Psychology I: TES meets C.G.Jung.

Archetypos. A now-a-days well know word, but that was not always the way. It is (re-)invented concept by the psycho-analyst C.G.Jung, a student and partner of Sigmund Freud, the founder of the psycho-analysis as scientific methode.

So, what is an archetype here? It comes from 'arche' (origin, main-) and 'typos' (hit, expression) and means a concept in our mind, what is already there from the beginning of our being, independent from our identity and consciousness. It belongs to the so-called 'collective consiousness'. A kind of blue-print, when you think about. Jung explored that there are common metaphers, pictures in the peoples heads which are very similar to each other and even sometimes there without knowing about the concept at all by the asked person.

A principe that can be found in the TES universe as well. The Religions are best aspect for that as almost every pantheon has 'godess of the air', depicted as a bird. Or the dragon as a sign of time (very TES-specific this one). Or the ur-mother (Mara). The tree as sign of life and so on. And if you take to the level of the godhead and his dream, then we have so many parts of his dreams, who are actual living archetypes.

In relation to our psyche, Jung stated some 'main-categories' for our assemble. The consciousness operates with these archetypes, forming and using them if it's their time to be used. They could stand for something we need, desire, explore, love, hate, forget. The child. The mother. The father. The shadow. The hero. The lover. The trickster. The circle. Universal principes.

It is no wonder, that they appear in our dreams. Dreams work on our daytime, relive them in a mysterious crazy way. But sometimes they speak to us, with using these archetypes and more seldom, even want to tell our consciousness something important. Do the archetypes of the godhead tell him anything?

Especially the shadow stands for the for the surpressed emotions and things in our mind. What we believe we are not and yet are. This figure functions often as fiend, a problem that needs solving, a barrier for our hero to overcome. TES has a lot to do with duality, but more as the obvious kind of change-stasis. What fuel this engine? The betrayed half of our self? Aren't the gods emotions that move the weel shadow-like? And nobody is perfect, nobody think of himself as always good, but wishes to be.

Than the animus/anima. The voice of the other sex in our head. You can think of that as a sexual thing, what Freud would approve. But it is more than that. If you know a bit of philosophy, you have encountered the term the other (one). I put it as the same here for the matter of fact, but it plays a role in sexual ways as well. The other is... the other. The great, unreachable total different personality, what makes us one. What tend to move us to new ways. He is not the same as the shadow. The shadow is more of a instinct, while the other drag us from the other way. If we were Anu, Padomay would be our other one, but just without existing. So: I AM and YOU ARE NOT. But I need you. You are my desire, my wish, what I can't be.

The self (hard to figure out the translation, original 'das Selbst') is more of a collection of the spoken archetypes. All these principes make us whole. We are nothing without them. As every entity on Nirn would have the same desires as we have: Follow unconsiously our archetypes, form our life with them. Try to hide the bad of us (the desire to forget) and to search what we want to become (the desire to replace it).

And it fits that the late Jung come to the conclusion that the archetypes are not just psychological, but rather more and even mystic/metaphysical. The psychology was often refered as a 'not actual science'. But isn't she the bound between the material and the seemingly metaphysical? Where can she be prooven more than in TES?

All things are in some way both. Death is here material (one is dead) and metaphysical (dreamsleeve, the meaning behind that). We fear the death and put into metapher in our dreams, because we know from the beginning that we will die.

Lorkhan wanted something different. He want to find his 'other', ignoring his heart that grew black of his own thoughts. For Trinimac he was the other: The fiend, the betrayer. As he had betrayed himself and would rip out his own heart to punish him. This act take apart as well, reminded by Boethiah he saw into his self and find the unlocked shadow, moving to Malacath. Aka saw it too, the ignored doubt, blaming his self. We, our prototypes, our shade and ghostly other in interaction summed to ourself. They were always there.

It goes on and on, the godhead is not capable of dream anything else, cause the dream is him. His archetypes ruling the aurbis, splitting in even more tiny peaces, but nor changed at all. Did the dwemer failed to accept this point? Denied the truth of their desires, that they have one?

>Next part in the series: The hero's journey. Questions, Suggestions, Ideas to this or the next theme? Put it in here!