Who Said What? (Part 5)

As most who know me will know, I am not a particular fan of Elsweyr’s entry in the Imperial text “Varieties of Faith in the Empire”. So yes, most of this will be me slagging it off. Now, let’s get it going.

What did Brother Michael Karkuxor say?

As well as some figures we saw in the previous entry, there are some new figures in here, which we’ll be looking at first.

First, let’s look at Baan Dar (not to be confused with Baar Dau, the moon above Vivec City). The entry states it as “The Bandit God”

In Elsweyr he is more important, and is regarded as the Pariah.

So at the least it is somewhat credible in backing up the resentment of thievery in Elsweyr, but saying he’s more important does not necessarily mean that he really is important, just that it’s moreso than other places (such as Valenwood, where he is also stated to be in the Bosmeri Pantheon).

Baan Dar becomes the cleverness or desperate genius of the long-suffering Khajiit, whose last minute plans always upset the machinations of their (Elven or Human) enemies.

One part of this is credible in that there’s the link between the Renrijra Krin talking about an old saying “Absurdity has become necessity”, however it is very odd in my eyes that Words of Clan Mother Ahnissi would not mention Baan Dar at all, nor is he mentioned by any other Khajiit by name that I can think of. There’s the possibility that Ahnissi was holding back info on other gods such as the missing daedra/Second Litter, however, that ideal is bordering very closely on BATW to me.

What’s also suspicious is that the text “The First Scroll of Baan Dar” states that Baan Dar is a series of people taking on that name and acting in a particular way as opposed to being a legitimate god.

So, is Baan Dar really a god or just an ideal that has been misunderstood by foreigners? I’d say it’s up to interpretation, but my interpretation is that it’s a misunderstanding. Personally, I doubt Baan Dar has any relevance to anyone’s life outside of large-scale conflict and is not as “important” as the text may suggest.

There is, however, this bit from the TIL Cosmology page

The largest shooting stars are really planets with independent orbits, like Baan Dar the Rogue Plane.

Now, onto the so-called god “Riddle’Thar”

The entry calls it “Two-Moons Dance” (which is the name of a style of Rawlith Khaj).

the Riddle’Thar was revealed to Elsweyr by the prophet Rid-Thar-ri’Datta

Why he wasn’t known when the darkness inside Lorkhaj’s Heart had it’s own name I don’t know, but looks like he was missing for some time as this “Sugar God”, even though the sugar had been coming down since Azurah stated the Third Secret.

Hell, even PGE has

the terms of this measure, the Riddle-T’har, were overseen by the thinly-veiled dictatorship of the Mane himself

Due to this, Return False, the unlikelihood of “the Sugar God being revealed” and the Mane actually being a figure we can say is real and definitely used the Riddle’Thar to increase his legitimacy as a spiritual leader; I have to say that I don’t believe the Riddle’Thar is an actual god (even the text says it’s not a single entity). I also disagree with “some of his avatars like to appear as humble messengers of the gods”; if they were his avatars, why is he a messenger of “the gods”? They have their own avatars (see: Jon Hawker, Wulf, Ama Nin, Martin turned Flaming Akatosh). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The Riddle’Thar is a political system, not a god.

Now onto more of a misunderstanding than outright incorrect info, they have an entry here for Ja-Kha’jay, which we know are the two moons. Ja-Kha’jay is not a god, it is a name for Jone and Jode like they were interstellar tag-team.

A perculiar entry, we see Rajhin. Unlike Riddle’Thar as a god, we definitely know what this guy was and that’s a thief. We see him referenced as such in Where were you when the Dragon Broke?

You humans are better thieves than even Rajhin!

And then in Tamrielic Lore

The Ring of the Khajiit is an ancient relic, hundreds of years older than Rajhin, the thief that made the Ring famous. It was Rajhin who used the Ring’s powers to make himself invisible and as quick as the breath of wind. Using the Ring, he became the most successful burglar in Elsweyr’s history. Rajhin’s eventual fate is a mystery, but according to legend, the Ring rebelled against such constant use and disappeared, leaving Rajhin helpless before his enemies.

One thing that makes this guy a little bit more holy is that he does have followers, in Skeleton Man’s Interviews we see

dro’Mhakij, “Prophet of Rajhin”

So there is something to this guy. IMO, as Varieties of Faith includes gods and saints, I’d say that in all likelihood – with the information available to us – Rajhin is more of a saint figure than a god. Perhaps he stole godhood too, but until more info comes out this is all we can really say about him.

Let’s move onto Alkosh, because this entry creates the most frequent question about him. Whether or not he’s a dragon.

Alkosh (Dragon King of Cats)

Along with

He is depicted as a fearsome dragon, a creature the Khajiit say “is just a real big cat”

Despite his only possible in-game depiction clearly having feline features on the Ayleidoon statue of Auri-El (I would include a pic, but it was deleted months ago) in TES IV: Oblivion. Also roars being more closely linked to lions than to dragons and The Tale of Dro’Zira mentioning “the Roar of Alkosh”.

Pre-ri’Datta Dynasty Anaquinine deity.

For those unfamiliar with the language, this says he was primarily worshipped in Anequina since before the first recorded Mane came down.

His worship was co-opted during the establishment of the Riddle-T’har

Not sure how much I agree with that and considering the issues this regarding the Riddle’Thar I think it’s fine to ignore that line.

Also, as stated in a previous entry, we do know that Alkosh did fend off Pelinal Whitestrake.

The other entries aren’t all that incorrect, nor are they really all that detailed more than a few sentences and so they don’t need mention here.

And that concludes the Faith Edition. Hope you liked it, or at least learned more about the Khajiit.