The Forbidden Theory's Conclusion: Dumalacath the Betrayed Part C
Red Mountain was not a mere internecine dispute in Resdayn. This event’s mythic origin was as the end of the Kalpa, with Shor reclaiming his Heart. This was meant to be the final battle.
The best way to interpret the varied accounts of this event, from a mythic perspective, is to imagine the Heart of Lorkhan as a football. It’s the key that ends this world and begins the next. As each team gains possession of it, all of history leading up to that point is slightly rewritten, and so the accounts differ because of who holds the football in the story. But, there are consistencies enough to determine the final consequences. And, many important clues come from accounts of Trinimac and Boethiah.
>The ancient Khajiit heard the great roar of Alkosh the Great Cat King of Time (ed: known as Akatosh in the Empire, and Alduin in Skyrim) and raced to his Voice. In three days' time they crossed the whole of Tamriel, resting not even for the moonsugar, for such was the speed of Khajiiti then. They joined with the pride of Alkosh and were his strongest warriors. Lorkhaj, (ed: Shor in the Nordic) however, chose to give his roar to the Ra'Wulfharth to spite the Khajiiti warriors, for he was jealous of their devotion to Alkosh. Seeing the ferocity of the Khajiiti warriors, Ra'Wulfharth could not bring himself to put them to death. Using the roar that Lorkhaj had given him, he spoke to Masser and Secunda, to move to their fullness in the sky. The Khajiiti warriors became Senche, but Lorkhaj stripped from them all reason.
This account refers to the First Battle of Red Mountain, when the armies of the Nordic first Empire are expanding (thanks to their Thu’um) without halt into Morrowind. The lose to the combined forces of Dwemer and Chimer.
Note that the Khajiit take the side of the elves in response to Akatosh’s call. And it is Lorkhan with the Nords opposing. This is no mere contest for Empire, this is a mythic event.
Imagine this is the beginning of the great battle at the end of time, that Lorkhan is fighting for his Heart, and once he gets it the host in Sovngarde will come and join the fight. Then, Alduin (who is Akatosh) will come and eat all the world and all their souls, until he ‘bites’ Lorkhan’s Heart. Lorkhan will be separated from his heart anew, and thus begins the new Kalpa. The ending battle is the same battle as Convention.
Now, consider this tale of Convention, but imagine it’s describing this ‘ending’ battle:
>Auriel could not save Altmora, the Elder Wood, and it was lost to Men. They were chased south and east to Old Ehlnofey, and Lorkhan was close behind. He shattered that land into many. Finally Trinimac, Auriel's greatest knight, knocked Lorkhan down in front of his army and reached in with more than hands to take his Heart. He was undone. The Men dragged Lorkhan's body away and swore blood vengeance on the heirs of Auriel for all time. But when Trinimac and Auriel tried to destroy the Heart of Lorkhan it laughed at them. It said, "This Heart is the heart of the world, for one was made to satisfy the other." So Auriel fastened the thing to an arrow and let it fly long into the sea, where no aspect of the new world may ever find it.
-The Monomyth
Remember Skyrim as the ‘middle’ in the flow of time (natural time without elf towers)? Atmora is the past. Auriel won at Convention, but men fought back and have conquered all the way up to the end, Mythically Geographically in the East, in Morrowind.
Lorkhan is behind the ranks of this vanguard of men (in other words, he’ll show up a little in the future). The men are about to take Resdayn, and reclaim Lorkhan’s heart. Remember, this is the end of time, not the beginning. So, how does it end? At the very end, Trinimac takes Lorkhan’s heart with “more than his hands” (in Shor Son of Shor, Shor removes his heart in a way that’s described with language that is similar to the names of Kagrenac’s tools).
He and Auri-El discover they can’t destroy the heart, it’s “the heart of the world”, so they cast it into the future, the next kalpa, and here we have a new beginning.
The reason why the Heart is the “heart of the world” is because of what I discussed in Part II. The Kalpas must happen, the impulse of stasis chasing change is what emerged from the First Creation. You can’t simply end the cycle. That’s what’s discovered by the Gods. So they, having defeated Shor, simply start the cycle again.
