You're Wrong About M'aiq the Liar

maek the liar maek the mystery an enigma that has puzzled elder scrolls fans for over 20 years ever since his first appearance in the elder scrolls iii morrowind many have tried to guess at his true nature but i have a theory of my own to unfold one that i think best shines a light on this curious khajiit the inspiration behind this video actually comes from a comment left on the first fan theories episode about elder scrolls podcast where it was put forth that my eek is actually the khajiit god rajin or at least an aspect of him after extensive investigation and theorycrafting of my own i'm super pumped to elaborate on exactly why i've come to agree that said i'll still be providing some thoughts on some of the most commonly believed maik theories as we dive into this iconic character remember it's all speculation and quite subjective so i'd love to hear your own maek takes in the comments below on the surface maik the liar is a khajiit character who has featured in morrowind oblivion skyrim and then finally in the elder scrolls online he is considered by many to be nothing more than an easter egg a walking meme added into the game with comedic intentions to cheekily provide fourth wall breaking commentary or simply make quirky claims that you'll take with a grain of salt or at least i hope you will outside of sharing the same name maiq will also allude to things that maix from previous titles said or did leading many to wonder if there's more to this unique npc than meets the eye the biggest giveaway is that maek may have godlike properties come from his seemingly long lifespan and ability to know of things from far in the past and seemingly from the future too those first playing skyrim back in 2011 questioned if maik was the same khajiit they'd previously met in the series now over 200 years old however with his appearance in the elder scrolls online it meant maek would have reached almost 1 000 years of age but who knows how long he could have existed before that in rare circumstances only the most powerful sorcerers to ever exist on the elder scrolls timeline have been able to use magic to sustain themselves for such time frames daiveth fear for example is a dunma who reached 4 000 years of age maika of course does not seem to exhibit magical powers and therefore people jump to the conclusion that he's actually from a long line of maex while this could be the case the evidence if we shall call it that isn't very strong the first piece of evidence looks at one of maik's quotes in skyrim my ex-father was also called maik as was my ex-father's father at least that is what his father said as you'll know if you've spent time talking to this crafty khajiit throughout the series it is sometimes challenging to distinguish when maek is telling the truth or when he is living up to his namesake his claim could easily be a cover-up for his abnormal longevity and potential true nature in a nutshell if mayak is known to tell lies then we can't trust his claim that he had a father called maek it would be like believing anything else he says like that if we swim far enough into the ocean we'll find gigantic emperor crabs which he has seen many of also even the general idea that the liar title would be given for over a thousand years from mayik to mayik voluntarily or not seems incredibly unlikely arguably even more unlikely than him having a long life span due to otherworldly or magical causes not to mention some of his references allude to things he did or said in previous games sure the distance between morrowind and oblivion is only six years so with some references like wanting a collovian fur helm it may be more plausible that it's the same character but what about the distance of elder scrolls online to skyrim in both of these games set almost a millennium apart maik mentions that he's been so trapped once before he says it's not very pleasant and in the online game adds that a mad elf tried to bind him to a stone in skyrim he'll also mention that he's always searching for calipers yet finds none referencing how in oblivion set 200 years before he would endlessly search for the miscellaneous item called calipers perhaps a caliper obsession could be genetic but i wouldn't count on it going even deeper maek even talks of dragons in morrowind saying that they're everywhere but you must fly very high to see most of them and that the ones nearer to the ground are very hard to see being invisible this sounds like a lie but in skyrim he also says dragons were never gone they were just invisible and very very quiet this may be a cheeky throwback to morrowind's dialogue supporting the idea that he's the same person and if he is speaking figuratively about invisibility it could actually make some sense dragons that didn't have their souls absorbed when killed were able to be resurrected by alduin and one only has to look at the scene at grove in skyrim's main story to see a dragon very much near the ground so to speak under it really who is not visible until he erupts in skeletal form and is brought back to life it's very intriguing to ponder how mayik might have such knowledge more on that later but with examples like this it seems like there's more evidence that maek is the same character all along versus coming from a long line of my x but wait michael what about the flute in the elder scrolls online this is the second piece of info that i've seen people use to support the long line of different mix theory so there's a flute found in crow's wood presented among other offerings to a group known as the black feather court an inscription on it reads a gift from maiq to his son maiq but i don't think this negates the idea of maek being the same person at all if anything it's an important clue that adds far more intrigue to his character an inscription of my ex is no different to the word of maek and we all know we take that with a huge grain of salt keep in mind that cruise wood is not a comfy spot to set up camp near falkreath it is a pocket realm of evergloam the realm of the daedric prince of shadows nocturnal those who claim to rule the pocket realm that his crows would the black feather court to whom the offering