Khajiit Gods EXPLAINED - The Khajiiti Creation Story & Pantheon of Spirits - Elder Scrolls Lore

[Music] of all the races who dwell upon nurny's back we khajiit risk the most our history dwarves that of men we sowed our crops here before the coming of the elves our souls stretch back beyond the counting of the years and the certainty of each sun's rising that makes us both wise and dangerous religious beliefs on tamriel are as diverse as the races themselves and for every culture there is a different interpretation on the question of creation for the most part human and elven beliefs stem from the same roots the el nifey the original spirits who did not abandon the mundus during its formation divided into the old and wandering murren men and these various branches sprouted their own unique leaves despite belonging to the same seed remarkably we actually have a fairly clear understanding of how these groups came to inhabit the land of dawn's beauty but human and elven scholars have long toiled over one inconsistency how do the beast folk fit into the picture the argonians have an undeniable link to the sapient histories of the marshes and the orcs though it pains many myrrh to admit it can almost certainly trace their lineage back to the early aldmer of somerset to many historians the origins of the bosma is more inconclusive than the argonians in the awesomer wood elven legends tell of a formless ooze from which ephra the forest god molded them and the notion that the bosmo were created by iphra rather than descending from the old ma is supported by the beliefs of another race of beasts this is the race of beasts we'll be discussing in today's video as their idea of creation differs greatly from those of the men and myrrh and as a result this race's origin story has shaped their perception of the many gods as well as their culture what we end up with is a race completely unlike its neighbors deities who are oft forgotten by other groups are adulated while traditions that seem bizarre to men and murr are sacred i'm of course talking about the khajiit of elsewhere hey guys it's drew here and welcome back to fudge muppet how did the cat folk come into being what gods do they worship and why how have their beliefs shape their history in their society these are all questions we'll be answering today so let's get right into it in kijiti society the clan mothers guide the cats in matters of spirit they are essential in maintaining oral traditions ensuring that every new generation is educated on their beliefs riots and customs without the clan mothers the cats may one day forget the wisdom of their predecessors and lose touch with their unique culture almost everything we know about the khajiiti creation story comes from the words of clan mother anisi as her teachings were documented and therefore may endure the centuries the monomyth is the foremost source for the many creation stories of tamriel and it begins by stating all tamrielic religions begin the same man or myrrh things begin with the dualism of anu and his other these twin forces go by many names anu padami and we el siphis akh el satak akhel is is not and we l is the everlasting ineffable light syphis is the corrupting inexpressible action in the middle is the grey maybe nirn in the elnifax so men and myrrh despite their many variations trace creation back to anu and padamay light and dark the monomyth is explicit in its choice of words and it says man or myrrh for good reason because to the khajiit as told by clan mother anisi the roles of the two primordial forces seem to be reversed creation to the cats began with two littamates named anu and fatima in typical elna fey derived stories padami is the dark one but in the kajiti story it is a nur who serves as the antagonist either way anur and fatamai decided to wed and make children so that they could share their happiness with their offspring unlike humans and elves having a single kitten is not the norm for cats and that fact is reflected in their creation myth a litter usually consists of four kittens but can vary from one to twelve fatima's first litter consisted of five there was alkosh kanathi magrus mara and srendar all of these names sound familiar to men and myrrh but there are important differences we'll come to a little later anur and fatimah were happy for a time before anur said we should have more children to share our happiness fadimai gladly agreed there was hamora hircine maroons mafala sangin and shaggaraf after this anur said two litters is enough for too many children will steal our happiness but kanafi came to fatima and said she was growing lonely high up in the sky where none of her siblings could reach so fatimah tricked anur into making her pregnant again and fatima gave birth to the moons and their motions and she gave birth to nurny the majestic sands and lush forests and she gave birth to azura the dusk and the dawn anur caught fatimah during the birthing and was angered by her deception he hit her and she fled to the great darkness where she gave birth to the last kitten of the last litter lorkhage the noisy kitten's heart was filled with this darkness and it was known as namira fadimai died from giving birth to so many children but not before giving them parting gifts she created the lunar lattice and tasked the moons with protecting her other kittens from anu's anger to nernie fatima left the gift of motherhood she said nernie you will give birth to many people as fatimah gave birth today and to her other daughter azura she said to you my favored daughter fatimah leaves her greatest gift to you fatimah leaves her secrets and with these secrets azura would create the khajiit fatima continued and said when nerney is filled with her children take one of them and change them make the