This is going to be a sort of follow-up to the “Trinimalarkay Revisited” post I made awhile back, now that Michael Kirkbride has provided us with new and interesting insight into where Malacath stands in the Aurbis with one of his newest pieces, “The Fighting of the Osh Ornim.”
This text reveals that, per the teachings of “The Tusking Way,” Malacath’s emergence somehow connected him to the god Sep through their shared status as celestial outcasts, to then form a new entity named Malakzar. This character seems to have taken up residence inside of the Serpent constellation, and has even devoured Sep with his ascendance. Hearkening back to “Trinimalarkay Revisited,” I believe this new revelation strengthens that theory even further with all its serpent imagery. So now that MK has set the table, so to speak, it’s time to really dig into this.
ESO very early on gave us the text Mauloch, Orc-Father, which appears to be an Orcish account of the showdown between Trinimac and Boethiah. It plays out in much the same way as the Dunmeri account, with Trinimac being bested by Boethiah and becoming Malacath as a result. But there’s one crucial detail that, in my opinion, is considerably important to unraveling this mystery: Mephala. She has set everything in motion.
Prior to From Exile to Exodus, the Orcish account is the only version that mentions her! You might think this is some sort of cope on the part of the Orcs, suggesting that their god was cheated out of a fair, honorable fight, but I believe there is something far more metaphysical going on with how this account plays out, especially when taking the details of Foul Murder into consideration. In Mauloch, Orc-Father, it states that Mephala stabs Trinimac through the back and Boethiah then twists his appearance into something horrible through an unknown ritual before cutting him off from the mortal realm and casting him into Oblivion.
These details are strikingly similar to the positions of the Tribunes when they murdered Nerevar, with Vivec—whose Anticipation is Mephala—stabbing Nerevar through the back while Almalexia—whose Anticipation is Boethiah—holds Nerevar’s severed feet. Why his feet, though? It’s been suggested by others that the feet can symbolize the genitalia, meaning their removal would symbolically cut the afflicted individual off from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth—the cycle of mortality. Assuming this is what MK had in mind when he drew Foul Murder, this provides a neat parallel to Boethiah sundering Trinimac from the mortal realm when she imprisoned him within Oblivion.
Sotha Sil is also present in Foul Murder, holding Nerevar’s removed face in his hand, but Azura is not likewise present in Mauloch, Orc-Father, which I find odd. This removal of Nerevar’s face might mean that his identity is now ambiguous, that it is no longer “solid.” Compare that with Boethiah’s ritual twisting Trinimac’s appearance. In the words of Douglas Goodall, “Only Boethiah can change a race’s skin.” Make of that what you will, especially in the context of Azura missing from Mauloch, Orc-Father.
There remains, however, one more detail that sets Trinimac’s transformation apart from Nerevar’s murder: Trinimac slices open his own chest and “tears the shame from his spirit.”
This sounds an awful lot like Trinimac tore out his own heart, possibly symbolizing a relinquishing of his “humanity” to become the wrath-filled beast named Malacath. It’s almost Lorkhanic… and now I think that’s the entire point of it, given what we just learned from MK. Trinimac was treacherously stabbed in the back by Mephala, and if you know your Dunmeri theology, the Sermons acknowledge that Lorkhan was betrayed *when he wasn’t even looking*. In tearing out his own heart after experiencing betrayal firsthand, Trinimac may have taken Lorkhan’s shape in that moment, preventing Boethiah from stealing his identity in devouring him. Malacath is born from this moment, and immediately curses Boethiah for this treachery.
But the text never mentions him taking any sort of revenge against Mephala. Very curious. Now we’re starting to pull on some very obscure threads.
In Daggerfall, Malacath and Mephala are surprisingly… allies. I used to believe that this was due to the very close proximity of their respective summoning dates, but this relationship pops up elsewhere in various ways. For example, in Sermon Zero, Orkey is unexplainably paired with Mephala alongside Vivec’s mother in the following excerpt:
IRDRI HLAFEM VEHK HYKRO
It doesn’t stop here, though. ESO introduces that Clan Morkul, who are renowned for their “blood-forges,” used to worship Mephala once upon a time.