is intended for are actually a group of sentient daedric crows personally i think that if anyone in the elder scrolls community found a flute belonging to any other regular npc in a daedric realm let's say skyrim's nazim everyone would be wondering how nazim got into a daedric realm in the first place and why he was seeking to offer something to talking daedric birds gaining access to an oblivion realm even a pocket realm is highly dangerous and usually only performed by talented mages a good example is more falsephthalian who claims to have traveled to oblivion planes and met daedra dwemer and everything in between but even master wizards can go insane when messing with oblivion realms look at maury and zenis a master wizard whose journey into multiple daedric realms was recorded by his apprentice using a telepathic link the story details how incredibly hard it was for them to find access to oblivion in the first place and how after mauryan hopped from realm to realm he eventually succumbed to the temptations of hermaeus moore's realm apocrypha the forbidden knowledge there drove him deep into frantic research where he discovered the truth about the world and desperately sought to learn more seemingly losing his sanity the text ends with the apprentice saying i would save him if i could i would silence his whispers if i could daedric realms are hard to access and can ruin the most powerful of mages and yet that is exactly where my yeak's flute is found hinting that this wacky kijit was able to visit oblivion himself however maique was able to do this is not clear at first as the player you go there through a portal found in a cave in morrowind and it's not some sort of permanent portal either it's being sustained with difficulty by a dunmer mage named telboro it appears he hasn't been there for long when you get there and is quite surprised to see a passerby has found his portal and is joining him this all makes me believe it's super unlikely maique would have already found this portal entrance and just jumped in behind this mage so fast and unnoticed as further evidence that mike may be knowledgeable in how to access oblivion it is worth noting that he referenced as going to cold harbor in the elder scrolls online explaining that he learned the hard way not to drink the water that glows and also that he could not find the tower of lies and suspects molag bao is playing a joke on him so what if maik was in a pocket realm of nocturnal's evergloam with a strong intention i'll tell you why i think he was soon i want you to believe that maiq is an avatar of rajin or even a fractured version of rajin himself so let's get right into it rajin was once a mortal who became a legendary thief and trickster and ultimately ascended to godhood he is known to the khajiit as a thief god but also as the trickster god another kijiti god lorkhaj their version of lor khan is also known as a trickster and people have speculated that maek is actually lorkhaj due to this and also because in the kijiti creation myth he was called noisy like mayik can be interpreted as and was cursed to walk nernie for many phases due to tricking his siblings into creating the mortal plane this walking of nurny could refer to myiq being found across multiple games and explain his potential immortality it could also explain his omniscient knowledge about the universe that seems to exist outside of mortal's linear time with gods manifesting in the way in which cultures perceive them lorkhaj in physical form could appear as a khajiit and yes mike could be some sort of shell if you will of the trickster lorcaj walking nirn for many phases without his heart that all said i do think that the reference to walking nernie for many phases actually refers to lorcaj or lor khan's avatars also called cesareans who throughout the timeline have been sent into nirn with a strong sense of purpose and ambition pelano whitestrake is one such figure and some have theorized that even the dragonborn might be one i don't really see maek fitting the role here but you can never say never i suppose but here is why i think rajin fits the bill much much more in addition to also being known and celebrated as the tricks to god rajin has another title similar to maik the liar which should make your ears prick up rajin the purring liar and what about all that before about lorekaj being cursed to walk nurny for many phases well guess what another title of rajin's is cat who walks you don't have to be on skooma to see the striking similarities here but wait there's more in the text the thief god's treasures rajin is described as he who is fleet of foot the very embodiment of speed agility and slyness in auto scores for oblivion maek runs around to different places constantly however he is also programmed to be the fastest person in the entire game if you try to catch him you will fail he can even outrun any horse you can purchase and ride on except for the incredibly fast 5000 septum black horses of shaden hall furthermore we don't have to guess that rajian might have sent avatars of himself to nirn that specifically look like khajiit the way we do have to with the lorekaj idea we actually know for sure rajin has done this in the other scrolls online there are beings known as rajyan's shadows who each represent different aspects of this god they're said to be seven of these shadows though who knows if that is even true and one you get to talk to in game explains he is but an avatar of rajyan's greatness in a quest you can say to him so you're an avatar of a tricks to god and you stole the mural why to which he replies you expect a truthful answer what kind of trickster do you take this one for to me this fits quite well with my x theme of making you second guess him even the way this shadow of rajin speaks reminds me of mayik telling the player something that might be a lie and casting doubt on it too he says the kingdom of kenarthia land of sweet treats and sweeter meats rajin even kissed a mermaid on the moonlit shores or perhaps it was just a very shapely fish hmm clan mother anisi is said to claim that raj in the purring liar had so many shadows that some of them took on lives of their own becoming black sench