Why do we want our soul back?

kampori

As per title- what purpose does our soul provide us? As proven throughout the game, not only do we obviously not need it, but also gain several boons by not having one.

As for needing it- the only thing I could think of is that it provides things needed for social interaction. Like the Argonian you meet in Shadowfen who was born away from the Hist and cannot socialise properly. But that doesn't count for us- seeing as how we're one of the most characteristic and impressive people about- and can use nuances of social interaction, as we can use intimidate and persuade. Tell jokes. Flirt. Get emotionally connected. Angry. Vengeful. All the emotions you'd expect.
So what are we actually missing? What is negatively affected?

As for boons- not having a soul seems to be exceedingly more helpful to us, especially as an adventurer always getting themselves into dangerous situations. Firstly, not being able to die (!!) and being able to recorporialise at will. Secondly, a large majority of dangerous and often fatal black magic doesn't work on us, as most of the spells and rituals seem to involve having a soul. The amount of times in quests the villain was thwarted because his crazy dangerous spells doesn't work on us, or a ritual that has decimated a village has no effect on us.
And as per other quests, boons of our character involve a lot of being able to freely travel between death, cold harbour, the past/memories. Although this is quite common for heroes in Tamriel so not just a boon for being a Vestige.

So I ask again, why do we want our soul back?

I know we can still respawn etc, but surely that is just game mechanics. Once reconnected with your soul- as evidenced by several quests and many NPCs in Coldharbour, you are mortal again and can die.
Not exactly helpful for us.

I wish I could've told Meridia, "thanks, but no thanks"

TX12001rwb17_ESO

Yeah bit of an issue about that, Your character is actually better off without their soul and actually having it would "lorewsie" render you incapable of respawning as you would be mortal again, I do wish ZoS did however come up with an alternative explanation for the respawning mechanism after you get your soul back though.

One idea is after that have it so you are never actually killed but instead knocked out so the animation would be different so instead of animating on the spot your character would slowly get back on their feet instead.

GivvumBoane

TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »

Yeah bit of an issue about that, Your character is actually better off without their soul and actually having it would "lorewsie" render you incapable of respawning as you would be mortal again, I do wish ZoS did however come up with an alternative explanation for the respawning mechanism after you get your soul back though.

One idea is after that have it so you are never actually killed but instead knocked out so the animation would be different so instead of animating on the spot your character would slowly get back on their feet instead.

I think you should look soul shriven until you get your soul back.

Mettaricana

Maybe meridia tricks us when she gave back our soul like a fake and she'll hold out to later and bargain with us to stop other evil plots from molag bal mephala and other less than good daedric princes...

ShedsHisTail

TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »

Yeah bit of an issue about that, Your character is actually better off without their soul and actually having it would "lorewsie" render you incapable of respawning as you would be mortal again, I do wish ZoS did however come up with an alternative explanation for the respawning mechanism after you get your soul back though.

One idea is after that have it so you are never actually killed but instead knocked out so the animation would be different so instead of animating on the spot your character would slowly get back on their feet instead.

Or, game mechanics which don't need to be explained by lore.

Natas013

Why? Soul strike. How many NPC do you see walking around using their soul as a weapon? Your reaquired weaponized soul is strong enough to resist effects your soulless self was able to resist, including but not limited to death.

starkerealm

Mettaricana wrote: »

Maybe meridia tricks us when she gave back our soul like a fake and she'll hold out to later and bargain with us to stop other evil plots from molag bal mephala and other less than good daedric princes...

That's basically the gist of it. Meridia actually gives you your soul back, but it's bound to the Colored Rooms (instead of Cold Harbour), so you're more akin to an unusual flavor of Daedra than a mortal of Tamriel at this point.

I get the impression the vestiges want their souls back to prevent full shrivening. Without retrieving their soul, their eventual fate would be to end up as mindless soulshriven husks. Exposure to the Skyshards probably offsets this, but it's still a loosing prospect in the longterm, and the only way to permanently avoid that fate is to retrieve their soul.

That said... I don't have a lot to back up those suppositions. It's consistent with information given in the game, but never explicitly spelled out.

Duiwel

Because since I started playing I was always in zone chat saying wts my soul or wtb your soul and most people could not purchase or sell it because I or they didn't have it back yet...

