Comparison of the TES universe to Musical Notation

I have always heard when I first started digging into tes lore outside of playing the games that the aurbis is music, but I’ve never heard a detailed comparison of the two explaining how. After lurking here for a long while and putting some thought on how if you could compare the universe of the Elder Scrolls literally to musical notation used in Sheet Music , that it may create opportunities for some interesting comparisons to be made.

So as my first post here (and on reddit at all for that matter) I’d like to attempt to share these thoughts I put together. I should first note that I am not a musical expert in anyway, hell I’m not even musically literate, just having some vague recollections from school lessons, and done some light research. So if I make any mistakes please feel free to point it out.

Also forgive the length but I thought all points should be on the same post as the later ones build on the ones before.

Edit At the time of posting I hadn't read a post by u/myrrlyn on this sub titled Aurbis the Musical that expertly lays out pretty much a very simular comparison to musical notation, and he does better than I in presenting his views. The sequel to his post Aurbis 2: Colorful Bugaloo, blew my socks off. I suggest a read of both of them as well. This post is still a slightly different take on narrative on the same concept. Our most notable difference being the assignment of Akatosh and Lorkahn, and the inclusion of Talos.

>Creation

First, when the energy of PJJJ struck Anu, beings of proto-song were made. However these songs had no structure or rhythm, and contained all notes possible struck all at once and not struck at all at the same time. These beings of infinite notes were the Et’Ada. These beings, some could argue, were just beings of noise without purpose. The one to be known as Lorkahn/Shor/Shezzar looked upon himself and the other structureless songs and something new happened. Lorkahn had a new method for sound appear in his head, one that he wouldn’t be able to play on his own. Lorkahn went to Akatosh/Auriel/Alduin, a song being closest to Anu’s center, whose notes were so regular enough that most of the other spirits could judge their own beats by. Along with Akatosh, he convinced 8 other greater tunes to join his endeavor, along with innumerable lesser tunes. These beings together would make a concert hall and named it Aurbris.

He also had another problem, though he could hear the tune in his head, his inability to play it alone left him with no way of conveying it to others completely. For this he went to Magnus. Magnus would be the composer of the song, so each instrument spirit could know how it was to be played.

From each of the great song spirits who would be known as Aedra, they gave a single note. These notes were pulled out from the spirits and bound at the center where the stage would be. These notes would be what we know as set pitches or key signatures, the names for the notes struck upon them. From the greatest of the spirits, Akatosh, was pulled the time signature, which dictated the tempo and rhythm, as well as the vertical bars separating each measure of music from the ones that fallow. His Alduin form is to be the bold double bar line indicating the end of the movement and perhaps the composition itself.

Then for whatever reason you’d like to believe, Lorkhan was split apart and the horizontal bars of the key signatures (the staff) stretched across his body, making him the clef notes which the key signatures would be categorized by and the space each measure could be placed on after each other. His heart likely being the remnant of his original idea.

Magnus, the one who organized this structure, if due to stage fright or desire to hear the song it is unknown, ran off stage (some say even falling and crashing off of it) and many lesser tune spirits followed him and became the Magna Ge. From their seats in Aetherius they still can see the stage and hear the performance of the spirits on the Mundus Stage.

Thus Mundus, the stage, was created, and the lesser spirits who stayed had a place to play their notes in a way that they could make comprehensible songs of themselves. However they found that their song selves could not last forever as before, as now their songs would now have a beginning and an end. When their songs ended, new songs would be born and played in their stead. They began playing the song of the Ehlnofey.

>The Races

The lesser song spirits left on Mundus became frightened and unsure what music they should be playing, as they had no conductor. They split themselves into groups of similar songs, many trying to emulate memory echoes of the great song spirits that they played upon. The song now became 2 different songs, the songs of Elves and Men. Unable to find harmony with each other, the song groups then began trying to play as loud as they could so they could be heard and not be drowned out by the other. The Mundus stage became an Arena of songs. As they blasted their music on the world, many songs were drowned out and lost forever on each side. Even the land was reshaped by the clash of tones. The most prominent song groups became split into genres unto themselves, thus the races/cultures were born. Each individual being is an instrument playing their song to the genre of their race/culture.

>Towers

The genres separated themselves into different places, and found/created Towers. They used these towers as devices to broadcast their brand of music over where they lived, and found that in doing so the land would become more in tune with their songs. This may only be part of their power though.

>Lorkahn

As the being of space his mark on the sheet music is special compared to the other original great song spirits. Lorkahn being the Clef notation represents how the veiw of his motivation affects a cultures veiw of the keys signatures he influenced/tricked. A harsh Altmer veiw would likely see the tones available to creation as on the lower octive scale indicating more brooding, depressing tones (like the Bass Clef Range) to reflect their place in creation. A positive veiw of him would be reflected by higher, more cheerful tones (like the standard G Clef range). His sundering allows for there to be more than one clef range for different versions of key signatures, and new distinct cultural ones. Lorkahn is missing due to him giving no tone pitch to Mundus, but he is the space tho others are played on.

>Aka

The other being with a special place on the sheet music. Not only does the tone ranges of the notes of the song define it, it’s also the beat. As the time signature Akatosh dictates the tempo of the song which also defines the mood and its pacing. He also represents the bars that separates each measure of the song and binds them in sequential order, as well as the double bar that indicates that the final note has been played. When the Marhukati Selectives hacked him, perhaps they agreed to the tones of the song but thought it should be played to a different beat. Giving no tone of his own to Mundus like his brother, however, his presence is obvious to everyone as all spirits on the mortal plane must dance to his rythm.

