The SECRETS Behind The Ebony Warrior in Skyrim

In this video, I wanted to talk about the mythical Ebony Warrior, discuss the many theories and secrets surrounding him, and reveal my own ideas behind this mysterious character.
Intro - 0:00
Ebony Warrior Quest - 1:31
Face Reveal - 5:46
Misconceptions - 6:20
Ebon Arm Theory - 9:15
Umbra Theory - 12:52
Sword Singer Theory - 13:52
THE GREATEST SECRET - 14:29
Ebony Mysteries - 18:53
Outro - 20:20

[@nonso3396]

All theories I've heard of the ebony have huge holes.. My personal (unbiased) theory is thought out enough to fill said holes. And is a theory I've dropped in the discord servers I'm a part of. To begin, those who believe him to be an aspect of Ebonarm are on the right track. Their line of thought is only incomplete. In that the ebony warrior is an aspect of Ebonarm who in turn is an avatar of the Hoonding. Ergo the ebony warrior ultimately derives from the Hoonding. However, why can he shout? Why does he yearn for Sovngarde despite being a Redguard? The greybeards sure AF wouldn't teach him the thu'um for use in combat. So? The answer is simple.. His origins from the Hoonding! And what does the Hoonding have to do with any of this?? Well, while not stated in any texts, the Hoonding is simply the Yokudan version of Tsun! You don't believe me? What are their spheres? Tsun is the Nordic god of trials against adversity. And the Hoonding? Perseverance against infidels.. The exact same sphere dressed in different words. Both deities hero warrior gods who show up when their ppl are up against the ropes when facing enemies. So why is Tsun more active among rhe Redguards as the Hoonding than among the Nords? Cuz the Hoonding plays a more vital role among the Redguards than Tsun for Nords. Moreover, the Nords still got Shor, whom while dead is still running a tight ship. The Redguards aren't fans of Shor, so he is less welcome in their pantheon, instead leaving things to his shield thane. Still don't believe me? The Hoonding never shows up as the Hoonding, but rather always as powerful avatars. Who else does that? Yes, the other dead Nordic god their chief Shor does so regularly enough with Imperials & Nords where he is revered, entrusting the only race of men who despise him to his thane. And this my friends is why some random ass Redguard who should have no business being as powerful as he is or having the abilities he does is how he is & why as outlandish as it sounds, he wants to go to Sovngarde. That's because that's where his true form resides. I actually thought epic Nate was gonna go in that direction back when he dropped he ebony warrior video & said how Tsun was the only other character in the game with similar dimensions

[@ciaranmck4469]

wouldn't he want to go back to the far shores? Even if the hoonding is just another name for Tsun it doesn't make sense as to why the ebony warrior explicitly mentions sovngarde, just saying tsun and the hoonding are the same doesn't explain why the ebony warrior says sovngarde and not the far shores. Also here's a possibility that no one really talks about that actually has 0 faults and it's that the ebony warrior is just the ebony warrior

[@nonso3396]

Sure it's possible he is simply just the ebony warrior & nothing else.. Much like he could be literally anything else at all. That's simply less probable considering the enigma he is + what little we do know of him. And how doesn't him being a part of Tsun explain him wanting to go to Sovngarde as opposed to the far shores? Tsun is a Nordic god 1st & foremost regardless of whatever other pantheon he may appear in & is straight up the guardian of the realm (or at least Shor's hall anyway). He's the only aedra we've actually seen & spoken to face to face in any game and we see his actual physical location - Sovngarde. So I don't get what business he'd have in the far shores that already has tu'wacca watching over it & tall papa. His home is Sovngarde, so he wants to go back to Sovngarde to reunite with his true self. Seems straightforward enough

[@ciaranmck4469]

@@nonso3396 "That's simply less probable" How? Your points of him being an enigma and us not knowing much about him (which is the same thing lmao) would logically falter back to taking him at face value. What that means is, its a logical fallacy to say he's anything else other than himself with such limited information. As for the Tsun and Hooding stuff idk not really because the information we have on the hooding explicitly says he's of the far shores and at the end of the day the far shores is just another name for atherius. Not to mention Sovngarde is litterly in atherius so if everyone ends up in the same place if followers of the HoonDing end up in the far shores why don't they end up in sovngarde? Probably because the Hoonding and Tsun aren't the same, perseverance over infidels is very specific, if he was just another name for tsun it'd just be perseverance. Besides his sphere is set more in making the way for redguards, which isn't the 'sphere' that we would associate Tsun with. And finally the purpose, every avatar of any deity be it a full on God or a divine spirit had a clear purpose. The Ebony warriors purpose is not clear, we know nothing about his background all we know is that he wants to fight the LDB. If this was an avatar of tsun why would he want to challenge the LDB if they've already fought? Not to mention his death has no impact on anything so 🤷‍♂️

[@nonso3396]

