@@frozenlizard7738 You have no fucking right to say that. The Aylieds would cut open children and use their guts as artwork. Those Elves were fucking horrible, and NOTHING the humans have done comes CLOSE to being bad by comparison.
@@frozenlizard7738 The Snow Elves who also murdered a bunch of children and their families, and destroyed an entire city in one night for seemingly no reason at all?
he's secretly a daedric lord from the shivering isles, aiding in the creation of the great sweet roll pyramids. why do you think he knows of our location and is there to personally deliver us a message? he has god tier teleportation and clairvoyance.
I've always thought that the Forsworn were split into (at least) two factions: those following Madanach and those following the Matriarch. That would explain why, even if you side with the Forsworn in Markarth, all of the Forsworn in the Reach are still hostile to you EXCEPT the ones hanging out in that cave with Madanach. I see them more as the radicals. Most of the Forsworn are following their spiritual traditions and following their traditional spiritual leader (hagravens), trusting that they will eventually take back the Reach. Madanach and his buds didn't think that plan was moving fast enough and so started to take more direct action. It's kind of like how Ulfric calls himself High King of the Nords while half the country is like, "Lol, no."
@@thundergamespt99 I’m an imperial all the way. Ulfric is a traitor (murders his high king in cold blood) and a fool (reveals the secret loophole in the talos worship ban)
Reyda’s disappearance: when you ask Willhelm about Narfi, he tells you who Reyda is and that she disappeared. Then you can also ask him about the mysterious island to the east and he will tell you that people have seen lights and things around there and recommends that you don’t go there because “it didn’t do Reyda any good.” I have always felt that this was a clue as to what happened to her.
@Dick Grayson Sure you are kost definitely entitled to youre incorrect opinion. Considering how many people disagree with you, youre wrong by proxy of majority. Dont watch his vids if you dont like it.
The whole Matriarch theory sounds like there was a perfectly missed opportunity for quest chains either for Foresworn reclaiming the Reach or having the player help to wipe out the Foresworn once and for all
@@Gensolink There's a long list of reasons to think that the producers basically just gave the devs a deadline and the game wasn't really finished when shipped.
I think it's good they were left to linger. If it was possible to resolve that centuries-old problem along with a civil war, killing an armageddon dragon, stopping vampires from blotting out the sun and preventing an ancient dragonborn from enslaving an Elvish island seems like you're able to literally solve any problem with just a couple of dungeon crawls. I think it's a good thing for a couple of issues to be left out of the Dragonborn's hands.
There is a possibility for a guard to say “pss, I know who you are, hail sithis” if you completed the DB quest line, hopefully this helps you with a video
I always thought the letter was sent from Delphine. 1. The greybeards wouldn’t refer to the player as a friend. They’re much more like teachers than friends, while Delphine would be weird enough to call you a friend before you even meet her. 2. The greybeards don’t want the Dragonborn to use the thu’um for fighting (at least in the beginning, when you can get these letters), while the letter from a friend seems to suggest that intent. Delphine, on the other hand, encourages the player to use their thu’um for combat. 3. A lot of word walls that one can be directed to are the locations of dragon roosts. Delphine is OBSESSED with killing dragons, so it would make sense she would try and get to player to head to these places. 4. It would make sense for Delphine to have a lot of operatives all over Skyrim (for Blades reasons), so that could be how she finds out so fast. 5. When retrieving the horn of Jurgen Windcaller, it’s shown that Delphine adresses the player via notes.
1 I don't see why not 2 That's not accurate. If you ask argenier, he says the gods punished the nords for using shouts for war. They say the ability to shout is a gift from the gods that is only to be used for the worship of the gods. He also say the gift the dragonborn has is a gift from akatosh given directly to the player. And he asks who they would be to acknowledge one gift but deny the other. It is a separate gift with separate restrictions. The greybeards never intended to force the dragonborn into seclusion. This still leaves room for the individual greybeards to have additional nuance and one of the greybeards approving more than the others would explain why an alias was used. 3 Most of the locations that the player can be sent to are draugr tombs, not dragon roosts. 4 Delphine might keep tabs on where the dragonborn is. But delphine doesn't know how to determine when the dragonborn shouts or have any reason to record that. The speed of messages is almost certainly developer oversight. After all, the player can 'cause a stir' at their own home (outside of a city) or even in a daedric princes realm, which doesn't seem to be intended (and if it was, well there goes your delphine theory anyway as delphine doesn't have operatives in daedric realms). They simply set a trigger to send the note after the player had used a shout. Creating a system to delay the word usage and the message arrival would be additional work on their part.
