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Honestly, I always thought Florentius is just delusional, some of his dialogue with Arkay is making the God of life and death funny or just plain hitting the fourth wall. 😂
I remember the first time I got that kidnapped quest from Florentius. He told me, "Arkay has grave news, my friend. Your wife, kidnapped." Now, my wife was Mjoll the Lioness, and she was my active Follower, and she was clad in enchanted Daedric Armor, carrying a Dragonbone Battleaxe. Sure enough, I turned around, and she was gone, kidnapped in broad daylight, from Fort Dawnguard. This vampire could have given Batman some pointers on stealth to pull that one off. Sure enough, she was right where he said. So I am inclined to believe he's getting tips from Arkay.
@@BunBun299 Oh, Yeah! Been so for years! Used to have Oblivion on my old X-BOX 360, before that F-ING Red Ring of Death! Skyrim on my PS3, NOW, the Anniversary Edition on my Switch and PS4! Looking forward to Elder Scrolls 6! I was binging Elder Scrolls vids on YT, and I ran into you! I was like:' No Way!' I had to say "SUP" at least! Running into a member of Doomcock's Crew, here, was so cool!
@@marystone860 Still play it to this day on my Switch and Xbox One. Love coming up with new Dragonborns. In under a month, I will own an Xbox Series X, I'm hoping it can handle more mods than my XBONE can. Or at least, handle them better and crash less.
I'd rule Meridia out purely for the fact that she's far too vain to masquerade as anyone else. If Meridia wants you to kill vampires she will tell you to do it in her name and thank her for the opportunity.
Could be a worshiper of Meridia it is proven in the Greymoor chapter that Mount Kilkreath use to have a LARGE group of followers of Meridia what would stop them from changing location after the Harrowstorm with the few survivors and rebuilding and doing something like this to do their misteress’ work?
Honestly that’s not even that unlikely. Just activate that one spell that damages vampires when they’re near you and start swinging. it’ll probably work
@@plate_fox I can imagine in-universe Florentius (as opposed in-game Florentius, with game mechanic limitations) just running around and smiting vampires, like an angel smiting demons Supernatural-style.
It gets weirder when you factor in there's literally a vampire in Skyrim in one of the quest dungeons who was previously a vampire slayer who amongst some of his greatest feats did literally just that. With a book even telling of how he got vamped, no less.
@@aleyoakenshield5384 You know that vampire you have to slay for the Morthal Quest where you have to figure out what happened to the burned house? The book Immortal Blood tells his story. He slays many vamps, even a Volkihar Clan Vampire.
I was just there. Was in that one ruined tower in Falkreach, open the chest. some gold, a ruby, and that stupid football. Thought about it for a while. At least I know where it is. But then, the sward you'll get is nice
@@OlDirtyRJ when you’re towards the end of the dlc and leading the assault towards the keep. Before you enter the keep. Florentius stays at the docks and says that if your talk to him.
Arkay and I will take care of the little ones! You find the leader! - that's what he says. But yeah, the little ones are already taken care of so he just stays near castle entrance doing nothing)
Unless I missed it, you left out Florentius saying, "Arkay's been watching over me for years, now. He says he's not too sure about you yet, though." That one always makes me smile. Maybe I'll start hearing from Arkay, once he's sure about me.
In mara's sidequest, the priestess of mara sends the dragonborn to Fastred in Ivarstead. When speaking to her, she tells the dragonborn that, after praying to Mara, Mara told her she was sending someone to come and see her. Sounds like direct communication, both for the priestess, and Fastred.
I forgot it when you put out the question on mortal communication with Aedra, but Runil, the priest of Arkay in Falkreath, does have a journal with an accurate future prediction of the coming of Alduin and the Dragonborn walking into the graveyard while he conducts a ceremony. Since Runil and the guy in Hammerfell are both Akray's priests, and both receive information seemingly from him, Florentius doesn't seem nearly as hard to believe.
@@ralcogaming7674 Florentius mentioned something about reading old books for that information on old Dawnguard artifacts. The fact that he can suddenly know the exact location of someone you happen to know, who happens to be kidnapped, without having any kind of superpowered long-distance scrying or anything, is still definitely good evidence that Arkay talks to Florentius.
The thing I find most confusing about Flortentius is that... Well, he's not really a priest, is he? Basically every case of Daedric or Aedric intervention involves a lot of pomp and circumstance. Flinging you into the sky and yelling *A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON* and all that sort of thing. The Sybil of Dibella is a clear reference to the Sibyls of antiquity, who, when they are described, it's pretty clear that they're raving madwomen who achieve divine communication through a whole bunch of drugs. Flortentius talks to Arkay like a friend, he even *disagrees* with Arkay. That's not something you do when you're talking to a god, especially not a god you're supposed revere. I'm honestly not sure if this makes his case more or less convincing. It seems clear to me that he's being watched over by *something,* but the manner is totally unlike anything else I can think of.
@@firetarrasque4667 Cough cough, the Nerevarine literally interacts with Mara and I think Zenithar in the Imperial Oracle's quests, and Ol' Talos himself comes down as Wulf (an old veteran legionaire that no one else notices) to have a leisurely chat at the Ghostgate with the Nerevarine, dropping a hint that he's/the Empire's getting old and it's time to retire and let new blood take over. (I'm still mad that we'll probably never get a "Second Resdayn Empire" or something with the Nerevarine at the helm to make good on Wulf's assessment that the Nerevarine has what it takes.)
19:00 - Another example is Barbas. "Did you just talk?" "Skyrim is now host to giant, flying lizards and two-legged cat-men... and you're surprised by me? Yes. I just talked. And am continuing to do so."
The knights of the nine dlc has one of the knights talk about being told how to do one of the trials. The one where you need the boots to get the other piece.
I think Arkay does just pick random Priests to bond to. He just simply doesn't care if people believe if the "Prophet" is believed or not. Since Arkays sphere of influence isn't one that needs a lot of enforcing. People die, people live. It's merely something that happens. Necromancy is one of the only true slights against him, and Florentius deals with that. Not in a grand matter, that is. But what would Florentius do which the Dragonborn couldn't already do? That is, unless he did kill 30 Vampires with his bare hands.
The part about him killing 30 vampires with his bare hands is an obvious meme which never happened since the DB cannot speak to Arkay and disprove the story.
Lamae Bal (after her transformation) calls out to Arkay, seemingly expecting a verbal response. She obviously does not get one however she seems to believe that divine communication should be part of her role as a priestess, potentially indicating past communion with the deity.
There's also the part where Arch-Curate Vythur, the Snow Elf you have to fight near the end of the Dawnguard DLC, boasts that he once "had the ears of a god" which implies that it's not uncommon for the Aedra to speak directly to particularly pious followers, but that things can happen that cause said Aedra to turn their backs on their chosen followers. The biggest ones, though, seem to be that direct action from a Daedra (such as Molag Bal creating vampires or Hircine's lycanthropy) can completely sever the ties between a mortal and their most revered Aedric diety, while powerful warlocks can twist the minds of a god's followers. In Vythur's case, when you kill him he might ask Auri-el for forgiveness, which suggests that he still held the god in high esteem in spite of planning out a revenge plot spanning centuries, so it could be that he truly *did* at one point speak directly to Auri-El like Florentius speaks to Arkay. It seems that Molag Bal has some interesting habit of targeting people with those connections to the Aedra as Florentius ends up dying with the Dawnguard if you side with the Volkihar clan.
Personally, I like to take him at his word, and I do believe he speaks with Arkay. I find it a bit of a stretch to say it's a Daedra speaking to him masquerading as Arkay, since there's not too many instances of that happening before, and most Daedra are very egotistical. Meridia in particular *absolutely* likes to maker her presence known, and loves the adoration of mortals. She practically says as much when you bring her the beacon. Also, we have no way of knowing whether 'Arkay' started talking to Florentius before or after he became a priest. If it was before, it would make no sense for a Daedra to show up out of the blue posing as a random Aedra to trick random mortals. Lastly, if we want to entertain the idea of Florentius's dead vampire great great grandfather speaking to him from Coldharbour, we'd need to know if that's even possible. Do we have any instances of regular souls trapped in Oblivion somehow telepathically communicating with mortals on Nirn? I've never heard of it before. Now while it might not be entirely likely that Arkay would choose Florentius of all people to be his champion, we must keep in mind that he claims to have killed 30 vampires with his bare hands. While this may seem too preposterous to be true, if it somehow is, I'd say that makes him a rather formidable warrior of Arkay. After all, would such a claim sound so preposterous coming from the Dragonborn? Or the Hero of Kvatch? If they can perform amazing feats of strength with divine help, what's to say that Florentius can't?
The only thing that (for me,) doesn't make sense about it is why he's there at the fight where the Volkihar vampires come to destroy the Dawnguard. I mean if Arkay was talking to him it'd make sense for him to tell Florentius to leave the Fort as it's too dangerous for him to be there any longer. But on the same hand Arkay could've decided he used up his usefulness. Or it just could've been an oversight from Bethesdas, but I genuinely think Arkay does speak to Florentius.
@@babygurleatsshickennuggits4201 Arkay might have wanted Florentius to stay and fight, even if he had little chance of surviving, as the fight against the Vampires is a fight worth dying for in the eyes of the god of death.
