Song of Pelinal II

An Examination of 'The Song of Pelinal, Volume 2'

Boy those two just keep at it don't they?

In the first Volume we are treated to a summary of who Pelinal was as a person and symbol. From Volume 2 onward we start learning about him as a historical figure, and tracing his timeline.

The song of Pelinal volume 2, in its entirety: 

"[And then] Perrif spoke to the Handmaiden again, eyes to the Heavens which had not known kindness since the beginning of elven rule, and she spoke as a mortal, whose kindle is beloved by the Gods for its strength-in-weakness, a humility that can burn with metaphor and yet break [easily and] always, always doomed to end in death (and this is why those who let their souls burn anyway are beloved of the Dragon and His Kin), and she said: "And this thing I have thought of, I have named it, and I call it freedom. Which I think is just another word for Shezarr Who Goes Missing... [You] made the first rain at his sundering [and that] is what I ask now for our alien masters... [that] we might sunder them fully and repay their cruelty [by] dispersing them to drown in the Topal. Morihaus, your son, mighty and snorting, gore-horned, winged, when next he flies down, let him bring us anger." ... [And then] Kyne granted Perrif another symbol, a diamond soaked red with the blood of elves, [whose] facets could [un-sector and form] into a man whose every angle could cut her jailers and a name: PELIN-EL [which is] "The Star-Made Knight" [and he] was arrayed in armor [from the future time]. And he walked into the jungles of Cyrod already killing, Morihaus stamping at his side froth-bloody and bellowing from excitement because the Pelinal was come... [and Pelinal] came to Perrif's camp of rebels holding a sword and mace, both encrusted with the smashed viscera of elven faces, feathers and magic beads, which were the markings of the Ayleidoon, stuck to the redness that hung from his weapons, and he lifted them, saying: "These were their eastern chieftains, no longer full of their talking."

In this volume we see the first appearance of Pelinal, as (maybe?) ushered in by the prayers of Alessia.

Alessia

"[And then] Perrif spoke to the Handmaiden again, eyes to the Heavens which had not known kindness since the beginning of elven rule," 

Perrif, as previously discussed, is another name for Alessia, most likely her original name. The Handmaiden referred to here is most likely Mara, who in Nordic religion is traditionally considered to be the handmaiden to Kyne*. With "which had not known kindness since the beginning of elven rule," we are introduced to the concept that the men of Cyrodiil are a subject race, ruled over by the Ayleids, and that this is not a happy situation for the humans.

"and she spoke as a mortal, whose kindle is beloved by the Gods for its strength-in-weakness, a humility that can burn with metaphor and yet break [easily and] always, always doomed to end in death (and this is why those who let their souls burn anyway are beloved of the Dragon and His Kin)"

A depiction of Pelinal Whitestrake

This is telling us that the dragon god (who is/represents time) has a fondness for mortals, who are naturally doomed to perish, but who choose to chew up their time anyway in grand pursuits. Grand pursuits such as, for example, overthrowing an empire and winning freedom for your people. 

" and she said: "And this thing I have thought of, I have named it, and I call it freedom. Which I think is just another word for Shezarr Who Goes Missing..."

Alessia conflates the concept of freedom with Lorkhan (here referred to as Shezarr). She is not wrong in this assertion, as Lorkhan is the architect of Nirn, which is the only part of existence where an entity can truly experience self-determination, freedom. "Shezarr Who Goes Missing" refers to the Cyrodilic concept of Lorkhan, a god who has, well, gone missing. This can only refer to what must have been the apparent absence of Lorkhan after having had his heart torn out and his body sundered. 

"[You] made the first rain at his sundering [and that] is what I ask now for our alien masters... [that] we might sunder them fully and repay their cruelty [by] dispersing them to drown in the Topal."

The sundering refers to the Sundering of Lorkhan, but the first rain is open to interpretation. Here it would seem Perrif is talking to Kyne, which would infer she is talking through Mara** to Kyne, or perhaps asking Mara to intercede with Kyne. Assuming this, Perrif may be referring to an act by Kyne who is associated with nature, relating to the punishment of Lorkhan. Perhaps Kyne manifested to weep for him, perhaps the first rain is quite literal, and the first ever rain on Tamriel occurred after Lorkhan had his Heart plucked out. Or perhaps it is both at the same time, Kyne who is nature weeping for Lorkhan by raining. If so, are further instances of rain a reflection of this? Perhaps Kyne remembers and weeps yet for her lost brother. 

The talk of sundering and casting into the Topal (This is a bay to the south of Cyrodiil) draws a direct line between the revenge she wishes to reap on the followers of Auri-El***, and the acts undertaken by that god, who slew Lorkhan and cast his heart far away into the sea. (Where it formed Red Mountain and the isle of Vvardenfell). 