@@Elrog3 the thing about daedric realms is a good point. What if the letters come from a daedric prince who wants to make a bit of a stir. But instead of just appearing and telling the Dragonborn directly, they play around a bit, giving only hints. The courier might even be a daedra (or their associates) in disguise. Which daedric prince it would be is a different question.
@@EchoKnightYT Also, if you're curious, in Morrowind he says ""The Emperor is getting old. Don't know how much longer he'll hang on. So is the whole Empire, for that matter. Getting old, that is. The Emperor and the legions have held the Empire together for hundreds of years. It's been a good thing, by and large. But maybe it's time for a change. Time for something young and new. What? No idea. Because I'm old. Old dog doesn't get new ideas. But maybe young folks like you should try some new ideas. I don't know. Could be messy. But change is never pretty.""
So when it comes to narfi's sister, you can normally find her corpse by a couple of arrows that float out of the water near her remains, it is speculated that she was shot with a bow and arrow and her body was dumped in the river. The arrows will flow down river pretty quickly so it's easy to miss.
@@chibichan9586 I think it was Willhelm in the Inn. He's paranoid about hagravens with the mace and book about killing hagravens under his bar. Probably thought her interest in alchemy (she went to gather ingredients and has a bunch of rare ones on her when you find the skeleton) meant she had ties to that sort of "evil" magic
I was curious, so dug into the game files to see where the letter from a friend came from (as courier notes tend to be attached to their authors in the game scripting). And it is in fact given to the courier by... the Word Wall itself. That's either a bit of dull, completely meaningless implementation detail, or something rather spooky in itself.
sol1d gh0st you’re watching a video about a game where there are literally cat people, lizard people, and the main character is technically part dragon. You’re pretty slow, huh?
The Matriarch theory is interesting, it might also explain why the other Foresworn still attack you even if you side with Madanach, maybe he only leads the Markarth branch and his authority only goes so far.
There is a journal for narif when you have to kill him for dark brotherhood, she fell and knocked herself out drowning, the inn keeper was watching her. He panicked
How about:- The couriers are actually the most powerful guild in Skyrim. How else do you explain the courier turning up with Severio Pelagia's inheritance the moment you step outside the Palace of the Kings in Windhelm after starting the questline for the battle of Whiterun? Knowing exactly where you are at all times? Knowing who you are perfectly despite you being a nobody to begin with? These guys find you no matter where you run to, how good your sneak is or even if you are a lvl 10 Puny McNo-Fame who has been power leveling smithing in Whiterun the entire time. Clearly they have access to an omnipotent, omnipresent source of power that can spot the unmistakable presence of a Player Character, and make sure that person gets their dang mail.
I always assumed that the Forsworn "old gods" were Daedra. According to a book about the rebellion, it's mentioned that one of the first things Madanach did was legalize Daedra worship. Add that to the number of Daedric shrines in the Reach, and it all makes sense.
Narfi gifted me a human heart when I gave him the necklace….idk if that happens every time or if it’s randomized etc but it was the first time I noticed it and it definitely freaked me out a bit lol
I always thought that the Matriarch (yes, I read the notes, too) was the hagraven at Karthspire. You can find her standing facing a primitive altar with a GIANT sacrificed upon it. She obviously killed it herself. Someone powerful enough to kill a giant for a sacrifice surely should have been the real leader of the Forsworn. I didn't even think of the disappearing and reappearing hagraven from Hag's End. I also thought the reason Madanach is the King of the Forsworn, but has no real power in the outside world, is because he's married to the hagraven leader, and the Forsworn are matriarchal, having the males be the subordinate to the females. It would be an interesting and very ancient concept Skyrim could have had.
Wheezing Laugh don’t the letters start being signed by Esbern after you meet him? I might be misremembering or it might have been from a mod but I remember them being written by Esbern
@@Xixion1123 oh i dont pay attention to the old guy when the main quest gets too close to where the blades want you to Murder Partysnax (i forgot how to actually spell it so i memed) so..
@@Xixion1123 that was probably from a mod. Normally the letter never changes, and who sent it has been the subject of furious debate since the release of skyrim. I think Nate even did a video on it.
I have a feeling there is another aspect to the Reyda story no one seems to notice, according to the innkeeper, Reyna went missing about a year ago. In another conversation, he mentions Wyndelius or whatever his name is (the guy that turned himself into a ghost in the nearby barrow) showed up about a year ago. It seems a bit odd that the time frame matches in a town where not much happens.
I don't know if I trust the NPCs timelines that much. I was just in the College of Winterhold and asked about the missing apprentices. He said 'yeah they were in the batch before you. they've been missing for...about a month.' it's been like 2 years in-game since I went back to the College of Winterhold since I have no interest in ancano's shit. Not to mention I'm going to have to fight him while he's naked. One day he just turned up nude except for a thalmor cloak and he's sticking with his new signature look.
