dodgehopper_ESO wrote: »Its possible that like Umaril, there were other demi-daedra Ayleids out there and strange dalliances going on that would explain their bizarre daedric nature.
dodgehopper_ESO wrote: »Its possible that like Umaril, there were other demi-daedra Ayleids out there and strange dalliances going on that would explain their bizarre daedric nature.
This is a possibility, but the impression I was getting from the clues was that it was only avian features (not various weird features from different kinds of daedra, since the Ayleids worshipped lots of daedric princes) and that it was a large amount of Ayleids that had them. I suppose it's possible that most of the Ayleids had daedric blood, but wouldn't Umaril be less unusual for an Ayleid if that were the case?
Well, their armor has avian features. Maybe that's what the author talks about? Remember the texts are ancient, much like in our history, ancients were very easily impressed by oddities. Somehow I doubt they really had beaks and feathers.
Well, their armor has avian features. Maybe that's what the author talks about? Remember the texts are ancient, much like in our history, ancients were very easily impressed by oddities. Somehow I doubt they really had beaks and feathers.
MLGProPlayer wrote: »Well, their armor has avian features. Maybe that's what the author talks about? Remember the texts are ancient, much like in our history, ancients were very easily impressed by oddities. Somehow I doubt they really had beaks and feathers.
This is the correct answer. Too many people take TES lorebooks at face value.
They are almost all embellished tales written by unreliable narrators thousands of years ago. Plenty of texts in our own history describe strange people with animal characteristics. None of these are obviously true and just describe the armour/war paint/rituals of those people.
MLGProPlayer wrote: »Well, their armor has avian features. Maybe that's what the author talks about? Remember the texts are ancient, much like in our history, ancients were very easily impressed by oddities. Somehow I doubt they really had beaks and feathers.
This is the correct answer. Too many people take TES lorebooks at face value.
They are almost all embellished tales written by unreliable narrators thousands of years ago. Plenty of texts in our own history describe strange people with animal characteristics. None of these are obviously true and just describe the armour/war paint/rituals of those people.
MLGProPlayer wrote: »Well, their armor has avian features. Maybe that's what the author talks about? Remember the texts are ancient, much like in our history, ancients were very easily impressed by oddities. Somehow I doubt they really had beaks and feathers.
This is the correct answer. Too many people take TES lorebooks at face value.
They are almost all embellished tales written by unreliable narrators thousands of years ago. Plenty of texts in our own history describe strange people with animal characteristics. None of these are obviously true and just describe the armour/war paint/rituals of those people.
You could well be right, but I'm not sure if it's the correct answer. That's why I tagged ZOS! When interpreting real life ancient texts and TES ancient texts, exaggeration is a very real possibility, but in the world of TES, we also have Minotaur, a race of cat people descended from elves whose form in adulthood depends on what moon phase they were born under, the Argonians with their deep connection to the Hist, and stuff like that. Just in ESO they added lore about Scale Elves, those special big Maormer you see in the Summerset expansion who may or may not be the result of normal Maormer having sex with sea serpents (http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:The_Scaled_Elves).
Not to mention there was a race of bird-people that lived in and around City Isle in the even more distant past (http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Bird_Men), so there has been precedent for a population of non-daedra, non-mutant people. It was a big detail I forgot to mention in my original post. I guess I was too concerned about condensing it.
Another possibility for the reason why (many or most or some) Ayleids possibly had avian features is possible interbreeding with the bird-men that lived in the area that would become Ayleid territory and later Cyrodiil (See http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Father_of_the_Niben ). Unfortunately there isn't a lot of sources about them, and some people on the r/TESlore thread were speculating that Ayleids could be a mixed race between bird-men and Aldmer. The only source that talks about them so far says that they died off, probably at the hands of the khajiit, before the Ayleids came, but the author could have been mistaken.
In the Pocket Guide to the Empire 1st edition (http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Pocket_Guide_to_the_Empire,_1st_Edition/The_Elsweyr_Confederacy), it mentions Pelinial killing a bunch of khajiit because he thought they were just another kind of elf.
"Pelinal Whitestrake, Nibenay warlord of the Elven Pogrom, mistook the khajiit for another strain of Aldmeri and killed many of their number before realizing his error."
Why would he come to the conclusion that the khajiit, most of whom are very obviously beast-men, are Aldmeri, unless he was familiar with another kind of elf that he liked to kill that had bestial features?
psychotrip wrote: »DIsregard the first pocket guide. It's all been retconned by this point.
What you're saying may have been 100% true a decade ago, but it's likely not the case anymore. The ayleids don't have bird features. They were just slightly darker altmer.
psychotrip wrote: »DIsregard the first pocket guide. It's all been retconned by this point.