Alessia and Morihaus

"Morihaus, your son, mighty and snorting, gore-horned, winged, when next he flies down, let him bring us anger.

Morihaus absolutely deserves an entire post to himself, maybe two. For now, think of him as firstly, Alessia's consort, and secondly a demigod Minotaur.

"[And then] Kyne granted Perrif another symbol, a diamond soaked red with the blood of elves, [whose] facets could [un-sector and form] into a man whose every angle could cut her jailers and a name: PELIN-EL [which is] "The Star-Made Knight" [and he] was arrayed in armor [from the future time]."

A Diamond soaked red with blood is something we've definitely seen elsewhere... It might just be that this red diamond Perrif was given is the very same that forms the heart of the Chim-el Adabal. Certainly the connections between Lorkhan and Pelinal are constant and unmistakably intentional. "[whose] facets could [un-sector and form] into a man whose every angle could cut her jailers" Suggests that Pelinal's first appearance was as a gem which subsequently transformed into the walking death-of-elves we know and love. This also supports the artificial human theory, and time and time again we'll see allusions to this throughout the song. "and a name: PELIN-EL [which is] "The Star-Made Knight"" Pelin-El is specifically an elvish name. If we take 'El' to mean 'star' or 'star-made' this might lend us some insight into another elvish name, 'Auri-El' who is associated with the sun. It is of note that the stars in Mundus are holes in the firmament through which Aetherius shines and brings magic into the world. So the term "Star-Made" could mean something created from magic. Finally; " [and he] was arrayed in armor [from the future time]." pretty much unambiguously says "This guy is from the future in some way shape or form". 

"And he walked into the jungles of Cyrod already killing, Morihaus stamping at his side froth-bloody and bellowing from excitement because the Pelinal was come... [and Pelinal] came to Perrif's camp of rebels holding a sword and mace, both encrusted with the smashed viscera of elven faces, feathers and magic beads, which were the markings of the Ayleidoon, stuck to the redness that hung from his weapons, and he lifted them, saying: "These were their eastern chieftains, no longer full of their talking."

And just like that, Pelinal is ready to go. Indeed, without so much as a word Pelinal seems to know what his task is and sets-to with a will. We can only assume this rapid springing into action is either an inherent drive to kill mer and aid men, or the result of fore-knowledge of his task. Again, perhaps both at the same time.  "Morihaus stamping at his side froth-bloody and bellowing from excitement because the Pelinal was come..." Morihaus and Pelinal are showed to have an easy familiarity throughout the tales of their adventures, and the reaction of Morihaus would imply that right from the get go he knows who Pelinal is and what he is about. Finally, Pelinal makes his first introduction to the fledgling rebels in considerable style, stepping straight from obscurity into legend.

Pelinal maintains a level head

Whew, that about does it for Volume two! As you can see there is a lot to draw from this series of texts, they really do serve as the best guide to Pelinal we have.

Footnotes:

* More commonly referred to these days as Kynareth.

** In a not dissimilar way that in certain Christian traditions a petitioner might pray to Mary the mother of Jesus as opposed to directly to the god, asking her to intercede on your behalf. 

*** In this age, mer worship of Auri-El was commonplace. 

Reckon there's something I've missed? Like clarification on something? Let me know in the comments below and stay tuned for part three! 

Song of Pelinal I

An Examination of 'The Song of Pelinal'

Pelinal fighting Umaril the Unfeathered

Pelinal is a fairly well known part of history, and possibly the most well known part of the Alessian Slave Rebellion. His story is, in a word, cool as hell. So I thought a good way to start examining that character is to have a look at the most authoritative in-game record of Pelinal, The Song of Pelinal.

Here, in its entirety, is the first volume of The Song of Pelinal, complete with editor's note:

"[Editor's Note: Volumes 1-6 are taken from the so-called Reman Manuscript located in the Imperial Library. It is a transcription of older fragments collected by an unknown scholar of the early Second Era. Beyond this, little is known of the original sources of these fragments, some of which appear to be from the same period (perhaps even from the same manuscript). But, as no scholarly consensus yet exists on dating these six fragments, no opinions will be offered here.]