There is a book that says something about someone visiting many, if not all, plains of oblivion while maintaining a telepathic connection with his assistant. I don't remember the name of the book
I have a theory: Maybe the gods way of speaking to mortals is less about talking directly to them, but rather intuitively letting them know their will. Maybe Florentius (and other most devout followers) have an unnatural understanding of how to enact their gods will - be it casting a spell, sharing information or waiting for a hero to come by in a specific spot. Now Florentius would be a bit more special than that.. He may have a few screws loose to begin with. Instead of understanding Arkays will intuitively, he hears a voice in his head. This voice would not be Arkay himself, but instead it's the odd way how Florentius mind perceives the godly intuition.
I think it would be cool if there was some deadric bet going on, like Sheogorath strolls up to Clavacus and says “I bet you ten souls I can convince this priest I’m Arkay” or something stupid like that
Sheo is known to make bets with the other Princes, usually specifically to fuck with them out of boredom. I would not be the least bit surprised if this was true, as there is the precedent.
@MoonspiritX Since Clavicus Viles sphere encompasses bargains and deals, it would impossible for Vile to say no if someone or even Sheo himself made a bargain with him.
honestly its a pretty solid guess. the only thing is, usually when a daedric prince speaks to a mortal its to do their bidding or do something specific for them, or at least brainwash them, and not to just chat and be mildly helpful. but anything is possible, and maybe he went on a rampage after the events of dawnguard, or something edit: perhaps it was a prince (clavicus?) and meridia, giving her somewhat more reason to make the bet, being able to also somewhat assist in wiping out undead.
I think he is. He knows things that he couldn’t otherwise know. He knew the location of vampire combatting weapons, he knew when vampires kidnapping your friends or spouses, he knew of the existence of fort dawguard and its location without you telling him. He’s a master trainer in restoration magic. I doubt a daedra would teach him these things and I don’t think he’s lying either.
You also generally in my experience get the wherabouts of fort dawnguard from town guards. I do think he speaks to arkay, but that specific example seems like something that was never truly secret, considering he could just ask for directions at some point as most guards especially in the rift SHOULD know the existence of a nearby fort. Why else would they say theyre considering joining if its a hidden location?, i think in that case they would choose to have guards talk about the fort in a more rumor-y way than a "go there if you wanna fight vampires" type of way maybe thats more about game mechanics than lore though🤷🏽♂️ in the end i still choose to believe Florentius
Man, all I've ever wanted out of life in Tamriel is to talk to the Aedra firsthand, especially by visiting their plane(t)s in the Mundus. Talking to aspects of Talos and especially Zenithar in Morrowind were some of my favorite things in the series, but actually interacting with the Divines in their own realms, where assumedly they're more conscious or "awake" than they are from the reference point of Nirn? That's the dream, man. That's the dream. Lol
@@realzachfluke1 well we do speak to Tsun aka Zenithar in Aetherius/ Sovngarde. Originally the LDB was supposed to speak to Shor in Sovngarde but apparently some guy in the dev team thought that's a bad idea for some reason so they cut it from the game. The code still exists within the game though.
Dinya's visions definitely aren't from word of mouth or direct requests, considering the last of the couples she has you help are ghosts of people that died during an "Ancient War"
Bruh, the moment I use that blanket my brain will turn to mush as I'll just see a hazy vision of the scroll and it will definitely turn me even more insane than I am now.
@@chrisharris6425 that wouldn't fly anymore today. Skyrim graphics already need hundreds of mods to be acceptable. From general graphic effects, over textures to animation smoothing. And while I personally like the Skyrim controls, one of the currently most popular mods is a complete combat and movement overhaul to be more action oriented. Let's wait what Starfield can do and maybe use that for your remaster instead.
Yeah there's a surprising number of unique voices in Dawnguard given to minor characters. Wish there was more of that in places where it would have mattered more (MERCER, Madanach, etc)
Yes, it definitely breaks immersion when so many characters have the same voice actor. Sometimes they do a good job of obscuring it--sometimes they don't.
I'd really like to think he does speak with Arkay, And love the idea he talks to him so casually, like a bro However I did find it a little sus that despite how frequently Arkay gives him visions Arkay didnt tip off to him like "hey just so you know those vigilants are being controlled by an evil warlock" back in Ruunvald
@@kin9_derp952 Arkay, or any of the Divines, quite literally have no control over destiny, they can't "send," someone to help another person unless they were to directly speak to the Dragonborn and tell him to go, which he didn't. The Divines are not like the modern christian god, they are not all knowing, except for Akatosh, who also refuses to change Destiny or directly get involved with mortal affairs.
Personally, I've always enjoyed the idea of it being Sheogorath fucking with him for shits and giggles and when he finally dies he ends up in the Shivering Isles and is just so so confused. Sheo is there to meet him and just laughs in his face as he completely fails to understand the realm around him, falling further and further into insanity and denial, refusing to believe that all along he's been listening to a Deadric Prince and not Arkay at all. He goes through all the stages of grief at once, all except for acceptance. And just imagine meeting a character like that when playing through the Shivering Isles Oblivion DLC! An insane priest of Arkay trapped in the realm of madness and refusing to accept the reality of his situation, insisting that this is all just a mix-up and Arkay will save him soon. ...Hopefully. Maybe. Surely! Surely he will! He just has to... wait. Or maybe even insisting that everything is okay, that this is what Arkay wanted, that this is all the doing of Arkay, not of Sheogorath, willfully blinded to the madness.
I think the gravity of the Tyranny of the Sun prophecy would suggest it most certainly is Arkay. Edit: The Aedra are 'gods' but they aren't omnipotent. They require avatars and artifacts to channel their will through in the Elder Scrolls. Arkay actually is canonically successful with the little assistance he provides through Florentius. We successfully stop the prophecy from coming to fruition; Arkay is indirectly victorious. The dragon that fights Mehrunes Dagon only exists through the lifeforce of Martin Septim and the Amulet of Kings. Akatosh can't just call fire down.
I will say florentius quests that are like “Arkay told me this” always felt more believable because he just knew my friends were in trouble? He just knew what cave this hammer was in? Yeah plenty of other quests give you precise locations but they usually have a pretty good reason for knowing at least the general vicinity and the quest marker pointing to the exact location is just too much hand holding by the devs. I always felt like Arkay was the reason he knew about the quest and Bethesda is the reason we know which chest the hammer has to be in. Once florentius gave us the opportunities to go get the special dawngaurd weapons his use was fulfilled and no longer under Arkay’s protection. Damn divines
In terms of knowing where people are, it is divine intervention. When you rescue the person, they sometimes say that NO one knew where they were, and that they were very surprised you knew where to find them. If they went out on a hike, and no one knew where they were, since no bounty letter was made, how could of Florentius of known their location (other than with divine intervention)?
Have we already had a detective series about the skeleton under the bridge to the cloud district in whiterun ? Who he was who killed him how he got there ? That would be SO interesting
I recall seeing someone discuss Maven Black-Briar sending threatening letters to someone in Whites in and they speculate she had them killed because that person doesn't exist in the game.
I have a hard time believing the “quest givers knowing things they shouldn’t” part as for as much as I remember none of the quest givers actually tell you the location you are going to unless they literally actually do know the location. For example: all of the book fetch quests, none of the people actually tell you where to go, the game just is programmed to show you a location. Same as the Dawnguard who know of the stashes, it is also possible and more probable that they only know because of Florentius telling them. Plus can we really say he doesn’t speak with Arkay when the Dragonborn is suggested to be an incarnation of Akatash.
The fetch quests really make me miss Morrowind. Granted it pissed me off sometimes but you’d often get a vague clue and would have to go ask around to hone in. It actually felt like an accomplishment
@@HickoryDickory86 aye, but Lorkhan/Shot/Shezzar has little to no control over it, right? He's "dead" or at least diluted on Nirn, so the Shezzarines are kinda "independent" from Divine will (or maybe I'm wrong), while Dragonborns wherever and whenever Akatosh wants. Although... Yeah, he's weird. Why did he let Alduin and the dragons enslave men? Why did he let Miraak do all of that? And most importantly: if Alduin's purpose is destroying the world, why did he made us to stop it?
@@elessartelcontar147 i have no idea about the shezzarines, but perhaps akatosh changed his mind and decided it wasn't time for the kalpar to end after seeing how alduin acted?
@@alfonzoleopold9566 I look for this video, that's interesting. Being a Shezzarine and a Dragonborn simultaneously tho... I mean, Tiber Septim was a Dragonborn that ended up mantling Lorkham/Shezzar/Shor, but only through the Oversoul that included the soul of a Shezzarine, so who knows?
Didn’t the Aedra give up a majority of their power in creating Nirn? I realize that in the case of Akatosh vs Mehrunes Dagon he was insanely powerful, but wasn’t there a ritual that Martin Septim and the Hero of Kvatch had to perform for that to happen? My point is that the Aedra don’t have much power left and therefore can only help in very subtle ways.
no ritual, that was for accessing Camoran's plane of Oblivion and retrieving the amulet of kings. In the final act of Oblivion's main quest, Martin just prays to Akatosh and shatters the Amulet, becoming Akatosh's avatar. Keyword, avatar. Just a portion of Akatosh's power was enough to defeat true form Dagon. Talos is an Aedra and he still retains his powers. Zenithar also show up in Morrowind as avatars and give the player some strong artifacts.
Not really give up their power as much as are using the majority of it keeping it stable. They became the earthbones. Likely if they left their power would return to them but if they left we'd.... Well die.
