The Complete Guide to Immortality in the Elder Scrolls Lore

[Music] Laure carnist the spirit of nirn the god of all mortals this does not mean all mortals necessarily like him or even know him most elves hate him thinking creation is the Act which sundered them from the spirit realm most humans revere him or aspects of him as The Herald of existence the creation of the mortal plane mundus known is a source of mental anguish to all living things all souls know deep down they came originally from somewhere else and that known is a cruel and crucial step to what comes next what is this next some wish to return to the original state the spirit realm and think that lorkhan is the demon that hinders their way to them known as a prison an illusion to escape others think that lorkhan created the world as the testing ground for transcendence to them the spirit realm was already a prison and that true Escape is now finally possible whatever law Khan's role may be in the lives of mortals the great mystery remains unchanged the spirit of known may be a polarizing figure but the reality of mortality persists whether you love law Khan or loathe him it is the question all mortals regardless of what universe they hail from begin asking themselves the moment their minds develop enough to ponder we may not remember it but every man elfin beast reaches that pivotal moment where we realize our parents aren't all-knowing all-powerful beings in truth they're just as clueless as us only they have even more questions another concept that spans all universe is is that of reaching enlightenment of securing eternal life preserving the soul when our frail physical forms inevitably fail us unfortunately as far as our world is concerned you won't find the answers to these questions in one of my videos if you could I'd be practically a god and this video would probably make it into the trending section of YouTube but I do have some good news I may not be able to share the secrets to real-world immortality with you today but I can do the next best thing while it is very complicated in sections and the sources are often quite cryptic there is a lot of information pertaining to the pursuit of immortality in the Elder Scrolls universe mortals from Mundus have actually achieved immortality successfully and there are a multitude of pathways some use mysterious magics some deal with profane powers while others seek enlightenment through spiritual soul-searching by the end of this video you'll know everything there is to know about the many methods of achieving immortality in the Elder Scrolls soon your player character will have the knowledge to ascend to godhood to sit alongside the aedra basking in the glory of divinity hey guys it's drew here and welcome back to fudge Muppet you've probably figured by this point or by looking at the length of the video that this topic is a hefty one we can't really cut corners when it comes to a subject like immortality and there are so many interpretations of life and death across the many cultures of Tamriel so I guess we ought to get started to understand immortality it's important to understand the many varying stories of creation knowing what separates man from God is the first step in the pursuit of immortality the monomyth and the annuit give us an overview of the accepted theories for the birth of mortals in essence everything began with two opposing forces one was stasis the force of order commonly known as our new while the other was change the force of chaos commonly called Padme the intermingling of these forces facilitated the creation of the universe imagine it this way Anu is an everlasting ineffable light so bright and brilliant that the endless void is a constant state of illumination like the sun's incandescent rolling across an endless perfectly flat expanse whose light is glorious but may the gods forgive me for saying it rather bland what's light without darkness without contrast there's nothing to appreciate and that's where Padme comes into play he is the obstacle countless obstacles that dot the expanse when a news light hits Padme shapes their interplay creates shadows and that's how you have changed diversity and variation and from this coupling all the four forces that make up the universe are conceived the intermingled blood of Anu and Padme led to the birth of the Attar de the original spirits the aedra and Daedra the Elna Fae the ancestors to the mortal races were a group of ATAR de what differs from culture to culture is how the owner fate degenerated into mortals and who is responsible for this transformation will dive into more about creation in the gods when talking about specific means of achieving immortality but with the foundation set let's talk about the knot Sophia logical means of achieving eternal life immortality is undoubtedly connected to spirituality the gods and the rules of the universe and exploring those topics will make up the bulk of this video but before we tackle those it is worth mentioning the immortality of the body can be achieved without sparing so much as a fort for the nature of existence these methods are somewhat shallow and come with drawbacks and flaws but this is a comprehensive guide and anything that extends a mortals lifespan warrants a mention everybody knows that vampires exist on Tamriel around the campfire travelers tell terrible tales of the Baz merry tailed off vampires who feast on children exclusively and how about the frozen volkov vampires of the north who sick deaf hounds upon their prey you'd think Only