#Jhunal

[elderscrollsconceptart]

The Owl - Jhunal Mural

Concept art for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Art by Adam Adamowicz

[rosemorningstar]

I was thinking about how Ancestor Moths are required for the reading of Elder Scrolls and this whole process and the priests who do it are linked to Julianos. But Julianos is a syncretic form of Jhunal whose totem is the Owl while the Moth is linked instead to Dibella.

We can think about the information in the Elder Scrolls as like “Raw data” that’s too computerized for any mortal mind to comprehend. It’s the “coding” of Nirn aka the “Damned Equation” that Julianos “incanted”. So, how do mortals go about understanding the abstract and divine? They filter it through art.

Dibella’s totem is utilized to turn all of that existential gibberish into an understandable picture and/or narrative. She creates a Graphical User Interface instead of just throwing binary at you.

Maybe that’s why reading the scrolls so much leaves you blind. Excessive beauty has been linked to leaving mortal sight impaired before: Moonshadow is said to be so beautiful that it leaves mortals half-blind (We won’t get into the Azura/Dibella links rn). What could be more beautiful than a picture painted by the goddess of beauty herself?

And maybe this all is Dibella’s hand in creation as a whole? Someone else wrote the plot, but she’s the illustrator.

[mortallytooturtle]

What happens to past faces of Aedra and Daedra when they are replaced?

Ignore for a second that time does not work the same way outside Mundus

Instead imagine that an entirely new divine takes their place, cannibalizing their power from the old incarnation, letting it starve and wither.

Think of the Nordic rune god Jhunal, divine of Hermetic orders and wisdom. Discarded by the Nords for the relation to Herma Mora, the second known and more violent incarnation of the knowledge demon.

Does his spirit still battle this incarnation of the daedric lord?? Does he still answer prayers from sundered shrines? Is he angry? Mournful of his identity lost? Mournful for his time with the title and authority when the world was young?

Or are reimagined gods frozen in time? Unaware of the change, discarded like a dead skin, did it hurt? did they know it was happening? What could it have felt like as he watched from his domain, the mortals, who had slowly turned against him, spoke a new god into existence under Alysia's' name?

Or maybe they die.

Maybe Jhunal is dead, the woodland man won, the owl god now a corpse locked away in the eldrich halls of Apocrapha under an infinite ocean, does his bones yearn for the open sky a suffocating depth away? Does he yearn for rest? Is there peace in the frozen wasteland of Atmora for a dead god? Can the stillness of a dead home-land be peaceful? Does the woodland man wait for him there now? Can two discarded corpses find meaning in eachother, or do they rest for eternity in the wasteland?

Yet what marvels are lost with his passing. What was it like to influence the first Nordic clever men? Help hone their sorcery into enchanted stahlrim and massive city building ability. What was the first encounter with the woodland man like? Did they shape eachother? How did the Rune god earn his name, was it through existing Atmoran rune systems carved by his own hand? or was it taken from the snow elves and adopted in conquest?

Needless to say..

TREAT. All. INCARNATIONS. OF. AEDRA. AND. DEADRA. LIKE. DYNANIC. CHARACTERS. ITS. SO. MUCH. FUN !!!!

[krispydonuts12]

“They say if you are lost and see a white owl to follow; it may just be Julianos guiding you home”

I always hated how the aedra and some daedra were just…..humans. Spurred on by Epic The Musical, decided to finally do what I’ve been planning; redesigning the aedra.

Julianos, a humanoid owl with a human face. This come from his original depiction, Jhunal, having heavy ties into owls. The colors of his clothes come from the different classes of magic, due to being the kind of patron of magic.

Then of course just putting triangles where I can lol-

Zenithar or Arkay is probably next. The aedra are my main priority for this, but I’ll get to the daedra as well as other deities later.

Edit click for better quality, please-

[lokorum]

( ⓛ ω ⓛ *)

[duskiily]

where were you when the dragon broke?

