Elder Scrolls



The Elder Scrolls ( or "KEL" in the Dragon language) are artifacts of unknown origin and quantity, being simultaneously archives of both historic and future events. The prophecies of the Elder Scrolls and the Heroes are interdependent; one cannot exist without the other. They are also known as the "Aedric Prophecies", indicating that they may have been created by the Aedra.

Influence
The influences of the archivally historic Elder Scrolls cannot be understated. Once a prophecy contained in an Elder Scrolls is enacted in Tamriel, the text of the parchment becomes fixed. After that time, all readers ingest the same divine message, creating a historical document declaring the unequivocal truth of a past event. Scholars cannot argue the bias of the writer of an Elder Scroll, and the contents of a scrolls, once solidified, cannot be altered by any known magic. It is known that the events which alter the linearity of time, known as Dragon Breaks, cannot be recorded or predicted by these scrolls.

Reading an Elder Scroll
Any person gifted with prescient powers is able to interpret the contents of the Elder Scrolls with practice. It is said that those with no ability see only unknown etchings and runes, often claiming to recognize constellations and birth signs. True insight into the divine contents comes at a price as each new foretelling and interpretation strikes the reader with blindness for a greater period of time, while simultaneously granting them a broader view of the scroll's contents. Ultimately, the reader, having engaged in frequent acts of prophecy, is left bereft of their vision, forever after removed of their right to read the scrolls. By time-honored tradition only those of The Cult of the Ancestor Moth may read from the scrolls, the younger members caring for the elder as they gradually lose their sight for eternity.

Opinions of the Scrolls
The exact number of Elder Scrolls itself cannot be counted, as was proven by the Cult of the Ancestor moth. Each attempt to quantify their number or even location causes the scrolls to change place and number, for no discernible reason.

The Greybeards consider the existence of the Elder Scrolls to be a blasphemy

Cyrodiil

 * While on a mission for the Gray Fox, the Hero of Kvatch steals an Elder Scroll from the Imperial Palace. It is part of the quest "The Ultimate Heist". This Elder Scroll cannot be read.

Skyrim

 * The coming of Alduin to Skyrim was foreseen by the Elder Scrolls prophecies.
 * Septimus Signus read an Elder Scroll and went mad, eventually writing a popular commentary, called Ruminations on the Elder Scrolls on the abstract nature of the scrolls. During his experiments at an outpost, north of the College of Winterhold, he discovered that the Dwemer people developed a technology which allowed one to read the Elder Scrolls without side effects.
 * A dragon named Paarthurnax sends the Dragonborn to obtain an Elder Scroll, which would allow them to travel to the time when the Dragonrend shout was created. The shout was then used to defeat Alduin.
 * After obtaining the scroll, the Dragonborn may have sold it to Urag gro-Shub for 2,000.