User talk:2600:100F:B104:A350:EC6C:42CA:4BFF:F272

Re: Aedra lore help
To understand metaphysics in TES you have to recognize the inherent duality of the entire universe. We see this pretty much everywhere in the lore. Where it really began was the arbitrary creation of Anu and Padomay (described in this text as "His Other" in reference to Anu), which are simply two opposing and fundamental forces of the TES universe. They don't represent anything specific like the Eight Divines do, just order and chaos, respectively.

The Monomyth:

''All Tamrielic religions begin the same. Man or Mer, things begin with the dualism of Anu and His Other. These twin forces go by many names: Anu-Padomay, Aniel-Sithis, Ak-El, Satak-Akel, Is-Is Not. Anuiel is the Everlasting Ineffable Light, Sithis is the Corrupting Inexpressible Action. In the middle is the Gray Maybe ('Nirn' in the Ehlnofex).''

Vehk's Teaching:

''As the process of subcreation continued, both Anu and Padhome awakened. For to see your antithesis is to finally awaken. Each gave birth to their souls, Auriel and Sithis, and these souls regarded the Aurbis each in their own part, and from this came the etada, the original patterns. These etada eventually congealed.''

It can be a little unclear in some texts, but from Anu came his soul, Anui-El, and from Padomay came his soul, Sithis (Vekh's Teaching uses the term "birthed," but this is obviously not literal); this is explained in Vekh's Teaching as their "awakening." The Monomyth describes the subsequent creation of the Aurbis as being caused by the "interplay" between Anui-El and Sithis—and here is where things start to make a little more sense, now that we have something relatively tangible to consider.

The Monomyth:

''In any case, from these two beings spring the et'Ada, or Original Spirits. To humans these et'Ada are the Gods and Demons; to the Aldmer, the Aedra/Daedra, or the 'Ancestors'. All of the Tamrielic pantheons fill their rosters from these et'Ada, though divine membership often differs from culture to culture. Like Anu and Padomay, though, every one of these pantheons contains the archetypes of the Dragon God and the Missing God.''

Vekh's Teaching:

''Anu’s firstborn, for he mostly desired order, was time, anon Akatosh. Padhome’s firstborn went wandering from the start, changing as he went, and wanted no name but was branded with Lorkhan. As time allowed more and more patterns to individualize, Lorkhan watched the Aurbis shape itself and grew equally delighted and tired with each new shaping. As the gods and demons of the Aurbis erupted, the get of Padhome tried to leave it all behind for he wanted all of it and none of it all at once. It was then that he came to the border of the Aurbis. He saw the Tower, for a circle turned sideways is an “I”. This was the first word of Lorkhan and he would never, ever forget it.''

As you can see above, though, Anui-El and Sithis were at this time still too primordial to make much out of the disorderly Aurbis. Therefore Anui-El birthed Auri-El (who is often described as Akatosh, although this can be misunderstood because Akatosh as we know him in the games is the amalgamation of Auri-El and Shor: see Shezarr and the Divines for the details on the merging of the pantheons), and Sithis birthed Lorkhan. The two still represent more or less opposing forces in the universe, but their characteristics mean that the universe can become more stable/understandable. Other et'Ada materialized at this time as well.

By the way, the last part in the Vehk's Teaching quote has to do with CHIM and individuality (hence the "I") in the face of The Tower. Very interesting to learn about, though not entirely relevant here. Still worth looking into eventually for sure!

The Monomyth:

''Finally, the magical beings of Mythic Aurbis told the ultimate story—that of their own death. For some this was an artistic transfiguration into the concrete, non-magical substance of the world. For others, this was a war in which all were slain, their bodies becoming the substance of the world. For yet others, this was a romantic marriage and parenthood, with the parent spirits naturally having to die and give way to the succeeding mortal races. The agent of this communal decision was Lorkhan, whom most early myths vilify as a trickster or deceiver. More sympathetic versions of this story point out Lorkhan as being the reason the mortal plane exists at all.''