@@buddha3209 that a separate gods the Main Aedra lost half of their power creating Nirn and the Other Nameless Aedra lost their bodies And Powers becoming the Earthbones of Nirn. kynareth/Kyn might be an Earthbone or at the least has Earthbones doing her bidding making her the God of Nature. Meridia is also and Aedra but got cast out.
Arkay is a bit different. Some sources says he was originally a man whose apotheosis was granted by Mara, some others makes him a son of Akatatosh, so chances are, he might have not contributed to the creation of Nirn the exact same way the other Divines have and might have kept the ability to communicate to mortals in a more clear way. However there'd be one massive plothole, and that'd be why the Thalmor would let him keep his place in the pantheon of the Nine Divines, but not Talos?
I think it’s possible arkay could be just feeling really guilty for allowing the creation of vampires, and what was done to his priestess. I think it’s possible that Arkay now takes a more hands on approach to make up for it. I got no evidence just a guess.
been playing since Oblivion as well, and while I don't mix those two up, I do pretty consistently call Akatosh 'Martin' whenever I see his statue. Hopefully Akatosh has a sense of humor.
"Auriel, Auri-El, Alkosh, Akatosh... so many different names for the sovereign of the snow elves." Knight-Paladin Gelebor. So it can be confusing, at times.
When I went through Ruunvald I snuck past all the hypnotized vigilants to spare their lives. Needless to say I was pretty annoyed when they all just dropped dead as soon as I killed the witch at the end.
Means it was more likely necromancy than mind control. When you destroy a necromancer, their undead minions fall with them. Their souls were already lost and all you could do is lay their bodies to rest.
A year late, but Kyne wil also grant a sapling to replace the dying gildergreen in Whiterun, but only if a man who was pious to her pray to the eldergleam
12:56 Always these damned High Elves... Minorne, the predator from Yngvild, Arondil, the sadist, who burns people for his own satisfaction, Elenwen, Ancano, the Thalmor in general... Mankar Camoran and Mannimarco were also ones of the main antagonists. No other race shares so many diabolical maniacs as the Altmer
As far as interaction with the Divines gos you're forgeting the Prphet from the Knights of the Nine DLC in Oblivion. The Prophet speaks on behalf of the 8 and 1. And at the end of the quest when you head off to face Umaril you use Talos blessing to follow Umaril back to his plane of Oblivion to slay him once and for all.
I have two theories: One is that it IS Arkay, who is speaking with him on entirely non-vampiric matters. But thought it prudent to send him to lend aid to the Dawnguard, given the chance. He doesn't need to lend any more aid than he already is, if the Dawnguard has the dragonborn, and if the vampires do... Why would the god of life and death get in the way of the cycle? Arkay is a big picture god. The other is that it's Sheogorath. Florentius acts a little insane, and Sheogorath would most likely find the whole matter endlessly amusing. And wouldn't really care if his toy got broken. Mortals are always replacing themselves, after all.
I'll just say one thing: If he's not speaking to Arkay, how the hell does he know where those nice Dawnguard toys are? Arkay would have an interest in a former priest alligned with the Vigilants and Dawnguard as the God of Life and Death if he's seeking to prevent undeads from messing with the balance of nature.
43:00 I feel like this theory with Lemay would also explain why Florentino wasn't charmed by Minorn; if you're already charmed by a vampire you can't be charmed again.
You mention this: The Divine, the Aedra Dibella, speaks to her Sybil that you have to save and bring back to Dibella's temple in Markarth. I'm SO excited that you brought it up, because this video indirectly brought up and talked about A LOT that I was curious about! 💗 And I'm here before 100 comments! 📜 Lol
Are we just going to ignore the Knights of the Nine DLC in Oblivion? While non of the Divines directly spoke to the player their was clearly some Divine powers at play there.
I always thought he was just a very smart/powerful man who also happened to have a sort of split personality where he hears voices. Arkay would in this case be the reasonable/critically thinking part of his brain and he interprets it as divine intervention. I think this makes the most sense considering all of the things he does can be explained away without an act of the gods.
I just finished the dawnguard quest again a day ago and was asking myself the same thing. That video timing was perfect! Also, I'm thinking that a dnd character inspired by Florentius would actually be really fun to roleplay.
The divines don't seem to be down with revealing themselves. Communing with and influencing someone like Florentius is perfect. He is pious and a true believer. He is going to follow instructions to the letter. Being as nutters as he is, no one would look too closely to his actions and ramblings. Yet, he is still intelligent enough to take direction. I think he makes a very solid agent for a divine.
Love this, always well done!! My burning question: Who is Drelas? He enjoys the same bountiful agriculture as Rorikstead and automatically hates me no matter how I approach him. I kill him and that's it, nothing more. What's the deal with Drelas and Drelas' Cottage???
Isn't he a practicing necromancer? Or mage of some sort? It's heavily implied that throughout Skyrim most mages hide to avoid persecution of sorts due to the nords' fear of magic. I always just assumed he was bitter and/or thinks you'll attack him idk. Maybe I'm mixing Drelas up with Anise though, I know that's definitely the case with her.
@@kevinthefabulous1118 Anise is the witch in the cabin near where you exit Bleak Falls Barrow. And she is definitely up to no good. Drelas, as far as I can tell, has no incriminating items in his house. He's just a guy practicing magic in a house in the hills. Someone(the player) breaks into his home and kills him, simply for trying to defend himself from an intruder(the player).
Yes, I agree! I admit I've never explored his house because I always somehow end up at his cottage with low level characters; I would love a deep dive on him.
34:08 - This recurring quest is rather poorly thought out. Once they kidnapped Mjoll, another time Lydia. Both times they are found wearing all their armor and weapons. Either one could wipe out Skyrim single-handedly! And yet they were taken by two-bit bandits? And when freed, all they say is, "I'll be fine!"
Also an idea for a future video, when you follow Serana into the Castle Volkihar Courtyard and explore the small side rooms, there is a room with a collapsed ceiling on top of a human skeleton with an animal head (deer perhaps?), no sign of a human skull nearby
Five of them actually. And physical avatars of them posing as mortals. And meeting Wulf/Talos/Tiber Septim is entirely option and not actually part of any quest line.
Haven't seen anybody mention Hermaeus Mora. He seems to have a vested interest in the Dragonborn and allegedly knows everything. He could be sharing his knowledge with Florentius to help the Dragonborn become stronger for his own ends. Hermaeus does say when he speaks to you that he's been watching you and implies that your success has been due to his influence.
well it *is* repeatedly stated that the divines are weak as hell. Perhaps Florentius' mental instability is precisely what enables Arkay to speak directly to him? Great video anyways
This could also be strengthened if you look at the Vestige's usage of Aedric power as being possible through the Amulet of Kings and being soulless, or how the Talos incarnate possibly has a skooma/moon sugar addiction, or the Sybil of Dibella being a child and still susceptible to external influences
My first thought when seeing the eyes in the thumbnail: "There is no such thing as a coincidence. The fact that you are watching this video means you are energetically aligned with me and this message."
Why, as a literal god, use a mortal to execute your revenge? Because it would be really shameful for Molag Bal to actually loose. Sure it isn't particularly effective, but also just using godly power to smite down all the undead would probably not impress Molag Bal. Getting "defeated" by a mortal tho. Yeah that's real akward.
You bring up something I wanna actually talk about, I think fudgemuppet has a video called "what if harkon won" and thst got me thinking for real what would happen? Well I can think of 3 daedra that would fight him azura, hircine and mephala. Azura wouldn't like the corruption of dawn and dusk, mephala hates undead, and harkon can't turn werewolves without curing them so he'd just kill them, hircine would take exception to that, next the aedra, arkay, stendarr, akatosh (auriel), possibly Mara. This would literally cause a divine war. Possibly larger than the theorietical war for the dragonborns soul after their eventual death.
@Some Guy actually if the vampires used the methods the dwemer did they could end up with blind cattle. Since the fungus was subterranean (I wonder if charus taste good)
Mara and Stendarr were very active in the events of Daggerfall, The goddess Leki taught Redguards specific swordsmanship tactics and Onsi taught them to create swords, the Divines also have been proven in game to often intervene if one of their champions is in mortal peril, they actively track and monitor the behavior of members of the KOTN including the player, to make sure you are keeping their holy tenets, they curse and cure people throughout the games, they also have artifacts just like the Daedra and demigod offspring just like the Daedra, Mara banished the Skull of Corruption in Skyrm I could go on and on, just because they are weaker than they once were does not immediately mean that they are EXPONENTIALLY weaker than the Daedra like everyone thinks, the fact that as recently as Skyrim Mara completely bitchslaps Vaermina is literally proof of that
I think it's worth mentioning that Florentius's rescue mission quests are the only ones that go out of their way to say no one knew what happened/where the captive was, so it may be appropriate to assume Florentius doesn't have magical quest-giver knowledge the same way other NPCs do
I think Sheo would be intrigued by Florentius' faith. The entire time we talk to him he is neither manic nor depressed about any of his terrible situations. He is always faithful. Sheo talks to him constantly and guides him into insane mind bending situations like Minorne's ruins or a war with immortal undead but Florentius never doubts. He reminds us of that several times after quests, "Arkay thought you wouldnt make it but I believed in you!" and that to me confirms the voice ISNT Arkay, but Sheo would find enjoyment in a Priest of such pure faith FULLY BELIEVING a total lie. Its irony and dark humor. How long till Florentius goes mad? Never-if Sheo cant break his faith first, but Sheo doesnt understand faith-he only does madness. Interesting expose by the writers tbh.