Back before history was made ‘normal’ by all the mythic events leading into the Third Era, this First Empire of Nords was a mythic reflection of the age-old Kalpic pattern.
An important player in these events is Ysmir Wulfharth, a Nordic King and Hero who is aligned with the old way and eschewed the Alessian influence. The document The Five Songs of King Wulfharth describes his life.
I propose that Wulfharth is simply Ysmir - the wandering spirit of Shor sundered from his heart. Ysmir wanders, fighting battles and founding kingdoms, only to discover he can’t find his heart, so he leaves to wander on. Shor is what Ysmir becomes once he has his heart, or the ghost anticipating his heart. Thus, Ysmir can talk to Shor, because obtaining the Heart makes Ysmir a different being. That different being can project backwards in time, and forward, because Gods are eternal. So, even if Ysmir becomes Shor, he can still talk to Shor-who-will-be as a different persona in the present. This sequence of events will not occur in real-time, but in mythic hierarchy. In other words, with each pass of the football, and each pass represents a new past, present, and future.
In one Song of Wulfharth, the following occurs:
>The second song of King Wulfharth glorifies his deeds in the eyes of the Old Gods. He fights the eastern Orcs and shouts their chief into Hell.
Although Orcs are known, in contemporary times, to live in the Wrothgarian Mountains, there are also important clans living in the Velothi Mountains. These are the ones which trouble the Nords most according to this account. Interestingly, the Hammerfell Orcs trouble the Redguards, and are in fact to their East. Wulfharth sends the Velothi Orc Chief to Hell.
>The third song of King Wulfharth tells of his death. Orkey, an enemy god, had always tried to ruin the Nords, even in Atmora where he stole their years away. Seeing the strength of King Wulfharth, Orkey summoned the ghost of Alduin Time-Eater again. Nearly every Nord was eaten down to six years old. Boy Wulfharth pleaded to Shor, the dead Chieftain of the Gods, to help his people. Shor's own ghost then fought the Time-Eater on the spirit plane, as he did at the beginning of time, and he won, and Orkey's folk, the Orcs, were ruined. As Boy Wulfharth watched the battle in the sky he learned a new thu'um, What Happens When You Shake the Dragon Just So. He used this new magic to change his people back to normal. In his haste to save so many, though, he shook too many years out on himself. He grew older than the Greybeards, and died. The flames of his pyre were said to have reached the hearth of Kyne itself.
Now we see the mythic events. Let us take a pause and discuss Orkey. In Part I we connected Orkey to Arkay, Xarxes, and Tu’whacca. Orkey is connected here to Atmoran mythic Orkey, who holds mastery over life and death. Although Varieties of Faith claims Orkey to be related to both Mauloch and Arkay, here we assume for mythic purposes that we’re talking about Arkay. We’ll, for now, treat the talk of Orcs as an oversight.
Arkay is Xarxes, or what Xarxes probably becomes with the introduction of mortality.
Xarxes is the scribe, the master of the scroll that is Ada-Mantia. He is the master of tones, taking divine records in the language of the Gods: world-music. This is a song out of which material existence itself is crafted. It is the song of Ada-Mantia that shapes reality. White-Gold tower ‘plucks the strings’ of Mundus to shape its outcome. Reality, matter, history, narrative, theme, story are all the same substance to the Gods. Thus, Xarxes is a tonal architect.
Could he be the ancestor of the Dwemer? Could they have learned from him a mastery of tones, and with this magic persisted beyond Ada-Mantia unto the end of time? Could their quest for knowledge and scientific understand in a mortal capacity be a mythic echo of Xarxes’ divine search for knowledge? It isn’t to say the Dwemer worship him as a God-Ancestor. It’s saying that they share mythic substance. After all, the Dwemer had to be created somehow. As elves, they had to be descended from somebody.