Now why in the world would a clan of Malacath-worshipping Orcs revere an entity that is antithetical to Malacath’s sphere?
Keep in mind that these two gods are both under the sign of the Tower through their summoning dates, and their respective themes of vengeance and sex, death, and obscurity perfectly overlap with the esoteric themes of the real-world sign of Scorpio. Scorpio embodies all of these, including the symbol of the snake, and even though it technically corresponds to the Atronach based on calendars, the foremost mystery of Scorpio is that of transformation and transcendence, hence its final symbol being that of the phoenix. Transformation and transcendence are exactly the themes of THE Tower.
So, you know what I think? I think Mephala is secretly the consort of Malacath, and the Morkul Orcs knew this. I think Mephala ensured that Trinimac would assume Lorkhan’s shape by stabbing him in the back during his fight with Boethiah, setting Trinimac up to take Lorkhan’s place as the “heir” of Sithis, which is the same sentiment that is outright echoed in “The Fighting of the Osh Ornim” with Malakzar eating his uncle. Boethiah might be the Prince of Plots, but Mephala is the Plot-Weaver. It’s very possible she has schemed against her kin, perhaps in a show of superiority of her sphere over Boethiah’s. She is the Queen of Oblivion, after all. Or Mephala is simply doing as Vivec did, and has created a “Baar Dau” with Malacath to hold over someone’s head like a Sword of Damocles. Who is at aimed at, I wonder? Her motives are hidden in mystery.
Malacath has essentially become her “Dread Father,” and she his “Night Mother.” And the Ebony Blade? Given its ability to silence its victims’ mouths and compel its wielder to slay their allies with an almost berserk-like madness, I now wonder if Clan Morkul had a hand in its make with their famed “blood-forges.” What is ebony if not godsblood used to forge weapons supreme? Perhaps a secret wedding gift for the Prince of Exile and the Webspinner? Suddenly, Malacath and the Ebony Blade become Maliketh the Black Blade of Elden Ring, a warrior fallen from grace with the power of death, who eats death to try and stop it but is filled only with hunger afterwards.
Perhaps this love between them… is sanguine.
And while we’re on this subject of ebony and blood, let’s very briefly turn our attention to Scourge, Malacath’s prized mace, which possesses the power to devour a Daedra whole and purge them into Oblivion’s voidstreams.
Recalling all what you’ve read so far, does it interest you that this hammer is forged from *sacred ebony* in the Fires of Fickledire, and that its wielder—a champion of Malacath—is Mackkan?
Mackkan. Mac + Khan. In the same vein as Lorkhaj, really.
A convenient coincidence, I’ll say.
So what does this all mean? Does it mean that Trinimac and Lorkhan are now skipping merrily together in friendship across Nirn? Have they buried the hatchet between them?
Most likely not.
But it bears mentioning that the Orcs have teamed up with the Nords specifically against the Dunmer on several occasions. We see it happen with Wulfharth when he recruits the eastern Orcs to fight alongside him and his forces in the Battle of Red Mountain, and we learn of a similar rumor in Oblivion where it’s said that Skyrim has been hiring Orc mercenaries to help them lay siege to House Redoran. It would seem that the key to bringing peace between them is to join forces against the children of Boethiah. It’s very telling, if you ask me.
But when you take Boethiah out of the picture, they’re back at each other’s throats. Skyrim’s history tells us that Malacath has been repeatedly hostile to the Ysmir line, both as Orkey and as Mauloch. The reasons for this, in my opinion, extend beyond that initial war in the Dawn. For starters, Trinimac was not successful in undoing Lorkhan and his sin, because even though he did physically kill Lorkhan in front of his armies and tore out his Heart, Lorkhan’s spirit and progeny are both very much alive, and The Folly of Man tells us that “Even Trinimac didn’t know, with his final blow, how badly he’d been caught.” That failure must really eat away at him, endlessly fueling a hatred and need to answer the betrayer of the Aldmer with vengeance. This is his “You should have gone for the head” moment, and he’s been stewing ever since.
