Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-162.216.208.77-20140710235127/@comment-13446185-20140711025456

Just what exactly are the elder scrolls?

"When you wake up, I will still listen. I'm sorry I left, but hey, I'm still right up here. And my mnemoli? They show up every now and then, and collect all the songs you've made since the last time around. The last real moment."

''The Mnemoli? They're the keepers of the Elder Scrolls. They cannot be fixed until seen. And they cannot be seen until a moment. And you, your hero, makes that moment.''

-Magnus (MK IRC Q&A)

The Elder Scrolls are Magnus' way of recording the universe.

"It is an... artifact from outside time. It does not exist, but it has always existed. Rah wahlaan. They are...hmm... fragments of creation."

-Paarthurnax

Elder Scrolls exist outside of time.

What can they do?

As we see in TES V, they can reveal prophecies from the future and past and give incites on hidden knowledge. They can potentially be used to create Dragon Breaks (if used in a certain matter) and, according to Paarthurnax, are able to do much more things.

How many are there?

"Did I not tell you," he coughed, "when you started this that all efforts would be futile? The Scrolls do not exist in countable form."

-An Accounting of the Elder Scrolls

It is impossible to know how many Elder Scrolls there are.