Many people think M'aiq is actually a different person in each game, but we find this unlikely. After watching the video, which theory do you find most convincing? Also what if you've been wrong about Skyrim's main story this entire time? Find out here: ruclips.net/video/ZlazArpms9c/видео.html
I see them as different characters, especially as it is mentioned by them and in the lore that M’aiq’s name their sons M’aiq and pass down their knowledge.
Once, in Skyrim, I ran into M'aiq twice on the same road with 30 seconds between encounters. I stopped to talk to him both times. I know it was probably a spawn bug, but I like to think that it was M'aiq exercising his godly power
He has a very odd ai. I am pretty sure he can teleport in Oblivion and Skyrim. I have had the same thing happen in both games. Normally he has a route he runs 24/7, but in Oblivion and Skyrim I have met him in very weird places just chilling. It is always in the overworld and never inside a load door. I have seen him in the middle of nowhere, on a hill that was barely climbable just looking out. Then a few minutes later way off that hill I'm the forest running. Then on a path right in front of a major city. I remember it happening a lot more in Oblivion but that could be because I spent a lot more time just blasting off with no direction for hours.
Y'all are so fortunate to know so many M'aiq quotes. Every Time I pass him by in Skyrim he usually just, "Wishes me well" coming from a liar this is not so comforting.
I feel like he always gives me the same line about how his father and father's father were also called m'aiq then says he's done talking and won't say any more lines
Technically he was right, since a dragons cannot truly die unless their soul is absorbed. Which means that their souls might have been roaming around waiting to be risen from their burial grounds. Also having to be close to the ground could refer to how they're buried underground. Having to be flying very high could refer to how in Skyrim there are somd dragons who are resting a top mountains. There are some dragons on mountains in Solthstein as well
Well if you payed attention the quote is in past tense. "Dragons WERE never gone, they WERE just invisible and very, very quiet". So despite the active presence of dragons in skyrim his quote still makes perfect sense.
They are. He's literally the embodiment of the devs wandering nirn. Half of his lines in previous games are poking fun at player gripes about previous games or content they never implemented.
@@Acid0Dreamz Yep, like when a lot of people complained about fast travel feature in Oblivion is just making the game too easy, M'aiq said people can fast travel, but they can also just walk if they don't want to.
I still think Maiq is just a devout and spiritual consumer of psychedelic skooma that gives him a chim like immortality and meta perceptiveness through harnessing the lorkhanic power of the moons. TES has always embraced characters that can achieve greatness from all walks of life, like wheedle the beggar king, Rahjin and manimarco. Maybe Maiq is like the saint of skooma addicts.
M'aiq's immortality could work similarly to Demon King Piccolo's own, where he is able to create a "son" that is essentially a total copy of himself, complete with all the same knowledge and memory. Either this or he hit so much skooma that he gained enough speed to exist across an infinite number of worlds and times simultaneously, just like Mario.
Sounds like he's more guilty of omission than falsehoods. To know the truth but only tell half of it, thus the title. So he is truthful yet deceiving...
@@Mystification58 In the same way Obi-Wan said that Anakin was dead. To understand the truth of what M'aiq tells you, you probably have to know what he's telling you about already as his choice of words require an unorthodox perspective to understand.
M'aiq is many things but I don't think he's rude enough to wish the dragon born or any of the others a bad day unless there gonna randomly attack him like how I've done 🤣
If I remember right, there was originally a plan to include dragons in one of the older games (morrowind, maybe?) But due to restraints, they scrapped that. As a result, M'aiq mentions in Morrowind that dragons are there, they just fly very high above the clouds. Unrelated fun fact: Cliff Racers are the reason dragons never invaded Morrowind. If you ask me, it's hilarious to imagine random dragons getting annoyed at sudden clouds of Cliff Racers materializing any time they get too close to Morrowind.
small correction: it's not that the dragons couldn't invade Morrowind, they were there first, later driven out by the cliffracers its said the dragons originally flourished in Vvardenfell, drawn to the warmth of the Red Mountain, but then the cliffracers moved in which at first the dragons ate, but they quickly grew in numbers to the point where they overran and outcompeted the dragons, forcing them out of Morriwind
@@the1pump1der25 The idea that cliff racers were just so irritating that even dragons refused to deal with them makes me laugh so hard. Now I wish the Dragonborn was a reincarnation instead of a specifically crafted soul as is common belief because the potential for meeting the illustrious eradicator, Saint Jiub would have the potential for a lot of joy followed by the sudden realization of "oh yeah, I can't fuckin' fly anymore" and it would be hilarious.
or that he has traveled around and seen so much as immortal being that people just think hes lying. just like how people in skyrim dont believe that a giant flying island is the origin of the sleeping tree, even though thats probably true
I played Skyrim anniversary and I was talking to M'aiq and he has a new line of dialogue and it says that M'aiq wants to go see other places to rest perhaps hammerfell or daggerfall or perhaps both I think Bethesda is trying to tell us something
I remember when the trailer first released and everyone was debating where it'd be set. I was always in the camp thinking it'd probably be set in both hammerfell and high rock, same as tes daggerfall in order to pay homage to it
For quite a while now I've gotten the idea that M'aiq somehow is able to get replacements to mantle him, much like Sheogorath did. Also, I believe that he's only a liar in the same way that Obi-Wan is with his half truths, from certain perspectives. Like with the dragons, the dead and buried are indeed quiet and invisible, but you'd never normally describe them that way.
one time, I talked to M'aiq and he said the "Dragons were never gone, they are just invisible, and very very quiet." quote, not 5 minutes later, a dragon faded into existence on the ground (spawned in) and launched into the air, I watched it fly away and yelled "That crazy Khajiit was right."
so my idea on M'aiq is that he achieved Chim and just kept on existing so he could interact with whatever player character shows up. He really only shows up where you play the game. He stays around to interact with the only truly foreign person in the world every time they show up. IE he's a dev insert eater egg lol. But what I'm really getting at is he exists to give the player some fun. He put his flute there not as an offering but specifically to give you a thread to follow and theorize on. He also could be linked to time wounds since player characters exist exclusively where time wounds exist for story reasons and all that
@@kromtastic not that they haven’t, my main point is that half of the time it feels like grasping at straws to construct a grander narrative than Bethesda ever intended.
@@BoxStudioExecutive your logic assumes companies dont change. Skyrim STILL has mysteries being found today. If it didnt, channels such as epicnate, fudge and camel wouldn't have scores of content. Your "logic" would mean vanilla WoW couldn't possibly have epic stories and lore, cuz look at Blizzard today. "Same company that put out Shadowlands" lol
Skooma trips have allowed M’aiq to travel different realms. He travels there spiritually and can imagine things into existence. This realm hopping has allowed him to learn the secrets of immortality.
@@brian.phillips1985 One can think the lore is bad and still enjoy the games enough to make up for that fact and still watch theory videos for fun, especially if they enjoy the creator of said videos
I found him for the first time wandering around in front of the house where you steal Frost. I was stealth archering all the guys out front but this Mai'q guy just wouldn't stay down 🤦🏿♂️
I’m so happy to see content creators like you guys still upload Skyrim stuff. It pleases me to see that an old game such as Skyrim/whole TES serie still has a pretty big community and that’s what I love about it. This legendary masterpiece will never die. (:
ESO still gets (lore) updates, plus we have some other spin-off games. I wouldn’t call these Skyrim videos, but TES universe videos; which makes perfect sense.