So, let’s call the Dwemer the descendants of Xarxes, thus Arkay, thus Orkey. People of Xarxes = Xarxians = Arkians = Orkeans = Orcs. These are the Velothi Mountain Elves. Xarxes is not a bland scholar. He is a craftsman, his craft is tonal architecture. Xarxes = Xen = Zenithar = Tsun. Xarxes is Auri-El’s shield-thane and craftsman, like Tsun is to Shor. The scribe thing is just misdirection. In just a bit, I’ll explain why the “Arkay” phenomenon emphasizes the scribe aspect, and what the heck “Trinimac” is. Just remember that Xarxes became Arkay, and was something else originally. The shopkeep story shows an obsession with knowledge that brings about ruin. Perhaps Xarxes’ wife “Oghma” was the temptation of Hermaeus Mora. Perhaps the shopkeeper allegory describes the ruin of the Dwemer who were tempted by knowledge. The history of the Dwemer unto the end of time is told by this shopkeeper tale, mythically echoing the personality of Xarxes.
Thus, at some point the Xarxians became Arkay, and Xen becomes Trinimac. This is the transformation we’re searching for.
Because the Wulfharth story talks about Orcs and Dwarves at the same time, we can call the Orcs the traditional Dwemer. The “Dwarves” of the story are those of the Freeholds who came into possession of the Heart of Lorkhan and through it achieved immortality and god-like power (as described in the Ashlander account). We have reason to believe the Dwemer were divided in their opinion of how or whether to use the Heart.
If some Dwemer (Xarks/Orcs) chose not to take the risk of using the Heart’s power, they would be differentiated from the set that did prior to the Battle of Red Mountain.
So the Orcs are the Xarxian Elves, and the Dwemer of Vvardenfell used the power of the Heart to become Trinimac much the same way that the Tribunal changed. The Dwemer craft was more advanced, and more subtle. They drew power deliberately, and the whole race became immortal. This explains their vast and mysterious power, their telepathic abilities, and so forth.
Imagine now Wulfharth fighting not orcs, but Velothi Dwarves at Red Mountain! This is the battle at the end of time. The Dwarves summon Alduin (Alkhosh who summoned the Khajiit and Dro’Zira) to eat the Nords, because the Dwarves will simply fold to Aetherius to avoid Alduin - like always. And, this is described as an act of desperation.
In response, the ghost of Shor shows up and fights back, and Alduin is defeated. This ruins the Dwarves. If Alduin is defeated, this represents a contradiction of the cosmic order. This is enough to qualify as a dragon break. The dragon is broken because the cosmic order is being literally broken. Next, we pass the mythic football.
>The fourth song of King Wulfharth tells of his rebirth. The Dwarves and Devils of the eastern kingdoms had started to fight again, and the Nords hoped they might reclaim their ancient holdings there because of it. They planned an attack, but then gave up, knowing that they had no strong King to lead them. Then in walked the Devil of Dagoth, who swore he came in peace. Moreover, he told the Nords a wondrous thing: he knew where the Heart of Shor was! Long ago the Chief of the Gods had been killed by Elven giants, and they ripped out Shor's Heart and used it as a standard to strike fear into the Nords. This worked until Ysgramor Shouted Some Sense and the Nords fought back again. Knowing that they were going to lose eventually, the Elven giants hid the Heart of Shor so that the Nords might never have their God back. But here was the Devil of Dagoth with good news! The Dwarves and Devils of the eastern kingdom had his Heart, and this was the reason for their recent unrest. The Nords asked the Devil of Dagoth why he might betray his countrymer so, and he said that the Devils have betrayed each other since the beginning of time, and this was so, and so the Nords believed him. The Tongues sung Shor's ghost into the world again. Shor gathered an army as he did of old, and then he sucked in the long-strewn ashes of King Wulfharth and remade him, for he needed a good general. But the Devil of Dagoth petitioned to be that general, too, and he pointed out his role as the blessed harbinger of this holy war. So Shor had two generals, the Ash King and the Devil of Dagoth, and he marched on the eastern kingdoms with all the sons of Skyrim.
Now Shor has showed up in person for the final battle. He’s not in hot pursuit, not in the Spirit plane, but instead he’s right there baby for the big one. And now we have specifics on what really happened with Dagoth and the Chimer.
