Here is a thing about protagonists that start out as Prisoners. The Prisoner is described as being a powerful mythic figure, and a loophole in time.
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How does one eat the world? (2011-01-18)
When you consider a place like Tamriel, sometimes it's best to take titles literally. Alduin is the World-Eater. It's not going to be "the end of all life as we know it," leaving a barren wasteland of Earthbone dirt... it's going to be the whole of Nirn inside his mighty gullet.
"None shall survive" has been a calling card for awhile, but that was only a hint to the more extensive "Nothing will survive."
Unless, of course, there's a loophole. Say, something like the someone called the Dovakhiin happening to show up..."born under uncertain stars to uncertain parents." (An aside for extra credit: what in the Aurbis makes the Prisoner such a powerful mythic figure?)
Sotha Sil discusses the concept of the Prisoner, referring to the Vestige using this title. He portrays the Prisoner as someone capable of discerning the chains of causality and time that entrap all beings within the Godhead's dream, while also recognizing the exit that allows their liberation. Inherently, the Prisoner possesses the power to liberate the world.
Furthermore, Sotha Sil asserts that the Prisoner possesses 'great power, making reality of metaphor,' a phrase commonly associated with the essence of Tonal Magic. Other similar expressions include 'myth made manifest' and 'metaphor made manifest.' As detailed in the section on Thu'um, Tones form an essential element that permeates all of reality, with Tonal Magic being their manipulation. He implies that the Prisoner, as a concept, can modify the fundamental tones of the Aurbis, most likely through their actions.
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"I have preparations to make outside my Clockwork realm. You must stay vigilant. Take heed of any Daedric incursions and stand ready to fight.
The Prisoner wields great power, making reality of metaphor. We will need you before the end."
Why do you keep calling me the Prisoner?
"A fool's hope, perhaps. I should explain.
Look around you. All of this exists because it must exist. I stand here, in this place, in this moment, not because I wish to, but because I have to. A result of action and consequence."
So wouldn't that make you the prisoner?
"Clever... but incorrect.
The Prisoner must apprehend two critical insights. First, they must face the reality of their imprisonment. They must see the determinative walls - the chains of causality that bind them to their course."
You haven't done that?
"I have. But I fall short of the second insight.
The Prisoner must see the door to their cell. They must gaze through the bars and perceive that which exists beyond causality. Beyond time. Only then can they escape."
You don't see the door?
"I see only unsteady walls.
If the people of Tamriel must exist inside this cell. I will make sure that the walls are stable, the gaps are sealed, and all who remain stay safe within it."
I have no other questions.
"I've met few heroes like you. Very few. I take this matter of the Triad upon myself, but in truth, you may be the one that saves us. The Prisoner who frees the world. We shall see. Farewell."
The Vestige is described in their quest as a 'wound in time,' a paradoxical entity that should not exist, and a being existing outside all possipoints.
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"It is good to see you again. And I do see you, in my own way. You are a wound in time, a tear in reality that shouldn't exist and cannot long endure."
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"Beginning entity analysis. Error. Entity exists outside known possipoints. Transitioning to general reception array. Hello."
The Nerevarine's status as a Prisoner is characterized by their birth under uncertain stars and to uncertain parents, manifesting as either male or female with a constantly changing appearance. This attribute becomes particularly significant during Landfall, where they are described as 'quantum-vibrating' too rapidly to determine their race.
A prophecy about the Nerevarine
www.imperial-library.info
Though stark-born to sire uncertain,
His aspect marks his certain fate.
Wicked stalk him, righteous curse him.
Prophets speak, but all deny.
Prophesies of the Nerevarine
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On a certain day to uncertain parents
Incarnate moon and star reborn.
These were the days of Resdaynia, when Chimer and Dwemer lived under the wise and benevolent rule of the AMLSIVI and their champion the Hortator. When the
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'The ruling king is to stand against me and then before me. He is to learn from my punishment. I will mark him to know. He is to come as male or female. I am the form he must acquire.
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PIC 1: Through the breach, the gigantic form of Akulakhan looks down at all of us, unreadable hope in its eyes. Its third eye is open, with the barely discernable head of the Nerevarine serving as its pilot, the gender and race either indistinct or, if you prefer to render it this way: simply just "quantum-vibrating" too fast to tell.
The Prisoner's freedom from the chains of time and predetermination is supported by numerous statements that describe the nature of Heroes, highlighting how they forge their own paths in the Elder Scrolls. The Hero is necessary for the ‘moment’ to occur, for they are the ones who ultimately cause it and fix it in time.
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Each event is preceded by Prophecy. But without the hero, there is no Event.
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Moth Sister Arminus, it has been said that the Elder Scrolls can pierce the veil of Time, that they contain the prophecies of every major event on Nirn. To my knowledge, there must also be a hero to meet each of those events. I wonder, then, as someone who has studied the Scrolls, do you know if the hero—or their soul—is bound to the Elder Scrolls? Is this hero as constant as the events and prophecies foretold by the Scrolls?
Many speak of 'heroes' as if they were born great and the key roles of history were fated to be enacted by them. But is that so? A careful study of the Scrolls leads me to believe that no mortal is 'born great,' but that a person becomes a Hero by making choices and taking actions other mortals refuse. The Scrolls do not select such people, but they do record and reflect their actions, and note the difference made thereby.
What are the stones of Snow-Throat, Crystal-Like-Law, Falinesti, and Orichalc?
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‘When you wake up, I will still listen. I'm sorry I left, but hey, I'm still right up here. And my mnemoli? They show up every now and then, and collect all the songs you've made since the last time around. The last real moment.’ The Mnemoli? They're the keepers of the Elder Scrolls. They cannot be fixed until seen. And they cannot be seen until a moment. And you, your Hero, makes that moment.”
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A deeper meaning is meant, too, but not very many laymen bother with that. Until a prophecy is fulfilled, the true contents of an Elder Scroll are malleable, hazy, uncertain. Only by the Hero's action does it become True. The Hero is literally the scribe of the next Elder Scroll, the one in which the prophecy has been fulfilled into a fixed point, negating its precursor.
tldr: The Prisoner is a unique entity unbound by causality or linear time, embodying all races and classes and performing all actions at once. They shape the Aurbis by contributing to its fundamental tones and play a crucial role in authoring the Elder Scrolls and defining events within time.
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