fastest cleverest most beautiful people and call them khajiit the khajiit must be the best climbers for if masar and sukunda fail they must climb kanafi's breath to set the moons back in their courses the khajiit must be the best deceivers for they must always hide their nature from the children of anu the khajiit must be the best survivors the nani will be jealous and she will make the sands harsh and the forests unforgiving and the khajiit will always be hungry and at war with nurny and with these words fatimah died nernie needed a place to give birth to her children so she went to l'ortage and lorcaj corrupted by the great darkness tricked fatimi's other children into pledging themselves to the creation of a new home for nurny's children some escaped and became the stars but others fell for lorkhaj's scheme many of the cat gods died to create a path for nurny but the ones who endured punished lorkaj they tore out his heart and hid it deep within nurny and they said we curse you noisy lorkhage to walk nernie for many phases nernie was grateful for lorcaj's trick for it allowed her to give birth at last she bore many many children her litter was vast and diverse but she wept because her favorite children the forest people did not know their shape what follows is the part of the kijiti creation myth that explains the origins of both the wood elves and the cat folk if this story is true then the bosma were not descendants of the aldmer but that's not a topic for today's discussion anyway azura came to the grieving nurny and said poor nernie stop your tears azura makes for you a gift of a new people nurny stopped weeping and azura spoke the first secret to the moons and they parted and let azura pass and azura took some forest people who were torn between man and beast and she placed them in the best deserts and forests on nurny and azura in her wisdom made them of many shapes one for every purpose and azura named them khajiit and told them her second secret and taught them the value of secrets and azura bound the new khajiit to the lunar lattice as is proper for nernie's secret defenders then azura spoke the third secret and the moons shone down on the marshes and their light became sugar but ifa heard the first secret and snuck in behind azura and ifa could not appreciate secrets and he told nurny of azura's trick so nernie made the deserts hot and the sands biting and only made the forest wet and filled with poisons and nurny thanked ifa and let him change the forest people also and ifa did not have azura subtle wisdom so if i made the forest people elves are never beasts and if i name them bosma and from that moment on they were no longer in the same litter as the khajiit so this is the kijiti creation myth at least according to clan mother anisi as with most oral traditions i'm sure other clan mothers tell the same story with small deviations and embellishments but in essence this is what the cats believe but that raises the question if the khajiit did not come to tamriel with the old and wandering elna faye the elves and men when did they come well one popular theory stems from the existence of one khajiit form the ohms and om's rat born under a new massa and either a full or waxing secunda the ohm's khajiit look remarkably like the bosma and are described as being man-faced the third edition of the pocket guide has this to say due to the fact that the ohm's rat so closely resembled the elven folk it's entirely possible that they could be cousins some believe that the khajiit are simply descendants of the original ultima settlers in tamriel who evolved like the ultima bosma dhanma and awsima because of circumstance into the cat like race that walks the dunes of elsewhere but this hypothesis doesn't align with khajiiti beliefs and it also relies on the notion that the bosma 2 evolved from the aldmer of somerset which we know the cats don't subscribe to there are a multitude of sources that support clan mother and niece's explanation including two entries in the same edition of the pocket guide the first states the histories of black marsh most say were the original life forms on our continent followed by the progenitors of the modern khajiit the modern argonian the modern sload the modern drag and other beast folk while the second states khajiita commonly considered one of the beast folk one of the few survivors of the original inhabitants of tamriel before the coming of myron mann and elsewhere was their home to be fair to the pocket guide the imperial historians generally do a stellar job of chronicling from an unbiased position especially in the third edition there are of course moments where the human perspective is clear but overall it is a useful source before the ages of man an attempt to document the enigmatic events of the dawn and merefic eras by a high elven scholar offers this insight during the early marathi era the aboriginal beast peoples of tamriel the ancestors of the khajiit argonian orcish and other beast folk lived in pre-literate communities throughout tamriel and perhaps the clearest indication that the cat folk inhabited tamriel before the men and merc settled the mainland comes from the journal of topple the pilot topple was an old mary explorer believed to be the first to chart the land of dawn's beauty he was sent in search of old meretz the fabled elven homeland but instead he came across tamriel one snippet of a journal entry stands out in regards to the origins of the khajiit it says the cat demons of four legs and two ran the river's length always keeping the boat in their green eyed sight hissing and spitting and roaring with rage so before the elves and needed humans migrated to tamriel the cat demons were seen running along the shores of the nibben whether you choose to believe that the