Fools would actively seek out the sanguine Evan Pyrrhus disease why would you willingly become weak to sunlight and a slave to best your insatiable blood cravings well vampires are undead beings and as a result are entirely immune to disease and aging so if you define immortality is simply not growing old and decaying then contracting vampirism is a relatively easy way to become immortal but don't get cocky just because you can't die of old age as just about anything else can still kill you if a vampire's head is chopped off there is dead as any other mortal there's another disease that has the bizarre side effect of eternal life this disease was created by dag off earth and spread across morrowind it is known as corporis the skin blight or the divine disease those who contract corporis experience severe mental deterioration and grotesque death nations of the body the divine disease seems like an unusual nickname for such an affliction doesn't it well the followers of house des Goff believe it is a blessing and these cultists have shown similar physical symptoms except they remain lucid and even boast a higher spiritual state dive a fear the 4000 year old wizard will discuss more soon also saw it as a blessing after he discovered that victims are completely immune to other diseases and don't age so contracting corporis is a path to immortality just like vampirism only there's a very high chance you'll live out your days as little more than a slobbering husk of course there's one exception to this rule when the nerevarine became infected with corporis dive a fear developed a cure which removed all of the diseases negative effects while keeping the positive ones so when the nur of rain left for akavir he did so with immunity to all diseases increased strength and endurance and immortality just like vampirism this doesn't prevent devil together but we've increased strength and endurance someone cured of corporis is about as close to immortality as we've seen so far the nura Vereen is the only known example of a cured patient perhaps died they fear as cured others since then but it's also possible that this is the only instance in which the Cure worked successfully so far our road to immortality has taken us to undead bloodsuckers and mindless zombies the next method isn't too different as once again you'll need to become a soulless undead creature but in return you'll be extremely powerful and intelligent Lich's our expert necromancer's and this is a requirement for any mortal hoping to learn the secrets of lich term necromancy usually involves the reanimation of another dead mortal but Lich's take this skill and apply it to themselves they place their souls in repositories called phylacteries and then undergo their transformation once the transference is complete the vessel becomes obsolete and the lich is born or should I say reborn the souls of innocents are also required for the time-consuming transformation process achieving lich 'dom isn't easy and few truly understand the secrets of succeeding as a result Lich's are seldom seen in Tamriel in essence though the separation of one soul from their body removes the boundaries placed on mortal will by one soul some Lich's go mad in the process as their psyches are torn apart in the phylactery it also seems to be the case that results of achieving literature may vary mana Marco the king of worms is said to be the first mortal to achieve Lich 'dom and he's a perfect example of the heights of being a lich on the other hand what exactly constitutes a lich isn't perfectly clear dragon priests share a lot of similarities to Lich's and they draw their power from their dragger servants the aliens have old also seemed to have Lich's which calls into question the notion that mana marco was the first but i'm not here to discuss the semantics of the law becoming a lich is a method of achieving immortality but it is a risky one and you could argue that it relies on dying and becoming undead to properly achieve lich them at all at this point you must be wondering can you not achieve immortality without catching a disease or becoming undead well you could become a hag raven it is believed that some witches undergo bizarre rituals to exchange their humanity for access to powerful perverted magics what exactly these magics are isn't clear they are revered as matriarchal sorcerers to the reach men and can create Briar Hearts but if we look at the Glen Morel coven of witches who were active in the late third era some of these witches chose to become hag Ravens and they live to the present day of the fourth era 201 it seems that undergoing this transformation allowed the Glen Morel hag Ravens to extend their lives by over 200 years well we can't say exactly what the life expectancy is for a hag raven there is certainly some kind of anti-aging magic or alchemy at play it's hard to tell because they look so hideous but of course becoming a hag raven isn't a huge step up from diseased or undead so how about magic that extends life without making you a disgusting creature there are a few esoteric groups who seem to have developed some means of extending their lifespans of course the races of Tamriel have varying lifespans already humans orcs and beasts will live eighty to a hundred years before dying of old age while the elven races can live over that long growing as old as 300 these numbers are debatable as they really aren't concrete sources and there are a handful of mortals who defy these life expectancies the TEL Varney are a perfect example unfortunately the