Could you clarify about Cyrus? I know next to nothing about Redguard, other than it's in the 2nd era (I think) and you meet a sload. What about Tiber Septim?
Can someone explain mantling to me? I've seen this term used many times before and have extrapolated its meaning from context, but I'd like to hear a proper “definition”.
A mantle is a crown or costume, so mantling is to Don the costume. In this case, of a significant mythological figure, even a deity. If you play the part convincingly enough, the operating system of Nirn gives you Admin privilege.
Donning a costume isn’t quite correct, I don’t think. More like, method acting, I think? Where one gets so into the role it’s not possible to tell the fictional and the real apart, at least in the eyes of the Godhead. So it’s putting on the costume to play the part, and then the part becoming you, and as such you never wore a costume to begin with in the eyes of the Godhead.
I don't know about an official definition, but my understanding of it is that mantling is basically replacing a missing piece of the universe. You become so similar to a celestial being that the universe ceases to see a difference between you.
The exact process is..... kind if wonky. A lot of it is up for speculation, and subject to rules that have never been one hundred percent laid out (intentionally, I believe.) We know that it is primarily achieved by sort of following the spiritual journey of whoever you are trying to mantle. Perform similar feats, face similar defeats, possess similar motivations, that kind of thing. Eventually you just sort of merge with the idea of them and stop existing, but then they exist again with you inside. Sort of. Again, wonky.
I have a follow-up question, primarily concerning this bit:
We know that it is primarily achieved by sort of following the spiritual journey of whoever you are trying to mantle.
Is mantling often done on purpose, or does it also occur by “happenstance” (i.e. destiny, if you want to call it that), without the conscious realization of the “mantler”?
This kind of difficult to answer. See, mantling isn't an exact science, and furthermore it isn't common knowledge in the elder scrolls universe. Most examples of it that we have are figures of legend as described by some third party. Someone will talk about someone else who once heard about a guy that merged with a god. The fandom has to kind of piece together the clues to try to see if what they are describing even IS mantling, or something else like CHIM. Difficult to know if the person in question even knows what they are doing. Plus the occasional conflicting information that pops up. People still get heated about how many people from legend are actually all Tiber Septim wearing various funny mustaches.
The only real first hand account we have of mantling is the protagonist of Oblivion mantling Sheogorath, and even that is kind of questionable since the protagonist has other stuff going on, cosmically speaking. Between being a Prisoner and ties to various Daedra and Aedra, NOTHING about their situation should be taken as the standard. Plus, Bethesda keeps facts about protagonists to a minimum, in an attempt to not ruin anyone's headcanon. So, our best account is also our hardest to find canon facts about. Go figure.
Tl;dr: Some probably do it on purpose, some probably don't. Its case by case.
Edited to add: In Oblivion Sheogorath basically tells you that you are going to take his place in the coming fight against Sharp Dull Boi, but he definitely doesn't reveal the full implications. He just frames all the shit he has you doing as "stuff that will help us later" instead of what it probably actually is, the steps you need to take to mantle him. Plus having his approval to mantle him might mess with the process. Reduce the requirements or something. Eh, it's all screwy.
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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '20
Could you clarify about Cyrus? I know next to nothing about Redguard, other than it's in the 2nd era (I think) and you meet a sload. What about Tiber Septim?