Underkings, Empire and creation cycles

Here i will make an attempt to combine knowledge we have, to come up with new explanation and connection between kalpic system, aldmeri dominion, underking(s) and empire, as well as other stuff that goes along. Hopefully it will make some sense to you and more sense to myself once written down properly. Basic idea is that kalpas not only have big leaps, but also smaller ones, that represent cycles in smaller scale, and each of those cycles is celebrated with Empire being found, similar to creation, as well as new war between men and elves and masterminds behind it. This post will be edited further as i fill in gaps that overlooked

Lets start with kalpas and go in to more details later on.

As we know, the current version of creation is not the only one. Its up to debate, if they happen in some particular order, or at the same time, it does not matter in this case. Its only important that current timeline is not the only one. Yet in this current timeline we see events chaining and circling eachother and becoming this huge snowball of contradictions. And dragonbreaks dont make it easier either. So lets look at Empires of men. Like in real history, Empires form, blossom, decay and disrupt eventually. Each empire was formed in bloody war with all kind of disgusting things happening. And all of them were created with some sort of divine intervention. Different every time, but still with same basic concept that mirrors creation. However one stands out. Im obviously talking about Septim Empire, because its the only one we know the most about. It has very much in common with initial creation, so lets look into it.

Now, there are some amazing subs here that compile information we have about underking(s) and whole talos thingie in particular. But even with all those compilations its still not possible to directly state who is who and how it all happened. So lets try to set the confusing parts aside to not get... er... confused) We can be pretty shure that Zurin Arctus and Wulfharth are both involved in Underking business. But we also know that they had different goals. And thats where MK's UnderkingS gets useful. So we assume that there is one entity, even if we think of several souls fused, we still take them as one being. But they are not. They are different beings. The being we contact in Daggerfall is known as Underking. He 'only' wants his heart back. So who is he? Heresy has this covered. Some may argue that its not a reliable source, but we dont have other sources that are more reliable anyways. I go with that book because it stands out, it has a more direct description from outside, and its called Arctu(rian)/(s), so we know who the author actually is. And it shows this direct connection to the creation, which i might be overthinking.

> With his last breath, the Underking's Heart roars a hole through the Battlemage's chest.

Whats that? Underking's heart roars through. Thu'ums through. Battlemage's chest. As in kills the battlemage, tearing through his chest. Lorkhan style. Or did it happen from inside? At this point we should ask ouselves if both Battlemage and Ash-King were different people in the first place, but again, it doesnt really matter on the grand scale. We know of only one character doing thu'um stuff in this group known as Talos. If they are different, then Ash-king is the Underking until he gets tricked. Question is, in which form Wulfharth existed at that point? We know that Wulfharth appeared as a storm before, so he wasnt material. A lich of some sort. Most likely Ash-king was using necromancy. Its not first time Nordic heroes are described as undead or using necromancy. Actually many of them are dead in some way. Even their god. Tricks, Hearts, Creation. Does really sound familiar. Anyways... Arctus somehow gets Wulfharth's heart. The Ash-king was using body as a phial for himself? Or may be Arctus trapped the soul in himself. Dont ask me, he figured out Numidium, might have figured something like replacing hearts. It doesn't really matter, they both are liches at that point, thats the only important part. So most likely Arctus uses his heart as a soul gem to trap Wulfharth inside and power Brass God. The whole shouting thing happens. So they both 'die' during event, except not really. One is trapped in Numidium. The thing started working, so that must be Wulfharth, being trapped in a vessel that is Zurin's heart. Question time. What happens to Zurin? His body gets killed. Where is Zurin's soul then? As we know liches keep their soul in a vessel somewhere hidden. So probably Zurin placed his soul somewhere else. Dark Magick baby, keeping mages alive since mythic times! Thus we have two beings. Zurin Arctus being a lich takes on the role of being King of Worms and the Underking at this point, replacing Ash king, though not for long. Arcturian heresy describes this all as a success of Ash king in his efforts to smash the elves, but now he wants to deal with Septim. The problem is that he is trapped. This where my theory starts to distinguish from what is written in Heresy. In the book Wulfharth turns into ash during the ritual, and so the Mantella must be holding Battlemage's soul. But that would mean Zurin Arctus being entirely gone. Which contradicts with the Underking buisness in Daggerfall. If we assume that its Wulfharth all along, then why he claims the thing to be his heart? We can say that its all Dragonbreaks fault as usual and blame on that, buts its not fun. So lets roll with the idea that both actually survive the ritual. Some time later Arctus desides to reclaim 'his' heart and Numidium goes kaboom. It makes even more sense seen as if Arctus was to die, who wrote the book, and why named it that way. So as you can see both were plotting against Tiber Septim at different times, acting from behind the curtain. And together they are Talos, the very concept of 3 union, king, rebel and observer responsible for the birth of Empire.

Lets make some connections here. I already did one with trick, heart and chest wound. That one is pretty obvious. Now lets dig deeper. Wulfharth is known to live at least 5 times in current timeline. And eventually he becomes part of new god. But that does not mean he will not live again. Wulfharth was the king. From what we know, he was very ambitious and always led Nords to greatness, he served his people and hated elves. Always. And so last time he lived was not an exception. We are being told he wanted revenge. Yet he got tricked again. I can imagine how pissed he is, being fused together with those who trapped him and used as a tool. At least many elves suffered, but that wasnt enough. As i can see it, his Ultimate goal is the real Heart. Thats what led him to Red Mountain in the first place. Resurrection of Shor, and extermination of elves. Again, Heresy evolves around idea that after Tibers death Underking appears as advisory for new Emperors. In that set of events the only person suitable is Wulfharth, since he 'escapes' the trap. But in my interpretation things are opposite, its Arctus that actually escapes and acts against Septim. But after Numidium gets destroyed, Ash-king being trapped in mantella vanquishes for a while. Meanwhile Empire falls into great turmoil with small episodes of stability. Someone gradually kills Septims, one after another. Someone who is advising them from the Under. Then Warp in West happens, everything gets mixed up. King of Worms ascends, while Underking is believed to die properly. What happens if we look at it from the new angle i carefully picked? In our sitation King of Worms and Underking are one person, what used to Zurin. He finally reunites with his heart, while Wulfharth gets thrown into the mix. But as we know, Wulfharth never leaves the living plane forever. And so the Underking, Ysmir will return to try and build new empire yet again. The flawed detail is Mannimarco in Oblivion. He is said to be the King of Worms. But i highly doubt that such powerful being would fall into the same trap, considering he already ascended during dragonbreak. Surely true King of Worms would know how to avoid such thing. So Mannimarco in Oblivion cant be the same person as Underking and is neither Zurin nor Wulfharth. I suppose it might be an avatar of ascended King of Worms, which would explain, why he is so weak compared to other actors in this story.

And here come the elves. Those Thalmor masterminds we know and love. Who is leading them? Somebody who really hates men and their god. We dont know who it is in current set of events, but this person is dedicated to building new Empire, different from that of men. Their new order will shatter Talos into pieces, leading to the new appearence of Underkings.

This kind of happened to center around Wulfharth, which was not the intention, i guess we can make some predictions of who will be the person that leads elves to greatness and enslaves men, until new cycle starts. I dont think we will see the big kaboom any time soon, so there will be new creations. Unless im blind, which is possible.