wizard Lords of house tell Varney are reclusive individuals they traditionally isolate themselves pursuing wisdom and mastery in solitude for the most part they have no interest in the goings-on of Morrowind and Tamriel greater many tell Varni mages lose interest in anything and anyone outside of their own mushroom tower their arcane pursuits therefore remain an utter mystery to outsiders vivec describes them as iconoclastic profane and unconventional dive a fear as a tell Varney sorcerer and was four thousand years old at the end of the third era and he didn't look remotely frail or decrepit another tale vani wizard named Nell off also seems to be very old we don't have any proof of his age but we do know a few things Nell off is alive and sprightly in the two hundred first year of the fourth era two hundred and six years prior when he is encountered by the nerevarine he says the following regarding Sinise Findo another tell Varney battle mage she is a servant of master Garen of tell arun and a me child of two hundred years two hundred years of age is by no means young for a dark health and while this is obviously a bit of speculation on my part Nell lost willingness to dismiss her as a mere child is either gross hyperbole or proof that he's many centuries older than her how exactly some tell Varney Wizards extend their lives so dramatically is not clear but it doesn't appear to be neck romantic in nature the dunmer are very culturally sensitive when it comes to the dead they generally will not abide desecration and I think that applies even to the renegade minds of house tell Varney but they are not the only ones who seem to have unearthed secrets which extend mortal life the Sidique order are perhaps even more enigmatic than the tell Varney and at once again say it's extremely unlikely that the CID --ax use any form of necromancy after all one promising student named mana Marco was using mysticism to manipulate Souls and the dead on the Isle of Artyom his peers considered his practices to be profaned and he was encouraged to leave the siddik order is devoted to the obscure magic of mysticism and if they have discovered the means to live long lives it would almost certainly be through the use of this school of magic according to a letter written to the right master of the citric order dive a fear had actually spent time with the order on Artyom so there's a good chance his long lifespan was achieved in part from his time studying with the siddik monks so facility scribes mysticism is a magic that allows an individual to see an object's true meaning there are layers to understanding all things said so for SIL the common man looks at an object and fits it into a place in his way of thinking though skilled in the old ways in the ways of the siddik in mysticism can see an object and identify it by its proper role but one more layer is needed to be peeled back to achieve understanding you must identify the object by its role and its truth and interpret that meaning while this description is interesting it makes mysticism no less complex yet this description of the magic seems relevant to me this unique approach to understanding the laws of physics but in fact be the gateway to altering a mortal's physical state to combating the aging process but that is also speculation as the secrets of the siddik are too well-guarded for an inferior human like me to be privy to it also seems as though the Falmer snow elves at least a few of them had access to some kind of magical knowledge that prolonged their lifespans take a look at one of the last remaining snow elves at the Forgotten Vale night paladin gala ball he is one of the two known survivors of the war with is grimore zap morons in the first era and he wasn't disfigured by the Dwemer he would be approximately 4,000 years old perhaps he used some kind of magic or perhaps he was blessed by Oriel and given eternal life all of the forms of immortality so far have come with many stipulations will have only achieved longer lives rather than true immortality but there is one final way to cheat death before we get on to the topic of divinity and this one relates to the realms of oblivion and their Daedra Lords in the mortal realm of mundis most cultures acknowledge the significance of the time god whether they call him Oriel akatosh al Kosh or aldo in the dragon god of time guarantees the passage of time and the cycle of life and death in Oblivion these rules don't apply time progresses on the whim of the Lord who controls the realm so if a mortal lives in Oblivion they can completely avoid aging so long as they stay in the princes good books of course a Daedra Lord could choose to age you 100 years in 10 seconds in their realm so be careful seeking immortality with this trick the first dragon born MARAC was born in the Maratha era and lived over 4000 years in Apocrypha before he was slain by the last dragon board it is possible to hermaeus mora simply granted MARAC immortality in exchange for his loyal service but at the same time so long as he lives in Oblivion there's no reason why MARAC would age at all another example is Dervin in the baz mary high priest of mania and servant of che gorath it is possible that he's just an extremely old elf but he can be encountered during the Oblivion crisis and 201 years later in Skyrim on both occasions he is a grown adult it seems likely that his time in Oblivion helped him live so long another of che gora servant supports this in the ESO law masters archive Chamberlain Haskell says let me be clear inhabitants