[ehlnofay]

a portrait of history's unsung wizardly pioneer

mouse(@everybodyknows-everybodydies)'s writing on shalidor's much-overlooked ex-wife (and the mind behind half of his famed projects and discoveries) has captivated me utterly. nothing cooler than an old-timey woman whose contributions to her field were subsumed by her ex-husband and whose memory now exists only in buried glimpses and guesses, a series of scraps to be pieced fruitlessly together. my beloved

[yewphoric]

It's quite difficult to pick a favourite one from your characters but it's got to be either Ionya or Mazourkh - Ionya because she's a cool pirate lady (plus the whole thing about her killing her dad is really intriguing) and Mazzy because she looks like a friend

HEHEHEHE THANK YOU!!

i'm so happy ionya is getting so much love... i need to give her more attention fr. i did make her cool as fuck for being ulfric's twin who killed her dad and became a pirate HFBFHDJS

and yes mazzy my beloved.... she IS a friend. she is YOUR friend :]

[cognicent]

I FORGOT TO POST THIS im going insane. anyways i watched the truman show

[amummy]

I have now finished Vigilant, Glenmoril(of what there is) and next is Unslaad. I need… a break LOL. Act 4 of Vigilant was a massive undertaking but i found it rewarding.

Anyone in the fence about the VICN mods for Skyrim, if you don’t mind the incredibly dark side of TES lore it is an incredible and gruesome journey. I highly recommend it.

[moodcrab]

Looks like we'll be getting jyggy with it...

Fixing Skyrim's Daedric Quests

Part III Jyggalag

Even on my second or third ever play through of Skyrim NEARLY FIFTEEN YEARS AGO I still fully expected to find a Jyggalag quest hidden somewhere in the world. His absence was something of an anticlimax for many, as The Shivering Isle was the highlight of Oblivion for a lot of players. Jyggalag being missing from the world in the 200 years since his separation from Sheogorath makes little sense, and Jyggalag doesn't do things that aren't perfectly logical. Either he was overlooked by Bethesda, which is sloppy, or there's an implication that the events of Shivering Isle had no real lasting effect other than the odd cheeky remark from Sheogorath hinting at being the CoC, which is underwhelming to say the least.

But, it does give me a completely blank canvas to write this post, as we are going to be completely ignoring the Creation Club addition. Anniversary Addition is not cannon. I would no more consider a mod to be canon than CC, which isn't a fair comparison as the average mod is more lore friendly than the best CC content, which not only broke lore and established canon but, on occasion, broke the plotlines to whole games. Better games. And it did so for the shallow reason of selling Skyrim AGAIN. I repeat, Anniversary Edition is not canon. Expect Scout Armour. That shit is fire.

Who is Jyggalag?

Jyggalag wasn't in Skyrim and was barely in Oblivion, so let's get to know him before we attempt to write a quest that might get into some heavy metaphysics.

Jyggalag is the Daedric Prince of Order in the sense of pure logical and statistical probability, not to be confused with Peryite whose realm is the Natural Order (you get sick, you die), in fact he has more areas of overlap with Jhunal, the Nordic god of mathematics, another unacceptably absent god in Skyrim. Jyggalag is the denial of both determined fate AND free will, everything that is fated and every decision freely made was already accurately and precisely predicted.

Your fate is 3+1

Your free will is 2+2

Either way, you are 4

That's who Jyggalag is. Cold hard numbers. Humourless, colourless, immensely powerful. The implication is that Jyggalag knew that his power would invite betrayal from his fellow Princes but would not deviate despite hating living as Sheogorath, that he knew full well that every Greymarch he'd do for millennia would inevitably be undone, but did them anyway, which must have been hell for him as "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results" is the definition of insanity. His own nature would have him both foreseeing this AND refusing to alter it, so we can add incredibly patient and relentlessly unyielding to his character breakdown.

*He is also, in my opinion, an aspect of Lorkhan, his mind to be specific, but as this is just a theory I shall leave this to one side for this quest, but if you're interested I have a blog about it that I'll link in the comments.*

Setting the Scene

In case you haven't read the rest of my "Fixing Skyrim" series, the game is now set only 64 years after Oblivion, not the vanilla 200+ years. So it hasn't been that long since Jyggalag was freed and it's somewhat more believable that he hasn't gathered a significant following on Tamriel yet. Also, Silus Visuius, the Imperial who runs the Mythic Dawn museum in Dawnstar, is no longer a man having a mid life crisis who got really into family history, he is the child of actual Mythic Dawn cultists who was indoctrinated and traumatized during childhood. This will be relevant later.