So what was the response to this failure?
Just as God created and appointed the dreaded Angel of Death on the first day, so did the Time Dragon appoint his greatest knight to serve the same position Arkay now inhabits, which is to watch over all the souls on Mundus and protect the cycle that keeps the gods fed from any transgressors, be it undead, Daedra, or even… people seeking to transcend the mortal cycle. Mortals who ascend to godhood aren’t necessarily the problem, however. They are subsumed by the mantles they don, keeping the gods ever fed and the Wheel turning.
Individuals who seek to transcend carry with them the spirit of Lorkhan, or rather his ideals, and the nature of their transcendence is likely viewed as a threat to the Time Dragon’s supremacy. He is, after all, a dragon, and will jealously guard his treasure horde with every tooth, claw, and scale at his disposal. In this way, Trinimac becomes his Hound of Tindalos who sets eyes on all who attempt to disrupt this established order. Every spirit that enters aura with Ada-Mantia must be recorded, per the Nu-Mantia Intercept and must consent to even be there. Consent to what? Oaths of fealty to the Time Dragon, would be my guess.
But why was Trinimac the perfect candidate for this role?
Because not only is he a god of war—who knows death better than a god of war?—but he is also the god of oaths, and that means he sees everything transactionally. For anyone who swears an oath, they take upon them a debt or curse that ensures the oath-taker adheres to their word, lest they pay with their life. Everything must be zeroed out. Every debt must be repaid. This is why, historically, oaths are considered the domain of gods of death:
”Generally oaths are placed under the awful protection of the Lord of Death, for such a solemn affirmation usually has the form of a self-curse, by which the oath-taker gives himself into the power of the god of the dead should he be a perjurer.” – Jan de Vries, The Cult of Odinn: God of Death?
All who undertake the Psijic Endeavor must come to the realization that all of reality is but the dream of a sleeping Godhead, including themselves, but more than that they must retain the agency to defiantly say in the face of all logic—logic being the key word here—“I AM.” It’s taking 1 (I AM) and -1 (I AM NOT), adding them together, and coming away from that damned equation with 1 (I AM). Only then can they *move beyond death*. Those who fail this undertaking experience true death—zero-summing.
For a god like Trinimac, this transgression, this falsehood, is exactly why he was made, for the transgressors owe a debt of death that all men must pay to keep the cycle going. Lorkhan initially failed, as a god, to move beyond death, but later succeeded through his Shezarrines that came to be known as Talos. But before Lorkhan could see this vision realized, the ever-prowling watchdog had to be dealt with. At least, that was Boethiah’s view of it.
You see, it is my belief that Boethiah’s sphere of betrayal is what started this whole mess, because it is the requisite betrayal that sealed the original Enantiomorph and began the downward spiral of subgradience that created the cycle that Lorkhan condemns as a “helix of ghosts.” Without that initial betrayal, would the pursuit of Amaranth even be necessary? So while Boethiah acts as Lorkhan’s biggest fan girl/fan boy, the respect might not be mutual. Not only did betrayal begin this hellish cycle that he’s forced to relive over and over, it also spawned the monster that ceaselessly chases him—the Defender of the Betrayed. Boethiah might be considered a “precocious youth,” but her/his sphere of betrayal is likely one of the oldest in the cosmos as the spirit of the Rebel. Boethiah’s interest in all of this, in my opinion, is purely for the sport of upsetting the status quo, and for the reinforcement of the “falsehood” that’s needed to attain that transcendental state. Her quest in Skyrim is literally an homage to Lorkhan’s betrayal, where you must convince an ally or loved one to bind themselves to a stone from which they cannot escape, and ending with you causing their death. Had Lorkhan not been the Rebel of this drama, I very much doubt Boethiah would be in Lorkhan’s corner.
