Sheogorath in the Oblivion Crisis, and effect on Tamriel

So, I'd like to start by saying this is my first elder scrolls post ever, not just on this subreddit, but on the series as a whole. I'm a fairly long time fan of TES and its lore, having been introduced to the series through Morrowind on the Xbox during my preteen years. I've read through more in-game books than I'd like to admit, and wiki-dived UESP for a number of late nights out of simple curiosity. But I've never actually been apart of the lore community. I did a brief search to see if this subject matter had been touched on before but found little to say it has. I've been an avid fan theory writer for the Legend of Zelda series for many years, but this is my first Elder Scrolls piece. What I guess I'm saying is, I'm passionate on the subject matter and am trying to follow all the correct channels, but please forgive me if it's long winded and there are some blatant mistakes or inaccuracies. Feel free to punch as many holes in this as you deem fit.

That being said, I must admit this doesn't add any major revelations in spite of how deep it tries to reach, and so it's probably less of a fan theory and more of a headcanon in regards to why things happened how they did, and how they may have gone otherwise. So it certainly sits on the fence of legitimate lore and simple fan fiction, but I'll let you be the judge of that.

So! Let's get right into it, shall we? My SO had just beaten the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion again for the first time in a while. It's a favorite of hers and she was excited to get started on the Shivering Isles DLC. But as she got into it, seeing the stark contrast between the state of Cyrodiil during post-game, and the Shivering Isles got us thinking about the players role as the Champion of Cyrodiil, the fate of the last Septim, and the nature of the events in the Shivering Isles. As a result we hammered out a pretty crazy fan theory. Nothing ground breaking, but certainly food for thought.

First off, this fan theory doesn't make sense unless you're aware of a common, pre-exisiting fan theory that your character in Oblivion, the Hero of Kvatch and the Champion of Cyrodiil, through the events of the Shivering Isles, actually becomes Sheogorath. Like, not just taking over his throne on the Shivering Isles, but takes on all his powers, tendencies, and role as a Daedric Prince. This is a somewhat common event in TES as people become other more powerful people through a process called Mantling.

The biggest tip to this is Sheogorath's line in Skyrim where he states he had a had a personal stake in that whole Oblivion affair and outright says that he hands his powers down from "me to myself" every few thousand years.

But you have to question who and why he picks to be "himself." It's a common joke in TES what a loyalty sellout our heroes are as they willfully join just about any and all factions that ask them to. It's a little funny when the hero of the land is a mage, mercenary, rogue, and assassin all rolled into one. Not to mention willing to serve the Nine and Daedric Princes alike. But what made Sheogorath decide the hero in Oblivion was a good idea?

Given your strength it makes sense. Knowing the high level required by shivering isles and its later release date, we may even dare to say they canonically expect you to have reached the end of the main quest by that time. I mean he does specifically call for "your greatest Champion." But strength isn't exactly what Sheogorath values in life. Rather instead your propensity to have just as likely saved all of Tamriel as lead the Dark Brotherhood certainly fits that mark of madness he likes a little bit better. But what if there was more to it than that? Even as the Prince of Madness, Daedric Princes are infamous for their cunning and guile. Strength doesn't make much sense as a measure of a good Mad god, randomness alone seems too superficial, though I can't put it past him. But half his dominion is dedicated to anxiety, conspiracy, and darker breeds of obsessive madness. Maybe, just maybe, he was playing smarter than we thought. Maybe Sheogorath is a far greater threat to Tamriel than we would have thought!

By the end of the main plot, at which point when you would most likely be doing the Shivering Isles quests, all the people of Cyrodiil can talk about is the fall of Mehrunes Dagon and the fantastic display by which Martin stopped him. There's a certain sense of accomplishment and hope in the air now that the crisis is over, which is funny given how the lack of an Emperor had everyone scared shirtless a few months ago, before they even knew what the Oblivion gates meant. It IS mentioned by some that there's a sense of the "unknown" given the lack of emperor on the thrown, but everyone seems otherwise confident that the end of the 3rd age and the start of the 4th is a good thing and that the Empire will stand. Makes sense, you want the end of your game to feel fulfilling right?

Well guess what...it doesn't. Any one who's played Skyrim can attest to that. From just that game alone we see how quickly the weak willed Empire submitted to the Aldmeri Dominion, with the White-Gold Concordat pretty much making the Emperor little more than a figure head. But looking into the expanded lore, oppression and war only starts with Oblivion, with whole provinces leaving the Empire and being conquered back in.

How come such a happy ending full of so much hope starts such a terrible chain of events? Why was everyone so certain the 4th age was going to be an age of peace and order? Was Martin's sacrifice all for nothing? Simply put...yes! Martin and the Champion saw to it the transition from the third age into the fourth age went smoothly despite so many evil's rising to the surface. But everything went immediately haywire because the very first major event to happen at the start of the 4th age was already completely mad from the get go!

