Lore:Lorkhan

The UESPWiki – Your source for The Elder Scrolls since 1995

This Creator-Trickster-Tester deity is in every Tamrielic mythic tradition. His most popular name is the Aldmeri 'Lorkhan', or Doom Drum. He convinced or contrived the Original Spirits (Et'Ada) to bring about the creation of the Mundus, upsetting the status quo-- much like his (figurative) father Padomay is usually credited for introducing instability, and hence possibility for creation, into the undivided universe sometimes called the Beginning Place. After the world materialized, Lorkhan was killed, mutilated, or at least separated from his divine center, though memories and reverence for him remain in the minds of mortals. He and his metaphysical placement in the 'scheme of things' are interpreted a variety of ways. Accordingly, mythic 'echoes' of his presence take the form of diverse avatars, incarnations and historical patterns.

• In Morrowind, for example, he is a being related to the Psijiic Endeavor, a process by which mortals are charged with transcending the gods that created them. To the High Elves, he is the most unholy of all higher powers, as he forever broke their connection to the spirit plane.
• In legends, he is almost always an enemy of the Aldmer and, therefore, a hero of early Mankind. The moons of Nirn, Masser and Secunda, are his "Flesh-Divinity," literally his corpse. Like the other gods he was a plane[t] that participated in creation. His plane[t] split and his divine spark fell to Nirn. The moons represent the "Cloven Duality," or dichotomy of opposites that is central to the Mundus and Lorkhan's ideals.
• In Oblivion, Mankar Camoran claims that Lorkhan is a Daedra whose Daedric plane is "Dawn's Beauty ... misnamed Tamriel by deluded mortals." (Though this may be a biased belief, see Mankar's page).
• Other names for Lorkhan include Sep in Hammerfell, Sheor in High Rock, Shor in Skyrim, and Shezarr in Cyrodiil.