khajiit have any relation to the el nafee or not it's quite clear that the catfolk differ to their neighbours in more than just physicality culturally and spiritually they are unlike every other tamrielic race their gods share similarities to the commonly known deities of the human and elven pantheons but there are significant distinctions rather than distinguishing between the aedra and the daedra the cats categorize their gods in the spirit groups there are sky spirits worldly spirits wandering spirits dark spirits and adversarial spirits amandro the silent priest of the khajiit offers a lot of insight into the nature of these spirits first the sky spirits azura is the chief among the sky spirits for she is the mother of all khajiit in this regard the khajiit shares some common ground with the kaima in many ways she's the same as the daedric prince azura she's still the goddess of the dawn and dusk and the realms of twilight found within them but to the cats she is also the god of magic beauty and prophecy the lunar lattice the sacred interlacing astral structure that guards the khajiit from the dangers of the great darkness is her creation and she's the architect of the many bir forms she knows the name of every khajiit who lived lives and ever will live kanafi is another of the sky spirits and her role in elsewhere is very similar to her role as kaine and kinireth to the men and elves joan and joe are the kijiti analogues to masa and secunda they are the stillborn twins of fatimae woven into the lunar lattice and their motions give life to the many varying types of khajiit in the form of sugar lorkhaj is of course lorkhan born in the great darkness he forged a path for nernie and her children though it cost him the love of many of his siblings he gave his life so the cats could live and they honor his sacrifice by resisting the alluring call of the dark finally there is magrus the sun god he is not the god of magic to the cats but his eye is the sun and thus his role in elsewhere is vital it is said in her realm of moon shadow azura judged him as too full of fear to rule a sphere and she tore out his eye magrus left to the heavens blinded but azura made of his eye a stone to reflect the valiant's gate this is the ether prism which opens at dawn and closes at dusk the worldly spirits are of course associated with the world and not the sky chief among these is nurny the spirit of the mortal world the khajiit to her secret defenders who climb the luna lattice when it is required and protect her domain from the darkness ifa was nurny's mate and the father of the forest people he was corrupted by the great darkness and like anu struck his litter mate killing her causing nernie's spirit to depart the world azura kanathi and her scene punished him for this and the cats do not speak of him anymore the remaining worldly spirits are very similar to their daedric counterparts her scene is the hunter he was in love with nurny but she chose ifa he is eternally resentful of this rejection yet simultaneously has a fondness for nernie's children he helps khajiit who stray from the path hamora is the keeper of knowledge who holds his great library beneath the sea and lastly sangin is the spirit who distracts the khajiit from the path he tantalizes weak-willed cats into pursuing pleasures without purpose the wandering spirits are made up of some familiar names and some unknown to the other tamrielic races first there is akka the pathfinder he is known as the first cat and he explored the world in the early days it is said he mated with the winged serpent of the east the june queen of the west and the mother mammoth of the north he then went to the south and never returned and by the sounds of these mythical beasts akka had ventioned to the lands of the elves and men akavi yokuda atmora and old merits his son is named al khan the mysterious scaled prince alkosh is the kajiti equivalent to akatosh and he's the dragon king in many ways he is the same as akatosh and auriel but in the khajiity pantheon al-qash fought with aka and al-khan al-kosh was granted rule over the myriad kingdoms of akka along the many paths in time the children of arka overthrew him and scattered his body on the west wind it is said that when kanafi learned this she flew across the many paths and put alkosh back together in doing so she saw all the things akka had wrought including those that should not be now alkash and kanafi safeguard the many paths from the wayward children of akka finally we have the littomates bowephra and mafala boephra is a warrior just like the daedra lord boethiah and it is said that anur exiled her for her rebellious nature according to amandro boefer was the one to pry out magrus's eye in azura's realm of moon shadow interestingly then even outside of morrowind the khajiit believed that boethiah mafala and azura work together mephala is the keeper of ancient secrets the first of the dark spirits is of course tricky lorcaj who was born in the great darkness and the next is namira the name of the great darkness the luna lattice keeps her at bay but even the power of the lattice cannot prevent her from claiming the souls of corrupted khajiit these wayward cats are called the dromaphra the moons shine brightly at night but where the bright pale light shines the darkness is that much deeper as the khajiit live in the light so things live in the dark these are the drumaphra in the khajiit language of ta'agra dromaphara roughly translates to ghost cats or lost cats and they are often referred to as namira's children uncorrupted khajiit on the other hand are called true cats there are a few different ways for true cats to become distorted by namira's great darkness but the most well-known method involves the bent dance it is said that if a cat