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[Rakonas]

However, I've read that the pankratosword can cause a 120 megaton explosion. What/if canon supports this, I have no idea.

Uh, don't nuclear bombs work due to planned out chain reactions? I'd imagine that splitting an atom with a sword would cause a large release of energy, but it shouldn't cause a nuclear chain reaction unless your enemy happened to be made of uranium.

[Sensei]

But did the author know that? Or care?

[Cheese]

@thegoat: Pretty much all religions in TES worship real entities I think. They generally just interpret them differently. In Morrowind, the elves once worshipped Daedra lords, hence all the old shrines. Then Almalexia, Sotha Sil and Vivec experimented with Kagrenac's tools and Lorkhans heart and managed to make themselves immortal and called themselves the tribunal. Most of the elves then stopped worshipping the Daedra and started worshipping the tribunal. Later on, the Empire comes along and conquers Morrowind and the Imperial Cult tries to spread the Imperial religion around Morrowind. Imperial religion is similar to the High elves/Altmer religion and involves worshipping the Aedra, except Imperial religion includes the Imperial God-Hero Tiber Septim, or Talos.

[Cthulhu]

However, I've read that the pankratosword can cause a 120 megaton explosion. What/if canon supports this, I have no idea.

Uh, don't nuclear bombs work due to planned out chain reactions? I'd imagine that splitting an atom with a sword would cause a large release of energy, but it shouldn't cause a nuclear chain reaction unless your enemy happened to be made of uranium.

Not to mention 120 megatons is unrealistically huge for a fission explosion.

[Sergius]

However, I've read that the pankratosword can cause a 120 megaton explosion. What/if canon supports this, I have no idea.

Uh, don't nuclear bombs work due to planned out chain reactions? I'd imagine that splitting an atom with a sword would cause a large release of energy, but it shouldn't cause a nuclear chain reaction unless your enemy happened to be made of uranium.

Not to mention 120 megatons is unrealistically huge for a fission explosion.

Maybe magic or wonky fantasy universe physics.

It is quite ridiculous if we use real physics. The WW2 bombs were under and around 20 kilotons and they were filled with uranium (I don't think the "pankratosword" splits uranium atoms) and they were quite devastating... 100 megatons was about what the biggest russian H-bomb was supposed to have, but they capped it at 50 megatons.

Just for reference: 1 megaton = 1000 kilotons.

[Cthulhu]

I'm guessing the sword doesn't actually work by fission or fusion or anything, and just creates a magical explosion equivalent to 120 megatons.  Either way, that would be apocalyptic.  Morrowind would be gone and the rest of the Empire would be devastated.

[scriver]

Or, by doing the undoable - cutting the uncuttable - they unravel (sever, if you will) the foundation of the world, causing the local Tower to go bye-bye with a great cataclysm. Major fatal disasters abound.

[G-Flex]

(which by the way was another b.s. innovation--true religion--I was initially charmed by Morrowinds mix of interesting local faith (but false, if appealing gods) and dull humdrum imperial catholicism (with near-absent gods unless you really rise in their silly herb gathering, fortress-hiding hierarchy).

As has been mentioned, the entities worshiped generally are real, but interpretations and religions themselves vary. There's still more than plenty of ambiguity within the universe to go around, but the gods in, say, Morrowind still existed.

[thegoatgod_pan]

Well I stand by my claim of false gods- not to say they are not "real", or not powerful, but that their authority over mortals does not come from say, creating all life, or being actually in charge of the universe--instead all gods in the elder scrolls--Daedra lords, the Tribunal, the Nine--rule by virtue of acquired, rather than inherent power--making them hardly morally superior to the protagonist, or the average in-game vampire lord.

The Morrowind Temple had forsaken Daedra worship, instead choosing to worship Almalexia, Vivec and Sotha Sil, all of whom were adventurers who became gods through *spoilers*, just as Daegoth did. So false gods.

The Daedra are all a similar class of entities of varying degrees of powers, in effect the only difference between a scamp and Azura is a degree of power--Azura is not a goddess served by lesser servant beings, but a great daedra served by other, less great, daedra. Unless all daedra (who are, after all, immortal and virtually indestructible in essence, in not in form) count as gods, I think I will stand by my claim of false.

Finally the Imperial temple is Altmer belief appropriated for the cause of centralized empire and focused on a god-king cult. Unless you count that one encounter in Morrowind, or the whole knight of the holy grail fiasco in Oblivion (only the pure of heart can support an oppressive empire!), there is no evidence that the Nine are not just the outcome of several centuries of imperial rule backed by a magical and temple hierarchy--condensed myths rather than creator gods.

[Deon]

Was I the only one hoping for Morrowind 2?

