What's going on Starfield fans? I would like to
talk to you about the Great Serpent. House Va’ruun worships this apparently fantastic snake as their
god, or divine being of sorts. So, is this Great Serpent real? If so, is it really a god? What's
Bethesda's idea here? In this video we are going to discuss all of the above. So, yes I believe
that the Great Serpent is real, really is a god, and has a Secret Identity. I've done a lot of
research on this, and I have a pretty good idea of what Bethesda is going for here, and it's
really very clever. Assuming I'm right here, kudos to whoever came up with this idea because
it is a great one. To begin, let's cover some basic information about House Va’ruun and their
god the Great Serpent. The sources that we have right now for this topic are rumors that we hear
while playing Starfield, the House Va’ruun exhibit in the UC Vanguard Museum, Ambassador Bal’mor’s
dialogue and his computer, and what Will Shen and Emil Pagliarulo said about them in their recent
AMA. Our story starts with a ship that left New Atlantis and was lost in 2190. Upon leaving the
vessel made Grav Jumps as is common in Starfield space travel. After one of those jumps a passenger
named Jinan Va’ruun claimed that he had communed with a being called the Great Serpent during the
jump. And that this Great Serpent decreed him to worship it, or else it would devour him when
it encircles the universe. So, he started House Va’ruun to spread worship of the Great Serpent,
but they chose to remain isolated from the rest of the galaxy. Until 2230 when they came out of
seclusion and introduced themselves to the Settled Systems. It was simply seen as an upstart religion
at first, then in 2240 Jinan Va’ruun began a war called, The Serpent's Crusade. In which House
Va’ruun attempted to force humanity into worshiping the Great Serpent through bloodshed.
The Crusade ended when Jinan died in 2263 and his son Jarek succeeded him. Jarek made peace with
the Settled Systems, but then he and the majority of House Va’ruun mysteriously vanished from known
space without a trace. Leaving behind only Zealots who refused to accept the peace that Jarek forged,
Ambassador Bal’mor, and a few other stragglers. There are a few entries in Ambassador Bal’mor’s
computer I'd like to discuss. He mentions someone named, Si’ah Mavan, who's apparently a priestess.
He also uses the word “gravid” in relation to her, which means pregnant. But based on the context
here, I think it's a rank in the House Va’ruun clergy. Additionally, he references a place
called, “Dazra,” which from the context seems to be where he gets his orders from. And we know
that their home world is called Va’ruun’kai from Andreja's dialogue, perhaps Dazra is there?
So, are these places out there somewhere in the game for us to find? If so, there's a hint
for how to do that in Bal’mor’s dialogue. They decorated the Embassy with their native flora and
iconography. Naturally, I went out into the stars and searched for a planet that has flora like
this, and I kept an eye out for the iconography too. I started my search in the Serpentis System
because I'd been hearing that Va’ruun Zealots have a strong presence there, and of course the
namesake here suggests a tie to the Great Serpent. I found that Va’ruun Zealots indeed do have a
very strong presence in the Serpentis System. I encountered them all the time both in space and
on the ground. Though, I'm not sure if anything from the planets is useful since this could all
be procedurally placed, but there's a way we can test that together. So folks, please help me out,
let's scour the Serpentis System together. So, here's how we can work together to determine if
anything here is not procedurally placed. Here are my maps of each planet in the Serpentis
System. If you have some time to help me out please compare yours to mine and see if any of
these locations are on the exact same place on the planets for you because if they are then
that might mean that they're fixed and maybe even hand crafted. And if that's the case then
Bethesda may have hidden a clue for us there. So, if you're interested please explore the Serpentis
System with me and comment with anything you find that could be relevant. It is a really cool
system. I really like the scenery and I may build an outpost here when I get a chance to.
