The Whole History of Nirn Is The Story of Convention - Which Is Why The Elves Must Win

Thanks to /u/Padhome for inspiring me.

>From "The Heart of the World" >"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."

My interpretation of Nirn:

  1. Before Amaranth, there were 12 worlds, and out of these eventually was born Lorkhan. He proposed a plan, and the beings of that universe conspired to make Nirn.

  2. Auriel, even, believed the plan. He called for the beings to convene outside of time to create this world. We don't know exactly what Lorkhan's plan was. We know it represented something very different from how things worked at the time. We know it the gods bought into it. We know that many consider it to be a trick.

  3. They convened outside time so that the new world could take its course independent of them. Convention, then, is a ritual. It is the Tower. Lord/Thief/Mage. It's not Ada-Mantia, it's Aurbis. This ritual was Amaranth. This is how Anu's dream was born.

  4. There was never an actual Convention!! The history of Nirn is Convention. Convention is a myth, an allegory that describes what Nirn is. Within that story are a thousand variations. In one variation, everything is governed by story spinners, tales of great creatures, spirits bound up as trees and forces of nature. In another variation, the spirits build their own tower, their ambitions set on an earlier time. Some variations feature the presences of mischief makers, Daedric Lords touching spirits and making cats of them. But all these infinite variations are contained in the story of Convention itself. The are Convention itself.

5)Auriel saw in this multifaceted Nirn weak mortal spirits that could not endure it. This was Lorkhan's trick, in a way. This was Nirn collapsing and the end of the 12 worlds. He tried to hold it together. His echoes - the elves - in their collective story represent Auriel trying to fight or build or craft His way to a solution to this chaotic heat death of the universe caused by man.

6)But He lost Altmora to the men. In other words, the men fought their way outside of the influence of elves.

7)They chased elves to Old Ehlnofey - Tamriel - the men returned to vex the elves.

8)The men split the land into many, the provinces. They facilitated the Dance of Towers. Where the elves were trying to consolidate Nirn, man frustrated this tower-building effort. Tamriel became 8 and 1 provinces, 8 and 1 variations of the Convention story physically bound together.

9)All the while, as man marched across the land during the age of Myth, the ghost of Lorkhan - his impending presence - followed behind them.

  1. Finally, at the ends of the land, at the Heart itself, Lorkhan was to claim his heart. It was kept away from him in a fortress, the "City of the Strong Shield". Then: "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."

11)The elves of Resdayn, the Dwemer-as-Trinimac, stopped Lorkhan's advance. They removed his reclaimed heart from him, and then were betrayed.

  1. So, within Tamriel's own sordid history is the story of Convention. They are one and the same. Or, history is a subgradient of the myth of Convention.

EDIT: If you don't like the Dwemer/Trinimac theory, then substitute "Ayleids" for Dwemer. Only now Red Mountain is a variation, or gradient of the greater struggle of elf against man. Thus, it's the "Ayleids" who have yet to finish the story, as nu-hatta's little conspirators. Same difference.