What Are THE ELDER SCROLLS? - Elder Scrolls Detective 

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Everyone: "Dont read it, you'll go blind" Last Dragonborn: "Lol watch me read 3 in a row"

Imagine reading an Elder Scroll, going blind; and the only thing you learn is Akatosh's favorite pie recipe.

maybe the real elder scrolls were the friends we made along the way

Actualy, the games are elder scrolls. Every game is a tale that you read (by playing) and your ability to save and replay is an example of scroll non-linear storytelling. We actualy can "read" every possible outcome by doing something and reloading the save... damn, more and more you think about it, more and more it start to make sense.

Sideeffects include but limited to, permanent blindness, tempory blindness, mental decay, mental enhancement, ranting, raving, screaming, internal pain, external pain, broken bones, damaged optical nerves, enhanced wisdom, useful information, worthless information, informal teaching, formal education, unorthodox sun blocking, wiping out the existence of one's self, extra scrolls, recipes, infinite number of knowledge, lack of self, destruction and fracturing of one's own mind, madness, oozing, weeping, imbalanced postures, death, diarrhea, explosive diarrhea, coughing, sneezing and fits of rage. If you experience one or more or any unlisted side effects please consult a local alchemist, apothecary, restoration school practitioner, local monastery, and or followers of Stendarr...if side effects persist consult a Daedric or Aedric being. Remember elder scrolls are not for everyone, please read responsibly. Results may vary.

I imagine the out-of-universe explaination is that the elder scrolls series isn't named after the elder scrolls, the games themselves are the scrolls: "It's a reflection of all possible futures (playthroughs) and all possible pasts. Each reader (player) sees different reflections through different lenses with a different reading altogether." I think they are a metaphor for the open world RPG format itself and the variance in individual experiences the games allow. This is nothing to do with what they are to people _within_ the game however. The one cool thing about this lore is how you only have the mortal races' impressions to go from, and not just characters parroting the writers' intentions for how it all works.

Before they were revealed in-game I've always thought of them as metafiction: that the stories we play are "told" through the elder scrolls like a story in a book.

"This can't be right. It said the dragon born butchered whiterun over 20 times out of boredom." "That's wierd I read that he did it over 30 times." "Nevermind it says that he saves the world from Alduin. We're good... I hope"

I bet the monk whose last reading was of the launch of Creation Club was pissed.

Does that mean a crash-to-desktop is actually a truthful falsehood?

Summary of the Elder Scrolls: "It just works."

An elderly man scrolling on his smartphone. The elder scrolls. I’ll leave now.

The next game is 'The Elder Scrolls VI: The Elder Scrolls"

I now understand the Elder Scrolls Said no men or mer ever.

10:36 How did the Dwemer figure out how to build a machine to extract info from the Elder Scrolls in the first place though? My Theory is that it has something to do with why they blinded and eventually wound up turning the Snow Elves into the Falmer. Perhaps in return for saving them from certain extinction the Snow Elves agreed to read the Elder Scrolls for their Dwemer Saviors until they could learn enough about the Scrolls to build those Extraction Machines. I know that the Snow Elves were supposedly made to eat a Fungus that blinded them but what if the Translation wasn't 100% accurate or maybe the Fungus was just code for the Elder Scrolls since they probably wouldn't want anyone to know about the source of their power or perhaps the Fungus had something to do with Reading the Scrolls.

I’ve stared at monitors for so long playing this game series for thousands of hours that I think my vision has gotten worse over the years. The games are “Elder Scrolls” indeed...🙂

I'm prolific for my poor analogies, lemme give this a shot. There's a folder on your computer. It's 100TB large. It contains hundreds of different types of files; photos, word documents, mp3, mp4, video games, gifs, webms, scripts, anything you can think of. You put a floppy disk in the computer, and try to drag the 100TB folder into the floppy drive, and obviously you can't. Not only was a floppy disk not meant for something this size, it also wasn't meant for the TYPES of information in the folder. Now, if you were able to put that folder on the floppy disk ANYWAY, that's what it would be like to read an Elder Scroll.

I knew it! My eyesight isn't so bad because I wasn't taking a proper care of my eyes! It got bad because I was reading an Elder Scroll all this time (for 355 hours according to Steam)!

One of the few McGuffins that work really well in story telling. Partly because interactive media is a bit more friendly to the concept by its nature

As someone who takes interest in physics, I'd say, that the Elder Scrolls sounds completely like something referring to quantum physics and more specifically the Copenhagen Interpretation. In quantum physics, it is theorized that every state of every particle is true at the same time until it is observed, when the wave function collapse occurs. Listen closely to this part 7:40 This is almost a definition of wave function collapse. I'm not the best at explaining stuff, so I'd advice you to do some research yourself and look at the similarities. My take? The Elder Scrolls are objects of quantum nature.

