Vivec is the sun.

Hi teslore, I've scoured over the lore for about two months now and I'm ready to take the plunge. I'm going to springboard off of /u/RottenDeadite 's wonderful post and the contributor's efforts, I hope that's okay: The Fire of Vivec Hopefully I'll manage to create an interesting, somewhat correct, decent theory.

Vivec becomes the sun in the new world, not like the sun on Nirn currently, which is the hole Magnus tore in the sky when he left Mundus, but rather, the type of sun that exists on our Earth at the center of a universe. Or, at the very least, a sun of substance rather than a hole in the sky.

>The first thing that Vivec's shaved head brings to mind is the Buddhist practice of shaving one's head before becoming a monk, but the practice is found in a lot more religions than just Buddhism, and often represents a sort of humility or sign of devotion... Shaved heads are also associated with lower-class citizens in many countries, which plays to Vivec's appeal as the "public" third of ALMSIVI... And then there's the noteworthy practice of shaving one's head in Hindu cultures when you are born a second time - the second spiritual birth. What do you think Vivec is about to attempt that could qualify as a second birth?... If he was born a God, what is he now? If he was not born a God, what was he then?

Sermon 6: >Above me is a challenge, which bathes itself in fire and is the essence of a god

Probably in reference to Dagoth Ur (though he is not even close to being driven mad by the heart yet in regards to chronology), as his mask takes the apperance of a sun, perhaps in reference to the similar Aztec Sun Gods. In fact, the Aztec creation myths have a lot in common with eslore. >From the void that was the rest of the universe, the first god, Ometeotl, created itself. Ometeotl was both male and female, good and evil, light and darkness, fire and water, judgment and forgiveness, the god of duality. Ometeotl gave birth to four children, the four Tezcatlipocas... Over the South presides the Blue Tezcatlipoca, Huitzilopochtli, the god of war... Black Tezcatlipoca, also called simply Tezcatlipoca, the god of judgment, night, deceit, sorcery and the Earth

Vivec resembles Ometeotl, though he didn't create himself in the physical sense (the idea that Ometeotl formed itself out of a Void into a set of contradictory, yet seemingly balanced, group of traits exhibits (my understanding of) the formation of Anu and Padomay without Ometeotl being two distinct entities), but he debatedly shaped himself during his second, spiritual birth as mentioned above (hey, I finally got to a, albeit, dull, point!), Huitzilopochtli resembles Talos, and Tezcatlipoca, for the most part, embodies the key perceptions of Lorkhan.

Basically, in Aztec mythology, the four sons take turn over who governs over the sky, with each change in leadership annihilating all life and restarting the world (Kapla, anyone?) and directly caused by the people's lack of devotion to their gods.

However, the line preceeding in Sermon Six states: >Below me is the savage, which we needed to remove ourselves from the Altmer. Though this can refer to Dagoth Ur, the specific reference to the Altmer suggests heresy-- which Veloth fled from in the Summerset Isles in the first place and what spurred the War of the First Council.

What does all of the crap have to do with Vivec being/becoming the sun?

First, let me preface this extended wall of text with this: MK's original concept art for Vivec's Palace, with planets orbitting around the palace in a wall of Green fire. Holes in the sky don't orbit.

Sermon Six

>For by the sword I mean the sensible... For by the sword I mean the first night... For by the sword I mean the dual nature.

Establishing the motif of the sword.

Sermon Thirteen >This is why I say the secret to swords is the mercy seat. It is my throne. I am become the voice of ALMSIVI. The world will know me more than my sister and brother. I am the psychopomp... Veloth is the center that cannot hold. Ayem is the plot. Seht is the ending. I am the enigma that must be removed. These are why my words are armed to the teeth.

Vivec has recognized himself and the importance of the sword, an embodiment of his mastery, his balance, his dual nature and how that is obviously essential to nearly all things Vivec is and does and will do and how these things eclipse that of his triunes. Even if he is 'removed' he is removed for a higher, divine purpose.

