#wulfharth

[be-a-stranger12]

An arcturian depiction of the apotheosis of talos - for project tamril rebuilt

[cerviero]

[roumanelli]

I hope the Tiber Wars community is proud of me

[ulenehlervu]

@tes-summer-fest day 1, "breath"

inspired by @arcturite’s design

[trickstarbrave]

actually im convinced kirkbride wrote the songs of wulfharth specifically to fuck with me personally. god fucking dammit. im doing this right now

why the fuck does vivec say in the 36 sermons that nerevar had keening WHILE going to fight the dwemer. that doesnt make any sense right? we could dismiss this as metaphorical language...

EXCEPT!!! the nords ALSO mention that nerevar had keening during the battle of red mountain. there is a change though in that nerevar is fighting ALONGSIDE the dwemer this time, which makes a LOT more sense why he would have keening--because dumac would give him keening.

but does that necessarily make sense? why would he fight alongside the dwemer when they were using the tools to tamper with the heart of lorkhan and made numidium? its impossible to say. i genuinely dont know. but vivec has already proven that after the red moment (the time the tribunal became gods) they have fucked around with nerevar a lot to make him their champion instead of remaining as his advisors and vassals. regardless of how much they loved him.

is it possible in one timeline nerevar sided with the dwemer and almsivi+dagoth ur wanted to erase that timeline because they cant stand the thought of their beloved nerevar siding with traitors? its very possible. we can't confirm it though because its not like dumac is still around--only one dwemer remains and he sure as shit wouldn't know, his mind is kinda going thanks to the corprus, and he seems more occupied with the disappearance of his race than who nerevar was buddy-buddy with during the battle of red mountain. the only people who would know are almsivi and dagoth ur, and in the only account of nerevar siding with the dwemer during the battle of red mountain they were both SO opposed to it they would rather work with the nords, so why would they ever want to admit that?

but then what would azura say to that? if nerevar really wanted to use the tools on the heart of lorkhan, that would leave very clear marks in that he would be influenced by the heart becoming a god in some form like ALMSIVI or dagoth ur. but he doesnt have that. or perhaps his nature becoming the nerevarine is what resulted when he used the tools? maybe something else? maybe he was lorkhan during the nord account in the songs of wulfharth because nerevar IS a shezzarine???

[superluminaldot]

heir to the empire

[dalekofchaos]

[caithyra]

But is not that THE Point?

Sometimes I like to watch what other say about the writing in The Elder Scrolls, and sometimes I run across people who, disappointed in watered down and discarded lore, try to use it it rewrites

Skyrim’s Civil War with the Stormcloaks and Talos worship is one such example when plenty of people who complain about the loss of previous lore try to use it in rewrites, and by doing so, completely misses the point of that the current story is telling (if clumsily and contradictory at times). They want the Stormcloaks’ conflict with the Empire be about venerating the old Nordic gods and be a tale about the uwunderdogs vs imperialism.

However, in the lore, this is established:

Talos is a relatively new god that has usurped the Nordic Ysmir by fusing the legend of Ysmir Wulfharth of Atmora together with Hjalti Early-Beard/Tiber Septim and his right hand Zurin Arctus, via a Dragon Break named the Warp in the West created by Tiber Septim whose propaganda made him Talos of Atmora even though no one has come to Tamriel from Atmora in literal eras because it is now a frozen wasteland. The whole Nordic worship of Talos itself is an Imperialist trick to ensure the Imperialization of the Nords (yes, Talos is a god and has the powers and whatnot, but this still Imperialized Skyrim faster by equating Hjalti with Ysmir).

Ulfric sparks two rebellions by taking the religious freedoms and ancestral lands from the Reachmen while loudly complaining that he cannot worship Talos like a TrueNordTM in his ancestral homeland (that, btw, he still rules as Jarl, oh and the whole Talos of Atmora bit should make Atmora more of his ancestral land than any part of Skyrim, much less south-western Skyrim!). This leaves the Reachmen devastated, divided and in serfdom to the Nords (and thus so much more worse off than Nords after the Talos ban). The Stormcloak side also complains a lot about lack of faith/loyalty among Imperials, and at this point Ulfric is sworn to the Empire and he breaks faith with it.

He is also sworn to his High King, that he murders with his Voice before running away (instead of staying and taking the throne like a TrueNordTM would have done). We learn that violently using the Voice unless you are Dragonborn is against another ancient Nord philosophy/religion “The Way of the Voice” as taught by the Greybeards to Ulfric when they taught him to Shout, and the Way of the Voice is an ancient Nord philosophy that he has then broken for his own ends.

We also learn how he mistreats/neglects the citizens of his own Hold (Dunmer, Argonians, women, orphans...), which is a complaint he raises against the Empire’s treatment of him and his Stormcloaks.

And finally, we learn that the Thalmor actually likes the Stormcloak Rebellion and that up until the Markarth Incident, Ulfric was working with them (now he’s “unknowingly” working for their interests though any dying brain cell would figure out that he’s supporting the Dominion with his actions [and I am under the belief that he sparked the Forsworn Rebellion for them, and to the Thalmor the Stormcloak Rebellion was an unexpected bonus, akin to Naarifin’s conquest of Cyrodiil], and also, why doesn’t he question all those convenient supplies and info that the Thalmor keeps dropping in his lap? Not that it stopped Tullius from defeating him in a few months in Ulfric’s own Hold...).

And then we have Froki blatantly telling us how Imperialized the current Nords are in their religion (though badly, if he was to be only rep for the old gods, he, and his questline, should have been much more developed, and he should have not been the only follower of the old ways).

Basically, the heart of the Stormcloak Rebellion, and the Civil War, is Hypocrisy and the Glorification of Ulfric Stormcloak.

That’s why it has to be Talos and cannot be Ysmir, Sai or Shor. The God of the Empire has to be worshiped by the Stormcloaks because he is the God of the Empire they rebel against (and thus their true loyalties when it comes to Talos worship are in question). He has to be the Breton impostor usurping a Nordic legendary hero-king-god to force everyone into his Empire, because it mirrors Ulfric’s duplicity and self-serving actions.

If it was any ancient Nordic god, it would have been about what Ulfric claimed it to be: The defense of Nordic religion and culture, and by extension, the Nordic peoples.

It is not. Just like how the current uber-Nord Talos of Atmora worship is all about the deification of Tiber Septim, a Breton from Alcaire, the Stormcloak Rebellion is all about the Cult of Personality of Ulfric Stormcloak.

That’s why we learn all those things above, and while yes, I wish we got the old Nordic faith (among others) fully represented in Skyrim, inserting it into the Civil War would have created a much different story and changed Ulfric’s character to be opposite of what he is. In this case, I feel that the writers either knew what they were doing (how it turned out in the game notwithstanding), or they accidentally created a consistent narrative about Ulfric’s (and the Stormcloaks’) hypocrisy.