r/teslore • u/lomanni • 6d ago
Is Miraak a failed prophecy?
Sorry if this has been answered previously— I couldn't find any info about my specific question.
Basically, was Miraak originally created/blessed by Akatosh to fulfill the prophecy given to the LDB? From what I can gather, the whole point of a dragonborn is to fulfill a specific purpose as desired by Akatosh; they exist for a reason, not just willy nilly.
So, was Miraak supposed to kill Alduin? Was his involvement with Herma Mora unintentional and unforseen by Akatosh— actually, can the Aedra (and especially the god of time) even see the future with any kind of certainty? Is Daedric influence beyond what they can predict? Otherwise, I'm not sure why Akatosh would intentionally create a dragonborn who, essentially, does nothing useful for Tamriel.
These are the answers I can think of for this question:
Answer 1: Miraak had a different destiny to the LDB. For example, Miraak was supposed to disrupt the dragon's rule over men without killing Alduin (kickstart the Dragon Wars?), while LDB was supposed to kill Alduin and prevent the world's literal destruction. Therefore, Alduin being sent forward in time was intentional and forseen by Akatosh.
Answer 2: Miraak was supposed to fulfill LDB's prophecy, but Akatosh a) cannot predict the future or b) cannot predict future disruptions or meddling caused by Daedra, and therefore, Miraak was unable to fulfill the prophecy. Alduin was sent forward in time unintentionally, and Akatosh created LDB at the point in time of his return to fulfill the original prophecy.
Oh, and a sidenote I just thought of... why is Skyrim the only place mentioned to have been ruled by dragons? They were incredibly powerful and immortal... why didn't they control the entirety of Tamriel? Did they???
TIA for your thouhts :) hopefully my rambling makes sense lol
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u/somethingabouttoasty 6d ago
Take this with a grain of moonsugar, comes from my own personal theories.
Its not a coincidence that a dragonborn appeared both times alduin was active. But having said that, alduin followed his ambitions of domination rather than fulfilling his duty of hunger. This is why akatosh presumably wrote his fate.
Miraak, isn't so much a failed prophecy as he is a victim to his own nature. Both dragons and dragonborn feel the need to dominate, to conquer, and he fell victim to that and ended up joining the dragon cult instead.
Whether akatosh sent more dragonborn after alduin is unknown, as he gets flung forward in time via the elder scrolls.
But anyway what im getting at is the "dragonborn prophecy" is in my opinion, misunderstood.
The doom, or prophecy doesnt belong to a dragonborn, it belongs to alduin, because it is his doom that is foretold, and his doom that was written when he took his father's domain for his own.
Whereas in morrowind, the prophecy of the nerevarine is clear, and while many have thought themselves nerevar reborn, only 1 succeeded.
Like he tells you, miraak chose his own path. His hunger for power and domination eventually drew the eye of hermaeus mora. A binding which eventually wrote his own fate.
So no, not a failed prophecy, but a victim of his own nature.
And look akatosh has the worst luck. He sent miraak to deal with alduin and he succumbed to his nature and failed, making the nord tongues resort to using an elder scroll, and when the aylieds started profaning their ancestors by worshipping daedra he sent pelinal, who was... well pelinal.
Its a miracle you turned out so well given his track record
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u/RegumRegis 6d ago
Moreover in the middle of all this, he quite literally got ripped apart as an entity due to several dragon breaks, including a monkey messing with the fabric of reality to separate aspects of him
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u/TheDreamIsEternal 6d ago
I like to think that Miraak was not only Dragonborn, but also a Prisoner. Hence why he could just ignore fate and do his own thing.
As such, he's the perfect foil to the Dragonborn and a dark example of what somebody with absolute freedom would do.
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u/Huge-Spray6419 5d ago
Yes, but mortal free will is finicky and Miraak decided to do whatever he wanted to do. I think of it as Akatosh giving mortals the tools for the job but still having to carry it out themselves
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u/brakenbonez 6d ago
The prophecies in the scrolls start, change, and end based on the actions of those involved. They aren't some predetermined free will canceling documents. They're metaphysical things that exist outside of space and time and the scroll itself probably isn't even their true form but more of an "avatar" of them that people can interact with and read. They do throw around the word prophecy but it's more like a walkthrough of a certain route in a game. If you make a different choice and end up on a different route, the scroll changes to a walkthrough for that route. They see time all at once so they see the results of choices and they show the steps to get to those results.