I kind of imagine that not much time passes while you’re in Skyrim, yes there are days, weeks and months, but Skyrim is set in a specific year, 4E 201, so when you get to the last day of the year, 31st of Evening Star (December), you just go back to the 1st of Morning Star (January) still in 4E 201. So if that logic is true, anything that happened about a year ago must have happened in the year 4E 200. This is reflected in Wyndelius‘ journal, which starts on the 18th of Morning Star 4E 200.
I find it interesting how Hag's End isn't in the Reach, but in Haafingar. The Forsworn are running this massive operation from outside it's own claimed borders.
The Knights of the Nine were a very small faction, similar in size to the Knights of the Throne, and actually smaller than the Knights of the True Horn, both of which were considered minor factions. I think it's safe to assume the Knights of the Nine either re-disbanded or were destroyed.
The letter from the last theory references a forsworn tribe talking about how they’ve accused the matriarch of sort of softening them, and I’m thinking that this accusatory tribe could have broken away and been lead by what’s-his-face the king in rags.
In my own head canon, the Reachmen/Forsworn worship a pantheon that is a blend of Daedra and Aedra. We know they worship and highly revere Hircine, and at least one clan also worshipped Namira. Some (but perhaps not all) worshipped Molag Bal as well. That said, I do not believe it is a coincidence that in nearly every Forsworn location one can find shrines of Dibella. We might suppose that the Reachmen are desecrating those shrines, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The Forsworn look to be behaving reverently toward the shrines, and the animal carcasses and gore seem to be sacrifices made to Dibella at the shrines. Besides all that, how would the Forsworn know there was a new Dibellan Sybil, much less how and where to find her? And upon finding her, why keep her alive, guarded by a Briarheart, no less? And when Enmon asks his daughter, the new Sybil, if the Forsworn hurt her, she responds, "Of course not. My spirit remains strong." It seems clear to me that the heart of the Reachman/Forsworn pantheon is dualistic in nature, chaos and order in balance, represented by Hircine and Dibella, a Daedric Prince (chaos/change) and an Aedric goddess (order/stasis). Other Daedra and Aedra may be worshipped to greater and lesser degrees among the different clans, but Hircine and Dibella seem to be the only two constants.
@@pepeberlusconi1736 Correct. And Khajiiti cosmology makes no inherent distinction between the two, seeing most of them as liter mates, children of Ahnurr and Fadomai. Those that are regarded as evil or adversarial spirits are so for reasons other than "because Daedra."
@@HickoryDickory86 I know this is beyond late but eso does have a book that goes into forsworn gods and they are all daedra the main three that all clans worship are Hircine Peryite and Namira its actually quite an interesting religion and one of my favourites of any race.
@@placeholder2586 Late or not, I'm qlways happy to discuss Elder Scrolls lore. Thanks for that insight? Was there no mention of Dibella in the book? If not, I find that very odd and very much a missed opportunity on the developers'/writers' part.
@@HickoryDickory86 There wasn't any mention of dibella in fact the first book in the series kinda denounces the aedra outright but the books do go on to say that the clans do have different beliefs and ways of worship so it's possible the one clan we meet in the skyrim quest did worship her. If your interested the books are called: The great spirits of the reach. I believe there are three volumes but I could be forgetting one or 2. OK nevermind I checked there are 5 books not 3.
7:00 in ESO's Markarth expansion, the forsworn we help do in fact worship, or at least honor, several daedric princes including Hircine. So this theory is pretty much confirmed.
When you return to High Hrothgar to meet with Paarthurnax, it's Wulfgar that speaks up when Arngier refuses to allow it. I think that is another point in favor of Wulfgar being the friend writing the letters.
I got to Hag's End on accident when hopping through mountains trying to find Skyhaven Temple. I thought they'd be friendly because of the whole Cidna Mine thing... first actual Foreseorn I'd ever run into. I was wrong. Briarheart murdered me. Respawned and was more careful. Killed a couple of briarhearts and that hagraven. She'd obviously made the briarheart dude. All other camps disappointed me thenceforth.
This community is great. A dude who loves to provide new insight into skyrim and all his followers discussing it and adding new information like respectful people. Thank Talos for that.
I must have misinterpreted something somewhere, because I thought all Forsworn were Daedra worshipers. Maybe it was something about the briar heart rituals or whatnot.