Now back to the native flora and iconography that Ambassador Bal’mor mentioned. In my travels
through the Serpentis System I did not find an exact match for either, and I didn't really expect
to. Because making things that easy doesn't really fit Bethesda's M.O. However, on a few of these
planets I did see the right kinds of biomes to contain the flora we're looking for. Also, I think
these statues might be made of obsidian and there is volcanic activity in the Serpentis System. So,
could it be that Va’ruun’kai and Dazra are in the Serpentis System and Bethesda is just saving them
for DLC? Perhaps and if that's the case they could justify them not being there from the beginning
with something like the Void Nights from Elder Scrolls. Maybe they're there and House Va’ruun has
just made them invisible somehow. Additionally, to my surprise I did actually find an exact match
for the flora somewhere. There's a place called Starstation RE-939 orbiting the planet Voss in the
Alpha Centauri System. And look what we have here, a Venom Tree. There's other flora from the
Embassy scattered around the Starstation too. So, here's the story of Starstation RE-939. It was
a biological research facility that was run by a mean lady named, Helena Chambers, who now works
at a TerraBrew in New Atlantis. Apparently one of the scientists had a strange dream after working
with one of the specimens in which they were eaten by a snake. Sometime after this Va’ruun Zealots
showed up and took the Starstation by force, killing the staff, minus Chambers who must have
been either fired by this point, or was simply away. So, how did the Zealots know about this
place and why did they take it? Well given what we know about these Venom Trees from the Embassy
this is likely the cause of that strange dream and it's likely not a coincidence that this dream
was of someone being eaten by a snake. It seems like what happened here is the tree somehow
intentionally caused that dream because how else could it be of something so particular
to House Va’ruun’s religion? So, these trees can communicate somehow. Hence, I can only assume
that the Zealots knew about this place because the tree called them, and why did it call them? Well
the obvious answer is it wanted to be liberated, but there may be another reason as well. Perhaps
it one wants them to use the research done in this lab to deploy Xenowarfare on the Settled Systems,
which could happen in a DLC. But what's important for our purposes is this story suggests that there
is some truth to House Va’ruun’s religion. I mean sentient trees that's supernatural folks. Also,
Bal’mor says that Dazra has reached out to him, but there are no records of that in his computer.
Which these Venom Trees having capacity to communicate across the galaxy can help us explain.
Maybe he communicates with Dazra through the tree and that's why he chose not to trim it even when
it grew to this enormous size. And look at this, he hesitates when talking about the tree's sap.
Perhaps there's something he doesn't want the UC to know about it, like that he's using it to
communicate with the rest of House Va’ruun. So, that's all that Starstation RE-939 really gives
us. Nothing here downright solves the mystery and I'm not surprised by that. Like I was saying
before, Bethesda is never going to make solving mysteries like this easy. They’ll always make
us think, which I love. Now let's talk about the Great Serpent. I've gone over every think there
is right now about House Va’ruun and their Great Serpent and I am very surprised by my findings,
but in a good way. I think what we've got here folks is what I'm going to call a lore Easter
Egg. I believe that what Bethesda has done here is they've placed an Elder Scrolls character named
Lorkhan into Starfield's lore and that is the Great Serpent. I know that sounds very far-fetched
and I totally understand if you're skeptical, but please hear me out, it makes sense. I've gone over
everything multiple times and there are a number of ties between the Great Serpent and Lorkhan.
For those who don't know, Lorkhan is an extremely important character in Elder Scrolls lore. He is
the god that convinced or tricked the other gods into helping him create the mortal plane, which is
called Mundus. And he was later executed for it, though his influence in the grand scheme of Elder
Scrolls lives on. He is reincarnated into mortals called Shezarrines and other bits of his essence
are scattered among other gods. So, as FudgeMuppet puts it, he's like an invisible stage master. He
guides and influences the mortal plane even now in his shattered form. Now please allow me to
explain how Starfield's Great Serpent factors in here. Let's start with something simple, the
snake depiction. Lorkhan is sometimes depicted as a snake, in fact Vivec even refers to him as
the “second serpent.” Now look at what Ambassador Bal’mor has to say here. According to him the
Great Serpent is deeply entwined with destiny, and it shepherds its followers towards their
fates, like an invisible stage master. He also says that the Serpent gives their lives meaning.
A common theory as to why Lorkhan created Mundus is that he wanted to give existence meaning and
mortality gives it that meaning. I mean it's a pretty common philosophy that life has meaning
because it ends. Furthermore, we must take a look at Va’ruun Zealot Orders 1. Va’ruun Zealots
sometimes drop this. We must go to their places, where they are, where they were, where they
will be, we must pave the galaxy with scales and all who stand before us will fall. So, the
Zealots act as if the will of the Great Serpent transcends time, and Lorkhan most definitely
does transcend time in Elder Scrolls. Also, the Zealots attempts at spreading worship of the
Great Serpent through conquest is very reminiscent of a story that some cultures tell about Lorkhan
spreading his influence via conquest. Now let's talk about Grav Jumps. House Va’ruun started
when Jinan supposedly communed with the Great Serpent during a Grav Jump, so let's look at
a Grav Jump. The two colors that shine here are blue and orange, does this look familiar to
anyone. If you're an Elder Scrolls fan then you might know that this color combination also comes
up in Skyrim. Particularly in the main questline and other things pertaining to the Dragonborn. For
those who don't know, Skyrim's main questline and the Dragonborn are very relevant to Lorkhan.