@Sanguine i think the writers wanted to avoid upsetting anyone but Florentius and the civil war styled "is faith madness" could have been very controversial but a really good angle to take Sheogorath and other virtue quests in Skyrim-imo. To flesh things out more. The thieves guild doesnt do much with the war either and thats just crazy
I feel like the other two members of the Dawnguard having leads in their respective quests comes from their backgrounds being pretty relevant to the particular circumstance, while as with Florentius, what does being a Priest of Arkay have to do with knowing about and tracking down missing persons, while knowing exactly who has taken them, and also why?
What about the fact that the aedra are kinda weak? Also the dragonborn is sort of a "divine intervention" as well. He literally shows up as the dragons are coming back. You left that one out.
That's a good point; the aedra gave up most of their power in the creation of mundus, hence why they're so non-interventionist in the lives of mortals. A more reasonable possibility ie Meridia, as Camel pointed out. She always stuck me as haughty and vain, but I imagine she could put aside her pride if it meant guiding an aedric priest to slay vampires.
@@chesterstevens8870 I meant it more as a reason as to why Arkay wouldn't do something too grand, but now that I think about it, Akatosh could just a hundred or so years prior
The Aedra are weak now after creating mundus, but do realize that they far eclipse most of the Daedric Princes when it comes to their powers and abilities. Even in their weakend form, for example Akatosh, he was able to slay Dagon using just an avatar, and Dagon was on his true form then.
@@Strato_Casterrr9898 if you watch the actual fight you will Realized the battle was mostly one sided infavor of Dagon Until akatash started using what we now know to be dragon shouts... Yet the dragon shouts he used are Shout 1. Golden firebreath (We only have a normal firebreath) Shout 2. A white mist that is likely a banish daedric Lord Shout Judging by the fact that that 1 shout did most of defeating dagon on its own Akatosh is the only entity that knows every in and out of the thum... No other entity in the elder scrolls universe can say that... Akatosh did NOT beat dagon by being a stronger God... He beat Dagon by being dovah....
@@TheImmortalBloodwolf "He beat Dagon by being Dovah", you realize that all Dragons are divine right? That they are the children of Akatosh in every Kalpa. You literally just described why he is a stronger god than dagon.
I have a thought, unless someone has already proven or disproven, he may be speaking to a psijic monk or monks. They have helped the Dragonborn before and were able to communicate over vast distances with vague instructions and knowledge of magical artifacts and people. Or maybe even an auger such as the one in the miden of the college. At least it’s an idea I had while watching this video.
If you think about it Sheogorath is also a prime candidate as molag bal was one of the daedra who made him what he is. Molag bal was effectively the leading daedra who turned sheo into the madgod and sheo is one of a very few daedra who will resort to trickery If not the only one who will do such a thing.
Personally, I like to believe that Florentius STARTED OUT as a regular schizophrenic hearing voices in his head, but because he believed it was Arkay, his faith became so strong, Arkay actually started taking an interest in him and sending him the occasional vision. The "fake it till you make it" of prophets.
We are led to believe that the Aedra and Daedra give some kind of guidance. From the occasional pilgrim praying at or traveling to a shrine (who seem to be guided both directly and indirectly by their chosen god) to the player character getting direct communication (by way of offerings or worship/sacrifice.)
I've been recently watching a bunch of your videos and I can't get over your masterful use of language. It's more of a written style than spoken, with all the vocabulary one generally only finds in books, but it translates well into these lovely videos. Also, you have a penchant for alliteration and I really love that :D
![[DRAGON BALL LEGENDS REVEALS ＆ STUFF] LEGENDS FESTIVAL 2024 Special Edition Part 2](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/af0phKxitX8/mqdefault.jpg)
Hit me with your thoughts on Florentius, he's very a strange case indeed.
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Honestly, I always thought Florentius is just delusional, some of his dialogue with Arkay is making the God of life and death funny or just plain hitting the fourth wall. 😂
When camel likes his own comment
I don't think that's arkay.
I think its maphala tbh. Weaving more weird plots
@@totallylost7683 you do have a point it might not be Arkay, but thinking its Mephala kinda makes he/she a funny entity.
I have a question: what happened to the last snow elves guy? Do snow elves truly gone extinct?
Easily has my favorite line of dialogue in the game
“What do you have for sale?”
“Look I’ve gotta be honest with you, I have no idea”
that line cracked me up the first time I heard it!
the devs know
Arkay's blessed me with a ton of shit I don't need
A temporary replacement for a quartermaster in Dungeon Siege said something similar. "If you want something, point at it and I give you a price".
Florentius is awesome.
Florentius is speaking directly with Todd Howard.
I mean, if todd wrote his dialog then technically he is speaking directly to him.
Yea
Godd Howard
Godd Howard
That’s M’aiq’s job.
I remember the first time I got that kidnapped quest from Florentius. He told me, "Arkay has grave news, my friend. Your wife, kidnapped." Now, my wife was Mjoll the Lioness, and she was my active Follower, and she was clad in enchanted Daedric Armor, carrying a Dragonbone Battleaxe. Sure enough, I turned around, and she was gone, kidnapped in broad daylight, from Fort Dawnguard. This vampire could have given Batman some pointers on stealth to pull that one off.
Sure enough, she was right where he said. So I am inclined to believe he's getting tips from Arkay.
Lol wut
SUP! Cool to see you here, BunBun!
@@marystone860 Hey, Mary, nice to see you out in the wilds away from FNF. You a fellow Elder Scrolls fan?
@@BunBun299 Oh, Yeah! Been so for years! Used to have Oblivion on my old X-BOX 360, before that F-ING Red Ring of Death! Skyrim on my PS3, NOW, the Anniversary Edition on my Switch and PS4! Looking forward to Elder Scrolls 6! I was binging Elder Scrolls vids on YT, and I ran into you! I was like:' No Way!' I had to say "SUP" at least! Running into a member of Doomcock's Crew, here, was so cool!
@@marystone860 Still play it to this day on my Switch and Xbox One. Love coming up with new Dragonborns. In under a month, I will own an Xbox Series X, I'm hoping it can handle more mods than my XBONE can. Or at least, handle them better and crash less.
I'd rule Meridia out purely for the fact that she's far too vain to masquerade as anyone else. If Meridia wants you to kill vampires she will tell you to do it in her name and thank her for the opportunity.
And shove a shiny sword in your hand
Could be a worshiper of Meridia it is proven in the Greymoor chapter that Mount Kilkreath use to have a LARGE group of followers of Meridia what would stop them from changing location after the Harrowstorm with the few survivors and rebuilding and doing something like this to do their misteress’ work?
Hell nah. ARKAY ALL THE WAY!!!
Florentius once killed thirty vampires with his bare hands you know. I asked Arkay. He told me.
Honestly that’s not even that unlikely. Just activate that one spell that damages vampires when they’re near you and start swinging. it’ll probably work
@@plate_fox I can imagine in-universe Florentius (as opposed in-game Florentius, with game mechanic limitations) just running around and smiting vampires, like an angel smiting demons Supernatural-style.
It gets weirder when you factor in there's literally a vampire in Skyrim in one of the quest dungeons who was previously a vampire slayer who amongst some of his greatest feats did literally just that. With a book even telling of how he got vamped, no less.
Who's that?
@@aleyoakenshield5384 You know that vampire you have to slay for the Morthal Quest where you have to figure out what happened to the burned house? The book Immortal Blood tells his story. He slays many vamps, even a Volkihar Clan Vampire.
"Daedra speak to mortals all the time"
"A new hand touches the beacon"
I laughed way too hard.
I didn't laugh, I jumped then laughed
@@ryanwood9313 loool
I was just there. Was in that one ruined tower in Falkreach, open the chest. some gold, a ruby, and that stupid football.
Thought about it for a while. At least I know where it is. But then, the sward you'll get is nice
@@HappyBeezerStudios Too bad it's such a boring dungeon.
@@user-pc5qj2ix2cif you want interesting dungeons, why are you playing skyrim tbh
I love it towards the end of the DLC when Florentius says, “Go! Arkay and I will stay behind and secure the docks!” or something like that.
@IronVonz what
can't find that phrase. where is it exactly?
@@OlDirtyRJ when you’re towards the end of the dlc and leading the assault towards the keep. Before you enter the keep. Florentius stays at the docks and says that if your talk to him.
Arkay and I will take care of the little ones! You find the leader! - that's what he says. But yeah, the little ones are already taken care of so he just stays near castle entrance doing nothing)
@@OlDirtyRJ that’s what he says, thanks. I haven’t played Elder Scrolls V in a while.
Unless I missed it, you left out Florentius saying, "Arkay's been watching over me for years, now. He says he's not too sure about you yet, though." That one always makes me smile. Maybe I'll start hearing from Arkay, once he's sure about me.
In mara's sidequest, the priestess of mara sends the dragonborn to Fastred in Ivarstead. When speaking to her, she tells the dragonborn that, after praying to Mara, Mara told her she was sending someone to come and see her. Sounds like direct communication, both for the priestess, and Fastred.
I forgot it when you put out the question on mortal communication with Aedra, but Runil, the priest of Arkay in Falkreath, does have a journal with an accurate future prediction of the coming of Alduin and the Dragonborn walking into the graveyard while he conducts a ceremony. Since Runil and the guy in Hammerfell are both Akray's priests, and both receive information seemingly from him, Florentius doesn't seem nearly as hard to believe.
