flobalob Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 The Jarl wouldn't have to hang a rotting skull. It is possible to remove flesh from bone without waiting for it to rot off, you know. Ask anyone who has ever made soup. Boiling water is all it takes. And failing that watch Predator (or Predator 2, or AVP), but you're right the capablility of extracating a skull from the surrounding flesh has existed for something like 10,000 years, possibly longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpestilence Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 This is all left vague on purpose. After all, in King Olaf's Verse, YOU decide how to rewrite history by filling in the blank spots of the verse. Thus, in usual ES fashion, Bethesda is not going to put anything in the game to counter any possible player decisions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MightyZ0G Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 The Jarl wouldn't have to hang a rotting skull. It is possible to remove flesh from bone without waiting for it to rot off, you know. Ask anyone who has ever made soup. Boiling water is all it takes. he wouldn't have to do anythingjust kill the dragon and all the flesh burns away on its own just like it does with every dragon you kill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettM Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 just kill the dragon and all the flesh burns away on its own just like it does with every dragon you killThat isn't something that just happens to dragons when they die; it is the result of their souls being consumed by a dragonborn. We don't know how or when Numinex died, but the court would have had to deal with removing the flesh by mundane means or waiting for it to rot away unless a dragonborn was around at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpestilence Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Is the main point of this thread really to argue about what sort of taxodermy technology they have in skyrim? I mean, come on. In skyrim I can kill a bear, take its hide, tan the hide, and make leather strips in about a minute. In real life it would take days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettM Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 We did veer a little off track. :) Something I ran across in the First Edition of the Pocket Guide to the Empire seems to solidify the case for Svaknir having political motivations for trying to blacken Olaf's name with false accusations. The case is still pretty circumstantial, but it all hangs together nicely. From the Pocket Guide: "Founded during Skyrim's long Alessian flirtation, the Bards' College continues to flaunt a heretical streak ...". Wulfharth was a hero in part because he cleansed Skyrim of the Alessian heresy in the middle of the First Era, so the Pocket Guide seems to be saying that the original bards were Alessians. I see no other reason for mentioning bards, heresy, and Alessians in the same sentence. But why would Alessians select Solitude as the site of their college? My guess is that Solitude as a whole accepted and supported the Alessian Doctrines, as did others in Skyrim at the time, so the religious/political climate was favorable to the founding bards. Now we come to the crisis: High King Borgas, an Alessian himself, is killed by the Wild Hunt for that reason, and the Wars of Succession begin when the Moot fails to name Jarl Hanse of Winterhold as the next High King, though he seems to have been the best candidate. Why not? One good explanation would be that there was a division of religious sentiment among the jarls, so they could not come to an agreement on Hanse, as some desired an Alessian successor and others the opposite. Eventually Olaf One-Eye wins the war and becomes High King. This might well explain why Solitude attacked Winterhold, assuming that Hanse was not Alessian. By removing Jarl Hanse, they had a chance to get their own jarl on the throne and continue the prevailing Alessian policy that they favored. Even Viarmo admits that the real history says that Solitude attacked Winterhold without provocation, but the only choices we are given to fill in "Olaf's Verse" all blame Olaf for the attack while painting Solitude as the innocent victim of his wickedness. It looks very much like "Olaf's Verse" comes down to pure propaganda created because of Svaknir's pique at being on the losing side of the squabble. The bards, not to mention the rest of Solitude, were put out by having their Alessian ambitions thwarted, and the whole effigy-burning tradition got started because of that. Unfortunately, while it appears that we have good reason to doubt the truth of anything Svaknir put into "Olaf's Verse," it doesn't help us establish the real truth about the capture of Numinex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masterjax Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 I'm sorry to revive this thread, but the last comment is the most probable account, and it deserves praise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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