Both the far shores & Sovngarde are in aetherius yes, but they are not all the same. Much like cold harbour and the dead lands are in oblivion, but are entirely different realms. Aetherius also has several pocket realms of its own. Sovngarde is one, the far shores another, the Khajit's sand behind the stars, even Kyne has a forest realm too. So it's not just 1 single place where everyone ends up. And I don't remember the Hoonding ever being said to "be from the far shores". Perhaps you could point me to where you got such an idea from? Perseverance over infidels, perseverance over adversity.. Same thing. He makes way for the Redguards when they face outside foes in much the same way Tsun did under Shor's command in the dawn era for early Nords during the war against the elves & Ehlnofey. There is no difference besides he's been far more prominent with the Redguards as opposed to the Nords who've hardly had any direct influence from him since his death. It's simply two very different cultures looking at & depicting a god from the perspective of their individual culture. And Tsun fought the dragonborn to test his/her worthiness to enter Shor's hall. The ebony warrior fought because he wanted to die. Two very different scenarios. Plus an avatar of a god is not the same as the god. So while the god may be aware of everything the avatar does, the avatar is not mind-linked to the god to see & know everything the god does. You don't have to accept it, it's not fact, it simply makes sense to myself & everyone else I've shared with besides you. So you don't need to accept it if you don't like it.

[@5226-p1e]

@@nonso3396 it's been a long while since someone has come up with a theory, so i'm a bit out of the loop, but one thing doesn't quite add up, why does Ebony use deadric related weapons and armor? i know they kind of streamlined it in skyrim, but the ebony as a material originally came from the deadra, so going off of the past lore and sitting it next to the warrior's mantle and his reasons to go to sovengard, it just doesn't quite add up is all i'm saying, maybe i forgot some details, but as i said I've been out of the loop of the lore for a while. then there are the other Deadric items in his inventory after you defeat him, you mention in the video something about having the heart of a Nord but perhaps that's literally what he has in his inventory, but he obtained the Nords soul as well in the black soul gem as well as his heart and perhaps did some kind of deadric ritual to obtain his abilities and some instructions for his passage into sovengard. i do have roughly over 10,000 hours played in skyrim, but that means nothing really. i'm better at speculation than i am at trying to prove something anyway when it comes to the lore of this game and it's lore of the series the water becomes muddy with theories and it sucks because we never hear anything definitive from the lore creators, we hear some theories from past writers who used to work for bethesda but nothing from the devs currently working on the games or the future games for the elder scrolls. i'm glad to see people are still talking about this stuff though, i really hope the next game follows the lore of skyrim more than what zenimax has done to it, i don't mind that lore, but i like to think of that as separate within another reality but the same universe of lore.

[@lesser8531]

"At last. Sovngarde..." The Black Soul Gem in my inventory - :)

[@XSilver_WaterX]

Shame, should have used Corrupt Azura's Star after spamming him with shock staffs.

[@GabrielAugusto-h3v]

​@@XSilver_WaterXthe black star!

[@GabrielAugusto-h3v]

I did it too!

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Imagine if you soul trap him, and when you do Dawnguard later you find his spirit in the soul cairn for a rematch.

[@jannikfederyszyn7949]

same😁

[@firestarten]

Last time I let a character get that far, Lydia one-shotted him.

[@masterneloth]

Lydia is the real Last Dragonborn…

[@Marinanor]

She is sworn to carry our burdens. @@masterneloth

[@Serge_Jackson]

Damn

[@TB3cookiejar]

@@Marinanorthis the funniest thing i ever seen in my life thank you so much for commenting this

[@Bearsbeets.battlestargalactica]

Shotted isn’t a word

[@EmperorPrinc3]

Ebony warrior: there is nothing left to be done, no quests, no villaims- Dragon born: MF where were you when i was fighting the Alduin

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Alduin was too weak for him. Alduin might be the Dragonborn's final boss, but the Ebony Warrior had another goal. The hero of another story.

[@fartz3808]

What if the Ebony Warrior is the player character from TES6 set in Highrock-Hammerfell? Like you said: a duel between two main characters from different stories!

[@Gambit17]

And Lord Harkon. And Miraak. There were PLENTY of quests to do and villains to fight.

[@KBXband]

I have a new goal in life.

[@5226-p1e]

i once had a mod that would allow me to spare his life and he could become my follower, it was a fun mod, i also had a mod to bend Miraaks will to make him submit to being my ally follower. then i cranked up the frequency of dragon attacks via the dragon combat overhaul mod and suddenly all of us were fighting for days and days, the bones of dragons were everywhere until my game CTD lol, it was a whole lot of fun though, all 3 of us battling the worst of Alduin's army all at once, it was magnificent to see.

[@cazador1159]

They said you needed the heart of a nord to go to savenguard, they never said it had to be your own.

