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15 - Elder Scrolls Cosmogony Told: Anu, Padomay, and the Making of Mundus · Mythic Mind Games

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  Speaker 1: Hey there, Mythic Mind Games listener. If you're listening to
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: this through the podcast or through the patron feed. If
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  Speaker 1: you're a patron, then know that this presentation will be
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  Speaker 1: better with the visuals. And so at some point make
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: sure that you click that link in the show notes
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  Speaker 1: to the YouTube channel or you watch the video because
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: I'm pushing that over on Patreon as well. I think
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  Speaker 1: you'll get more out of it that way, So just
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: keep that in mind when you're able to do so.
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  Speaker 1: All right, now let's get to it. Hey there, I'm
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  Speaker 1: doctor Andrew Snyder. I'm professor of philosophy and theology. And
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  Speaker 1: if you can't tell, I like the Elder Scrolls. What
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  Speaker 1: you're about to watch or listen to if you're going
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  Speaker 1: through the podcast is my presentation of the creation mythos
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  Speaker 1: of the Elder Scrolls. Now in universe. There are a
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  Speaker 1: lot of conflicting accounts as exactly how this plays out,
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  Speaker 1: but I think I do a pretty decent job in
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  Speaker 1: succinctly getting at the highlights while mentioning some of those
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  Speaker 1: divisions along the way. So just know this is not
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  Speaker 1: my attempt to be exhausted, but I do think that
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  Speaker 1: it hits the highlights pretty well that the central themes
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  Speaker 1: and ideas. Now, this is put together in preparation for
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  Speaker 1: my upcoming course on the Scrolls and Philosophy, which is
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: going to begin the week of October nineteenth, so just
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  Speaker 1: about a couple of weeks less than that actually after
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  Speaker 1: this is being posted, and I'm making this introductory unit
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  Speaker 1: free open to the public. But if you want to
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  Speaker 1: continue on with us, then you can head over to
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  Speaker 1: patreon dot com slash Mythic Mind, be able to find
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  Speaker 1: that link in the show notes, and just become a
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  Speaker 1: Tier three patron. That's all you need to do. There's
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  Speaker 1: currently a pinpost with the course invite link right there,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: but you have to become a Tier three patron to
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  Speaker 1: you access that. Now, I'm going to put one more
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  Speaker 1: freebee video podcasts out there, and that's going to be
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  Speaker 1: providing an analysis of the creation story that you're about
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  Speaker 1: to watch. So I hope that you enjoy and I
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  Speaker 1: hope that you'll consider joining us in this course. But
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  Speaker 1: for now, let's go ahead and get into the creation
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  Speaker 1: story of the Elder Scrolls universe. In the beginning, where
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  Speaker 1: Onu and padame order in chaos even more primordial than
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  Speaker 1: what we would call gods. Onu and Padame stand for
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  Speaker 1: form as such and void as such. Desiring to reflect
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  Speaker 1: upon himself with consciousness, Onu projected forth from his own
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  Speaker 1: being a soul, which was named a Nuiel, the everlasting
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  Speaker 1: Light and the soul of all things. Patame did likewise,
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  Speaker 1: and thus came to be Scythus the nothingness, the void,
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  Speaker 1: and as some would know him, the Dreadfather. Through the
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  Speaker 1: order chaos dialectic of an Nuiel in scythus the gray
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  Speaker 1: center or Orbis was made. This ambiguous creation is the
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  Speaker 1: womb of worlds that would give rise the plains of Ethereus, oblivion,
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  Speaker 1: and eventually the mortal realm of Mundus, as well as
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  Speaker 1: those that would inhabit them. As with many aspects of
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  Speaker 1: this mythology, it is debatable whether a Nuiel or Scythis
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  Speaker 1: are principally responsible for the creation of Arbis. Many cultures
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  Speaker 1: honor Annuiel for his active role in creation, but he
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  Speaker 1: is often seen as a catalyst rather than the principal actor.
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  Speaker 1: As it is written in monomyth, Scythis is held in
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  Speaker 1: highest esteem because he is the one that causes the reaction.
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  Speaker 1: Cythis is thus the original creator, an entity who intrinsically
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  Speaker 1: causes change without design. Even the hist acknowledged this being
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  Speaker 1: being an emanation of order. Annueel is associated with stability,
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  Speaker 1: which changes. Not Cythis, however, as an emanation of chaos,
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  Speaker 1: is associated with change, and never has there been a
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  Speaker 1: greater change than the beginning of the cosmos that previously
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  Speaker 1: was not. However, the formation of new things requires form,
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  Speaker 1: which is supplied by an Nuiel. Thus Cythis is the
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  Speaker 1: active agent of creation. Although annuiel is its order and
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  Speaker 1: its life within Arbis came further emanation from Anuiel and
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  Speaker 1: Scythis from a Nuiel came Ariel, also known as Acotash,
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  Speaker 1: the dragon god, chief god of the divines, and lord
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  Speaker 1: of Time, which he gave to Arbis to provide stability.
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  Speaker 1: In sequence, as the almroads say Ril bled through Arbis
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  Speaker 1: as a new force called time. With time various aspects,
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  Speaker 1: the Arbist began to understand their natures in limitations. With
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  Speaker 1: this new stability came the host of original spirits or
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  Speaker 1: the et Ada, which would become the Adra and the Deadra,
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  Speaker 1: depending on whether they were attached to the light of
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  Speaker 1: Anu or the void. Apadame from Scythis came forth the
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  Speaker 1: emanation that would be known as Lorcan, the missing god.
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  Speaker 1: Lorcan was at least for a time, more of a
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  Speaker 1: limit than in nature, so he can never last long anywhere.
