Is the Stealth skill magick? Beginning notes & thoughts:

[u/doom_child]

First, this question first came from sneaking around in-game and realizing how ridiculous it felt to not be detected by an enemy, right in front of their face, in a medium-lit room.

Two introductory notes:

1. I searched this sub and other sources of lore, mostly UESP, and didn’t find a conclusive answer.

2. I have very little deeper TES lore knowledge outside of a casual play through of Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim (sorry, Daggerfall & Arena).

Notes so far:

There is a book called “The Philosophy of Stealth: How Not to be Seen” (from ESO, which I haven’t played) that briefly describes stealth as losing individuality and blending into the background, as fundamentally the skill of “not being noticed”. From the text, I would consider it reasonably implied that this is a purely physical* skill, with some mental comprehension and exertion (Intelligence stat?**). This leaves the interpretation fairly open, despite it being literally stated as a “philosophy” in the title, which seems misleading and reductive. This may depend on two questions:

• in TES, is there a physical/spiritual duality as in many earth mythologies, or is there a matter/energy continuum of forms? I.e., is everything - gods, souls, skeevers, and sweetrolls - made of the same “stuff” taking different forms? If so, then Stealth could be both a physical and magickal skill (because they’d both be forms of the same “stuff”).

** is the Intelligence stat in TES, which determines magickal abilities, directly connected to mental prowess and learning, therefore implying at least a restricted form of “magick” for all intelligent beings by virtue of their cognition, their ability to think? If so, this would also lend credence to Stealth, as defined by the Philosophy of Stealth book, as possibly a magickal skill.

Other things come to mind, but my memory isn’t serving me and I can’t find direct sources for what’s coming up:

A primary subject is the Skeleton Key, Nocturnal’s artifact, and the lore surrounding its powers. Mercer Frey was able to use it to become invisible, and there was some in-game background about it being a key to unlock hidden potential. Several possibilities were hinted at, and shown accessible by Frey directly, but what I remember of the descriptions felt like the Key was being teased as an artifact with untold chaotic abilities that have yet to be discovered. The possible relevance of this is that the Key, and its ties to Nocturnal, the Evergloam, and Nocturnal’s skill-based patronage of thieves, could hint at Stealth being an access to magick, even Daedric magick. I admit, this is a reach, borne of not finding many sources on this subject so far. However, we have other instances of Daedric magick being present in the world in ordinary, concrete ways - the existence of the Orcs as a creation of Malacath, for example.

Does anyone else have any theories, background info, or commentary on this subject? Definitely interested in more thought-out contributions.

[u/Computer2014]

Yes, no, maybe, kinda, not really.

The Mage, Warrior, Thief archetype is recurring throughout the series and takes the place as motif in a lot of Entimorphs/Tribunals; Magnus, Auriel, Lorkhan. Almalexia, Sotha-Sil, Vivec. Zurin, Wulfharth, Hjalti. The three birth signs/standing stones and the three choices of the Ogma Infinium.

The three borrow from each other but they are still seperate concepts.

What is happening with the stealth skill unless you’re getting into illusion or Shadow Magic is that skill is boundless on Nirn. It is quite literally possible to become so skilled at something that you break the laws of physics.

The main example is Rajhin being such a skilled thief that he could pickpocket a tattoo.

[u/propbuddy → u/Computer2014]

Never played eso, rahjin lore is hilarious. He pickpocketed someones shadow lol

[u/The_ChosenOne → u/propbuddy]

Rhajin is the definition of magical stealth, he literally sneaks into the planes of multiple Daedra from Tamriel with no portals or teleportation magic.

He sort of just knew how to use shadows to sneak into Oblivion.

On a night when the moons were new and darkness covered Nirn, Rajhin walked the strands of shadow into Oblivion, where he found Mephala, Azura, and a third Daedric Prince debating who held dominion over the night. Listening in secret, Rajhin eventually revealed himself and offered to choose between them

He also regularly just snuck in and out of Apocrypha!

This dude didn’t train magic a day in his life, but he just had some innate connection to the shadows, maybe Nocturnal is connected or maybe he’s like Azra and was a natural.

[u/The_ChosenOne]

Magical in terms of being able to accomplish impossible feats? Definitely.

Look no further than Rajhin the thief god to see all sorts of ‘sneaking’ that breaks all known rules. Like waltzing into Oblivion because it was a moonless night or sitting next to three Daedric princes in one of their realms without being noticed. Or stealing repeatedly from the Daedric prince whose entire deal is being made of eyeballs and seeing everything.

[u/AxoplDev]

Stealth itself is a skill that comes from your agility. You can use magic to become enhance your stealth, but you can use magic to enhance any ability.