So, what's the significance of these colors? Well I don't want to dive too deep into this for
a Starfield video. So, to summarize I think they represent the intersection of Anu and Padomay,
stasis and change. Essentially, the orange and blue coming together is the very essence of
the primordial force that initially created the universe. So, it's deeply tied to the cosmology
of Elder Scrolls just like Lorkhan is. So, perhaps it's the same way in Starfield. Maybe this orange
and blue represents creation and are entwined with cosmology as well. And when do we see the
blue and orange fusion? During Grav Jumps. So, maybe that's how that primordial force is accessed
in Starfield, thus why Jinan was able to commune with the Great Serpent during a Grav Jump. And if
the orange and blue primordial force is a common denominator between Starfield and Elder Scrolls
then it makes sense that this Great Serpent being would be as well. And if we look at Elder
Scrolls lore, the most logical being to equate to the Great Serpent is Lorkhan. Next let's talk
about the contrast between House Va’ruun and the rest of Starfield. For most of the game Bethesda
really stuck to this hard sci-fi vibe that they chose for Starfield. However, House Va’ruun is a
very stark contrast to that. They give off a much more fantasy-oriented vibe. The most prominent
example of this is their extremely pious following of their religion. Moreover, their iconography and
weapon designs have a very primal aura. Also, they identify as a House, they’re House Va’ruun, which
is like something out of Game of Thrones right there. And the succession of their leadership
does seem to be based on bloodline, since Jarek is Jinan's son. So, House Va’ruun gives off strong
fantasy vibes, which makes this faction stand out from the rest of Starfield. This could be because
Bethesda wants us to make a connection between them and Elder Scrolls, which would fit with the
parallels we've noted between their story and Elder Scrolls lore. Such as the Great Serpent's
similarities to Lorkhan. Furthermore, during my research for this video something kept sounding
familiar to me. House Va’ruun, House Va’ruun, then it hit me, “wait is that Ehlnofex?” For those
who don't know, Ehlnofex is an ancient language in the Elder Scrolls universe and Ehlnofex words
are often broken up with apostrophes. So, I pulled up the Ehlnofex dictionary to see if I
could find a translation for Va’ruun. I didn't find an exact match with the spelling. However,
I did find a very close phonetic match. “Va” plus “ruhn,” can form Va’ruhn, to be home. Not
only is that an extremely close phonetic match, but it also makes coherent sense. If I had
ended up with two seemingly random words, like say chair and ocean, I wouldn't think
anything of it. But I ended up with a coherent phrase here and it makes sense within the context.
First, a house is a home and in the eyes of the followers being a member of House Va’ruun is to
be home. To be in the Serpent's Embrace is to be home. If you're still not convinced that I'm onto
something here, maybe this next part will win you over. I also looked for a translation for Bal’mor
from Ehlnofex and I have results to share. “Bal” means stone and it is a pretty common word too.
Some of you might be familiar with Molag Bal, his name is fire stone. “Mor” is a word, it does come
up in Ehlnofex, but unfortunately no one's ever managed to translate it. No one's quite sure what
it means. However, I believe I figured this out. A similar word, “Mora,” means forest, or more like
woods really. And if we add a “G” we get, “Morag,” which means forester. So, when we add a letter
we get something with a lengthier definition, so if we subtract a letter we should get something
with a less lengthy definition. Thus, if Morag is one who cares for lots of trees, and Mora is lots
of trees, then Mor is very likely just tree. To be thorough I checked the whole dictionary to see if
there is an Ehlnofex word for tree and I did not find one. Hence, I believe that Mor means tree,
so Ambassador Bal’mor’s name is Stone Tree, which makes sense within the context of this character.