I like the idea of M’aiq being a shard of Rajin. Even better - imagine it being passed down the male line, leading to young Khajit toms in that line being named M’aiq when they demonstrate the ability or power to channel Rajin’s aspect.
When I was younger, I never thought of M'aiq as a long lived individual, I always thought he somehow managed to travel through time in one way or another. I wonder if there's any credence to that?
@@JustinBlastoff thats what I thought after finding him on a tiny island in teso - he complained about a ghost who had a quest. Only players can speak to the ghost, the npcs dont seem to see it.
For all we know Maiq The Liar might just be reborn every now and then with the memory of his past life, adding on each and every time thus leaving little to no memory of any potential childhood
Idk if this has any meaning or not but in Skyrim, I once randomly encountered Vampires and M'aiq was next to them chilling and throwing in some of his lines. Don't like the vampires usually attack any and all npc's?
I like his role as a source of misinformation that obscures the occasional hints and revelations of future games/events he utters amidst all the nonsense. I’d love for them to solidify him as more than merely an Easter egg dispenser.
Thought Maiq is just a running joke, or just a way for the developers to voice their opinion to us, especially when reluctant to making changes due to the communitys demand.
I thought Mai'q was a pun on Mike Kirkbride, who references things existing in Tamriel but that the game never shows, like dragons etc. Thus "Mike" the Liar. And we were supposed to understand that it was sly wink from the devs, "Yes we heard you heard about it, but we're still not putting in multiplayer."
Throughout the games ive always had sense of idea that he was the khajiti god, but then the more i played and understood the lore i kinda changed mind believing that perhaps he is a single being like a hidden deadra that looks similiar to a khajit or perhaps he could be the last aedra bound by a duty to observe and ensure the existance of the mortal plain like a watcher or guardian when needed.
What if the player is Maiq's extension of himself in a way? He's always where you are, almost checking on you to make sure you're doing what you're "supposed to." It could be Lorkhaj making sure the Daedric gods get their revenge for casting him aside in some way.
I feel like Lorkhan is a metaphor for the creators of the game. They gave up so much time and effort to create this world we essentially live in. All the people who came to work with the them either stayed or left over time, but all have an influence on how we perceive the series, which would be Aedra and Daedra...
Maiq doesn’t run, he slightly levitates and somehow the world moves, maiq doesn’t move, how do you think he’s so fast? And timeless, because just as he doesn’t move through the world he doesn’t move through time, time moves around him - just something I came up with now
I've actually always thought that M'aiq was actually an aspect of the godhead, it explains why u can't truly "kill" him he'll always come back and the fact he references dreams etc. and obviously the one that dreams this world will also be the one that would love to travel it all the time too
@@spicydeath82 Oh yeah he's definitely something but out of all the character you can think of within the games he's prbly the most likely id imagine to be the godhead... I mean other than your own PC obviously
I thought that the dreamer was unaware of the dream too? Like the point of achieving chim is realizing it's all a dream, and the dreamer doesn't even know we exist but still deciding that that's okay will achieve chim, not being okay with that means a zero sum
M'aiq the Liar might be just like the Dread Pirate Roberts, where it's not a name passed down by father to son, but, a title passed from person to person. But hey, that's just a theory. A Game Theor- wait, wrong channel.
I honestly think Bethesda are setting M'aiq up for a future Elder Scrolls game as the villain. It would be amazing to find out that M'aiq was pulling the strings behind the scenes all along and following the player character around to observe how they react.
I like the idea that Miaq is the dreamer, or a part of the dreamers mind. He's everywhere and witnesses everything, even things the players and writers don't. It would explain his changing and absurd abilities. As he can do whatever he wants but doesn't need to do everything at the same time. If he wants to travel between realms, he can. If he doesn't want to do caught, nothing can. It also explains his lack of ego. He roams the world and timelines looking at all this wonderful stuff and just takes it in. He only interacts when he finds it amusing. It might also explain his lies. When he tells a story he gives a second option. Because if he says something happened then it happened. While if he says it may have happened this way or this other way, then he hasn't decided yet. Kinda like lucid dreaming, you can change not only how the dreams going, but also how the dream already happened. I don't think he is the godhead but rather the way the godhead experiences the dream. Of that's just a theory... a BAD theory! So who knows
Theory: M’aiq is Michael Kirkbride. Argumentation: the character was created by Bethesda writers to troll Kirkbride for his more outlandish writings (and, after Morrowind, for c0da), calling M’aiq (a linguistic transformation of “Mike”) a Liar. Yet!!! Through tricksterish pataphysical shenanigans M’aiq became an actual avatar of irl Mike! Kirkbride is the true False Dreamer, projecting himself in a blasphemous pataphysical way into the universe he was ousted from! Hail the True Sharmat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I just finished writing my doctoral thesis on metaphysical epistemology while on a bucket of Ritalin, I think it is starting to show)
@@BaalFridge I'm actually starting work on a semi-academic book exploring the metaphysics of the elder scrolls. Now, writing tes lore for real is my biggest writer wet dream 😅
@@aceundead4750 Haha, yeah someday I'll announce it as a project, but for the next six months or more I'll be enjoying a necessary retirement period. I doubt anyone will remember my comment by then.
The visuals on this video are awesome, you can tell that it was made after the script, I love all the little details you can see when the guy is talking
My two favorite theories as to who Maiq is, which you kind of touched on, are that either Maiq is part of the Amoranth, or God-head, or that Maiq is what Sotha Sil would call a prisoner. I like the Amoranth option because even in a dream, you don’t know everything that goes on, so the Amoranth created Maiq to wander Tamriel, to see that which the Amoranth is unaware of. I like the prisoner option because, as Sotha Sil puts it, you have to be able to see the bars in which you are trapped within, and walk through the door to freedom. Maiq, as we all know, is meant to be a mouthpiece for Bethesda to vent through, to tell jokes about the Elder Scrolls universe as a whole. Maiq sees the bars, which is the game, and he has passed through the door, which is our world, or, in his case, some sarcastic Bethesda programmers. Or, you know, he could just be Todd Howard himself, the king of liars.
I like to think he was a normal khajiit at one point, but then upset some kind of god or daedric prince, and is now cursed to walk Tamriel forever, lying to everyone against his will. Maybe he told a lie to the one who cursed him?
Admittedly, it would be hilarious if M'aiq was the original godhead that the nine kicked out, just wandering about and seeing how things are working out for the thieves...