Why is Dagoth allied with the Nords? Remember the more conventional accounts have Dwarves, Nords, Orcs, and Dagoth on one side. Nerevar, the Houses, and the Ashlanders are on the other side. Dagoth claims that the Tribunal secretly wants to betray the Dwarves, and are purposefully letting the Nords wreck the Dwarves. Here’s the problem: the traditional account is Dwarves vs. Dunmer. The Nords and Orcs are just thrown in on the Dwemer side as mercenaries. This account is Nords and Orcs vs. Dwemer and Chimer. That is a significantly different telling.
>The fifth song of King Wulfharth is sad. The survivors of the disaster came back under a red sky. That year is called Sun's Death. The Devil of Dagoth had tricked the Nords, for the Heart of Shor was not in the eastern kingdoms, and had never been there at all. As soon as Shor's army had got to Red Mountain, all the Devils and Dwarves fell upon them. Their sorcerers lifted the mountain and threw it onto Shor, trapping him underneath Red Mountain until the end of time. They slaughtered the sons of Skyrim, but not before King Wulfharth killed King Dumalacath the Dwarf-Orc, and doomed his people. Then Vehk the Devil blasted the Ash King into Hell and it was over.
Here the “Sun’s Death” phenomenon, discussed in a couple places in the lore, is referenced. The events of Red Mountain led to an eruption whose ash clouds blocked the Sun for a year. This is also called the “Year of Winter in Summer”.
In this account, Shor doesn’t get his heart. It’s somewhere else. How can that be, since the Heart is a hole through which time forwardly flows into Oblivion? The Heart needs to keep going into the next Kalpas. But what if the Heart reverses course? What if it begins traveling in reverse, and the helical cycle of Kalpas begins to be undone - uncreated.
In this account, Dumac is strangely called Dumalacath, and furthermore “Dwarf-Orc”.
This isn’t the only place in the lore where this occurs.
>When Ra'Wulfharth returned to sink his fangs into the Red Mountain, he called upon his people to aid him. Dro'Zira was the only among the "Rhojiit" who still remembered, and so was the only one who answered the summons. But these Nord bards are (expletive removed) and do not sing of how the great Ash King rode Dro'Zira up the Red Mountain itself to strike at the heart of the Dunmer. Never is it mentioned how Dro'Zira pounced atop Dumalacath, the Dwarf-Orc, when he had his blade to the throat of the Ash King so that he could not speak.
-Tale of Dro’Zira
Why is this done?
Malacath is the Orc-God that was borne of Trinimac being eaten and transformed by Boethiah. We now can accept that this didn’t necessarily happen in Alinor. But where did it happen?
Let’s review the story.
>Know Mauloch, spurned of Boethiah and King of Curses. An age ago, a cult of Elves left the Summerset Isles, abandoning their kin to follow Veloth, a pathetic tool of Boethiah. Trinimac confronted Boethiah for this trespass and was challenged to battle. Trinimac was about to strike a mighty blow when Mephala appeared and stabbed him in the back. As Trinimac kneeled, wounded by Mephala's treachery, Boethiah gloated and cast a terrible ritual to scar and twist his appearance, then cast him to a place of choking air and ash. Trinimac, enraged by his failure, was reborn in blood as he sliced open his own chest, tearing the shame from his spirit. Mauloch, the God of Curses, rose from the ash and cursed Boethiah for his malice.
Boethiah is the God of the Chimer, so Trinimac was confronting the Chimer religion. This is the schism previously discussed. Trinimac had the Chimer routed, until Mephala stabbed him in the back. Boethiah didn’t eat him in this version, but cast a ritual, and sent him to a place of ash. Trinimac tore the shame from his spirit, himself.
Malacath is the Daedric Lord of the Spurned, and his realm is the Ashpit. But he is also the God-Chief Mauloch of the Orcs. Varieties of Faith says the following:
>Mauloch (Malacath): An Orcish god, Mauloch troubled the heirs of King Harald for a long time. Fled east after his defeat at the Battle of Dragon Wall, ca. 1E660. His rage was said to fill the sky with his sulphurous hatred, later called the "Year of Winter in Summer".
In the years prior to the Battle of Red Mountain, Mauloch is fighting the Nords. It is Mauloch’s rage that is association with the “Year of Winter in Summer” or “Sun’s Death”. Why would Mauloch be so essential to the Battle of Red Mountain?
