY possible that Akatosh would do shit like this without changing sides? sure, he helped out Martin, but only by letting Martin use his power to fend of Mehrunes Dagon.
He's the bloody god of time, he preserves the world then smashes it apart when it's time to re-build. It makes sense that there are people out there who exist to help him preserve it (the dragonborns) because of those meddling bastards who keep trying to screw with Nirn, but having him deliver on the other side of the whole "god of time" thing isn't too much of a retcon, is it?
Yes, if you approach the issue with new eyes and no context, it makes perfect sense for Akatosh to be a crafty bastard who's double-crossing the world. But take the following quote at face value:
Alduin is the Nordic variation of Akatosh, and only superficially resembles his counterpart in the Eight Divines. For example, Alduin's sobriquet, 'the world eater', comes from myths that depict him as the horrible, ravaging firestorm that destroyed the last world to begin this one. Nords therefore see the god of time as both creator and harbinger of the apocalypse. He is not the chief of the Nordic pantheon (in fact, that pantheon has no chief; see Shor, below) but its wellspring, albeit a grim and frightening one.
As for the lore thing, please, for the love of god, can you give me some kind of definitive sources? I'm not using the UESP, I'm using the actual Elder Scrolls Wiki. There's two sites now, honest.
Oh, geez. UESP has ten years of exhaustive work behind it and will never be trustworthy with lore. I can only imagine what the new one must be like.
And sources, sources, sources. I learned all this stuff way too long ago. Mind if I just post some old comments of mine, with some sources attached?
For starters, you have to understand that the Anuic gods, or Aedra or Divines, are not inviolable spirits. They are creator deities, yes, but Creation was a long time ago, and they have changed since. Read the following quote and book to get a handle on how it works.
Shezarr, as a result, had to change. He could no longer be the bloodthirsty anti-Aldmer warlord of old. He could not disappear altogether either, or the Nords would have withdrawn their support of her rule. In the end, he had become "the spirit behind all human undertaking." Even though this was merely a thinly-disguised, watered-down version of Shor, it was good enough for the Nords.
-Shezarr and the Divines
Shezarr, by the way, is the Cyrodilic formulation of Lorkhan, of Morrowind fame. He stems from the bloodthirsty mer-killing champion by the name of Shor, who is worshiped in Skyrim. You have to wrap your head around the idea that Shor is a separate entity from the scarab deity who is all about love and transcendence that Vivec writes about. That's because certain Gods actually change according to mortal belief. It's sort of feedback loop, and with multiple mortal conceptions, there arise multiple versions of the same being. They exist simultaneously and are quite capable of acting in direct opposition to each other.
We can describe the sacrifice of the eight et'Ada spirits in creating the world as deaths. They gave up part of themselves, and their immortality with it. What does this mean, functionally speaking?
They became, for all intents and purposes, dead planets stuck in Nirn's orbit. The original eight 'died,' by losing their power and identities. But their mortal descendents re-constituted them based on their memories of the Dawn Era's struggles. Since the elves and humans had different experiences, they remembered different deities. Different deities were therefore constructed from their opposing beliefs, and they are all very, very real.
Auriel wants to escape the mortal world, as per Aldmeri belief. Alduin wants to destroy it. Akatosh wants to preserve it, and not just as some stalling tactic so he can pull off his own escapist coup. He is a being that has been completely reinvented by mortals, and should be viewed as separate from Auriel and Alduin, and completely separate from the original spirit whose corpse floats in the sky as a planet.
Alduin is a renewer deity who causes beginnings by bringing about the end. He reflects Skyrim's cyclical conception of time (which their southern cousins do not apparently share) and their dread of time's ravages on mortal works. And really, he is just Auriel as imagined by a hostile Nord. But Auriel still isn't a dragon, and has a mind of his own. Basically, we are dealing with an exclusively Nordic view of the apocalypse.
Akatosh is a statist deity who reflects Cyrodiil's confidence and self regard. He fortifies Nirn just as he fortifies the Empire. He is really almost Alduin's antithesis, forged as he was from an awkward compromise of pantheons. Maybe that's why he's insane. In any case, he's not plotting on behalf of his dragon twin. He doesn't share Alduin's goals and is incapable of acting in concert with his alter-ego.
So I would recommend looking up each god on imperial-library.info and try to see where the texts hint at this. Creation myths should always be your first stop for any of the larger concepts as well.
