Ambiguity is the downfall of The Elder scrolls lore?

[Mart-ina]

Elder Scrolls lore is a weird thing. A couple of years ago I really got into it, but then gave up when I realised practically every single thing mentioned, especially pertaining to gods and the 'order' of things, is ambiguous to the highest degree, meaning that practically everything that has ever happened is said to have happened in a number of strikingly different ways. This meant I could get no clear grasp on it, and felt awash in a sea of endless misinformation and skewered interpretation.

[Edbert]

Elder Scrolls lore is a weird thing. A couple of years ago I really got into it, but then gave up when I realised practically every single thing mentioned, especially pertaining to gods and the 'order' of things, is ambiguous to the highest degree, meaning that practically everything that has ever happened is said to have happened in a number of strikingly different ways. This meant I could get no clear grasp on it, and felt awash in a sea of endless misinformation and skewered interpretation.

[Rompage]

Well, since we've already seen one aspect of the Dragon-God of Time, however limited by the game's individual engine, we have enough to go on to make some assumtptions. Think back to the majesty of when we saw the Akatosh-aspect fight Mehrunes Dagon. Now imagine that, very angry, and pointed at you in an aspect of Destroyer instead of preserver, and a Destroyer who is very hungry at that. In a better game engine built to handle much bigger things than Oblivion was.

[Deenanath]

Some of us like the fact that the truth continually eludes our grasp. It makes TES lore more comporable to real world religious and mythical systems which have a tendency to resist easy categorization than most standard fantasy. Here's something to think about, though. Bethesda made Daggerfall with multiple endings. That meant that when it came time to make a sequel Morrowind, they had to decide which was the "real" ending. Someone had the idea that all endings were real the timeline split, and then reconverted. So, someone writing about the deep theology and metaphysics of the Aurbis like MK is writing about a world in which time itself can split apart and come together again.

[Emilian]

True, I guess this makes the most sense as to why it is how it is. But then, it does sometimes take on the appearance of being difficult or complex for the sake of it. It's very interesting to me, especially when pertaining to oblivion - quite clearly someone looked at all the lore and thought this needs to be simplified, or made more easily digestable. So from morrowind to oblivion, we have on the one hand strong political intrigue and multilayered, and sometimes ambiguous storyline, and on the other hand, a much more black and white, good v bad conflict.

[Cadwallader]

I would say the ambiguity is a double edged sword, so to speak. Some fans like the ambiguity in the setting. It does bring a sense of reality into the setting that might be missing if there was only one official answer to everything, I think. Because in real life too, different people may have different beliefs on the same matter, not just in the obvious things which deal with subjects we're not allowed to discuss here. It can also be the case with historical accounts, or even scientific matters, if the subject is purely theoretical and has not been proven yet. The same matter can be reported in different ways depending on who you ask, and some like that the Elder Scrolls reflects this.

[Gajendra1]

You might want to remove the christianity reference, it is breaking forum rules but also I've already said before that I don't believe Alduin and Akatosh are the same being. There just isn't enough evidence to positively conclude that and it seems a bit odd that we would already know the main plot of who the enemy is before we even get close to the game. I'm sure Alduin and Akatosh are completely different beings.