[@TheRealKingDedede]

Well, that explains the heart in his inventory

[@elijahhernandez906]

Really?😂

[@treybrzezowski3259]

"He is unusually tall" That's a generous way to say he's fuckin' massive! Also I've never had him be immediately aggressive, for me he's always waited for me to strike the first blow... and then he'd usually proceed to Yeet me off the mountain.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

"You are the challenger here, so to you goes the courtesy of the first blow" - Dagoth Ur

[@jannikfederyszyn7949]

same for me

[@Estatic-Anarchy]

I've only known about this channel for a few weeks, but Master Neloth is already one of the best Elder Scrolls KZbinrs in my eyes.

[@chikasnotmadjustdisappoint6266]

12:54, glad to see that Master Neloth is a fellow Epic Nate enjoyer

[@zaydagoat6952]

Ebony warrior just casually asking for a fade gotta respect it 😂

[@Halo32010]

A couple other things to note about other races being able to shout in The Elder Scrolls is that when asking Argneir about shouts he'll say, "In mythic times, when mortalkind was in great need, the goddess Kynareth granted us the ability to speak as dragons do." He never says that the ability to shout was given solely to the Nords. Considering he does use the word "Nord" several times, like when talking about Jurgen Windcaller, it makes his use of the word "mortalkind" feel a lot more deliberate to me. That combined with him never commenting on the player's race seems to establish to me that Argneir doesn't believe that the ability to shout is limited soley to Nords. There's also the Old Hroldan quest in Skyrim that lends a lot of credence to the possibility of Tiber Septim being a Breton.

[@Me_o_Mel]

I beat the Ebony Warrior on Legendary mode, without being killed and without mods. One of my proudest moments.

[@masterneloth]

I envy you. One day I will attempt to get that fat without making a new character lol

[@S0n0fG0D]

​@@masternelothTbf it isnt that hard. All you need is 100% destruction cost reduction, thunderbolt and the impact perk. It's basically just infinite stun and you can just sit there and cheese him.

[@split776]

Human connection, my favourite kind of centre of a story! Finally a satisfying theory as to the Ebony Warrior's background

[@SteveTheWereWalrus]

My theory He's just built different

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

He has the same "100 in everything with op gear and enchantments" build.

[@CaptainDiagram]

Still my favorite and arguably the most correct theory.

[@CreaturePhases]

Him calling Epic Nate sexy is really funny to me for some reason

[@Delbel_Giggles91]

Same. XD

[@Morgan-qe6ib]

This is really helpful thank you I keep getting jumped by that thing so I really can’t beat him

[@tythesithari4356]

"Finally sovengarde" Me holding a black soul gem. "Not exactly, but good fight."

[@DarthHuys]

I believe that the Ebony Warrior is mirror of a player character, everything just screams of it. In the lore, he might be an avatar of whatever entity is the Dovahkiin an avatar of, 'cause everything is sort of controversial in the TES lore. Imo, that's a character that kind of breaks the 4th wall an maybe even should not be taken as a part of the lore. Like, you're playing a gigachad that has done literally everything. The only real challenge in such a world is yourself. And by this fight, you get to fully complete the game, or, metaphorically speaking, go to Sovngarde. Sounds quite epic to me

[@DeRizzlo]

nah hes just an op battle freak adventurer that got too strong after grinding out and finishing the skyim world in his own way and realised nobody could defeat him, not even alduin so he waited for dragonborn to grow strong enough to challenge him and defeat him to give him a proper warrior's death.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

@@DeRizzlo imagine the kind of stories he has to tell. The dungeons he cleared, the bosses he defeated.

[@el_famoso_albatar]

@@HappyBeezerStudios He just took an arrow to the knee

[@krisstone3991]

Never met him . I've only had a level 63, and now a level 54. Along way to go👍

[@shadowrose8907]

Just enchant your gear to get -100% Alteration cost and level up with Telekinesis 😂

[@shiny1556]

I admit I haven’t fully watched the video since I am watching this before class, but my personal preferred theory is that the Ebony Warrior is: just the Ebony Warrior. Tamriel has seen incredibly exceptional individuals throughout its history, so I don’t find it strange that a warrior of great skill of knowledge would be alive at the same time as the LDB. All of his abilities can simply be explained by training. People can learn the Thu’um, so why can’t a Redguard? It’s obvious that he is inspired by Ebonarm, but I personally don’t like the idea that every exceptional person is tied to a God.

[@dragonmagic9872]

What about his massive size then? There isn't anyone normal who is that big, the only person as big as Ebony Warrior is Tsun, and he's a Nordic god.

[@_Reverse_Flash]

Master Neloth, you grace us with your presence.

