The Forbidden Theory's Conclusion: Dumalacath the Betrayed. Part A
The Forbidden Theory: The Definitive Dwarf-Orc Argument
Part IV Part I can be found here. Part II Part III
The central thesis of the Dwarf-Orc Theory is that the story of Boethiah eating Trinimac - the Orcish origin story - is in fact the story of Red Mountain. Boethiah represents the Chimer, and Trinimac the Dwemer. Whatever happened to the Dwemer is multi-fold, that is it includes multiple outcomes as befitting a dragon break. Malacath, also known as Mauloch, is Dumac Dwarf-King transformed along with some portion of his people. Any other details are irrelevant to the thesis. For example, some Dwarves might not have become Orcs. Also, just because this event was the focus of the dragon break doesn’t mean that there weren’t Orcs prior to the event according to some calendars.
This theory is not simply a reaction to the phrase “Dumalacath Dwarf-Orc” with some intent to craft an outlandish idea for the sake of weirdness. The exegesis of the theory lies in a critical examination of the overall meaning of the Trinimac transformation myth according to various clear textual hints left in plain sight in the Red Mountain accounts.
Part IV: Dumalacath the Betrayed
One of the most famous cautionary tales in Altmeri culture is that of Trinimac and Boethiah. Although its purpose is to act as a warning against trifling with Daedric affairs, it also serves as the most widely known - in fact the only prevailing - tale of the origin of the Orsimer, the Orcs. One standard rendition goes as follows:
>To truly know Mauloch, we must recall the story of Trinimac's fall from grace, and the events leading up to his torturous dishonor. During the Merethic Era, a cult of Aldmeri dissidents abandoned the commonly accepted worship of Summerset Isle and began following a young prophet, Veloth. Boethiah had been speaking to Veloth in dreams and visions, guiding him to lead a new sect of Aldmeri with the belief that mortals could ascend to become gods. Trinimac's priests condemned the new sect for blasphemy and threatened exile, should they not abandon Veloth. When the priests were to pass judgment, Boethiah appeared, having swallowed Trinimac, and revealed the lies of Trinimac's teachings with Trinimac's own voice. Content the priests were shamed and broken from his revelation, Boethiah relieved himself of Trinimac in front of the assembly to complete his shame. We know not how Trinimac had been defeated, but it is said that after his defeat Boethiah had consumed him and tortured his spirit in her belly. When Boethiah grew bored of Trinimac's torture, she released him from his prison and later exiled him to a plane of choking ash. This torture and dishonor left Trinimac twisted and enraged. Trinimac faded and was reborn as Mauloch, the God of Curses. With his mind bent on revenge, his most devout followers changed to match him and became the Orsimer, cursed to wander in exile, a people without a place.
This account of Trinimac comes from a very specific perspective on history: that of the Altmer. Even Orcish sources reference this understanding, which goes to show the influence of Altmeri records on contemporary views of the Merethic period. It’s important to go to the source and examine this Altmeri perspective directly.
>In the Middle Merethic Era, the Aldmeri (mortals of Elven origin) refugees left their doomed and now-lost continent of Aldmeris (also known as 'Old Ehlnofey') and settled in southwestern Tamriel. The first colonies were distributed at wide intervals on islands along the entire coast of Tamriel. Later inland settlements were founded primarily in fertile lowlands in southwest and central Tamriel. Wherever the beastfolk encountered the Elves, the sophisticated, literate, technologically advanced Aldmeri cultures displaced the primitive beastfolk into the jungles, marshes, mountains, and wastelands. The Adamantine Tower was rediscovered and captured by the Direnni, a prominent and powerful Aldmeri clan. The Crystal Tower was built on Summerset Isle and, later, White Gold Tower in Cyrodiil. During the Middle Merethic Era, Aldmeri explorers mapped the coasts of Vvardenfel [sic], building the First Era High Elven wizard towers at Ald Redaynia, Bal Fell, Tel Aruhn, and Tel Mora in Morrowind. It was also during this period that Ayleid [Wild Elven] settlements flourished in the jungles surrounding White Gold Tower (present day Cyrodiil). Wild Elves, also known as the Heartland High Elves, preserved the Dawn Era magics and language of the Ehlnofey. Ostensibly a tribute-land to the High King of Alinor, the Heartland's long lines of communication from the Summerset Isles' sovereignty effectively isolated Cyrodill [sic] from the High Kings at Crystal Tower. The Late Middle Merethic Era is the period of the High Velothi Culture. The Chimer, ancestors of the modern Dunmer, or Dark Elves, were dynamic, ambitious, long-lived Elven clans devoted to fundamentalist ancestor worship. The Chimer clans followed the Prophet Veloth out of the ancestral Elven homelands in the southwest to settle in the lands now known as Morrowind. Despising the secular culture and profane practices of the Dwemer, the Chimer also coveted the lands and resources of the Dwemer, and for centuries provoked them with minor raids and territorial disputes. The Dwemer (Dwarves), free-thinking, reclusive Elven clans devoted to the secrets of science, engineering, and alchemy, established underground cities and communities in the mountain range (later the Velothi Mountains) separating modern Skyrim and Morrowind. The Late Merethic Era marks the precipitous decline of Velothi culture. Some Velothi settled in villages near declining and abandoned ancient Velothi towers. During this period, Velothi high culture disappeared on Vvardenfell Island. The earliest Dwemer Freehold colonies date from this period. Degenerate Velothi devolved into tribal cultures which, in time, evolved into the modern Great Houses of Morrowind, or persisted as the barbarian Ashlander tribes. The only surviving traces of this tribal culture are scattered Velothi towers and Ashlander nomads on Vvardenfell Island. The original First Era High Elven wizard towers along the coasts of Tamriel were also abandoned about this time.
