“The Story of Aevar Stone-Singer” Is No Less Than the Story of Herma-Mora and the Time-Travelling Last Dragonborn in 4E 201

Premonitory Explanation

The Skaal

The Skaal are an offshoot tribe of Nords living in a village in northeastern Solstheim. The Skaal are descended from the Nords who served the Dragon Cult on Solstheim, and built tombs to honor the Dragon Priests who ruled over them. Though they are Nords by race, the Skaal embrace their own culture and religion, based around worship of the All-Maker. As the name implies, they only believe in one God, the Maker of All. The antithesis of the All-Maker is a being known as the Adversary. The Adversary has many aspects, one of them is the Greedy Man, the devil-figure itself. Lore scholars don’t agree on who the Greedy Man is. Some say it’s Anu or Padhome, some say it’s Lorkhan or Akatosh, I say it’s Herma-Mora, and I will show you why.

The History

According to legend, long ago the world was ruled by dragons, who enslaved the race of man and forced them to build fantastic temples in their honor. Directing the slaves in their name were the Dragon Priests, a group of men who worshipped the dragons and were given power in exchange for their devotion. These priests were powerful mages, and had the gift of the Thu’um. One of these dragon priests, known only as the Traitor, was seduced by Herma-Mora, the Skaal’s name for the Daedric Prince Hermaeus Mora. His plot to overthrow the dragons was discovered by another dragon priest, known as the Guardian. The Guardian confronted the Traitor, and the two fought a terrible battle. So great was their power, Solstheim was sundered from Skyrim. The Guardian proved to be the more powerful, and bested the Traitor. Just as the Guardian was about to land the final blow, Herma-Mora snatched the Traitor away, rescuing him from certain death. As a reward for his loyalty, the Guardian was given Solstheim to rule, where his reign is remembered as peaceful and prosperous, and he is remembered as a wise and just ruler.

The Story

The Story of Aevar Stone-Singer

TL;DR: In a time before now, long before now, when the Skaal were new, there was peace in the Land. The sun was hot and the crops grew long, and the people were happy in the peace that the All-Maker provided. But, the Skaal grew complacent and lazy, and they took for granted the Lands and all the gifts the All-Maker had given them. They forgot, or chose not to remember, that the Adversary is always watching, and that he delights in tormenting the All-Maker and his chosen people. And so it was that the Adversary came to be among the Skaal. It came to be one day that the powers of the Skaal left them. The strength left the arms of the warriors, and the shaman could no longer summon the beasts to their side. The elders thought that surely the All-Maker was displeased, and some suggested that the All-Maker had left them forever. It was then that the Greedy Man appeared to them and spoke. “You of the Skaal have grown fat and lazy. I have stolen the gifts of your All-Maker. I have stolen the Oceans, so you will forever know thirst. I have stolen the Lands and the Trees and the Sun, so your crops will wither and die. I have stolen the Beasts, so you will go hungry. And I have stolen the Winds, so you will live without the Spirit of the All-Maker.”

Aevar went out to get back all the gifts.

“You have done well, Aevar. You, the least of the Skaal, have returned my gifts to them. The Greedy Man is gone for now, and should not trouble your people again in your lifetime. Your All-Maker is pleased. Go now, and live according to your Nature.” And Aevar started back to the Skaal village.

My Theory

  • Aevar Stone-Singer had to travel to the six Standing Stones, where the All-Maker talked to him after the Greedy Man was gone.

  • The Last Dragonborn, in the Dragonborn DLC, had to travel to the six Standing Stones as well, where he had to remove the evil before he was able to retrieve a gift of power.

    The entranced people working at the stones, in 4E201, repeat, among others, these lines:

    “What by day was stolen.”

    “Far from ourselves.”

    “He grows ever near to us.”

    “Our eyes once were blinded.”

    “Now through him do we see.”

    “Our hands once were idle.”

    “Now through them does he speak.”

    “And when the world shall listen.”

    “And when the world shall see.”

    “And when the world remembers.”