What you're saying may have been 100% true a decade ago, but it's likely not the case anymore. The ayleids don't have bird features. They were just slightly darker altmer.
It's been retconned? Why do you think that? Also, what do you think of the speculation based on the other lore sources I quoted?
MLGProPlayer wrote: »Well, their armor has avian features. Maybe that's what the author talks about? Remember the texts are ancient, much like in our history, ancients were very easily impressed by oddities. Somehow I doubt they really had beaks and feathers.
This is the correct answer. Too many people take TES lorebooks at face value.
They are almost all embellished tales written by unreliable narrators thousands of years ago. Plenty of texts in our own history describe strange people with animal characteristics. None of these are obviously true and just describe the armour/war paint/rituals of those people.
You could well be right, but I'm not sure if it's the correct answer. That's why I tagged ZOS! When interpreting real life ancient texts and TES ancient texts, exaggeration is a very real possibility, but in the world of TES, we also have Minotaur, a race of cat people descended from elves whose form in adulthood depends on what moon phase they were born under, the Argonians with their deep connection to the Hist, and stuff like that. Just in ESO they added lore about Scale Elves, those special big Maormer you see in the Summerset expansion who may or may not be the result of normal Maormer having sex with sea serpents (http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:The_Scaled_Elves).
Not to mention there was a race of bird-people that lived in and around City Isle in the even more distant past (http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Bird_Men), so there has been precedent for a population of non-daedra, non-mutant people. It was a big detail I forgot to mention in my original post. I guess I was too concerned about condensing it.
Another possibility for the reason why (many or most or some) Ayleids possibly had avian features is possible interbreeding with the bird-men that lived in the area that would become Ayleid territory and later Cyrodiil (See http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Father_of_the_Niben ). Unfortunately there isn't a lot of sources about them, and some people on the r/TESlore thread were speculating that Ayleids could be a mixed race between bird-men and Aldmer. The only source that talks about them so far says that they died off, probably at the hands of the khajiit, before the Ayleids came, but the author could have been mistaken.
In the Pocket Guide to the Empire 1st edition (http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Pocket_Guide_to_the_Empire,_1st_Edition/The_Elsweyr_Confederacy), it mentions Pelinial killing a bunch of khajiit because he thought they were just another kind of elf.
"Pelinal Whitestrake, Nibenay warlord of the Elven Pogrom, mistook the khajiit for another strain of Aldmeri and killed many of their number before realizing his error."
Why would he come to the conclusion that the khajiit, most of whom are very obviously beast-men, are Aldmeri, unless he was familiar with another kind of elf that he liked to kill that had bestial features?
dodgehopper_ESO wrote: »There's another point of view here. The Khajiit probably are ex-elves and since Pelinal was closer to Dawn Era it might make sense that he view them this way. Additionally, Khajiit have many different forms, a few of which look more like Bosmer than cats. The Khajiit 'mutation' if you want to call it that has to do with Azura in much the way Dunmer black skin has to do with Azura. Depending on when a Khajiit is born (moon) will determine what kind of Khajiit it will be, whether it is a magical housecat, a hulking sabertooth, a gorilla like saber-tooth man, a bosmer-like dude with a tail, and even a bosmer like variety with no tail. In other words there is such a variety in Khajiit manifestation it is not outside the realm of possibility that Pelinal continued the war against elves there. Bear in mind the Anti-Elf war was started because much of the Ayleids were necromancers and slavers no better than the Sload. Redguards fell prey to them when they landed on Tamriel which started the Red Wave (the Ra Gada aka Redguard) that headed south and didn't really calm down til they go to the southern tip of Tamriel. The nords had enough of it, the Bretons had enough of it. Essentially everyone did. Pelinal, Morihaus (Minotaur guy), and Alessia were contemporaries who worked together to push out this daedric/ayleid influence from their world. In that context I'm pretty sure the Khajiit faced a lot of pressure as well.
Does this mean the bird men might possibly have been Mer? What does it mean to be Bet-mer? I think the series leaves things open-ended on purpose.
psychotrip wrote: »psychotrip wrote: »DIsregard the first pocket guide. It's all been retconned by this point.
What you're saying may have been 100% true a decade ago, but it's likely not the case anymore. The ayleids don't have bird features. They were just slightly darker altmer.
It's been retconned? Why do you think that? Also, what do you think of the speculation based on the other lore sources I quoted?
