Jim Hacker: You Mean To Tell Me That When The Chips Are Down, You’re On My Side, Not Humphrey’s?

I believe that Kirkbride’s original idea for the Bosmer (as he outlined in the concept art you’re referencing (no, I don’t know why it’s a nexus link, that’s the only place I could find the version with his notes))

https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/105701/105701-1606858796-124772823.png

was the male and female bosmer represented two different sides of our fairy myths. The women are the ethereally beautiful, good (or at least noble), fae (descended from the gods of Celtic myth); Titania, the Tuatha de Danann, the Leannán Sídhe (Tolkien’s elves also are a deliberate reference to these fae) - while the men are the little, sometimes evil, or at least trickster, fairies that we find more in medieval stories; Puck, the Fomorians, coblynau, pixies, boggarts, kobolds, etc.

to put it another way: the women are goddesscore and the men are rodentpilled

Also, for what it’s worth, Kirkbride wrote that the men have “lost their power of glamour”, so it could be that women are also ugly, they just use magic to conceal their appearance. Which is also very fae.

You know what bugs me? Bosmer males. Look, idk how ESO does things, but from Morrowind to Oblivion they seem to be the butt of a joke that just says, aren't short men with squeaky voices funny and juvenile and stupid and ripe for mockery? (Fargoth, Gaenir, Glarthir, The Adoring Fan. I don't remember any Bosmer in Skyrim, but then I haven't played Skyrim since like 2015.) Plus there's that old lore about how the Bosmeri women are hot and the men are not, and frankly, fuck that. Where the short king Bosmer at? (Please share any cool Bosmeri male OCs with me.)

I think you’re misunderstanding - mantling is not the end-point of the Six Walking Ways. It *is* one of the Six Walking Ways -

1. Anumidium

2. The Psyjic Endeavour

3. The Prolix Tower

4. CHIM

5. The Enantiomorph, or Mantling

6. The Scarab that transforms into the New Man

All of them lead to apotheosis in their own different way.

Anumidium is what both Voryn Dagoth and Mannimarco used to become gods - the influence of the Numidium and the Heart (or the Mantella, a convincing facsimile) can raise a mortal to godhood.

The Endeavour is the Walking Way that Boethiah taught Veloth. It is centred around the journey and trials of a Hero (as in, a player character). This was the way that Nerevar attained. I think Sermon 16 illustrated it best - Vivec tells Nerevar to “Reach Heaven by Violence,” or, CHIM - but Nerevar is a Hero, so instead he goes to Masser and kills “parliament of craters” there, and tries to break into Magnus’ library behind the sun. He literally turns it into a quest to commit violence in the heavens.

The Prolix Tower requires the bending of the Earthbones via Tones - shouting, tonal architecture, etc. As the Earthbones dictate the laws of the universe, you’re literally rewriting those laws to make yourself a god. This is *probably* what happened to the Dwemer.

CHIM is “reaching heaven by violence”, which I translate as “becoming a god by loving the violent” - that’s what the Pomegranate Banquet is about, Vivec loving the god of rape and destruction. The end goal of CHIM is simultaneously comprehending the full scope of existence and your insignificant place in it, and yet continuing to protest your own significance. Looking the godhead in the eye and saying “yes, I am real.” Obviously this is what Vivec did, and personally I believe that Reman Cyrodiil also achieved CHIM, but that’s a personal theory.

The Enantiomorph - and I’m just going to copy the UESP for this one - is “an existence wherein two individuals, due to a catalyst coveted by both, become parts of a merged dichotomy, and thus are metaphysically interchangeable.” Translated into English, that means the creation of two beings who are so similar that the universe has no choice but to consider them the same - which is exactly what the HoK did to take the role of Sheogorath. *Walk like them until they must walk like you*.

As far as I can tell we know next to nothing about the Scarab. If we dig into Kirkbride’s extracanonical stuff, we can find “The Nu-Mantia Intercept.” Nu-Mantia… New Man… it don’t think it’s a stretch. From there, we can assume that things like Nu-Hatta and Nu-Cyrod are also related to the Scarab - and if that’s true, from what we see of Nu-Cyrod in PGE3, the Scarab might have apocalyptic connotations.

Anyway. I got a *bit* carried away there, but to summarize - the Six Walking Ways, of which mantling is *one*, all lead to apotheosis, or godhood.

