User blog:4. 1. 22. 5. M97/Blog Critic: The CHIM theory: Why I don't think it exists.

Most of you don't know me. By this name anyway. But if you have read any of Madman97's Blogs, and I am sure a lot of you have, especially his recent one on the Ebonheart Pacts and the Daggerfall Covenant, and if your a follower of the Wabbajack Grinding series, I am a frequent guest. I am sure you can put two and two together. He writes every day and usually gives me his work to critique, and so, I thought, why not help everybody with it? Being a literary graduate of Yale, and an avid fan of the Elder Scrolls, I will start a new sort of show: Blog Critic. Any sort of serious lore blog or one that catches my eye, I will not be far behind to give it a rea and critique it. And who better to start with than that ever lovable Madman of the ninety seventh degree? And his recent theory blog, CHIM: Why I don't think it exists. Warning, if your blog is featured, be prepared for harsh words. I'm not a grammar nazi or anything, but you might hear some harsh words, but remember, its not to offend, it's to help you get better at it, so you can make ten times better blogs in the future. The Bold texted paragraphs are from the blog. The normal font is my critique. Let's start.

Being a believer of CHIM myself, I was going to really rip him a new one for taking a jab at one of the Elder Scroll's leading theories. And after I read the argument? My verdict? We'll get to that.

Alright, so let's start with the beginning.

"I have braced myself for the angry responses from fellow wikians who have accepted this theory and will call me dense, stupid, or close minded for even questioning it and will try their best to prove me wrong, but since I am a madman, I go against the norm, and this theory seems pretty prominent. So why not do something heretical and speak out against it? Remember though, any and all theories expressed here are the writer's opinion only and it is only speculation. Feel free to believe what you like."

   Give him a little credit, this is pretty ballsy. I know a ton of people who would murder hima and throw him in a trash can for six weeks and then eat him if they found out who he really was. I showed them the argument, and as I expected, they hated it. But at least in this first paragraph, he is aknowledging other people's opinions on the subject and that some take it very seriously, but his opinion will be heard either way. You gotta respect that.

'''"Before I begin to refute, what is CHIM? The basic definition is having a sort of epiphany that allows you to realize you place in the universe, what the universe is about, and can alter reality to do fantastic things. The word CHIM comes up in the Mythic Dawn Commentaries, particularly book 3, and It begins with "The Tower touches all the mantles of Heaven [...] and by its apex one can be as he will. More: be as he was and yet changed for all else on that path for those that walk after. This is [...] the secret of how mortals become makers [CHIM], and makers back to mortals." So one who knows CHIM is said to reside atop (or within) the Tower (i.e., Mundus) and possesses incomprehensible power to alter reality. One with an understanding of CHIM also understands the Godhead, another popular theory around here, and can escape all restricitions of reality. The beginning of one of the black books: Waking Dreams, seems to discuss it at some length. According to the teachings of Vivec, a mortal made god, and back to a mortal again, he said that Lorkhan was the first to understand this, and used this power to create Nirn. (I know some may not have heard of that bit, but go to the website of Awkwardly Falling, or is it Falling Awkwardly? And you can read the entire reasoning for CHIM on the Metaphysics of Morrowind articles."'''

Here is where the first fourth of the blog comes, and that spent explaining what CHIM actually is. While CHIM is complicated and requires explanation, I wish he didn't spend the bulk of his argument simply telling us what CHIM is and not doing what he set out to do. And that's argue against CHIM. He does name his source for almost all information, as I have been to the same sites, and the part after this is basically still him explaining stuff we already know, and the title, kind of ingenious I have to say, designed to pull in people who already knew what CHIM was, was wasted because he wasted a large chunk simply giving us stuff we already know. 1/4th isn't bad, but it could be improved upon. Plus there were a few holes in his lore, as there is no source that ever stated that Lorkhan himself used CHIM, and Talos did not use CHIM to mantle Lorkhan. That power lies with the Eantimorph. It's pretty complicated, it would take me a bit to explain it all.