Apparently the end of every age is a huge celestial event even for the realms of Oblivion outside Tamriel. The old Emperor had been having enough visions about this time to put many of our Heroes into motion in TES. Mehrunes Dagon, the game's antagonist saw this opening and took it, even when the Emperor could have been killed and his amulet of King's taken at any friggen time. Sheogorath's Greymarch back into the god of order Jyggalag is another big example of this. And don't get me started on Umaril the Unfeathered! Whatever the case, a lot of people had been planning for this date for quite some time.

For Sheogorath, to find some random fool willing and capable of stopping Jyggalag and ending the cycle of madness and order would be simple enough. Mortals stopping Daedric Princes is not easy, but totally doable. But he specifically went through all the steps necessary to Mantle the Champion of Cyrodiil. A metaphysical occurrence in TES universe that involves making some one so identical to a god like entity, effectively embodying their ideals and nature, that in the grand scheme of the universe, he retro-actively takes the god's place.

This is not an easy thing to make occur. The entire game of Morrowind is about you being the reincarnation of a false god and borderline mantling his powers. The god Talos was once the man known as Tiber Septim, Nordic General, Dragonborn, and founder of the Septim line, the third age, and the whole of the friggen Empire. But he effectively mantled the power of the long lost Aedra Lorkhan/Shor, taking his place as the last of the "9" Aedra and the guardian god of man.

Mantling is a big friggen deal. One could almost argue, every time an age changes, a man becomes a god. In the start of the third Age Tiber became Talos, at the start of the 4th age the Champion of Cyrodiil becomes the next Sheogorath. And just as Tiber pretty much set the tone for the whole of the 3rd age, your hero sets the tone of the whole of the 4th, and here's why.

The loss of Martin, the end of the Septim line, and the changing of the age are all clearly big events. But everyone with any sense of "fate and destiny" seems confident that so long as the Daedric Princes don't have their way, everything should work out fine. Mehrunes Dagon was stopped, the empire stands. It's not expressly stated, I don't believe; but even with the loss of the Amulet and the Septim line, it would appear a new barrier has been put in place and the seal on the Oblivion realms and their Princes had been once again cemented. But a Daedric Prince DID have his way that faithful day, the cogs of fate were hammered to a stop in an unexpected place as one specific Prince found a way around this barrier, and it all went down hill from there. Why? Because Sheogorath's silly and elaborate plan worked. Because like Mehrunes Dagon, everybody's favorite Mad god had a plan to break fate and use the changing of the age to not just help himself, but weaken others. Because maybe Sheogorath knew who your character was and the destiny that they had, and had chose them for a reason. Because maybe....just maybe....your character in Oblivion wasn't supposed to become a madgod original. But was fated to become something else. Perhaps...instead...maybe an Emperor?

At the end of Oblivion, Tamriel needed an Emperor. A strong champion who guides the hearts and minds of the people, a warrior who just like Tiber was able to fight his way through supernatural levels of hell and battle and still inspire confidence in those around him. With the ability to take on the role of the Divine Crusader, an avatar of Lorkhan/Shor and his physical incarnation as the Champion of Man; at the time of Martin's death there was literally NO better qualified person to become next Emperor then the man who helped put him on the thrown to begin with. Your character, the Champion of Cyrodiil. If a new emperor was put in place who was capable and stabilized everything again, the fourth age would be just the same as the 3rd. Order would reign and life would continue just as it had in the previous era.

But create a power vacuum....undo the unification of the 3rd age, and watch it all go to pieces? Now THAT'S madness! That's what Sheogorath is all about! And how would one go about that? Simple! Turn the most sane and likely leader for the empire into a stark raving lunatic! It's not like he's protected by the Amulet of Kings or anything.

It was your destiny to save the empire and lead it there on after, keeping it stable through the transition from the 3rd age to the 4th. Mehrunes Dagon saw the changing of the age as a chance to strike and strengthen his place in the universe. Why would he be the only one? Sheogorath had his whole personality switch to Jyggalag to look forward to right at the same time, why not let Mehrunes Dagon do all the heavy lifting, slip in right after he failed, take the man most likely to keep the empire in order, and watch as it all crumbles over the next couple hundred years while he continues to grow strong, no longer plagued by his Jyggalag curse. Sure, all the Princes can walk Nirn like it ain't no thang. But only Sheogorath, in Skyrim, for some unknown reason, could stay there for so long that his own followers begged him to return to his plane of Oblivion. Sure, you lost a lot of your god powers when the Champion of Cyrodiil left the Isles, but you were still one of the most powerful people in Tamriel free to strut as you desire.

The dude is crazy, but also horrifically brilliant. I think the fact that he chose you who already had a destiny written in the elder scrolls, was 100% premeditated. He didn't just want to end his curse and find a replacement. He wanted to take out the "key" factor in the Empire's transition to the 4th age right after the failure of Oblivion crisis would have made sure everything went smoothly. He successfully served himself and threw a tiny monkey wrench into the works of the universe and screwed the whole Empire as a result. Just like he would. Your roll as Champion of Cyrodiil and the Listener of the Black Hand may be simple player choice and coincidence. But your roll as Champion, most likely to be Emperor, but instead the next Mad god was by no means happenstance.