Because everything in it has turned out to be "transcription errors" and "exaggerations". Read their descriptions of Cyrodiil and Summerset for example. It's all objectively "wrong" according to Zenimax and Bethesda. We're far past the point of assuming the "unreliable narrator" trope applies to all of this.
How could the writer of the pocket guide not know what Cyrodiil looked like? Or anything about Imperial culture? All he had to do was look out the window.
It's all been retconned. Assume it's untrue unless another source says the same thing.
psychotrip wrote: »psychotrip wrote: »DIsregard the first pocket guide. It's all been retconned by this point.
What you're saying may have been 100% true a decade ago, but it's likely not the case anymore. The ayleids don't have bird features. They were just slightly darker altmer.
It's been retconned? Why do you think that? Also, what do you think of the speculation based on the other lore sources I quoted?
Because everything in it has turned out to be "transcription errors" and "exaggerations". Read their descriptions of Cyrodiil and Summerset for example. It's all objectively "wrong" according to Zenimax and Bethesda. We're far past the point of assuming the "unreliable narrator" trope applies to all of this.
How could the writer of the pocket guide not know what Cyrodiil looked like? Or anything about Imperial culture? All he had to do was look out the window.
It's all been retconned. Assume it's untrue unless another source says the same thing.
The most important thing to say about the incident I cited is that it was mentioned in another source, the Varieties of Faith lorebook in the Alkosh section. Plus, it sounds like something Pelinial would do, right?
The PGE 1st ed description of Cyrodiil being a jungle is explained by Talos changing it into grasslands when Tiber Septim attained godhood, even extending back into the past. So the author of PGE 1st ed was right about it being a jungle at the time. I think. I'm not sure how some people remembering it being jungle works, really.
There's also the "blind men and the elephant" effect. An observer reports only what they experience. If someone sees a force of mercenaries, they may not know they're not the main army. If someone only visits part of a country, they assume it's all the same.
And then there's language. Does the term "jungle" to a Dunmer mean "where fungi aren't the dominant vegetation"?
psychotrip wrote: »psychotrip wrote: »psychotrip wrote: »DIsregard the first pocket guide. It's all been retconned by this point.
What you're saying may have been 100% true a decade ago, but it's likely not the case anymore. The ayleids don't have bird features. They were just slightly darker altmer.
It's been retconned? Why do you think that? Also, what do you think of the speculation based on the other lore sources I quoted?
Because everything in it has turned out to be "transcription errors" and "exaggerations". Read their descriptions of Cyrodiil and Summerset for example. It's all objectively "wrong" according to Zenimax and Bethesda. We're far past the point of assuming the "unreliable narrator" trope applies to all of this.
How could the writer of the pocket guide not know what Cyrodiil looked like? Or anything about Imperial culture? All he had to do was look out the window.
It's all been retconned. Assume it's untrue unless another source says the same thing.
The most important thing to say about the incident I cited is that it was mentioned in another source, the Varieties of Faith lorebook in the Alkosh section. Plus, it sounds like something Pelinial would do, right?
The PGE 1st ed description of Cyrodiil being a jungle is explained by Talos changing it into grasslands when Tiber Septim attained godhood, even extending back into the past. So the author of PGE 1st ed was right about it being a jungle at the time. I think. I'm not sure how some people remembering it being jungle works, really.
Morrowind takes place in the third era. People in Morrowind describe Cyrodiil as a jungle. Even people from Cyrodiil. These are retcons. Simple. Even the latter explanations have been contradicted time and again. Just ignore the first pocket guide unless there's another source confirming the contents. This series isn't exactly known for its consistency anymore.
PrinceShroob wrote: »The "2920, The Last Year of the First Era" series describes Ayleids as follows:
"...a naked Elf man stood, not as dark as a Dunmer, but not as pale as the Altmer. She knew at once it was an Ayleid, a Wild Elf..."
"The Wild Elves" describes Ayleid culture and does not mention any physical differences from other mer. In the Knights of the Nine expansion for Oblivion, we see some frescoes and stained glass windows that depict Pelinal fighting Umaril; Umaril appears similar to how he later appears in Garlas Malatar. Given that Umaril is only half-Ayleid and resembles an Auroran, I would say that he's an atypical Ayleid, to say the least.
Ayleid statues in Oblivion show the Ayleids as comparatively normal-looking mer, and the crowns of Nenalata and Lindai fit contemporary heads quite comfortably.
psychotrip wrote: »Imperials in the third era described Cyrodiil as a jungle. People living in Cyrodiil at the time described it as one. Can we please stop trying to explain every retcon in-universe? As though every developer decision can seamlessly fit into the lore? Really guys, take a step back. Don't you see how silly this is?
psychotrip wrote: »psychotrip wrote: »psychotrip wrote: »DIsregard the first pocket guide. It's all been retconned by this point.
