"Time is a very difficult thing to pin down" is a famous saying of Saint Augustine of Hippo.
And when he was asked what is time he said, "I know what it is, but when you ask me, I don't."
Time is like music.
Its rhythm is so familiar, so ingrained in us- we don’t ever need to be taught WHAT it is.
And yet, the steady progression of time that we’re all so accustomed to, it isn’t a given.
Everywhere in our universe, time bends, stretches, curves and even stops- at least, relative
to our perceptions it does.
So tell me.
What happens when time, something that’s fundamental to how we perceive and measure
our everyday reality, breaks down?
I mean honestly, how can we trust our observations in a universe where perception itself relies
on something unreliable?
Confused?
Good.
You know, there’s an entire franchise of video games that takes this lunacy,
and allows you explore it, all while casting spells and slaying goblins.
After all, Skyrim isn’t just a game about dragons, and Morrowind isn’t just a game
about Dark Elves or giant mushrooms.
What the casual player misses about the Elder Scrolls is that, at its artistic best, it’s
an exploration.
A philosophical exploration about the very nature of time and space disguised as award-winning
RPGs.
The poster child for that rather clever disguise can be found cross-legged and meditating in the
City of Swords.
You may already know him.
Vivec is the Joker.
The fool.
The lover.
The warrior.
The poet.
The philosopher king.
Players learn most about him by reading his many in-game books, which can be found everywhere,
but especially in Morrowind where this meditative monk is worshipped as a saint, or deity.
His writings detail the life of an individual who, like us, can’t help but ponder his
curious existence.
In this world, Vivec has lived for a very long time, and he’s seen some things.
The kind of things that would make you question the nature of your reality.
You see in Tamriel, where all these games take place, it’s not uncommon that every
hundred or so years a “god-like” being enters the world.
A hero arrives at a pivotal moment to shape world events.
Strange things have been known to happen then...
Time shifts, bends, or even breaks.
These “champions”, they not only change the course of history, but to the
mystically attuned like Vivec, these demigods seem to exist outside of it all somehow…
Maybe this sounds familiar to you…
maybe not…
The Elder Scrolls has a rich tradition of flirting with the forth-wall.
Ever so subtly blurring the lines between player and game.
If you’ve read some of the more cryptic books scattered throughout this gameworld,
especially those written by Vivec, you’ll know exactly what I’m hinting at here.
It’s pretty clear, the scholars and intellectuals residing in the TES universe are… let’s
just say “passively aware” of this idea that maybe what they perceive as time, space,
reality, isn’t all there is.
This isn’t just some fan theory.
You can find entire in-game books where Tamriel’s historians are literally bickering about alternate
timelines; parallel dimensions that exist as the result of some sort of cosmic interference.
It’s all very odd, and the more a player studies this stuff, the more they come to
suspect what the writers might be suggesting.
That maybe, just maybe the people of Tamriel are brushing up against other realities.
Maybe even our reality?
At the very least, the people who have closely studied the Elder Scrolls universe won't hesitate to tell
you that the people of Tamriel are suffering some serious physiological distress and
cognitive dissonance because of our meddling in their affairs.
Right about now some of you might be thinking…
“damn, that is some pretty trippy shit for video game”.
And you’re right.
It absolutely is.
Look, you don’t have to eat a giant mushroom to appreciate the fact that Tamriel can be a
pretty trippy place.
Clockwork elves.
Lizard people.
Levitating mystics.
If Terence Mckenna was told to make a video game, this would be what he’d make.
Who is Terence Mckenna?
Well, we can’t know this for certain, but he just might be the man to thank for at least
some of the inspiration behind the more metaphysical aspects of Elder Scrolls lore.
Even if he isn’t though, we can explore a lot of its philosophical concepts through
this modern-day philosopher.
For the uninitiated, Terence Mckenna was a popular American lecturer and author in the
1970s, 80s, and 90s.
He’s probably most remembered for his talks on the nature of human consciousness, although
what made him controversial (and the reason why this video will likely get demonetized)
was Mckenna’s advocacy for the responsible use of naturally cultivated psychedelic plants-
most notably- mushrooms.
Psilocybin mushrooms which are said to induce mind-altering effects, including but not limited
to, visual hallucinations and an altered sense of time.
It’s all very interesting, but what does it have to do with the Elder Scrolls?
What does it have to with Morrowind, or Vivec?
Quite a lot actually.
As I said earlier, the lore of the Elder Scrolls has inescapable ties to real-world philosophy-
and well… what do you think Plato, Nietzsche, Mckenna, and your old college
roommate all have in common?
