Is there a symbol, emblem, flag, or crest for the province of Skyrim as a whole?

[SmedleyDButler]

So, this might seems like a weird question after Skyrim's been out for so many years, but... Does Skyrim, as a whole, have an emblem or symbol, or anything like that as a whole?

 

Each of the holds has their own crest, as do many of the smaller factions, and I'm sure that in a medieval sense, the crest of Solitude might serve as a banner under which armies from Skyrim as a whole might serve militarily (that's only a guess, but it would be consistent, with the crest of the Empire as a whole being that of the Septims), but is there a more neutral or "generic" symbol which represents Skyrim as a whole? Or even something a Nord might simply wear personally without it standing for any sort of territorial allegiance, except maybe to Nords as a people?

 

I was surprised that I couldn't even find a yes or no answer to this question after searching in various places (The Skyrim wiki, UESP, etc.), let alone an actual answer with an image.

 

Any information or suggestions would be great, thanks!

[Shadeybladey]

Good question!

 

Skyrim is an Imperial Province at the time of the game, but there is a civil war, so maybe that's why only the crests of the holds are seen?

 

The Imperials and pro-Empire factions uniting under the Solitude banner might not work, politically, as it may seem that Solitude is a rebel faction and Cyrodil will want them fighting under the Imperial banner. Also, no self-respecting Jarl would fight under another Jarl's banner for the Empire.

 

It might work better for the the Stormcloaks uniting under the Eastmarch banner for Ulfric in Windhelm, but they have their own Banner anyway.

 

There are symbols for Imperials and Stormcloaks, but I don't know of one for the "united" Skyrim as an Imperial province.

 

In any case, I think the Nords elected their High King, so his House's banner would be the pre-eminent banner.

 

Also, I don't think there's a banner for High Rock and Hammerfell etc, and Daggerfall was part of High Rock, while the game centred around the Iliac Bay between the two. Each petty kingdom and barony had their own banners.

 

:smile:

[SmedleyDButler]

Good question!

 

Skyrim is an Imperial Province at the time of the game, but there is a civil war, so maybe that's why only the crests of the holds are seen?

 

The Imperials and pro-Empire factions uniting under the Solitude banner might not work, politically, as it may seem that Solitude is a rebel faction and Cyrodil will want them fighting under the Imperial banner. Also, no self-respecting Jarl would fight under another Jarl's banner for the Empire.

 

It might work better for the the Stormcloaks uniting under the Eastmarch banner for Ulfric in Windhelm, but they have their own Banner anyway.

 

There are symbols for Imperials and Stormcloaks, but I don't know of one for the "united" Skyrim as an Imperial province.

 

In any case, I think the Nords elected their High King, so his House's banner would be the pre-eminent banner.

 

Also, I don't think there's a banner for High Rock and Hammerfell etc, and Daggerfall was part of High Rock, while the game centred around the Iliac Bay between the two. Each petty kingdom and barony had their own banners.

 

:smile:

 

Multiple banners is a thing you tend to see in feudal societies where there's hierarchies of lordships and loyalties are highly localized. The middle ages are a prime example of this, but even real-life armies had variations on this tradition well into the 19th century.

 

To translate that to Tamriel, in the days before the Great War (or even during the Great War), a regiment sent from - for example - Eastmarch could potentially have displayed the Eastmarch banner, while the army from Skyrim as a whole would be under the command of the High King at Solitude, who would have his own troops flying the banner of Solitude. In this example, only the soldiers from Imperial City itself would actually wear or fly the Imperial symbol.

 

However, Bethesda has pretty consistently depicted the Empire as being along the more cohesive lines of the Roman empire, which means a more consistent heraldry. The most obvious aspect of this in the game of this is that Imperial troops in Skyrim may be locals, but they all still wear the Septim dragon and share the same uniform. To be sure, you can actually have both systems coexisting - High Rock's armies might fight under their own local banners, as might armies from Morrowwind, even though they might fight as part of an overall Imperial army. But Skyrim is consistently described as being nearly as core a part of the Empire as Cyrodiil as well as being much more strongly integrated with Cyrodiil than other provinces.

 

At the same time, the Civil War pretty much comes down to the Nords arguing if they're Imperials first or Nords first, so there's clearly still some sort of pan-Nordic identity, distinct from Cyrodiil, that a Nord might recognize. Which is what makes me wonder if there's any visual token or badge or symbol that Nords might all recognize as "Nordic" or as a symbol of Skyrim.

 

The main reason I'm asking is because I'm tinkering with some armours, and it would be neat to add some shields with decorations along those lines, something that anyone in Skyrim might wear without it necessarily being Imperial or Stormcloak, or from any one hold. A plain shield is both unlikely AND boring, but if I want to make something widely distributed around Skyrim (i.e. to add to levelled lists or use as replacers), it should be something anyone might wear. The patterns on the Steel Plate Armour are an example here, but there's no special shield just for Steel Plate armour.

Edited October 18, 2020 by SmedleyDButler