An Empty Throne

An Empty Throne

The whalebone bridge guarded by Tsun that leads to the Hall of Valour

A question that cannot have escaped anyone reaching the penultimate stage of Skyrim's main quest is; where is Shor? Journeying to Sovngarde*, the Nordic and Atmoran warrior's afterlife, players will undoubtedly notice the rather large empty throne sitting inside the Hall of Valour**. There is one fairly realistic reason as to this, and several theories have been put forth as to an in-universe explanation. 

Dagoth Ur looks on in disbelief

We are fairly sure that the practical reason Shor is not present is that during the design process, objections were raised within the dev team that a god seated upon a throne looks awfully similar to real world religious iconography, and for reasons of sensitivity, the character was omitted altogether, with the excuse that "The glory of Shor would burn the eyes of the living" (or words to that effect), which would be nigh unprecedented, as in previous games players have had the opportunity to quite happily behold various forms of gods and chatted quite comfortably with manifestations of several of the Nine Divines.

This Alduin menaces with spikes of rock. All craftsnordship is of the highest quality

There are three prevalent theories that have been put forward by way of explanation for the empty throne:
1. Shor is dead, and thus cannot be present.
2. Shor and the Dragonborn are two parts of the same entity.

3. Shor just nipped off to the shops for a moment.

Pictured: Lorkhan not looking so hot

Shor is dead:

This theory hinges on three things. One, that Shor is another name for Lorkhan, two, that Lorkhan was killed by the other gods, and three, that dead things no longer exist/have agency. Now, the story of Lorkhan is the topic of another post, quite possibly several other posts, but suffice to say, Shor is at the very least an aspect of Lorkhan, and Lorkhan has been made just about as dead as he can be made. This theory runs into a couple of problems. Firstly, that as Sovngarde is an afterlife, it would make good and proper sense for a dead god to be meandering about the place. What is death to a god, after all, but sitting in a different room? 

Secondly, every bit of evidence we have points to Shor being very much a contemporary presence. Dead heroes in the Hall of Valour tell us that Shor is usually about, and we have documented evidence of Shor interacting with a dead warrior. From "Sovngarde: A Reexamination" - Jastal, Bereditte: 

"...correspondence between one Felga Four-Fingers, a medium of some note, and the ghost of a Nord warrior named Rolf the Large... ...For death was the entrance to Sovngarde. So he was told by Shor himself, who greeted Rolf the Large as a brother, and personally handed him a leg of roast mutton and the hand of a comely wench." 
Sadly, I cannot find much merit in this theory.

A depiction of Shor, note the gaping wound where his heart has been removed

Shor and the Dragonborn are two parts of the same entity:
This theory is undeniably the most compelling of the three. This relies on the concept of the Dragonborn being a Shezarrine. This is a rather in-depth concept and is assuredly a topic for another time, but in a nutshell, a Shezarrine is a person who fills a certain role, and eventually becomes a part of Lorkhan. As Shor is/is an aspect of Lorkhan, entering Sovngarde whilst Shor is present would be like walking into a room only to discover that you are already inside sitting down and happily munching on a scone. Simply put, you cannot see Shor in the Hall of Valour, because in a way, you are Shor. Now, the Dragonborn being a Shezarrine is a matter of some debate, so it cannot be said with absolute certainty that this is the case, but this is probably the most fleshed out and likely theory we have.

Lorkhan (almost) whole

Shor just isn't around:
This theory is fairly self explanatory. Whether for the official explanation given or other reasons, Shor just isn't around at the moment. Maybe he had an errand to run? Whilst this theory doesn't really have any flaws, it can't be said to have much to commend it either.

Which theory do you think is most likely? Do you have a theory of your own or one I've neglected to mention? Did you see a Mudcrab the other day? Let me know in the comments below!

Footnotes:

*The afterlife for heroic Nords, undeniably based upon the Norse afterlife of Valhalla

**Hall of Valour is, intentionally or no, a play on Valhöll, the original spelling of Valhalla, the Hall of the Slain.

The Nature of Alduin

The Nature of Alduin

Alduin World Eater

Alduin, the main antagonist of TESV, Skyrim, is heralded as several things. World Eater, and first-born of Akatosh*. Throughout the course of the game it is revealed that the coming of Alduin represents the ending of the world. However, Alduin represents not so much the ending of the world as the rebirth of Nirn**, or rather, the re-setting of Nirn.

The Dragonborn confronts Alduin

To understand this we must first understand the nature of dragons and time. Time, in Aurbis***, is a metaphor, and as with all metaphors in the TES universe, is physically embodied. Before the creation of Mundus† time was non-linear, and was embodied in the being known as Aka-Tusk. Aka-Tusk was broken in a time before Convention†† and became several different entities, each embodying a different aspect of time. For the moment, we'll be focusing on two particular aspects.

This diagram probably merits an entire post all of its own

Akatosh, the concept of Linear time, and Alduin, the concept of the End of time. Essentially, how this works is that Alduin consumes the world, and in doing so ushers in the new one. Another way of looking at this is that Alduin represents a process whereby linear time is re-set, or brought back to a certain point to run again, either seeming much the same or radically different to the previous iteration. Crucial to understanding the nature of time in the ES universe is the Hindu concept of a Kalpa. A Kalpa is the period of time from creation to re-creation, and could be represented as a cycle or ouroboros (Which is typically depicted as a dragon or snake consuming its own tail) The Alduin event could be viewed as the mouth of the ouroboros, representing both destruction of the present and the ushering of the future. I've made a diagram to hopefully provide a handy point of reference:

This was a solid 2 or so minutes in paint

Which, hopefully, should be fairly easy to understand. I shall be expanding upon the nature of Aka Tusk and a more in-depth look at time in general in future posts.†††

Footnotes:

*The dragon god of linear time, one of the Nine Divines

**Nirn is the name of the plane(t) upon which the TES series is set

***Aurbis refers to the entirety of creation, the universe

†Mundus refers to the mundane, the section of creation in which life as we know it can exist.

††The end of the Dawn Era and the beginning of more conventional history.

†††Or, at least, I certainly intend to.