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  Speaker 1: As he entered every aspect of an Nuiel, Lorcan would
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  Speaker 1: plant an idea that was almost wholly based on limitation.
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  Speaker 1: He outlined a plan to create a soul for the Arbis,
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  Speaker 1: a place where the aspects of aspects might be allowed
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  Speaker 1: to self reflect. He gained many allies, including Ari, and
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  Speaker 1: so they created Mundas. Now the peoples of Tamriel do
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  Speaker 1: not agree on the intentions or justifications with which Lorcan
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  Speaker 1: incited the creation of Mundas, whether the limitations of the
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  Speaker 1: mortal realm were intended to be a boon for a
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  Speaker 1: reflection in transcendence, or whether this was an attempt to
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  Speaker 1: weaken the gods and so move Arpis back toward the
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  Speaker 1: void of which Lorcan himself was born. These contrasting theologies
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  Speaker 1: give rise to the hostility that is often found between
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  Speaker 1: men and elves, the men of Syridil who know Lorcan.
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  Speaker 1: As Shazar write in Shazar's Song, Shazar spoke beautifully of
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  Speaker 1: creation and the ennoblement of sacrifice, inciting the Adra to
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  Speaker 1: create the mortal world. However, this creation left them weakened
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  Speaker 1: and angry at their lessoned state. These gods of the
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  Speaker 1: elves vowed vengeance upon Shazar and his enemies, and encouraged
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  Speaker 1: the elves to be stoic against the harshness of mortality.
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  Speaker 1: Yet other Adra, the gods of men and beast folk,
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  Speaker 1: led by Acotash, praise and cherish their wards the mortal
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  Speaker 1: races and unto each other. Let us teach the mortal
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  Speaker 1: races to live well, to cherish beauty and honor, and
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  Speaker 1: to love one another as we love them. Thus, the
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  Speaker 1: gods of men, often known as the divines, were tender
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  Speaker 1: and patient, and thus are the men and beast folk,
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  Speaker 1: great in heart or joy or suffering, and ambitious for
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  Speaker 1: greater wisdom and a better world. Thus, men often praise Lorcan,
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  Speaker 1: viewing the creation a mundus as a divine mercy, an
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  Speaker 1: enlightenment whereby lesser creatures can reach immortality. The Almer, however,
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  Speaker 1: tend to view this act of creation as a trick
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  Speaker 1: that sundered their connection to the spirit playing For while
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  Speaker 1: men understand that they were created by the gods, the
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  Speaker 1: Almer believed that they are actually descended from the gods
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  Speaker 1: and thereby share to some degree in the essence of divinity. Thus,
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  Speaker 1: the weakening of the gods is understood personally, and their
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  Speaker 1: mortal frame is despised as at a lesser state of
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  Speaker 1: being than the rights of their nature would grant. Regardless
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  Speaker 1: of Lorcan's intentions, many of the great spirits willingly underwent
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  Speaker 1: the sacrifice that would be required in establishing the mortal realm.
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  Speaker 1: Many of the et Ada vanished completely with this act.
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  Speaker 1: Some escaped like Magnus, and that is why there are
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  Speaker 1: no limitations to magic. Ifri transformed into Eenophrey the earth bones,
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  Speaker 1: so the whole world might not die, and according to
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  Speaker 1: the Altmer, some married, and each generation of children was
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  Speaker 1: weaker until they became the Almer. The Deatra mocked the
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  Speaker 1: Adra for their sacrifice in the creation of a world
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  Speaker 1: that is, in its essence other than what they are,
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  Speaker 1: and they instead created a world within themselves to be
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  Speaker 1: forever theirs and under their complete control. However, the greater
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  Speaker 1: Dadra often found the passions and ambitions of mortals to
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  Speaker 1: be more entertaining than that of the lesser Datra, and
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  Speaker 1: thus they often sought to court and to seduce certain
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  Speaker 1: amusing specimens of the mortal races, especially the passionate and
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  Speaker 1: the powerful. The Dedra lords reveled in taking the best
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  Speaker 1: of mortals, thereby demonstrating the preferability of dadrech, glory and
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  Speaker 1: power to the feeble vulgarity of the Adra, and so
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  Speaker 1: Arbis continues to be the gray center, the meeting place
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  Speaker 1: of order and chaos, of being, and void of atherius
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  Speaker 1: and oblivion. The limitations of the mortal plane may either
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  Speaker 1: be a vile trick of a nefarious god bent on
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  Speaker 1: returning all things to darkness, or they may be due
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  Speaker 1: to an act of divine beneficence by which mortals and
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  Speaker 1: even gods might achieve higher transcendence through the reflection made
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  Speaker 1: possible only by such limitations. For it is only through
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  Speaker 1: the limitations of being that transcendence might be made possible.
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  Speaker 1: And now let us end with a summary of such
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  Speaker 1: things found in the anonymously written Spirit of Nern. Some
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  Speaker 1: wish to return to the original state, the spirit realm,
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  Speaker 1: and believe that Lorcan is the demon that hinders their
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  Speaker 1: way to them. Nern is a prison, an allusion to escape.
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  Speaker 1: Others think that Lorcan created the world as a testing
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  Speaker 1: ground for transcendence. To them, the spirit realm was already
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  Speaker 1: a prison, and thats true. Escape is now finally possible.
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  Speaker 1: Regardless of how one views this act creation, the creation
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  Speaker 1: of the mortal plane, the mundus Nern, is a source
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  Speaker 1: of mental anguish to all living things. All souls know
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  Speaker 1: deep down that they came originally from somewhere else, and
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  Speaker 1: that Neurn is a cruel and crucial step to what
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  Speaker 1: comes next.