Skyrim Metaphor?

[Knight Templar]

I have heard this idea before and I don't think the comparison holds up to scrutiny for a variety of reasons.

BathorysGraveland points out a few very good points. As an aside I was a little sad to see that the Khajiit traders were thieves. I wanted them to be good guys unfairly treated, but they trade in drugs and stolen property. Not helping your reputation there.
Back on topic the main reason I don't agree with this concept is that it breaks apart when the Thalmor are considered. How do they fit into this idea?

 

[Azure-Supernova]

I think you're looking a bit too far into it OP. There is a lot of racism between man and mer races in The Elder Scrolls universe, there's even more racism towards the beast races from both man and mer races. Dunmer are generally discriminated by everyone, Argonians and Khajit are tha same. The Dunmer went as far as enslaving hundreds of Argonions at one point.

Stop giving Bethesda so many credit. Skyrim has a much-worse-than-awful main plot. It's a good theory, but I doubt Bethesda thought of it.
..And if they did, that's incredibly unoriginal, just taking WW2 and setting it in some fantasy land.

Killing Akatosh, they very guy who saved your ass in the last game, was a interesting plot twist.

And before people go "but Alduin isn't akatosh" yes, he actually is,

From The Alduin/Akatosh Dichotomy

Determined to get to the heart of this matter, I consulted with several Nords, chief among them an old and respected clan chief by the name of Bjorn Much-Bloodied. And what surprised me most about those I talked to was not that they believed in Alduin instead of Akatosh, but that they recognized Alduin in addition to Akatosh. In fact, most children of Skyrim seem to view Akatosh in much the same way I do - he is, in fact, the Great Dragon. First among the Divines, perseverance personified and, more than anything, a force of supreme good in the world.

Alduin, they claim, is something altogether different.

In Tamriel almost all races believe that they are seperate beings. Couple this with some of the conversations between Paarthurnax and Odahviing and it's clear that Alduin, while powerful, isn't nearly the god that Akatosh is.

 

[Jynthor]

I think you're looking a bit too far into it OP. There is a lot of racism between man and mer races in The Elder Scrolls universe, there's even more racism towards the beast races from both man and mer races. Dunmer are generally discriminated by everyone, Argonians and Khajit are tha same. The Dunmer went as far as enslaving hundreds of Argonions at one point.

Stop giving Bethesda so many credit. Skyrim has a much-worse-than-awful main plot. It's a good theory, but I doubt Bethesda thought of it.
..And if they did, that's incredibly unoriginal, just taking WW2 and setting it in some fantasy land.

Killing Akatosh, they very guy who saved your ass in the last game, was a interesting plot twist.

And before people go "but Alduin isn't akatosh" yes, he actually is,

From The Alduin/Akatosh Dichotomy

Determined to get to the heart of this matter, I consulted with several Nords, chief among them an old and respected clan chief by the name of Bjorn Much-Bloodied. And what surprised me most about those I talked to was not that they believed in Alduin instead of Akatosh, but that they recognized Alduin in addition to Akatosh. In fact, most children of Skyrim seem to view Akatosh in much the same way I do - he is, in fact, the Great Dragon. First among the Divines, perseverance personified and, more than anything, a force of supreme good in the world.

Alduin, they claim, is something altogether different.

In Tamriel almost all races believe that they are seperate beings. Couple this with some of the conversations between Paarthurnax and Odahviing and it's clear that Alduin, while powerful, isn't nearly the god that Akatosh is.

You're doomed now, man.
No one argues with Sajuuk about TES lore and lives.

 

[Soopy]

If Alduin was a god, it would be a monumental WTF. Because he could have been killed by a Whiterun guard...

 

[Emiscary]

I always figured if there were Nazis in Skyrim it was the Altmer.

They're more or less Nazi elves.

 

[Soopy]

I always figured if there were Nazis in Skyrim it was the Altmer.

They're more or less Nazi elves.

Nazi's weren't a specific race of people.

Altmer are just generally arrogant.

 

[Aprilgold]

No, its about as Nazi inspired as Pocahontas is inspired by the Deus Ex games. The comparison is either very small or is just not there.

The problem with the assumption that their making a social standpoint on what it is like to live under large pressure from a dictatorship and I don't want to sound bad, but Bethesda's writers aren't that good to even do this without forcing it in your face.

Its just a coincident, and nothing more.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

You're doomed now, man.
No one argues with Sajuuk about TES lore and lives.

Arguing about TES lore is pointless, up until Skyrim there was no real reason why Akatosh and Alduin couldn't be one and the same. But unless Paarthurnax was misinformed and Aldium was lying to you, it's been retconned to make them seperate entities. Until an event happens or is documented in game it might as well be myth and legend.

At the very least I'd concede to the idea that the Alduin you fight in Skyrim is a mantler of the true Akatosh/Alduin/Auri-El. Or just a very powerful dragon assuming the name to rally fear. Though now we're venturing into the terrifying waters of Shezzarine and Talos Oversoul arguments.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

It's applicable, but I don't think it's allegorical.

 

[Kotep]

Alduin is Akatosh but the relationship isn't wholly exclusive. Alkosh is also Akatosh, as is Tosh Raka. In fact, Akatosh is as much 'Akatosh' (referring to the divine basis of power) as is any of his other incarnations. Alessian religion is mot the correct belief system; in fact, one could argue that its constructed nature (made to create a metropolitan religion that the early Empire could agree on) makes it less 'real' than the other religions, each of which are their own interpretations.