Esburn has the same vision, it's described in one of his lines...
And he seems to get some pretty interesting info from arkay this being the unique dawnguard gear of course
@@ralcogaming7674 Florentius mentioned something about reading old books for that information on old Dawnguard artifacts. The fact that he can suddenly know the exact location of someone you happen to know, who happens to be kidnapped, without having any kind of superpowered long-distance scrying or anything, is still definitely good evidence that Arkay talks to Florentius.
The thing I find most confusing about Flortentius is that... Well, he's not really a priest, is he?
Basically every case of Daedric or Aedric intervention involves a lot of pomp and circumstance. Flinging you into the sky and yelling *A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON* and all that sort of thing. The Sybil of Dibella is a clear reference to the Sibyls of antiquity, who, when they are described, it's pretty clear that they're raving madwomen who achieve divine communication through a whole bunch of drugs.
Flortentius talks to Arkay like a friend, he even *disagrees* with Arkay. That's not something you do when you're talking to a god, especially not a god you're supposed revere.
I'm honestly not sure if this makes his case more or less convincing. It seems clear to me that he's being watched over by *something,* but the manner is totally unlike anything else I can think of.
@@firetarrasque4667 Cough cough, the Nerevarine literally interacts with Mara and I think Zenithar in the Imperial Oracle's quests, and Ol' Talos himself comes down as Wulf (an old veteran legionaire that no one else notices) to have a leisurely chat at the Ghostgate with the Nerevarine, dropping a hint that he's/the Empire's getting old and it's time to retire and let new blood take over.
(I'm still mad that we'll probably never get a "Second Resdayn Empire" or something with the Nerevarine at the helm to make good on Wulf's assessment that the Nerevarine has what it takes.)
19:00 - Another example is Barbas. "Did you just talk?"
"Skyrim is now host to giant, flying lizards and two-legged cat-men... and you're surprised by me? Yes. I just talked. And am continuing to do so."
The knights of the nine dlc has one of the knights talk about being told how to do one of the trials. The one where you need the boots to get the other piece.
w
Yeah but he's Daedric.
I hate the direction on the voice casting.
daedra talk all the time
Florentius: Don't go to the Dawnguard tomorrow arkay told me you're good
As he rolls in with an automatic dwarven crossbow with exploding bolts.
I think Arkay does just pick random Priests to bond to. He just simply doesn't care if people believe if the "Prophet" is believed or not. Since Arkays sphere of influence isn't one that needs a lot of enforcing. People die, people live. It's merely something that happens. Necromancy is one of the only true slights against him, and Florentius deals with that. Not in a grand matter, that is. But what would Florentius do which the Dragonborn couldn't already do?
That is, unless he did kill 30 Vampires with his bare hands.
Then I shall kill 31 with my bare hands
The part about him killing 30 vampires with his bare hands is an obvious meme which never happened since the DB cannot speak to Arkay and disprove the story.
Lamae Bal (after her transformation) calls out to Arkay, seemingly expecting a verbal response. She obviously does not get one however she seems to believe that divine communication should be part of her role as a priestess, potentially indicating past communion with the deity.
There's also the part where Arch-Curate Vythur, the Snow Elf you have to fight near the end of the Dawnguard DLC, boasts that he once "had the ears of a god" which implies that it's not uncommon for the Aedra to speak directly to particularly pious followers, but that things can happen that cause said Aedra to turn their backs on their chosen followers. The biggest ones, though, seem to be that direct action from a Daedra (such as Molag Bal creating vampires or Hircine's lycanthropy) can completely sever the ties between a mortal and their most revered Aedric diety, while powerful warlocks can twist the minds of a god's followers. In Vythur's case, when you kill him he might ask Auri-el for forgiveness, which suggests that he still held the god in high esteem in spite of planning out a revenge plot spanning centuries, so it could be that he truly *did* at one point speak directly to Auri-El like Florentius speaks to Arkay. It seems that Molag Bal has some interesting habit of targeting people with those connections to the Aedra as Florentius ends up dying with the Dawnguard if you side with the Volkihar clan.
Blocking calls to god seems just spiteful enough to be something Molag does.
Molag Bal, Daedra Prince of Petty Revenge.
@@gmradio2436molag has serious spite problems, worse than dagon
Personally, I like to take him at his word, and I do believe he speaks with Arkay. I find it a bit of a stretch to say it's a Daedra speaking to him masquerading as Arkay, since there's not too many instances of that happening before, and most Daedra are very egotistical. Meridia in particular *absolutely* likes to maker her presence known, and loves the adoration of mortals. She practically says as much when you bring her the beacon.
Also, we have no way of knowing whether 'Arkay' started talking to Florentius before or after he became a priest. If it was before, it would make no sense for a Daedra to show up out of the blue posing as a random Aedra to trick random mortals.
Lastly, if we want to entertain the idea of Florentius's dead vampire great great grandfather speaking to him from Coldharbour, we'd need to know if that's even possible. Do we have any instances of regular souls trapped in Oblivion somehow telepathically communicating with mortals on Nirn? I've never heard of it before.
Now while it might not be entirely likely that Arkay would choose Florentius of all people to be his champion, we must keep in mind that he claims to have killed 30 vampires with his bare hands. While this may seem too preposterous to be true, if it somehow is, I'd say that makes him a rather formidable warrior of Arkay. After all, would such a claim sound so preposterous coming from the Dragonborn? Or the Hero of Kvatch? If they can perform amazing feats of strength with divine help, what's to say that Florentius can't?
That's a good point
The only thing that (for me,) doesn't make sense about it is why he's there at the fight where the Volkihar vampires come to destroy the Dawnguard. I mean if Arkay was talking to him it'd make sense for him to tell Florentius to leave the Fort as it's too dangerous for him to be there any longer. But on the same hand Arkay could've decided he used up his usefulness. Or it just could've been an oversight from Bethesdas, but I genuinely think Arkay does speak to Florentius.
@@babygurleatsshickennuggits4201 Arkay might have wanted Florentius to stay and fight, even if he had little chance of surviving, as the fight against the Vampires is a fight worth dying for in the eyes of the god of death.
There is a book that says something about someone visiting many, if not all, plains of oblivion while maintaining a telepathic connection with his assistant. I don't remember the name of the book
@@federicopieruzzi1162 The Doors of Oblivion by Seif-ij Hidja. Its about Morian Zenas visiting the realms of Oblivion but going crazy in Apocrypha
I have a theory:
Maybe the gods way of speaking to mortals is less about talking directly to them, but rather intuitively letting them know their will. Maybe Florentius (and other most devout followers) have an unnatural understanding of how to enact their gods will - be it casting a spell, sharing information or waiting for a hero to come by in a specific spot.
Now Florentius would be a bit more special than that.. He may have a few screws loose to begin with. Instead of understanding Arkays will intuitively, he hears a voice in his head. This voice would not be Arkay himself, but instead it's the odd way how Florentius mind perceives the godly intuition.
That…actually makes sense.
Good idea.
Since the Aedra have limited ability to be more directly involved in mortal affairs compared to the Daedra…maybe?
THE MAGIC CONCH HAS SPOKEN
I think it would be cool if there was some deadric bet going on, like Sheogorath strolls up to Clavacus and says “I bet you ten souls I can convince this priest I’m Arkay” or something stupid like that
Dude, this is briliant. I wish that's what it'd be so bad
Sheo is known to make bets with the other Princes, usually specifically to fuck with them out of boredom. I would not be the least bit surprised if this was true, as there is the precedent.
Why Clavicus Vile? Why not Meridia?
@MoonspiritX Since Clavicus Viles sphere encompasses bargains and deals, it would impossible for Vile to say no if someone or even Sheo himself made a bargain with him.
honestly its a pretty solid guess. the only thing is, usually when a daedric prince speaks to a mortal its to do their bidding or do something specific for them, or at least brainwash them, and not to just chat and be mildly helpful. but anything is possible, and maybe he went on a rampage after the events of dawnguard, or something
edit: perhaps it was a prince (clavicus?) and meridia, giving her somewhat more reason to make the bet, being able to also somewhat assist in wiping out undead.
I think he is. He knows things that he couldn’t otherwise know. He knew the location of vampire combatting weapons, he knew when vampires kidnapping your friends or spouses, he knew of the existence of fort dawguard and its location without you telling him. He’s a master trainer in restoration magic. I doubt a daedra would teach him these things and I don’t think he’s lying either.
Meridia could definitely teach him restoration magic, and the omnipresence of a Daedric Prince would account for the other things.
it could be a daedra lying to him about its real identity.
You also generally in my experience get the wherabouts of fort dawnguard from town guards. I do think he speaks to arkay, but that specific example seems like something that was never truly secret, considering he could just ask for directions at some point as most guards especially in the rift SHOULD know the existence of a nearby fort. Why else would they say theyre considering joining if its a hidden location?, i think in that case they would choose to have guards talk about the fort in a more rumor-y way than a "go there if you wanna fight vampires" type of way
maybe thats more about game mechanics than lore though🤷🏽♂️ in the end i still choose to believe Florentius
@@Argornash I think Meridia is too egotistical to pretend to be Arkay
@@unslaadkrosis3489 Keep in mind that the 4 main characters in the Dawngaurd served together and had a falling out.
Arkay tells me they're reforming the Dawnguard, in the old fort near Riften. Might consider joining up myself.
Literally every guard in the game: That's my line. I was here first!