If Malacath/Mauloch is the same person as Dumac/Dumalacath, and the Battle of Red Mountain is his betrayal in ash and fire, this connection makes perfect sense.
That, however, would make Dumac and the Dwarves associated with Trinimac - yet again. And, what of Numidium?
>And Lorkhan (for that is what they called Shor in Resdayn) said: “I do not wreak vengeance on the Dwarves for the reasons that the Tribunal might believe I do. Nevertheless, it is true that they will die by my hand, and any whoever should side with them. This Nerevar is the son of Boethiah, one of the strongest Padomaics. He is a hero to his people despite his Tribunal, and he shall muster enough that this battle will be harder going still. We will need more than what we have.” And so Dagoth-Ur, who wanted the Dwarves as dead as the Tribunal did, went to Kogoran and summoned his House chap'thil, his nix-hounds, his wizards, archers, his stolen men of brass. And the Ash King, Wulfharth, hoary Ysmir, went and made peace with the Orcs in spite of his Nordic blood, and they brought many warriors but no wizards at all. Many Nords could not bring themselves to ally with their traditional enemies, even in the face of Red Mountain. They were close to desertion. Then Wulfharth said: “Don't you see where you really are? Don't you know who Shor really is? Don't you know what this war is?” And they looked from the King to the God to the Devils and Orcs, and some knew, really knew, and they are the ones that stayed.
-Songs of Wulfharth (secret song)
Nerevar is called Boethiah by Lorkhan. Dagoth-Ur’s motive is the defeat of the Dwarves. Why does the Tribunal want them dead? Going back to the conventional account: they are building a New God. The non-immortal, non-Heart-using Dwemer (Orcs) ally with the Nords to stop their powerful brethren.
This casts new light on Dagoth-Ur’s words to the Nerevarine:
>Yet beneath Red Mountain, you struck me down as I guarded the treasure you bound me by oath to defend. It was a cruel blow, a bitter betrayal, to be felled by your hand. But, remembering our old friendship, I would forgive you, and raise you high in my service. The Sixth House was not dead, but only sleeping. Now we wake from our long dream, coming forth to free Morrowind of foreign rulers and divine pretenders. When the land is swept clean of false friends and greedy thieves, the children of Veloth will build anew a garden of plenty in this blighted wasteland.
In none of the conventional accounts does Nerevar strike down Dagoth-Ur. Dagoth advises against using the tools of Kagrenac, though the Tribunal accuses him of doing so in the end. One would think Dagoth is talking about the tools when he discusses the “treasure”. But, hear the final Song of Wulfharth:
>Nerevar carried Keening, a dagger made of the sound of the shadow of the moons. His champions were Dumac Dwarfking, who carried a hammer of divine mass, and Alandro Sul, who was the immortal son of Azura and wore the Wraith Mail. They met Lorkhan at the last battle of Red Mountain. Lorkhan had his Heart again, but he had long been from it, and he needed time. Wulfharth met Sul but could not strike him, and he fell from grievous wounds, but not before shouting Sul blind. Dagoth-Ur met Dumac and slew him, but not before Sunder struck his lord's Heart. Nerevar turned away from Lorkhan and struck down Dagoth-Ur in rage, but he took a mortal wound from Lorkhan in turn. But Nerevar feigned the death that was coming early and so struck Lorkhan with surprise on his side. The Heart had been made solid by Sunder's tuning blow and Keening could now cut it out. And it was cut out and Lorkhan was defeated and the whole ordeal was thought over.
Finally, in this account Nerevar strikes down Dagoth-Ur. It is the only one, and Dagoth references it to the Nerevarine centuries later. That gives it great credibility. But let’s reexamine the “treasure” he speaks of.
Dagoth tells Lorkhan that the Tribunal sent him to help them so the Dwarves could be defeated. Yet, Nerevar fights alongside Dumac in this “true” account. What treasure did Dagoth swear to Nerevar to protect? He says it right in his letter. “The children of Veloth will build anew a garden of plenty” The treasure is the religion of the Chimer, their spiritual commitment which is their point of contention with the Dwemer - the way of Veloth and the Tri-Angled Truth. That’s why, after allying with Lorkhan to defeat the dwarves, Dagoth believes he is serving his oath to Nerevar, and feels betrayed when he is opposed by him later.