[@MsCaramael]

I found your channel a few days back safe to say you’re the funniest skyrim guy i know 🤝🤝

[@masterneloth]

Thank you so much! Glad you enjoy it!!! ❤

[@walnzell9328]

About Red Eagle being able to shout. First theory. Red Eagle is a Reachman. But he was buried in a Nord tomb. This is obviously Bethesda laziness. They slapped the name Red Eagle on a regular boss draugr and called it a day. Second theory. Red Eagle was a participant in the Dragon War and learned to shout from Paarthurnax. As a Reachman, he was a breton. As in part man part elf. Not to be confused with the specific Bretons of High Rock. This means he could, with his elven blood, have survived from the Merethic Era into the First Era, experienced the Middle Dawn dragon break, and finally died around 1E 1020. Keep in mind the Middle Dawn lasted 1,008 years. So while living from the Merethic Era into 1E 1020 seems to be a long time, the First Era was sort of messed up because of a delusional monkey and his schizophrenic hallucination dragonborn girlfriend who was also dead. Third theory: The Daedra worshipped by the Reachmen taught him the thu'um. What is my evidence? Potema was a Septim by blood, and thus Dragonborn. But she never learned to shout. Except she did, but after she was already dead. See, Potema was a messed up Daedra worshipper and necromancer. Even without the Greybeard's guidance or being able to consume the souls of dragons, she COULD learn to shout from someone else who happened to know a thing or two about Dragonborns. Hermaeus Mora. So when she was finally summoned back to Mundus and appeared as a ghostly skeleton, she could shout! What if Potema was the median Dragonborn between Miraak and the player? The first dragonborn to serve Miraak, Potema, the second, and [Player Name Here] the last. Now I'm not sure if Hermaeus is one of the Daedra the Reachmen historically worshipped, but it's possible that he was still involved somehow.

[@GabrielAugusto-h3v]

Ebony warrior and Faendal share the same voice! Hailbrazil!

[@S0n0fG0D]

I remember preparing so much for this guy. I finally got to him and killed him in about 10 hits 😂 You can easily wipe the floor with him by enchanting cutlary with chaos enchantments and activating the elemental fury perk. He literally dies within maybe 10 seconds if you get high enough enchants and gear. You could also cheese him by dual casting thunderbolt with the impact perk. Literally stun locks him infinitely with the correct setup.

[@evanwaters392]

I feel like the sword singer theory could be possible. Due to the fact that sword singing, shouting, and the Dwemer’s special magic tonal architect all use the same magic, just used in different ways. So someone of the red guard pantheon could be using shouting instead of sword singing just because if the game they’re in. And yes sword singing is seen as a myth now, but so was dragons and shouting until skyrim

[@l0sts0ul89]

What exactly is sword singing

[@pitotu3509]

For me he'll always be the Forgotten Hero from TES: Legends

[@zauvimoo]

I'm ways so happy when I see you upload ^-^

[@Quiet_9]

I think it's important to remember that the Skyrim story is about the cycle of time between Alduin and Akatosh, and how that cycle both reoccurs and is delayed by the time wound. In this context, I think the Ebony Warrior is a player character who like Alduin is reoccurring, and this explains why they are a non Nord Dragonborn of high level and end game equipment.

[@tonys9397]

After doing the umbra ae quest i thought i found an interesting connection and found nates video on it i was really excited but the folka on discord said it was probably a coincidence

[@HJHWolf]

I thought EW might be a hybrid of nord father and redguard mother as hybrids in Tamriel follow their mother's race.

[@PassTheMarmalade1957]

I've never really bought that idea, at least not to the extent that a Redguard/Nord child will basically be pure Redguard if the mother is a Redguard. After all, if it were true, Bretons wouldn't exist. I think it's just something that the author of 'Racial Phylogeny' went with, because the book kind of reads like it's supposed to be written by someone who's a bit ignorant (referring to men and mer as 'civilized,' while saying that no 'normal' person would ever have a child with an Orc, and even talking about what a shame it is that they're not allowed to get two races to have a baby for science.)

[@JzargoTodd]

You have such a underrated channel you sound like the guys who have like 1mill subs you will get there

[@cristiancoman01]

Nice video! Can you please tell what armor and what weapon did you use here in order to defeat ebony warrior?

[@masterneloth]

I used my Windwalker build to defeat him, my previous video on him can answer all your questions! 😎

[@easthogsmeade]

@@masterneloth Indeed, M''aiq believes that this is a good strategy to view other videos of Master Neloth, no?

[@LICENFIREFEAR]

My battle with the ebony warrior was just magnificent

[@heliopus744]

I feel like ebony warrior is probably your old changer in the older elder scrolls

[@jesterssketchbook]

Did you See Lyle Schnub's song about you, Master?

[@masterneloth]

Oh I did indeed! 😎

[@EliasKami]

What a grand and intoxicating video

[@coykeaton2284]

I remember this fight. I just yeeted him off the mountain a couple of times and then went to find his gear.