Imagine if there was a side quest where you could talk to Arkay with the help of Florentius
Man, all I've ever wanted out of life in Tamriel is to talk to the Aedra firsthand, especially by visiting their plane(t)s in the Mundus. Talking to aspects of Talos and especially Zenithar in Morrowind were some of my favorite things in the series, but actually interacting with the Divines in their own realms, where assumedly they're more conscious or "awake" than they are from the reference point of Nirn? That's the dream, man. That's the dream. Lol
@@realzachfluke1 well we do speak to Tsun aka Zenithar in Aetherius/ Sovngarde. Originally the LDB was supposed to speak to Shor in Sovngarde but apparently some guy in the dev team thought that's a bad idea for some reason so they cut it from the game. The code still exists within the game though.
Cant you talk to an apparition of Mara directly in Morrowind?
Then this video would be about how Florentius most likely Bill Cosby’d us
And it was the same voice as your brain from Fallout
Dinya's visions definitely aren't from word of mouth or direct requests, considering the last of the couples she has you help are ghosts of people that died during an "Ancient War"
Bruh, the moment I use that blanket my brain will turn to mush as I'll just see a hazy vision of the scroll and it will definitely turn me even more insane than I am now.
Exactly as planned
"...seemed like a myth to me.. just like the Elder Scrolls 6..."
Lol
Redo 4 with skyrim graphics and controls
@@chrisharris6425 that wouldn't fly anymore today. Skyrim graphics already need hundreds of mods to be acceptable. From general graphic effects, over textures to animation smoothing. And while I personally like the Skyrim controls, one of the currently most popular mods is a complete combat and movement overhaul to be more action oriented. Let's wait what Starfield can do and maybe use that for your remaster instead.
I forgot that Florentius has a unique voice. You'd think the game would make him more significant to the story.
Yeah there's a surprising number of unique voices in Dawnguard given to minor characters. Wish there was more of that in places where it would have mattered more (MERCER, Madanach, etc)
Yes, it definitely breaks immersion when so many characters have the same voice actor. Sometimes they do a good job of obscuring it--sometimes they don't.
@@KonoGufo Honestly Mercer's voice is great. They should have made it unique to him though.
@@olivercharles2930i have always loved that VA but feel he is overused but he does so well
Karliah and Brynolf have unique voices too, right?
I'd really like to think he does speak with Arkay, And love the idea he talks to him so casually, like a bro
However I did find it a little sus that despite how frequently Arkay gives him visions Arkay didnt tip off to him like "hey just so you know those vigilants are being controlled by an evil warlock" back in Ruunvald
Well Arkay can't make it easy for him of course. xD
Maybe Arkay didn't simply know that
Arkay was simply doing a little trolling
Arkay sent the dragon born to save him.
@@kin9_derp952 Arkay, or any of the Divines, quite literally have no control over destiny, they can't "send," someone to help another person unless they were to directly speak to the Dragonborn and tell him to go, which he didn't. The Divines are not like the modern christian god, they are not all knowing, except for Akatosh, who also refuses to change Destiny or directly get involved with mortal affairs.
Personally, I've always enjoyed the idea of it being Sheogorath fucking with him for shits and giggles and when he finally dies he ends up in the Shivering Isles and is just so so confused. Sheo is there to meet him and just laughs in his face as he completely fails to understand the realm around him, falling further and further into insanity and denial, refusing to believe that all along he's been listening to a Deadric Prince and not Arkay at all. He goes through all the stages of grief at once, all except for acceptance.
And just imagine meeting a character like that when playing through the Shivering Isles Oblivion DLC! An insane priest of Arkay trapped in the realm of madness and refusing to accept the reality of his situation, insisting that this is all just a mix-up and Arkay will save him soon. ...Hopefully. Maybe. Surely! Surely he will! He just has to... wait. Or maybe even insisting that everything is okay, that this is what Arkay wanted, that this is all the doing of Arkay, not of Sheogorath, willfully blinded to the madness.
Hot take 🔥
Who hurt you...
buddy this is my life. come to my house
I think the gravity of the Tyranny of the Sun prophecy would suggest it most certainly is Arkay.
Edit: The Aedra are 'gods' but they aren't omnipotent. They require avatars and artifacts to channel their will through in the Elder Scrolls. Arkay actually is canonically successful with the little assistance he provides through Florentius. We successfully stop the prophecy from coming to fruition; Arkay is indirectly victorious.
The dragon that fights Mehrunes Dagon only exists through the lifeforce of Martin Septim and the Amulet of Kings. Akatosh can't just call fire down.
I will say florentius quests that are like “Arkay told me this” always felt more believable because he just knew my friends were in trouble? He just knew what cave this hammer was in?
Yeah plenty of other quests give you precise locations but they usually have a pretty good reason for knowing at least the general vicinity and the quest marker pointing to the exact location is just too much hand holding by the devs.
I always felt like Arkay was the reason he knew about the quest and Bethesda is the reason we know which chest the hammer has to be in. Once florentius gave us the opportunities to go get the special dawngaurd weapons his use was fulfilled and no longer under Arkay’s protection. Damn divines
Isran's voice never gets old for me.
That's how I feel about Ulysses in F:NV
Nazir and Isran have the coolest voices in the game. They make me want to play as a redguard lol
Isran’s voice NEVER GETS OLD?
VAMPIRE!? GET THE DAWNGUARD
@Sanguine doesn’t matter my character can still give off that badass redguard energy lol
@@personagrand5674 OH SHIT
This is something I've never even thought about before, yet here I am watching an hour long video about it. Camel, you never fail to impress!
Wait, this is an hour long? Dang -- I'm most of the way through and I hadn't noticed. xD I love these videos.
fell asleep 20 minutes in, too relaxing. now got to re-watch it with a sore neck
i dont even remember florentius from the games and i watched this
In terms of knowing where people are, it is divine intervention. When you rescue the person, they sometimes say that NO one knew where they were, and that they were very surprised you knew where to find them. If they went out on a hike, and no one knew where they were, since no bounty letter was made, how could of Florentius of known their location (other than with divine intervention)?
Exactly 😊
Have we already had a detective series about the skeleton under the bridge to the cloud district in whiterun ? Who he was who killed him how he got there ? That would be SO interesting
Try his “ebony blade” video, iirc that has speculations about it?
that confused me so bad as a kid! why would anyone leave bones right under the castle?
Pretty sure maven references it in her dialogue.
I recall seeing someone discuss Maven Black-Briar sending threatening letters to someone in Whites in and they speculate she had them killed because that person doesn't exist in the game.
We know to little about it to come up with a good theory
I swear there's no end to TES lore, I love it so much.
I have a hard time believing the “quest givers knowing things they shouldn’t” part as for as much as I remember none of the quest givers actually tell you the location you are going to unless they literally actually do know the location. For example: all of the book fetch quests, none of the people actually tell you where to go, the game just is programmed to show you a location.
Same as the Dawnguard who know of the stashes, it is also possible and more probable that they only know because of Florentius telling them. Plus can we really say he doesn’t speak with Arkay when the Dragonborn is suggested to be an incarnation of Akatash.
The fetch quests really make me miss Morrowind. Granted it pissed me off sometimes but you’d often get a vague clue and would have to go ask around to hone in. It actually felt like an accomplishment
19:05 I'd laugh so hard into insanity if I find Nazeem's relatives in Elder Scrolls 6. That would be a funny Easter egg.
grieving their loss
@@chriscormac231 either that, or they brag too much like him. Or they hated Nazeem themselves.
@@artisticbang9111 here's hoping for the first two, it'd be fun for a "cursed bloodline" to happen
They became the Black-briars of Whiterun, slinging mead and sleeping tree sap.
It seems that Akatosh is the most active aedra of all. After all, he's the only one that actually has active champions on Nirn
So does Lorkhan/Shor/Shezarr, if not more so. The Shezarrines are actually champions and/or aspects of Lorkhan/Shezarr, not Auriel/Akatosh.
@@HickoryDickory86 aye, but Lorkhan/Shot/Shezzar has little to no control over it, right? He's "dead" or at least diluted on Nirn, so the Shezzarines are kinda "independent" from Divine will (or maybe I'm wrong), while Dragonborns wherever and whenever Akatosh wants.
Although... Yeah, he's weird. Why did he let Alduin and the dragons enslave men? Why did he let Miraak do all of that? And most importantly: if Alduin's purpose is destroying the world, why did he made us to stop it?
@@elessartelcontar147 i have no idea about the shezzarines, but perhaps akatosh changed his mind and decided it wasn't time for the kalpar to end after seeing how alduin acted?
@@elessartelcontar147 I could be absolutely wrong. But I think camel called the last dragonborn a shezarrine.
@@alfonzoleopold9566 I look for this video, that's interesting. Being a Shezzarine and a Dragonborn simultaneously tho... I mean, Tiber Septim was a Dragonborn that ended up mantling Lorkham/Shezzar/Shor, but only through the Oversoul that included the soul of a Shezzarine, so who knows?
Didn’t the Aedra give up a majority of their power in creating Nirn? I realize that in the case of Akatosh vs Mehrunes Dagon he was insanely powerful, but wasn’t there a ritual that Martin Septim and the Hero of Kvatch had to perform for that to happen? My point is that the Aedra don’t have much power left and therefore can only help in very subtle ways.
no ritual, that was for accessing Camoran's plane of Oblivion and retrieving the amulet of kings. In the final act of Oblivion's main quest, Martin just prays to Akatosh and shatters the Amulet, becoming Akatosh's avatar. Keyword, avatar. Just a portion of Akatosh's power was enough to defeat true form Dagon.
