The True Gods of Skyrim EXPLAINED | Elder Scrolls Lore

Religion in the Elder Scrolls is a subject that I find to be most fascinating, be it the Aedra, Daedra, or something entirely different. In this video, I shall be interviewing one of the few nords who still worships the Nordic Pantheon named Njord, and try to understand his gods better, and even uncover some secrets....
Ysmir Armor Mod - www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspeci...
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Intro - 0:00
The Different Cycles - 1:26
Nordic Creation Myth - 2:28
Shor - 4:57
Tsun - 9:37
Kyne - 11:23
Mara - 14:16
Dibella - 15:41
Stuhn - 17:09
Jhunal - 20:03
Alduin - 22:18
Orkey - 24:43
Mauloch - 27:49
Herma-Mora - 29:32
Ysmir - 31:53
Outro - 34:17

[@CyberController-]

"So you guys worship Kynareth?" "Kyne, not Kynareth" "Aren't they the same god?" "Is a treehouse the same as the Blue Palace?" "Fair enough"

[@HiAgainTheNameIsStillAyle]

It is though...

[@MudCrabber]

In Skyrim the Dragonborn can sit on Shors throne which is one of the reasons people thing the last Dragonborn is shezzarine

[@domino_201]

they probably are, alongside the other chad shezarrines like Pelinal Whitestrake

[@thorodinsson5684]

I think that’s why the Dragonborn can sit in shors throne he can sit in every throne from solitude to Raven rock all the thrones are able to be sit upon but im pretty sure the last Dragonborn is called ysmir by the greybreards just like talos was so does that mean is the Dragonborn a reincarnate talos or is he this shezzarine or unless the grey beards are too dumb to remember who shor is

[@sheogorath6834]

@@thorodinsson5684 "he can sit in every throne from solitude to Raven rock all the thrones are able to be sit upon " Yeah, but they're just normal thrones. In Shivering Isles, you can't sit upon Sheogorath throne before becoming Sheogorath yourself. People assume that's the same with Shor.

[@thorodinsson5684]

@@sheogorath6834 will the god of jokes and cheese send the god of thunder a small loan of a million cheeses and I’ll let you weld mjolnir the next time someone refuses your trials 😂

[@Redster3]

It is theorized that all the main characters throughout the Elder Scrolls were the Shezzarine and all reincarnations respectively. This is why all the characters become legendary, mythic, and folklorish or obscure by the events of the next installment. As Shezzarine, he or she is destined to be remembered, but paradoxically forgotten at the same time.

[@BxGStone]

Herma-Mora being a rabbit would makes sense considering there's a stat that tracks how many bunnies you've slaughtered

[@gigagian]

I like how the Nords have a selection of exalted "testing" gods included in their mythos. It's something they share in common with the Dunmer who have their own "House of Troubles". 2 races who have famously clashed with each other many times over their mutual history have since learned to extol the virtue of "Know Thy Enemy".

[@barrydalton4743]

My interpretation on the whole “Who taught the Thu’um” was that Kyne blessed mortals with the ability to use the Thu’um, but they still had to learn how to actually use it hence where Paarthurnax comes in to teach them, as it would be this time he’d turn against Alduin and be tasked by the Gods to help mortals against them.

[@dunkelwalde695]

I like this idea. It brings both stories together nicely.

[@inductivegrunt94]

The Old Nord Gods of Skyrim have got to be my favorite pantheon in The Elder Scrolls. I never really considered creating a character that worships them over the 8(9) Divines, but I may try that now that I've seen this lore video. So thanks for giving me a new character idea for my next playthrough.

[@firestarten]

Party snacks seems to refer to Alduin and Akatosh (Bormahu) as separate entities when speaking to the dragonborn.

[@deadtoallnohonornohope]

I've always considered akatosh Auriel and alduin to exist in a Trinity

[@sheogorath6834]

Gelebor also don't mention Alduin when he mentions every names of "Akatosh", and Alduin himself states that he's the first born of him (meaning they're separate entities).