Yes, they all regularly ingested psychoactive substances to explore altered states of mind.
As a matter of fact, both Eastern and Western Philosophy owe a hell-of-a-lot to psychedelic
compounds, but that’s a story for another time and perhaps another channel…
Suffice it to say that McKenna’s ideas about the expansion of consciousness as a way to
explore universal mysteries about time, space, the human condition- they’re found everywhere
in the Elder Scrolls.
So much in fact, that it’s uncanny.
Let’s take a moment and just look at the most obvious ones.
In Elder Scrolls lore, long before Vivec became the god-king of the Dark Elves, he watched
as another race of elves seemingly vanished out of thin air.
The Dwemer were Tamriel’s technologically advanced super-race.
A people whose clockwork creations are still ticking whole centuries after these brilliant
engineers seemingly blinked out of existence.
Where did they go?
Nobody really knows, but try typing “clockwork elves” into Google sometime.
The idea of “machine elves” and “clockwork cities,” these are ideas that existed long before Morrowind or
Skyrim.
References to fractal and clockwork elves can be found in many cultures throughout the world.
From the Native Americans to indigenous Australians and African tribes.
Mckenna was especially interested in THESE hallucinations. Why? Because they seemed so universal.
So universal, in fact, that regardless of age, race, culture, the time in which you happen to live-
this particular hallucination appears in the records again and again.
Naturally, there’s any number of scientific explanations for this phenomena, but Mckenna
was particularly open to the theory of psychedelics as a tool.
A tool which, when used responsibly, allows the user to experience a mind-altered state;
one which lies outside our normal perceptions, more specifically, our everyday perception
of time.
In other words, Mckenna believed that these psychoactive substances were quite literally
a window- a window to another dimension.
Again, it’s pretty peculiar stuff, but you can begin to draw the parallels yourself.
The Dwemer, they disappeared after misusing their own tools.
Were they accidentally cast adrift into a plane of existence which exists outside of time?
A dimension which can only be seen once time’s rhythmic filter is removed?
I mean, sure, why not?
As far as Elder Scrolls lore is concerned it wouldn’t be the first time this has happened.
This is exactly the same fate that befell Alduin, the main antagonist of Elder Scrolls 5.
Getting cast adrift into interdimensional planes?
It’s kind of an Elder Scrolls staple.
Do you know what else is an Elder Scrolls staple?
The “Elder Scrolls.” Yes, I mean the literal Elder Scrolls.
This entire franchise is named after them, but do we know why they’re significant?
The Elder Scrolls themselves are artifacts in the TES universe which exist outside of
time.
Like McKenna’s favorite substances, the Scrolls themselves are dangerous if not handled properly.
Just by using them a person can go insane.
For that reason, in this universe the Scrolls can only be read by highly trained monks who
have disciplined their minds to handle it.
And even they are sometimes driven mad by the experience.
They go blind or even blink out of existence for having read them.
Why?
Well, as objects that exist outside of time, the Scrolls are said to contain the entirety
of time within them.
What does that nonsense mean exactly?
It means that every event- past, present, future- and every event that could
occur or might occur- is contained within the Scrolls themselves.
Put another way, it would be like giving someone residing in the TES universe a copy of all
the Elder Scrolls games.
How do you think they would react?
How would you react upon learning the entire nature of your existence all at once?
And all possible outcomes of that existence?
Your stream of consciousness exists because we have things to observe, new inputs to
process- so what happens when that’s no longer the case?
In both fantasy and sci-fi stories, we call this “The Forbidden Knowledge”.
Knowledge that is so potent, so all-encompassing, that simply learning it can drive a person
to insanity.
But what if it doesn’t drive you insane?
What if you’re able to step outside of time- glean this Forbidden Knowledge (which encompasses
everything)- and then return?
Enter Vivec.
Like the player, Vivec is considered a god in this universe, because he succeeded
where the Dwemer seemingly failed.
Vivec has stolen a glimpse of this forbidden knowledge, but unlike the Dwemer, he came back.
Time has no sway over him anymore, and maybe it never did.
He exists outside of it all now, and he knows it.
I guess you could say that Vivec- Vivec is woke AF."
But that- is a story for another day…
Ladies and gentlemen that’s it.
Sorry for the ever-widening gaps between these videos lately.
Real-life has been kind of a bitch.
I was in a car accident, that kind of sucked.
The air kind of smells a little better now though.
If you’d like to learn more about the madness that is Elder Scrolls metaphysics I’d like
to recommend some articles for you- this one, this one, and this one.
I’ll put the links in the description.
I’ve been Josh.
We’ll catch you later.