  • Aevar Stone-Singer had to retrieve six gifts, the Gift of Water, the Gift of Earth, the Gift of Beasts, the Gift of Sun, the Gift of Trees and the Gift of Winds to defeat the Greedy Man.

  • The Last Dragonborn, in the Dragonborn DLC, had to make it through six chapters to defeat Miraak.

What does this have to do with the Greedy Man? First, you have to keep in mind his connections with Miraak during the history of the Skaal, secondly, keep in mind that the Greedy Man is opposed to the Dragons and Alduins. We also learn that he is opposed to the All-Maker. The Greedy Man even specifically uses the stones of Solstheim to steal the gifts of the Skaal.

The Old Ways suggest that the true origins of daedric princes are as ancestors spurned by order in one way or another and set loose upon Oblivion, forgotten by or predating recorded history. Hermaeus Mora is often linked with an endless knowledge of history and time. If he were to have somehow gotten stuck “both inside and outside of kalpas”, he would not only be able to observe the current one but also to omnidirectionaly look outwards to every kaleidoscopic microcosm of reality at his leisure.

In "Aevar Stone-Singer", the Greedy Man tricked the Skaal and then stole creation.

In the Dragonborn DLC, Herma-Mora tricked the Dragonborn in helping him. This is basically it. We have the beginning (travelling to the Standing Stones), the battle (Chapters I – VI), and the end. We also meet The Guardian in the Dragonborn DLC, who is/was Vahlok the Jailor, Vahlok means “Guardian” in the Dragon Language. I am aware that in the “Story of Aevar Stone-Singer”, he actually never faces the Traitor/Miraak, but look at the end of the story:

So, Aevar wandered the land in search of the Greedy Man. He looked in the trees, but the Greedy Man did not hide there. Nor did he hide near the oceans, or the deep caves, and the beasts had not seen him in the dark forests. Finally, Aevar came to a crooked house, and he knew that here he would find the Greedy Man.

“Who are you,” shouted the Greedy Man, “that you would come to my house?” “I am Aevar of the Skaal,” said Aevar. “I am not warrior, shaman, or elder. If I do not return, I will not be missed. But I have returned the Oceans and the Earth, the Trees, the Beasts, and the Sun, and I will return the Winds to my people, that we may feel the spirit of the All-Maker in our souls again.” And with that, he grabbed up the Greedy Man’s bag and tore it open. The Winds rushed out with gale force, sweeping the Greedy Man up and carrying him off, far from the island. Aevar breathed in the Winds and was glad. He walked back to the Wind Stone, where the All-Maker spoke to him a final time.

The crooked house is obviously the Apocrypha, and the Greedy Man’s bag is Miraak. Miraak was the one who withheld the evil, Miraak was the one who influenced the Skaal. Hermaeus Mora let Aevar Stone-Singer open the bag, because he grew tired of Miraak as a servant. So he killed Miraak after Aevar/LDB weakened him, and proved that Miraak was a failure to him. Aevar Stone-Singer is the time-travelling Last Dragonborn. It is known that Herma-Mora wanders through time like it’s the most natural thing, and this is exactly what happened here.

The ending of the Story of Aevar Stone-Singer is this:

“And then what happened, Grandfather?”

“What do you mean, Child? He went home.”

“No. When he returned to the village,” the Child continued. “Was he made a warrior? Or taught the ways of the shaman? Did he lead the Skaal in battle?”

“I do not know. That is where the story ends,” said the Grandfather.

“But that is not an ending! That is not how stories end!”

The old man laughed and got up from his chair. "Is it not?"

This is referencing to us not knowing what happened after the story, because we make the story. We are Aevar Stone-Singer in the Dragonborn DLC, and it’s for us to judge what we do next. We weren’t made a warrior, or taught the ways of the Shaman. We want our way to new adventures.

Further Excursion

As it surely will show up: Yes, I have played the Bloodmoon Expansion Pack of Elder Scrolls III, and I am aware that the Nerevarine goes the exact way of Aevar Stone-Singer, and technically mantles him. The Nerevarine, however, never met the Greedy Man, as the prophecy was not fulfilled by Herma-Mora, but by Hircine’s Hunt and the Bloodmoon.