The author of this works is Aicantar of Shimerene who is also the author of notoriously biased Aldmeri Dominion writings during the Second Era. Among these are works such as “Crimes of the Daggerfall Covenant” and “Thalmor Handbill”. The latter work cites Aicantar as the “Sapiarch of Indoctrination”. As if it could be any more explicit.
First of all, he frequently refers to the early Altmeri settlers as “Aldmer” and suggest a continuity between this Summerset Islands people and the Ayleids and Bosmer. He suggests that corporeal elves got lost leaving Aldmeris, and ended up in the Summerset Isles. They then spread, and through mere cultural differentiation, became the different races of elf.
This account is false on so many levels. First of all, we know Aldmeris didn’t exist. The Altmer are the product of powerful multi-fold beings creating Crystal-Like-Law. This tower created an idyllic land for a highly conservative, stagnant, culture. All the evidence says that the Ayleids and Bosmer resolved out of the “Aldmeri” by their own means as well. It’s simply wrong for the Altmer to claim hegemony over elven culture, as well as claiming to be the progenitors of all elves.
However, if one considers this account of history as the product of an Aldmeri Dominion “Sapiarch of Indoctrination” - well - the way he spins things makes a lot sense, even if it’s wrong. And yet, our understanding of Merethic history is drawn from this heavily biased account.
Consider the Ayleids:
>The Aldmeri or Merethic Elves were singular of purpose only so long as it took them to realize that other Towers, with their own Stones, could tell different stories, each following rules inscribed by Variorum Architects. And so the Mer self-refracted, each to their own creation, the Chimer following Red-Heart, the Bosmer burgeoning Green-Sap, the Altmer erecting Crystal-Like-Law, et alia. But of all the Prismatic Mer, none were more presumptuous than the Ayleids of the Heartland. They built their tower in open emulation of Ada-Mantia, using as Founding-Stone the great red diamond they had uncovered: Chim-el-Adabal, said to be crystallized blood from the Heart of Lorkhan itself. (For the Heart on its arrow passed over the Heartlands, birthing one of that postnymic's quaternary meanings.) Thus did White-Gold become Tower One. As all know.
>Thus White-Gold. On to Green-Sap. The Boiche Elves were of the Earth Bones who most hearkened to Jephre and his greensongs. They did not build a Tower, they grew it, a great graht-oak whose roots sprang from a Perchance Acorn. And this was their Stone.
-Aurbic Enigma 4: The Elden Tree
This discussion, really focused on Anumaril’s efforts to rebuild Tower One of Segment One in Valenwood, reveals a completely different view of Merethic history than the one presented by Aicantar. Let me review this version.
Merethic, “Aldmeri”, elves were singular until: They realized they could build different towers and construct different realities. Each race did so, implying the Chimer and Dwemer and Bosmer and Ayleid and Altmer started together and then split separately, building their towers. They are then called “Prismatic Mer”, which hearkens to the notion of multi-fold Aldmeri beings existing simultaneously in different realities.
This difference from Aicantar’s account is enormously important. Contemporary, conventional wisdom relies on the historical claim by the Altmer that they alone were the survivors of Aldmeris and all variations of elf came from them. If the Altmer are merely a split, equal to the other elves, from original Prismatic Aldmeris, then it means a number of other elven origin histories are mistaken.
For example, the Chimer might never have set foot in Summerset. Boethiah tempted Aldmeri to visit Red Mountain and this spiritual pilgrimage to the “stone that is not a stone”, by Velothic practice and Psijic Endeavor, created the Chimer out of the Prismatic Aldmeri. The Chimer never didn’t exist in Morrowind.
Even Aicantar admits that Velothi culture first thrived on Vvardenfell. It is noted for building somewhat abandoned “Velothi Towers” (perhaps channeling the power of Red Mountain to create their reality). This culture disappeared, leaving Ashlander tribes in its aftermath. The Morrowind Great Houses formed in Southern Morrowind, becoming a lesser aspect of original Velothi culture.