Luckily most people have souls now so business can go on as usual.

bebynnag

I wish i could of stayed in the prison at the very beginning, found Manimarco & offered my services to Molag Bal.

starkerealm

puffytheslayer wrote: »

I wish i could of stayed in the prison at the very beginning, found Manimarco & offered my services to Molag Bal.

It's an Elder Scrolls game. At this point starting in prison is tradition.

Bad_Company

I like to think that in order to revive you need a soul, whether it is yours or not. When you get killed or you want to resurrect one of your friends who died you use a soul gem because a soul has left Tamriel.
My point is: our characters are alive because they have a soul inside of them, or maybe just the "force" of another's soul, which allows them to feel and all kind of things. Basically, in my view Soul-Shriven characters are separated from their souls, but those souls still exist in plane or another.
When we die the "temporary" soul that filled us is consumed and will not be found anymore in any realm, so you refill the shell (Vestige) until he or she manages to be reunited with his/her soul again.

ShedsHisTail

Souls, in the Elder Scrolls series, are basically a fuel source. They're a sort of magical energy which can be used to power all kinds of things, from magical heroic vestiges, to flying cities, to moon-repellant machines. And that energy appears to be somewhat interchangeable.

That is you don't necessarily need a specific soul, just a soul will do. This is why we use soul gems both for powering our meat suits and weapon enchants. "Life" for lack of a better word, appears to be little more than an elaborate enchantment on an otherwise immobile sack of skin and guts.

SantieClaws

Or maybe this one she tricked Molag Bal in the first place with a fake soul yes?

Why would this one hand over the soul of the daedric prince of Fishmas ... er a humble ordinary khajiit really ... yes that.

Yours with entirely mortal paws
Santie Claws

chuck-18_ESO

Something you have to consider is that the afterlife is *very* real in Tamriel. Yes, being the Vestige has its benefits, but never being able to move on would be dreadful. Not only that, but your soul is currently being used to empower Him, which is a bummer.

Leandor

Without your soul, you couldn't Soulstrike.

Bromburak

kampori wrote: »

So I ask again, why do we want our soul back?

"But they are not native to Oblivion, so a Soul Shriven's body is a sad imitation of the body worn in life, suffering rapid wear and decay until it dies—a death that is no liberation, for its vestige only forms a body once again, over and over, ad infinitum..."


http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Chaotic_Creatia:_The_Azure_Plasm

As Vestige we are immortal , Daedric like.
So basically it's all about merging Vestige and Animus.

It's complicated but this guys theory in "Souls and Stars" goes in the direction what i am thinking as well.
https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/2jtcd5/souls_and_stars/

CherryCake

Because... its ours

crashen17b14_ESO

In my headcanon, my non-shriven (and even shriven) use a sort of... public mark/recall spell, bound to wayshrines. Basically in my head the mages guild created a unique spell that lets you recall to any of the "automagiclly marked" shrines.

So even if we were mortal, we could just cast our recall spells, and if we "die" it kicks in automatically just before death.

driosketch

The way i see it, a soul prevents the decay of your mind and body. We're being "preserved" by high level divine magic. Same goes for not being forced to respawn back in Cold Harbour every time we "die". That puts us somewhere between a high functioning undead and a deadric summon.

More to the question of why we want it back, hey it's our property. It doesn't belong to some deadric prince, nor were we compensated fair market value for it. It's the principal of the thing really.

yodased

cause its a game and there needs to be goals to move you along the story.

Nestor

We never get our Soul back, despite what Meridia and Caldwell say. Everyone in the Silver and Gold content remind us that we have no Soul.

Lokryn

Nestor wrote: »

We never get our Soul back, despite what Meridia and Caldwell say. Everyone in the Silver and Gold content remind us that we have no Soul.

I think that's just because ZoS didn't rewrite those quests/dialogue.

theher0not

Lokryn wrote: »

Nestor wrote: »

We never get our Soul back, despite what Meridia and Caldwell say. Everyone in the Silver and Gold content remind us that we have no Soul.

I think that's just because ZoS didn't rewrite those quests/dialogue.

Same. I am pretty sure it is just that they forgot it when it first was released and then they just didn't bother fixing it.

Leandor

It is an alternate reality. Everyone around us perceives us to be soulless, because that is the appearance Meridia gave us. Funny enough, I have absolutely zero issue with this lore-wise.