Talos is an Aedra and he still retains his powers. Zenithar also show up in Morrowind as avatars and give the player some strong artifacts.
Less ritual more headbutting a gem really really hard
Not really give up their power as much as are using the majority of it keeping it stable. They became the earthbones. Likely if they left their power would return to them but if they left we'd.... Well die.
@@buddha3209 that a separate gods the Main Aedra lost half of their power creating Nirn and the Other Nameless Aedra lost their bodies And Powers becoming the Earthbones of Nirn.
kynareth/Kyn might be an Earthbone or at the least has Earthbones doing her bidding making her the God of Nature.
Meridia is also and Aedra but got cast out.
Arkay is a bit different. Some sources says he was originally a man whose apotheosis was granted by Mara, some others makes him a son of Akatatosh, so chances are, he might have not contributed to the creation of Nirn the exact same way the other Divines have and might have kept the ability to communicate to mortals in a more clear way.
However there'd be one massive plothole, and that'd be why the Thalmor would let him keep his place in the pantheon of the Nine Divines, but not Talos?
Hey Jamie, pull up "Does Forentius Baenius take DMT to speak to Arkay"
DiMoonTooga
I thought Joe Rogan was the thumbnail lol
facts
chimps eat the f*ck out of monkeys - Arkay
Of all the embarrassing shit Rohan does I don’t think he will ever top The Man Show for pure cringe. The dude is an artist
"Today on The Joe Roganus Post, we smoke skooma with Maiq the Liar and discuss the controversy of Masser and Secunda."
HGH fried his brain
I think it’s possible arkay could be just feeling really guilty for allowing the creation of vampires, and what was done to his priestess. I think it’s possible that Arkay now takes a more hands on approach to make up for it. I got no evidence just a guess.
Arkay has every reason to take a hardline stance against vampires and by proxy molag bal. In a weird way he probably feels responsible.
52:07
POV: you’re Arkay and your most loyal priest is giving you a tribute
🙈
BRO
Btuh
Nice
XD
Been playing Elder Scrolls since Oblivion was relatively new, and to this day I still mix up Arkay and Akatosh
Same here, thankful it's not just me
I've been playing since Morrowind was on its... I think 4th year. Easily my favorite RPG series. Dragon Age is an extremely close second.
been playing since Oblivion as well, and while I don't mix those two up, I do pretty consistently call Akatosh 'Martin' whenever I see his statue. Hopefully Akatosh has a sense of humor.
Time and death do walk hand in hand...
"Auriel, Auri-El, Alkosh, Akatosh... so many different names for the sovereign of the snow elves." Knight-Paladin Gelebor.
So it can be confusing, at times.
When I went through Ruunvald I snuck past all the hypnotized vigilants to spare their lives. Needless to say I was pretty annoyed when they all just dropped dead as soon as I killed the witch at the end.
Oof. But hey. It's the thought that counts. You're a good person.
Means it was more likely necromancy than mind control. When you destroy a necromancer, their undead minions fall with them.
Their souls were already lost and all you could do is lay their bodies to rest.
Another case of divine intervention is in Kynesgrove in ESO. Kyne will hear an NPC's prayer to her to save his mother from being a hagraven.
A year late, but Kyne wil also grant a sapling to replace the dying gildergreen in Whiterun, but only if a man who was pious to her pray to the eldergleam
12:56
Always these damned High Elves... Minorne, the predator from Yngvild, Arondil, the sadist, who burns people for his own satisfaction, Elenwen, Ancano, the Thalmor in general...
Mankar Camoran and Mannimarco were also ones of the main antagonists. No other race shares so many diabolical maniacs as the Altmer
As far as interaction with the Divines gos you're forgeting the Prphet from the Knights of the Nine DLC in Oblivion. The Prophet speaks on behalf of the 8 and 1. And at the end of the quest when you head off to face Umaril you use Talos blessing to follow Umaril back to his plane of Oblivion to slay him once and for all.
I have two theories:
One is that it IS Arkay, who is speaking with him on entirely non-vampiric matters. But thought it prudent to send him to lend aid to the Dawnguard, given the chance. He doesn't need to lend any more aid than he already is, if the Dawnguard has the dragonborn, and if the vampires do... Why would the god of life and death get in the way of the cycle? Arkay is a big picture god.
The other is that it's Sheogorath. Florentius acts a little insane, and Sheogorath would most likely find the whole matter endlessly amusing. And wouldn't really care if his toy got broken. Mortals are always replacing themselves, after all.
After Dawnguard DLC ends, Florentius leaves Skyrim, and he got a new job as narrator in Dragon's Crown.
I'll just say one thing: If he's not speaking to Arkay, how the hell does he know where those nice Dawnguard toys are? Arkay would have an interest in a former priest alligned with the Vigilants and Dawnguard as the God of Life and Death if he's seeking to prevent undeads from messing with the balance of nature.
honestly id feel Merida fits better, she hates the undead, and has litterally spoken to the player....
sheogorath also works
@@chriscormac231 But why would Sheogorath want to help? He's much more likely to just cause something wild and chaotic.
@@toschiworlds7212 Sheogorath would do it just because it’s funny to screw with a priest.
@@toschiworlds7212 he’s not helping, he’s playing.
43:00 I feel like this theory with Lemay would also explain why Florentino wasn't charmed by Minorn; if you're already charmed by a vampire you can't be charmed again.
I'm so glad you're still making these! You're fantastic at making long videos that are fun to listen to while working or doing other things.
You mention this: The Divine, the Aedra Dibella, speaks to her Sybil that you have to save and bring back to Dibella's temple in Markarth.
I'm SO excited that you brought it up, because this video indirectly brought up and talked about A LOT that I was curious about! 💗
And I'm here before 100 comments! 📜 Lol
I am literally watching this, with a cold drink and a snack. Life is good
I cannot express enough gratitude for your hard work on making this series. I love it! Thank you so much for making these well made vids!
Finally! My favorite voice-hearing vampire-slaying character makes an appearance!
Are we just going to ignore the Knights of the Nine DLC in Oblivion? While non of the Divines directly spoke to the player their was clearly some Divine powers at play there.
The only thing I remember is "BY THE NINE...!"
I always thought he was just a very smart/powerful man who also happened to have a sort of split personality where he hears voices. Arkay would in this case be the reasonable/critically thinking part of his brain and he interprets it as divine intervention. I think this makes the most sense considering all of the things he does can be explained away without an act of the gods.
I was just thinking that maybe his divine voice is just his conscious. His inner monolog that helps him make good choices.
I just finished the dawnguard quest again a day ago and was asking myself the same thing. That video timing was perfect! Also, I'm thinking that a dnd character inspired by Florentius would actually be really fun to roleplay.
Aww yeah another hour long detective video!!!! Feed me more video essays, daddy Camel!!
Ooh yeah! fill me with your elder scrolls knowledge, daddy camel!
oh god no
You are by far my favorite youtuber. Watching this video as I down a few beers to get in the mood for skyrim vr
There are 3 mushroom circles / fairy rings in Skyrim (as far as I know) and one has an "activate" action option instead of "harvest"
The divines don't seem to be down with revealing themselves. Communing with and influencing someone like Florentius is perfect. He is pious and a true believer. He is going to follow instructions to the letter. Being as nutters as he is, no one would look too closely to his actions and ramblings. Yet, he is still intelligent enough to take direction. I think he makes a very solid agent for a divine.
Love this, always well done!! My burning question: Who is Drelas? He enjoys the same bountiful agriculture as Rorikstead and automatically hates me no matter how I approach him. I kill him and that's it, nothing more. What's the deal with Drelas and Drelas' Cottage???
Isn't he a practicing necromancer? Or mage of some sort? It's heavily implied that throughout Skyrim most mages hide to avoid persecution of sorts due to the nords' fear of magic. I always just assumed he was bitter and/or thinks you'll attack him idk. Maybe I'm mixing Drelas up with Anise though, I know that's definitely the case with her.
@@kevinthefabulous1118 Anise is the witch in the cabin near where you exit Bleak Falls Barrow. And she is definitely up to no good.
Drelas, as far as I can tell, has no incriminating items in his house. He's just a guy practicing magic in a house in the hills. Someone(the player) breaks into his home and kills him, simply for trying to defend himself from an intruder(the player).
Yes, I agree! I admit I've never explored his house because I always somehow end up at his cottage with low level characters; I would love a deep dive on him.
Wooow! Out of the blue!! I was just watching the Augur detective!
9 minutes in, looks great, thank you, mate, appreciate your work!
It seems any non-deadra tends to choose a vessel to speak through. From Arkay to Dibella to the Night Mother.
34:08 - This recurring quest is rather poorly thought out. Once they kidnapped Mjoll, another time Lydia. Both times they are found wearing all their armor and weapons. Either one could wipe out Skyrim single-handedly!
And yet they were taken by two-bit bandits? And when freed, all they say is, "I'll be fine!"
I always love a new detective video, so nice to just listen to while I work
I'm sure if it wasn't Arkay at least ONCE he would tell such a devout follower as Florentius that the voice he's been talking to isn't him.
Also an idea for a future video, when you follow Serana into the Castle Volkihar Courtyard and explore the small side rooms, there is a room with a collapsed ceiling on top of a human skeleton with an animal head (deer perhaps?), no sign of a human skull nearby
ya'll really forgetting the Neravarine meets like 4 aedra huh?
