Why do we start every single 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Elder Scrolls in a prison? Game development is part of it — starting completely fresh is perfect from both a roleplay and gameplay perspective. However, there’s plenty of in-game lore regarding the Scrolls themselves, reincarnation, and mythical, destined figures that explain the Prisoner's role. Iꦏt’s a lot to take in, so let's dive into this slightly confusing bit of Elder Scrolls mythos.
“The true contents of an Elder Scroll are malleable, hazy, uncertain. Only by the Hero’s action does it become true. The Hero is literally the scribe of the next Elder Scroll,” as writer Michael Kirkbride puts it. If you’ve played any of the games, you’ll know what an important role the Scrolls play. They tell of great event🌸s in the past and future, helping to frame and guide the present. However, something that might not be immediately clear is their fluid nature. They change. That’s why they’re so difficult to read, blinding the ill-prepared.
The reason that they're fluid is because of the Hero’s agency — the capital ‘H’ is on purpose. There are ‘heroes’ and Heroes, the former can be anybody who does something heroic, while the latter describes the legends of the Scrolls. The Hero isn't destined to do what the Scrolls say, as they can disregard their journey like a playe✤r deciding they don’t want to do the main quest. For the Hero to have agency and free will of this caliber, they must be the Prisoner. Sotha Sil, one of Morrowind’s living gods, stated:
“The Prisoner wields great power, making reality of metaphor. The Prisoner must see the door to their cell. They must gaze through the bars and perceive that which exists beyond causality. Beyond time. Only then can they escape.”
The Prisoner And The Hero
The Hero and the concept of the Prisoner are intertwined. The Hero can only exist bཧecause of the P♏risoner’s capability to see beyond the confines of reality, and because they are blank slates with unwritten futures.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Khajiit or Argonian, good or evil, mage or thief, the prisoner isn’t any of these things until they are imprisoned. They are born in prison. That is the moment where their empty vessel becomes conscious. From nothing, they can make reality from the metaphor. Maybe they choose to save the world, maybe they turn the tide of a war. "Maybe" is the vital aspect of the Prisoner. Sotha Sil says as much, “Maybe. The word I covet above all others. Hold to that word, my friend, and never let go.”
The Prisoner is the Hero of the various Elder Scrolls. They are one and the same. This is why Uriel Septim historically sought after the Prisoners of his rule, such as in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the opening of Daggerfall, where he employs us as his agent, or in Morrowind where he sends them to Vvardenfell amidst the rise of the Sixth House.He even reveals that he recognizes Oblivion's protagonist from his dreams. He understood the importance of the Prisoner better than anyone, putting into motion the various Hero’s journeys in each game. Granted, he’s dead by the time of Skyrim, so he plays no role in the Dovahkiin’s own birth. But, by sheer happenstance, Alduin’s interference sets them free, ꦉallowing for them to become the Hero and start their own journey. Coincidence, or carefully enacted prophecy?
The Prisoner is the Hero reincarnated throughout history, constantly reborn to fill that role. But the Hero doesn’t have to die for that spirit to be reincarnated. The player from Morrowind is still alive and exploring Akavir, while Oblivion’s might be Sheogorath. It’s the spirit of the Hero that is being reborn, the same spirit that was birthed with the Elhlnofey, an ancient species of et’Ada 🅰— the primordial Altmer (High Elves).
For context, there are four key roles at play: the Rebel, the King, the Observer, and the Prisoner. Magnus was the Observer, Auri-Eܫl the Rebel, Lorkhan the King, and the Elhlnofey the Prisoner. The King defends their Tower, whereas the Rebel seeks to destroy it. That archetype has, throughout the ages, been reincarnated time and time again. Who plays the other roles is often up for debate, with many arguing that Talos or Vivec act as the Observer of Morrowind’s events.
Whatever the case, these key roles are repeatedly filled with the Prisoner falling to the player character, the Hero. The purpose of the Hero is to stop whatever threat arises, whether it’s the Sixth House, the Oblivion Crisis, or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the World-Eater’s return, but there’s more to it than that.
What Is The Prisoner's Role In The Elder Scrolls?
Whether they mean to or not, every Prisoner has deactivated a Tower of Nirn. An excerpt from the unlicensed texts known as the Nu-Mantia Intercepts () reads, “They are magical and physical echoes of the Ur-Tower, Ada-Mantia. Ada-Mantia was the first spike of unassailable reality in the Dawn, otherwise called the Zero Stone.” These towers can literally bend and alter reality, and many speculate that the Prisoner is undoing reality itself, the ultimate freedom.
In Arena, we destroy the Jewel of Fire, deactivating the Staff of Chaos, and in Daggerfall, the Numidium implodes. Both are Towers𒐪 of Nirn. Morrowind sees the Heart of Lorkhan being unbound from the Red Mountain, which is yet another Tower. In Oblivion, Martin Septim destroys the Amulet of Kings, deactivating the White-Gold Tower. The only one that’s in question is Skyrim’s, the Throat of the World. Did slaying Alduin deactivate it? Or was Alduin the Rebel, and we acted as an agent of the King instead? That's🅷 for the next game to answer.
The Prisoner is the Hero, a part of the four-way enantiomorph started in the Dawn Era, shaping the prophecies foretold in the Elder Scrolls. The Prisoner isn’t just a neat bit of game design that gives us a fresh start with each game — they are integral to the future of Nirn.
