User blog:Harold Burned-Mane/Speculation about Katariah

As the title suggests this blog is about some theories i've heard about and some i've made my myself. As these theories involve Katariah. Some of you may know Katariah while some amy not, all depends on your knowlege of TES lore. Skyrim players may know the name from Titus Mede II's ship The Katariah, but here i'll be talking about Empress Katariah Septim.

As most of you probably know every Emperor from before the 4E has worn the Amulet of Kings. The amulet is said to contain the blood of Akatosh, which is what gives the gem its red color, and as such can only be worn by those Akatosh has given a special blessing to, the Dragonborns. Though you don't need to be a true Dragonborn to wear the amulet, only to have dragon blood which is passed down to the Dragonborn's descendants, unlike the blessing of having the soul of a dragon. So to wear the Amulet one needs to be a Dragonborn or a descendant, so how is it possible that Katariah and her bastard son Uriel Septim IV wore it?

First a little history lesson for those not familiar with Katariah. Katariah Ra'athim was a dunmer woman that married Emperor Pelagius Septim III, a descendant of Tiber Septim's brother. Pelagius III was...well...crazy, some of you may know him from Sheogorath's quest in Skyrim or from the Oblivion expansion Shivering Isles, you can find his pelvis. Due to his craziness his wife Katariah became his regent. When Pelagius died his wife was crowned Empress Katariah Septim and like all Septim rulers before her lit the dragonfires during her coronation, where she wore the Amulet of Kings. Uh....how? Now some of you may be thinking how are you sure she wore the amulet. Well for one during the coronation she has to light the dragonfires while wearing the amulet or else the pact Akatosh made would end and the jaws of Oblivion would open(this is the whole plot of TES IV: Oblivion). So she had to have lit the dragonfires and worn the amulet, this is fact. So again....how? The fact she wore the Amulet of Kings points to only two conclusions: 1) She was Dragonborn; 2)She had Dragonblood.

1)She was Dragonborn

This is the theory i am least inclined to believe. If she was Dragonborn she would have been called by the Greybeards, its as simple as this. Hjalti Early-Beard(aka Tiber Septim) was called by the Greybeards why wouldn't she be. There is one reason as to why the Greybeards didn't call her to High Hrothgar, she couldn't shout. As in she didn't know how, Hjalti was said to have known how to shout and for this reason the Greybeards could sense his power. One argument against this is when she put on the amulet everyone would have believed her to be either Dragonborn or have dragonblood so the Greybeards would have tested her to find out which was true.

2)She has dragonblood

As, like I said before, to be Dragonblooded one needs to be a descendant of a Dragonborn. The last Dragonborn was Tiber Septim himself so doesthis mean that Katariah may possibly be a descendant of Tiber? I've heard in the wiki that Tiber Septim, during his campaign against Morrowind shagged a dunmer noblewoman. (I can't for the love of Talos remember her name but if one of you reading this knows about this claim please right her name in the comments and i'll update the blog with the info,of course i'll credit you for finding out). So could Katariah be the descendant of that bastard child Tiber had with the dunmer noblewoman. It is entirely possibly as there is enough time for her to be the great-granddaughter of Tiber. This is the theory i personally believe as it makes more sense to me. If any of these two are true than it does destroy the biggest piece of evidence the Lariat family has of shared blood with Tiber and his brother.

Uriel Septim IV, he is the bastard son of Katariah Septim with Gallivere Lariat(her lover). After Katariah's death her and Pelagius's son Cassynder Septim took the throne. Cassynder was already sick by the time he took the throne so his rein only lasted 2 years before he died. When he died his closest relative was Uriel Lariat, his half-brother. Uriel had been adopted into the Septi family by Cassynder so after his brother's death he took the throne. Even though, like Katariah, Uriel had no official relation with Tiber Septim he was able to wear the Amule of Kings. The Lariat family use this fact as the main, and only, point that connects them to Tiber. But if Katariah was either Dragonborn or dragonblooded than the claim falls apart as Uriel would get the dragonblood from his mother. And since Katariah wore the amulet she has to be one of the two, this means that the only the word of the Lariats now connects them to the Septims as there is no proof.

Leave your comments and thoughts below and "Talos guide you kinsmen".