In defense of Men

An essay by Elanya of Lillandril, priestess of Stendarr.

“Where Man goes, Mer suffers”. Ancient Aldmeri proverb.

Some of our people deride Stendarr as the “Apologist of Men”, a title that is problematic in more than one way. First, it assumes that Stendarr only cares about the races of Men, as if the god of mercy did not care about all the mortal races equally. Second, it considers the very idea of defending Men a crime that should not be tolerated.

Certainly, the younger races of Men have committed serious crimes against the people of the world. Wars of conquest against their neighbours, progroms against Mer and Betmer, breaking Time itself… However, those who think that humans are above redemption tend to overlook the instances where Men have learned to overcome their atavistic primitivism and their Lorkhanic superstitions to become proper citizens of Tamriel and even allies, if not friends, of Mer.

“But what about the Nords?”, you say. “Those barbarians from the north who destroyed the Falmer and admire Lorkhan as their undead warrior-king?”.

I hear you and remember what others forgot: that Nords also joined our Direnni and Ayleid brothers and sisters to stop the fanatical horde of the Alessian Order and that later they managed to sign an alliance with the Dunmer, their former enemies. If a fellow called ‘Hoag Merkiller’ could learn to see beyond past grievances and join hands for a common goal, surely the Altmer are able to do the same.

“But what about the Bretons?”, you say. “Those mongrels who rebelled against proper Direnni rule and stole High Rock from our people?”.

You call them ‘mongrels’. I call them ‘our children’. For they have our blood and are heirs to our culture. They even pray to Phynaster, one of our most honoured god-heroes. Bretons fought with Mer against Nords and Alessians to defend their land, but they were still treated like shameful mistakes, a servant caste only fit to take orders. Had the Direnni practised Stendarr’s mercy and compassion, High Rock could have remained under elven control.

“But what about Redguards?”, you say. “Those raiders who arrived in waves, killed our people in Hammerfell and plagued our coast for centuries?”.

Truly, Redguards can be equal to Nords in terms of sheer brutality and destruction. Yet, of all the races of Men, they are probably the closest to us in their understanding of the Aurbis. Do not mind their bizarre names and practices; without elven input, Redguards have learned to see the Missing God as what he really is: the Trickster, the Jailer, the Enemy of Mortals. It gives us hope that, with time and proper education, all people in Tamriel can be guided towards the right path.

These are uncomfortable truths. Even now I hear some of the most radical youngsters in Lillandril talk of a “final solution” to the Human Problem. Ironically, by doing that they prove to be the same as those Men who play the victim card, using past mistakes to justify present crimes. We can do better. We must do better.

Pray to Stendarr, so we can find a way to mend old wounds and build a better Tamriel together.

Days after the publication of this essay, Thalmor agents broke into Elanya’s house in Lillandril. However, by the time they got there she had already left. Her current whereabouts remain unknown.