The Metaphysics of Morrowind (Fantastic Read!)

[Jiveturkey124]

http://fallingawkwardly.wordpress.com/2010/08/29/the-metaphysics-of-morrowind-part-1/

One night a couple weeks back I stumbled upon this article about the metaphysical elements of Morrowinds storyline; specifically dealing with the 36 lessons of Vivec. These books which lay scattered through the homes and dungeons of Vvardenfell, are placed in rather auspicious yet random places and can be totally missed by the player...but the story they tell takes the whole story of Morrowind and turns it into a Philosophical piece concering the metaphysical as it is represented through parables and metaphors scattered throughout the game lore.

Written in 5-parts, so be sure to read all of em!

Thought this would make for great late night discussion

 

[Fappy]

I think I have read this before. Is this the one about CHIM and Vivec's acknowledgment of the player and all that? Yeah, it's mind bending stuff. The guy who wrote Vivec was an insane genius.

 

[snappydog]

Reading it now; I've just got through part 2 and it's looking absolutely fascinating. The idea so far seems to be that Morrowind (and accordingly all of Tamriel post-Daggerfall or whenever the first Dragon Break was) is fractured on a metaphysical temporal level because of the multiple choices the player could make at the end of Daggerfall? That's something I genuinely don't think I've seen anywhere else - there are games that deal with their predecessors' multiple choice endings by having multiple universes, but never a single universe which actually makes a coherent attempt to explain multiple mutually exclusive events.

 

[snappydog]

Wow. Just finished it and... wow. To be honest I went into it thinking from what Fappy said that it was going to be based on a misunderstanding of what metaphysics actually is, but nope. That is mind-bending, insane, awesome stuff. I wonder if the player character in... well, any game really, has CHIM. I mean, it's never really touched on as far as I know, but player characters are always subject to the will of the player, so perhaps they could be said to know that they are part of some fiction comprising a constructed universe which they are a part of, and the Godhead - in the blog's term - of which (the game's creators and players) is a part of them to an extent.

Basically, loved it and thank you for bringing that to my attention.

 

[Signa]

Makes me regret getting distracted and forgetting to read the books in the game. After a few hundred hours playing it, I had resolved to start reading more.

 

[Jiveturkey124]

Wow. Just finished it and... wow. To be honest I went into it thinking from what Fappy said that it was going to be based on a misunderstanding of what metaphysics actually is, but nope. That is mind-bending, insane, awesome stuff. I wonder if the player character in... well, any game really, has CHIM. I mean, it's never really touched on as far as I know, but player characters are always subject to the will of the player, so perhaps they could be said to know that they are part of some fiction comprising a constructed universe which they are a part of, and the Godhead - in the blog's term - of which (the game's creators and players) is a part of them to an extent.

Basically, loved it and thank you for bringing that to my attention.

Im glad you enjoyed it, and thanks the intriguing response! I posted this because me and my friends got into countless conversations and topics about it.

I enjoy the concept of Vivec and Tiber septim also in a sense being "Former Player Characters" as well. This idea that the narrative and the player are both wrapped up in this world, and the previous accomplishments of these Characters that became Gods reflects what you also must do to become a God in the game world.

Tiber Septim was just a man, much as you are just a slave, a nobody in the beginning of Morrowind, but then he ascended through this Philisophical understanding that he was in a game and could affect the world around him.

Breaking the 4th wall in Morrowind has alot to do with accepting that your player will die, as Vivec says He has gotten bored with living a Mortal life, and losing his divinity, and he wants to die in hops of being released into a different universe...

Dont when our characters die In Morrowind or other games, we ourselves get put into a different universe? Our living universe that we see everyday before we go back into this world thats imagined?

Anyways just some cool questions to end my post with!

 

[Dandark]

Yeah I love the crazy metaphysics in elder scroll games, I can't say I understand them that well and I would never be able to explain them to someone but the concepts presented get me really interested and I can't stop reading about them when I start.

I assume that all of the player characters have attained CHIM (Or however you would say it). I can't remember where it was exactly, I think one of vivecs books, but it talks about how some can freeze or stop time and then do whatever they want.
I believe it was talking about how you can pause the game and drink a potion to heal yourself instantly or swap weapons and armour in the blink of an eye. Its all stuff we are used to in games and that we disregard because its a game but it made me start thinking about it was if that was what was actually happening.

 

[snappydog]

Breaking the 4th wall in Morrowind has alot to do with accepting that your player will die, as Vivec says He has gotten bored with living a Mortal life, and losing his divinity, and he wants to die in hops of being released into a different universe...

Dont when our characters die In Morrowind or other games, we ourselves get put into a different universe? Our living universe that we see everyday before we go back into this world thats imagined?

Anyways just some cool questions to end my post with!

That's an interesting thought, that we kind of insert into a different reality when we play games and revert when we're killed etc. and definitely makes for some fascinating potential regarding the fate of dead characters.

There's a fairly big field of metaphysics devoted to the nature of time, and one of the big influential arguments is the idea of the A-series and B-series of time. Broadly, the A-series is what is 'past', 'present' and 'future' (and so subjectively tensed) and the B-series is 'before' and 'after' (and therefore tenseless). We can therefore ask whether either can exist in fictional universes: games present particularly bizarre instances of both, since we have the ability to reset to a 'past' state on the A-series at will, and fictional events can't be said to occur before or after anything in a real-world B-series. The main defence of the B-series in fiction is that a fictional B-series can exist, as fictional events can fictionally precede or succeed one another. Anyway, all this is even more messed up when you factor in the Dragon Breaks.

There's no real point to my explaining this, but since I'm currently doing a metaphysics module at uni I do find it pretty fascinating.

 

[Muspelheim]

This is why I hoover up every single book I find in an Elder Scrolls game. I've probably spent more time in those games sitting around reading than going about my beastly business as an adventurer.

Very, very interesting stuff, I must say. I've always had a soft spot for games that attempts to add the player and their special powers into the context of their world.

 

[Lightknight]

In my adventures in Morrowind I made the Mages Guild in Balmora my base of operations. The chapel immediately became my library. The books in their world are fantastic. Well worth a read. I collected and sorted books every chance I got. Collecting the works of Vivec is certainly one of the hardest tasks there is.