General:Six Views of the Egg of Time
| Book Information | |||
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| Source: | Substack | ||
| Writer(s): | Douglas Goodall | ||
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| This is a compilation of books assembled for easier reading. | |||
Introduction
The book commonly known as The Egg of Time has fascinated the scholarly world like no other. How this book came by its common name is as much as mystery as the contents of the book or the Dwemer themselves. Although many scholars have claimed to have translated the book, the accuracy of these translations is hotly debated, and no consensus seems likely in the near future. Due to the timely interest in The Egg of Time, we invited several prominent Dwemer scholars to contribute short essays on the subject, which have now been collected and published here for the first time.
One of the most popular theories (probably based entirely on the drawings) is that the book is either a warning to the Dwarven people that Kagrenac's actions may have dangerous consequences, or, as a few have argued, that the book satirizes this idea and claims Kagrenac's plans will be harmless. These simplistic, pedestrian views are only dealt with in passing in this scholarly collection.
After the unfortunate events in Morrowind over the last year, and many rumors indicating that some kind of "heart" was found or destroyed, perhaps along with one or more of Kagrenac's tools, the so-called Egg of Time has become a fashionable subject of debate. Unfortunately, many charlatans were quick to publish their own version of the book as well as entirely new "Dwemer" books. Indeed, not since the textual analysis that revealed Marobar Sul as another alias of Gor Felim have so many "Dwemer" books been exposed as forgeries. The emerging view that the Dwemer did not have books fails to explain The Egg of Time and Divine Metaphysics, the only two books that most scholars agree are genuine Dwarven creations. All the scholars in this collection based their articles on the pre-publication proofs of the University of Gwylim's copy of The Egg of Time, which is widely considered authoritative.
Now let us introduce the scholars contributing to this volume. Zanir-jo is an influential member of the Mages Guild in Gideon and perhaps the foremost expert on ancient ruins in the Tenmar forest region. Some of his recent publications include Uncovering the Tenmar Ruin Moon Carvings, Records of a Lunar Alignment in 1E 20 RH 17, and A Tail of Two Kitties: The Smiler Rune and the Snarler Rune. Geor Elbert is a highly respected physician who has cured many unfortunate citizens of madness in the Wayrest Royal Asylum and is the author of An Illustrated Guide to Sheogorath. Titianus Pundus needs little introduction to modern scholars, having written such classics as To Seemingly Disappear: Splitting Infinities and Infinitives in Dwemeris; Poor, Poor Khajiit: Overuse of the Somber Optative in Third Era Ta'agra; and Should Gor Felim's Plays Be Burned? An Impartial Judgement. I am proud to say that Emelin's first publication is within these pages and would like to thank the Peregrine Archives for their most generous contribution. There follows a minor contribution by an Argonian of no reputation, which was only included due to the popularity of their theory in certain quarters. And of course Edwinna Elbert, the co-discoverer and foremost expert on The Egg of Time, finishes the collection with her comments on the theories as presented.
Due to the volume and high spirit of debate on this issue, we cannot forward mail to the authors.
Most Sincerely,
Philo Unmaterum
College of Historical and Philosophical Sciences
University of Gwylim
Astronomical Interpretation of Dwemer Letters
The short text, grid spacing, and lack of pattern show The Egg of Time is not letters or numbers. Zanir-jo's shocking discovery is The Egg of Time may be positions for a Dwemer orrery.
Khajiit say the Tenmar Bark Hopper cannot see the branches for the leaves. Maybe the eyes of the Tenmar Bark Hopper are only decorative spots, but this is a good saying for The Egg of Time. Scholars assume the symbols consist of letters or numbers even when the letters make no sense. What is known of Dwemer letters does not match all the symbols in the book, and the letters do not form words. Dwemer numerals are also difficult. Dwemer books on mathematics show how adding one and one can be any number but two, how to contain or stop division, and many other falsehoods. But the letters in The Egg of Time do not have the scent of Dwemer mathematics. What scholars cannot smell is the obvious non-alphabetic key for the symbols in The Egg of Time.
Dwemer orreries contain etched plates showing the constellations. On these plates, each constellation is shown as a single Dwemer letter. Pressing these letters sometimes causes the orrery to move into alignment. Zanir-jo would give much to enter the first letters of The Egg of Time into a working orrery and measure the aetheric flux.
When Zanir-jo applies this simple astronomical key to The Egg of Time, much is made clear. Zanir-jo does not have a translation. Zanir-jo cannot guess at the meaning of every symbol. More time and funds are needed. But Zanir-jo's theory shows many paths for future research.
The Egg of Time has symbols that, to Zanir-jo's humble knowledge, are not used in any Dwemer orrery. Maybe this makes Zanir-jo's theory false, but maybe they are a period of time, a measurement to be taken, a tone to make, or a ritual to perform.