What you're saying may have been 100% true a decade ago, but it's likely not the case anymore. The ayleids don't have bird features. They were just slightly darker altmer.
It's been retconned? Why do you think that? Also, what do you think of the speculation based on the other lore sources I quoted?
Because everything in it has turned out to be "transcription errors" and "exaggerations". Read their descriptions of Cyrodiil and Summerset for example. It's all objectively "wrong" according to Zenimax and Bethesda. We're far past the point of assuming the "unreliable narrator" trope applies to all of this.
How could the writer of the pocket guide not know what Cyrodiil looked like? Or anything about Imperial culture? All he had to do was look out the window.
It's all been retconned. Assume it's untrue unless another source says the same thing.
The most important thing to say about the incident I cited is that it was mentioned in another source, the Varieties of Faith lorebook in the Alkosh section. Plus, it sounds like something Pelinial would do, right?
The PGE 1st ed description of Cyrodiil being a jungle is explained by Talos changing it into grasslands when Tiber Septim attained godhood, even extending back into the past. So the author of PGE 1st ed was right about it being a jungle at the time. I think. I'm not sure how some people remembering it being jungle works, really.
Morrowind takes place in the third era. People in Morrowind describe Cyrodiil as a jungle. Even people from Cyrodiil. These are retcons. Simple. Even the latter explanations have been contradicted time and again. Just ignore the first pocket guide unless there's another source confirming the contents. This series isn't exactly known for its consistency anymore.
Just because lorebreaks are common in TES doesn't mean everything is. Dismissing the entirety of the First Pocket Guide is arrogance and ignorance.
Just because lorebreaks are common in TES doesn't mean everything is. Dismissing the entirety of the First Pocket Guide is arrogance and ignorance.
Just because lorebreaks are common in TES doesn't mean everything is. Dismissing the entirety of the First Pocket Guide is arrogance and ignorance.
Thanks for your input! I will agree with psychotrip below in saying that calling them arrogant and ignorant (indirectly) is escalating the discussion more than it needs to, though.
Just because lorebreaks are common in TES doesn't mean everything is. Dismissing the entirety of the First Pocket Guide is arrogance and ignorance.
Thanks for your input! I will agree with psychotrip below in saying that calling them arrogant and ignorant (indirectly) is escalating the discussion more than it needs to, though.
I think that dismissing such a large work, all of which was written by one person, mind you, is incredibely disrespectful towards the developers of the franchise. And as someone who is dedicated to this franchise, I'm not tolerant of that. Who knows how many hours were put into writing the Pocket Guide? Only for someone to dismiss them entirely? Because of ''all of it'' (a very great exaggeration) being retconned?
Just saying ''it's not true unless shown in later lore'' is very shallow. Using that logic, we can assume everything we read ingame is not true unless we see it with our own eyes. TES is a lot more like real life in that regard, there are myths, there are falsehoods, there are possibilities, and there are tales. You cannot take everything at face value, but neither should you disregard it ''just because part of it has been proven wrong.''
Saying the entire Pocket Guide has been retconned is just false.
psychotrip wrote: »
Just because lorebreaks are common in TES doesn't mean everything is. Dismissing the entirety of the First Pocket Guide is arrogance and ignorance.
Thanks for your input! I will agree with psychotrip below in saying that calling them arrogant and ignorant (indirectly) is escalating the discussion more than it needs to, though.
I think that dismissing such a large work, all of which was written by one person, mind you, is incredibely disrespectful towards the developers of the franchise. And as someone who is dedicated to this franchise, I'm not tolerant of that. Who knows how many hours were put into writing the Pocket Guide? Only for someone to dismiss them entirely? Because of ''all of it'' (a very great exaggeration) being retconned?
Just saying ''it's not true unless shown in later lore'' is very shallow. Using that logic, we can assume everything we read ingame is not true unless we see it with our own eyes. TES is a lot more like real life in that regard, there are myths, there are falsehoods, there are possibilities, and there are tales. You cannot take everything at face value, but neither should you disregard it ''just because part of it has been proven wrong.''
Saying the entire Pocket Guide has been retconned is just false.
I'm not the one dismissing it. Bethesda and Zenimax have been doing so for over a decade. I say this as someone who loves the old lore, and someone whose current career wouldn't exist without it.
I'm just done clinging to this notion that this company has any interest in internal consistency or artistic integrity. The series has moved on from the days of Morrowind and the first pocket guide, and we jusr have to accept it or find a new series to obsess over.