Quest: Restoring Order

After attaining a reasonably high level, if you happen to be walking around one of the following locations; The Library at the College of Winterhold, The Dwemmer Museum at Markarth or the class rooms of The Bard's College, you will find an area unlocked that wasn't previously there. If you wander inside you will find a library, and amongst its stacked corridors, a priestly, unassuming looking man in plain grey robes, sat at a table with an empty chair, presumably for you. Why these locations? Well they have a thematic link to logic and knowledge, but also they are areas you are unlikely to return to once completing their associated quests, which will probably be completed at a lower level, so the quest is somewhat hidden.

The man, you discover, is Dyus of Mytheria, the Chamberlain of Jyggalag. You sit and he explains who he is and the situation with Jyggalag, that he has recently been liberated and requires a new Mytheria, his Realm of Oblivion. It just so happens that a pocket realm of oblivion has recently been "vacated", Gaia Alatar, aka Mankar Camoran's Paradise. Well, "recently" if you're immortal, of course. The pocket realm has been rapidly dissolving into the endless sea of Oblivion, but has not fully collapsed yet, and there is still one from its glory days that lives. He directs you to Silus at the Mythic Dawn Museum.

Silus, who insists his museum is purely in the interests of history, is upset that everyone finds it to be in bad taste, so he's pretty eager to show you around. It's not difficult to get him to overshare, but you'll need a high speech level to get him to spill the beans on his fucked up family history, but he was indeed the child of Mythic Dawn Cultists and was the youngest member as a child. If you gain his trust he will show you a secret artifact that is usually off limits to the public because he had to do some dangerous and very illegal things to acquire them: The Bands of the Chosen, an item the CoC used when he destroyed Paradise, but lost them inside. There are two approaches to enlisting him. Using the information you learn from him and what is available in his museum/house, you can either convince him to that you are also a Mythic Dawn remnant so he will trust you, or threaten him with information that he is a secret Dagon worshiper.

You take him and the Bands of the Chosen to Dyus, who explains that as a devotee of Dagon and follower of Cameron, Silus's soul is still technically destined to go to Paradise when he dies. You have the choice of killing Silus and using a unique soul trap spell to piggy back his soul to what remains of Paradise, or, as he is now begging for his life, spare him and let him open a portal using his Mythic Dawn magics (which is how he got the Bands in the first place). Either way it only works if you wear the bands. Dyus will also give you a conjure Knight of Order spell.

You enter Gaia Alatar, which will be a bizarre half world, with bits of Ayleid like architecture floating around a black sea. You must fight your way past a unique enemy, the tortured souls of the Mythic Dawn, to a throne. Once there you must conjure and kill a Knight of Order, and place its crystal heart on the throne. The destroyed and chaotic world will transform around you into a white crystalline solid state, and Jyggalag himself will finally arrive. He will explain that the Knights and their hearts are his own creation, and therefore worked as "chaotic creatia" (an aspect of a Daedric Prince that can be used to mold a Plane of Oblivion in their image. The Plane is small now, but will soon thrive and overtake the infinite seas of Oblivion. He rewards you by transforming the Bands of the Chosen into white crystal gauntlets called The Hands of Order, which gives the wearer a chance of doing non elemental "crystal" damage when striking, a shard of crystal shall strike the opponent. This works even with hand to hand.

And that's it. Don't worry about Silus, I had no intentions of using him in my Dagon fix. I'll be honest I'm a little disappointed with how this one turned out, I've been coming back to work on it for a while and just wanted to get it posted. I did attempt to write actual dialogue for Dyus, Silus and Jyggalag but it wasn't great, so here it is and I hope you like it.

[jasper-tarot-reader]

Neopets/Skyrim Tarot: V. The Hierophant

Well well well, look who we've gotten to. The other potential counterpart for the High Priestess, the Hierophant. Typically depicted as a religious authority figure (as opposed to a governmental authority figure like the Emperor), the Hierophant is the guy you go to when shit is spiritually fucked.

Poor Anshu. He's a Brown Ruki who serves as the doctor of The Cyodrake's Gaze, the owner of Remarkable Restoratives in Shenkuu, and he's also forced to put up with Bonju's cooking. At least he wasn't the one who got...well, we'll talk about The Cyodrake's Gaze plot in due time, since it features prominently on another card in this analysis/comparison series.

Like the Magician Seradar, Anshu is surrounded by representations of the four suits - his staff for Wands, his dagger for Swords, the mortar & pestle along with his tea for Cups, and the Neopoints for Pentacles. Like the Hierophant, he is experienced, practical, and melds the magical with the mundane.