I still maintain that maiq is a disciple of sheogorath. I mean you find him in the sheogorad region of Morrowind. And on the other side of that region is where you have to fight the bull netch with the fork of horripilation. Also when I looked it up. That region is obviously named after sheogorath. Plus the daedric prince of madness is a very important figure in Elswyer
You're definitely right, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if in the next game they also build on his character somewhat and give him a bit more of a canon explanation
In some of my playthroughs, where I'm RP as a shezzarine, I like to think that my toon is the power of Lorkhan w/o the knowledge and m'aiq is the knowledge w/o the power. Two halves of the same thing that can no longer be joined, and why he's 4th wall breaking with some comments. "Mad elf bound him to a stone".. Lorkhan's 'heart' (elder god soul gem?) and Aureil.. think about it 🤔
i like to think that m'aiq achieved CHIM one day waaay in the past, went "dope" and just wandered around tamriel for a long while, and pulls an Icon whenever someone questions his appearance not changing for like, a decade
Could a mortal that has traveled through the sun to reach atherius meet the real forms of the daedric lords, not inside them in their oblivion reals which all are part of the lords forms, could they see the real daedric prices form and talk to them in there? Could that actually truly surprise a daedric lord, to see a mortal not through their realm appearance or their appearance in nirn, but through atherius, where they truly reside? Or is oblivion the plane in which the daedra inhabit and have their inner oblivion realm a separate realm to atherius? Could a mortal ever be able to confront a daedra face to face. Could that potentially scare a deadric lord to see how far a mere mortal could reach through, power, knowledge and ambition?
I wonder if Bethesda has bigger plans for Ma'iq in the future of the franchise. Imagine him in a position of power or esteem in TES6, or even as a direct ally or antagonist. I would love it.
“In terms of power does achieving CHIM put you on the same level as the Daedra or Aedra? Also is it possible to inflict someone with zero summing by blowing their mind?”
Can you PLEASE do a video on Calcemo, the ruins of Nchuad-Zel and the fate of the lost expedition? It's such an interesting and often overlooked questline and I'd LOVE to get a video going over it!
I just started watching the video but this is a completely random theory that just popped into my head: M'aiq is an avatar of The Godhead (the ambiguous Mana-Yood-Sushai or Azathoth inspired supreme dreaming god behind the Elder Scrolls universe) walking around within his own dream world. M'aiq knows incredible amounts of information about the world he is in, almost like he is an outside observer. This includes being able to perceive changes that occur within it and comment on them, for example ""M'aiq has heard that the people of Skyrim are better looking than the ones in Cyrodiill" in response to how everyone in TES V: Skyrim looks so different than their counterparts in Oblivion. However, he may or may not be aware that the ever-shifting world around him is just a product of his own imagination. We probably all have had vivid and truly strange dreams that seem so bizarre, but we don't realize that they are just that, dreams--not until we wake up anyways. When you consider that "M'aiq" in real life is a way for Bethesda, the Elder Scrolls' and developer, to joke around in a meta way about its own created world from within the games themselves, this feels like the most likely explanation for who or what he is. Edit: I feel like 19:16--19:51 goes along very well with this idea. I also really like your theory as well for who M'aiq could be.
I've always thought that M'aiq was a genius possibly a scholar but he went too far and at some point sought out the forbidden knowledge of Herma-Mora (yes, I go with the name given to her by the Skall, I think it and the reasoning they give is more appropriate). I think that somehow M'aiq was then able to escape from Herma-Mora's realm of the Apocrypha and back into Tamriel. There are others in The Elder Scrolls who also sought out knowledge and ended up going insane. The 2 most commonly known are probably Septimus Signus and Lord Harkon for the Dawnguard dlc. Septimus Signus was obsessed with learning about the extend of knowledge and power granted by the Elder Scrolls during his time in the College of Winterhold and at some point left the college in search of some Dwemer stuff, an artifact or something (I don't exactly remember, I've only ever finished the main questline once and that was years back. Ever since I've been doing stupid stuff like trying to get 1 million stolen Sweet Rolls and stuff). During the main questline you'll be told to go to the College of Winterhold and talk the their librarian about the Elder Scrolls. He'll tell you about Septimus and give you a book that doesn't make much sense (according to the librarian, I think I understand what Septimus was trying to get at). The other example, Lord Harkon from the Dawnguard dlc was once a might ruler who had all the wealth and power anyone could ever ask for yet with all this he still had one major fear: mortality. He was so very obsessed with finding a way to conquer mortality that he made a deal with the Daedric Lord, Molag Bal. Molag Bal said that if Harkon were to sacrifice a thousand souls of the innocent in his name then Harkon and his family would be granted immortality as a Pure-Blood vampires. Harkon accepted the proposal and went through. Some many centuries later Harkon had discovered a prophecy called the Tyranny of the Sun or something along those lines that stated were it to be enacted, the sun would be covered or "blotted out" I think is the term used- for all eternity hence then allowing him and his kin to rule and roam freely across all the continents of Nirn during both day and night. Harkon became so immensely obsessed with bringing about this prophecy to a reality that he pushed away his family and absolutely everything that he loved. He became completely insane and was cruel to all those around him. Anyways back to my original theory, I think this is pretty much what happened to M'aiq but not to as severe as an extent. I don't know how he escaped the Apocrypha but that is my theory. Please FudgeMuppet, if you see this make a video and cover my theory. My birthday is coming up at the end of the month on the 28th and if you could make a video on this theory before then it would be an amazing present. Especially if it was on my birthday. Even if you do make a video on this after my birthday has passed I'll be very happy and consider it a late birthday gift. Thank you for all that you do. You've really helped me get through these hard times of uncertainty and I hope you and all your loved ones have been able to stay safe during these times.
An odd twist to this is in a potential reference: if M'aiq is truly the cat who walks, this could be a reference to The Phantom, a trickster hero known primarily as "The Ghost Who Walks", as he is thought to be an ancient immortal being... but is in actuality a mantle that is secretly passed down from master to apprentice when the previous one retires, similar to what M'aiq says.
-used Mod to make Mai’q my follower -used mod to worship the deity Rhajin -didn’t know that Mai’q is actually Rhajin -neglected and abused Mai’q/Rhajin -prayed to Rhajin while he is naked and locked in my player home dungeon He must be a very forgiving god
What if Rajhin himself was originally a Shezarrine? I mean we know that despite being fragments of Shor these beings maintain their own personalities and wills. So M'aiq could be a fragment of a fragment.
Maiq once spawned in riverwood when my character and Ralof entered Riverwood. I greeted Him and after I exited his dialogue he literally disappeared right in front of me. Thinking this was a simple bug. I ignored it. Went inside the sleeping giant inn. Exited the inn and guess who was standing on the stairs as I left the inn. You guessed it.
That's really interesting, maybe he is a kind of reflection of Rajhin. I like that quote about knowing the future from his dreams. And also not being sure whether he is in a dream. He must be living a strange existence. If he has properties of Rajhin, and acquires Rajhin's knowledge without being Rajhin or knowing that Rajhin is the source, he might not know whether the things he knows are the truth or are lies. He might himself be living in a constant state of doubt about everything, yet going with the flow because how else can that state be lived with. I think therefore I am essentially suggests that the only thing one can be sure of is that the thinker exists in some form. Nothing else can be proven to be real beyond all doubt. Because of his long life span and seemingly unconscious knowing of things, M'aiq could live at that level of doubt. He doesn't truly believe anything other than that he exists in some form, so how could he be anything but a liar.
He's daedric related imo. He could be somebody in the service of a daedric Prince. Immortality being one of the benefits. He's always in the region where significant historical events are happening. Almost as if he is observing for somebody or something. Could be a god or prince himself. Rajhin is the obvious answer imo.