[@partnax5629]

Could be an oversoul situation, like Talos. 3 spirits, same dude. Also could just be a case of creation (anti-anti creation specifically, not creation in the normal sense)

[@clothar23]

​@@partnax5629 Alduin himself refers to himself as the First Born son of The Dragon God. And the Dragons themselves refer to their race as Children of Akatosh. The Dude or Dragon rather is at best a secondary member of the Elder Scrolls Pantheon. As are his lesser siblings.

[@Super50ldier]

​@@sheogorath6834 Nope, Alduin literally predates Akatosh. He's the Nordic version of Auri-El. Remember Akatosh is a combination of Shor/Lorkhan and Alduin/Auri-El. The same why the Nords see Alduin as a devil, the Elves see Lorkhan as a devil. The Time God is the enemy in the Nordic Pantheon. It's stated that Shor and Alduin fought at the beginning of time aka the Dawn Era during the war between Humans and Elves.

[@Redster3]

The way I interpreted it, I saw Herma-Mora (Hermaeus Mora) secretly and covertly taught the Thu’um first to Miraak, before Kyne could teach it to Paarthurnax. Because Herma-Mora is the “God of forbidden knowledge, fates, & memories”, it would make sense the actual truth and history would be hidden, obscured, or forgotten. Since he is considered a “demon” by most, any records of him actually teaching the Thu’um first to humanity would have been destroyed or confiscated.

[@derskalde4973]

Njord is actually a nordic deity. Njord, or Njördr, is the norse Vanir god of the sea, given to the Aesir gods as a hostage, at home in Noatun, a city made out of ships, husband to Skadi, and apparently called upon by sailors and fishers. I think, there's a good chance, that he was at least partly the inspiration for Stuhn. If I understand it right, while the dragons of TES appear to be minor Aedra and lack a conventional gender, it seems that all the Dovah are considered to be male. If they were female, they wouldn't be Dovah, but Jill. I think, if you were to take the statement, that the Thu'um was taught to the Nord through Kynes daughters, to be literal, it'd either have to be, that Paarthurnax was the first Dragon to turn, but that the Thu'um was mainly taught by the Jill, or, what seems more likely to me, that the first men to be taught the Thu'um by Paarthurnax (possibly on behalf of Kyne), were priestesses of, or otherwise favoured by, Kyne. Or maybe she used someone like priestesses dedicated to her, who could be referred to as her daughters, to bestow the blessing of understanding upon those who would become the first tongues. In my opinion, that wouldn't even be that absurd. Since Dovahzul functions entirely different, I think it quite plausible, that Kyne could've instructed Paarthurnax, who had a change of heart and pitied the races of man, to teach the Thu'um to humans, and then blessed the first tongues with a better understanding of things, so they could learn the Thu'um in a shorter amount of time, and these first tongues then taught other humans, who didn't have this blessing of understanding, since the first tongues now understood both the meaning of the tongue of the timeless dragons and that of man, who are doomed to die, and therefore probably had an easier time explaining these concepts of the immortal to the mortals. Does that make sense? If not, let's try it this way: we are told, that to be able to use the Thu'um, one must be able to grasp the _entirety_ of a concept, in all its facets, so to breathe fire, for example, you have to understand the concept of fire. That's why Paarthurnax couldn't teach the Dragonfall shout: dragons would have a hard time learning it, if they are even able to in the first place, because dragons are beings outside of time, they are more or less immortal beings, and the Dragonfall shout forces them to experience mortality, a concept entirely alien to them. Similarly are humans likely unable to learn the shout that Alduin used to revive the other dragons, because they, as a mortal race, have a hard time grasping the meaning, the concept of timelessness and immortality in its entirety.

[@ximthedespot4673]

Guess Ysmir Wufarth comvinced you to finish the video. Pretty cool video.

[@envoy2500]

Brothers and sisters are natural enemies. Just like Nords and Orcs Or Nords and Falmer Or Nords and Dwemer Or Nords and Altmer Or Nords and Neads Or Nords and other Nords! Dam Nords! They ruined Skyrim for the Nords!