Ladies and gentlemen, things are about to become confusing!! Edit... I got a heart off of Camel, I'm now happy for the week :).

Wow, these 'Elder Scrolls' sound like a great idea, i bet you could make a really great, but incredibly buggy, series of games with them in the title. Oh! But not have any of these Elder Scrolls appear until the fourth game in the series.

i like to think of it like this: elder scrolls contain every single thing ever, whenever someone thinks of something it is written in a scroll, if that thing so happens at any point in the single existing timeline it will be available to read, and the scroll itself will become a physical thing in the universe, if something does happens that makes another thought or idea impossible, the scroll simply vanishes from reality at whatever point the said event becomes impossible, and someone can only read an elder scroll without being damaged is when they have a specific part in making that event become reality. For example, an elder scroll about Alduin winning exists as people thought he might win, however that scroll disappears from reality as soon as the dragonborn kills alduin making that other reality impossible. the scroll that predicted that the dragonborn would win (the one labeled dragon in game) becomes a physical object in reality and is more or less just an indestructible history book. The reason the dragonborn can read that scroll without becoming mad or blind is because he is a direct part of it, furthermore i think the scrolls have a one time use that will allow whatever "legend" written in said scroll can use to help that prophecy become true (ex: dragonborn uses it to go back in time and read a map to auriels bow) but after that use it really becomes useless. Further proof is when the evil snow elf (i forgot his name) revealed that he was the one that invented the blood-sun prophecy simple means he thought of the idea (so it appeared on an elder scroll) and manipulated the world according to plan to make sure that the plan would become truth (which it can be because u can shoot the sun with the arrow and make it black for a short period of time - hence why it is still a true prophecy and does not vanish from reality). In the end the elder scrolls hold all things imaginable and the real events stay put while the fake events vanish, and the gods imbue certain scrolls with power that will help the prophecy of those scrolls make it true (so basically divine intervention to help the universe last as long as possible) so things like alduin destroying the world dont happen. ik this is super long but its just a cool idea and i hope at least one person reads it. let me know if u do!

20:50 I'm sure you were looking at the "amulet of the elder council".

When I hear 'Exceeded the Adra and Deadra' I just hear that the Elder Scrolls are the developers of the games themselves.

I just can't imagine dragons reading an Elder Scroll without laughing

11:55 - Ok bro, this is awesome. You actually got me thinking about something in the games that I'd never considered. If using their devices produced a more definite and unequivocal vision of the future, and the Dwemer couldn't cope with what they were seeing, and spent more and more time and energy looking at the future in the hopes of changing it, they could easily have brought on their own doom - or foresaw the only way to escape the doom that was coming was to leave everything an Elder Scroll could reflect behind and jump to a different narrative/worldtrack/path and position in possible spacetimes.

Martin also makes mention at the end of the OC where he states that YOU are the scribe of the next elder scroll, that the hero is the scribe of the elder scrolls as they write out history. Awesome video! Auriel came to the convention at the dawn with an armful of elder scrolls as well, yet they are also explained that some Ehlnofey who became earth bones also became elder scrolls.

Imagine beeing the librarian in the imperial archives beeing like: hey there are 2 new elder scrolls number 5 one is called VR and the other one switch. I wonder what those are.

*Reads Elder Scroll* "This will make you become blind" Me: Wtf

I love how the box arts for Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim and Online look like ancient book covers. Really makes the games feel like a doorway into the world of Nirn. Shame they never made remaster covers like that for Arena, Daggerfall and the spin-offs. Would make owning them like having a library of gaming novels

"I'll leave that to the philosophers, i.e. The RU-vid comment section." This videos dialogue is so underrated

It's interesting that the devs can just point to the Elder Scrolls whenever something ingame doesn't make a ton of sense, and we can't argue with it because "Elder Scrolls." I say it's interesting because isn't that what the fans have been saying in reference to the games' unexplained bugs for years? "Why does Skyrim have so many unsolved bugs?" "Because it's an Elder Scrolls game"

So that is in a elder scroll: The Console Command.

The Elder Scrolls VI: Plot Device

"The game itself is an Elder Scroll" I freaking love this. What a realization.