of the Shivering Isles are affected by time but we are not subject to it we are subjects of lord sheogorath who subjects us to whatever subjects he's in the mood to subjugate because time is subjective in the Shivering Isles we find another means to achieve an unusual form of immortality this one isn't too well-known but the champion of ceará Dill's time spent in the asylum proves it to be possible this process is called mantling a lot can be discovered about mantling from the name alone to mantle is to envelop or shroud something like wrapping an object in a cloak like this description achieving divinity via mantling requires a subject and an object a mortal to mantle and an immortal to be mantled mantling has been described in non-canon sources as walking like them until they must walk like you don't worry there's plenty of canonical evidence for mantling but I think that line sums it up well mantling is the process of taking on the role of another and then mastering the role until they inherit the power an identity that comes with that role it's practically impossible to properly define such an ambiguous process so I'll give some examples lark the prince of order was cursed to madness by his fellow Daedra lords thus shire gorath was born but once every era sure Gaurav would vanish and jyggalag would be set free to bring order to the Shivering Isles and this order involved completely destroying share gooris realm forcing the mad God to rebuild it this event is known as the grey March during one grey March the champion of Cyrodiil defended the Shivering Isles in share gooris absence the reason share Gaurav disappeared is because he's the same God as jyggalag so really jyggalag is Sher gorath but when the champion of Cyrodiil defeated jiggler and the grey march failed jyggalag was set free and the champion became share gorath mantling the Daedric Prince whether or not jyggalag is defeated share Goris champion always ends the grey March by mantling the mad God share Gaurav describes this process to the last dragon born by saying that the title of mad God is one that gets passed down from me to myself every few thousand years mantling is an interesting form of apotheosis in that there seems to be a clear prize it's arguably easier than achieving enlightenment through Kim but in exchange for immortality you have to surrender your individuality you have to become someone or something that you are not too mantel share gorath you must become the mad God you can't simply rule as your own Daedra Lord the sheer gore if encountered by the last dragon born is the champion of Cyrodiil yet he just seems like well sure Gaurav the champion became indistinguishable from the mad God the person he was before is essentially dead there is another potential example of a mantled god but to delve into his or their story would add another 10 minutes to this video if you'd like to learn more about the mysteries of Talos we have a dedicated video to it on the channel I'll link it below but Tiber Septim found a path to divinity and this path was paved in brass courtesy of a fascinating brilliantly complicated Ray's the Dwemer are a race who were motivated by the ambition of becoming eternal they believed their intellect could rival the gods but they did not wish to mantle the gods following in their footsteps rather they believed they could be gods in their own right they could create life just like the gods they're an among kalaiy they're enchanted mechanical guardians commonly known as Centurions or spheres could interpret the actions of people around them in a sense perceive their intent and respond accordingly these automatons were galvanized and given life by steam and geothermal power and it seems as though the Dwemer were somewhat comforted by their ability to empower lifeless fabrics into active beings they relished in the idea that they could deny the organic power of the gods while at the same time transcend the mortal systems of life and this races technological innovation culminated in the brass tower the new medium a unique means of achieving immortality with the right power source and the proper tools the new medium could channel the missing God's divine power in the West when the brass Tower was in possession of Tiber Septim the man teller served as the power source once again if you'd like more information on that check out our video on Tallis linked below but in the land of res Dane modern-day morrowind a different more profound power source was used the very heart of the missing god the beating doom drum of lorkhan this means of achieving immortality seems deceptively simple mere proximity to the heart has peculiar effects on mortals but to truly tap its beatific essence is to risk total devastation and chief tonal architect kagrenac of the Dwemer experienced this firsthand with his failure to tap the heart of lorkhan his entire race disappeared but in the studious meticulous hands of sofa SIL the tribunal arm civvy were able to successfully attune themselves with the heart's frequencies they channeled law Kahn's powers and became demigods but alas even this method of reaching immortality was not perfect their godhood relied on annual visits to the heart these pilgrimages renewed their powers and when they were ultimately cut off from the doom drums power their gift waned sopha syllable eve he could create a mechanical replacement but his work was brought to an abrupt end when he was murdered by almalexia even with the genuine physical powers bestowed upon him by the heart of lorkhan vivec