Lorkhan, Wulfharth, and Dagoth meet with Nerevar, Dumac, and Alandro Sul in the mountain. Lorkhan has his heart, and his opponents possess the tools to remove it.
Trinimac.
Trinimac means ‘son of three’. In this case the three are the tools of Kagrenac. Trinimac removing Lorkhan’s Heart at convention is a mythic allegory for Xarxes stealing Lorkhan’s Heart with these divine tools to become Trinimac. These three, in the story, are mythically equivalent to Trinimac, and their act of defeating Lorkhan would begin a new Kalpa. But Trinimac is betrayed.
Nerevar is called Boethiah by Lorkhan, Sul is Azura, who is Mephala? Vehk of course.
>Of all the et'Ada who wandered Nirn, Trinimac was the strongest. He, for a very long time, fooled the Aldmeri into thinking that tears were the best response to the Sundering. They cried and shamed our ancestors, especially the feminine Altmer. They even took the Missing God's name in vain, calling His narratives into question. So one day Boethiah, Prince of Plots, precocious youth, tricked Trinimac to go into his mouth. Boethiah talked like Trinimac for awhile then, and gathered enough people to listen to him. Boethiah showed them the lies of the et'Ada, the Aedra, and told them Trinimac was the biggest liar of all, saying all this with Trinimac's voice! Boethiah told the mass before him the Tri-Angled Truth. He showed them, with Mephala, the rules of Psijic Endeavor. He taught them how to build Houses, and what items they needed to bury in the Corners. He demonstrated the right way to wear their skin. He performed the way to walk to achieve an Exodus. Then Boethiah relieved himself of Trinimac right there on the ground before them to prove all the things he said were the truth. It was easy then for his new people to become the Changed Ones.
>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.
Boethiah tricks Trinimac to go into his mouth, and in the other account swallows him and speaks with his own voice.
Trinimac says the right response to the ‘sundering’ is ‘tears’. That is, the self-refraction of Aldmeris. Altmer are lamented especially. Trinimac speaks against Lorkhan? How? Lorkhan has the plan of mortality. Of retrieving his heart. Of advancing history. Opposing that would mean the reverse. Unmaking history, undoing mortality. Uncreating creation. This is Trinimac.
Why did Nerevar contend with his friend Dumac? NUMIDIUM. The Children of Xarxes were using the Heart of Lorkhan to become immortal and god-like Dwemer. There were Children of Xarxes who opposed this practice. Dumac was not among them. But, Kagrenac betrayed Dumac by pursuing Numidium in secret. Azura told Nerevar of this, and that’s why he contended against Dumac.
The Dwemer were powerful immortal beings, now the children of Trinimac. They should have let the Nords defeat the Chimer, then let Alduin eat the world, fold to Aetherius, then return in the next Kalpa. But in different outcomes to the Dragon Break, these plans are frustrated.
When Dumac joins Nerevar to oppose Lorkhan, this is Trinimac eaten by Boethiah. And it is Mephala - Vehk - who finally stabs him in the back by using (presumably with Nerevar and Dagoth) Kagrenac’s tools to remove the Dwemer from their power. However, they don’t simply turn to dust, but have a curse placed upon them. They become Orsimer, and Dumalacath - betrayed by Dagoth, Nerevar, Kagrenac, the Tribunal, Lorkhan, Alduin, everyone really - is tormented in a realm comprised of the pure powerful choking ash of Red Mountain.
This is the origin of the Orcs.
What is speculated to have happened with Numidium?