Norse culture is still better that the boring Imperial lands form Oblivion but to me Morrowind had the tastiest presentation style from all off the TES games and with modern graphics it would be breathtaking.

I agree, Morrowind lore is still one of the most favourite ones in the series for me.

They've managed to do something unique: unusual wildlife, ashlanders with ash storms from a volcano, a cult of a demigod Vivec with temple-like buildings, mushroom towers of Telvanni, unusual Corprus disease which could grant you many powers but turned you into a monster... SO MUCH OF UNIQUE STUFF!

What do I see now? All the same old fantasy...

[scriver]

Well I stand by my claim of false gods- not to say they are not "real", or not powerful, but that their authority over mortals does not come from say, creating all life, or being actually in charge of the universe--instead all gods in the elder scrolls--Daedra lords, the Tribunal, the Nine--rule by virtue of acquired, rather than inherent power--making them hardly morally superior to the protagonist, or the average in-game vampire lord.

The Morrowind Temple had forsaken Daedra worship, instead choosing to worship Almalexia, Vivec and Sotha Sil, all of whom were adventurers who became gods through *spoilers*, just as Daegoth did. So false gods.

The Daedra are all a similar class of entities of varying degrees of powers, in effect the only difference between a scamp and Azura is a degree of power--Azura is not a goddess served by lesser servant beings, but a great daedra served by other, less great, daedra. Unless all daedra (who are, after all, immortal and virtually indestructible in essence, in not in form) count as gods, I think I will stand by my claim of false.

The Daedric Princes differs from mere Daedra the same way the Nine/Aedra differs from mortals.
As for the Tribunal, if whether or not they are "real" or "false" gods become a matter of semantics (ie "I define 'god' as this") the whole thing just looses something of what makes it interesting. To me, they are gods because of three reasons: They say they are gods, they are worshipped as gods (and their power depended somewhat on that worship), and they have(/had) the power to back up their claim if questioned.
Then, there's also the whole thing about them not exactly being the same people who ascended to godhood; Vivec, at least, became a god retroactively. The deity Vivec as always existed, even before the mortal Vivec did.

Finally the Imperial temple is Altmer belief appropriated for the cause of centralized empire and focused on a god-king cult. Unless you count that one encounter in Morrowind, or the whole knight of the holy grail fiasco in Oblivion (only the pure of heart can support an oppressive empire!), there is no evidence that the Nine are not just the outcome of several centuries of imperial rule backed by a magical and temple hierarchy--condensed myths rather than creator gods.

Except that they exist in all religion's myths. In fact, all myths tell the same story.

[Cecilff2]

Vivec followed the fifth walking way(The other two tribunal never achieved CHIM from what I recall).  If you want a "God" in elder scrolls, the closest thing is the dreamer.  The Scarab that transforms into the New Man also seems to be a similar figure, though there's no records of anyone successfully becoming this(Save for the fifth era loveletter).

[Cthulhu]

What about Sithis?

[Omegastick]

I made a post on the Bethesda forums about this. I'll copypaste it for you:

Hi all,

Please note that this post is based entirely upon the most popular creation theory of TES, it is entirely possible that every word of it is wrong and that everything was created by a giant, bright purple elephant.

I'm relatively new to the forums but have been playing the TES series for four years, beginning with Oblivion when it came out. I am relatively knowledgeable on the topic of TES lore with my peers (and anyone I know personally) but I've been doing some more in depth research lately and have been questioning the sense of some of the in-game religions. We know that most mortals worship either a Daedra or the nine Aedra (well, if Talos counts). Then there are the DB who worship Sithis and consider the Night Mother a deity as well. There is one major problem with this, the Daedra and Aedra aren't the most powerful beings in existence, so why would people worship them as so. I speak, of course, of Anu and Padomay, the two primal forces. However, these simply being forces and not sapient beings it is understandable that people wouldn't worship them, so next in line is Sithis and Anuiel.

Why is it that so many people worship Daedra and Aedra and so few people actually worship the most powerful beings in the TES universe? Hell, the Champion of Cyrodiil defeats Jyggalag, a Daedra.

[nenjin]

My gut response would be that people will worship any entity that can demonstrably give them benefits for said worship.

The fact that Daedra are in the flesh, have power beyond mortals and communicate with their followers directly makes them seemingly better to worship than primal forces of nature, which just as soon might give you blessed rainfall for your crops as drop a mountain or a flood on you.

On a more logical level, I agree. I wouldn't worship anything that me and ten of my friends could stab to death. But there's something to be said for the power of magically creating food, lightning ect....to convince people to worship you.

In a sort of "real life" example.....Jesus was seemingly just a man. Yet the things he could do for followers (heal the sick, create food, yadda yadda) made him a prime candidate for worship.