How the Snow-Throat Got Its Groove Back

The draconic model of truth-telling, which is to say thu’um, is the method by which the will of the user is made manifest through the use of Words of Power, in the form of a Shout. For mortal Tongues, this is learned over years of meditation, practice, and study, delineating the nuance and semantic fingerprint of each Word, that the Tongue might hold it in a state of utter completion in their mind before giving it the Will to move from the realm of thought and concept to the realm of being and substance.

In essence, thu’um is the process by which the unreal is made real—and more importantly, the process by which those inculcated in the awareness of their reality can foist it upon the collective consensus that is Nirn. Thu’um is the Cave, only instead of leaving the realm of shadows behind, those few who step out into the sunlight grapple it to the ground and drag it forcefully down into the Cave with them, to show the shadows just how inadequate they are in the face of the Will that is Truth.

Given that the Stone of the Snow Throat is in fact its Voice, we can make certain extrapolations on known events. First and foremost, the loss of the human practice of the Voice, as engineered by Jurgen the Calm, represented the weakening of the Nord cultural spirit that had previously been shared and strengthened by the mythopoetic forces bound up in the Snow Tower. No longer were the Nords mighty warrior-skalds, bringing to bear their wills upon the lands to the South; they were listless, restless, with neither will nor expression. The remaining practitioners of thu’um were sworn to use it only in service to the gods, and in doing so they sacrificed their own agency to the whims of the dead past. That is the true brokenness of Snow-Throat: that mankind gave up their ability to Speak, and thus joined the ranks of the slaves. This weakness was not solely of Windcaller’s own making, however; the Nords were always dependent upon outside Truth, upon the process of leaving the Cave and witnessing true being.

To contrast, consider the rekindling of the dov in the Fourth Age, characterized by the reawakening of the Laat-Dovahkiin and the fall of Alduin. I discussed earlier the human attainment of thu’um, appealing to a deep and pre-existing truth, into which is invested Will, that is power. The dragons, dovahkiin being no exception, require no such machinations to achieve Truth. Their strength is in their utmost belief, in their knowledge that what they Speak is Truth, and it is true because they Speak it. One needs only the faculty of speech, the awareness of their Voice, to bring about its manifestation.

The Dovahkiin, in each of their interactions, provided from themselves a truth apart from the struggles and scheming of mortal power—whether that be the truth of contractual obligation, or of imperial mortality, or of uncontested victory, or ultimate truth, which is I AM, which is Defiance, which is Thu’um Incarnate. Each action was laden with spoken and acted prophecy; in true draconic fashion, things were as they were because they were spoken as such. This lesson, above all others, was delivered to the Nords who saw them in action: “BELIEVE IN THE YOU WHO BELIEVES WHAT YOU DO.” Rise above discontent, rise above silent sulking, and BE.

The Snow Tower was sundered, kingless, and bleeding, but the presence of its King, returned in fullness of power and reality, to obliterate the shadows on the wall and lead its denizens into the sun, unbowed its back and restored its Voice. As one, the note rings out across Tamriel, and the feckless Southlands tremble at the Voices in its tones.