I'd say, ignoring the whole narration device aspect, that the scrolls are fragments of time itself, existing in no specific point in time, but exist in infinite points in time, existing in the past, present, and future simultaneously, and so showing every possible past and future

They're also said to be indestructible so you could potentially run around with elder scrolls wrapped around you and be invincible

@6:36 this is incredibly interesting to hear and reminds me of Personality Therapy. basicly its Therapy/meditation to regain Agency over one's own life (when for example you're struggling to get things done or are struggling with an addiction) In this Meditative state you're tasked with collecting and gathering everything that makes YOU believe to be part of you. good and bad, past and present, your past dreams hopes or love's and your future hopes dreams ambitions etc. The idea is to let go of them, all of them. By letting go you'll unburden yourself of the principle of past self (my past makes me now and therefore i limit myself ''we do this without thinking'') and releasing the idea of the perfect future you for your view of who YOU should be is not who you ARE. but rather the collection of ideals this world has made you believe to follow and adhere which are usually impossible to follow. (think about advertisements, the 'perfect' male or female body etc ) by letting go of these 2 principles you're more free to choose your own life in the here and now, which is the only time and place that actually matters if one wants to create change. and this is ofcourse always changing. This therapy helps you write down that what you believe to be yourself, what you want to be, have been, and maybe never will be. how you look at yourself and your past and ideal future, shapes who you are now, in that sense these lives or ideals have existed but at the same time they're only a fraction of your imagination and confronting them allows us to choose directly the path we want in that very moment as we become self aware of our own identity and habits and how they where created, Yet at the same time by acknowledging the artificial means of our actions we also disprove them as being a true part of our personality. They are real.. you are real.. but only for as long as you allow that to be you. The Elder Scrolls reminds me alot of these principles.

Think about this: The snow elf you have to kill in Dawnguard somehow got the prophecy he made imprinted in them and nothing explains it, also what about his explody powers he has? It’s not due to vampirism, can all snow elves just self detonate big enough to destroy a whole cathedral?

Make a lore about nirnroot noises damnit!

The Elder Scrolls are the developers They hold great power because they made the world They existed before the daedra and aedra because they thought up the daedra and aedra They predict all possible pasts presents and futures with ideas for the game that were scrapped They cause damage to the reader so they don't see too much and break the fourth wall I could think of more proof but im lazy so you can do it

Camel, I think this is your best video to date. Well done, man! I was glued to the screen, because (appropriately) you were delving into the biggest mystery of the entire game series. :) I really enjoyed how you explained what they are both in world and in ours. Again, excellent job!

The scrolls remind me of a wave function collapse. Unknowable until it has been observed. In the case of the scroll, the future is uncertain until it has occured.

an elder scroll is basically a high level Calculus text-book

magnus made the blueprints for all of creation right? what if the scrolls ARE those blueprints?

I think an interesting idea for a video in this series would be the 13 standing stones of Skyrim. What are they exactly? Where do their powers come from? Were they named after legends or people in the history of Tamriel. As far as I know the only people who mention them are Ralof and Hadvar at the beginning of the game and I'm not sure if there are any books or in game trivia about them

@ 10:40, I definitely heard "Long ago, the Dwemer devised a MEME."

I just took the Elder Scrolls to be a set of scrolls that depicted large events throughout Nirn's history. They change constantly, hence no clear reading because times change constantly and each impact each person has on the world causes them to change - kind of like the butterfly effect. This means that the power that the Elder Scrolls possess is that of every possibility in the universe, all magic, all power, all times but change so quickly that they are unable to be read. The sheer volume of information they contain is what drives people insane when they read it.

Why do the scrolls sound more and more like quarks and quantum particles. Completely unknown unless you are directly observing them. No one knows much about them. They control all of creation and time and space. They appear and disappear randomly. They are immensely powerful. Most people can't read/understand them. Are we sure the scrolls aren't just a metaphysical embodiment of quantum mechanics in Nirn and oblivion. The dwemer were researching heavily. And they are nuclear physisits.

The question is how did that Vampiric Snow Elf in the Forgotten Vale create the prophecy within the scrolls we read during the Dawnguard questline?

I always figured they were a physical manifestation or Nirns reality, which is why they constantly vary in number, power, what they reveal to an individual, and the effect they have on people. They are in essence a GUI button giving access to Nirns "code".

The falsehoods are glitched saves that we try so hard to fix XD

It's basically the Akashic Records of the Nasuverse. Well a piece of the Root at least.

your description of an elder scroll @2:55 is amazing. what a solid way to Integrate a writing and game development tool into the game universe its self

Your voice is so chill and you pick the best music to listen to late at night chilling before bed

It's actually godly meme that no one can understand besides godly beings

*Giant smashed you into the clouds* Dragonborn: wtf Elder scroll: yeah...about that..

This was pretty informative! Thanks for uploading!

God, this video must have been such a pain to research. When Camel googles Elder Scrolls you have to get sooo many useless and totally unrelated searchresults. Excellent video, thank you. :)

The Elder Scroll is the game itself, and all it encompasses. And all games to come.

Love the depth of your videos.

It’s so crazy how good he is at making me watch the entirety of each and every one of his videos.

But then will i get blind if i look directly at my skyrim disk?

The Scrolls are like the strands of fate woven into parchment. How they came to be is unknown but the events they show could be from any time in the past , present , or future. Each one has strands of certain fate woven into them, or promenintly display prophecys of very specific events and the fate surrounding them.

This is my most favorite tes video. Thank you a lot!