That he took the name "Pelinal" was passing strange, no matter his later sobriquets, which were many. That was an Elvish name, and Pelinal was a scourge on that race, and not much given to irony. Pelinal was much too grim for that; even in youth he wore white hair, and trouble followed him. Perhaps his enemies named Pelinal of their own in their tongue, but that is doubtful, for it means "glorious knight", and he was neither to them. Certainly, many others added to that name during his days in Tamriel: he was Pelinal the Whitestrake because of his left hand, made of a killing light; he was Pelinal the Bloody, for he [drank] it in victory; he was Pelinal Insurgent, because he gave the crusades a face; he was Pelinal In Triumph, as the words eventually became synonymous, and men-at-arms gave thanks to the Eight when they saw his banner coming through war; he was Pelinal the Blamer, for he was quick to admonish those allies of his that favored tactics that ran counter to his, that is, sword-theory; and he was Pelinal the Third, though whether this was because some said he was a god guiser, who had incarnated twice before already, or that, simpler, he was the third vision given to Perrif, anon Alessia, in her prayers of liberation before he walked among the quarters of rebellion, is unknown."

Pelinal, or perhaps someone wearing his armour

Now, let's break this down.

"That he took the name "Pelinal" was passing strange, no matter his later sobriquets, which were many. That was an Elvish name.."
"...Perhaps his enemies named Pelinal of their own in their tongue, but that is doubtful, for it means "glorious knight", and he was neither to them..."

Pelinal is a derivation of Pelin-El (As we will hear in volume 2). This naming convention suggests that Pelinal has intrinsic ties to the mer of mundus. This does not, however, mean that he has to like it. Or them. As evidenced by:

"That was an Elvish name, and Pelinal was a scourge on that race, and not much given to irony."

This tells us both that Pelinal really does not like the elves (and believe me, we will be hearing rather a lot about Pelinal's views on our pointy eared friends) and also that he is a very serious fellow.

"Pelinal was much too grim for that; even in youth he wore white hair, and trouble followed him."

From this we can infer that the natural colour of Pelinal's hair is white. This again makes mention of the inherently serious nature of the man. The trouble also points to the arrogance and aggressively confrontational character of Pelinal that will continue to colour this narrative and inform the story of his life. Pelinal does not play well with others in general. We then go on to learn much about the role Pelinal played through the following listing of his titles:

"Certainly, many others added to that name during his days in Tamriel: he was Pelinal the Whitestrake because of his left hand, made of a killing light;"

At this point it bears mentioning that Pelinal is almost certainly a time travelling robot sent from the future.* Well, probably not a robot in the sense that if you opened him up you'd see whirring cogs, but robot in the sense of an artificial life. The left hand of killing light we are quite sure refers not to a usage of magic, but to some manner of laser based weaponry integrated into his being. 

"he was Pelinal the Bloody, for he [drank] it in victory;"

Now here's a happy chappy!

Pretty straightforward, Pelinal drank the blood of his slaughtered foes. Whether this is for some manner of sustenance or simply for sheer intimidation is unknown. 

"he was Pelinal Insurgent, because he gave the crusades a face;"

It is possible that, although Pelinal is undoubtedly a central figure to the Alessian Slave Rebellion, the details of his story and the deeds of other heroes may have become blurred, with some achievements of other heroes being attributed to an already powerful figure, both in might and in myth. This also holds with a recurring theme of certain things being "eaten" conceptually by other things, and being absorbed into the eater. 

"he was Pelinal In Triumph, as the words eventually became synonymous, and men-at-arms gave thanks to the Eight when they saw his banner coming through war;"

Pelinal was very good at fighting, and very good at tactics too.

"he was Pelinal the Blamer, for he was quick to admonish those allies of his that favored tactics that ran counter to his, that is, sword-theory;"

Having said that, the tactics Pelinal favoured weren't big on finicky stuff like magic. Pelinal liked to wade in and smash things. Direct confrontation, that's the ticket!

"and he was Pelinal the Third, though whether this was because some said he was a god guiser, who had incarnated twice before already, or that, simpler, he was the third vision given to Perrif, anon Alessia, in her prayers of liberation before he walked among the quarters of rebellion, is unknown."

The god guiser part refers to Pelinal being a Shezarrine, or reincarnation of Shor/Lorkhan. As to the third vision of Perrif (it is noteworthy that Alessia is a corruption of "Al-Esh" or High Highness, and was thus originally a title rather than a name) Alessia is known to have prayed to the Aedra, and specifically (probably) Akatosh for salvation from the slavery of men in Cyrodiil. As Akatosh is the dragon god of time, it is not impossible that he gave her a glimpse into the future where exactly the hero her cause needed might be found. 

A moody picture of a Silt-Strider, because I very much enjoy moody pictures of Silt-Striders.

So there we have it, an examination of the first part of The Song of Pelinal! You can see that this simply must be broken down into parts, and even then I worry this post may be a little too wordy. 

Footnotes:

* Or, at least, so Michael Kirkbride tells us, and as he wrote The Song of Pelinal, we can be pretty certain he'd know. 

Have any questions? Think there's something I missed? Have an amusing anecdote about forcing the Nights of the Nine to dance to 'What is Love'? Let me know in the comments below!