[@DjFluttersMTF]

Regardless as to the specifics of his backstory i absolutely love the line of thought that he is just a mortal man who grew in power and skill through his own experiences and that he acts as basically a parallel to the player at that point in the game. It just makes thematic sense and is narratively satisfying in my opinion. But now I need to say two things, that with such a normal backstory of him merely being a storied adventurer from Hammerfell, that would be cool 1. Since the next game is most likely taking place in Hammerfell it would be incredibly cool if he was referenced as a wandering hero that some people still remember 2. With him having been an adventurer like the player and possibly fighting in one of the wars in Hammerfell he would make a phenomenal protagonist of a small game such as Redgaurd or Blades. Since he already has a name and characterization it makes him perfect for a game such as that were you're not entirely allowed to fully controll the actions and morals of the protagonist

[@darthmadara7984]

The reason your theory is not mentioned imo is because it does not replace the other ones but simply coexists with them. We all could accept that EW was born a man like LDB and, as such, was part of a human family. If Nazir is his brother, he would not be more special than the nobodies who are members of the DB's family, unless he makes something happen for himself, while his brother gets anointed, blessed, chosen, reincarnated, possessed or whatever his deal is

[@NobodyDungeons]

I personally like the idea that the ebony warrior is a distant relative of Tiber Septim who was an incarnation of Shor. The idea being that they heavily value their bloodline and its ties to Tiber Septim a Nord, and may have picked up Talos worship in the process.

[@LICENFIREFEAR]

The brother theory is legit

[@LethalPriest]

I was always hoping there was a grand back story to The Ebony Warrior and this is a good one! But I suspect it's a Bethesda random stat/skill/model based on lvl 80 just so we have one last thing to do.

[@JamesTrifolium]

I recall my first time legitimately beating him being really easy, as all I did was continuously stagger him with power attacks from a Dragonbone Greatsword enchanted with Chaos Damage. My most recent time, I think I just summoned atronachs to damage him until he took a knee, after which I shouted him off the cliff. I don’t remember that one as well since the highlight that game was Requiem’s Alduin. (250 levels of solid pain.)

[@MycShredder]

What really makes the fight annoying is his reflect blow perk. That, coupled with the poorly implemented smithing system where the PC's damage output becomes ungodly at high levels, always forces me to use combat magic. The first time I hit him with melee and insta-KO'd myself, I honestly thought it was a bug.

[@Entransing]

was waiting for you to say he shared the same face as Naz…. eem

[@WBElvis32]

What would be amazing is if the Ebony Warrior had the same face as Nazeem.

[@farhansaber9330]

So like, you said he attacks when you approach, but, from what I recall, he never does that lol. He just stands there waiting for you to make the first hit lol

[@virdamofromko-metru1161]

My guess is he's just a redguard from Skyrim, nurtured in this culture. However, he may be a worshipper of Lorkhan. Afterall he wants to get to Sovngarde a.k.a. the halls of Shor. That would also explain ebony armour as ebony is Lorkhan's blood. Moreover it justifies both hearts in the inventory - neither on the side od daedra nor bound by morality of aedra. Hell, he could even be a Shezzarine himself. And if we go by your theory it makes sense how Nazir worships Sithis and the Ebony Warrior Shor as both initiallly come from Padomay.

[@omegawolflight]

I still like he is the forgotten hero theory I find it interesting lol

[@walnzell9328]

The player character, if not a Nord, is the only non-Nord that has the confirmed potential to enter Sovngarde. They player is also able to sit down in the throne of Shor. I think you see where I'm going with this. Sovngarde is a Nord's only club. With one exception. Well, actually two. I think the Nords' Atmoran ancestors are also allowed in. But aside from that, Shor.

[@sykotik4200]

So, if u somehow make it to lvl 80, kill the ebony warrior and then go to sovngarde in the last mission... Is he there??

[@masterneloth]

From everything I read on the UESP, I highly doubt it. But lorewise he would be.

[@noahmojica6915]

I fucking love master neloth. He is such an advanced mage that he has a KZbin channel in our world.

[@_numb]

have a good day 🎉 love you

[@EJDubbz]

4000+ hours never made it this far on a character

[@zaydagoat6952]

Seeing this man for the first time was lowkey creepy because how unusually tall he is n how he runs up on u

[@EvelynnWinters2000]

Theory After defeating all enemies and doing everything, The Dragonborn fought the last opponent left... Themself The Ebony Warrior is not actually a separate being, but is actually a manifestation of the player's soul Now, the Dragonborn sells their soul to every powerful being that passes, so, in this theory, the Ebony Warrior is just a portion of The Dragonborn's soul that is destined for Sovngarde. They appeared retaining all the honorable warrior traits of The Dragonborn, since that is what is valued to Sovngarde As for why he is a Redguard, it's quite simple really. The gods aren't racist, and Redguards have a lot of natural talent for martial combat, moreso than the Nords, despite the warrior heavy Nord culture Also, The Ebony Warrior is not mentioned anywhere else. If there was an adventurer that powerful, doing that much, you would've heard rumors at least And most likely (assuming this theory is correct), they'll continue to encounter extraordinarily powerful mortals who never seemed to exist before their encounter, each being another portion of The Dragonborn's soul. Perhaps they'll meet a Khajiit assassin who represents their sneaky, murderous aspects, destined to join Sithis. Or a Dunmer Wizard who represents their sheer chadliness, destined to remain chadly. Maybe a vampire who is their evil aspects destined for Molag Bal's realm. A werewolf destined for The Hunting Grounds. (And many others, the Dragonborn is kind of a soul sl*t okay?)

