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Why do we start every singleElder Scrollsin a prison?
Game development is part of it starting completely fresh is perfect from both a roleplay and gameplay perspective.
The true contents of an Elder Scroll are malleable, hazy, uncertain.
Only by the Heros action does it become true.
The Hero is literally the scribe of the next Elder Scroll,as writer Michael Kirkbride puts it.
If youve played any of the games, youll know what an important role the Scrolls play.
They tell of great events in the past and future, helping to frame and guide the present.
However, something that might not be immediately clear is their fluid nature.
Thats why theyre so difficult to read, blinding the ill-prepared.
The reason that they’re fluid is because of the Heros agency the capital H is on purpose.
For the Hero to have agency and free will of this caliber, they must be the Prisoner.
The Prisoner must see the door to their cell.
They must gaze through the bars and perceive that which exists beyond causality.
Only then can they escape.
The Prisoner And The Hero
The Hero and the concept of the Prisoner are intertwined.
They are born in prison.
That is the moment where their empty vessel becomes conscious.
From nothing, they can make reality from the metaphor.
Maybe they choose to save the world, maybe they turn the tide of a war.
“Maybe” is the vital aspect of the Prisoner.
Sotha Sil says as much, Maybe.
The word I covet above all others.
Hold to that word, my friend, and never let go.
The Prisoner is the Hero of the various Elder Scrolls.
They are one and the same.
Coincidence, or carefully enacted prophecy?
The Prisoner is the Hero reincarnated throughout history, constantly reborn to fill that role.
But the Hero doesnt have to die for that spirit to be reincarnated.
The player from Morrowind is still alive and exploring Akavir, while Oblivionsmightbe Sheogorath.
Magnus was the Observer, Auri-El the Rebel, Lorkhan the King, and the Elhlnofey the Prisoner.
The King defends their Tower, whereas the Rebel seeks to destroy it.
That archetype has, throughout the ages, been reincarnated time and time again.
What Is The Prisoner’s Role In The Elder Scrolls?
Whether they mean to or not, every Prisoner has deactivated a Tower of Nirn.
Ada-Mantia was the first spike of unassailable reality in the Dawn, otherwise called the Zero Stone.
Both are Towers of Nirn.
Morrowind sees the Heart of Lorkhan being unbound from the Red Mountain, which is yet another Tower.
In Oblivion, Martin Septim destroys the Amulet of Kings, deactivating the White-Gold Tower.
The only one thats in question is Skyrims, the Throat of the World.
Did slaying Alduin deactivate it?
Or was Alduin the Rebel, and we acted as an agent of the King instead?
That’s for the next game to answer.
Next:Skyrim: How To Join Each Main Faction
