Esteemed Impressario,

Which culturues celebrate Whitestrake's Mayhem and what type of rituatls do they perform? What might Pelinal say about this holiday?

OgrimTitan wrote: »

Aliyavana wrote: »

Legoless wrote: »

Impresario,

I have heard many Heart's Day retellings of the Legend of the Lovers, each one closer to fiction than fact. Who were Polydor and Eloisa? Is there any mention of them in the historical record, or is it just a holiday tale?

—Legoless, Tiger-Doyen of the United Explorers of Scholarly Pursuits

With the story of the tragedy of these lovers causing the King of Senchel to become depressed enough to summon Molag Bal in Gil-Var-Delle, this question is the one I'd love to be answered the most.

folder_rats wrote: »

As always, thanks to the loremaster for taking the time do these, It's always a bunch of fun for fans of series!

Legoless wrote: »

Impresario,

I have heard many Heart's Day retellings of the Legend of the Lovers, each one closer to fiction than fact. Who were Polydor and Eloisa? Is there any mention of them in the historical record, or is it just a holiday tale?

—Legoless, Tiger-Doyen of the United Explorers of Scholarly Pursuits

[OOG: I would note in the lore, "Eloisa" is also the name of Uriel VII's grandmother, so this "Eloisa" of legend may be of Cyrodilic origin?]

Eloisa sounds like a variation of Eloise which is a Breton name that is one letter off (In ESO we have Eloise Noellaume and Eloise Miller, while its a random name for Bretons in Elder Scrolls Castles). I believe the context you provided is the daughter born to someone from the Septim Dynasty in the late Third Era. The Fall of the Usurper says the Septim Dynasty had the majority of its members that took Emperorship as either being Breton-influenced, or having spent parts of their childhood in High Rock (the exception being Cephorus II). Eloisa's name might be High Rock or Breton influence perhaps.

As for Polydor, the closest i can think of is Polinus who is an Altmer, and a lot of Altmer names also end in dor. Some Nord names also end in dor, like Shalidor.There is also Polybius which is a male Imperial name in Castles.

I definitely against some more breton-turned-imperial revisions. I was fine with Order of the Hour, but judging by Blackwood dialogue Knight of Iron are also imperial. Only Knights of the Circle look culturally breton if the armor and Noble Knight's Rest are any indication. But. To be fair, "Eloisa" is an italian (read: modern imperial) version of "Eloise", an english name (read: tamrielic), which is in turn derived from "Héloïse", old french (read: old bretic) name. And if Polidor was an altmer, and Eloisa was an imperial, I can easily see a forbidden love story between members of 2 nations culturally most antagonistic to each other in the setting.

I love @MafiaCat115 's idea of Umaril-centered antipode to Whitestrake's Mayhem. A great question, apart from my own, of course, mwa-ha-ha. Your own about Rivenspire's hollow is great, too. I would ask that myself.

Good point. That would imply it would be a story around the time of the Ayleid Diaspora perhaps if Eloisa was an Imperial and Polydor was an Ayleid. We did have Breton immigrants to Cyrodiil that settled around Nibenay according to The Legendary Sancre Tor book immediately after the Alessian Slave Rebellion, so there being any Breton name influence upon Cyrodiilics would have been established around then.

Edit: You mentioned Heloise as an old french version of Eloise, and I wonder if the real life love affair tale of Abelard & Heloise might have been used as the name inspiration for the Polydor and Eloisa story in-universe.

Greetings, majestic The Impressario

I understand that these holidays are more modern, but is there anything known about whether and how the Dwemers had equivalents of these holidays or their direct matches?

Thank you for your attention! And for a possible answer!

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Hi All! Just giving a heads up that we are closing this thread on Monday, Dec. 2. So if you have questions for The Impressario, make sure to ask them soon!

@ZOS_Kevin Thank you for listening to me and others about the arranging of a bonus Archive this year. I tried to not tag you too often about this. It is appreciated greatly.

Aliyavana wrote: »

OgrimTitan wrote: »

Aliyavana wrote: »

Legoless wrote: »

Impresario,

I have heard many Heart's Day retellings of the Legend of the Lovers, each one closer to fiction than fact. Who were Polydor and Eloisa? Is there any mention of them in the historical record, or is it just a holiday tale?

—Legoless, Tiger-Doyen of the United Explorers of Scholarly Pursuits

With the story of the tragedy of these lovers causing the King of Senchel to become depressed enough to summon Molag Bal in Gil-Var-Delle, this question is the one I'd love to be answered the most.

folder_rats wrote: »

As always, thanks to the loremaster for taking the time do these, It's always a bunch of fun for fans of series!