[@dragonmagic9872]

Not to be rude but that seems like the most least likely theory of all the ones I've heard.

[@walnzell9328]

I sort of like your idea of the Ebony Warrior having fought in the Great War. If he did, he could've come to hate the Thalmor so badly that he began to worship Shor. The theory that the Thalmor are trying to unmake Mundus and return to being Et Ada, if true, would put them at odds with Shor, AKA Lorkhan. This is HIS world, after all. So who better to seek the blessing of than the god who would hate the Thalmor the most, even if it violates Redguard culture? Perhaps he feels better worshipping Lorkhan as Shor rather than as Sep, since followers of Shor get to go to the cool mead hall when they die in battle. Which isn't the Far Shores, but perhaps he sees it as the best afterlife he can hope for if he goes down this path.

[@EckerKyle]

Ebony warrior is probably big bc it looks cool. They probably put stuff in games and then pay an intern to weave it into lore

[@purgejmi]

This has some strong "there can be only one" vibes lol.

[@5226-p1e]

Miraak should have been far harder than the vanilla game made him, but it is what it is.

[@shadowrose8907]

I went a little overboard with improving my weapons, so the hardest part when I fought him was not soft-locking the fight

[@1th_to_comment.]

I first beat Miraak at level 14 lol

[@5226-p1e]

@@shadowrose8907 yep, and that is a huge bethesda issue in their games, especially for this fight, this fight is scripted and because it's scripted coming in there with OP weapons just causes that issue, i remember i had to do something like this and only use spells like conjure sword and bow because of the stupid soft lock issue. the scripted event is supposed to go like this, you meet Miraak and he has a little chat with you and then the fight starts, the first time you weaken him he flees to one of the black pools and teleport's to the center pool where he regenerates his lost health, while one of his dragons fights you, you end up killing the dragon so that Miraak absorbs the dragon soul, repeat same sequence until all the dragons helping him are dead and then before your final blow in killing him, Mora stabs Miraak and you win. but if you take to much of his health in this fight too quickly, this stupid soft lock situation happens, so you have to make sure your weapons aren't too strong and to fight him with kid gloves because bethesda really messed up this fight. i wish some modder would come in and just scrap this sequence and you fight him without these annoying scripts that get in the way more than they help.

[@shadowrose8907]

@@5226-p1e That's what kept happening to me; I made the mistake of discovering the Fortify Resto loop; I eventually had to go at him with Destruction magic and a wooden sword

[@5226-p1e]

@@shadowrose8907 lol a wooden sword, yep, kid gloves lol. yeah i remember that resto loop, it was great for making crazy enchantments, like i remember making a ring that had health restore rate and i got the number in the thousands and i could literally wear nothing but the ring with that enchantment and i wouldn't die because my health would restore faster than it could be taken down lol. i didn't like using it on weapons even though i could, over powered weapons just made gameplay no longer fun, but so did the ring of restore healing rate lol. it was nice to have that enchantment when doing that one college of winterhold quest that involved restoration and the Auger in the basement of the college.

[@CharlesKnight99]

What if they’re just mixed race? Nordic father and redguard mother, reason for the redguard appearance. As lore said mix racer races use mother’s features.

[@masterneloth]

Could be, but with my theory on Nazir being the brother of the Ebony Warrior, I find it far more likely he is full Redguard.

[@letsdothisshiat1162]

I think it’s heavily implied that he was the protagonist of some elder scrolls card game 😂

[@masterneloth]

I heard that theory but I dislike it because the player should choose the race and backstory of the character, not Bethesda. Unless it’s like Cyrus.

[@dami8875]

I wish Bethesda gave this guy much more depth than what we have. Imagine if he had the most intimidating voice ever to mankind while giving the Dragonborn the most philosophical words ever 😂

[@redandbluesteelstudiosoffi5797]

Flame Atronachs are my weakness 😩😩😩

[@molster1234]

Who else is here due to the speed run record and didn’t even know this guy was a thing until today

[@Krypack]

What if the ebony warrior is just a reflection of the player? Since we encounter him at level 80 and he summarises he has done everything there is to do… the same as the player most likely by that stage. Would be cool :)

[@eemelikorteniemi3966]

8:00 well yes. It is right there, in his inventory

[@DetChesmond]

I’ve been playing Skyrim since the month it came out in 2011, and I’ve never gotten near high enough to face him. Always have other things to do or get bored of the game before I even reach level 60, let alone 80

[@derskalde4973]

For all we know, the Ebony Warrior could be a halfbreed. In TES, children usually are the race of the mother, so the only certain thing we know, is that his mother most likely was a redguard. Maybe he was born to a mixed couple, like the one we meet in Dawnstar (I think). It could be, that one of his parents (most likely his father) was a Nord, who raised his son as such. That would explain, why the Ebony Warrior yearns for, and can be found in, Sovngarde: he's a Nord in basically everything but appearance. That could also explain, why he could use the Thu'um: even if it wouldn't be something inherent due to having Nordic blood, he could've been taught by the greybeards as a Nord. And even if not, it would be possible, that his Nord parent was taught how to use the voice, and then taught it to their son. And on the topic of the Great War, someone suggested, that the Ebony Warrior could be, I think it was the Forgotten Hero (? The PC from the game, where the Aldmeri Dominion uses the Orb of Vaermina, and the PC poses as the Emperor, after the real one sustained a terrible wound from an Assassin and couldn't lead his Army himself.)