Let's be honest: the worldbuilding has been slowly going downhill since Oblivion (ironically my first ES game), when Todd Howard watched Lord Of The Rings and decided that's what The Elder Scrolls is all about.
The people in charge of this series have no interest in following through with the amazing, creative ideas they came up with in the late 90s. Unless they have no other choice, they will always go for the most boring interpretation of Tamriel possible. And then we're stuck picking up the pieces of our shattered perception of a world we no longer recognize.
Bethesda / Zenimax will always retcon lore when its convenient for them to do so. The First Pocket Guide is a perfect case study for this. It's just tiring to see you guys put more thought into this world than the actual developers.
The way you guys try your best to fit everything together is brilliant but fruitless. The elder scrolls lore is not a puzzle box, nor a jigsaw puzzle. There's no treasure in the box, and no picture in the puzzle. At the end of the day its not meant to fit together. Those days are long gone, replaced with mediocrity and creative bankruptcy.
I say this not out of spite, but out of love for a community I've been a part of for the majority of my life. You people are wasted on this series.
In short, don't kill the messenger. I love the pocket guide. Zenimax and Bethesda do not.
/rant
Anyway to get back on topic, yeah ayleids probably just had bird armor, though it's not represented in Oblivion's elven armor. Just head-canon it the way you want.
Edit: I accidentally found this thread again while googling, not realizing it was this old. In my defense, I'm also tipsy.
psychotrip wrote: »
Just because lorebreaks are common in TES doesn't mean everything is. Dismissing the entirety of the First Pocket Guide is arrogance and ignorance.
Thanks for your input! I will agree with psychotrip below in saying that calling them arrogant and ignorant (indirectly) is escalating the discussion more than it needs to, though.
I think that dismissing such a large work, all of which was written by one person, mind you, is incredibely disrespectful towards the developers of the franchise. And as someone who is dedicated to this franchise, I'm not tolerant of that. Who knows how many hours were put into writing the Pocket Guide? Only for someone to dismiss them entirely? Because of ''all of it'' (a very great exaggeration) being retconned?
Just saying ''it's not true unless shown in later lore'' is very shallow. Using that logic, we can assume everything we read ingame is not true unless we see it with our own eyes. TES is a lot more like real life in that regard, there are myths, there are falsehoods, there are possibilities, and there are tales. You cannot take everything at face value, but neither should you disregard it ''just because part of it has been proven wrong.''
Saying the entire Pocket Guide has been retconned is just false.
I'm not the one dismissing it. Bethesda and Zenimax have been doing so for over a decade. I say this as someone who loves the old lore, and someone whose current career wouldn't exist without it.
I'm just done clinging to this notion that this company has any interest in internal consistency or artistic integrity. The series has moved on from the days of Morrowind and the first pocket guide, and we jusr have to accept it or find a new series to obsess over.
Let's be honest: the worldbuilding has been slowly going downhill since Oblivion (ironically my first ES game), when Todd Howard watched Lord Of The Rings and decided that's what The Elder Scrolls is all about.
The people in charge of this series have no interest in following through with the amazing, creative ideas they came up with in the late 90s. Unless they have no other choice, they will always go for the most boring interpretation of Tamriel possible. And then we're stuck picking up the pieces of our shattered perception of a world we no longer recognize.
Bethesda / Zenimax will always retcon lore when its convenient for them to do so. The First Pocket Guide is a perfect case study for this. It's just tiring to see you guys put more thought into this world than the actual developers.
The way you guys try your best to fit everything together is brilliant but fruitless. The elder scrolls lore is not a puzzle box, nor a jigsaw puzzle. There's no treasure in the box, and no picture in the puzzle. At the end of the day its not meant to fit together. Those days are long gone, replaced with mediocrity and creative bankruptcy.
I say this not out of spite, but out of love for a community I've been a part of for the majority of my life. You people are wasted on this series.
In short, don't kill the messenger. I love the pocket guide. Zenimax and Bethesda do not.
/rant
Anyway to get back on topic, yeah ayleids probably just had bird armor, though it's not represented in Oblivion's elven armor. Just head-canon it the way you want.
Edit: I accidentally found this thread again while googling, not realizing it was this old. In my defense, I'm also tipsy.
Except that they really haven't been retconning anything of it. I'd like you to prove otherwise. It sounds like you're just complaining for the sake of complaining and nothing more.
Retroactive Continuity.
Reframing past events to serve a current plot need. The ideal retcon clarifies a question alluded to without adding excessive new questions. In its most basic form, this is any plot point that was not intended from the beginning. The most preferred use is where it contradicts nothing, even though it was changed later on.