The Man, the Priest, the Legend: Florentius Baenius
We don't talk about my guy Florentius enough and he doesn't have enough lore in game so FUCK IT. I gave him some because I don't know if I'll get to go over it in my fanfiction [specifically, the Great War stuff. Fingers crossed that I do, but in case I don't, that's what this post is for].
Yes I do in fact believe that his connection to Arkay is, in fact, real. Some of the shit he says is uncanny, and the other shit is downright scary. It isn't unheard of for Divines to speak to mortals [remember the quest where you save a little Karthwasten girl named Fjotra from Forsworn, only for her to become the new sybil of Dibella?], so it isn't too much of a stretch to say Arkay gives Florentius all the tea on everyone around him.
Florentius can train the player in Restoration, and he's the guy you go to for alchemy ingredients. He's a healer, and damn good at it. He's old enough--in my mind--to have served some time in The Great War, where he no doubt mastered these abilities and witnessed some truly awful and gruesome scenes. I imagine he got into the war after his fall out with Isran, which makes it extra painful [and I love painful]. He of course rejoined the Vigilants after, as he didn't know what else to do.
That being said, I don't think Arkay was ALWAYS with him. Rather, I think Arkay came to him after The Great War. Runil, the grave tender from Falkreath, turned to worshipping Arkay after the war on the side of the Thalmor. Florentius, then, most likely knows Runil, and perhaps they're even friends after sharing a similar experience.
Going back to Isran, they're ex-boyfriends. They have the chemistry! And I just can't ignore the 'goofy sunshine and grumpy asshole' trope and I love them being a bit of a parallel to Vigdis and Serana. Of course in my fanfiction they get back together because, well. I can. The way Isran is just so ANNOYED when you ask him about bringing Florentius to the fort is too funny. I love annoying the man whenever possible what can I say--
Anyway. Due to Florentius' knowledge in the healing arts AND his connection to Arkay, he's very capable of performing miracle-level bullshit if he's desperate enough. I won't spoil my fanfiction, but he does exactly that . . . with a bit of intervention from another Divine as well. [Someone really didn't want her to die.]
OH, and because of his experiences in The Great War, I think that's often why Florentius is . . . goofy. Funny. Sarcastic. It's how he copes with the trauma. When he is serious, the entire room seems to shift and it's just .. . so good. I don't know the voice actor's name, but serious props to him for accomplishing so much emotion just through voice. It's fantastic.
If you didn't want to read all of that: basically, Florentius is easily my second favourite NPC in Skyrim, if DLCs are included. EASILY. He's awesome and I love him.