Ravinsild

Leandor wrote: »

It is an alternate reality. Everyone around us perceives us to be soulless, because that is the appearance Meridia gave us. Funny enough, I have absolutely zero issue with this lore-wise.

Well how do you even see if someone has a soul or not....Where they *** are they looking?

WreckfulAbandon

Can't sell your soul if you don't have one..

wayfarerx

After seeing how Mannimarco ends up, you really want Molag Bal to hang on to your soul? No thanks.

ContraTempo

starkerealm wrote: »

Mettaricana wrote: »

Maybe meridia tricks us when she gave back our soul like a fake and she'll hold out to later and bargain with us to stop other evil plots from molag bal mephala and other less than good daedric princes...

That's basically the gist of it. Meridia actually gives you your soul back, but it's bound to the Colored Rooms (instead of Cold Harbour), so you're more akin to an unusual flavor of Daedra than a mortal of Tamriel at this point.

I get the impression the vestiges want their souls back to prevent full shrivening. Without retrieving their soul, their eventual fate would be to end up as mindless soulshriven husks. Exposure to the Skyshards probably offsets this, but it's still a loosing prospect in the longterm, and the only way to permanently avoid that fate is to retrieve their soul.

That said... I don't have a lot to back up those suppositions. It's consistent with information given in the game, but never explicitly spelled out.

See I thought the soul was already consumed so we could not really get it back. So I assumed that the soul Meridia gave us was a new soul she forged with unknown properties. Of course she would want us to continue to have these abilities since she indicates there is more for us to do.

theher0not

It isn't as much me wanting it back as it is me not wanting Molog Bal to have it.

Lokryn

ContraTempo wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

Mettaricana wrote: »

Maybe meridia tricks us when she gave back our soul like a fake and she'll hold out to later and bargain with us to stop other evil plots from molag bal mephala and other less than good daedric princes...

That's basically the gist of it. Meridia actually gives you your soul back, but it's bound to the Colored Rooms (instead of Cold Harbour), so you're more akin to an unusual flavor of Daedra than a mortal of Tamriel at this point.

I get the impression the vestiges want their souls back to prevent full shrivening. Without retrieving their soul, their eventual fate would be to end up as mindless soulshriven husks. Exposure to the Skyshards probably offsets this, but it's still a loosing prospect in the longterm, and the only way to permanently avoid that fate is to retrieve their soul.

That said... I don't have a lot to back up those suppositions. It's consistent with information given in the game, but never explicitly spelled out.

See I thought the soul was already consumed so we could not really get it back. So I assumed that the soul Meridia gave us was a new soul she forged with unknown properties. Of course she would want us to continue to have these abilities since she indicates there is more for us to do.

Here is the dialogue after you defeat Molag Bal. I believe Meridia calls Molag Bal "Stone-Fire" here.

"Come forward, Vestige. You are safe, for now. Something precious has been riven from Stone-Fire's being. I have brought it here for you to reclaim."—Meridia
At the end of the northern path is a glowing figure—your soul. You reclaim it, and listen to the spirit of Molag Bal.
"I congratulate you, little insect. Your sting is formidable. You have bested me and released a thousand times a thousand souls back into the Mundus. For the moment, your world is spared, but my grand scheme has only begun to unfold. Excellent. Your power shall prove useful in the coming conflicts. The dark machinations of Oblivion are far more complex than anything your mortal senses can comprehend. You've made a great and terrible enemy this day. Your world would have been better off if the Planemeld had succeeded. Had you bowed before me and accepted eternal servitude, I would have protected you. There are worse masters than I. Far worse."
"You are but a phantom here in my domain, Stone-Fire. The mortal prophecies of the Scrolls have been fulfilled. Leave this place and return to your pit!"
Talk to Meridia.
"Your soul is restored. I can see its light within you. And you have saved your world from a great calamity. But know this, mortal. The forces of Oblivion are legion, and the God of Schemes is but a single player in a complex battle for supremacy."

ShedsHisTail

Nestor wrote: »

We never get our Soul back, despite what Meridia and Caldwell say. Everyone in the Silver and Gold content remind us that we have no Soul.

What if Cadwell I simply holding on to it for safe keeping? Keeps it under that pot on his head. That's why you get the pot later. He's really saying, "Here, have your soul back." But like a ***, we stick the damned thing on our heads and run around like idiots.