''This Creator-Trickster-Tester deity is in every Tamrielic mythic tradition. His most popular name is the Aldmeri "Lorkhan," or Doom Drum. He convinced or contrived the Original Spirits to bring about the creation of the Mortal Plane, upsetting the status quo much like his father Padomay had introduced instability into the universe in the Beginning Place. After the world is materialized, Lorkhan is separated from his divine center, sometimes involuntarily, and wanders the creation of the et'Ada. Interpretations of these events differ widely by culture.''

Lorkhan, still representing something along the lines of instability, "convinced or contrived" (depending on your interpretation) the other original spirits into creating Mundus. The ones who agreed became the Aedra, and the ones who did not became the Daedra. Mundus, like Lorkhan (The Monomyth: "Thus was born Sithis, who was the sum of all the limitations Anuiel would utilize to ponder himself," and since Lorkhan was born from Sithis, the same idea applies), was fundamentally a set of limitations within the universe. This is why his plan to create Mundus is often considered a "trick."

The Lunar Lorkhan:

''Like the rest of the Gods, Lorkhan was a plane(t) that participated in the Great Construction... except where the Eight lent portions of their heavenly bodies to create the mortal plane(t), Lorkhan's was cracked asunder and his divine spark fell to Nirn as a shooting star "to impregnate it with the measure of its existence and a reasonable amount of selfishness."''

Lorkhan's punishment for his trickery was being "separated from his divine center" (his heart), which was cast down to Nirn (The Monomyth: "So Auriel fastened the thing to an arrow and let it fly long into the sea, where no aspect of the new world may ever find it."). There are innumerable legends about the Heart's arrival on the planet. Personally, the one that interests me the most looks at the formation of the Red Diamond (Chim-El Adabal) of the Amulet of Kings, which you can read about in Chim-El Adabal: A Ballad.

The Monomyth:

"But this was a trick. As Lorkhan knew, this world contained more limitations than not and was therefore hardly a thing of Anu at all. Mundus was the House of Sithis. As their aspects began to die off, many of the et'Ada vanished completely. Some escaped, like Magnus, and that is why there are no limitations to magic. Others, like Y'ffre, transformed themselves into the Ehlnofey, the Earthbones, so that the whole world might not die. Some had to marry and make children just to last. Each generation was weaker than the last, and soon there were Aldmer. Darkness caved in. Lorkhan made armies out of the weakest souls and named them Men, and they brought Sithis into every quarter.

The Annotated Anuad:

''The blood of Padomay became the Daedra. The blood of Anu became the stars. The mingled blood of both became the Aedra (hence their capacity for good and evil, and their greater affinity for earthly affairs than the Daedra, who have no connection to Creation). On the world of Nirn, all was chaos. The only survivors of the twelve worlds of Creation were the Ehlnofey and the Hist. The Ehlnofey are the ancestors of Mer and Men. The Hist are the trees of Argonia. Nirn originally was all land, with interspersed seas, but no oceans.''

Now limited by Mundus, the "Ehlnofey of Tamriel" eventually became the Aldmer, and the "Wandering Ehlnofey" became humans. The usage of the term "wandering" is a reiteration of Lorkhan's tendency to "wander the creation of the et'Ada" as described previously in The Monomyth.

This connection between Lorkhan, humans, and wandering is actually a surprisingly relevant topic throughout the lore. For instance, Before the Ages of Man says, "Also during the Late Merethic Era the legendary immortal hero, warrior, sorcerorsorcerer [sic], and king variously known as Pelinal Whitestrake, Harrald Hairy Breeks, Ysmir, Hans the Fox, etc., wandered Tamriel, gathering armies, conquering lands, ruling, then abandoning his kingdoms to wander again." I'm getting off-topic now, though. I just love all the connections made between the texts and wanted to share; it's things like this that make TES lore so fascinating to me.

There are a great number of source texts dealing with these concepts. I've linked a few in this post, but you should be able to find various others linked in the "References" section of the wiki articles. The metaphysics of the TES universe is an incredibly complex and interesting topic, so I wouldn't expect that you'll understand everything instantly. Just keep digging through sources (this is generally better than watching YouTube videos, in my opinion) and you'll learn a whole lot. —Atvelonis (talk) 00:11, May 4, 2018 (UTC)