>Xal, a Human Maruhkati, Port Telvanis: Ah. I will tell you the truth, because you will believe none of it. The Brass God is Anumidum, the Prime Gestalt. He is also called the divine skin. He was meant to be used many times by our kind to transcend the Gray Maybe. The first to see him was the Shop Foremer, Kagrenac of Vvardenfell, the wisest of the tonal architects [Mechanists - MN] Do not think as others do that Kagrenac created the Anumidum for petty motivations, such as a refutation of the gods. Kagrenac was devoted to his people, and the Dwarves, despite what you may have read, were a pious lot-he would not have sacrificed so many of their golden souls to create Anumidum's metal body if it were all in the name of grand theater. Kagrenac had even built the tools needed to construct a Mantella, the Crux of Transcendence. But, by then, and for a long time coming, the Doom of the Dwarves marched upon the Mountain and they were removed from this world.
First, here is the perspective of a Maruhkati. The people who seemed to have caused the Dragon Break. Second, the Maruhkati believe in One God. Third, he speaks favorably of Anumidium, as if he shares the reverence of the Dwemer for it. Fourth, he speaks of Numidium as a God that Kagrenac discovered, rather than created. This makes sense.
Even with the Tribunal, all Gods are eternal. They wander in and out of different realities. Gods don’t die, they simply leave the current reality, but then can also come back.
Next, Xal calls the Dwemer pious. They may not have worshipped Aedra or Daedra, but they had a God. Numidium. Xal’s perspective indicates that the Maruhkati shared a religious perspective with the Dwarves. That they sought the same thing, and that thing is Numidium. Thus, the Dragon Break would as much be a result of the Red Moment as the Dance upon the Tower. These events are mythically connected. The transition from creation, to Dawn, to multiple realities, to ending the Kalpic cycle and breaking the dragon, to unified Tamriel, the Third Empire, and the fate of the universe (to include the Tower conspiracy) goes through whatever happened to the Dwarves.
At the Battle of Red Mountain, the next Kalpa was supposed to begin, but instead the Dragon Broke, Alduin was defeated, then Shor. The People of Xarxes used the Heart of Lorkhan to become god-like. They spoke out against the heresy of the Chimer who followed Lorkhan’s plan. The Dwemer opposed Lorkhan’s plan, and began seeking a destiny which would be also sought by the Maruhkati. They wanted to reverse the flow of creation, to undo it. This culminated in the creation of Numidium. Xarxes becomes Trinimac. Trinimac is the Dwemer. Trinimac is Numdium. His path of conquest, once he is liberated from the world, will go backwards in time, defeating Shor and undoing creation.
Because of the Dragon Break, there are multiple outcomes. In one outcome, the Tribunal (Boethiah) curses Dumac and the Dwarves and they turn into modern Orcs. In another outcome, Kagrenac actives his Mantella and the Dwarves become Numidium. All outcomes are valid, and interplay.
In Shor Son of Shor, Shor always removes his own heart as a consequence of being defeated by Auri-El. Trinimac removing the heart is unusual. It represent a reversal of the cycle, because it first happens at Red Mountain, but then later occurs at the beginning of Nirn. It’s Numidium standing before the Kalpic cycle and shouting, “stop!”
As for Arkay, this interesting thread discusses the Persian God Mithras, to which Michael Kirkbride compared Trinimac:
http://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/2aqx55/identifying_trinimac_a_theory/
>He was supposed to bring worthy people back to life after the universe ended.
>As is the case in any number of nature-based religions, the god of the sun tends to be identified with the cycles of life, death, and rebirth. As such, Mithra was believed to rise in the morning, live through the day (traveling across the sky), die at twilight, and return to life at dawn in an endless cycle of birth, service, death, and resurrection.
This latter description sounds like Arkay. Mithras also promotes order, preserving these cycles integral to life.
Mythically, Xarxes was a scribe. He records the narratives which occur in the universe. Like in the shopkeeper Arkay parable, Xarxes becomes obsessed with knowledge. He realizes and resents the futility of his own existence.
This is a philosophical concept called existential depression: >Death is an inevitable occurrence. Freedom, in an existential sense, refers to the absence of external structure. That is, humans do not enter a world which is inherently structured. We must give the world a structure which we ourselves create. Isolation recognizes that no matter how close we become to another person, a gap always remains, and we are nonetheless alone. Meaninglessness stems from the first three. If we must die, if we construct our own world, and if each of us is ultimately alone, then what meaning does life have?
