What exactly is the "Eye of Magnus"?

[Lachdonin]

Had he said KINMUNE, or the Caske of Desolation, or the Orrery's Heart, would you have had any idea what he was talking about? He could he calling it the Eye of Magnus simply because its the name you recognise, and to prevent confusion. The Augur knows more than enough to avoid making things unnecessarily confusing by throwing other names at you when there's crisis afoot.

[NerevarII]

Hi, amateur-expert lore-novice-master here. in other words, i know a lot, but not enough.

 

Magnus was the architect of Mundus. He had help from other Aedra, by "tricking" them, as some believe, by having them lend their powers as well, hence why most Aedra are weakened, and why primarily daedra interact with the world, rarely ever Aedra. I think, but am not sure, the Aedra don't have the power to spare to appear like the daedra do, except for a few of the higher ups like Akatosh, though we don't get to meet Akatosh in Skyrim.

 

There is little known about the eye of Magnus. The Psyjiics are thought to know the most. All that I know to be definitive is that the Orb, along with the staff, we're used in the creation of Mundus, Nirn, the aurbus, ect..

 

I'm fairly certain that the Psyjiics wanted to keep the orb hidden, but, since Ancano went meddling in affairs he should've left alone, things changed. I was so happy the first time I got to kill that stupid pompous prick.

 

Anyway, the language is thought to be that of those who may have come before, "those who came before", or a language only understood by the Aedra.

 

I'm also fairly certain that the orb was the focal point/container for the borrowed Aedra powers, and is a source of power for the staff to "create" or "destroy" things. So Ancano may have been tapping into the power of not one, but many Aedra.

 

As I stated above, the Psyjiics may have very well known about the orb, and wanted to keep it there. From the monks own words "we hardly mettle in the affairs of mortals" (i forgot the monks name) so that could also be why. They only came to Skyrim because of the change in circumstances, and rather do it themselves, they remain isolated while someone else takes care of the problem for them.

 

And, it got to the college via teleport. The orb [eye].

 

And, the high elves, the altmer, they want to destory the world. that's why Ancano is at the college, that's why he wants the orb's power, to quite literally, unmake the world. Yes, indeed. The Psyjiics "have power .... and that's why they [altmer] fear us" - from the psyjiic monkwhos name i cant remember.

 

The Psyjiics (I hope im spelling it right) are ones that keep to themselves. They want nothing to do with the mortal world, so they claim. I think they are moreso those who help keep Nirn in balance. The famous and most powerful, like Galerion the Mystic trained with the psyjiics, lived there, but left.

 

These are not opinions, these are facts pulled from the headache called TES Lore. Well, they're pulled from mymemory, so if something is slightly off, sorry, I can't be bothered to fact check right now....I can't be bothered to waste my time looking all this up for you to post links to sources, especially since anybody who is doubtful, can use google just as easily as I could.

 

Hope this helps.

 

P.S. if I am wrong about something, please correct me.

 

edit: the person above me is correct. It's not called the "Eye of Magnus" it's what the people named it. Even the monk says something along the lines of "The 'Eye of Magnus', as your people call it..."

Edited October 19, 2016 by NerevarII

[Caerulean]

^ Just a small correction: It was Lorkhan who convinced/tricked the et'Ada, including Magnus, into the creation of Mundus. Then Magnus, and many other et'Ada, left before it was completed when they found out that the creation process would consume their powers significantly. (I hope I said that correctly. xD)

 

If I remember correctly, it was the Psijic monks who first mentioned it to the player character that the orb was the 'Eye of Magnus'. Then the Augur of Dunlain also called it the same later on. So... questions:

 

Did they both just go with the 'Eye of Magnus' name and/or they are both hiding the orb's true 'identity'? Who knows more than the other - the Psijics or the Augur of Dunlain? What then is the 'Eye of Magnus' (and the Staff of Magnus) if not an artifact from Magnus himself?

[NerevarII]

Ah okay, see, thank you ^

 

I don't want to revisit the college questline just yet, I'm currently in the middle of a video series with my current install, but, I have done it recently and either the monk or augur, or both, said something along the lines of "This orb....as your people have taken to calling it"

 

It is mentioned by one or the other that the name isn't the "Eye of magnus" but I don't think they ever call it by it's true name....if it even has one. They just went with the name.

 

And I explained what it is believed to be above ^ (believed to be by the NPC's of the game lol, based on in-game books and lore)

[Lachdonin]

If I remember correctly, it was the Psijic monks who first mentioned it to the player character that the orb was the 'Eye of Magnus'. Then the Augur of Dunlain also called it the same later on. So... questions:

 

Tolfdir is actually the first one to call it the Eye of Magnus, after you return to the College to find it in the main lesson hall. He says something along the lines of 'The Eye of Magnus, as we have taken to calling the artifact' and the Psijics and Augur both referance it after this. During their first appearance, the Psijic only says that you have put events in motion that cannot be easily stopped, and makes no mention of the Eye.

[Caerulean]

Ah, right. But then (IIRC) the Augur also called the staff as the 'Staff of Magnus' so does it really have anything to do with Magnus or any relative et'Ada? :3 Tolfdir may not have been way off about its true identity.

[Lachdonin]

The Staff of Magnus is a long known artifact thats believed to have been used by Magnus himself, or at least is somehow directly related to him. It's always been able to draw extreme amounts of magical energies into its self. From a meta perspective, it would be the go-to tool for anything remotely like he Eye, whether it was linked to Magnus or not. But the Staff has the usual Artifact habit of disappearing for long periods of time, so I doubt many mages consider it when doing investigations.

 

But anyway... Whether actually related to Magnus, or just a giant ball of magic, the Staff of Magnus would be extremely useful to have for something of that power.

Edited October 20, 2016 by Lachdonin