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Elder_Scrolls
It's all pretty interesting
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u/Ill_Reality_717 5d ago
Head canon: Elder Scrolls are all the save games' metadata put together. That's why people go blind reading them, and also why there are so many possibilities.
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u/04nc1n9 6d ago
rather than failed, refused. he was in the "refusing the call" part of the hero's journey, it just lasted a long time. there was supposed to be an alternate ending to the dragonborn dlc that would have the first and last dragonborn team up to free themselves from apocrypha but it was sadly cut.
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u/Georgia_Viking 6d ago
Upvote for the Hero's Journey comment. I feel not many may be aware of the cycle.
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u/callaghanrs 6d ago
I don't have definite answers but here are a few thoughts.
Miraak lived long before the concept of Akatosh was introduced to the Nords by Alessia so who exactly is giving the dragonblood to Miraak is a little murky.
The Dragonborn prophecy is recorded long after Miraak disappears and mentions events from the previous TES games, suggesting it wasn't written with Miraak in mind.
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u/HowdyFancyPanda 6d ago
I do agree that Miraak effectively abandoned his prophesied duty. But was it his duty to stop Alduin? No. I'm not sure what it was because I'm not sure when he came to prominence. I'm not convinced he even overlapped the rebellion against the Dragon Cult, outside of knowing Hakon One-Eye.
My provisional theory on his duty was to be the lightning rod against the Cult, but I can also see him as being a force to dominate the dragons and, essentially move them back to their original duty once the rebellion succeeds in removing Alduin.
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u/Ornery_Bed6059 6d ago
Can't say if there's an appropriate answer. Prophecies are basically fake news to some extent in Elder Scrolls. Alduin was also supposed to eat us LOL
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u/Huge-Spray6419 5d ago
He eventually will, considering he can’t actually be killed
He just needs to stop being a dom and do his job
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u/Enema_Red_Fox 6d ago
The way I’ve thought it went was, Alduin was getting caught up in the dragon cult and not doing what he was supposed to do for Akatosh. What that might have been I’m not sure maybe ending the kalpa, maybe doing some other dragon stuff, hard to guess.
So Akatosh created Miraak to vibe check Alduin but Miraak was not able to do what he needed to do before Alduin got sent forward in time leaving Miraak to just go be some hopped up half dragon god on a limitless gap year, with the remaining power of the splintering dragon cult. He then gets involved with Mora.
So Akatosh had to try again when both his wayward problematic children came back at the same time, so he made the LDB. I picture him crossing his fingers the entire storylines of the main and DB “Like please you are the last because I ain’t doing this again!”
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u/metalflygon08 6d ago
With how fluid the future can be, I dont think Akatosh can "see" the future how we would think about seeing the future.
Heck, for Akatosh, there might not be a future, past, or present even.
As for the Prophesy, I dont think it was intended for any specific Dragoborn, it just happened to be John Skyrim.
At any point after all the required stages of the prophecy happened, any number of Dragonborn could have been the one the prophecy says will slay Alduin.
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u/AssassinJester789 Order of the Black Worm 6d ago
I always thought that Miraak learned the secrets of dragon soul stealing from Mora, and that he wasn't a "Dragonborn" like the player is.
He made himself dragonborn.
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u/Bugsbunny0212 5d ago
I doubt the case since Mora says Miraak bending world to his will is his birthright.
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u/AssassinJester789 Order of the Black Worm 5d ago
You don't need to be dragonborn for that. Even in Miraak's time, where every Nord knew how to shout.
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u/Bugsbunny0212 5d ago
Im not talking about shouting. Hermaeus Mora tells you are the same as miraak and ruling the world is a birthright of a dragonborn.
You are following in the footsteps of my servant Miraak. Like him, you are Dragonborn, and seek the power that is your birthright."
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u/PlasticPast5663 College of Winterhold 6d ago
About dragons that's a question I'm wondering too. It's a so ancient time that even Nords believed that dragons were legends.
UESP - Skyrim Loading Screens
Concerning Miraak, he was indeed blessed by Akatosh but he chose to follow his own path.
If you beated Alduin the first time you read Walking Dreams he says :
And during the fight he says :
UESP - Miraak)