I’m pretty sure my first play through of oblivion I killed Maiq before anyone other NPC. Then was visited by the dark brother hood it was such a cool experience. Looking back, knowing I may have murdered a god on the quest to becoming Sheogorath is so tonally perfect.
M'aiq as Rajiin read the Black Books of Apocrypha. Rajiin had ego and achieved Chim; in the manner of Khajiit though he acknowledged existence is as the seas affected by the moon, ebb and flow, being and nonbeing. Raijiin's mind was already partially split by his understanding of Daedra Lords, Oblivion, etc but he maintains duality by existing as a god and not; being a god detaches him from Nirn but being physical is the fun of existence. The god Raijiin is like a voice in the back of his mind, constantly reminding him of his reality, whereas M'aiq is the mind unfettered by chim - he knows only that messing with Daedra is no longer of interest, he knows he has no need for death as he is unable to die, he eats and drinks for fun not necessity, and there are things which exist that he doesn't create that he can indulge in exploring. Living and experiencing a world he can't fully control is the only constant: to acknowledge the futility of existence would cause him to spiral and zero sum. Raijiin the god exists much like Sithis - outside the influence of Aedra and Daedra, there but not, a negative to a positive, only Raijiin has become a third non-present without parallel. He is an absolute, therefore M'aiq is uncertainty - he does what any player bored of the established world and story might do: find menial trivialities to occupy himself knowing none of it matters but he has nothing better to do. If he engages with good and evil he's no better than the aedra and daedra - they're beneath him, he's one of the three which are directly below the godhead, but where's the fun in just nonbeing there? There's a whole reality to toy around with purely for gits and shiggles, a whole reality which has no idea the extent to which they don't know their nature or state of being. May as well poke them with sticks.
Many people think M'aiq is actually a different person in each game, but we find this unlikely. After watching the video, which theory do you find most convincing? Also what if you've been wrong about Skyrim's main story this entire time? Find out here: ruclips.net/video/ZlazArpms9c/видео.html
Everything I know is a Lie!
I'm honestly suprised how much I caused with my theory
@@aran.m977 podcast crew 💪
@@FudgeMuppet always was and gonna be there to listen to you
I see them as different characters, especially as it is mentioned by them and in the lore that M’aiq’s name their sons M’aiq and pass down their knowledge.
Once, in Skyrim, I ran into M'aiq twice on the same road with 30 seconds between encounters. I stopped to talk to him both times. I know it was probably a spawn bug, but I like to think that it was M'aiq exercising his godly power
Nice
I'm not sure if it is a bug, the same thing recently happened to me on the road from whiterun to helgen
He has a very odd ai. I am pretty sure he can teleport in Oblivion and Skyrim. I have had the same thing happen in both games. Normally he has a route he runs 24/7, but in Oblivion and Skyrim I have met him in very weird places just chilling. It is always in the overworld and never inside a load door. I have seen him in the middle of nowhere, on a hill that was barely climbable just looking out. Then a few minutes later way off that hill I'm the forest running. Then on a path right in front of a major city. I remember it happening a lot more in Oblivion but that could be because I spent a lot more time just blasting off with no direction for hours.
@@luv-lost In skyrim he teleports but in oblivion he runs at mach 6 and sometimes clears entire dungeons by himself in search of calipers.
@@crunkers_ I know what ya mean. You cant catch him at all lol.
I took acrobatics the jumped and ran everywhere and could finally catch up with him.
Y'all are so fortunate to know so many M'aiq quotes.
Every Time I pass him by in Skyrim he usually just, "Wishes me well"
coming from a liar this is not so comforting.
You need to actually speak with him to get His quotes not just pass him! :)
I feel like he always gives me the same line about how his father and father's father were also called m'aiq then says he's done talking and won't say any more lines
@@powerchordgamer look Up m'aiq quotes online you Will be able to look AT all of Them without actually finding him
Everytime I see him, he's screaming and running from a troll or a giant spider. It's hilarious
Maiq isn't a liar, people simply can't handle the truth
I like how M'aiq said "Dragons were never gone, they were just invisible" then a dragon just flew past him, while he was, "Yep, Invisible."
Technically he was right, since a dragons cannot truly die unless their soul is absorbed. Which means that their souls might have been roaming around waiting to be risen from their burial grounds. Also having to be close to the ground could refer to how they're buried underground. Having to be flying very high could refer to how in Skyrim there are somd dragons who are resting a top mountains. There are some dragons on mountains in Solthstein as well
Are you sure it wasn't a giant fire-breathing mutant hawk? I think you may be imagining things again.
Well, he used past tense tho
That sound just as unbelievable as when i saw a guard get snagged up by a dragon after saying "what is it? Dragons?"
Well if you payed attention the quote is in past tense. "Dragons WERE never gone, they WERE just invisible and very, very quiet". So despite the active presence of dragons in skyrim his quote still makes perfect sense.
I'm absolutely convinced that somewhere, a Bethesda dev is cackling as we watch this, trying to figure it out.
Based name. TAM! RUGH!
They are. He's literally the embodiment of the devs wandering nirn. Half of his lines in previous games are poking fun at player gripes about previous games or content they never implemented.
@@Acid0Dreamz Yep, like when a lot of people complained about fast travel feature in Oblivion is just making the game too easy, M'aiq said people can fast travel, but they can also just walk if they don't want to.
I still think Maiq is just a devout and spiritual consumer of psychedelic skooma that gives him a chim like immortality and meta perceptiveness through harnessing the lorkhanic power of the moons. TES has always embraced characters that can achieve greatness from all walks of life, like wheedle the beggar king, Rahjin and manimarco. Maybe Maiq is like the saint of skooma addicts.
yes that makes so much sense with the way he acts and his idle animations
@@dbxniker7484 Yeah I mean he carries skooma on him, and I imagine after consuming enough to become immortal you'd probably become a bit shnodded
No, your mom
Maybe hes not a liar hes just always high and drunk
Yaaaassss we love psychedelic drug addict representation 😭🙌
M'aiq's immortality could work similarly to Demon King Piccolo's own, where he is able to create a "son" that is essentially a total copy of himself, complete with all the same knowledge and memory. Either this or he hit so much skooma that he gained enough speed to exist across an infinite number of worlds and times simultaneously, just like Mario.
Effectively creating what will mantle him, like Sheogorath. Pretty crafty if he can do as gods do, but better!
Just like the flash, you mean??
@@NolenGYT No, I mean Super Mario.
Maybe that's what "The Walkabout" is. Doing a hella fuckton of skooma.
@@oliverholm3973 I like the way you think.
M'aiq knows much, tells some. M'aiq knows many things others do not.
No, your mom
So he knows nothing and tells a lot.
@@Chardansearavitriol Maybe he is lying about being a liar. We can never know
Sounds like he's more guilty of omission than falsehoods. To know the truth but only tell half of it, thus the title. So he is truthful yet deceiving...
@@Mystification58 In the same way Obi-Wan said that Anakin was dead. To understand the truth of what M'aiq tells you, you probably have to know what he's telling you about already as his choice of words require an unorthodox perspective to understand.
The big question is: does M'aiq truly wishes you well?
Or is he the one who sent the dark brotherhood to kill you?