[@FetaCheese717]

I wonder what would happen if you defeat the ebony warrior before you fight Alduin. Would you see him in Sovngarde?

[@sir2069]

No

[@bright1402]

When you reached here, the creator of this game just wants to tell you that this might be the end The Ebony Warrior actually is you

[@number1fargothfan]

Isn’t Miraak a breton? I could be wrong, just curious about a connection here

[@masterneloth]

Your probably thinking of Hjalti Early-Beard who became the god Talos. I was going to mention him as well but his legacy and godhood made it too complicated and would have detracted from the topic at hand.

[@number1fargothfan]

@@masterneloth lol true, thanks though, there’s always so much awesome lore

[@cz5836]

I feel like the theory here is more head canon than anything. But it makes nazir a little bit more cool.

[@KudaKeileon]

Honestly I just think he's descended from Lyris Titanborn and Sai Sahan from ESO. Yes ESO came out later, but they were being developed simultaneously. Lyris Titanborn is a very tall, half-giant Nord woman, and Sai Sahan is a Redguard Blade. They're also love interests with each other, and very present in the ESO main story. You can choose one of them to die, but neither is the "canon" choice, and death means very little in ESO anyway because it's almost definitely in a Dragon Break. So basically we have a tall Redguard who can Shout and wants to go to Sovngarde, and in a game that takes place a thousand years earlier we have a very tall Nord woman who is mutually in love with a Redguard Dragonguard.

[@VenatariHendarian]

I think imma be around 16 or so when I gain level 80…but that will take a while.

[@VenatariHendarian]

But to be fair, the Redguard’s afterlife must be for those of both high importance and those who contributed enough to their society. Sovngarde is for the warrior’s that the Nords are, and I believe the Ebony Warrior has that same spirit that a warrior of the Nord has. So he wished to travel to the afterlife of the honorable and worthy warriors. Either that or he must have some genes that are from a Nord. But I think what you said may also be true.

[@NobodyDungeons]

My face when I power level like a mad man and reach level 81 in 5 hours.

[@thecrashgymnast6183]

just subbed

[@theamazingmaymay123]

I peeped my Favorite Skeleton follower in the intro. Good sneak.

[@frost7842]

I think Ebony Warrior is a redguard just because they have 50% poison resistance to match other resistances from his gear.

[@flyingsquirrel1512]

What if the ebony warrior is the main protagonist that we play in the new Elder Scrolls 6 game! It’s supposedly supposed to take place in Hammerfell home of the redguards. Wouldn’t that be an interesting twist!

[@masterneloth]

Many people have said this but i don't think it would be good because then it would ruin player choice in the next game. Why should I be an Orc or Dark Elf when I already know that I am canonically a male Redguard? Also, all the mainline Elder Scrolls games happen in chronological order and are either a couple years apart or 200 years in Skyrims case. ES6 is likely to be around 2 - 7 years after Skyrim if the other games are any indication.

[@damagedmonkey4485]

Reachman still have nordic blood tho dont they?

[@justme0910]

My personal pet theory is that the TES universe is actually a multiverse - not in the sense that there are different planes of existence, at least some of which go through cycles of death and rebirth, but in the sense that all possible timelines exist parallel to each other. I mean, that's basically what a Dragonbreak is, isn't it? Several timelines collapsing into one? Thus, everytime a Big Important Hero of Prophecy (likely a Shezzarine) shows up, there's one in every single parallel universe. We get to play some of them - all of which begin their journey in an identical worldstate - but there are other Heroes scattered throughout the lore. Why can no one agree which race Tiber Septim actually was? There was more than one of him. Why is there a female Khajiit version of Jurgen Windcaller? For the same reason, say, the Hero of Kvatch is simultaneously a male Argonian and a female Imperial, among every other combination of races and genders the game allows. And then there's the other worldstates. The world we inhabit in the games is one where the Nords have traditionally been the most devoted followers of Lorkhan/Shor, where they're the ones whose ancestors used to be giants compared to the other mortal races, the ones who are called into Shor's service upon death, and the ones who were gifted by Kyne with mastery of the Thu'um only Dragons and those of the Dragonblood could match. Now imagine an alternate timeline where all of this is true for the Redguards instead, and also they didn't "shrink" the way the Atmorrans did upon arriving in Skyrim, splitting into the Nords and the giants we see today. Enter that world's version of the Dragonborn, who upon fulfilling his destiny becomes so overpowered, his only options to secure his afterlife are apotheosis or finding someone who is as overpowered as he is - an alternate version of himself. So what does he do? He finds a way to hop between universes (possibly using a technique similar to the Walkabout), finds us, and challenges us to a duel. He purposefully never tells us who he is or what he did so we don't go universe hopping as well, potentially messing up the entire multiverse. We're left with some great loot and a lot of questions.