...He also gets caught up in his work and forgets that stuff like makeup is a thing, as seen in this quote: "I could throw in a few powders, maybe even some potions, to help restore your health. You look pale. Almost a deathly green. And your eyes! They look red and sunken. I might have just the thing. If you give me a moment, I am sure I can find it. Sorry, what? Makeup? Oh! You got me there!"

Anshu is a fun character, and I can't really think of anyone who would fit the Hierophant better from Neopia. And I'm just gonna add that I love the framing and asymmetry of his card. So crunchy.

The Hierophant in the Skyrim Tarot, however, is Julianos, Aedric God of Wisdom and Logic, one of the Nine Divines, Jhunal the Owl to the ancient Nords. His domains are the realms of literature, law, history, contradiction, magic, and - as Jhunal - language and mathematics before he fell out of favor in the Nordic pantheon. He represents the virtue of learning, scholarship, and justice, and his domains include sorcery, alchemy, and enchantment.

Basically, he's the god that you point at and go "NEEEERRRRD!"

I can see why, broadly, Julianos would be placed in the Hierophant position. But he has very little to do with Skyrim itself. Very rarely do you wander across his shrines - in fact, unless you build one for yourself in the basement of your Hearthfire homes or, I don't know, add mods, there are only five Shrines of Julianos in the game (counting the one at the Temple of the Nine in Solitude), meaning he only has three more shrines than Auri-El (aka, last place in terms of shrine numbers). He's really unpopular in this game, which makes sense, since he isn't popular in the Nordic pantheon compared to Shor, Tsun, Kyne, and - modernly - Talos.

But then again, who would we put in his place? Ultimately, he is the best choice for this card, and trying to tailor it down to Skyrim would be very difficult. Despite the emphasis on religion in this game, very rarely do you actually see the NPCs practicing religious stuff (again, without mods).

I suppose, with how little press he gets, it's a good thing that he's in this deck anyway.

[pinessydr]

Breath

@tes-summer-fest 2024 day 1. Breath or Forbidden. Here is a part of my fic ____________________________________________________

The steel sky rains down arrows and divine fire before he can even speak the Word, and Morokei feels flattered that this song, full of pure power, is for him and only him. Those who pray to Kyne temper their Voices with battle and blood, pain and victory, until finally, a scorching storm comes to life within them. Its roaring fury tears crimson banners from the walls and melts the ice, and then what lies beneath it: the ground ripples and flows purple underfoot. Morokei thinks that he has never seen anything as devastating and beautiful. It's impossible to express all the depths of his emotions, speak about it, or cry. He can only sigh with delight, putting all his skill into his breath.

The storm calms down in response.

"I also praise our goddess," he says simply, rising up invisible steps from the air.

Levitation, a trick even beginners learn, helps him see the battlefield from a height. The scorched earth steams below, but above, there is only the wind, an endless wind caressing his hair. Morokei's voice will never embody its fury, but he still allows the rising currents to embrace him, lift even higher, fill his chest, and then rush forward.

A swing of the blade.

Born from the clash of steel and magic, a pure ringing knife cuts through the fiery roar. His fingers go numb, and the magic between them also fades away. Ruvaak has broken a lot of spines, not to mention the summoned blade. The cold bites Morokei's shoulder sharply, and he dives into the Disembodiment an instant before losing his arm.

Attack. Passing through another body, exhaling, striking again.

A Shout catches up with him in the back, powerful and angry. The crystal sings with the defense raised a moment before, and the flames bloom before him, unable to break through the invisible wall. But it is only a warning, not a real blow. Through a sweat trickling down his face, Morokei sees Ruvaak rushing toward him from the opposite side of the arena. As the brilliant fighter he will never be.

But the power can take many forms.

A dazzling strand of spells cuts into the space ahead, crumbling what remains of the buildings and voraciously chewing through the barriers before Ruvaak, frozen under the onslaught, can erect them. It stops only at the mask. It is not easy to break through this guard, but Morokei does not count on it; a drop of success that hisses blood on the coals is enough.

The first, but not the last, until the sun goes down.

He doesn't count the moments until then, surrendering to the melody of battle: the world around him moves and collapses, granite crumbles, and even the setting rays refract incorrectly in the whirlwind of energy that fills the air. When it disappears too, confused and painful, they give themselves a few breaths to rest but don't stop. Only a black wasteland separates life from death, and the sky above is also made of ebonite. No more sun, no more stars.

