#ulfsild

[wouldntyoulichentoknow]

you'll never be like me (there's nothing left of you)

@tes-summer-fest day 6: mirror/abandoned

[everybodyknows-everybodydies]

“So this is your College,” she says, without turning around. They haven’t spoken in—well, long enough to forget just how solid his presence feels, but not so long that she doesn’t recognize his step. He still stomps like a mammoth and drags his feet. Worse in the snow, always.

He comes to stand beside her, a professional distance from his shoulder to hers. “Impressed?”

It’s certainly meant to be impressive, at least—the stonework polished, gleaming; the towers academically tall. He’s had banners put up in too many places with a symbol she doesn’t doubt he designed himself. Waste of runework to shield that much delicate embroidery from the elements; they’ll be moved indoors well before Frostfall, she thinks to herself. “I noticed the statue.” He preens, the way his chest puffs out visible out the corner of her eye. Twitching a smirk, she says, “Funny you didn’t have it made of yourself, though.”

“Of course it’s—”

“Fellow they got to do it instead is obviously much too handsome.”

He splutters, tugs in irritation on one thick braid of his moustache. “You don’t have anything meaningful to say?”

“Hm.” She feigns deep contemplation. “What did you leave out of this one?”

“I didn’t leave anything out. If you’re here just to insult me, Ulfsild—”

“Someone’s got to remind you that you’re only a man while you’re signing your byline in titles, Archmage,” she says, light as the flakes freezing on her eyelashes. She breathes slow into her palms, curls the warmer air around her face to melt them again. Her fingers twinge. “And no one else seems particularly keen on doing the job. Kitchen?”

“It’s got a kitchen. You don’t like the title?”

“Makes you sound like a pompous ass, which is accurate, but I hadn’t thought you wanted everyone to know. Living quarters?”

“Don’t patronize me.”

“Library?” When he doesn’t answer, she barks a laugh, incredulous, and turns to look at him at last. He’s staring very pointedly at the central building and not at her. “Did you not put a goddamned library in your school, Shal?”

“There are plenty of shelves. Why would anyone borrow a book when they can just keep it for future reference—”

“You are going to kill me,” she says cheerfully. “I’ll laugh myself to death one day when you forget something important in your grand old quest to pluck down the stars. Watch, you’ll go to show off how easily you stride from here to Hammerfell in a single step, ready to revolutionize magical travel, and you’ll leave behind your own head because you didn’t think to cast down instead of up.”

“At least I’d have done it. More than some can say.” He’s silent for a moment, snow dusting his beard. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he’d oiled it just recently. He never did it this early in the week, though.

But. Well. Routines change just as well as people do, she supposes. She spells off the ache in her knuckles—comes back quicker than she’d like, these days—and shakes out her hands. Folds her arms and studies him. She needs to see his face for this part. “I read your piece on integrating runework during construction.”

He has the audacity to not so much as twitch a greying whisker at this. “Found it riveting enough to come discuss in person, did you? Nostalgic for old times?”

“I want my notes back.”

“You took,” he says evenly, “all your things already. Thirty years ago, you’ll recall.”

“You just happened, then, to remember exactly how I explicated the energy renewal process in layered stone—”

“Evidently, yes. Believe it or not, Ulfie, you do leave an impression.” His voice is dry. He flicks her an amused look, crosses his arms in perfect mirror of hers. “I’ll make a footnote in the reprint if it’s rankled you so much.”

“Footnote! You used my diagrams, Shal. From—” She shifts her jaw, finding it tight. She still spits sparks when she says the name, and the familiar static tingle in her teeth feels a warning. Instead, she takes a breath. “At least spell indeko right, you old fool. There’s no c.”

“What? Yes there is.”

“There’s not.”

“I’m not having this argument again.” He starts for the iron gate. “Come inside if you’re done and we can talk about anything else.”

She puts out a hand. He stops abruptly at the lock of the gate yanking into place with a horrible metal sound. “That’ll rust if you aren’t careful,” she says with a nod. “You really don’t ever learn, do you?”

He tips his head back, staring bleakly at the sky. “Let go of the gate.”

“Give me—whatever you kept. I told you I don’t want you using my notes. You put it at the wrong stage anyway, and I hope it was only in the paper and not in the construction here—though if you’re just going to give this one away to the first devil to dangle a promise in your face then maybe it doesn’t matter so much whether it stands or falls—”

“Let go of the gate,” he turns; “you’re going to break something.”

“Like you can’t put it together again,” she snaps.

“You know what I meant.”

Her hands are shaking. She doesn’t let go. “Swallow all the stars you want, Shalidor, but don’t pretend you’re here with the rest of us on the ground.”

“You don’t have to be on the ground. If you weren’t so damn myopic—” He cuts himself off, lifts a hand to sever her grip with a twist of his middle finger and his thumb, leaves her hands burning and claw-curled, rigid. The way he’s looking at her has her swallowing sparks again, running her tongue over her teeth. “Come inside. Stay here and do something great instead of theorizing yourself to death. Or at least let someone look at your hands. Is it worse?”

She huffs out a breath at a spasm in her palm. Stands up straighter. “You know we can’t work together.”

“You don’t even want to try?”

“No, Shal.” Shaking out her hands and tucking them into her sleeves, she closes her eyes for a moment. “I hope this one works out, I do. You don’t need me for that.”