leaves the true path to follow the rhythm of the heart of lorkhache they may become ensnared by the bent dance this seems to be a spiritual metaphorical process akin to losing one's sanity and those prone to falling into the bent dance should not take part in the consumption of refined moon sugar aka skooma a bent cat will not make it to the sands behind the stars the khajiit paradise instead they are whisked away to the dark behind the world namira's dominion becoming a drumaphra affects the cat physiologically as well as spiritually their fur will become jet black and exude an ominous aura and their twisted minds will quickly turn to chaos and destruction the main ridfhara data warned his people against the perils of namira's enticement he said namira's darkness swirls amid our dreams and doubts all the evils of oblivion rake their claws and gnash their fangs against the lattice seeking to take our souls as a prize be cautious move swiftly hide your hearts away in the thick jungles of the self and think often of their great worth for if you fail to hear the beating of your own heart the beat of lorkhaj's will take its place forevermore in most cultures namira has that sinister skill of beguiling mortals there's even the story of the beggar prince named weedle who was enraptured by namira's wiles funnily enough the word weedle literally means to flatter or coax someone into cooperation and so despite being considered dark spirits to the cats few gods are as important to elsewhere's culture as lorcaj and namira there are a few other dark spirits who are for the most part very similar to their daedric counterparts there's noctra the shadow thief the daughter of twilight born from the black blood of lorcaj at the steps of the void gate when looking at the daedric prince nocturnal there is often a debate about her relation to namira if there is any relation at all they're both associated with the darkness but my understanding has always been that nocturnal is the matron of the shadows and shadows are a useful tool to a burglar while namira's great darkness is the void the khajiit religion expands on their relationship a little bit in the songs bower battled noktra until it knew it was not namira when this was done noktra was brought before azura to be judged azura showed mercy and allowed noktra to live so long as she served azura and the jackajay but noktra is rebellious by nature so she stole one of azura's keys and fled back to the void it is written that azura sent the true spirit of lorkhaj to find her and ever since noktra has aided the khajiit when called tribes may whisper to noctra for silence shade and luck the other dark spirit is varmina the queen of nightmares unlike most of the cat folk deities varmina was not a part of fatima's litters rather she sprung into being as a result of fatima's maternal fear of losing her children it is said that azura killed varmina to protect the khajiit and now she only haunts khajiit when they dream there is one final dark spirit but i will only mention it briefly as we do not even have a name for it it is described as a spirit of vengeance and was born from azura's grief after the death of fatima and lorkhaj none can summon this spirit save azura bower and mafala for only they know its true name it sometimes appears in songs as a black panther a warrior in ebony armor or a hidden sword theologians have speculated that this spirit is a version of eben arm the god of war the last school of spirits is the adversarials they are not explicitly associated with the great darkness but the clan mothers warn the kajiti people about them for they are dangerous much like the kymer and dunmer with their house of troubles these deities are important to the pantheon and teach valuable lessons but they should not be trusted with this description in mind i'm sure it will come as no surprise that the first of these adversarial spirits is shaggerath the skooma cat in typical shagora fashion the kijiti parallel takes great pleasure in luring vulnerable cats off the true path he makes them doubt their beliefs and offers them hollow indulgences like an ever-present force of chaos dangling a string in their peripheral vision the second adversarial spirit is the khajiiti equivalent to malacath his name is orca and little is known of him beyond his battles with bowephra merunz is the demon cat of destruction who was both exiled by anu and enslaved by molag he was eventually freed and used as a weapon against the luna lattice speaking of enslavement molag is the spirit of domination and supreme law he has made many attempts to assault the lattice and with the exception of the plane meld he has always been thwarted by azura and bowephra finally there is meridinunda the greedy daughter of magrus magrus never had a littermate but created his children married nunder included from light rather than love therefore this adversarial spirit envies the other gods and even mortals she's intellect without wisdom knowledge without purpose when she attempted to penetrate the luna lattice azura banished her to the void and trapped her there with mirrors the remaining deities do not fit into any of these categories yet remain culturally significant to the cats mara and srendar are two of them who are both very similar to their elna fake counterparts the other three are all gods that are exclusive to elsewhere and are all portrayed as khajiit themselves bandar is the bandit god he is the embodiment of khajiit virtues fatimah told azura to create tamriel's fastest cleverest and most deceptive race and bandar is the manifestation of these strengths he is often called the man of a thousand faces shapes and sizes he is also referred to as the master of disguise the khajiit are born in a variety of forms and therefore it