The All-Maker, Skaal, & Tinfoil Theories (wall of text warning)

Disclaimer: I'm sure this has been discussed before, apologies. Also, this was typed late at night and the theories get crazier as you go.

So I was wondering about the Skaal yesterday after re-reading The Story of Aevar Stone-Singer, particularly their unique worship. As far as I know, they're the only culture that worships in a monotheistic faith.

However, most Tamriellic religions worship various aspects/iterations of the same Et'Ada we've come to know. For example, Shor is the Nordic aspect of Lorkhan, Sep is a Yokudan aspect of Lorkhan. Kyne = Kynarenth, Stuhn = Stendarr, Orkey = Malacath, ect.

I remember a couple years back asking myself: if we assume this to be the same for the Skaal, then what deity is the All-Maker? Then, after learning about Amaranth, I wondered: surely the Skaal either worshiped Anu as the Dreamer or the Godhead itself, right? Nowadays, I feel like these are entirely the wrong questions to be asking. I feel personally that the religion of the Skaal is actually one of the clearest (or perhaps just most straightforward) religious displays of the Padomaic/Anuic interplay of the Grey Maybe, although vastly simplified and glossed over. The Skaal faith is one of the few (perhaps the only, I'm not sure) religions that includes or describes subgradiency/various aspects of deities within their religion. Also, knowing what we know, the Skaal seem to be more focused on the concepts of Padmomaic and Anuic forces rather than the deities themselves. Yes, they have deities, but they don't seem to be too worried about classifying those deities into clear-cut definable figures. To them, it's more about a force that personifies itself in various ways.

>The Adversary has many aspects. He appears in the unholy beasts and the incurable plague. At the End of Seasons, we will know him as Thartaag the World-Devourer. But in these ages he came to be known as the Greedy Man.

Obviously here defining "who" the Adversary is isn't really of great importance to the Skaal. All that matters is that he's everything that's bad and can appear however he wants to. Whether it be through "unholy beasts" (could apply to several of the Deadric Princes), "incurable plague" (Peryite?), or "At the End of Seasons, we will know him as Thartaag the World-Devourer." (obviously Alduin at the end of the kalpic cycle). They are all the Adversary, the Adversary is all of them.

Then there's the Greedy Man, another aspect of the Adversary, which you might be able to argue that he could be Lorkhan. But to me it seems to more likely be a display of mantling.

>The Greedy Man (that is what we call him, for to speak his name would certainly bring ruin on the people) lived among the Skaal for many months. Perhaps he was once just a man, but when the Adversary entered into him, he became the Greedy Man, and that is how he is remembered.

I would say personally that the All-Maker is representative of Anuic forces and the Adversary is representative of Padomaic forces. The adversary, whether it be through Alduin or the Deadric Princes seems to be a force of change, shaking up the world of the Skaal and upsetting the pristine unchanging balance with nature and the land that the Skaal had achieved. I find it a bit harder to argue for the All-Maker as Anuic forces mainly because I find it hard to argue for most anything that is Anuic. The Dream is Anu's yet it's not exactly the most static thing. However, this is the Grey Maybe where even the most Anuic things have even the slightest touch of the Padomaic in them, and vice versa. The All-Maker represents Anuic forces in the terms of balance with the land for the Skaal.

I even went as far as to look for an enantiomorphic Event in the story, but I found it a bit troublesome to find one. You could maybe argue that The Adversary is the King with Aevar being the Rebel and the All-Maker as the Observer, except Aevar doesn't really take the place of the King and the Observer isn't wounded. What I think is an easier argument for an Event is that The All-Maker is the King, The Adversary is the Rebel and the Skaal are the Observers, as the Adversary is rebelling against the All-Maker at the expense of the well-being of the Skaal as they watch this all unfolds.

What then makes this interpretation interesting is the the Aevar's main goal is essentially un-doing the Event by going around to all the Standing Stones (anon Towers) to reactivate them to restore and uphold the world of the Skaal, and by extension their well-being. One of the stones in particular even requires him listening to the Earth Song (Aurbis as music theory) and bang on the rocks in perfect rhythm to amplify it until the Song fills the cave and his heart (tonal architecture?)

