The carvings in Draugr Temples

[stars2heaven]

You tend to see them just before a word wall or a door that requires a dragon claw. Some of the carvings are of a woman with moths flying around her. Another is of a man with two skull staves and ravens in the upper left and right. Another one is of a man with wings and two owls in the carving with him. He also has a halo, so he looks a little like an angel. There is also a fourth guy who is holding two daggers and looks a lot like a dragon priest. There are flames all over his carving. All of the carvings have robed characters facing them on all sides carrying what looks like a sarcophagus. All of the carvings have a giant image of some animal at the vary top that spans the width of the carving. One is a moth, one is an owl, another is a wolf, and the fourth I couldn't make out. I'm guessing it is a dragon since parts of the carving make the animal seem like it has plates or armor of some sort.

 

Since these same carvings tend to be repeated over and over I'd guess these are depictions of important people to the Nords who carved them. Who are they and what are the carvings supposed to depict?

[RobertKoetsier]

Well the old nords (or akaviri) used to worship those animals as gods, including the dragon.

[Menigal]

I remember seeing somewhere that each animal relates to one of the traditional gods, but I don't think it went into any more depth than that.

[Dudeman325]

I don't think they are of anyone in particular. Its more of a collage of what Mortal Men have done, fighting Dragons and sealing their servants away, most likely with the Dragon Claws. Most of those animals you'll see down there are symbolic of Ancient Nord Divines, and I'm fairly certain they all have a near-direct relationship with the "current" Divines. No one is quite sure which of the animal symbols is which Divine.

 

Its funny how when things get really ancient, the answers almost seem like they've been lost...

Edited December 15, 2012 by Dudeman325

[sajuukkhar9000]

No one is quite sure which of the animal symbols is which Divine.

Dragon = Alduin

Snake = Shor

Hawk = Kyne

Whale = Tsun

Bear = Stuhn

Moth = Jhunal

Wolf =

Owl =

Fox =

We are left with Mara, Dibella, and Arkay

[Dudeman325]

Hrm, I'd be interested in seeing a source for that which isn't conjecture, because I don't think I've seen anything in-game which explicitly states that.

[stars2heaven]

Well if it's true that each of them has some relation with one of the current divines it would be obvious that the dragon and the person in that carving is supposed to be Akatosh. But even so, who are the robed figures supposed to be and whose sarcophagi are they carrying?

 

Edit: I forgot about the post above. Maybe the servants or dragon priests? Also, the one with the dragon in it is certainly a dragon priest and may not be any particular dragon priest. It's pretty easy to make it out in the photo on this page.

 

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Dragon_Priest

 

It doesn't go into great detail on the other figures, though. They don't look like dragon priests at all, or any other figures in the Elderscrolls that I know of. Furthermore, with such a clear image it looks like there are two separate sarcophogi. (Or are they corpses?) One of a male on the left and female on the right. They look like king and queen. Any possible significance?

 

I'm beginning to think that the core figures are the priests of these various faiths and the animals are like the mascots (for lack of a better word) of that faith or even the focus of worship or service as it is in the case of the dragon priests and the dragons. The figures carrying the bodies of people still don't make a lot of sense to me though.

[sajuukkhar9000]

Hrm, I'd be interested in seeing a source for that which isn't conjecture, because I don't think I've seen anything in-game which explicitly states that.

Well the dragon being Alduin is.... well.. obvious.

 

As for the snake, the hawk, and the whale, those three animals are found in ever Nordic dungeon on those spinning pillar puzzles. who they represent isn't hard to figure out if we do some digging

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:Varieties_of_Faith_in_the_Empire

Sep (The Snake): Yokudan version of Lorkhan.

Shor (God of the Underworld): Nordic version of Lorkhan

 

Tsun: Extinct Nordic god of trials against adversity. Died defending Shor from foreign gods.

"I am Tsun, shield-thane to Shor. The Whalebone Bridge he bade me guard and winnow all those souls whose heroic end sent them here, to Shor's lofty hall. where welcome, well-earned, awaits those I judge fit to join that fellowship of honor.

 

Kyne (Kiss At the End): Nordic Goddess of the Storm. Widow of Shor and favored god of warriors. She is often called the Mother of Men. Her daughters taught the first Nords the use of the thu'um, or Storm Voice.

 

 

Shor, aka Lorkhan, is known to various cultures as being a snake, and a scarab.

Kyne, Shor's wife, goddes of storms, and thus ruler of the air.

Tsun, Shor's shield-thane, who is dead, and guards a WHALEbone bridge, his own corpse from when he fell in battle.

 

Thier animals are obvious, not to mention is makes sense that the nords would put their leader, his wife, and his shield-thane, as the three most prominent animals in their tombs.

Edited December 15, 2012 by sajuukkhar9000

[stars2heaven]

That makes a lot of sense sajuukkhar. What do you think of the corpses that the robed characters are carrying and the central figures in the murals? I'm thinking that the central figures are the priests who are devoted to that particular deity, as is obvious in the dragon mural. But the bodies don't make sense to me.

[sajuukkhar9000]

I suspect that it was customary to get blessed by priests of every animal god after death. The bodies they carry are most likely people bringing the recently dead to the priest to ask the priest to bless them in death.