Five of them actually. And physical avatars of them posing as mortals. And meeting Wulf/Talos/Tiber Septim is entirely option and not actually part of any quest line.
Feels so good to have you back!
:D Thanks for the birthday gift Camel! I've missed your videos!
i just be having a shitty morning then boom new elder scrolls detective episode, day saved
Haven't seen anybody mention Hermaeus Mora. He seems to have a vested interest in the Dragonborn and allegedly knows everything. He could be sharing his knowledge with Florentius to help the Dragonborn become stronger for his own ends. Hermaeus does say when he speaks to you that he's been watching you and implies that your success has been due to his influence.
Yes he can! You can ask Arkay, he'll tell ya.
well it *is* repeatedly stated that the divines are weak as hell. Perhaps Florentius' mental instability is precisely what enables Arkay to speak directly to him? Great video anyways
This could also be strengthened if you look at the Vestige's usage of Aedric power as being possible through the Amulet of Kings and being soulless, or how the Talos incarnate possibly has a skooma/moon sugar addiction, or the Sybil of Dibella being a child and still susceptible to external influences
@@thenewguy602 why does the goddess of sex have a sybil that is an actual child?
Weak as hell? Just the Avatar of Akatosh was able to defeat Mehrunes Dagon, who is one of the stronger Daedric Princes.
@@hecc7906 As mentioned in the video, the Priestesses believe that the Sybil serves as a direct line of communication for their entire life
@@hecc7906 “thats kinda sussy, DING DING DING DING DING DING DING, DINGDINGDING”
My first thought when seeing the eyes in the thumbnail: "There is no such thing as a coincidence. The fact that you are watching this video means you are energetically aligned with me and this message."
*Florentius gets out of bed*
Arkay: "Hey you. You're finally awake."
Why, as a literal god, use a mortal to execute your revenge? Because it would be really shameful for Molag Bal to actually loose. Sure it isn't particularly effective, but also just using godly power to smite down all the undead would probably not impress Molag Bal. Getting "defeated" by a mortal tho. Yeah that's real akward.
You bring up something I wanna actually talk about, I think fudgemuppet has a video called "what if harkon won" and thst got me thinking for real what would happen? Well I can think of 3 daedra that would fight him azura, hircine and mephala. Azura wouldn't like the corruption of dawn and dusk, mephala hates undead, and harkon can't turn werewolves without curing them so he'd just kill them, hircine would take exception to that, next the aedra, arkay, stendarr, akatosh (auriel), possibly Mara. This would literally cause a divine war. Possibly larger than the theorietical war for the dragonborns soul after their eventual death.
@Some Guy actually if the vampires used the methods the dwemer did they could end up with blind cattle. Since the fungus was subterranean (I wonder if charus taste good)
Mara and Stendarr were very active in the events of Daggerfall,
The goddess Leki taught Redguards specific swordsmanship tactics and Onsi taught them to create swords, the Divines also have been proven in game to often intervene if one of their champions is in mortal peril,
they actively track and monitor the behavior of members of the KOTN including the player, to make sure you are keeping their holy tenets,
they curse and cure people throughout the games,
they also have artifacts just like the Daedra and demigod offspring just like the Daedra,
Mara banished the Skull of Corruption in Skyrm
I could go on and on, just because they are weaker than they once were does not immediately mean that they are EXPONENTIALLY weaker than the Daedra like everyone thinks, the fact that as recently as Skyrim Mara completely bitchslaps Vaermina is literally proof of that
I think it's worth mentioning that Florentius's rescue mission quests are the only ones that go out of their way to say no one knew what happened/where the captive was, so it may be appropriate to assume Florentius doesn't have magical quest-giver knowledge the same way other NPCs do
Seems to me that he's always talking to Sheogorath.
He is insane in his own way you know?
Perhaps not Sheogorath himself, but maybe he was cursed by Sheogorath, giving him two personalities, one of which live within him as "Arkay"
I think Sheo would be intrigued by Florentius' faith.
The entire time we talk to him he is neither manic nor depressed about any of his terrible situations. He is always faithful.
Sheo talks to him constantly and guides him into insane mind bending situations like Minorne's ruins or a war with immortal undead but Florentius never doubts. He reminds us of that several times after quests, "Arkay thought you wouldnt make it but I believed in you!" and that to me confirms the voice ISNT Arkay, but Sheo would find enjoyment in a Priest of such pure faith FULLY BELIEVING a total lie. Its irony and dark humor. How long till Florentius goes mad? Never-if Sheo cant break his faith first, but Sheo doesnt understand faith-he only does madness. Interesting expose by the writers tbh.
@Sanguine i think the writers wanted to avoid upsetting anyone but Florentius and the civil war styled "is faith madness" could have been very controversial but a really good angle to take Sheogorath and other virtue quests in Skyrim-imo. To flesh things out more.
The thieves guild doesnt do much with the war either and thats just crazy
I like that
@@Ruhrich92 great breakdown! I’m on board.
I just have to say, whatever shrine retexture you have is awesome.
"Solitude and Temple Frescoes" and "JS Shrines" on nexus... I think.
@@Ilwenray85 Thank you! I had the temple frescos, but a different shrine retexture.
Literally thousands of hours in skyrim, and this is a character I didn't even know existed cause I have literally never sided with the dawnguard
I feel like the other two members of the Dawnguard having leads in their respective quests comes from their backgrounds being pretty relevant to the particular circumstance, while as with Florentius, what does being a Priest of Arkay have to do with knowing about and tracking down missing persons, while knowing exactly who has taken them, and also why?
Wasn't he a vigilant of stendarr along with Isran? So his background is in hunting not just being a priest.
@@ralcogaming7674 And how does that translate into knowing someone has been kidnapped and knowing where they've been taken and by what?
@@MB-sq7yn I'm saying he's got more of a history than just "being a priest"
I swear these videos never drop off in quality and always deliver. thank you for your effort. :)
Yessss this is the camel content I love and am subbed for
What about the fact that the aedra are kinda weak? Also the dragonborn is sort of a "divine intervention" as well. He literally shows up as the dragons are coming back. You left that one out.
That's a good point; the aedra gave up most of their power in the creation of mundus, hence why they're so non-interventionist in the lives of mortals. A more reasonable possibility ie Meridia, as Camel pointed out. She always stuck me as haughty and vain, but I imagine she could put aside her pride if it meant guiding an aedric priest to slay vampires.
@@chesterstevens8870 I meant it more as a reason as to why Arkay wouldn't do something too grand, but now that I think about it, Akatosh could just a hundred or so years prior
The Aedra are weak now after creating mundus, but do realize that they far eclipse most of the Daedric Princes when it comes to their powers and abilities. Even in their weakend form, for example Akatosh, he was able to slay Dagon using just an avatar, and Dagon was on his true form then.
@@Strato_Casterrr9898 if you watch the actual fight you will Realized the battle was mostly one sided infavor of Dagon Until akatash started using what we now know to be dragon shouts... Yet the dragon shouts he used are
Shout 1. Golden firebreath (We only have a normal firebreath)
Shout 2. A white mist that is likely a banish daedric Lord Shout Judging by the fact that that 1 shout did most of defeating dagon on its own
Akatosh is the only entity that knows every in and out of the thum... No other entity in the elder scrolls universe can say that...
Akatosh did NOT beat dagon by being a stronger God... He beat Dagon by being dovah....
@@TheImmortalBloodwolf "He beat Dagon by being Dovah", you realize that all Dragons are divine right? That they are the children of Akatosh in every Kalpa. You literally just described why he is a stronger god than dagon.
TES detective idea: who’s the black door of the dark brotherhood and it’s Seacrets
Obviously the black door is mephala, daedric prince of whispers and her secrets are ALL the secrets.
This is so interesting. It’s so cool how deep you get into the lore! And I’m glad you acknowledge and consider ESO in your research.
I have a thought, unless someone has already proven or disproven, he may be speaking to a psijic monk or monks. They have helped the Dragonborn before and were able to communicate over vast distances with vague instructions and knowledge of magical artifacts and people. Or maybe even an auger such as the one in the miden of the college. At least it’s an idea I had while watching this video.
If you think about it Sheogorath is also a prime candidate as molag bal was one of the daedra who made him what he is. Molag bal was effectively the leading daedra who turned sheo into the madgod and sheo is one of a very few daedra who will resort to trickery If not the only one who will do such a thing.
Haven't seen an elder scrolls detective video in a while, tho this seems interesting
Personally, I like to believe that Florentius STARTED OUT as a regular schizophrenic hearing voices in his head, but because he believed it was Arkay, his faith became so strong, Arkay actually started taking an interest in him and sending him the occasional vision. The "fake it till you make it" of prophets.
I love ESD so glad it's back
If I’m not mistaken there is a Priest in Bankori who speaks to Arkay (prays to I think) when the Cemetery is being possessed
In ESO
We are led to believe that the Aedra and Daedra give some kind of guidance. From the occasional pilgrim praying at or traveling to a shrine (who seem to be guided both directly and indirectly by their chosen god) to the player character getting direct communication (by way of offerings or worship/sacrifice.)
I've been recently watching a bunch of your videos and I can't get over your masterful use of language. It's more of a written style than spoken, with all the vocabulary one generally only finds in books, but it translates well into these lovely videos. Also, you have a penchant for alliteration and I really love that :D
Mabye he's just so insane he looped back around and became enlightened.