[@WortWortBlarg]

MASTER NELOTH BACK AT IT AGAIN BLESSING US WITH KNOWLEDGE 🎉🎉🎉

[@vizzzyy190]

yooo lets goo!!!! god lore video from master neloth!!!

[@Edog27]

You posted. Thank talos for you neloth ❤❤

[@Obese_man]

Are you planning to do a video like this for other pantheons?

[@masterneloth]

Yes, I would love to do videos on the pantheons of all races, I will probably do the Aldmeri pantheon next, then the Imperial one. And afterwards do the Dunmer or Yokudan ones. Also talking about the Dragon Cult of Skyrim in detail would be another video lol

[@AvisSapiens]

If Ysmir and the Shezzarine are the same thing, and represent an avatar of Lorkhan, does that also just mean that Talos is also Lorkhan as well? Is that maybe an additional layer to why the Aldmeri are so vehement in their opposition to Talos worship. Because if Talos = Lorkhan it would mean that all of a sudden the absolute enemy deity within elven mythology was granted a Seat amongst the Divines. And on a deeper level it would mean that a manifestation of the deity who dragged the Aedra from grace was seated amongst them yet again. Man, it sure would have been cool for that to be explored anywhere in the dang games, huh.

[@eugsadgwreh]

I love subbing to all of you KH and ES channels

[@mollieherlocker5918]

A Nord named Njord?! I need to get back to my buddy Njordmann the Nord Man, he's not nearly as knowledgeable as Njord the Nord.

[@cvcpharmacy4092]

Thoughts on House Redoran Master Neloth?

[@masterneloth]

Great canon fodder during the Oblivion Crisis!

[@cvcpharmacy4092]

@@masterneloth well said.

[@jhsams]

i can never get enough lore videos on the nordic pantheon

[@Poeix]

Made a high elf on my first play through and thought “storm cloaks are cool” then joined them and slowly realized they hate me…

[@DangerousGazes]

Please make a video covering the dragon cult. That part always confuses me when I play skyrim.

[@someonesilence3731]

They should have made the Nords of Skyrim more tradtional and make the Stormcloacks more of an traditonalist faction rather than the lame racist ploit it is now.

[@D-Lo23]

Hail Sithis!!!!

[@WortWortBlarg]

🏔️ 💨

[@The_Jragon]

I am gonna say because the in universe lore says only Shor can sit upon his throne, and we can sit on said throne. The Last Dragonborn at the very least is the Shezzarine.

[@smuggrog9821]

I have always found it a little ironic that despite the Orcs being one of the Nords most ancient foes the Nords have historically had the most alliances with the Orcs, at least when it comes to the non-manish races anyway. In the First Era Wulfharth made an alliance with the Eastern Orcs for the Battle of Red Mountain, in the Second Era the Fildgor and Stormfist clan rallied an army of Orcs, and the Third Era Nord warriors with Orc mercenaries invaded House Redoran territory. Except for the Ebonheart Pact, I cant other alliances with Nords and Dunmer example, maybe this is just a case of real recognizes real? Still find it strange that two races that are ancient enemies and are known to hold grudges, would ally themselves that often, though I guess when it comes to the Mer/Beast Folk the Nords do share the most common ground with the Orcs.

[@darthmadara7984]

Lol so Skyrim has such a shortage of smart Nords that the character Njord had to flat out be fan fiction. Also for LDB to be a Shezzarine he would have to Certainly be a man as opposed to getting his dragon soul with the blessing of Akatosh who protects men and mer

[@jackagonis9302]

What if shor stole power from akatosh to create the last dragonborn? seems like something he would do.

[@darthmadara7984]

@@jackagonis9302 Big If bro. That would make shor the only god with a personality. The others just passively let him run circles around them lol. Why steal power from Akatosh. To empower a mortal anyway? What about Shor's own divine powers or the power of the other living Aedra who are sympathetic to mankind. Why can't they empower a mortal? These are rhetorical questions by the way. I don't expect anyone to know for sure.