panthers who stalk freely through elsewhere perhaps maik is but another shadow of rajin one who has taken on a life of his own or one who represents rajin's deception specifically for the best lies always have a small element of truth to them could also be some sort of physical manifestation of rajin that still exists like a split that occurred between the mortal and the god interestingly enough some have theorized that there is a similar example of this in the elder scrolls universe manamako he is theorized to have both become a god yet also continue to exist in physical form in the mortal plane as seen in the eldest cross for oblivion what can i say elder scrolls law is complicated well perhaps there is a split between rajin the god and rajin the cat who walks potentially manifesting in secret as the character known as my yeek the liar or shall i say maek the purring liar but how could we explain such a split let's investigate rajin's story some more well much of rajin's thievery and trickery was clearly for sport such as stealing a tattoo from the neck of empress kintara as she slept some khajiit tales even talk of him gifting that which he steals back to the victim the only thing is that rajin's victims have notoriously been daedric princes much of rajyan's legacy as a thief is based on feats achieved while traveling to daedric realms and stealing daedric artifacts rajin before he obtained any daedric artifacts stole the ring of kijiti from mephala after somehow finding his way into oblivion if we had to believe that maik's flute indicates that he visited this pocket realm of everglam then travelling to oblivion using mysterious or unexplained methods is another thing that these two khajiit have in common once rajin entered the realm he came upon mephala azura and a third daedric prince arguing over who claimed dominion over the night he listened to them before offering to settle their dispute after which he ended up seducing mafala then stole her ring and even made off with the ebony blade on his way out the ring was used to make himself invisible silent and fast all useful for thievery and trickery ultimately rajyan went to apocrypha where he stole the augma infinium from himayasmora at home so powerful it can elevate one's abilities to near-demi-god proportions perhaps it's part of the reason he did become a god in death that is if he even died the description of the ring of kijiti says that rajin's eventual fate is a mystery but according to legend the ring rebelled against constant use and disappeared making him helpless before his enemies one kishidi text says that some say this was rajin's undoing but he knows that rajin simply gave the ring back at the end of the day we don't actually know if rajian did die or what ended up happening to his mortal form i wouldn't be surprised if he faced a similar fate to maury and zenis and many others who have meddled with hermaeus mora and his forbidden knowledge it could explain that theorized split between rajin the god and our theorized mortal version of the cat who walks maek the liar meddling with the daedra and being punished for it tends to be more of a matter of when than if hermaeus mora has other artifacts such as the black books known to drive many people insane some who read those and do not lose their mind have been able to obtain great power if rajyan visited apocrypha and stole the ogma infinium there's a chance he may have also taken or at least looked within one of the many black books that maura keeps some of these books are from the past but others are from the future interestingly we know that rajin has been to apocrypha which houses knowledge from both the past and the future and we also know that maek will reference things from both the past and the future in elder scrolls online maek foreshadows the dragons coming out of hiding before it happens in the elsewhere expansion and arguably it was intended as a reference to the return of dragons in skyrim as well it seems skyrim's dragons are foretold in oblivion too when maike claims to have seen them and says that perhaps you will see them too in the online game maike also has this to say maek has seen the future in his dreams adventurers will one day scale mountains the likes maik has never seen he does not know how but these adventurers are determined to get to their destination if rajin used the augmer infinium to help him ascend to godhood or gain immortality but did so in a way that split his very being then mike could be a physical half left behind or even just a fragment those who get wrapped up in maura's forbidden and often obscured knowledge can't be expected to handle it or execute the use of every daedric artifact perfectly rajin may have ended up ascending to godhood but we can't rule out the idea that parts of him might not have been able to handle that after all the favorite thing of a thief and trickster is to be in the world with mortals who you can steal from and fall a physical remnant could have remained behind as the weakened cat who walks or maek the purring liar perhaps walking nirn with forbidden knowledge from both past and future struck into somewhat of a mind-warped state by confronting realizations about the truth of the world in addition to hinting at the past and future and saying that he's seen the future in his dreams maek does say something else intriguing which may indicate he's been to hermes mora's realm perhaps because he is rajin and read one of my favorite black books titled waking dreams or anyone similar to this while he was there the book references an uncaring godhead the godhead is quite an abstract concept but also has mentioned in book 3 of the mythic dawn commentaries the law community including ex-developers like michael kirkbride have elaborated a lot on this idea but essentially what it is is a big sleeping god who is dreaming the entirety of the elder scrolls universe interestingly one of maik's quotes in the elder scrolls online is this you have heard that the khajiit love naps yes so does maek though maybe mayika is napping now and this conversation is but a dream here is this eccentric khajiit a little bit crazy searching obsessively for calipers or talking about finding