He laughs. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t think so.” Gesturing to the gate, he says, “You’re welcome to search my rooms if you like. You won’t find anything in your hand, though, I promise.”

She doesn’t put much stock in his promises. Exhaustion presses at her shoulders: too much, again. She ought to go. Come back when she’s not dragging threads of magicka, fraying at every edge. But that would give him time to rearrange, so she shifts her jaw instead, makes her voice light. “Haven’t even seen the grounds and you’re inviting me up to your rooms.”

His eyebrows lift. “If you like.”

“Is the tall strapping statue model up there?” His face contorts—and despite herself, she feels her mouth pull into a grin.

[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

[harlequinalis]

So the Scribing storyline was really good

[jakobos]

The Vvardvark and The Frog Luminaries.

Unlike the ones we know, they didn't help Ulfsild in the creation of scribing.

The Vvarvark hopped across Tamriel and was never in a place long enough to talk with.

And The Frog just had no interest.

[sleepymarmot]

A reddit user pointed out that Ulfsild's lines in the Mages Guild quest have been changed and improved in the same update that released the Scribing questline.

I looked them up on UESP, and Ulfsild's page documented the change.

Before:

Ulfsild: "You didn't come home last night. I waited all night for you. Have you been working this entire time?" <Shalidor continues to write, making no sign that he heard her.> Ulfsild: "Shalidor! Eyevea is lost … you're obsessed! Can you even hear me?" <He continues to write.> Ulfsild: "I can't do this anymore. You love your spells and scrolls more than you love me. I'm leaving you. Can you hear me now?" <Silence.> Ulfsild: "Goodbye … you stupid old fool." <Ulfsild disappears, Shalidor stops writing and looks around.> Arch-Mage Shalidor:"Ulfie … my love? I swear I just heard you. Where did you go?"

After:

Ulfsild the Evergreen: "Shalidor! Eyevea is lost … you're obsessed! Can you even hear me?" <Shalidor continues to write, making no sign that he heard her.> Ulfsild the Evergreen: "That island was as much my home as yours. My work, my legacy, locked away forever." <He continues to write.> Ulfsild: "I can't do this anymore. I've moved on, but you never will." <He continues to write.> Ulfsild the Evergreen: "Goodbye … you silly old man." <Ulfsild disappears, Shalidor stops writing and looks around.> Arch-Mage Shalidor:"Ulfie … my love? I swear I just heard you. Where did you go?"

A huge improvement! Well done, writers.

[defectivegembrain]

[ID: Yellow text on a black background reads: "Well, no Ulfsild no problem, Not-Ulfsild! You have a naturally buoyant spirit, I can tell. This will be an effervescent experience. Let us begin."]

Saw a netch today... effervescent

[daintymechas]

whoa whoa wait a minute... does Mary Elizabeth Mcglynn voice The Crow (Ulfsild's familiar) in the new scribing questline? please tell me i'm not the only one who hears this. i feel like i'm losing my damn mind over here and imagining things.

[daggerfall]

Someone who has been acting as a Hero for the last several years purely because she knows that if she doesn't, no one else will. Someone who has experienced incredibly tragic loss and been forced to keep going on. Someone who stopped asking her friends for help because she's scared they'll get hurt, and had been isolating herself for years. Someone who hasn't been having Fun doing any of this in so long

That someone finally meets beings who can Possibly relate to her and still offer lessons on existence as powerful, immortal, Good beings. Where the stakes aren't life or death for once. Where the goal is about restoration, legacy, learning, curiosity. Learning about a story that we already knew the ending to, but could still learn so much about the characters. Ulfsild had such a rich inner life outside of her husband and carried on after everything happened!

There is so much to gain from that storyline as a war weary Hero who has been on the verge of giving up in one way or another, and finally coming out of that dark place with the help of others.

I don't think the Scribing quest fixed her, but it helped show Isla she was on the right path with her role of the Hero

While the gameplay of the Scribing main quest gets rather repetitive near the end, I'm not exaggerating when I say I think this questline is one of the first stories in years my main has truly connected with. I'm absolutely stunned at how closely it connects with everything Isla has struggled with over the last decade of ESO, and trying to be a Hero all this time.

The scribing quest. Of all things...

[wouldntyoulichentoknow]

inimitable mage scholar Ulfsild CANONIZED. wizard hat to celebrate 🎉🎉🎉!!!!!

[wouldntyoulichentoknow]

Shalidor. where's Eyevea.

[wouldntyoulichentoknow]

the inimitable and illustrious mage scholar Ulfsild. and her ex-husband

[wouldntyoulichentoknow]

*Marge Simpson voice* I just think they're neat!

[everybodyknows-everybodydies]

THE BEARDED CREATURE, SHALI-BORING

HE WAS NOT BUOYANT AT ALL

mysterious talking netch you are hilarious. (...she was ebullient. witty. and she floated much higher on her own ;-; I'm flinging myself into the sEA)

[everybodyknows-everybodydies]

I don't really want to give them money but I am on my hands and knees. this was TARGETED AT ME SO PRECISELY. they even gave her a SILLY WIZARD HAT LOOK 😭😭😭

[everybodyknows-everybodydies]

where's that anime girl meme. Ulfsild mentioned 🎉🎉🎉