[@tythesithari4356]

I just assumed Malaketh was called mountian fart because the nords thought what Boethiah did to him was hilarious. I may not know a ton of the expanded lore, but i think the furries said Boethiah was like a sibling to Shor or something, and that was payback on his behalf?

[@masterneloth]

I’d need to reread some things but I vividly remember that Boethiah was in love with or at least felt a connection to Shor. Honestly Boethiah seems like an unsung hero the mankind for avenging Shors death.

[@ca_kay]

I just thought of something awesome. What if the Shezarrine is just the Champion of Shor's will, like how the Nerevarine is the Champion of Azura's will? If so, then Akatosh or rather the Akatosh/Alduine could be the Champion of Auriel's will, and Alduin could be an Akatosh. Another thought is that the Nords could literally have been Snow Elves that were turned into Men during the Dawn Era thanks to Arkay's actions, and these could have been Snow Elves that eschewed Auriel for Shor. Since Auriel created the Elves and they were cursed to mortality by Shor's actions, Ariel could have created Akatoshes, literally 1000 year world destroyers, to destroy the mortal world thus ending the kalpa and freeing the Elves from mortality.

[@-elrean]

Thank you master Neloth

[@shoto1045]

Great video :) are you planning on doing more build videos?

[@dodogeneral9557]

Whaat's the name of the armor that Njord Wears & and his axe please

[@joshreddy4359]

Master Neloth, have you ever done a video on the religion of the nords of solstheim?

[@Daan-Dovah]

Whats that armor your using for the nord and is it available on xbox?

[@masterneloth]

It is the Ysmir armor mod and yes it was ported over by Xtudo!

[@TheMagnumDon]

I always assumed just Wulfharth was the only Shezzarine as I don't believe Shor would come back as multiple avatars who would quarrel with each other I also doubt the Dragonborn is a Shezzarine because if he was a aspect of Shor, Tsun would have definitely noticed

[@chrismills2439]

I'd like to point out that the war criminal Tiber Septim was a Breton that looked enough like a Nord to pass as one. And Ysgramor might have played wack the mole with the wrong race of mer too

[@ascendedisamazing]

Akatosh of the Nine Divines and Alduin are very much separate beings, both literally, and in terms of worship

[@blackfyre4578]

I hate to be that guy but what is the armor mod used in the thumbnail?

[@masterneloth]

It is the Ysmir Armor mod, I just added a link in the description if this video if you need the link!

[@blackfyre4578]

@@masterneloth Thank you very much!

[@DrownedLamp]

Me: Hehe poopoo rock 😂 Also me: so does the fart cause an echo in the mountain. A reoccurring fart? Is he the farter or fartee? Does Trinimac give indigestion? 🤔

[@sython3582]

Njord is the name of the Vanir god of the ocean and sailing in norse mythology.

[@user-nj5bd8ly1y]

May the Gods watch over your battles! \o/

[@kibawhitefang7176]

My character doesn’t believes in those gods as gods. Because those are created to be “gods”, meaning they are beings.

[@Slavesforsale1]

Atheist characters in setting with literal magic and obvious proof of the existent of the divine are either pretty compelling or insufferably annoying.

[@todd2.08]

Oh my Reddit

[@kibawhitefang7176]

@@Slavesforsale1 😂 I’m just expanding my imagination through my character. She’s not atheist, but has a higher sense of spiritual awareness in which sees the world incomplete. Though, despite the accounts of 8 to 9 so called divines, she questions it amid fundamental clauses that she tries to answer: there has to be 1 supreme deity.

[@kibawhitefang7176]

@@todd2.08 😅 what??

[@ipinhathaway]

do khajit next. those skooma loving cats sure have funny belief.