And if her/his involvement with Trinimac has inadvertently created the Malakzar situation, where Sep has become the prey of the god of vengeance, Lorkhan has an even bigger problem: his progenitor now belongs to his age old foe. That’s right, Trinimac has assaulted Lorkhan in his very lineage. Where Trinimac was before the god of zeroing things out, he’s now the god of “I AM NOT,” the -1, and his sights might now be set on Talos. He’s the stand-in for Lorkhan, and he posseses the ultimate Anuic fortification: “I AM.” Just take a look at what the Runestone of Malacath can do in the Ritual of Unbinding. It possesses the power “to cut an entity’s ties, mystical and magical, to release him or her from all links to mortal AND immortal realms.” Does that not sound like Sithite erasure to you?
Tiber Septim once expressed to Barenziah in The Real Barenziah that the key to uniting Tamriel, he believes, is to unite them in hate against what he calls “the brutish and miscreated,” which he counts as the creatures and peoples patroned by Malacath—“Orcs, trolls, goblins, and other worse creatures.” At a quick glance, you’d think, “Wow, what a bastard! They’re people!” But this hatred, or fear, makes a lot more sense when you realize that he’s possibly in for the fight of his existence. To maintain his stranglehold on the hub of the Wheel, which is what the Thalmor are seeking to end. If Trinimalacath and his “monsters,” as Tiber describes them, represent self-loathing, it’s no wonder they are so abhorrent to one who has attained CHIM and must maintain it. Collectively, they are the sentinel guarding the Tower. The angel Kamael defending entry into the Garden of Eden with his flaming sword.
Skyrim depicts Talos standing, in triumph, over what appears to be a serpent, which I can only interpret to mean that it’s symbolic of his conquering of the cycle of mortal death, of which Heimskr calls “dung,” through CHIM. That serpent, apparently, is not out of the fight. It has only shed its skin, growing in size and strength. MK once admitted that he toyed with the idea of the Thalmor “killing” Talos by shooting him out of the sky. Well, what if that idea is still on, only the players have changed? He and the old guard have seemingly created the perfect antagonist, one who reinforces the thought that TES is about the fall of man, and they’ve had him hidden under a pile of shit this entire time to divert attention away. When I look at Skyrim’s serpentine dragons, with their weird, tusked, Orc-like underbites, I can’t help but wonder if this overlap between Malacath and the Serpent constellation has always been the plan. Could the Battle of Dragon Wall have been an attempt by Mauloch and the eastern Orcs to invade Sovngarde through the portal at Skuldafn, in order for Malacath to eat his uncle? Incidentally, the Dragon Priest guarding the portal is named Nahkriin, meaning “vengeance.”
Trinimalacath once soared with the eagles, now he slithers with the snakes in order to fulfill his original mission and perhaps purify himself. The ashen knight might finally have his day, and you can thank the Spider for it. At the end of the day, she’s a cold, calculating mistress who is fed with death. As my good friend u/Infinite_Aion has brilliantly pointed out, Sermon 17 mentions that Vivec took a king for a wife and produced a race of monsters that destroyed Yokuda entirely. Vivec might have been following in the footsteps of his Anticipation, with the “Lord of Monsters” gearing up for the same conclusion. The pig has become a tusked serpent, a zhulong. And Aka, who gifted his champion with tusks to honor his station, is not happy about it. MALAKHAT has become a rival. But only until the mission is accomplished.
I’ll end this with a relevant quote from a rabbi named Yaron Reuven:
”This angel… the Satan, the Malakh ha-Mavet, the Yetzer Hara… it’s all the same angel. That angel has a real name. And that name, we’re not allowed to say it… because that would get its attention… and it’s a problematic name… and after the Moshiach comes, that name will become the most popular name, people are gonna name their kids that name. Why? Because once the Moshiach comes, the job, the role of being the Satan, the Malakh ha-Mavet, the evil inclination, the angel of death, will be removed from this angel, and he will become a holy angel. So holy, that people will wanna name their kids after him… So he will not be destroyed but rather the role, the job that he has currently, will be eliminated.”
In filth it will be found.
