The Proctor V: On Free Will

I'll restate a quote.

> "M'aiq's father was Qia'm, from a long line of Qia'ms. But M'aiq does not believe this. His father was a known liar."

As I explained in Part II, his "father," is a metaphor for the Amaranth of his home Dream. However, he has also stated:

> "M'aiq's father was also called M'aiq. As was M'aiq's father's father. At least, that's what his father said."

Very similar statements. One describes a line of "M'aiqs" and one a line of "Qia'ms." What's the difference? "Qia'm" is very obviously "M'aiq" backwards. That's how the M'aiq of the previous Dream would present himself to the M'aiq we know and love. "Qia'm" upholds the Lie in his Dream just like M'aiq does. Qia'm is the previous M'aiq under the guise of the Lie, and the line of Qia'm/M'aiq goes back infinitely.

But why would every Amaranth lie to his Dream like the previous? If I learned none of my reality was real, and the Godhead was deceiving me, I'd be rather unhappy, and do a better job of taking care of my own Dream. M'aiq keeps the Lie going, though, despite his fatherly and educational nature. I believe he does this because he must.

Consider a horror movie. The buxom female protagonist is about to open the dingy door within the run-down industrial complex. There is a crazed serial killer after her. She knows that behind the door will be one of two things:
-the killer, or -not the killer
She opens the door and is stabbed to death. To her, and you, the viewer, there was an equal chance between the two options, in a Schrödingers Cat sort of way. But, the killer was really behind the door. The chance of him being there was 100%, but seemed 50%.

Keeping with the film, our character was always going to die right there. That fact was locked in the moment the scene was filmed and DVDs were printed. But, nobody had any way of knowing that. She didn't know her fate, neither did the horny couple that died earlier, neither did the ragamuff who went missing, and neither did any of the viewers. As the film progressed, anything could happen around any turn, nobody has any idea of what lies ahead. However, it is a movie, the sequence of events has already been determined, the path is definite.

A dream is very similar. You're not in control of your actions, your unconscious thoughts are. You have every illusion of free will, when, in reality, everything is determined by your sleeping brain. The other guy in your dream has even less free will than you do, he's not even real.

Same thing with the Dream. We're all just figments of the Amaranths universe. None of us are real. Everything is a figment of Anu's unconscious will. There is no free will.

Now consider CHIM. You break free of the pattern and achieve total freedom from the Dream's boundaries. You're only limited by Love. CHIM was brought into possibility by Lorkhan by making mortals. Lorkhan also gave us Shezarrines, who have much to do with free will, as they are said to defy fate.

A movie is really just data. It can be stored on a tape, or on a disc, or purely digitally. Data can be analyzed and patterns can emerge. Jyggalag was able to do this with the Dream, he calculated every possible outcome for reality and took the path that was most beneficial to him. His library was able to predict the outcome of everything through sheer math. However, the Champion of Cyrodiil ruined everything for him. Dyus says to him:

> "You have the items. Contrary to all prediction. Once again, you defy the path set before you...You have defied the expected and accomplished something that denies all logic. I must contemplate the error in my calculations. "

The Champion changed fate. (S)he altered the code of reality. If Lorkhan gave us CHIM, he is the agent of free will, and bestows his liberation to his reincarnations, the Shezarrines.

The Shezarrines invade the data of reality and alter it. To the Dream, they are viruses. Their identities are often lost to history as the Dream's anti-viral defenses try to erase them, but they keep coming back. That is what makes Pelinal, the Demon, a Shezarrine. He's the most destructive virus, an unbound agent able to wreak havoc wherever he goes.

And it makes me wonder, since the Champion had free will, and was a reincarnation of Pelinal, could (s)he be an instance of the Demon? Oblivion did feature grand amounts of destruction, as the Champion slayed gods on a regular basis, moreso than the Nerevarine, who was supposed to be "the Godkiller."

Think about it.

Your free will is just another lie.