He's not necessarily lying but isnt telling the truth either. He literally wishes you a water well.
@WAR CRIMES it's not really a comment you can easily respond to; maybe people were wise enough to not embarrass themselves like you?
M'aiq is many things but I don't think he's rude enough to wish the dragon born or any of the others a bad day unless there gonna randomly attack him like how I've done 🤣
M'aiq is probably like a neutral daedra, so yes he wishes you well in your quest, like Azura might but hasn't really got skin in the game.
If I remember right, there was originally a plan to include dragons in one of the older games (morrowind, maybe?) But due to restraints, they scrapped that. As a result, M'aiq mentions in Morrowind that dragons are there, they just fly very high above the clouds.
Unrelated fun fact: Cliff Racers are the reason dragons never invaded Morrowind. If you ask me, it's hilarious to imagine random dragons getting annoyed at sudden clouds of Cliff Racers materializing any time they get too close to Morrowind.
It was Daggerfall where they intended to add dragons.
small correction:
it's not that the dragons couldn't invade Morrowind, they were there first, later driven out by the cliffracers
its said the dragons originally flourished in Vvardenfell, drawn to the warmth of the Red Mountain, but then the cliffracers moved in which at first the dragons ate, but they quickly grew in numbers to the point where they overran and outcompeted the dragons, forcing them out of Morriwind
Or his mention of dovahs in tes 3 is refering to Parthurnax at the top of the throat of the world
@@the1pump1der25 The idea that cliff racers were just so irritating that even dragons refused to deal with them makes me laugh so hard. Now I wish the Dragonborn was a reincarnation instead of a specifically crafted soul as is common belief because the potential for meeting the illustrious eradicator, Saint Jiub would have the potential for a lot of joy followed by the sudden realization of "oh yeah, I can't fuckin' fly anymore" and it would be hilarious.
@@Uthwita It was kinda odd how there were Dragonlings but no adult dragons
Alternate theory: The big lie of Maiq is that everything he tells is the truth.
Well, in oblivion he did talk of dragons!
he lied 1nce, he said giant mudcrabs are way out in the ocean but theres only 1 and its dead in the middle of the map😺
or that he has traveled around and seen so much as immortal being that people just think hes lying. just like how people in skyrim dont believe that a giant flying island is the origin of the sleeping tree, even though thats probably true
@@brananherndon6947 Really? The times I met him, he was just talking nonsense. I hope I visit him again soon- when I'm off the shivering Isles
@@MatterDoesNots well, he may have meant the ones who are alive, the one that’s dead is really old, there’s not really any telling how old it is.
My theory is that he is actual what restocks all the chests through out the game and repopulates characters as needed.
That's the loot rat
@@MDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDdon’t you mean the loot skeever?
@@TheStripeTailedFiend i suppose the rat may localize his legend
I played Skyrim anniversary and I was talking to M'aiq and he has a new line of dialogue and it says that M'aiq wants to go see other places to rest perhaps hammerfell or daggerfall or perhaps both I think Bethesda is trying to tell us something
Probably that we will se M'aiq in ES6. Or hinting at the location for people who didn't know yet.
maybe 20 years later we'll find out
If Hammerfell and Daggerfall are made together that would be so cool for the next game
As far as I know, TES6 takes place in Hammerfell
I remember when the trailer first released and everyone was debating where it'd be set. I was always in the camp thinking it'd probably be set in both hammerfell and high rock, same as tes daggerfall in order to pay homage to it
For quite a while now I've gotten the idea that M'aiq somehow is able to get replacements to mantle him, much like Sheogorath did.
Also, I believe that he's only a liar in the same way that Obi-Wan is with his half truths, from certain perspectives. Like with the dragons, the dead and buried are indeed quiet and invisible, but you'd never normally describe them that way.
one time, I talked to M'aiq and he said the "Dragons were never gone, they are just invisible, and very very quiet." quote, not 5 minutes later, a dragon faded into existence on the ground (spawned in) and launched into the air, I watched it fly away and yelled "That crazy Khajiit was right."
I didn't think I would cause so much with my Maiq theory
its a good theory! i think you should give yourself more credit:)
The real M’aiq is the friends we made along the way
Wow, very creative comment, definitely not used literally every where else.
@@YoungSlugStudios it’s a meme fam, you okay ?
@@YoungSlugStudios don't be rama rama
The mystery of M’aiq, solved at long last! Well done, mate!
@@YoungSlugStudios maybe the real creative comment was the friends we made along the way
so my idea on M'aiq is that he achieved Chim and just kept on existing so he could interact with whatever player character shows up. He really only shows up where you play the game. He stays around to interact with the only truly foreign person in the world every time they show up. IE he's a dev insert eater egg lol. But what I'm really getting at is he exists to give the player some fun. He put his flute there not as an offering but specifically to give you a thread to follow and theorize on. He also could be linked to time wounds since player characters exist exclusively where time wounds exist for story reasons and all that
This is cool. I think this is what I subscribe to as well.
He could also be an avatar of The Dreamer itself experiencing his dream.
@@indiana47 I’m late but was literally about to say he’s the Godhead
Being an aspect of a Khajiiti deity honestly makes the most sense, especially seeing the examples we see in ESO
My issue with these theories is that they always make a decent lick of sense, I just doubt Bethesda would put that much effort into it.
You ever been to Rorikstead? Lol. Bethesda is known for hidden in-depth mysteries we are left to ponder over.
@@kromtastic not that they haven’t, my main point is that half of the time it feels like grasping at straws to construct a grander narrative than Bethesda ever intended.
@@kromtastic you ever played fallout4? Because this is the same company that made fallout4
@@BoxStudioExecutive your logic assumes companies dont change. Skyrim STILL has mysteries being found today. If it didnt, channels such as epicnate, fudge and camel wouldn't have scores of content.
Your "logic" would mean vanilla WoW couldn't possibly have epic stories and lore, cuz look at Blizzard today. "Same company that put out Shadowlands" lol
@@SirMrProfessor the games ten years old, these youtubers have been scraping the bottom of the barrel so long a hole is forming
Skooma trips have allowed M’aiq to travel different realms. He travels there spiritually and can imagine things into existence. This realm hopping has allowed him to learn the secrets of immortality.
I think it's hilarious how Elder Scrolls lore is a never-ending rabbit hole of theories basically as a result of bad and lazy writing.
I-it’s been 5,000 years and I still haven’t found the answer to any of these theories Nyah *throws scroll of theories away*
Why are you here if you think the lore is bad
@@brian.phillips1985 One can think the lore is bad and still enjoy the games enough to make up for that fact and still watch theory videos for fun, especially if they enjoy the creator of said videos
@@PerishingPurplePulsar That just sounds like a waste of time
Sounds like an opinion more than an objective statement.
You also have to remember if you come upon him in skyrim and put a sword through him through him, he just sits down and looks at you.
truly sensational
And then you get an harassment charge
Couldn't do it. I love him too much lol
@@AmandaTroutman I love him to he is a none playing character he will not die all you get is harassment charge and he keeps going on
I found him for the first time wandering around in front of the house where you steal Frost. I was stealth archering all the guys out front but this Mai'q guy just wouldn't stay down 🤦🏿♂️
I’m so happy to see content creators like you guys still upload Skyrim stuff. It pleases me to see that an old game such as Skyrim/whole TES serie still has a pretty big community and that’s what I love about it. This legendary masterpiece will never die. (:
ESO still gets (lore) updates, plus we have some other spin-off games. I wouldn’t call these Skyrim videos, but TES universe videos; which makes perfect sense.
