Mantelling Re-examined

Walk like them until they walk like you. Simple, right? Perhaps too simple. The process of mantelling is one of the ways to attain godhood, with three wildly different examples present within the universe. The three we know to have happened are: the Tribunal to the “three good daedra”, Wulfarth, Hjalti, Zurin to Lorkhan, and finally the champion of Cyrodiil to Sheogorath and also a highly controversial, highly speculative one. Each example has caveats and exceptions, seemingly flying in the face of “walk like them until they walk like you”. Firstly, if mantelling is the process where you become someone else, or both of you become the being, how are the three daedra still separate beings from ALMSIVI? Or Sheogorath seemingly completely transforming into separate being, where you inherit the position? All will (hopefully) be explained (perhaps).

1. ALMSIVI and the Three Good Daedra

Okay, the basic tenant of mantelling is “walk like them”, seems quite simple, act like them, be them, same desires, opinions, even owning the pink polo. It seems odd that the Tribunal seem different to the daedra they supposedly are. Sotha Sil is paired with Azura, but is a different gender, (although gender can shift in daedra, it seems odd that acting the same as someone else, being a different gender to the one they identify with, their personality, would work), same goes for Amalexia and Boethiah. This has an elegant solution ALM, SI and VI didn’t mantle them, the tribunal did, more specifically, they mantelled one important part, the mythopoetic aspect (in the eyes of the Dunmer). Having each Tribunal member be the same as a single daedra wouldn’t work, but all the little pieces of the Tribunal fit together to be the same as the three good daedra. They are not the same beings, but their existence overlaps at the mythopoetic aspect; the Tribunal is standing in front of the daedra, anticipating them. This example is the most simple of all of them.

2. Tiber Septim and Lorkhan

This one is deceptively tricky for one reason: the entaniomorph. This is the key piece to manteling, the only way, I repeat, only way, to mantle is through this. In the tribunal it is quite easy to see it: the king, the rebel, the observer; it doesn’t matter who fills the role, ultimately it is unimportant, but the pattern is there. The way to mantle is to match the entaniomorph of whomever you are mantelling (one could theorise that the reason the Tribunal hasn’t completely mantelled the other is that it hasn’t been resolved yet, and are stuck in the aeons long limbo of waiting for it, but I digress). Believing, for a second, the arcturian heresy, the three people that constitute Talos fall into a perfectly entaniomorphic structure, Hjalti: the king. Wulfarth: the rebel, Zurin: the observer. In some way, without knowing it, they all fall into place, just so they fit into the same cosmic hole that Lorkhan does, without doing anything themselves (hardly “walking like them”). Now, we have one entaniomorph, now where is the other? I don’t know if I’m being honest, but it is there! Perhaps there is a hidden entaniomorph within LORK somewhere, maybe Shor, Shezzar, Lorkhan, maybe even more abstract, like his experience with the tower and the wheel. If we wanted to get REALLY conspiratorial, we could theorise Hjalti won out in the resolution the entaniomorph, fulfilling the conditions to mantle alone, explain why Wulfarth and Zurin became the underking, but that is for another post.

3. COC and Sheogorath

This one is with the most information, as, you know, we were there. So this one has to be the simplest one, right? Well… First off, the entaniomorph is clear, Sheogorath: the king, his exact opposite, and usurper: Jyggalag, and… who’s the observer? Haskiil of course! He’s been around forever; he seems to be an uncanny balance of boring old order and demented Sheogorath, a fine candidate (this position could be filled by the other daedric lords, as they are the ones that set he cycle in motion). So, what we have is an entaniomorph playing out again and again, with Sheogorath losing, only for positions to be reversed, and Shiggy to return. Now, something different happens this time, the observer is replaced, by you. As far as I can tell, what is going on is some kind of magical cosmic tango, the pieces falling into place just enough to work; now if this is a bit much for you, I understand, but here it goes. You are the observer, and as you go around trying to help Sheogorath, you get closer and closer to the resolution, ready to “observe” Shiggy’s inevitable loss, when… bam! You pull a fast one; you and Shiggy switch places simultaneously, how? Well, notice how Sheogorath has two aspects: manic and demented, this is an entaniomorph inside of him you take on one of the positions as the duke or duchess of the manic or demented, and complete with the symbol of office, you take on the position of an easily resolvable entaniomorph. You have mantelled him (or his job, at least). Now, you have two things: a semi-gorath, and Jyggalag. He looks around, realises the entaniomorph has not been resolved (while being resolved) and loses out in this new one. The entaniomorph has been resolved twice: a new Sheogorath, functionally identical, except he won instead of lost, and Jyggalag, who also won his entaniomorph. There are no longer any entaniomorphs in need of resolving, hurray!

Conclusion

The entaniomorph is the driving force behind every single example of mantelling through two ways: 1. becoming a participant. Fill the role, replace someone that was there before and either resolve it, or relax, as you might have reached your goal. 2. Fit the shape, look enough like their entaniomorph that you fit through the cosmic hole, in this way, it is very much like walking like them. Now, what was my “highly controversial, highly speculative” example? The very first beginning of the Mythic Dawn Commentaries gives us the answer: “We mortals leave the dreaming-sleeve of birth the same, unmantled save for the symbiosis with our mothers.” This heavily implies we are “mantelled” to our mothers, here is how: At the moment of conception you are plucked from the dream-sleeve and placed into your mother’s womb, you are the observer in the entaniomorph, your father and mother duking it out, who wins? One could speculate that you are the gender of your winning parent, but I disagree, the symbiosis is being in the same entaniomorph as your mother, symbiosis.

TL;DR: It isn’t the walking like them until they walk like you, it’s really more like a complicated dance in which only several times you will need to walk like them. Hey, ascending to godhood is harder than it looks.