So is Alduin Akatosh? Yes. And he's the son of Akatosh by Alduin by Akatosh by Alduin, forever.

Isn't TES lore fun?

 

[Soopy]

Alduin is Akatosh but the relationship isn't wholly exclusive. Alkosh is also Akatosh, as is Tosh Raka. In fact, Akatosh is as much 'Akatosh' (referring to the divine basis of power) as is any of his other incarnations. Alessian religion is mot the correct belief system; in fact, one could argue that its constructed nature (made to create a metropolitan religion that the early Empire could agree on) makes it less 'real' than the other religions, each of which are their own interpretations.

So is Alduin Akatosh? Yes. And he's the son of Akatosh by Alduin by Akatosh by Alduin, forever.

Isn't TES lore fun?

Could be, but in game it just makes NO sense anymore. Well... even less so now.

 

[SextusMaximus]

I see where you're coming from but it's a bit vague, isn't it?

 

[BENZOOKA]

Nah. No. Nein.

Loosely plausible, at least for a theory's sake. But you could probably make a theory that Whiterun represents Pittsburgh Penguins' management, if you picked up other stuff, and drew wild conclusions from there.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Loosely plausible, at least for a theory's sake. But you could probably make a theory that Whiterun represents Pittsburgh Penguins' management, if you picked up other stuff, and drew wild conclusions from there.

OMG Whiterun is TOTALLY the Penguins management!

It's all coming together now!

 

[Kotep]

lore

Could be, but in game it just makes NO sense anymore. Well... even less so now.

Alduin and Akatosh are both incarnations of some greater force-of-time, which each culture has a name for, whther it's Akatosh, or Alduin, or Auriel. Alduin describes himself as the 'son of Akatosh', but in Nordic lore, time as a whole is cyclical--Shor's full name is Shor Son of Shor, and the cycle of begetting himself repeats in both directions the same way it does with Alduin and Akatosh.

Different Aka-entities can even be in direct conflict, not merely indirect conflict--it's been said that if Tosh Raka wanted to, he could sail over to Tamriel and start attacking, and Akatosh could come to the aid of Tamriel, and you'd have one aspect of the god fighting a different aspect.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

The problem with making metaphors is that you can do it everywhere and to everything. I think the OP's interpretation is valid as long as you look only at Windhelm and the Nords at the exclusion of all else, and don't look too closely.

 

[BENZOOKA]

Loosely plausible, at least for a theory's sake. But you could probably make a theory that Whiterun represents Pittsburgh Penguins' management, if you picked up other stuff, and drew wild conclusions from there.

OMG Whiterun is TOTALLY the Penguins management!

It's all coming together now!

I know, right. It's like when you got a harmless disease or something and the NPC's will not stop to comment on how not alright you are, and at the same time you are this legendary dragonborn; it can't be anything else, but a direct metaphor to Sidney Crosby and his injuries that kept him out of play.

 

[Jaeke]

Stop giving Bethesda so many credit. Skyrim has a much-worse-than-awful main plot. It's a good theory, but I doubt Bethesda thought of it.
..And if they did, that's incredibly unoriginal, just taking WW2 and setting it in some fantasy land.

Killing Akatosh, they very guy who saved your ass in the last game, was a interesting plot twist.

And before people go "but Alduin isn't akatosh" yes, he actually is,

No. He's not. He's the first-born of Akatosh, that much was abundantly clear.

He is NOT Akatosh himself though in anyway shape or form.

He is the traditional Nord's depiction of Akatosh, both a god and their devil in a sense, but he's not the literal avatar of Akatosh.

 

[Jaeke]

I think you're looking a bit too far into it OP. There is a lot of racism between man and mer races in The Elder Scrolls universe, there's even more racism towards the beast races from both man and mer races. Dunmer are generally discriminated by everyone, Argonians and Khajit are tha same. The Dunmer went as far as enslaving hundreds of Argonions at one point.

Stop giving Bethesda so many credit. Skyrim has a much-worse-than-awful main plot. It's a good theory, but I doubt Bethesda thought of it.
..And if they did, that's incredibly unoriginal, just taking WW2 and setting it in some fantasy land.

Killing Akatosh, they very guy who saved your ass in the last game, was a interesting plot twist.

And before people go "but Alduin isn't akatosh" yes, he actually is,

From The Alduin/Akatosh Dichotomy

Determined to get to the heart of this matter, I consulted with several Nords, chief among them an old and respected clan chief by the name of Bjorn Much-Bloodied. And what surprised me most about those I talked to was not that they believed in Alduin instead of Akatosh, but that they recognized Alduin in addition to Akatosh. In fact, most children of Skyrim seem to view Akatosh in much the same way I do - he is, in fact, the Great Dragon. First among the Divines, perseverance personified and, more than anything, a force of supreme good in the world.

Alduin, they claim, is something altogether different.

In Tamriel almost all races believe that they are seperate beings. Couple this with some of the conversations between Paarthurnax and Odahviing and it's clear that Alduin, while powerful, isn't nearly the god that Akatosh is.

You're doomed now, man.
No one argues with Sajuuk about TES lore and lives.

Oh dear, I should have read the damn profile name.....