[@sophiemendez5567]

I fought him in town just to see what would happen.

[@SaiyanWolf-1693]

Random dumb thought, what if the Ebony Warrior is the main character of Elder Scrolls VI?

[@Haggysack2k8]

19:47 Look at him. Look at this dude. This Bosmer piece o shiet. Me: *Opens inventory to take a sip out of 5.000 bottles of Sujamma and Mazte, puts on a specially enchanted amulet with 5.000+ Luck* Me then: "Never should have come here!" ... *Still gets oneshot by Gaenor* "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"

[@hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm_]

Pretty good theory, except the fact, that he couldn’t of trained with the grey beards, at least I am pretty sure one of the grey beards say that ur the first person they’ve trained for a long time,

[@gethsoldsmith]

I didn't know he was so strong because I just shouted him down his cliff

[@someonesilence3731]

17:42 Must correct you there, the great war happend 30 years before TESV, not 20.

[@masterneloth]

Ah, I’m still thinking of the Hammerfell conflict after the war from my Windwalker video. My bad lol but I think the ages still work.

[@paulmcf1115]

He was supposed to be Ebonarm before ot was scrapped and then they repurposed the model to give us a strong boss battle at the endgame

[@nikolibarastov4487]

I was there Gandalf, I was there 13 years ago Nov 11th, 2011. I remember him being not that hard. He was annoying, but not hard. Maybe it was because the second he Fus Ro Dah'd me, I Fus Ro Dah'd him off the Cliff.

[@matthewpaul526]

Ah.... I remember sneaking up and one-shotting this dude with my enchantment stacked bow.

[@Notmiddleg]

I'm at level 277, and haven't done the sragonborn quest line yet

[@WilliamClose-x9g]

What about having your player turn into to a werewolf

[@macpocketedition5283]

The ebony warrior is the player in another playthtrough who wasn't marked as dragonborn.

[@dinobanan3211]

It's a shame you have not mention Imperial Knowledge's theory. He is quite prominent in the fields of lore.

[@TheNuclearGeek]

Since it's been established that mixed race children are the race of their mother, I still believe the most likely explanation for why he's a Redguard is his father is a Nord of some high standing who had a child with a Redguard woman and really just wants to meet his father in Sovngarde. A likely scenario is he is the bastard son of someone like (but not necessarily specifically) Ulfric, High King Torygg, or another Jarl past or present that also trained in the way of the voice and passed on his teachings to his son. It would explain his desire to succeed and to enter Sovngarde, since though he may look like a Redguard, he is just as much a Nord, and wants to join his father there.

[@doominator-117]

Kinda like a wasted oportunity to add more lore for this character, ot at least use him in a quest, random encounter or stuff like that because the whole Redguard, human who can shout, absolute unit, Sovngarde, no quest/enemy left is very, intriguing I say, after all, the community likes this powerfull warrior, from lore perspective that is. I like to believe that the Ebony Warrior is related, somewhat, to TES 6 if indeed is located in Hammerfell. Either the Player Character, canon or not, or a very special ally within the game, or a major DLC chacater, especially with that line of "no quest to complete/enemy to defeat"

[@simonlee9491]

He is a hint at the end of the game of the location of the next game, which is Hammerfell. Neloth you got it at the end of the video. Why don’t more people realize that? Also the fact he can shout isn’t too strange considering the last Dragonborn could be an Argonian. Ulfric does say that any true Nord can learn to shout, but this is probably just racist talk, I think what is meant by him is that anyone who adopts and studies Nordic culture can with much training and patience perform shouts (words of power) like the way Dragons do. I feel the Ebony Warrior represents another player like character whom became powerful but was never Dragonborn. To gain access to the Force shout, he only had to clear out Bleak Falls Barrow and study the word wall intently learning ‘Fus’, it would have taken a number of years but it’s not outside possibility. Especially since Bleak Falls looked quite well raided by time TLD clears it. Did the Ebony Warrior get to the word wall years before TLD? It’s a good way to reveal Hammerfell and is not outside the realm of possibility that he was just a Redguard whom, like if the player had chosen a Redguard, a man whom spent years of study in ‘the way of the voice’ and was at heart ‘a true nord’ destined for sovengard.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

What if the ebony warrior is another protagonist who has done everything and decided to become a boss instead. And considering the dragonborn can be the champion of all daedric princes, the most likely result is that there will be a war in aetherius over their soul. Well, unless Akatosh has first dibs.