>Other Aedra

To quote Wikipedia, “the staff is the fundamental latticework of music notation.” Beings who first gave pieces of themselves recognized as the identifiable pitch signatures the musical scale. They are the first Key signatures that make up the horizontal lines of staff the inhabitants of Nirn play their notes on. The 12 notes of the “chromatic scale built on C” we use irl uses the notes C,D,E, F,G,A, and B (or if you prefer Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Si). Each Aedra would be recognized by the song as a single pitch indicated by one of these letters. An example of the Alessian imperial chomatic scale may be like… Shezzar = G Clef, Akatosh = time signature, Notes = Ark, Dib, Jul, Kyn, Mar, Sten, Zen. While Dunmer post Battle of Red Mountain scale only utilized the notes Alm, Si, Vi.

>Deadroth

Greater song spirits who didn’t give their pieces to the stage but associate themselves enough to occupy the spaces in-between the lines on the staff of key signatures with two being able to fit between each line. Essentially the Flats and sharp signatures of the chromatic scale (C sharp, D flat, D sharp, E flat, F sharp, G flat, G sharp, A flat, A sharp, B flat). These tones are not represented on the staff, but can be played to influence the song.

>Gods

Beings who make their notes into part of the scale the other songs play their notes on. Doesn’t matter if sharp, flat, or not, as long as any noise made in that pitch could be recognized by all as being played on that key signature that is the god itself. The Aedra and Deadra were the first, and since Lorkahn was split you must remember that there can be more than one Clef scale for key signatures, just occupying different scale ranges. So the staffs of the equivalent to the Treble (aka G) Clef ranges could be seen as the Cyrodillic pitch range, which would leave openings on the C Cleff staff, Bass (aka F) Cleff staff, or possibly many others for entirely new beings to become named pitches. Maybe each culture maintains its own unique Cleff while not holding their songs to the cleff ranges of others. That way there could be more room for additional gods to appear. Religious conversion could be seen as simply swapping your native octave range for the octave range of another culture to play your song on. The dragon god and the missing god’s divinity should probably be seen as special as their contribution to the stage is of a different nature than that of the others. Could also explain why parallels of Lorkhan and Akatosh appear nearly all the pantheons, is because no matter the key signatures of your scale, you still must have a time signature and a Clef on your staff for it to be realized music. Followers of a pantheon of gods would try to have their note actions ring as close to the god tones as they possibly can.

>Mantling

The old adage “Walk like them til they walk like you” can be seen differently upon looking like it as each god is a key signature. To walk like them is to strike perfectly on that gods note (which is hard to do so at the exact perfect frequency) in every action you make, until all those who seen and heard your performance recognize that pitch as symbolizing only you, and not the being it represented before you. Or perhaps everyone starts to hear you as the same being. After all, you make the same noise as far as anyone can tell. For example, if Arkay is representing the Key signature of note C, a mortal who’s not Arkay/totem of Arkay/incarnation of Arkay, has their every action they make strike the sound note of C perfectly (key word perfect, which is extremely hard to do) then to all who hear them would see them as being the pitch of note C itself and then replace Arkay as the name for that note. The mortal would esentially replace Arkay as what defines note C. If you can tweak the Frequency of the tone after taking it over is unknown. This is also why I think Almsivi didn’t mantle their anticipations, as Almamexia, Sotha Sil, and Vivec wanted a new scale for the Chimer and chose to make their notes a fraction of an octave away from their daedreic counterparts, but close enough to be compared and so the Dunmer wouldn’t notice much of a difference in tone, only a slight shift in frequency that is barely noticed.

>CHIM edit, see comments for a better interpretation

The awareness that from far enough away from the lines of written music of all creation that the staff appears as a single line, and all its notes ring together as a single tone, the tone of Anu’s betrayal/loss, and having the willpower to continue your own song with this knowledge. Achieving this comes with great risk.

>Amaranth

I believe that with CHIM can come another realization, that a being can abandon all the tones of creation, and create out of themselves a new musical scale that new songs can be written on free and separate from the depressing tones of Anu. Achieving this is to become Ameranth.

>Talos

The creation of the Talos oversoul and the 9th divine, what Key signature is he? Did he make his own frequency into a new note, or replace some other being to steal it’s tone. Why is he considered Convention 2.0? In reenacting the opening solo of Akatosh, Lorkahn, and Magnus, the fused beings of Talos made of themselves a new musical scale separate of the other pantheons. A song within the song. This would become where all inhabitants of Tamriel would now strike their notes. But what other beings were involved to become the key signatures for the Talos chromatic scale? The cultures of the provinces themselves, that’s who. The song of all Tamriel would be pieces of the song of the empire. However I believe that means an argument can be made that Talos’s song divinity could have been reduced once provinces seceded in the 4th era, as with each secession, the Talos scale would loose a note that contributed to the whole range. His divinity could also possibly end and die out if all the provinces became independent again (Would be ironic if Ulfric Stormcloak’s desire for independence for Skyrim could be the last nail in the coffin for the god he is fighting for). Then again if Talos had Chim he could still possibly continue his song of a united empire, or for the idea to be realized again later. Maybe the memory of his song being played could be enough to keep him alive but inactive on the mortal plain. Least to say the Thalmor want nothing to do with his songs, rejecting it out right (like an elderly racist shouting that rap isn’t real music).

>Elder Scrolls

Pieces of creation, the scroll are simultaneously pages of sheet music written by Magnus, and recording devices storing how the song was actually played. Maybe a violinist missed a note, or a flute played a note off key. The prophecies are simply solo sections left blank to be improvised my a single person who might be playing any kind of instrument. The markers for where the solo will be qued in are written there, as well where the rest of the song pics up after, just not what the hero of the prophecy plays, or who should play it, until after he has played it. This explains how the avatar of the player can be any race or character class, and play whatever he wants, as it's our solo in the song and we play it however think we desire. Only after we play it does Magnus get his finished song for his album.