To Unmake a World

1. Remove Talos 2. Remove Man 3. Fix Time 4. ??? 5. Profit

I’ll begin by pointing out that this is my attempt to understand what it means to unmake a world. Keep in mind that the goal of this text is to provide an alternating narrative to the typical “destroy-the_world” one. As such, it will look at things in a mainly Aldmeri perspective. I will not go deeply into what MK points out on what is needed to achieve this goal as that is beyond the scope of this, but I will briefly touch on that. Plus, others could describe it better than I.

Initialising Translation: Definition

The Merriam dictionary lists unmake as to cause to disappear, to deprive of essential characteristics, or change the nature of something.

It is easy to assume it means simply to destroy but it is more than that. It is indeed a form of destruction, but a destruction borne through the reversal of something to make it return to an original state. This differs from flat out destroying the world because one is not rendering an object into nothingness [relatively speaking], but returning it back to its constituent parts. Think the difference between completely destroying your computer and upgrading it by removing/adding parts. Now while the effectiveness of this is debatable, I will try to explain how I would see it.

Accessing Memory Archives: The Dawn

In the beginning there was Anu and Padomay, Satakal, All-Maker etc. Through their dance they created the Aurbis, as well as the various et’Ada. Now, these Spirits were temporal yet permanent, existing in all states of existence as concepts recycling throughout. The coming of the et’Ada known as Time/Limit helped organise them The Monomyth. Through his movements they were made able to understand their strengths and limits, whilst still being infinite.

Long story short, through the machinations of the one known as Lorkhan they invested in the endeavour that would become Nirn. They became limited through the gifting of themselves to this new place, some dying completely The Monomyth. Others fled before they could lose all their power: The Daedra [I say this because despite what is said about them, their investment in the world indicates to me that they initially played a part in the creation, but quickly left at the earliest opportunity] and the Magna’Ge [The Star Orphans who left before they could become completely mortalised and their concepts trapped].

The Spirits of the Dawn were imperishable, that is to say, they could sustain their own Memory by themselves. Post-creation however, they were so weakened that they could do no such thing and were forced to share just to sustain their concepts, till their offspring became corrupted mixed things The Monomyth. Then they had to procreate just to maintain their own Memory. And even then they were caught in a loop of never-ending cyclical time, bound to never be free of the Mortal plane. The Time Dragon was trapped, their place in the Heavens replaced by new things. Ever since then the Original Spirits [those that existed before the World, not those newly-created] are constantly attempting to escape, either collectively or individually, as they subconsciously remember what Heaven was like. Hence the existence of the various afterlives [on that note, isn’t it interesting the mer have no afterlife of their own?]

Disseminating Pattern-Probabilities: The Dreamsleeve

The Deamsleeve. The state of birth, death, rebirth, re-death, and renewal. A good thing for mortals in the sense that if they remembered their past lives there would only be suffering and anguish at the eternity of it all. A soul would be Eleithenya in one lifetime, die, and then be scrubbed clean, becoming Ouranmir in another. Madness would be their only option if they remembered.

Small acts of worship, or Will, would bind fragments of their soul into their collective Memory and thus they would retain a longer sentience. Larger acts would empower them, such that they remain complete [as Idealised versions of who they were, becoming Gods]. Think the difference between the Remembered and the Forgotten in the Book of Life.

Eitherway, their totality of existence [or Atman see also, Skandha] would be bound to the Arena, unable to truly free themselves until they “awaken” themselves, but how likely is that for everyone? Not very. In Vedic philosophy [of which Mer philosophy borrows] this cycle is known as Samsara and the process of escaping this, Nirvana.

So the world is a cyclical hell, and mortals are bound to it. Those mortals wise and wilful attempt to escape this cycle or atleast make it more bearable [The Tribunal, Mankar, Dagoth, Mannimarco, incidentally many are Elves], one way or another, but this is often an individualistic task, and many fail. To escape means to remove oneself from the illusion of this world and the Samsara of Nirn, to remove oneself from the Dream. In Buddhist philosophy this can engendered the destruction of the self i.e nirvana. In CHIM, this is done by retaining the persona but seeing past the Maya [illusion/reality].

Borrowing from Buddhist philosophy again, one can think of Nirn as a testing ground with no true purpose, but it is also “Hell”. One can point out that perhaps Lorkhan intended for it to help Spirits re-ascend though as mentioned above, how many of them will actually do so?

Incidentally, haven’t you ever wondered why the realms of Oblivion, despite seemingly being infinite, are considered beneath Aetherius. Indeed, they are typically shown to be contained within Aetherius. This is because, I theorise, they are infact a part of Nirn and stuck as the others are. The Daedra may not have created Tamriel but they had a hand in the creation of the Arena and hence are as bound to it as the Aedra to Tamriel [my theory as to their investment in it, aside from for the sheer fun of messing with mortals].

Inducing Transmerisation Process: To Unmake a World

Now, why is unmaking the world a good thing? Imagine instead of spending years hoping to reach enlightenment (in what is essentially solitary confinement) with no guarantee of success, everyone could do so in an instant.

But wouldn’t that cheapen the achievement you ask? No, because one of the processes of reaching enlightenment (in Buddhist philosophy) requires one to let go of the concept of Material suffering as a good thing. It is us, mortals, who ascribe to the idea that everything has a worth and that something is always greater judging on how long and difficult it takes for us to get it.

If the world is unmade, it would not be as though everything would cease to exist. Instead, things would reset to just before the Convention. Remade, the old spirits would be able to make for themselves a better world.

But what about eternal boredom you ask? Well remember, time would not be linear so there would be various infinite realms of reality with alternating events, infinite possibilities to explore simultaneously and singularly. It would be as though Aetherius has descended. The Spirits, corrupted into Men and Mer, would retain the experience and nature they’ve accumulated throughout Time, they would merely become “purer” in form i.e shapeshifting-Daemons of infinite power.

But what about Men?

According to the lore we are given, it was through the machinations of Lorkhan that Men were created. Men are referred to as the slaves of Lorkhan [Limit] whilst Mer are referred to as the slaves of Auriel [Time]. Without him, the Ehlnofey would not divide so drastically.

I have a theory why there is another reason why Men should not exist. A Kalpa is defined in the Elder Scrolls universe as being a rewrite of the world. This rewrite is not complete, retaining the common themes intrinsic to all. A fall from heaven due to greed, a moment when the kalpa is solidified i.e Convention, and a split in the dominant race along ideological lines i.e man vs mer, daedra vs aedra. The moment when those last two happen is when the cycle is maintained. Removing those keystones allows for a new narrative to be rewritten without the threat of repetition. The whole thing would unravel.

Think of it like a basket made of palm leaves. We have big ones, small ones, coloured ones, plain ones. Men and Mer come from the same branch, but it’s been twisted to different purposes. A Kalpa would be the whole thing redone in another shape each time, dragon breaks being the eventual fraying of Time. Unmaking would be redoing the whole basket with new material, whilst retaining the some of the old.

Ultimately, the effectiveness of this plan as written in the “Altmeri Commentary on Talos” is questionable. We know there are more Towers than just on Tamriel, one can’t concievably deactivate all of them. Too, belief is stronger when repressed therefore active persecution rarely works.

One can argue for either way of unmaking. “Good” and “Bad”, are just concepts that are extremely subjective. Not all mer are unified, even among their own type, and ditto for the men. I ask that we do not use them the good and bad concepts shallowly, instead finding an objective truth that accommodates all perspectives. It can be difficult to do so as a Human, but we must try, to enrichen the lore found in this great series.