Morokei looks for at least one. He spits red: a moment of thought about what will be left of the temple if they continue almost killed him. Only a madman would speak to Kyne's hawk cry, and a second of hesitation was just too rational to make sense in the heart of the battle. 

Ruvaak's palms tremble. Fused with the blade, deformed beyond recognition, and blackened, they still work in some way. Morokei must admit that killing all the nerves in them was wise. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to resist when he, the servant of Jhunal, had molded reality like clay.

Perhaps somewhere in another life, he would have said this out loud. Perhaps somewhere else, he would answer with the praise that only the mighty can give to the mighty. Perhaps the world would have needed both of them, not just one.

But there is no room for illusions. Just a brief moment to breathe again before the new Shout.

[infraredarmy]

>A Dwemer said, 'We Dwemer are only aspirants to this that the Velothi have. They shall be our doom in this and the eight known worlds, NIRN, LHKAN [i.e. Lorkhan, the dead god who became the moons], RKHET [Arkay], THENDR [Stendarr], KYNRT [Kynareth], AKHAT [Akatosh], MHARA [Mara], and JHUNAL [Julianos].'

I love this line bc like. To get eight worlds counting Nirn and the moons, they had to drop two of the Divines, Dibella (goddess of sex) and Zenithar (god of commerce). And this was written by Vivec, the dwarves' enemy, so it's like they're saying the dwarves have no money and no bitches

[lokorum]

This is a bit of an oddball ask message, but I went on a little escapade trying to find out how to make a custom main menu for Skyrim because I wanted to add something Vicn Trilogy themed. Your art of this owl with Mora's eye was absolutely perfect for it, and I wanted to show you how it turned out! My DaC0da playthrough is starting soon and this is a lovely little thing to add to the experience, so thanks again for all your great work inspired by this series!

oh but you're so welcome to scream here about anything trilogy related!! <3

ngl i'd become increasingly more paranoid with him in the main menu (─ ‿ ─)

but!! i'm also genuinely surprised it looks so good!! you did an amazing job!! quality hasnt dropped much, and i usually hate to see my own old art but this? this is just heart warming and makes me feel all kind of bubbles and butterflies ( ˊᵕˋ )♡.��⑅)

i also like to think that jhunal stares at the tes castles addvert with his unblinking eye...........judging...............waiting.................

good luck with your dac0da playthrough (and with modding ofc!!) i still havent started it but if you'd want to share any thoughts - dont hesitate to return with spoilers !! 

[mannimarcoiscool]

Fuck Akatosh

Fuck Dibella

Fuck Arkay

Fuck Zenithar

Fuck Stendarr

Fuck Mara

Fuck Kynareth

Fuck Julianos

Fuck Azura

Fuck Boethiah

Fuck Clavicus Vile

Fuck Hermaeus Mora

Fuck Hircine

Fuck Malacath

Fuck Mehrunes Dagon

Fuck Mephala

Fuck Meridia

Fuck Molag Bal

Fuck Nocturnal

Fuck Namira

Fuck Peryite

Fuck Sanguine

Fuck Sheogorath

Fuck Jyggalag

Fuck Vaermira

Fuck Vivec

Fuck Almalexia

Fuck Sotha Sil

Fuck Dagoth

Fuck Talos

Fuck Auri-el

Fuck Syrabane

Fuck Magnus

Fuck Trinimac

Fuck Y'ffre

Fuck Xarxes

Fuck Phynaster

Fuck Lorkhan

Fuck Alkosh

Fuck Riddle-Thar

Fuck Jone

Fuck Jode

Fuck S'rendarr

Fuck Khenarthi

Fuck Baan Dar

Fuck Magrus

Fuck Rajhin

Fuck Azurah

Fuck Sheggorath

Fuck Sangiin

Fuck Namiira

Fuck Lorkhaj

Fuck Z'en

Fuck Herma-Mora

Fuck Sithis

Fuck The Hist

Fuck Satakal

Fuck Ruptga

Fuck Tu'whacca

Fuck Zeht

Fuck Morwha

Fuck Tava

Fuck Onsi

Fuck Diagna

Fuck Leki

Fuck HoonDing

Fuck Malooc

Fuck Sep

Fuck Kyne

Fuck Stuhn

Fuck Jhunal

Fuck Alduin

Fuck Tsun

Fuck Orkey

Fuck Shor

Fuck Maloch

Fuck Shezarr

Fuck Morihaus

Fuck Reman

Fuck Sheor