I also find it interesting how the story stresses Aevar's insignificance.

>"I am Aevar of the Skaal," said Aevar. "I am not warrior, shaman, or elder. If I do not return, I will not be missed. But I have returned the Oceans and the Earth, the Trees, the Beasts, and the Sun, and I will return the Winds to my people, that we may feel the spirit of the All-Maker in our souls again."

He is not a warrior, shaman, or elder, terms that are also brought up eariler in the story. These could be the Skaal concepts for Warrior, Mage, Thief or King, Rebel, Prisoner. It seems to me that the story goes out of the way to show that Aevar is not one of the usual enantiomorphic figureheads, but rather an unassuming servant trying to return wellbeing by reactivating the stones to bring stability to the land. This brings up the question, is Aevar the Hero of the story? Can he be a Hero without being part of the enantiomorph? Without a Hero there is no Event (or enantiomorph).

Which makes the Skaal religion ultimately the most man-aligned religion in Tamriel. Because Events are the breaking of stasis and inviting of change. Change is not good for mankind because it ultimately ends in Landfall as Events tends to have the nasty habit of deactivating Towers and generally unravelling reality which favors the goals of the mer much more than those of men. The Skaal mythology leans on the opposite, the hope that change can be subverted and undone through the meek and unassuming, and that the original stable and static way of life can be restored. A valiant and noble sentiment, but ultimately...we know how that turns out. The Thalmor, and later Numidium, turn all Greedy Man and steal away the gifts of the standing stones, metaphorically speaking.

This ends the sane part of the discussion

Now for super ridiculous crackpot tinfoil theories that are guaranteed to be false. I'm currently working on immigration paperwork to move from the States to Iceland where I've lived on and off for 3 months at a time. This by no means makes me an expert, and I've only been studying Icelandic for a little over a year. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. But, Aevar or properly spelled, Ævar is an Icelandic name meaning "fierce" but Aevar in the story is rather humble and not very fierce. So what if we put a TES twist on it: AE var. Perhaps "Skaal AE var" or "Man AE var". "Var" in Icelandic is the past tense of the "to be" verb, so var = was. So you could theoretically say, "Skaal AE was" or "Skaal AE am" or "Skaal AE is". This could very well work within the context of the story as the concept of living by your nature is brought up repeatedly, with "nature" being capitalized.

>Your All-Maker is pleased. Go now, and live according to your Nature.

Nature, in the truest sense, is pretty much synonymous with AE. So the All-Maker (Anuic forces) is telling the Skaal to live by their AE. Depending on the tense of "var" you want to go with this could either mean "Skaal AE was" meaning man's true nature is in the past, in the glory days of mankind that have long since gone as the world is becoming more and more chaotic and merish, changing more and more. This ultimately paints a bleak (and accurate) image of mankind as destined to fall but explains the Skaal lifestyle perfectly, as they live a secluded lifestyle practicing the old traditions of their ancestors, caring little for the changing world around them. Or you could interpret it as "Skaal AE am/is" meaning the Anuic force is asking the Skaal to continue in their lifestyle with out change and to remain static like their All-Maker.

Also, to me the most intriguing part of the story is:

>"And then what happened, Grandfather?"

>"What do you mean, Child? He went home."

>"No. When he returned to the village," the Child continued. "Was he made a warrior? Or taught the ways of the shaman? Did he lead the Skaal in battle?"

>"I do not know. That is where the story ends," said the Grandfather.

>"But that is not an ending! That is not how stories end!"

>The old man laughed and got up from his chair.

>"Is it not?"

There's something really cryptic about that last line "Is it not?" that seems to hold a lot of potential in my mind. Sure, it could just be a cutesy way of winking at your player character as you're following in Aevar's footsteps, a way of saying: who knows what the player character will do when he's done with this quest? No one knows because it's up to the player. But I'd like to think it's something more, but I'm not sure what. The fact that the child was so indignant that a story would simply end and not continue seems a little weird. Why does being victorious and simply going home not satisfy this child? It's almost as if he wants to tell his own story rather than settle with the story given to him.

But it's also past 4am and I should really get sleep, if you got to the end, congratz, you win an internet point.

TL;DR - Skaal Stuff. Helpful, right?