Giant Roots in Nordic Culture

When the world was split, geography was broken into the east west dichotomy and the north south dichotomy. Latitudinal forces aligned with the temporal fields of history and prophecy, and longitudinal forces aligned with the mystical fields of fire and frost. Yokuda drifted into the mists of the distant past while Akavir ventured further into the rising sun of the coming times. Old Ehlnofey broke off to the south of Tamriel and Atmora drifted far off into the north.

Many records remain from the golden age of the Aldmer, who inscribed their knowledge in books and guarded them in libraries. The Giants had a different method of recording information, a great deal of which was unfortunately left behind during the abandonment of Atmora. Their nomadic lifestyle prevented books from becoming a reliable method of instructing generations to come, so they developed a rich painted language that utilized both pictograms and a simple alphabet.

The pictogram symbols usually depict animals, while the alphabet is composed mostly of interconnected circles and swirls, in sharp contrast to the harsh clawed alphabet of Draconic. The literate members of a tribe would write records, stories, poems, jokes, warnings, migration patterns, and insults on rocks, trees, mountain faces, and even each other and the mammoths of the tribe. Today, the script painted by the giants of Skyrim is a local language derived from the original Atmoran, but there are no living giants who would be able to read or decipher the ancient paintings of the Merethic Era or the early First Era.

Where Aldmeri myths from this time are strongly numerological, the Giant myths that have been preserved are much more strongly symbolical. It is from these myths that a large part of ancient Nordic zoolatry stems. Atmorans of this time worshipped a large pantheon of gods, but they had an especially a deep reverence for Kyne. The mythical marriage of Kyne to Shor was one of the reasons the Giants offered the Wandering Ehlnofey sanctuary after the Ehlnofey War.

Another aspect of Giant culture which is represented in Nordic society, even more so than zoolatry, is the culture of hospitality. In Skyrim, the guest-host contract is a sacred bond. Not even thousands of years of border skirmishes could get the Nords to abandon that virtue. When Dunmer passed in droves over the border, fleeing the catastrophes of Vvardenfell and the Arnesian War, the Nords opened their gates and offered them shelter and protection, regardless of their faith or political leanings. Today, the Jarls of Eastern Skyrim still uphold their oath of hospitality, in letter if not in spirit. The only people barred from the city are those known to habitually violate the Nordic guest-host contract (Khajiit.) The Windhelm mandate forcing Argonians to reside on the docks doesn't stem from Nordic prejudice, but rather incidents of violence between Argonian citizens and the Dunmer refugee population.

There is much to be learned from the gentle wanderers of Skyrim. Although I have no doubt that the race of Giants will persevere, the dark times we're living in have brought ruination to many of their camps and tribes. If we want to preserve their stories, and moreover bring them to the world of readers, we must act soon. Any relationship with a tribe of giants must be built up slowly, over a fair period of months. Gifts of painted cows and goats go a long way. If they seem threatened by you, back away immediately. They'll warm up to you and even protect you from wolves and bears if you act like a member of the tribe for a time.