Femininity in Tamrielic Faith Part 3: Dibella

All right, a sudden burst of food poisoning after I posted my write-up on Kyne has somewhat delayed this one, but here we go!

Dibella was my inspiration for this entire series, and for this reason I saved her until after I did Kyne and [Mara] (http://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/1zw5p0/femininity_in_tamrielic_faith_part_1_mara/). I hope that I treat her with the respect I feel she deserves.

Why would Dibella inspire the series if Kyne is my favourite but I most closely identify with Mara based on my recent experiences in the past 2 years?

My reaction to Dibella's portrayal in the short story was powerful and negative at first. It made me want to stop reading. However, I was also confused. Why all the powerful women in this and other works, and then this brutish and misogynistic treatment of this particular female deity?

So I continued reading, and I read it again and again until I finally understood. Today I would like to share that understanding.

Dibella, Bed-Wife of Shor, Goddess of Passion, Eros and Artistic Inspiration

Let us first summarize the imagery used in Shor son of Shor; Dibella is first shown piling up the bodies blown in by Kyne's Shout. She then provides a critical opinion of Shor. She is then reprimanded by Tsun/Stuhn/Trinimac, taken by the hair and dragged to a tent, presumably not to play cards.

Each of those interactions reveals much about the character of this Goddess, and as a whole they reveal to us that this meant more as a commentary on certain Nordic values as well as on the et'Ada themselves, as opposed to an attack on certain aspects of womanhood. Let us go beat by beat through Dibella's role in Shor Son of Shor and explore what exactly it means to be Dibella.

The pile of corpses, strange at first, for the Goddess best known for her association with sensuality. Dibella, like all women, however is more than just how beautiful she is and her prowess between the sheets. If Mara is Creation and Kyne is a simultaneously sheltering and destructive force behind Creation; Dibella, among other things, is a process of renewal. What Kyne leaves behind, Dibella sweeps up and makes use of it until Mara rears her head and makes something new.

What else is almost all creative media other than recycled dead matter? Paints and dyes are pigments extracted from dead animal or plant matter. Textiles are the fibres or the skins of expired life. Gems and other minerals are the encasement and transformation of organic matter within an inorganic framework. Even those of you who do digital art, count how many of the metals in your computer can be found in the human body, even in trace amounts? When you sell your work and it goes to print, see the above about ink and fibre. Those of us that choose words as our form of expression are not exempt, a line from C0DA: ALL LANGUAGE IS BASED ON MEAT. Not living flesh, dead meat.

Next, Dibella accuses Shor of losing heart (literally or figuratively? probably both), and calls his decision to speak to Shor Father of Shor futile and illogical.

Strong words, befitting of the Goddess of Passion. Just like Kyne isn't all about being old and sexless, Dibella isn't exclusively about that one kind of passion. The passionate youth speaks out of turn, questions authority, is unafraid of making mistakes or their consequences.

Authority does not always appreciate Passion. Sometimes Passion thinks it knows better than Authority, and Authority can behave extremely inappropriately when confronted by Passion.

Enter Tsun/Stuhn/Trinimac. The arrogant, high-ranking General admonishes Dibella for usurping Jhunal's right to speak of logic, informs her of her station and drags her off, by the hair no less. Now consider Dibella's (lack of) reaction. Violence against women is often seen as a statement of power and domination for the assailant as opposed to one of sexual gratification.

Dibella however, cares nothing for power and is therefore indomitable, which is just as well because she is clearly a subordinate within the Nordic pantheon. She does not take Tsun/Stuhn/Trinimac’s handling as a transgression as much as a form of expression. And while it is a form of expression that is repugnant to my mortal and modern sensibilities, I understand that she is a Goddess and is entitled to see it differently.

In a conversation with /u/Gerenoir a few weeks ago, we were trying to figure out why Dibella always seemed so passive. Goddess of passion yet she is the object of lust, not subject of lust. Maybe in the Imperial pantheon the answer is simply that this is an archetypal way of portraying feminine sensuality. In the Nordic pantheon, however, it is more complicated than just that.

Here we see a culture where much stock is put into experience, in that while Kyne and Mara enjoy certain privileges and powers, we do not see much evidence of external respect or regard for Dibella (although she certainly thinks highly of herself). Kyne pays no heed to what is happening, and the Nord narrator himself is dispassionate and justifies Tsun/Stuhn/Trinimac's behaviour on the grounds of it being in the spirit of that type of et'Ada.

Life in Skyrim is nasty, brutish and short. We have seen that in the courtship explanation in the game, and it is evidenced time and time again throughout the lore. In such cultures throughout history and fiction, we see the rise of strong hierarchies, where the passionate indiscretions of youth are eschewed for proven leaders and strategists. The young are only empowered in wealthier, more stable cultures, where extinction is less of a major concern.

Subordinate does not imply unimportant, let us not get this confused. The Nords fully understand Dibella's importance. She is, however important, a force to be controlled, sometimes ignored and disregarded, but never underestimated or left unchecked.

Tsun/Stuhn/Trinimac is not only annoyed that she spoke out, he was annoyed that she was speaking out in favour of logic. He felt that her passion, her focus should be re-directed to a more time-honoured Skyrim tradition of thinking on your toes and gut reactions.

Do not be guided solely by your passions, the Nords are warned, you must dominate and control your passions, not the other way around. Dibella’s passivity is adaptive and mythopoeic, it reflects the survival needs of the culture that worships her: experience before reason, quick thinking over prolonged deliberations.

The title Bed-Wife is much more complicated than it seems at first. Yes, bed-sharing, sex, Dibellan arts; we all understand that symbolism so for the sake of brevity I will spare us that talk for now. Do not forget to consider, if you an average adult who sleeps an average amount, you spend about a third of your life in bed, and not having sex. You are sleeping, you are dreaming, lucidly or not, and it is where you awake to face the day. All your daily struggles begin and end in bed. How many of us have woken up in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning with a great idea that came to us in a dream? This is also the passion and inspiration of Dibella, where it all begins, and where it all ends; in a nest built from the remnants of what we remember.

Significant is that at the end of the story, Tsun/Stuhn/Trinimac leaves Dibella untouched, as the dawn breaks and with it the confusion of the twilight is lifted. Remember his lust is just a form of expression, and at that moment, he forgot what to say. Perhaps this is a gentle warning to Nords, not to check or coerce your passions without a clear purpose, for that is where hope and dynamism can be lost. We do not dominate our passions for the sake of domination, we do so to redirect them in a constructive manner, not to crush inspiration or individuality. The General forgot his purpose for a moment, and as such the assault stopped.

We have Kyne the Matriarch of the pantheon, Mara the Mother, and now we have Dibella, the impassioned youth as our Maiden, symbol of all that is new and new again. The next essay will lift these feminine aspects out of Shor Son of Shor and look at them through the lens of a unified feminine identity, a series of life stages and the Three-Fold Lady.