Aicantar refers to Altmer (called “Aldmer”) towers in Morrowind during this era. Perhaps this comes from the story of Topal the Pilot. That story also references bird people in the Cyrodiil Heartlands. According the prevailing Altmeri worldview, the elves spread onto Tamriel from Summerset. But, we are asking whether that account is wrong. Perhaps the Bird People are simply Crystal-Like-Law’s rendition of the Ayleids, the Resdayn wizard towers its rendition of Velothi Towers. Perhaps Topal the Pilot’s account of his journey around an empty Tamriel reflects a time before Crystal-Like-Law’s reality had integrated with the other towers.
You might be confused at this point. If you have read Part III of this theory, you’d know about realities converging and diverging. Let’s examine this now, and also explore the idea of a dragon break.
First of all, let’s say that the Altmer exist in a Summerset Isles which is shaped by Crystal-Like-Law’s power to be idyllic. Previously, they were Prismatic beings wandering the chaos of ever changing reality. These beings were growing steadily weaker, so they built their tower after their particular ideal.
To the Altmer, thanks to CLL, all of Tamriel was subject to one tangible interpretation according to their ideal. In their reckoning, all other beings were lesser beast folk. Thus, they encountered such everywhere they visited. Eventually, after Topal’s journey, the Altmer gave up on the rest of the world.
Meanwhile, in a separate reality, the Ayleids are building Tower One at the heart of the world. Read the following and ask yourself if it sounds like this people were simply Altmeri settlers in a wild jungle with bird people, or if they were resolved from Prismatic Elves during a time of chaos and utter intangibility:
>White-Gold Tower was made by the Ayleids, the Heartland High Elves that would have none to do with their isle-kind. Where the Altmer sought to focus on dracochrysalis, or keeping elder magic bound before it could change into something lesser (and act which ironically required aetherial surplus), the Ayleids harvested castaway creatia from Oblivion by entering a pact with the masters of the Void, the Princes of Misrule.
Thus, it is now becoming more and more probable - if we review the actual evidence and internalize the concepts it conveys - that only the Altmer originated on the Summerset Isles. Each other Elf race, and its origin story, would relate directly to the “self-refraction” process related to the mythic towers.
Perhaps, then, there is more to the story of Boethiah, the Chimer, and Trinimac.
Before we discuss that, let’s reconcile this era of multiple fold-realities and the modern era of a singular Tamriel. After all, eventually the Altmer did encounter the Ayleids. Although, it seems Ayleid knowledge surpassed that possessed by the Altmer. The Ayleids may simply have magically folded into Altmer reality in their flight from the Nedic rebellion. Or, maybe they took a boat.
If the fold realities formed out of the Dawn era, then perhaps they unified during the period known as the “Middle Dawn”. Let us recount the tale of history’s biggest dragon break. It was so big, in fact, that is known as the Dragon Break. It’s total duration lasted, in many recknonings, 1008 years.
>No one understands what happened when the Selectives danced on that tower. It would be easy to dismiss the whole matter as nonsense were it not for the Amulet of Kings. Even the Elder Scrolls do not mention it -- let me correct myself, the Elder Scrolls cannot mention it. When the Moth priests attune the Scrolls to the timeless time their glyphs always disappear. The Amulet of Kings, however, with its oversoul of emperors, can speak of it at length. According to Hestra, Cyrodiil became an Empire across the stars. According to Shor-El, Cyrodiil became an egg. Most say something in a language they can only speak sideways. The Council has collected texts and accounts from all of its provinces, and they only offer stories that never coincide, save on one point: all the folk of Tamriel during the Middle Dawn, in whatever 'when' they were caught in, tracked the fall of the eight stars. And that is how they counted their days.
-Where Were You When The Dragon Broke
The most common account is that of Cyrodiil. A group of Alessian fanatics led by a Monkey-Man named Marukh, who believed there should be only One God, danced to the song of the world upon a tower (Ada-Mantia? White-Gold?) in order to remove the elfish aspects of Akatosh and as a result this thousand year break in history occurred.
However, there’s no reason to assume that that is the whole story. As the Cyrodiilic account above says, the only thing in common to all accounts of the Middle Dawn was the fall of eight stars. (which are compared to the eight gems of the Amulet of Kings surrounding the Red Diamond, as well as the eight provinces of Tamriel surrounding Cyrodiil)
>The Three Thieves of Morrowind could tell you where they were. So could the High King of Alinor, who was the one who broke it in the first place. There are others on this earth that could, too: Ysmir, Pelinal, Arnand the Fox or should I say Arctus? The Last Dwarf would talk, if they would let him. As for myself, I was here and there and here again, like the rest of the mortals during the Dragon Break. How do you think I learned my mystery? The Maruhkati Selectives showed us all the glories of the Dawn so that we might learn, simply: as above, so below.