the warrior poet was ever searching for enlightenment for his own personal divinity an apotheosis that wasn't tethered to something as fragile as a dead God's heart and if I had to choose one word to define his endeavors it would be Kim the secret syllable of royalty and before I go on talking about Kim I want to give a disclaimer that this law is incredibly vague the Canon source is a cryptic and a lot of it is supported by non-canon texts so take everything with a grain of salt but this is the comprehensive guide to immortality and Kim is an essential syllable in the search for enlightenment in his mythic dawn commentaries man car Kamran speaks of Kim he says those who know it can reshape the land witnessed the home of the Red King once jungled this is a reference to Tiber Septim who once he achieved divinity as Talos turned the heartland of Cyrodiil from dense jungle to vast open meadows Kim is an interesting word or syllable in the Elder Scrolls universe it is the first syllable in Kim el audible which is the alien name for the red diamond in the center of the amulet of Kings vivec writes of his attempts to learn this secret syllable in his 36 lessons in his journeys he left morn hold and found the first corner of the house of troubles Molag Bal dwelling in a span of Badlands in vivec stories the figurative and the literal tend to intertwine so keep that in mind as I continue vivex seduced the Prince of domination and married him this all took place shortly before the fateful battle of Red Mountain where the Dwemer and Kaymer would clash races would vanish and gods would be made vivexx spoke to Molag Bal in the LFX language and said al to Doon gar tok pad horn which i probably pronounced poorly but roughly translates to i am the weapon in the hands of Padme and with these magic words the king of enslavement added another Kim which is the secret syllable of royalty soon after learning this syllable for Veck was made into a demigod but what is the significance of Kim how can it be used to strive for immortality well that is a very complicated question and is very open to interpretation Scott has a great video on the channel detailing Kim as well as the concepts of amaranth from the Godhead I'll leave a link to it below but I will try to distill what we know about Kim into a digestible form if that's even possible to achieve Kim one must learn the true nature of existence they must come to terms with the presence of the omnipotent Godhead the Godhead is the preeminent force the Godhead conjured anew and Padme in a dream and everything that has ever been is and will ever be is part of the godheads dream to achieve kim is to accept that you a mere mortal of mundis are nothing more than a tiny dream being in an enormous dream universe you do not exist this is speculation but there are theories that the disappearance of the Dwemer is tired to this epiphany the Dwemer were not dreamers they were rational and astute so when faced with the reality that they do not exist what would the Dwemer do they would cease to exist this fury is known as the zero sum but as I said this is only speculation as the disappearance of the Dwemer seems to be an area of the law the Bethesda wishes to keep hidden but I think the theory helps to demonstrate why avec of all people would be perfectly suited to achieving Kim vivec is wise but he is not limited by pragmatism like the Dwemer and more importantly he has a powerful ego Kim is a state of being which allows an individual to escape from all known laws and limitations Kim is very much like a lucid dreaming you realize you are just part of a dream so what do you do next does your dream self wake up and cease to be or does your dream self take control of the dream world shaping it to suit your every whim an individual in the state of Kim has accepted their rather insignificant role in the full scope of the universe yet has held on to their own individuality in defiance of the Godhead I could go on but I feel like this sums up Kim in a fairly understandable way this is how you achieve immortality without subjecting yourself to disease or defamation or profane sorcery when compared to Kim those methods seem ridiculous they endure so much to prolong their mortal lives and will suffer by the rules of a fatuous dream while with Kim you ignore the rules you change them and you remain an individual in the process of course there are drawbacks if you lose focus if your mind slips into nihilism in the face of the universe's truths then you may just vanish and stop existing amaranth is an extension of Kim it takes Kim to the next level simply put amaranth is like mantling only you don't mantle a God you mantle the Godhead and become a dreamer within your own Tower speaking of the tower that brings us on to our final form of achieving immortality one that is unique to the altmer of Somerset and their beliefs the High Elves revere Oriel and the aedra perhaps with the exception of Sten da for they view him as the apologist of men there is a fundamental difference between the way elves and men view the aedra men for the most part appeared to be thankful to the gods for giving them life the elves on the other hand particularly the ultima believed they were robbed of their place in a furious and trapped in mortality by law cons deception they venerate the aedra but they view them as ancestors rather than higher disconnected beings in their eyes lorkhan tricked their ancestors into building the mortal realm thus dooming them to degenerate into weak finite beings there is a well