'''"I am sure plenty of you have heard of an Easter Egg. That you find in games. Fun little references to things, nice little puzzles or rewards, or sometimes important information that may come up in a future game. In the case of Vivec, he teaches CHIM and seems to have a sense of it, though I doubt he fully achieved it, otherwise, according to the theory, he could do anything he wanted, like defeat Dagoth Ur with the blink of an eye. Perhaps he did, I do not know, but rest assured, his ramblings have caught the eyes of many Lore Enthusiasts, which in his passages the characters do things and exhibit behavior similar to that of a player in the game, like pausing games or reloading your last save because you died. According to the "Metaphysics of Morrowind" on Falling Awkwardly, Vivex knows he is a video game character, knows he is imaginary, but instead of simply vanishing in a "puff of logic," he takes control of this imaginary stuff and uses it to do wonderous things. Reality becomes Imagination, and Imagination becomes reality, and Vivec know this. It all makes sense doesn't it? At the same time, none at all, just like the Elder Scrolls. Interesting comparison. If CHIM is real, maybe the two have a connection? Something to be explored in later theory blogs."'''

   Here we see one of the main arguments, and that is that CHIM is nothing more than an overglorified Easter Egg. But then he foes on with MORE EXPOSITION. WE KNOW THIS! WE KNOW VIVEC HAS WRITTEN SERMONS! WE KNOW EVERYTHING YOU HAVE SAID! And there is no evidence supporting his idea at the beginning of the paragraph too. He doesn't give a reason, he just says it's an easter egg. Horrendous. There is a silver lining though, as I have come to see with all of Madman97's work. At the very bottom, he openly states that the idea of CHIM is still open to him, and is even willing to delve into it if necessary to see what its secrets can tell him. He is at least keeping his mind open.

'''"But, and I know some people will hate me for saying this, but I don't think CHIM has anything to do with the "Answer to it All." Think like Deadpool. He know he is a comic book. It IS a comic book. Vivec knows he is in a video game. It IS a video game. There right, right? Wrong. Breaking the fourth wall is usually meant as a joke. Making a fourth wall reference does not dictate that the canon is that the world they're in is a fake, even if it is. Within their world, it's real. There is nothing outside of it. You can have multiverses, but they all are apart of the same thing. Think of it this way. Just because it's fake doesn't mean it IS fake. To them it's not. It's as real as us. Because one guy, Vivec, broke the fourth wall, though he doesn't outright say it, does'nt mean that "It's all a video game, that's the answer." Do you get what I'm saying? I think its a fourth wall joke. When you make CHIM the answer to everything, for example, How was Nirn made? CHIM. How was Mundus made? CHIM. How did Lorkhan make it? CHIM. How did the Divines help? CHIM. How did Talos conquer Tamriel? CHIM. How does a player pause his game? CHIM. Sure, it gets a little more serious then a joke. But...am I the only one finding the CHIM theory to be, not only redundant, but not at all interesting?"'''

Well finally he gives us some reason to what he thinks about CHIM, and he states his claims and gives supporting evidence in the form of logical thinking. Plus, then comes the second argument, which is that CHIM is to boring of a thoery to carry out, as a lot of people already know about it and its role in the Elder Scrolls universe, and argues that it may be a little early to know everything about Mundus, that Bethesda would not just give the Secret to All away already, not when a lot more games can be milked out of the Elder Scrolls. To some, this still doesn't shake their belief in CHIM. In the next few paragraphs, he gives the argument as to why he thinks this, saying "CHIM's creativity robs it of its creativity." Ending on a admittingly light-hearted speech about power to the gamers, oh he is so fond of that, the Blog Ends.

As far as the official ratings go, these are it. And how does this rank up to the standars?
 * 1) THE BEST
 * 2) VERY GOOD
 * 3) AVERAGE
 * 4) FORGETTABLE
 * 5) ATROCIOUS
 * 6) DEAR AKATOSH, WHAT IS THIS?!

...

The verdict is: (Drumroll please) .....VERY GOOD!!!

Final Word: Despite the flaws of this blog, it set out to do one thing, dissaprove CHIM. It may not have meant to cause doubt among some, but in reading the comments, I saw that the majority of people supported Madman97's blog and some even stated that this blog gave them some doubts about CHIM now that they thought about it his way, and that way is, I know, it can seem stupid at times, looking at a thing logically and asking the right questions. While I still do support the CHIM theory, some of the questions posed, like why the people we know discovered CHIM cannot use it, or why Bethesda would drop it on us so early, makes one at least think on it a little more. The mission wasn't to get you to stop believing in CHIM, but to ask the questions that do need answering. That is what a good lore blog does.