-Where...Dragon Broke
This is Mannimarco’s account. Note that he says the “High King of Alinor... broke it in the first place”. Let’s consider the profound implications of this statement. What if, as the Prismatic Elves self-refracted to survive the chaos and variability of the Dawn, they created permanent distinctions between themselves? Finally, time had begun, but it was split. Mortality and tangibility had arrive to Mundus. But, who would control the final outcome, the fate of Mundus? After all, Nirn was created in and through conflicting ideals.
What if the history of the Nirn is the story of a struggle for control of reality? What if different factions, at different times, mantle reality and take charge of the fate of all of Nirn’s fold-realities?
What if the Dragon Break is not simply the result of one mythic act, but rather is a 1000 year struggle to gain hegemony over all the realities of Nirn by various mythic beings?
Here is the Khajiiti account of the Dragon Break:
>Do you mean, where were the Khajiit when the Dragon Broke? R'leyt tells you where: recording it. 'One thousand eight years,' you've heard it. You think the Cyro-Nordics came up with that all on their own. You humans are better thieves than even Rajhin! While you were fighting wars with phantoms and giving birth to your own fathers, it was the Mane that watched the ja-Kha'jay, because the moons were the only constant, and you didn't have the sugar to see it. We'll give you credit: you broke Alkosh something fierce, and that's not easy. Just don't think you solved what you accomplished by it, or can ever solve it. You did it again with Big Walker, not once, but twice! Once at Rimmen, which we'll never learn to live with. The second time it was in Daggerfall, or was it Sentinel, or was it Wayrest, or was it in all three places at once? Get me, Cyrodiil? When will you wake up and realize what really happened to the Dwarves?
This reference to the Dwarves probably means that they became Big Walker. But the question is: why would this Khajiit care? That Numidium is the final outcome of Dwemereth is trivia. Yeah, it stomped Rimmen something fierce, but why ask about the Dwarves?
Rimmen, then Daggerfall, was the Cyro-Nordic conquest of the Khajiiti fold-reality. He’s suggesting here a mythic consequence to this use of Numidium as it relates to Elsweyr’s place in Third Empire Tamriel. He’s also suggesting the 1000 year Dragon Break involved more than what simply Cyrodiil saw.
Finally, let’s review the account from a Dunmer perspective:
>Accounts of the Middle Dawn are the province of the Empire of Men, and proof of the deceit that call themselves the Aedra. Eight stars fell on Tamriel, one for each iniquity that Lorkhan made clear to the world. Veloth read these signs, and he told Boethiah, who confirmed them, and he told Mephala, who made wards against them, and he told Azura, who sent ALMSIVI to steer the True Folk clear of harm. Even the Four Corners of the House of Troubles rose to protect the periphery of your madness. We watched our borders and saw them shift like snakes, and saw you run around in it like the spirits of old, devoid of math, without your if-thens, succumbing to the Ever Now like slaves of the slim folly, stasis. Do not ask us where we were when the Dragon Broke, for, of all the world, only we truly know, and we might just show you how to break it again.
“Proof of the deceit that call themselves Aedra.” Eight Divines, eight stars that fell. This echoes what Aurbic Enigma 4: The Elden Tree says about the Ayleids manipulation of the Staff of Towers. Implying that this view of reality is the product of great magic. That the Divines are anything but.
“One for each iniquity that Lorkhan made clear to the world.” The Velothic perspective takes Lorkhan’s plan seriously. I can’t get into the esoteric mumbo-jumbo now, but what we’re seeing is that the speaker is acknowledging the Daedric interpretation of Mundus. Boethiah has a Lorkhanic, Padomaic, view of the point of it all. The Psijic endeavor. This is important, because the Velothi would have a stake in the fate of reality and what it reflects.
“Veloth read these signs.” Although we can’t get too literal with sequence of events, it can be appropriate to reference mythic hierarchical order of events. This passage is almost implying that the cosmic, timeless (sideways time), truth of the Middle Dawn is what specifically inspired Veloth. That this Dragon Break might be specifically influential to the Dunmer. The mythic order of events includes the rise of ALMSIVI. So it’s not that Veloth was inspired during the Middle Dawn, its that Veloth was fulfilled in the ALMSIVI in consequence to the Middle Dawn.
“Only we truly know, and we might just show you how to break it again.” The power of the Tribunal rests in the Heart of Lorkhan. This is obviously what is being referenced. Not that the Heart caused the Dragon Break, but that its power is commensurate to whatever did - if it’s not the case that the Heart caused the Dragon Break in Morrowind as parallel to what caused it elsewhere.
This leads us, finally, to the Battle of Red Mountain and the Red Moment.