User blog:Dumac Dwarfking/The Dragonborn/Shezarrine controversy

BACKGROUND
Hello to everyone reading this, it's Dumac here with my first official blog post!!

Now, from what I've seen, it's a major point of contention in the TES community as to whether or not the Last Dragonborn of the Fourth Era is a Shezarrine. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the theory, it states that the Last Dragonborn is an incarnation of the Cyrodiilic Missing god, thereby making him an immensly powerful warrior and one of the most powerful beings in Mundus. While it is a very good theory with lots of evidence to back it up, unfortunately I have to say that I don't believe that it's true.

WHY DON'T I BELIEVE IT?
The short answer as to why I don't believe this theory lies in the concept of the Zero Sum. Basically, a Zero Sum is when an individual, through whatever means, comes to the realization that "I am" and "I am an illusion" and mashing the two together. This an be likened to adding 1 and -1, the outcome is 0. Therefore, I am + I am an illusion = Zero Sum. A Zero Sum results in the individual being cancelled from existing. But not just from that specific point in time; they get wiped out from the entire history of existence. Nobody remembers them and they essentially never existed.

Anyways, were the Last Dragonborn a Shezarrine, they would probably Zero Sum and never exist at all.

But why? Well there's a bit of explaining to do about two beings from history: AKA, the Time God and his aspects, and The Missing God, Lorkhan and his aspects.

AKA AND THE DRAGONBORN LINEAGE
AKA, the Time God, is a being with an oversoul split into many parts. These parts are: Auri-El, Akatosh, Alkosh, and Alduin. Some of those names may sound very familiar, but Alkosh may be foreign. He's basically just the Khajiiti Akatosh.

Anyways, all these names are beings who are a shard of AKA, the Time God, so they are pretty much the same being altogether and play some role related to Time in all Tamrielic cultures. Auri-El is the creator of Time, Alkosh/Akatosh is the preserver, and Alduin is the destroyer of it.

In the Dawn era, at the beginning of Creation, there were two prominent figures; Auri-El (Akatosh) and Lorkhan (Shezarr). Lorkhan tricked the other spirits, including Auri-El into losing most of their power by creating the mortal realm. When the other spirits figured this out, Auri-El and Lorkhan duked it out with each other, with Lorkhan being killed by Auri-El and Trinimac. This conflict is present in almost every culture across Nirn, the two enemies fighting and the Time God killing the Trickster.

Now what does this have to do with the Dragonborn? Well you probably already know that Akatosh is credited with the creation of the beings we know as Dragonborn. With Alessia, he formed a pact with her to gift her and her descendants with an amulet forged of his own precious blood, the Amulet of Kings. He named Alessia and all of her descendants Dragonborn, meaning blessed by Akatosh. There is also the other sense of Dragonborn, the beings born of Akatosh, with the blood and soul of a Dragon.

Some known Dragonborns are Miraak, Saint Alessia, Reman Cyrodiil, Tiber Septim, and the Last Dovahkiin.

So the Last Dragonborn has a very strong connection to Akatosh/Auri-El/Alduin, being born of his blood and all.

LORKHAN AND THE SHEZARRINES
Now earlier I mentioned another being, Lorkhan. Lorkhan is commonly known throughout Tamriel as a trickster god, fooling all the others into wasting their power by creating a new realm. Lorkhan is also known as Lorkhaj, Sep, Shezarr and Shor. He's always depicted as being the Patron God of Men and the enemy of Elves. Lorkhan was slain by Auri-El/Akatosh in the Dawn Era, where his Heart was torn out and tossed into the sea.

Shor, the Nordic god of the Afterlife, is a representation of Lorkhan, as he is the Patron God of Men and the enemy of Elves. He's known in Cyrodiil as Shezarr, the Missing God. In Cyrodiilic myth, he's neither good nor evil. He is, however, portrayed as a mighty hero and a great warrior.

Shezarr has had many incarnations on Nirn called Shezarrines. These Shezarrines are some of the most powerful beings in Tamrielic history and bear a strong connection to Shezarr/Shor/Lorkhan. The known Shezarrines in Tamrielic history are Pelinal Whitestrake, King Wulfharth, Zurin Arctus, and Hjalti Early-Beard (these three might be the same individual, however but let's not get into that now).

So Shezarr and his incarnations are very heavily connected to Lorkhan and his aspects, contrasting greatly to the Dragonborn connection to Akatosh and his aspects.

SO WHAT?
So what does this all have to do with the Last Dragonborn being Shezarrine?

Well if they were, the probably wouldn't exist.

Think about it: Two entities are depicted in literally every culture across Tamriel as being eternal enemies and battling each other. They each have their own champions in the world, champions who are some of the most powerful beings in Tamrielic history.

Were the Dragonborn a Shezarrine, he would have the influence of both Auri-El AND Lorkhan in him. Two forces, equally powerful, always fighting. The internal conflict of both of these lineages in one being would instantly result in a Zero Sum for sure.

Whule I dont think the Last Dragonborn is Shezarrine, I do think that the Dragonborns and the Shezarrines come in pairs to continue the neverending battle between Lorkhan and Auri-El. Alessia had Pelinal Whitestrake, Tiber Septim had Zurin Arctus, Miraak possibly had Vahlok the Jailor, it's all written in history. There's just the matter of finding the counterpart to the mightiest hero of Skyrim. Personally, I'd like to see a conflict between Dragonborn and Shezarrine at some point in the TES series.

Thank you all for reading!