[@noahtylerpritchett2682]

I often wondered if if the first era or second era the Nords fought countless wars losing hundreds of thousands for centuries against the Orcs. Afterall the Orcs inhabited skyrim before the Nords. So ergo the Nords had to take some of their territory from them

[@Tigermanprevatt4498]

I thought alduin was akatosh's son like all dragon's

[@CatandCo.Podcast]

house liloo

[@Shadow-ru5pq]

Happy 4/20

[@Hiddensimcrafter]

alduin himself say that he is the firstborn of akatosh and it is known that dragons are the children of akatosh, it may be a jump in logic but kyne being the goddess of wind and said to have been at the throat of the world which is literally referred to as mother wind by the dragons says that dragons are the children of kyne and akatosh, alduin and akatosh are different as accepted by most nords, imperial schollars assume that since they had akatosh that old nords just named him something else to suit their needs, i know you know this because i read it off the wiki where you got most of your script from, i was reading it and watching at the same time. too many of your sentences were word for word from the wiki, if you are going to make a lore video be sure to include all the info not just the parts that you feel like, yes you made a small reference to the misconception between the two ideologies but you presented it in a way that make the opposite seem like fact and didnt even mention that the imperials were the ones that assumed they were the same being, you said that the nords started to think they may have been seperate even thought the ancient ones claimed they were the same, quit trying to confuse people

[@Marvinuser]

don't let an old norse specialist /nerd hear you pronounce that name: Njórd, or Njörðr as is the old norse spelling... he is the lord of the vanir and the father of Freyr and Freja. god of the sea ;) that dude there is named after this old norse god.

[@deadtoallnohonornohope]

I consider The dragonborn to the synthesis of kynes gift the walking covenant of akatosh and an incarnation of shor The embody the breath of kyne the soul of a dragon and the will of lorkhan to protect the current iteration of the mundus and the tower, but what do i know?

[@uptowngrundy4778]

Skyrim is for the nords!

[@miraak2213]

Mead is good but a giant war hammer is not what i want. Magic is better

[@PrinceZakariyya]

Yo

[@arifhossain9751]

Hare-ma Mora

[@icywisemanofthenorth4716]

Dragons do have genders. Female dragons are called Jills and fix the timeline for Akatosh.

[@kennethjarvis4216]

My Dragonborn alway gets The Blood of Akatosh at the beginning of the game when Hadvar says... (Stay away from the wall). Alduin lands and his wing crashes down leaving a gash or scare on your face. Aiduin is Akatosh so the theory that you are Shore is out for me anyway. So my Dragonborn contracts the blood of Akatosh giving him the gift of the Thum. Alduin actually saves you and you are his chosen one or why would he save you. Because you are Akatosh in the form of man or Mer.. Kinda like God, The Son of God and The Holy Spirt if that helps you understand what I am thinking of how the Dragonborn comes to be and how the Dragonborn is so powerful. In my personal lore of the game all the Gods and Daedric Princes know that you are Akatosh the God of Gods and everything exist and is played out for your entertainment. The other Gods appease the Dragonborn for his entertainment.

[@AbduHarakat]

Played it today for the first time. I've played more than 5 hours but still can't enjoy it. Just the loading screen on every door makes me sick. Darksiders much more better

[@udahfickt]

I mean the snow elves kinda deserved it for the night of tears tho xD

[@noahtylerpritchett2682]

Which kingdom? I find it bizarre the Nords thought all the kingdoms of the snow elves deserved it and not just the kingdom in northeast skyrim. There were 5 kingdoms of snow elves in all. 4 in skyrim 1 in Soltheim.

[@udahfickt]

@@noahtylerpritchett2682 there was one survivor i think? I'm pretty sure to them a snow elf was a snow elf this is a pretty savage universe after all xD

[@noahtylerpritchett2682]

@@udahfickt whenever I see people try to justify genocide I think of the hamas and idf trying to genocide jews and palestinians respectively And so even In fiction when I see a race implied they deserved a genocide I cringe.

[@user-cp6fn9zq8c]

@@noahtylerpritchett2682ifs a game karen chillax