@@Blafina Yeah agreed, it’s just that right now, the only TES game I play is Skyrim so I quickly tend towards referring to the universe as ‘Skyrim’.
You guys always do a great job with visuals in your videos, but this one seems especially well done on that front
For real, the footage was amazing in this video.
I like the idea of M’aiq being a shard of Rajin. Even better - imagine it being passed down the male line, leading to young Khajit toms in that line being named M’aiq when they demonstrate the ability or power to channel Rajin’s aspect.
This is my favorite side character in Elder Scrolls games. His comments are always interesting. You guys need to do a video about his ancestors.
Many times this khajit sees M'aiq only to be told to go bother someone else.
Yeah, same. I love M'aiq, since he's just one of my absolute favorite npc's in the elder scrolls games. I have his pop figure in my living room.
a video about his ancestors M'aiq and M'aiq? Or are you talking about Q'iam? Not even M'aiq is sure about his name tho...
My first encounter with M'aiq was in oblivion. I've loved this caliper loving kitty ever since. LOVE this theory.
When I was younger, I never thought of M'aiq as a long lived individual, I always thought he somehow managed to travel through time in one way or another. I wonder if there's any credence to that?
What if he’s a player character as well from another dimension and really he’s just turning on his console and picking a game.
@@JustinBlastoff thats what I thought after finding him on a tiny island in teso - he complained about a ghost who had a quest. Only players can speak to the ghost, the npcs dont seem to see it.
For all we know Maiq The Liar might just be reborn every now and then with the memory of his past life, adding on each and every time thus leaving little to no memory of any potential childhood
I really hope that in ES6 we get a quest where, rather than becoming a prince's champion, we steal a daedric artifact with the help of Rajhin.
Idk if this has any meaning or not but in Skyrim, I once randomly encountered Vampires and M'aiq was next to them chilling and throwing in some of his lines. Don't like the vampires usually attack any and all npc's?
We all know Drew is sat at home raging at this whole video
Did drew leave fudge muppet or something?
I like his role as a source of misinformation that obscures the occasional hints and revelations of future games/events he utters amidst all the nonsense. I’d love for them to solidify him as more than merely an Easter egg dispenser.
Thought Maiq is just a running joke, or just a way for the developers to voice their opinion to us, especially when reluctant to making changes due to the communitys demand.
I thought Mai'q was a pun on Mike Kirkbride, who references things existing in Tamriel but that the game never shows, like dragons etc. Thus "Mike" the Liar. And we were supposed to understand that it was sly wink from the devs, "Yes we heard you heard about it, but we're still not putting in multiplayer."
Throughout the games ive always had sense of idea that he was the khajiti god, but then the more i played and understood the lore i kinda changed mind believing that perhaps he is a single being like a hidden deadra that looks similiar to a khajit or perhaps he could be the last aedra bound by a duty to observe and ensure the existance of the mortal plain like a watcher or guardian when needed.
Man, I hope that The Elder Scrolls 6 has just as good lore building as Skyrim. 🤞🤞
Make it morrowind lvl and I am happy.
What if the player is Maiq's extension of himself in a way? He's always where you are, almost checking on you to make sure you're doing what you're "supposed to." It could be Lorkhaj making sure the Daedric gods get their revenge for casting him aside in some way.
He's father to the PC. "Dad, is that you?"
How does anyone know there was a city of winterhold? M'aiq did not see it with his eyes. Did you?
There are twelve hidden realms.
I feel like Lorkhan is a metaphor for the creators of the game. They gave up so much time and effort to create this world we essentially live in. All the people who came to work with the them either stayed or left over time, but all have an influence on how we perceive the series, which would be Aedra and Daedra...
Maiq doesn’t run, he slightly levitates and somehow the world moves, maiq doesn’t move, how do you think he’s so fast? And timeless, because just as he doesn’t move through the world he doesn’t move through time, time moves around him - just something I came up with now
I've actually always thought that M'aiq was actually an aspect of the godhead, it explains why u can't truly "kill" him he'll always come back and the fact he references dreams etc. and obviously the one that dreams this world will also be the one that would love to travel it all the time too
i had a similar thought while watching this. i'm of the opinion he is some sorta deity or eternal being.
@@spicydeath82 Oh yeah he's definitely something but out of all the character you can think of within the games he's prbly the most likely id imagine to be the godhead... I mean other than your own PC obviously
@@TheGreatAngel possibly someone the godhead created specifically cause a little drama and chaos by confusing the player for some fun
@@Allantitan Oh yeah thats exactly what I thought like it's just an "aspect" it's not the godhead himself but like an avatar of it or something
I thought that the dreamer was unaware of the dream too? Like the point of achieving chim is realizing it's all a dream, and the dreamer doesn't even know we exist but still deciding that that's okay will achieve chim, not being okay with that means a zero sum
M'aiq the Liar might be just like the Dread Pirate Roberts, where it's not a name passed down by father to son, but, a title passed from person to person. But hey, that's just a theory. A Game Theor- wait, wrong channel.
is that a Princess Bride reference? That's a throwback among throwbacks.
This is an underrated comment.
I honestly think Bethesda are setting M'aiq up for a future Elder Scrolls game as the villain. It would be amazing to find out that M'aiq was pulling the strings behind the scenes all along and following the player character around to observe how they react.
I like the idea that Miaq is the dreamer, or a part of the dreamers mind. He's everywhere and witnesses everything, even things the players and writers don't.
It would explain his changing and absurd abilities. As he can do whatever he wants but doesn't need to do everything at the same time. If he wants to travel between realms, he can. If he doesn't want to do caught, nothing can.
It also explains his lack of ego. He roams the world and timelines looking at all this wonderful stuff and just takes it in. He only interacts when he finds it amusing.
It might also explain his lies. When he tells a story he gives a second option. Because if he says something happened then it happened. While if he says it may have happened this way or this other way, then he hasn't decided yet.
Kinda like lucid dreaming, you can change not only how the dreams going, but also how the dream already happened.
I don't think he is the godhead but rather the way the godhead experiences the dream.
Of that's just a theory... a BAD theory!
So who knows
Dude this is solid!
He hasn’t decided yet. That’s a very likely theory.
Thanks
Theory: M’aiq is Michael Kirkbride. Argumentation: the character was created by Bethesda writers to troll Kirkbride for his more outlandish writings (and, after Morrowind, for c0da), calling M’aiq (a linguistic transformation of “Mike”) a Liar. Yet!!! Through tricksterish pataphysical shenanigans M’aiq became an actual avatar of irl Mike! Kirkbride is the true False Dreamer, projecting himself in a blasphemous pataphysical way into the universe he was ousted from! Hail the True Sharmat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I just finished writing my doctoral thesis on metaphysical epistemology while on a bucket of Ritalin, I think it is starting to show)
Please write elder scrolls lore. Metaphysical esoteric shenanigans are a must
@@BaalFridge I'm actually starting work on a semi-academic book exploring the metaphysics of the elder scrolls. Now, writing tes lore for real is my biggest writer wet dream 😅
Your ADD is showing lol
@@aceundead4750 Haha, yeah someday I'll announce it as a project, but for the next six months or more I'll be enjoying a necessary retirement period. I doubt anyone will remember my comment by then.