supported theory that the political leaders of the summerset isles have a hidden agenda the old merry dominion have been spreading their influence across Tamriel weakening the Empire of men and it is speculated that the foul mor have discovered a means to undo creation to unravel the neatly woven strands of law cons created realm if they can undo creation the elves can then take back their place in a furious alongside the aedra where they belong this is their way of achieving immortality and the only things that stand in their and the towers the towers are the foundations of the mortal realm without them the mortal realm would hypothetically collapse it is said that the Orbis the universe is a wheel the spokes are the earth bones of the eight Divine's a furious is the rim of the wheel the spaces between the spokes is the chaos of oblivion and the center is mundus were you to escape the confines of the wheel and view it from a different angle from the side you would see a line you see I a capital I the vet calls this the secret tower the shape of the only name of God I the first person I referring to the individual is symbolic of achieving Kim and becoming a God but enough of the secret tower how about the towers that aren't hidden what about the towers that serve as the wonders of the mortal realm it is believed there are eight in total the same as the number of spokes on the wheel where each spoke meets the hub there is a tower and each tower has a stone which powers it there may be more towers but it seems as though there are eight excepting the secret tower the first tower the primordial tower is adamantium the adamantine tower legends tell that time began here it is called the first unassailable spike of reality in the dawn and it was the site of the convention this tower resides on Isle Bal Fiera in the illiac Bay and it is powered by the zero stone then this the red tower red mountain which formed as a result of the convention when lorkhan was punished for his trickery trinamic ripped out his heart but when trinamic and Oriel tried to destroy the heart of lorkhan it laughed at them it said this heart is the heart of the world for one was made to satisfy the other so oriole fastened the thing to an arrow and let it fly long into the sea when no aspect of the new world may ever find it the heart hit the sea and in its place red mountain emerged the heart of lorkhan is this towers stone the next tower was the tower of white gold the aliens of the heartland built their tower in open emulation of adamantium using as the founding stone the great red diamond they had uncovered kimmel adeb all the white gold tower was not the only tower built as a mirror to the man time tower there was also crystal like law the crystal tower of Somerset powered by a stone known as transparent law then there's the snow tower the throat of the world in Skyrim this tower stone is in common knowledge non-canon sources claim the stone is actually a cave next we have the green SAP tower of Aylan wood which is a colossal great oak tree grown by the Bosma according to the Orbach enigma the stone of this tower is the perchance acorn from which the tower germinated the orichalcos the most mysterious of all as it is believed to be the only tower not located on the continent of Tamriel it is believed this tower sank along with you CUDA and its secrets lie on the bed of the al-farik ocean michael Kirkbride says the stone of the orichalcos a sword finally we have the brass tower the Dwemer new medium so if the odd Mary Dominion secretly wishes to undo creation they would need to gain control of all eight towers and they would need to destroy the eight stones the numidian was demolished during the miracle of peace the orakau hour sank into the sea the green SAP tower is located in a province controlled by the odd Mary Dominion the crystal tower is of course in Somerset and the ultimate control that already the nura vereen prophecy saw the heart of lorkhan leave the world that's five towers accounted for the foul more are actively working to destroy the empire even if a precarious truce exists between the two factions taking the Imperial City will give them the white gold tower the Dominion are also heavily involved in skyrim civil war and in pushing north into hammerfell it may be a coincidence but it looks as though the old mer are working their way toward the remaining towers and it may not be long before they have control of all the stones the question is will it return them to a furious and the company of their Adric ancestors will achieving their goal grant them immortality that much remains to be seen in the Elder Scrolls six and there you have it guys the comprehensive guide to immortality in the elder scrolls you could become undead subject yourself to a dangerous disease or undergo pagan rituals you could devote your life to studying the magics of the siddik and the tell Varney you could change your identity and become an existing God you could even lucid dream and take existence by the scruff of the neck or you could just destroy the world which path would you follow I hope you enjoyed the video guys thanks so much for watching my name is Drew this is fudge Muppet and I'll see you in the next one you

Channel: FudgeMuppet

Views: 453,863

Keywords: skyrim, skyrim lore, elder scrolls, elder scrolls lore, elder scrolls immortality, skyrim vampires, elder scrolls liches, vivec, mannimarco, tribunal, sheogorath, elder scrolls immortal

Id: meqQgfkb-wE

Length: 33min 47sec (2027 seconds)

Published: Sun May 31 2020