makes sense for a deity of many shapes to appear next there's rajin who is similar to bandar in that he embodies the cat-like advantages of speed and stealth naturally the cats are quick and light on their paws and their footsteps are innately muffled these are the dream skills of a thief and thus rajin was born as a patron to thieves as most thieves do regime hailed from humble origins he was a poor cat from the slums of black hiergo he stole two daedric artifacts from mafala and the ogmarinfinium from hamura he then stole the tattoo from the cyrodilic empress's neck finally there is riddle far pious cats will argue all day and night over what or who the riddle far is is he a true god or simply a set of principles instilled in the people by the former main of elsewhere named ridfaradata ridfar was born under the eclipse which signified his role as the spiritual leader of elsewhere during a visit to the temple of two moons dance ridfar had what he called the riddle far epiphany this epiphany occurred at a time when elsewhere was in a state of profound disarray but with his new knowledge ridfar brought peace he bestowed to the classes equality under the bilunar shadow dividing their power in accordance with two moons dance of the jakane what this established in a more understandable sense was a rotational power base in which both sides of khajiit society the city dwellers under the nobility and the nomadic tribes of the desert chieftains she had alternate control of the region based on the phases of masar and secunda the terms of this measure were overseen by the thinly veiled dictatorship of the main himself while many of the khajiiti deities mentioned play a similar role in elsewhere's religious landscape as the other cultures of tamriel there are some significant differences the riddle far is a perfect example of the powerful link between religion and elsewhere and the culture of its inhabitants and when combined with the unique biology of the cats and the quirks of their homeland you can see how their distinctive culture developed the most obvious thing to remember is that unlike any other tamrielic race the moons are inevitably going to be at the very heart of khajiit's spirituality they're significant in every culture but no other races can claim that their very bodies were shaped by the positions of joan and joad this also puts into perspective why it was the daedric prince azura who is the chief deity even in morrowind azura is not a singularly revered azura is the queen of dawn and dusk she is credited in all cultures for the cycle of night and day of guiding the sun and the moons in their cycle around the world it's no surprise therefore that she is a mother figure to the khajiit even if the creation story of the cat isn't literal her sphere impacts the lives of khajiit every moment of every day and night when a kitten is born the parents look to the sky and if the moons are in sight they know exactly what breed their new child will be crystallized moonlight aka moon sugar is the most essential aspect of the kijiti diet in consuming it they believe they are consuming small portions of their god's eternal souls and on top of this every cat strives to follow the true path so that they may make it to the sand behind the stars where the dunes are made from moon sugar and the sands are always warm beneath their pores so when chaos rears its head in elsewhere with chiefs and leaders vying for power it was easy for the main ridfar redata to have his riddle fire epiphany the moons dictate so many facets of khajiit life so why not let it govern the land as well the path of the moons does not take sides it's not easily corrupted so why not take the ability to choose who rules out of mortal hands with azura and the moons at the core of life in elsewhere the guidelines for all cats to follow were safe from greed and corruption of course no society can completely bring an end to conflict and elsewhere has seen many bloody wars and many kingdoms come and go but it makes sense why this province does not have a united standing army or an expansionist inclination for many centuries the sixteen kingdoms of elsewhere followed the delicate astronomical and political rules of the riddle far without ever turning on each other were it not for the fashion plague which led to the creation of two competing states anakinah and paletine this equilibrium may never have ended elsewhere is often considered to be one of the more contented provinces they do not try to meddle in the affairs of others like the empire and the dominion so frequently do if the creation story is to be believed the khajiit have lived in this region since long before the men and elves came to tamriel and after all this time elsewhere's borders have remained largely the same the khajiit haven't torn each other apart nor fallen at the hands of their own hubris like the great empires of the aylids and the dwemer and much of this can be traced back to their beliefs the cats have no plans to invade neighbouring lands for they're more interested in looking up to the sun the moons and stars to the path that they each must walk to find their way safely to the sands behind the stars and there you have it guys the creation story of the khajiit their religion and how it has shaped their fascinating society and culture i hope you enjoyed the video thanks so much for watching my name's drew this is fudge muppet and i'll see you in the next one you

Channel: FudgeMuppet

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Keywords: elsweyr, elder scrolls, elder scrolls lore, elder scrolls online, elsweyr lore, khajiit lore, khajiit gods, khajiit gods lore, elder scrolls khajiit

Id: q6aCuxVtI24

Length: 29min 27sec (1767 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 29 2020