The stable master outside Markarth speaks a bit about the forsworn and their "old ways." He says some of the traditions should be left in the past, and specifically mentions daedra worship. That is why I, like you, assumed all forsworn were daedra worshipers, and the old gods were in fact the daedra.
Their enemies all say they are daedric worshippers, but as Nate states, that is not confirmed in game. Maybe, like many other peoples, they had no overarching cosmology and various clans worship their clan totems, which may or may not be Aedra or Daedra. Animal worship, or gods in the shapes of animals (as in ancient Egypt), is not unusual in totemic systems.
I had come to assume the friend was THAT THING, one of the most powerful beings in all of Skyrim, the courier. (since they seem to always know your whereabouts) One time walking through the forest in Falkreath at night I just saw one standing there "nope sorry nothing"
If you chose to side with the Foresworn, Madanach and his hang will return to a place called Druadach Redoubt. I went there and none of the Foresworn attacked me they just kept repeating the words, "The Reach Will Be Ours Again!" I couldn't even find Madanach. Only a few of his followers were there. Also, I found a random location where I had to release a Hagraven named Melka because supposedly her sister Petra caged her and stole the castle tower from her. So, I battled along side Melka to get rid of the Foresworn but unfortunately Petra overcame Melka and killed her, I ended up killing Petra. But, I did get that nice staff off of Melka's corpse, it's called "Melka's Eye" pretty neat side quest to do if you think about it.
I always assumed it was a daedra with the l3tters. They're pretty weird as it is and it took me a long time to stop thinking they were traps and actually follow them.
I think the letters come from Talos himself. He is known to intervene in times of crisis and maniphesting himself to the great heroes in many forms (Wulf the Legionnaire in Morrowind, the Dragon that Martin Septim turns into in Oblivion). Maybe Talos wanted to make sure the Dragonborn is well-prepared to defeat Alduin?
I think the friend writing us those letters is the courier. He seems to check all those boxes for what you said about the friend and his capabilities and skills.
Its sadly no one. Its just a scripted event to get you another shout. Nate said it himself that you can shout in apocrypha and he can hear you?! That would make that person have EXTRAORDINARY power so it's no one. Well maybe PartySnaxx.
Ooooh you should check out the one theory about the 'Note from a friend' where they come to the conclusion that you are that friend. That you in the future used a shout or something (don't entirely remember it) to send yourself that note because only you can know where you were at that perticular moment in time.
I believe that it would be the Greybeards that would send out the notes, cause I'm pretty sure if you talk to Arngeir after you unlock the complete unrelenting force, he will have a text option asking about places of power, and he will point out to you where to go
Regarding the "Letter from a Friend" one, the fact that you can get a letter from anywhere, be it Apocrypha, Breezehome, Blackreach, or wherever the hell it is -- that's merely a consequence of the game's radiant engine. Beyond that, I always assumed it wasn't any particular person, just some random guy in whatever location the player Shouted. Some guy demonstrated a godly power (Thu'um) in Whiterun or whatever and and it gets the people talking. One person overhears the rumors at the tavern and just so happens to know about a word wall in a nearby tomb. This person then decides to write an anonymous letter to this "Dragonborn" giving him/her a friendly tip.
I'd like to imagine its actually Talos, back in Morrowind, you can actually encounter him in ghostgate before you go to the final showdown, Talos as an old soldier will give you a lucky coin. So I'd imagine Talos sends those letters, from one Dragonborn to another.
Man that narfee quest made me sad. Seeing him regress to the childlike state after his sister dying, and him not understanding who what when where why it happened.
Madenac was only a front to let the people of Markarth think that they are at a position of strength having the forsworn “leader” behind bars, but in reality the matriarch is in full control organizing her followers, relaying orders, and planning her take over with the perfect cover in “The King in Rags”.
With the addition of the Markarth DLC in ESO, they confirm in dialogue with both Caddach (The Reach King) and Arana (a Reachmen/Forsworn witch) that they worship Daedra over the Aedra. Specifically 4 different princes, Boethia, Molag Bal, Namira, and Hircine, considering them as "The Old Gods"
I love your content! It's always consistently good and there's such a relaxing feeling to your voice and I love learning more about Skyrim each time you upload! Great content and videos, keep up the good work!
It's simple: Madanach is a front, a distraction. With him imprisoned for so long, no one would have thought to go looking for some other unifying figure among the Forsworn, thereby keeping The Matriarch safe. It wouldn't be the first time a hidden power was manipulating a throne. Heck, it even seem to be happening with that vampire in the court of Solitude.
I didn't know it was a mystery who the Matriarch was, I always thought it was the Hagraven at Hag's End. I also just thought of her as a war leader type.
