On the death of Nir

At the core of all creation lies the primordial conflict between Anu and his brother Padomay.

We've been told that in the previous world, Padomay murdered Anu’s consort Nir and Anu, grieving her death, hid himself in the sun and slept, “dreaming up” the Elder Scrolls universe as we know it. Our source on this is The Annotated Anuad, an in-game book written by an unnamed author of Ayleid origin. Could be a blatant case of unreliable narrator for all we know.

Within this new world of his own making, the Godhead Anu dreamed up a representation of himself. This was Anu the primordial force of being, IS, the subgradient of the Godhead that is existence itself. The anti-thesis of being is non-being. This became known as Padomay. A mirror image of Anu that IS and a stand-in for Anu’s brother, Padomay IS NOT and like all mirror images, he cannot be (real).

As cosmic opposites of each other, Anu (being) and Padomay (non-being) are bound into an eternal state of conflict that became known as the Enantiomorph, a metaphysical concept representing a recurring cosmic event that involves, not two, but three figures: The King, The Rebel and the Witness, with Magnus being the primordial Witness. The King and Rebel are mirror images, or inversions, of each other. They clash against each other, with one of them emerging as the victor. Although the King and the Rebel might appear functionally the same to the outside world, there are fundamental differences between them and the Witness is able to tell them apart. The Witness observes the conflict and is maimed as a result.

Notable examples of the Enantiomorph being re-enacted are the conflicts between Hjalti Early Beard/Wulfharth/ Zurin Arctus and the Nerevarine/Dagoth Ur/ Vivec, with Zurin Arctus and Vivec as Witnesses.

Note that is the Enantiomorph, and not the love story of Anu and Nir, that is re-enacted many, many times throughout history. Love, while remaining central to the creation myth, takes a backseat, allowing for the eternal state of conflict between Anu and his double to become the fundamental of all creation. The Godhead appears to be ruminating on revenge, rather than dreaming of his lost love. Furthermore, of all things, Godhead Anu chooses to portray his brother as that all which is not. Have you ever wondered why that is?

I believe I've found the answer.

**Anu’s duality**

The Godhead Anu is everything. Everyone. He is pure radiant awareness without a self. He is the non-local consciousness the world is emanating from. Anu is all that is. More so: he is all that is not. This might sound off at first, but please follow me.

For God to be a boundless being, he/they would need to encompass not just all that which is and also all that which is not. God is both being and non-being, and thus beyond being. True boundlessness transcends existence itself.

Existence inherently implies limits because to exist is to be defined within certain boundaries - physical, temporal, conceptual, or otherwise. By contrast, nothingness, or non-being, is boundless by its very nature. It is not confined by any form, time, or space. It lacks definition and constraints and thus it is not subject to any rules or limitations. From nothingness arises potential. From potential, possibility and finally - being.

The Godhead Anu is all that which is as well all that which is not. He is beyond limitations, beyond existence. He encompasses all.

The duality of Anu and Padomay inside the Dream reflects the inherently contradictory nature of Anu as the Godhead. Anu IS. He also IS NOT. As above so below. There's no Padomay. Hint: that's why he "is not".

**FOUL MURDER**

Anu never had a brother. Padomay is and always has been a mirror image. Unreal.

There’s only ever been Anu, and it was Anu himself that murdered Nir, and because he could not live with himself, with what he’s done, he went on to Amaranth looking to escape himself, that is, to end himself.

This is why Anu’s struggle against his brother/double/mirror image is the primordial conflict at the heart of all Creation. This is why betrayal and revenge seem to be bigger than love in Tamriel. Anu murdered his consort and the guilt drove him into undoing himself. He dreamed up a prison for himself, within himself, sundering his mind into countless pieces, erasing his self in the process. If that sounds worse than a life sentence, it’s because it is.

As such. the Aurbis is indeed a Prison and Anu is the primordial Prisoner. Yet his self is dead, his “I” is no more. What remains of him is pure radiant awareness sitting at the center that cannot hold. The “I” is the center that cannot hold: the self is illusory. God’s awareness is non-local and by default devoid of a self. This is why Anu is unable to escape his imprisonment: stripped of his former self, he no longer can tell he is free. He is a hypnagogic Godhead eternally hallucinating, eternally dreaming a whole world of him.

Padomay is a projection of the Anu’s troubled psyche, a mirror image of a murderous self-loathing Godhead, yet Padomay is not the most prominent nor is he the most dangerous expression of Anu's inner conflict. The Godhead's trauma has reflected upon several main actors, among which are Talos, Nerevar, Vivec, Dagoth Ur, Sheogorath and why not, and the player characters. These are all individuals whose lives were marked by challenges and suffering and who have been involved in great historical tragedies. Vivec in particular mirrors Anu quite well, down to the color of his skin, but unlike Anu, he will not make the mistake of going through Amaranth alone. By far the most dangerous and violent product of Anu’s self-loathing is the Numidium. Big Stompy is able to unmake reality, there’s no greater threat to the Aurbis than him. This is why he is the culmination of the narrative the player characters are working against.

Now you might be wondering, if God is self-less being, is Vivec wrong when he says the only name of God is “I”? No. In fact, Vivec is spot on and coherent in his approach to metaphysics. His teachings are remarkably similar to the Trika Shaivism philosophy, but I’ll this discussion for another post.