Legoless wrote: »

Impresario,

I have heard many Heart's Day retellings of the Legend of the Lovers, each one closer to fiction than fact. Who were Polydor and Eloisa? Is there any mention of them in the historical record, or is it just a holiday tale?

—Legoless, Tiger-Doyen of the United Explorers of Scholarly Pursuits

[OOG: I would note in the lore, "Eloisa" is also the name of Uriel VII's grandmother, so this "Eloisa" of legend may be of Cyrodilic origin?]

Eloisa sounds like a variation of Eloise which is a Breton name that is one letter off (In ESO we have Eloise Noellaume and Eloise Miller, while its a random name for Bretons in Elder Scrolls Castles). I believe the context you provided is the daughter born to someone from the Septim Dynasty in the late Third Era. The Fall of the Usurper says the Septim Dynasty had the majority of its members that took Emperorship as either being Breton-influenced, or having spent parts of their childhood in High Rock (the exception being Cephorus II). Eloisa's name might be High Rock or Breton influence perhaps.

As for Polydor, the closest i can think of is Polinus who is an Altmer, and a lot of Altmer names also end in dor. Some Nord names also end in dor, like Shalidor.There is also Polybius which is a male Imperial name in Castles.

I definitely against some more breton-turned-imperial revisions. I was fine with Order of the Hour, but judging by Blackwood dialogue Knight of Iron are also imperial. Only Knights of the Circle look culturally breton if the armor and Noble Knight's Rest are any indication. But. To be fair, "Eloisa" is an italian (read: modern imperial) version of "Eloise", an english name (read: tamrielic), which is in turn derived from "Héloïse", old french (read: old bretic) name. And if Polidor was an altmer, and Eloisa was an imperial, I can easily see a forbidden love story between members of 2 nations culturally most antagonistic to each other in the setting.

I love @MafiaCat115 's idea of Umaril-centered antipode to Whitestrake's Mayhem. A great question, apart from my own, of course, mwa-ha-ha. Your own about Rivenspire's hollow is great, too. I would ask that myself.

Good point. That would imply it would be a story around the time of the Ayleid Diaspora perhaps if Eloisa was an Imperial and Polydor was an Ayleid. We did have Breton immigrants to Cyrodiil that settled around Nibenay according to The Legendary Sancre Tor book immediately after the Alessian Slave Rebellion, so there being any Breton name influence upon Cyrodiilics would have been established around then.

Edit: You mentioned Heloise as an old french version of Eloise, and I wonder if the real life love affair tale of Abelard & Heloise might have been used as the name inspiration for the Polydor and Eloisa story in-universe.

An interesting notion. Who knows, maybe it was.

Raltin wrote: »

Dear Impressario

You are a woman of mystery, and the subject of many a speculation, and so I wonder if you would, perhaps, bear answers to a different mystery than your own? My question stems from a curiosity, tied yearly to the celebration of The Witches Festival. It has come to my attention that, thus far, Lord Hha-Lugh-Zhek, or 'Hollowjack' as the masses call him, is something of an enigma... Hha-Lugh-Zhek, his modus operandi, and his realm have many similarities to that of Vaermina, but also Nocturnal, Mephala, and even Hircine of all things. My question is... was Hollowjack directly created by any of these Princes, serve or associate with them, or did he just... crop up one day on his own, independently, like a mysterious garden weed?

-an anonymous daedrologist

@Raltin I rea-a-ally hope our questions won't be merged into one, because it would hardly be satisfying to any.

"Daedra Lords are like a child with their mother’s sword: all the threat and none of the discipline. I should know!"

The Impressario confirms that she seems to be a demiprince like the prior meet the character for her implied.

"And my goodness could they put on quite a party. One year in the early days of Necrom, the people of the city commemorated Born Anew by mass-summoning the spirit of every woman, man, and child who had died since they’d arrived in the region. Glimmering spirits as far as the eye could see, processing in a grand parade that filled the streets. Beautiful and eerie. I’ll never forget it."

She confirms she was around since the Chimer were around, making her ancient.

I wish I had asked about Zeal of Zenithar. I didn't realize that no one had asked about it, and I feel it is undeveloped. Like who introduced it, the Imperial Cult? When was it introduced, etc.

Thank you Kevin and Zenke for having one last archive this year.

One thing I realized is that this forum thread mentioned Heart's Day as a major ESO holiday. Makes me think that it might be a major event expanded upon next year? If so I look forward to it.

Edit: I like the Saturalia answer. Bretons are known for their merchant skills, so them capitalizing on New Life Festival by introducing Saturalia themed items to it is fitting.