Analysing the Song of Pelinal, v6: On His Madness

The sixth volume deals with the nature of Pelinal, as well as with his madness

>And it is said that he emerged into the world like a Padomaic, that is, borne by Sithis and all the forces of change therein.

Padomay is the polar opposite of Anu, the two main forces of existence, and is the force of change. Sithis is the drive of Padomay (see it as a sort of hunger, unconscious but driving to change). The rest of the Song confirms Pelinal as a force of nature that changes Cyrodiil almost completely (and with that Tamriel). This also fits with Pelinal being a form of Lorkhan, who was one of the most Padomaic deities.

>Still others, like Fifd of New Teed, say that beneath the Pelinal's star-armor was a chest that gaped open to show no heart, only a red rage shaped diamond-fashion, singing like a mindless dragon, and that this was proof that he was a myth-echo, and that where he trod were shapes of the first urging.

It is well-known that Pelinal did not have a physical heart, instead sporting the Chim-El Adabal (the Amulet of Kings) in his chest. It is interesting to note that this is where the Amulet comes from. Just like Alessia might have gotten it from the corpse of her champion, Reman was born with the stone in his forehead. Just like Pelinal, Lorkhan also lacked his heart, as it was torn out by Trinimac, and launched across Tamriel by Auri-El.
Now, this diamond is “singing like a mindless dragon”. The Dragon is of course the symbol of Akatosh, and later on in the volume the mindlessness of this dragon is mentioned. More on that later.
In literary science, myth-echo means that a character in a story is a leftover from an earlier tradition. Good examples of myth-echoes are the Tuatha Dé Danann in the Mythological Cycle of early Irish literature, as well as most characters in the Four Branches of the Mabinogi in Medieval Welsh literature. In TES, however, myth-echo is often used to indicate that a character shares traits with a divine being, often in the form of being an avatar or incorporation of the god in question.
The first urging can be multiple things. It can refer to the struggle between Anu and Padomay, a struggle which Pelinal also shares to an extent. It can also be a reference to Lorkhan, whose urge can be seen as changing the very nature of those around him. In any case, it is clear that Pelinal is a pretty troubled mind, and he is in a constant struggle with himself.

>Pelinal cared for none of this and killed any who would speak god-logic, except for fair Perrif, who he said, "enacts, rather than talks, as language without exertion is dead witness."

“Facta non Verba” seems to be a good motto for Pelinal. Again, anyone trying to judge his nature is met with a nasty fate (except for those Nords, but that was probably because of a promise to Alessia). This is also another example of the respect Pelinal had for Alessia, and she is the only person who can get away with these kind of things.
The quote reminds me of a Latin sentence (which is also the last line of “The Name of the Rose”, by Umberto Eco): “Stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus”; the rose of old exists only as name, naked names we retain. Words and sentences are nice and all, but without action, they are nothing more than souvenirs.

>When those soldiers who heard him say this stared blankly, he laughed and swung his sword, running into the rain of Kyne to slaughter their Ayleid captives, screaming, "O Aka, for our shared madness I do this! I watch you watching me watching back! Umaril dares call us out, for that is how we made him!"

This kinds of philosophical debates were clearly not up the alley of most of the troops. Pelinal, as always, didn’t bother much and happily went on his massacre.
Aka and Pelinal share a madness. The exact nature is a complicated story.
Aka became merged with Lorkhan following Convention, forming two sides of the same coin, basically. This, however, means that two polar opposites (Time and Space, Anuic balance and Padomaic change) became constantly under the influence of the other. Now, it is clear how this would drive a god mad. Not only is an infinite being tied to another infinite being which isn’t contained in him (something which is impossible to understand), the other infinite being is also everything Aka isn’t.
Pelinal most likely shares this. The earlier lines illustrate that Pelinal shares traits of both Aka and Lorkhan. He lacks a heart, and is a strong Padomaic force (similar to Lorkhan), yet he also carries the Chim-el Adabal, which is singing like a mindless dragon. Pelinal is both a champion of Aka, as well as Lorkhan, being torn between these two.
This link between Aka and Pelinal is also why Pelinal is able to “watch you watching me watching back”. He sees and feels what Aka does, as he is part him.
The final line is very interesting, as Pelinal seems to take some blame for Umaril. Umaril, as the Song states, is the result of an Ayleid and a god of a previous Kalpa, as well as some involvement of Meridia. How Aka or Pelinal are involved in this is unclear, but Pelinal might take the blame for Umaril going into this pact, after angering the Ayleids with the Rebellion and the genocides. Another possible reason for the pact with Meridia was mentioned by /u/Dr_Darcy in the comments on the analysis of the third volume, stating that Meridia hates false life, and that Pelinal is a robot. Pelinal ‘made’ Umaril because of his being, and Aka ‘made’ Umaril by making Pelinal.

>[And it was during] these fits of anger and nonsense that Pelinal would fall into the Madness, where whole swaths of lands were devoured in divine rampage to become Void, and Alessia would have to pray to the Gods for their succor, and they would reach down as one mind and soothe the Whitestrake until he no longer had the will to kill the earth in whole.

Pelinal’s famous fits of rage obliterated (quite literally) whole swaths of land, with everything and everyone in it with it. Volume 3 also mentions that Alessia had to pray to the gods in order to calm and forgive Pelinal, as his destruction seemed to not be completely according to Divine Plan.

>And Garid of the men-of-ge once saw such a Madness from afar and maneuvered, after it had abated, to drink together with Pelinal, and he asked what such an affliction felt like, to which Pelinal could only answer, "Like when the dream no longer needs its dreamer."

The Men-of-Ge are only mentioned in this line and in the list of tribes in Adabal-a. The homophone with Magna-Ge is probably not accidental. Garid was intrigued with Pelinal’s state, and wanted to ask questions.
Pelinal’s quote raises many questions. The most basic explanation is that Pelinal loses all control, and acts without being able to change what he is doing.
However, there are more implications here. The TES universe is a dream, dreamed by the Godhead, who is a passive player in the Dream. While Pelinal has in no way achieved CHIM (although he does face the same struggle as I AM and I AM NOT, due to his relation to both Aka and Lorkhan), and isn’t an Amaranth, this quote is edging on those subjects. It is possible that Pelinal’s madness forms the first cracks in reality, leading up to the derelict state of Mundus as it is in C0DA.

This sums up the sixth volume: On His Madness, and the last volume of the Reman manuscripts. The two last volumes are older and more fragmented.