Goddamn, I love these videos!! Good stuff. Thank you for such intelligent and professional work.

I literally love you. Haven't even watched the video yet but I liked it. Thank you for all that you do.

It's basically LSD, only in scroll form, and with horrible side effects should the user not be ready for their trip

I love the Elder Scrolls Series, I just can't get enough and I really like these Lore Videos!

"You will understand women when you understand Elder Scrolls" - Skyrim Proverb (Or it should be)

Do the Elder Scrolls explain why characters and objects in Skyrim never seem to actually touch the ground? To me that is the biggest mystery that needs solving.

Do a video on the creation of Lorkhans body (attempt one) and attempt two and explain more about the Heart of Lorkhan and why everyone wanted it so bad

i realize this is a very old video and chances are you wont see this, but i love the touch about the games themselves being elder scrolls. i mean it is literally right there on the cover for us to see. so obvious but never a point i had considered. love the vids, just recently found your channel and am enjoying every second. keep up the great work!

I’ve just hit this channel last weekend and i already love it great videos 👌,like and subscribed .

i really want a eye of magnus lore vid:(

Camel always delivers

Was not expecting to hear a reference to Deep Space 9's Garak at 3:05. I love it!

They are fragments of Shor/Lorkhan thoughts and ideas for the future of his creation of mundus. Which is why only the dragonborn/Shezzarine can read it without real harm.

Someone needs to go ask Mora what tf they are

"On Today's episode of My Strange Addiction, 14 year old girl" (me) "addicted to the lore and history of the fictional video game series, 'The Elder Scrolls'..." I swear, I could become a famous scholar if I were to apply this ability to real life and not a video game...

Anybody else notice the big statue of Auriel/Akatosh in the snow elf temple in Dawnguard is holding a draw knife? Almost like Akatosh devised the method of using the ancestor moths to read the Elder Scrolls...

Love the vid especially the last part which i kinda saw coming. But really nail on the head. They always existed in the world but dont exist(how the game is both a real object and a fictional world) every reader sees something different(all players should create totally different stories from playing) the unchanging nature after things have past(the memories of your journey that youll look back to as you the first place you saw a giant or dragon) going mad or blind for the weak (how the addictive nature is one of the few single player games rumored to ruin lives)

Not gonna lie. I completely forgot the elder scrolls existed.

That one guy who used an elder scroll as toilet paper

Even after all this time I still like to listen to your Skyrim videos while I play.

Very interesting video man

I'm playing Skyrim right now I want to know if Elder Scrolls predicted that the damn door to Castle volkihar won't open and I can't progress through the Dawnguard questline

I think the Elder Scrolls was a name added onto Arenas box to make it sound fancy.. Actually I know it was

Loved the video! Technically one could argue that the scrolls have too much of a practical use or impact to be a macguffin (timeshifting Alduin for example) but I can definitely see them being designed as a be all end all plot device to some degree haha. Also it‘s just really cool for a fantasy world to retain some fantastic elements that can‘t be entirely explained by their design or creators

I've always liked to think of the Elder Scrolls as the Elder Scrolls games code, inturned in an in-game form. Thats always made it quite interesting when playing through the games for me, as it would be quite understandable that viewing the script running your own universe (and therefore realising that your universe is a video game) would send most people completely insane. Its a fun way to look at it, at least for me.

could it be that an elder scrolls is one of Magnus's tools to create Nirn? a recording device to record everything that would and already happened? I mean the eye of magnus has the power to unmake the world, I wouldnt be surprised if the elder scrolls are one of Magnus's tools.

I've always interpreted Elder Scrolls to hold information and knowledge of what could happen much like possibilities in the "Many Worlds" interpretation of Quantum Physics. imagine reading that much information or only a certain path of a trajectory of events within a numerous bundle of paths. that would make sense as to why people in the game go insane when they try to tap into the insight of an elder scroll.

i havent played elder scrolls too much because dont have alot of time, but i love everything about it, its so close to my heart and feels right, the lore, characters, and most importantly the beautiful zones and landscapes, it just has so nice feeling...

I had a dream once where it was explained to me that the Elder Scrolls are blueprints for all reality and existence. How an unknown entity of absolute power created them for the universe to actually have a point, how the Dwemer learned the secrets therein by reading them and that this is the reason why they all disappeared. Something about ascending to a form of divinity by "returning to the Source."

So each player is living out one of the possibilities in the elderscrolls, so we are each playing out our viewing of the elder scroll or are we writing the scroll as we play

Since no one sees the same thing in an Elder Scroll does that mean at 7:33 we dont see the same thing on the screen🤯🤯🤷🏽‍♂️

It also reflects/represents a save if you think about it, it knows of events to come or is unsure of the outcome until the act has been completed

While you were talking over the visuals, I noticed that the spinning trails of the scroll in Winterhold form a helix.