Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-97.81.240.58-20130603234626/@comment-24590102-20141121003304

101.164.107.138 wrote: How did this go from 'are the thalmor right?' to 'is talos a god?' to 'is alduin a god?' to 'did the dragonborn stop alduin eating the world?' The Thalmor argue that Talos is not a god and, as all argument is based on semantics, then we must examine the semantics of the argument in order to determine its verity and thus, answer the question of whether the Thalmor are right.

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Dovahsebrom wrote:==1god== noun \ˈgäd also ˈgȯd\


 * a spirit or being that has great power, strength, knowledge, etc., and that can affect nature and the lives of people : one of various spirits or beings worshipped in some religions

Can you please explain to me how Alduin doesn't fit this definition? .

This definition is vague - but it is what it is. Let's break out the Concise Oxford Dictionary:

''"God" "noun" "1    (in Christianity and other monotheistic religions) the creator and ruler of the universe; the supreme being." "2    (god) a superhuman being or spirit worshipped as having power over nature or human fortunes; a deity. an image of a god; an idol.''"

If anything, the polytheistic sense, which appies to the world of TES, is just as vague and applies equally to mortal entities as to immortal entities. In fact, one of the features of Medievalist Fantasy genre is the systematic exclusion of real life political props such as "monotheistic" deities and, where gods per se have some actual presence, there is usually also the ability of players to kill the gods they encounter once a high enough level is reached.

By definition, any entity which can be accurately described as superhuman, can be accurately stated to be a god. For example, it can be validly argued that there is no such thing as monotheism because "the Devil", as a superhuman entity (matching the definition for a god), appears as a bad god in every "monotheistic" religion (i.e. as 'Rahab' in Judaism, 'Satan' in Christianity, 'Al Shaitan' in Islam, the 'Evil Whisperer' in the Baha'i Faith, etc). All religion is thus, by definition, polytheistic - even if not all of the gods invoked by the source texts are worshipped.

So, coming back to the question of whether the Thalmor are right, we must ask the question of whether Talos is, in any way, superhuman. I would argue that, in this respect, Talos is indistinguishable from the other eight Divines. This raises what I think is an absolutely delicious dilemma for the Thalmor. After all, if Talos is not a god then, by the same reasoning, none of the other eight Divines are gods either. And, if we choose to embrace the idea that the other eight Divines are gods then, by the same reasoning, we cannot deny that Talos is a god.

For the Thalmor this goes beyond being right or wrong because the Thalmor inadvertently undermine their own pantheon with the same logic they use to undermine the divinity of Talos.