#orkey

[redwoodrroad]

Cloven Duality.

(@renmorris 's idea that i had to make real 💖)

[the-mercurial-star-o-vesper]

JUST A SIMPLE THEORY ABOUT HORKERS

Skyrim Lore time!

You remember the Horkers?

I bet you, drakes to septims, that Orkey was actually named Horkey and that his emblem was not the serpent, but the Horker, and the serpent came later.

Plus, a triage of tusks? Interesting. There is someone who is associated with threes...

Now, how did I come to this conclusion, and better still, why?

Well for one, its etymology with Orcs.

See, the word "orcs" is derived from Orcus, the Roman God of the Underworld and of Oaths (Ah, an association with our favorite god, Malacath). But it goes farther, because Orcus was one of those gods adopted from Greek Mythology mashed into Roman Mythology.

His original name is Horkus, the God of the Oath, and the god that comes after you when you break one (not Styx, important distinction).

It obviously wouldn't take much to get from Horkus to Horker. Add that dash of "To hork is to devour greedily" and boom, a new animal.

Why draw the godly distinction? Well it has tusks, three of them, and there is a trinity god who ended up with tusks.

But that brings the question of what's up with Orkey being associated with Snakes?

Well, consider who else was associated with Snakes in Skyrim.

Boethiah.

And while they're clearly distinict gods, we know when their associations crossed becaaaaause--

"So one day Boethiah, Prince of Plots, precocious youth, tricked Trinimac to go into his mouth. Boethiah talked like Trinimac for awhile then, and gathered enough people to listen to him. Boethiah showed them the lies of the et'Ada, the Aedra, and told them Trinimac was the biggest liar of all, saying all this with Trinimac's voice!" - The Changed Ones

Honestly this actually has pretty big lore implications, because it shows that it wasn't just the Chimer that Boethiah spake to. The whole damn continent had the "Wandering Ehlnofey"--ie, Men / Humans.

Which means that the consumption of Trinimac didn't just affect the elven pantheon--it affected his human counterpart "Orkey/Arkay" too.

And maybe, was apart of the single tale of Orkey we know of.

"Orkey (Old Knocker): God of mortality, Orkey combines aspects of Mauloch and Arkay. He is a "loan-god" for the Nords, who seem to have taken up his worship during Aldmeri rule of Atmora. Nords believe they once lived as long as Elves until Orkey appeared; through heathen trickery, he fooled them into a bargain that "bound them to the count of winters." At one time, legends say, Nords only had a lifespan of six years due to Orkey's foul magic. Then Shor showed up and, through unknown means, removed the curse, throwing most of it onto the nearby Orcs." - Variaties of Faith: Nord Edition

Aldmeri rule of Atmora, eh? Sounds like we know where the Falmer came from then. They were Aldmer, but something changed them. The Aldmer believed they're from Aldmeris, but Aldmeris doesn't exist. Atmora, however, does, as its the origin of Giants and Talos visited. I wonder if its possible that Aldmer were mistaking Atmora for Aldmeris. This also brings an idea. Is it possible that Summerset as it stands now, was not the origin point of mer, but Atmora was? Just as it was the origin point of Men? Or that Sumemrset broke off from Atmora, when Atmora froze, and those left behind would become the Falmer, while those in Summerset would become the Altmer. The Snow Elves still worship the Old Ways, even Trinimac though Trinimac's worship has long been abandoned by the Altmer. How could they worship Trinimac and Ancestors, unless they were all from the same place, but lack cultural experiences that would lead to schisms? Looks like we're missing pieces here... ( Stuff lik this is why I don't trust ESO to carry Lore )

"Old Knocker

The third song of King Wulfharth tells of his death. Orkey, an enemy god, had always tried to ruin the Nords, even in Atmora where he stole their years away. Seeing the strength of King Wulfharth, Orkey summoned the ghost of Alduin Time-Eater again. Nearly every Nord was eaten down to six years old. Boy Wulfharth pleaded to Shor, the dead Chieftain of the Gods, to help his people. Shor's own ghost then fought the Time-Eater on the spirit plane, as he did at the beginning of time, and he won, and Orkey's folk, the Orcs, were ruined." - Five Songs of King Wulfharth

Shor's Ghost is interesting, given that Wulfharth is a Shezarrine, and is literally bits of Shor... But its possible, given the plot of Skyrim, that Shor's Ghost is another term for Dovahkiin / Dragonborn, and that Alduin has had a long history of being ass kicked.

Nearby Orcs suggest that Orsimer were here at the time, and this is after Trinimac's consumption--but remember, if they were in Atmora, then time isn't so linear. (Atmora can be taken as both a real place and a mythical place of metaphor). But the important thing is the underlying theme here--the Folk of Orkey were Changed. There's no telling who, at the time, was being called orcs (as orc was once a general term, and not a descriptor of an elf race ) [ it wouldn't shock me if they were refering to mer in general. Considering that lots of mer can live for thousands of years, but most of them die of old age in a few hundred ] The only other story that refers to a people that changed, was the stories of Velothi. So when Trinimac changed--we can assume it changed the worshipers of his oversoul, not just his mer followers. And being "Eaten" is metaphorical. Vivec Ate Azura during the Trial after all, where she was not physically eaten but merely bound to mortality then banished (Which raises the possiblity of where Vivec went; after all, if they bound Azura to mortality then banished them, who's Prince Azura in later games then?). Alduin ate years down and merely deaged nords. Being Eaten means stripping someone of something vital, and binding them to mortality as a result. To be eaten is to be diminished through powerful argument, you cannot physically harm a god, but you can argue harm to themselves and take on or "eat" the power they shed. And Arkay is left diminished.