- See more at: http://theunboundedspirit.com/existential-depression-in-gifted-children/#sthash.dxjs47CG.dpuf
By coming to a fullness of knowledge on the meaning of death, by staring too deeply into the void, Xarxes himself dies. He uncreates himself. Mara, responsible for the union between narratives and worlds, grants Xarxes a power relating to his new understanding of things. He no longer exists as Xarxes with a will of his own, but has become Arkay. He overseas the cycles of existence in all worlds, recording mortal acts for the end of the universe. He is the hidden scribe who writes the Elder Scrolls themselves.
As King of the Dwemer, Dumac upheld the highest values associated with Trinimac. The Dwemer had ultimate knowledge, immortality, and their society was ruled by logic, order, and science. They rejected the chaos, upheaval, and mysterious uncertainty of the Padomaic endeavors. Their ultimate goal would be realized in Numidium, who would ‘exile’ the followers of Boethiah and the Lorkhanic ideal from existence.
The Dwemer defeated the expanse of the Nordic First Empire. Finally, the hosts of men were driven back at the end of time. Trinimac is Auri-El’s strong knight. The Dwarves are upholding the Anuaic order, and fighting back successfully against the Padomaics, starting at the end of time.
As for the Orcs:
>Boethiah is the Anticipation of Almalexia but male to her female. Boethiah was the ancestor who illuminated the elves ages ago before the Mythic Era. He told them the truth of Lorkhan's test, and defeated Auriel's champion, Trinimac. Boethiah ate Trinimac and voided him. The followers of Boethiah and Trinimac rubbed the soil of Trinimac upon themselves and changed their skins.
The changing of Dunmer skin is explicitly associated twice with the transformation of Trinimac. This changing of skin is also linked explicitly with Red Mountain. It’s also mentioned in the exact same setting as the transformation of the skin of Trinimac’s followers. The two events could not be more explicitly linked: Orcs and Dunmer were born of Red Mountain, of Trinimac and Boethiah.
Xarxes became Trinimac when the Dwemer used Kagrenac’s tools upon the Heart of Lorkhan. He was once a mere craftsman and scribe. He became a crafter of fate, and universal intermediary. If Alduin ate the world, the Dwemer would fold into the new one, and become the keepers of who came with them.
Instead, they created Numidium. When the multiple outcomes sundered Trinimac from his divine power derived from the Heart of Lorkhan, he became Malacath. The splintered part of him responsible for life’s cycle was left orphaned, and that is Arkay. And Numidium exists to accomplish his mission of anti-creation.
The Ayleids split the Staff of Towers into Eight Segments, to protect Nirn from the Alessians who conquered Cyrodiil. Later Alessians, the Maruhkati, sought One God, the Prime Gestalt.
I propose that the Maruhk and Kagrenac are mythic cousins. That Numidium was the goal of both. The Maruhkati didn’t want to fix Akatosh, they wanted to unbind him. The other story is propaganda.
The splitting of Tamriel into Eight Segments and One by the White-Gold Knights prevented uncreation. The Ayleids worshipped Daedra. The Chimer worshipped Daedra. The Tribunal stopped the Dwemer, and cursed them, and Numidium would only return later.
These are mythic parallels. Red Mountain is the Dragon Break of the natural cycle, and the Dance of Towers is the Dragon Break of the Tower-Elf cycle. But, it is ultimately the same.
It is true, not all of this is perfectly understood. There are things we explicitly don’t know. But, a couple of things are now beyond dispute. The Altmer are lying, feminine, losers. The Trinimac and Boethiah stories describe the events of Red Mountain. There’s more to the Dwarves than we ever imagined, the Chimer too. Whatever the truth about Numidium is, his role transcends both Red Mountain, and the kalpic cycle itself.
If you flat out disagree with this theory, fine. But please don’t levy pointless counterarguments such as saying the Chimer came from Summerset, or the Dwarves were ‘atheists’ and there for cannot be mentioned even in the same paragraph with any divine being. That totally misses the point, and proves that you don’t get it, and you’re living in your own little banal box which is worse even than what the Altmer are trying to do.
And, at this point, if you think the theory is uninteresting - well, I mean, what is then?