Sermon Twenty >The sword is estrangement from statesmanship

Vivec's throne is comprised of the secret to swords, therefore his throne is not discriminating of those who aren't Dunmer or any other specific race. Vivec is all encompassing and his power is widespread.

Sermon Twenty-Three The Scripture of the Sword Fifth >I am the welfare that decides which warrior will emerge. Beg not for luck. Serve me to win.

Vivec controls the limits of mortals though he himself is mortal. Serving him results in benevolence, much like the Aztec Sun Cycles and

>In most major religions, there's a Flood story. God gets uber pissed at all the filth he sees below and sends forth a great flood to cleanse the lands. Purifying it, through destruction. Remember, destruction is just transmutable change.

here, the concept of Vivec's water face comes into play. If Vivec can wear a mask that is the comprising of purity and honesty, who's to say he can't refine purification through his own manipulation? Does fire not purify water?

Seventh: >The true sword is able to cut chains of generations, which is to say, the creation myths of your enemies

Duality-- it's a bridge between cultures. It is understanding, it is knowledge of others as opposed to insular ignorance. What I believe Vivec is trying to say here is that the Tribunal's and the Dunmer's greatness is awe-inspiring. That the prosperity of a certain group can convince others without the need for evangelism or conquering.

Eighth: >I give you an ancient road tempered by the second walking way. Your hands must be huge to wield any sword the size of an ancient road, and yet he who is of right stature may irritate the sun with only a stick.

Vivec is saying that anyone who carries themselves right, i.e. those who has attained enlightenment (probably CHIM) can harm something so large with a weapon so small with security in themselves and that these 'huge hands' needed to wield such knowledge, duality, and subsequent power is not an easy task. You can't just lolCHIM things every five seconds.

Sermon Twenty-Five >All cities are born of solid light. Such is my city. Such as his... His wings are spread out behind him, their red and yellow ends like razors in the sun. The wispy mass of his fire hair floats as if underwater, milky in the nimbus of light that crowns his head. His presence is undeniable, the awe too much to bear... My spine is the main road to the city that I am. Countless transactions are taking place in veins and catwalks and the roaming, roaming... as they roam over and through and add to me. There are temples erected along the hollow of my skull and I will ever wear them as a crown. Walk across the lips of God... This is the flowering scheme of Aurbis... I serve and am served. I am made of wire and string and mortar and I accede my own precedent, world without am.

Vivec City is crafted of Vivec's own light, his own crown and excellence. Vivec further explains he is the embodiment of this city, and possibly further extends the metaphor of his city to the entirety of Mundus referencing his city's crafting in the likeness of the Aurbis. His city of solid light in the image of Aurbis comprises him, that he is nothing but wire and string, nothing at all. Even in the light of his nothingness, he goes beyond his limitations, accepting Mundus without an 'am' but still giving the Godhead an intimidating wave of Muatra while remaining Vivec out of his own self love. So, like, CHIM.

Sermon Thirty-Three >he had brooded for so long creating the scripture of the pounding light, and went back to the space that was not a space

Light, of course, and the space that was not a space can represent the hole Magnus tore in the sky upon exiting Mundus. While it is a space, it is also nothingness and something all at once, like Vivec himself and what he represents. Even when the sun is not visible, the sun's light reflects off of moons, being nothing, something, and undoubtedly needed as a stabilizing force in the world. Vivec, to my knowledge, has some qualities of a stabilizer. He made truces with the Empires of Man to further avoid bloodshed, he served as a liasion to the common people, remaining in touch with the Dunmer. He served to protect Vvardenfell, he acknowledged the wrong doing of the Tribunal and accepted his mortality, asssting the Nerevarine and the prophecy that would lead to his downfall.

Sermon Seventeen >Vivec said that they had collected them from around the world, though some had come invisibly. 'I am the wheel,' he said, and took that shape. Before the emptiness at the center could live too long, Nerevar put in the spokes.