So, we can assume that Orkey was effectively hijacked. Given the implications that Boethiah and Trinimac were, once upon a time, the same entity now two gods under one oversoul.

I'd say that it prolly had something to do with both mortals, and himself (kin killer that he is), realizing that he was full of shit about whatever was going on with Lorkhan's plan, and even those who still believed it was a trap, still saw the favored god going mad and discredited him.

"Answers are liberations, where the slaves of Malbioge that came to know Numantia cast down their jailer king, Maztiak, which the Xarxes Mysterium calls the Arkayn. Maztiak, whose carcass was dragged through the streets by his own bone-walkers and whose flesh was opened on rocks thereon and those angels who loved him no longer did drink from his honeyed ichors screaming "Let all know free will and do as they will!" - Commentaries of the Mysterium Xarxes Book Two

[elderscrollsconceptart]

The Snake - Orkey Mural

Concept art for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Art by Adam Adamowicz

[uesp]

The Engravings Seen in the Hall of Stories

Alduin (The Dragon)

Dibella (The Moth)

Jhunal (The Owl)

Kyne (The Hawk)

Mara (The Wolf)

Orkey (The Snake)

Shor (The Fox)

Stuhn (The Whale)

Tsun (The Bear)

[caithyra]

Widowed Goddess/Queens and Missed Opportunities...

While General Tullius is a hundred times more competent than 95% of Skyrim’s NPCs or so, there is one glaring mistake he makes as a military governor (though he would have to convince High Queen Elisif to get onboard, which shouldn’t be too difficult):

He does not restore Old Nord Faith to Skyrim (which is not outlawed, and perfectly compatible with being Imperial), and use it as propaganda against Ulfric and his Stormcloaks.

If you are familiar with the Old Nord myths about Shor/Lorkhan’s death, I am just going to summarize it as this:

Torygg=Shor Elisif=Kyne Ulfric/Stormcloaks=Trinimac/Merethic et’Ada

For those less versed in Elder Scrolls mythology: Shor was the God of Men who made sure the mortal world was created, he was later killed by the Elven gods Trinimac and Auri-El atop the Adamantine Tower in the Dawn Era, and Kyne, his widow, became the chief deity of Mankind according to Nord folklore (not Alduin/Akatosh or Ysmir/Talos!).

It’s like the perfect base for pro-Elisif propaganda (Kyne is the beloved mother goddess of the Nords who breathed them to life atop the Throat of the World and bestowed them Voices and made them hardy against the cold), that would also undercut Ulfric’s claims of restoring the TrueNordFaith(TM)... And it would make getting Whiterun on the Imperial side with the Temple of Kynareth, Gildergreen,  Skyforge and windy plains a bit of a Big Deal to prop up the Elisif-Kyne connection...

Yes, this would religiously fracture the Nords a bit away from Imperial Cult (which is an evolved hybrid of Nordic and Ayleidic faiths, though both those faiths recognized the other), but it would be less of a schism than between Hammerfell and the Empire, and not at all unbridgeable.

It also would have given the Old Nord Faith a spotlight in its homeland instead of being tucked away in a shack with an old man...

Seriously, this game had sooo many missed opportunities...

[colonel-killa-bee]

nord boy do you have any nord headcanons?

Lots of them! Tho irl I’d be a Redguard, with some Nord blood.

One headcanon, or theory I guess is that Paarthurnax came up with what we know of the way of the voice today with Jurgen to keep the Nords under control without ruling them. It disarms the general population and keeps the Nords who do know the thu’um under his control, which is why when applied to the other dragons, they referred to it as “His Way of the Voice”, as though the Way of the Voice wasn’t a thing the other dragons followed at all.

So really, the modern Greybeards are essentially a modern Dragon Cult.

Another headcanon, Ulfric Stormcloak and Balgruuf the Greater were best friends and both played “Tongues” as children (that sounds weird, lol I mean Nordic Tongues of course) and fantasied about being called up to High Hrothgar.

And when Ulfric actually was called, Balgruuf never forgave him for leaving and for rejecting their ways to return to Skyrim’s people and fight the Thalmor.

Lol these are sad headcanons but Nords are a grim people with grim history and stories.

Here’s a happy one, some Nords respect animals even more than Bosmer, and ask the spirit of the ones they hunt for forgiveness when their lives are taken. Every now and then Kyne will let the animal’s spirit be seen to show that the Nord is forgiven and that it was a good kill, so long as everything of the animal is used.

Nords also hold rituals and have days when they honor one or more of these animals and leave food for them outside their homes or in the woods. An egg for snakes, for example, in warmer parts of Skyrim where snakes live, to keep Orkey away (for those that think Orkey is the Snake, I still say it’s Shor).

Solitude’s ancestors domesticated some of the local silver wolves they’re known for by often leaving these tributes for Mara and her wolves specifically, and they moved closer and closer to the Nords there and the surrounding settlements until they became famous for their wolf companions, especially amongst Nord nobility. 

Nords according to signs are sometimes named after an animal at birth by clever men and women in lore, like if they’re said to be saved by this animal in the future, so those men and women will not kill those creatures. Example, people with the moniker of Wolfkin. And their patron god or goddess matches up with the animal. Wolfkin’s patron would be Mara, but they honor Kyne above all as the chief god of the pantheon, and the Kiss at the End.

Part of a much bigger poem/story I wrote-

“Some men call Aka as they die. Nords watch this and wonder why. It’s with her Voice that these beasts cry… remember all, Kyne rules the Sky.”

[shaggy-mcgee]

I’ve fallen back in love with Skyrim. The modding community is a blessing. Wintersun Faiths of Skyrim is the mod I’ve been looking for since I first played it years ago. I can finally worship the old gods!

[beautifulvvideo]

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