It’s my opinion that Ayem and Seht did not achieve any of the walking ways. Instead, they created a facsimile of godhood by stealing the power of the heart, a god. In much the same way, I believe, mages such as pre-Warp Mannimarco, Divyath Fyr, or Zurin Arctus can reach a godlike state by stealing the power of another god, this time Magnus. Vivec is the only one who actually went further and achieved proper godhood, which is why he/she is still alive in the Fifth Era to marry Jubal lun-Sul at the end of c0da.

The ending of the words is AlmSiVi

Mantling

My favorite concept in all of the Elder Scrolls' lore is Mantling.

Mantling, poetically described as "walk like them, until they must walk like you" is, in my opinion, the coolest method of achieving apotheosis I've ever seen in fiction.

The concept that acting like someone/something and BEING that someone or something is just so filed with irony and cool possibilities.

Did Martin embody Akatosh enough to summon him, or to BECOME him?

Does the HoK embody Sheogorath, or are they Sheogorath?

"My first question is: Are you really Nerevar reborn?"

Are you? Is the Nerevarine truly, really, the embodiment or reincarnation of Nerevar? I often RP as such, that my beastfolk, Imperial guild member, outlander N'wah truly is Nerevar. Serves the racist, xenophobic Dunmer right that their Messiah is all that they hate.

But on a more lore-brained, and less commonly discussed level, does it matter?

Prophecy is all about the will of mortals anyway. The failed incarnates claim that the fact that they failed means the prophecy is more believable, but it seems that prophecy is more often a mix of vague, mystical mumbo-jumbo with a helping of Determined mortal will. So being the prophesized savior or not is less important than having the capacity to fulfill the duties imposed on the savior.

So, what other examples of Mantling do I especially enjoy?

Well, surely the many Shezarrines are a fan favorite. Pelinal and Arctus or Talos or Ysimir or all three.

Micheal Kirkbride seems to favor Cyrus, who mantled the HoonDing, together with Crown Prince A'tor.

Then, if we bring in other, unconfirmed cases, the Ruddy Man seems to allow others who wear him to Mantle some form of Dreugh-based interpretation of Molag Bal.

And then, the most controversial of my takes: the Tribunal are mantling the Three Good Daedra.

Vivec claims to have achieved CHIM, but how this was done is shrouded in mystery. Certainly, the use of Kagrenac's tools on the Heart of Lorkhan seems to have been a factor. Understanding, however, that CHIM is merely one of the Six Walking Ways, all used to achieve Apotheosis, or Mantling, there must be a "them" to walk like.

So the Tribunal almost certainly mantle their own Anticipation, without fully attaining their powers, and thus replacing them, as the HoK does, nor disappearing in the process, as Martin did.

Their wish was to remain closer to mortality, and to their beloved people.

The ending of the words is ALMSIVI

could i request a boyre dino themed little nat moodboard?:3

Little!Nat Moodboard

Oh how I yearn for a simpler time, when a young man would simply give his paramour an intricately crafted wooden spoon to show his affection and ability to provide for their future family, especially if they ever ran out of spoons

the comments under Irish nationalist music on YouTube are so funny because half of them are like “the people of Ireland stand with Palestine in our shared struggle against imperialism” and the other half are like “Keep Ireland Irish, immigrants out.”

people who call him Mark Antony should be shot I think. he doesn’t work at the fucking Greggs down the street!!! he was a consul of Rome!!!

if you must shorten Marcus Antonius, then at least latinize it a bit! Make it Marc Antony! It looks so much better!

so true! Paris is a beautiful city - much better than Thessaloniki or Athens!

Paris hate is so funny to me because he hasn't really done anything a bunch of the other Greeks haven't done (and done worse)

strongly disagree. Oblivion is nothing and will always be nothing. It’s vapid, shallow, and unable to write a complex or interesting story to save its life.

I have given it more than enough honest tries. It was awful the day it came out and always will be awful.

Another one of my lukewarm TES takes is that Oblivion is actually a good game with touching storylines and all it takes for it to be engaging is to give it an honest try. Like yeah, it is undoubtedly, and often unintentionally, a very 'memey' game and yeah the bugs are frustrating, and the bad VA outtakes are funny, and the character models are questionable, but beyond that there's a lot of sincerity and depth which often goes unnoticed.

Happy two year anniversary to whatever the fuck this was