dragons by flying high enough and so on who has seemingly lived for a thousand years who can comment on his experiences in places all over tamriel even of being soul trapped who appears to have visited a daedric pocket realm and makes sneaky references to things in the past or events far into the future looking the player character in the face and saying maybe he's asleep and this is all a dream some would speculate that this means mayik has actually achieved kim kim is basically a rare esoteric piece of knowledge that gives you the capacity to insist on your existence despite the confronting reality that you are a figment of the godhead's dream when successfully achieved one is granted an apotheosis of sorts a similar experience to the control that you may get when you are lucid dreaming there's nothing particularly wrong with such a theory it's certainly possible however i personally think that the supporting evidence that tai's maiq to rajin is stronger and thematically far more specific not to mention those who achieve kim such as vivec or tiber septum tend to have stronger egos and go on to do far more than just wander around tamriel that doesn't really fit the vibe of maek to me i feel like it's more likely that any tomes of forbidden knowledge he read in apocrypha melted his mind a bit and even gave him some insight into the ever-changing tides of fate versus giving him any sort of complete omniscient understanding of the universe but let's get back to more of maek's ties to rajin if maek does possess his powers of accessing daedric realms and used this know-how to access a pocket realm of nocturnal's evergloam and then make an offering to the blackfeather court we have to ask ourselves why well one can safely assume that nocturnal is the third daedra from rajyan's story arguing with mephala and azura about who has dominion over the night nocturnal the prince of night and darkness also known as the night mistress is known to take kindly to thieves blessing them and helping them in their pursuits perhaps rajin or who we perceive as maek was trying to find his way back to nocturnal a daedra who may be able to help such a legendary thief she has witnessed first hand it could be help in the more conventional sense although if rajin's personality is anything to go by he may be planning to help himself using trickery in a conniving attempt to pull off a heist that sees him escape with one of nocturnal's artifacts such an emma derloth style move would not surprise me and perhaps could even help rajin somehow maybe he's trying to regain any lost power in the mortal plane or it could help him move on entirely from the mortal plane or perhaps he's only in the early stages of his plans and needs to start small with these daedric crows maybe he inscribed the flute himself in an attempt to impress the blackfeather court lying that it's some sort of old family heirloom to show personal sacrifice to them when in reality it's just a regular one the crows of black further quarter actually intertwined with nocturnal and her great forces they are imbued with darkness and shadows in the elder scrolls online they face issues with cultists who are trying to siphon such power for themselves while the court is trapped perhaps maek knows such a thing is possible if he is a fragment of a legendary thief god trying to get back to full power or fully escape mortality it sounds like a similar technique of stealing dark power from a dangerous realm would be the perfect starting point to becoming more adept and stealing other more useful things from other deities later on in addition to all of the connections presented so far rajin was also said to adopt many faces which if you wanted to could even be used to explain maek's varying appearances between games he is also said to not just be a thief but a performer of great pranks perhaps pranks of the kind that maek might be fond of like sending the nervous into deep waters looking for emperor crabs saying he's seen lots of them in the ocean funnily enough hamora the kijidi version of hermeasmora actually records all the events he perceives and stores them away in a great library under the sea after covering all of this it's hard to believe that maiq the liar has nothing to do with rajin the purring liar it would explain a lot and even maek's quotes about not remembering his childhood could make sense if his memory became warped after visiting maura living for so long or just by becoming a god as you can see there's many ways to look at the possibility of maek being the cat who walks or an aspect of him and i am personally convinced and will keep such a connection to rajin as my current head canon at the end of the day it is quite convincing that mayik may be godly in nature he may not seem like much to you at first but keep in mind it is said that rajin often tricked the unwary by causing them to underestimate his prowess think of this video the next time you find a flute in oblivion and pass it off as a mere family antique and make sure you comment your own maek theories below maybe you think he's some sort of seer like olaf the feeble who has hit the scuba pipe way too hard he does carry some skooma so let me know like the video if you enjoyed it subscribe for more elder scrolls theories and if you want to help support us making more content like this please do consider doing so using the patreon link in the description it really goes a long way my name is michael thanks for listening to my fun theory on fudge muppet and i look forward to noting out with you again very soon

Channel: FudgeMuppet

Views: 266,672

Keywords: skyrim, skyrim theory, skyrim lore, elder scrolls, elder scrolls lore, skyrim secrets, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, elder scrolls gods, skyrim mods, skyrim theories, daedric prince, skyrim mystery, skyrim unsolved mysteries, skyrim anniversary edition, skyrim special edition, khajiit, dragonborn dlc, skyrim hermaeus mora, skyrim unexplained, skyrim khajiit, m'aiq the liar, maiq, maiq the liar, skyrim m'aiq, m'aiq morrowind, oblivion, m'aiq the liar skyrim, rajhin

Id: sFQjWTgRCto

Length: 25min 46sec (1546 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 08 2022