Addressing the knights of the nine, did anyone else notice that the dawnguards heavy armor looks very similar in structure, but its color matches that exact shade of the flag the warrior on top of the hill holds? And if they would've kept striking new threats that plagued the earth, they may have settled on vampires when they learned their skill? Also, if you pay attention to the dialogue when speaking to Isran, he mentions something about the elves. This supports your theory
I can't help but think that maybe the King in Rags was one time truly the king of the foresworn but the Matriarch took over while he was in jail. He just doesn't know it yet because he's been in there for so long. These people have no proper connection with the outside world. It would be so tragic but such a good story too if the guy thought he had legions loyal to him and only him but then he gets out and realises he has become irrelevant. Maybe he even put her in charge thinking that when he came back she would give him his throne back but she refused. Something juicy like that.
I think the letter from a friend is from Delphine. She had the resources, motivation, and she wouldn't want to be outed as a blade if the letter was intercepted
I thought the “old gods” referred to Kyne and her group. The old nord gods. I mean, we DO meet the hunter who kept up the traditions and transferred to us the way of how to receive them.
Kyne and Shor, and others, are the old NORDIC gods. The Reachmen identify with their Breton ancestors, not the Nords who invaded their land, even if there is some Nord DNA in their bloodlines.
Glitch Demon oh when you say phase u mean when you get addicted to a game and then a few days later just stop watching any video about it and not being interested anymore
@@missingindy with me it's more like a month or two, and even afterwards I'll still like the game, I just won't talk about it as much also I kinda regret saying that now because I feel like I'm being judged, and I most likely am, people are just like that
Probably not the first one to point this out, but Matriarch is a title, not a name. It means a women that runs a family. As a Patriarch would be a man that runs a family. Now ya know.
I’ve watched this more times than I like too admit but I have an idea about the note and quill with the graybeards. What if they just pass it around , like whoever’s speaking has the pen 😂
I liked the forsworn theory. Madanach is likely the Matriarch's thumb or forefinger of the fist she wields over the reach or perhaps the middle finger pointing at this theory. But, he is likely just the 'king' of one tribe within the forsworn collective. I think the Matriarch is not just one but many hagravens combined, an inner coven within the coven. Couldn't that be why our boss level hagraven in not uniquely named? I see her as the presence of the Matriarch at that location. One thing I do know is that I breathe a bit easier every single time I drop a hagraven. Whether it's the first many of us find at Orphan Rock, the twins creating a Briarheart at Lost Valley Redoubt, Drascua at Dead Crone Rock or the witch at Hag's End, suspected Matriarch, it's always a relief when they die. I liked the point about Wolfgar toting paper and quill. Fudgemuppet almost had me biting on the Woodland Man theory, almost. Thank you for raising additional doubt toward that notion. I always thought that Arngeir would not write those letters. But, I hadn't given much thought to the others. Finding that Wolfgar is the only one of them carrying paper and quill is intriguing. Thank you Nate. Adventure on friends, Phat
I'm glad I got this when it came out when I was 11, played over 3000 hours on my Xbox 360 originally and then my PC on steam. And still play to this day, almost 10 years later. Ahh Syrim I have glady used up many many hours of my life for you, after I get up I'm going to put some Burzum or Emperor on and axe some people.
That is the complete opposite of what is stated in the missive. The matriarch is the one with the army and despises political scheming. A sycophant is someone who licks upward and kicks downward to get what they want, politically.
@@Tatwinus It looks like there are actually factions among the Forsworn. One group, mostly located towards the eastern parts of the Reach, following the Matriarch and whose camps generally have a hagraven around somewhere. Another, mostly located towards the western parts, following Madenach with nary a hagraven in sight. This would explain the note despising those who deal with rabble., which is exactly what Madenach and his bunch are doing: making deals with the Silverbloods, who would certainly be considered rabble by any self-respecting Forsworn.
@@Tatwinus Well maybe madenach is political while the matriach is the general, either way, i think its likely that madenach is sort of like a second in command
How do we know the matriarch is a single person? Maybe a matriarch is like the forsworn version of a chief, and each matriarch mentioned is the chief of a different tribe. I mean, it seems like every major forsworn area has a hagraven at the very end, near some word wall or boss chest, like they are the leader of that place. Maybe those are the matriarchs.
I actually have a theory about Hermaeus Mora. In the beginning of the game, in the sky northwest of Whiterun when you’re on your way to Whiterun on the path to the city, you can see some strange dark cloud-looking spheres. I think they might be portals from apocrypha, where Hermaeus Mora is watching the player. I think the dark spheres could be spheres due to the fact that they open and close after a few seconds of being open. But that’s just my idea of what those spheres might be