@@MichaelVrazitoulis challenge accepted
The visuals on this video are awesome, you can tell that it was made after the script, I love all the little details you can see when the guy is talking
My two favorite theories as to who Maiq is, which you kind of touched on, are that either Maiq is part of the Amoranth, or God-head, or that Maiq is what Sotha Sil would call a prisoner. I like the Amoranth option because even in a dream, you don’t know everything that goes on, so the Amoranth created Maiq to wander Tamriel, to see that which the Amoranth is unaware of. I like the prisoner option because, as Sotha Sil puts it, you have to be able to see the bars in which you are trapped within, and walk through the door to freedom. Maiq, as we all know, is meant to be a mouthpiece for Bethesda to vent through, to tell jokes about the Elder Scrolls universe as a whole. Maiq sees the bars, which is the game, and he has passed through the door, which is our world, or, in his case, some sarcastic Bethesda programmers. Or, you know, he could just be Todd Howard himself, the king of liars.
I like to think he was a normal khajiit at one point, but then upset some kind of god or daedric prince, and is now cursed to walk Tamriel forever, lying to everyone against his will. Maybe he told a lie to the one who cursed him?
Admittedly, it would be hilarious if M'aiq was the original godhead that the nine kicked out, just wandering about and seeing how things are working out for the thieves...
I am just awed, the cinematography is excellent! The scenes are perfect, high quality, it greatly enhances the experience! Well done!
The Elyswere DLC music from ESO is so good. Love it
I mean, if Rajhin possibly has more than seven shadows, I think it'd be plausible for each version of M'aiq to be a different shadow.
Babe wake up, new M’aiq lore just dropped 😩
Maiq is a byproduct of my adventures in Morrowind. I messed around with reality so much I accidentally made an npc sentient
I still maintain that maiq is a disciple of sheogorath. I mean you find him in the sheogorad region of Morrowind. And on the other side of that region is where you have to fight the bull netch with the fork of horripilation. Also when I looked it up. That region is obviously named after sheogorath. Plus the daedric prince of madness is a very important figure in Elswyer
If you toggle tcl in command and move into M'aiq you will notice that he is in fact missing his heart. No heart to be found.
Where do you get your skooma? What other npc in any game has a rendered heart in the geometry of their body?
And here it is, the one we've all been waiting for.
At last 😅
One more detail about that shadow of Rahjiin, although minor, is how he has the same moustache as M'aiq
What if the "Liar" part of the name is a lie itself, and this is a misunderstood Kajiit that just wants to go by his life??
M'aiq Soul Trap is a daggerfall reference if anyone is wondering. When an enchantment breaks the soul is released.
I tend to believe M'aiq is a parody of Michael Kirkbride.
M'aiq the Liar
"Mike" the Writer
The book "Doors of Oblivion" was the best short book I've ever read in game.
What an intriguing theory! I really love this video, so much detail went to this. Thank you very much for doing it.
“You don’t have to be on skooma to see the similarities”
But it helps!
Maiq the Liar is just an avatar of the Devs, allowing them to answer without answering the many, often irritating, questions that fans throw at them.
You're definitely right, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if in the next game they also build on his character somewhat and give him a bit more of a canon explanation
@@RealUlrichLeland I doubt it, he requires no explanation. Also he might not even be in the next TES game, since that is probably 5-6 years away.
*9 minutes into the video*
"Let's get right into it."
In some of my playthroughs, where I'm RP as a shezzarine, I like to think that my toon is the power of Lorkhan w/o the knowledge and m'aiq is the knowledge w/o the power. Two halves of the same thing that can no longer be joined, and why he's 4th wall breaking with some comments.
"Mad elf bound him to a stone".. Lorkhan's 'heart' (elder god soul gem?) and Aureil.. think about it 🤔
This sounds really cool
i like to think that m'aiq achieved CHIM one day waaay in the past, went "dope" and just wandered around tamriel for a long while, and pulls an Icon whenever someone questions his appearance not changing for like, a decade
Could a mortal that has traveled through the sun to reach atherius meet the real forms of the daedric lords, not inside them in their oblivion reals which all are part of the lords forms, could they see the real daedric prices form and talk to them in there? Could that actually truly surprise a daedric lord, to see a mortal not through their realm appearance or their appearance in nirn, but through atherius, where they truly reside? Or is oblivion the plane in which the daedra inhabit and have their inner oblivion realm a separate realm to atherius? Could a mortal ever be able to confront a daedra face to face. Could that potentially scare a deadric lord to see how far a mere mortal could reach through, power, knowledge and ambition?
I wonder if Bethesda has bigger plans for Ma'iq in the future of the franchise. Imagine him in a position of power or esteem in TES6, or even as a direct ally or antagonist. I would love it.
Drew needs to make a counter video 😂
Visually, these videos have gone next level! Really amazing video footage
Drew is gonna be pissed lol
Your videos are so nostalgic for me, every time I watch them it brings me to a better place.
M'aiq don't care much for RUclips videos, M'aiq thinks they're all equally silly.
M’aiq thanks you for making people understand M’aiq.
Maiq is just Todd Howard in disguise.
Michael Kirkbride
I always assumed M'aiq was referencing Dragonflys when he was talking about dragons and was just being cheeky.
“In terms of power does achieving CHIM put you on the same level as the Daedra or Aedra? Also is it possible to inflict someone with zero summing by blowing their mind?”
M'aiq knows the answer
Can you PLEASE do a video on Calcemo, the ruins of Nchuad-Zel and the fate of the lost expedition? It's such an interesting and often overlooked questline and I'd LOVE to get a video going over it!
I just started watching the video but this is a completely random theory that just popped into my head: M'aiq is an avatar of The Godhead (the ambiguous Mana-Yood-Sushai or Azathoth inspired supreme dreaming god behind the Elder Scrolls universe) walking around within his own dream world.
M'aiq knows incredible amounts of information about the world he is in, almost like he is an outside observer. This includes being able to perceive changes that occur within it and comment on them, for example ""M'aiq has heard that the people of Skyrim are better looking than the ones in Cyrodiill" in response to how everyone in TES V: Skyrim looks so different than their counterparts in Oblivion. However, he may or may not be aware that the ever-shifting world around him is just a product of his own imagination. We probably all have had vivid and truly strange dreams that seem so bizarre, but we don't realize that they are just that, dreams--not until we wake up anyways.
When you consider that "M'aiq" in real life is a way for Bethesda, the Elder Scrolls' and developer, to joke around in a meta way about its own created world from within the games themselves, this feels like the most likely explanation for who or what he is.
Edit: I feel like 19:16--19:51 goes along very well with this idea. I also really like your theory as well for who M'aiq could be.
When reaching chim he lied to himself to keep his physical body “I am not a dream”. Becoming god like. But choosing to just be a common traveler.