I'm going to go with Vivec being at the center of this, the new world being built with Nerevar being the support that thrust Vivec to greatness, otherwise, there is the great possibility Vivec would've remained an alley urchin.

Sermon 31: >Afterwards, I dared to take on the sacred fire and realized there was no equilibrium within the ET'ADA.

Though he has his faults, Vivec is the closest thing to equilibrium, though Tiber Septim was famed in his endeavor of uniting all of Tamriel, forced peace is not peace, and he obviously waged war on everyone to accomplish this. Tiber Septim would not make a good sun, not necessarily volatile, but harsh.

Sermon Twenty-One >The Spokes are the eight components of chaos, as yet solidified by the law of time: static change, if you will... They are the lent bones of the Aedra, the Eight gift-limbs to SITHISIT, the wet earth of the new star our home. Outside them is the Aurbis, and not within. Like most things inexplicable, it is a circle. Circles are confused serpents, striking and striking and never given leave to bite... The enlightened are those uneaten by the world....The secret Tower within the Tower is the shape of the only name of God, I

Alright, so if you achieve CHIM, you see yourself as a tower within a tower, almost as if you are mantling the tonal architecture of Mundus itself. Yet, at the same time, these towers can be disactivated and enlightenment is not permenant in ES lore. However, it seems to be if one can create structure of a new world by attaining Aedric spokes, hence Vivec's reference to 'wet earth of the new star our home'. Our is key here, Vivec is either an architect of the new world, the next Kapla, or he will transcend destruction and become a part of this new realm.

Back to the Aztec Mythology. The Five Sun Legend is an important facet of the argument. When a sun retired, they supposedly wiped out all of life and convened in darkness to discuss the new sun, obviously, that isn't applicable to Mundus. There is a variation that says that Huitzilopochtli, the God of war (Talos), received the position of the Fifth and final sun and that after the mortals ignore his need for sacrifice, the world will end in a massive earthquake and Huitzilopochtli will personally slay all mortals. As mentioned, Talos wold not make a good applicant for a sun, that a sun must be balanced, it must be stable.

Vivec, though he bears the strongest resemblance to Ometeotl, he can be seen as Tonatiuh, one of the lowest advisors to the Gods that threw himself in the fire to take the place of the fourth sun. He was basically nothing before his actions, much like Vivec was a street urchin and the son of a netchiman's wife. Tonatiuh represents heaven, but it comes at a price and devoted worship amongst his subjects, much like Vivec's own descriptions:

Sermon Thirty-One >Let those that hear me then be buffeted, and let some die in the ash from the striking. Let those that find him find him murdered by illumination, pummeled like a traitorous house, because, if an hour is golden, then immortal I am a secret code. I am the partaker of the Doom Drum, chosen of all those that dwell in the middle world to wear this crown, which reverberates with truth, and I am the mangling messiah.

Additionally, Vivec's repetition of "Reach heaven by violence" is yet another parallel between him and Tonatiuh, who required excessive human sacrifice, reminiscent of a mangling messiah to stay in good graces with his subjects. Though it is highly unlikely either of the two would require human sacrifice in order to provide a new realm, human sacrifice is more relevant to mangling messiah than conqueror.

Finally >"The fire is mine, let it consume thee." Perhaps he speaks of the way Fire burns away all desire. He asks that the recipient of the prayer let the fire of perfect knowledge consume, absorb, purify and change into pure Love, and find rest in the arms of Mother Boethiah.

If this is true, the concept of providing patronage to Vivec as a deity if he gave up himself to form the new universe/kapla/realm/whatever-he-would-do-if-it-weren't-for-molag-bal or any sort of worship to prevent destruction is null. If taken literally, it means Vivec is literally the source of fire, the sun that burns away all desire, purifying everything, even himself of his black hands.

Well, that's it. Hopefully I didn't write a wall of text that took all night to look like an idiot trying to spew any little understanding I have or look like a blabbermouth.