His shtick is that he's grown this enormous tree in the Embassy. Speaking of which, the embassy is
probably the stone. So, given that I was able to get reasonable translations from Ehlnofex for both
Va’ruun and Bal’mor, I think that I'm definitely onto something here. I know the spelling and
phonetics don't match perfectly, but I doubt Bethesda would make it that easy for us and I
think my reasoning with these translations is fair. Not only do we have translations here,
but they both make sense within the context of how these names are used in Starfield. I tried
the other names related to House Va’ruun too and found more, here's what I've got so far. All of
these sort of make sense within the context of how they're used as well. I may follow up on this in a
future video if I uncover something big, but we're not done with this video yet. Ambassador Bal’mor’s
last entry mentions that the rest of House Va’ruun has reached out to him, yet he says nothing about
this in his dialogue, as if it's a secret. A lot of fans have already said it and I agree, this is
most definitely a plug for DLC. The only upcoming DLC that we are aware of is, “Shattered Space.”
From that name I'm thinking that the premise will revolve around the Armistice. It will probably
be broken, which will perhaps be triggered by the return of House Va’ruun. But what's relevant
for our purposes is the title, “Shattered Space.” Lorkhan's execution is often referred to as,
“the Shattering of Lorkhan.” So, assuming that House Va’ruun and their Great Serpent are going
to play a role in Shattered Space, which I think is likely, this title could be another innuendo to
Lorkhan. The last thing I want to discuss here is how the Great Serpent being Lorkhan can fit into
Elder Scrolls lore. So, in Elder Scrolls the big space of existence that contains Mundus along with
other realms as well is called, “the Aurbis.” And prior to the creation of Mundus the Aurbis was
in a constant state of change. So, during this early period of Lorkhan's existence he observed
the Aurbis change many times and he changed with it. So, how does Starfield fit in here? Well
maybe Bethesda's idea here is that Starfield exists in one of these pre-mundus versions of
the Aurbis, and the Great Serpent is one of these previous forms of Lorkhan. I mean that really fits
with what we discussed about the orange and blue because if this theory were true then Elder
Scrolls and Starfield would share those same cosmological elements. Anu and Padomay, Lorkhan
slash the Great Serpent, etc. Furthermore, we know that Starfield is the BGS formula game that's
going to directly precede Elder Scrolls 6. So, in a way it takes place before an Elder Scrolls
game, so maybe Bethesda decided to apply that to the lore as well. To be clear folks, I don't think
that Bethesda wants us to see Starfield as under the umbrella of Elder Scrolls. I think what we've
got here is a lore Easter Egg. I think it's a fun little tidbit that Bethesda left for Elder Scrolls
fans to find. What probably happened is one day in the studio someone said, hey we know this game
is going to directly precede Elder Scrolls 6, so it'd be fun if we found the way to incorporate
that into Starfield's lore, like let's say we put some hints in there that could suggest that the
Starfield universe exists within the Elder Scrolls universe as a prequel to the Elder Scrolls games?
And I'm sure everyone would have loved this idea and said yeah we're doing that. I mean knowing
their sense of humor this is exactly the kind of thing they might do. To further cement this notion
we should talk about Adamantine Tower. This is the oldest known structure in Mundus and it's where
the Shattering of Lorkhan occurred. However, it wasn't where it currently is when that
happened. Michael Kirkbride, the man who wrote most of the lore we've been discussing,
has confirmed that Adamantine Tower is in fact a rocketship! Or at least a fantasy version of one.
So, my guess here is that part of what Bethesda is going for with this lore Easter Egg is that
Adamantine Tower could be a relic from Starfield, that much like Lorkhan slash the Great Serpent,
carried over into each new iteration of the Aurbis and eventually made it to Elder Scrolls, which I
think is simply awesome. And I had a lot of fun putting these clues together, so if I'm right
here thanks to whoever came up with this idea. That's it for this video folks, that is the Great
Serpent's Secret Identity. I believe that this is a lore Easter Egg Bethesda left for us and the
Great Serpent is Lorkhan in Starfield. Thank you so much for watching and I promise you there are
more great things on the horizon! Starfield is a great game, and this is only the beginning.
I am going to play the heck out of this game, and I will continue to solve mysteries like this
one and I can't wait to show you what I find. So, if you want to join the fun please subscribe, I
promise you will be glad you did. Also, please leave a like, check out my socials, and share,
it really helps me out a whole lot and it'll help other Bethesda fans find this video too. And
if you have something to add please comment, I'd love to hear it. Do you know something about House
Va’ruun that could be relevant here? Do you think I'm crazy for suggesting this? Please let me know
below. Thanks again and I'll see you next time.