I've always thought that M'aiq was a genius possibly a scholar but he went too far and at some point sought out the forbidden knowledge of Herma-Mora (yes, I go with the name given to her by the Skall, I think it and the reasoning they give is more appropriate). I think that somehow M'aiq was then able to escape from Herma-Mora's realm of the Apocrypha and back into Tamriel. There are others in The Elder Scrolls who also sought out knowledge and ended up going insane. The 2 most commonly known are probably Septimus Signus and Lord Harkon for the Dawnguard dlc. Septimus Signus was obsessed with learning about the extend of knowledge and power granted by the Elder Scrolls during his time in the College of Winterhold and at some point left the college in search of some Dwemer stuff, an artifact or something (I don't exactly remember, I've only ever finished the main questline once and that was years back. Ever since I've been doing stupid stuff like trying to get 1 million stolen Sweet Rolls and stuff). During the main questline you'll be told to go to the College of Winterhold and talk the their librarian about the Elder Scrolls. He'll tell you about Septimus and give you a book that doesn't make much sense (according to the librarian, I think I understand what Septimus was trying to get at). The other example, Lord Harkon from the Dawnguard dlc was once a might ruler who had all the wealth and power anyone could ever ask for yet with all this he still had one major fear: mortality. He was so very obsessed with finding a way to conquer mortality that he made a deal with the Daedric Lord, Molag Bal. Molag Bal said that if Harkon were to sacrifice a thousand souls of the innocent in his name then Harkon and his family would be granted immortality as a Pure-Blood vampires. Harkon accepted the proposal and went through. Some many centuries later Harkon had discovered a prophecy called the Tyranny of the Sun or something along those lines that stated were it to be enacted, the sun would be covered or "blotted out" I think is the term used- for all eternity hence then allowing him and his kin to rule and roam freely across all the continents of Nirn during both day and night. Harkon became so immensely obsessed with bringing about this prophecy to a reality that he pushed away his family and absolutely everything that he loved. He became completely insane and was cruel to all those around him. Anyways back to my original theory, I think this is pretty much what happened to M'aiq but not to as severe as an extent. I don't know how he escaped the Apocrypha but that is my theory. Please FudgeMuppet, if you see this make a video and cover my theory. My birthday is coming up at the end of the month on the 28th and if you could make a video on this theory before then it would be an amazing present. Especially if it was on my birthday. Even if you do make a video on this after my birthday has passed I'll be very happy and consider it a late birthday gift. Thank you for all that you do. You've really helped me get through these hard times of uncertainty and I hope you and all your loved ones have been able to stay safe during these times.
An odd twist to this is in a potential reference: if M'aiq is truly the cat who walks, this could be a reference to The Phantom, a trickster hero known primarily as "The Ghost Who Walks", as he is thought to be an ancient immortal being... but is in actuality a mantle that is secretly passed down from master to apprentice when the previous one retires, similar to what M'aiq says.
-used Mod to make Mai’q my follower
-used mod to worship the deity Rhajin
-didn’t know that Mai’q is actually Rhajin
-neglected and abused Mai’q/Rhajin
-prayed to Rhajin while he is naked and locked in my player home dungeon
He must be a very forgiving god
Or just very patient and planning something especially hilarious...
What if Rajhin himself was originally a Shezarrine? I mean we know that despite being fragments of Shor these beings maintain their own personalities and wills. So M'aiq could be a fragment of a fragment.
M'aiq knows many things, no?
Somewhere, someplace, Drew is rolling around sleepless knowing this video exists lol
The “Hype” you guys have caused around this 😂
My annual Elder Scrolls addiction has kicked in again, time to binge Fudge Muppet.
I’m gay
ayo
ok
Congrats? Yes, congrats 🐢
Inferior human
Congratulations
Maiq once spawned in riverwood when my character and Ralof entered Riverwood. I greeted Him and after I exited his dialogue he literally disappeared right in front of me. Thinking this was a simple bug. I ignored it. Went inside the sleeping giant inn. Exited the inn and guess who was standing on the stairs as I left the inn. You guessed it.
One of my absolute favorite theories, and about my favorite characters from the Elderscrolls universe. Mmmmh. Beautiful.
That's really interesting, maybe he is a kind of reflection of Rajhin. I like that quote about knowing the future from his dreams. And also not being sure whether he is in a dream. He must be living a strange existence. If he has properties of Rajhin, and acquires Rajhin's knowledge without being Rajhin or knowing that Rajhin is the source, he might not know whether the things he knows are the truth or are lies. He might himself be living in a constant state of doubt about everything, yet going with the flow because how else can that state be lived with. I think therefore I am essentially suggests that the only thing one can be sure of is that the thinker exists in some form. Nothing else can be proven to be real beyond all doubt. Because of his long life span and seemingly unconscious knowing of things, M'aiq could live at that level of doubt. He doesn't truly believe anything other than that he exists in some form, so how could he be anything but a liar.
Listen man I used to love watching Skyrim lore videos to fall asleep to but the clip of that humongous crab scared the shit out of me
He's daedric related imo. He could be somebody in the service of a daedric Prince. Immortality being one of the benefits. He's always in the region where significant historical events are happening. Almost as if he is observing for somebody or something. Could be a god or prince himself. Rajhin is the obvious answer imo.
The cinematography for this video is amazing. Looks like this game came out yesterday.
I’m pretty sure my first play through of oblivion I killed Maiq before anyone other NPC. Then was visited by the dark brother hood it was such a cool experience. Looking back, knowing I may have murdered a god on the quest to becoming Sheogorath is so tonally perfect.
Did you play with mods? Because M'aiq is an essential NPC, meaning he can not die if you don't use mods or console commands.
Its impossible to kill him...
M'aiq as Rajiin read the Black Books of Apocrypha. Rajiin had ego and achieved Chim; in the manner of Khajiit though he acknowledged existence is as the seas affected by the moon, ebb and flow, being and nonbeing. Raijiin's mind was already partially split by his understanding of Daedra Lords, Oblivion, etc but he maintains duality by existing as a god and not; being a god detaches him from Nirn but being physical is the fun of existence. The god Raijiin is like a voice in the back of his mind, constantly reminding him of his reality, whereas M'aiq is the mind unfettered by chim - he knows only that messing with Daedra is no longer of interest, he knows he has no need for death as he is unable to die, he eats and drinks for fun not necessity, and there are things which exist that he doesn't create that he can indulge in exploring. Living and experiencing a world he can't fully control is the only constant: to acknowledge the futility of existence would cause him to spiral and zero sum. Raijiin the god exists much like Sithis - outside the influence of Aedra and Daedra, there but not, a negative to a positive, only Raijiin has become a third non-present without parallel. He is an absolute, therefore M'aiq is uncertainty - he does what any player bored of the established world and story might do: find menial trivialities to occupy himself knowing none of it matters but he has nothing better to do. If he engages with good and evil he's no better than the aedra and daedra - they're beneath him, he's one of the three which are directly below the godhead, but where's the fun in just nonbeing there? There's a whole reality to toy around with purely for gits and shiggles, a whole reality which has no idea the extent to which they don't know their nature or state of being.
May as well poke them with sticks.
Lorkaj’s curse to roam for many cycles is reincarnation as the player character.