Based on similarities with ancient Khajiti carvings of lunar cycles (in what Imperials refer to as the "Pellitine Mane Palaces" north of Torval), Zanir-jo believes some letters refer to phases of the moon. For instance, the very first symbol in The Egg of Time that many insist is the letter P (as it bears a passing resemblance to the Cyrodilic P) may show where Masser is full and Secunda is new. To a Khajiit it is natural to place Masser above Secunda. To the Dwemer who lived underground and thought many things backwards, perhaps they placed Secunda on top.
Zanir-jo reminds the reader of Elona Verelaine's theory that the first alphabet that became the Dwemeris, Aldmeris, Cyrodilic, and eventually all alphabets came from observations of the heavens. The early Khajiti moon carvings are much the same. So the same meaning for Dwemer orreries and Khajiti carvings is maybe not so unlikely. Many similarities between the Tamrielic alphabets and the Daedric alphabet suggest common rules or sources for all. Perhaps the Daedric alphabet is our same moons and constellations seen from Oblivion. But Zanir-jo must return to The Egg of Time.
By Zanir-jo's tentative key, the first "word" in The Egg of Time may reads as follows:
Masser Full, Secunda New
Unknown - perhaps a ritual or tone
Masser Waning Gibbous, Secunda Waning Quarter
Masser Waxing Quarter, Secunda Waning Crescent
Unknown - perhaps a ritual or tone
It is also possible that the Dwemer orrery is only the first step. Maybe when the orrery is aligned, the meaning of the text can be read from the stars. It is said that the Dwemer read the stars and perhaps they wrote in the stars also. Zanir-jo does not insist on this theory, but Zanir-jo says those who refuse to consider it have the thick, armored skull of the Tenmar Bark-Hopper.
Zanir-jo requests access to a Dwemer orrery to pursue many scents of research.
The Myth of the Dwarf in the Primitive Mind
The dwarves are, of course, a myth. They "disappeared" because they never existed. The so-called "dwarven" ruins were created by ordinary mer in the same manner as other cities. The "Dwemer" were just another House or Clan of elves who fled their cities after some great catastrophe and intermarried with the Chimer and later Dunmer and therefore "vanished" in the usual manner of a conquered race.
The continuity of pottery, tools, and other material culture between the Late Chimer, Dwemer, and Period I Dunmer cultures clearly indicate that the only mystery of the dwarves is why they fled their cities. The lack of so-called "dwarven metal" in later ruins is best explained by the source of the metal or forging techniques being lost. The lack of later carvings in the "Dwemer" alphabet is best explained by the refugees of the "dwarven" cities adopting the writing of the dominant Dunmer cultures that conquered them. Ancient "dwarven" ruins allegedly show an unusually advanced knowledge of engineering, architecture, magic, and metallurgy, but these achievements are not beyond what other cultures accomplished at the time (compare the Animunculi, advanced golems like gargoyles, with a Sunbird). Historical accounts of "dwarves" are best explained as the reactions of one race of men or elves to another, who labeled the Other as "dwarves."
Most stories of dwarves and the very idea of a "lost race" is a relic of the primitive folktales of the Atmorans and the Nedes (see, for instance, stories of so-called snow-elves, giants, sygria, et cetera). Thus, the myth of the dwarves offers a unique glimpse into the primitive mind. The core myth, as it is usually told, is that Kagrenac, a "king" of the dwarves (probably a mere tribal chieftain), built a giant statue that contained the heart of a god. Kagrenac used special tools to strike the heart, which was supposed to bring the statue to life, but due to Kagrenac's hubris, caused the dwarves to disappear. The fate of the dwarves varies in modern versions of the tale. They may be dead, turned to dust, ghosts, transferred to Oblivion, or even sent to the future. The events described in these tales are so fantastic that no serious scholar interprets them literally. Instead, they should be interpreted mythically: a mortal reaches for godhood and is struck down. The similarities to myths of every culture on Tamriel should be obvious. See, for instance, the fanciful tales of Arkay's origin, god-like powers ascribed to the Tribunal of Morrowind, the myths of the Underking and the King of Worms, et cetera.
First let us deal with the dwarves themselves. The dwarves are depicted as very wise. Sometimes the word "dwemer" is mistranslated as "deep elves" indicating both their underground ruins and the deepness of their thoughts. And yet the dwarves of folklore are also depicted as lesser beings, even to the point of making them shorter than other races. Most tales show them as lacking a critical quality of man, such as emotion, logic, humor, mortality, or "common sense," and this is how they are ultimately defeated. Their alleged technology works by contradiction, another indication of their plainly mythological nature. Compare, for instance, "cornered spheres" with old Nedic folktales where the hero must forge a weapon with "the breath of a fish and the fur of a frog." Most importantly, the dwarves force nature to do their bidding. Primitive man was frightened of natural forces such as earthquakes, storms, drought, and magic. Dwarves represent primitive man's desire for mastery over nature. Since this mastery was forever out of reach, trying to conquer nature is shown as immoral or folly. This fear and lack of mastery over nature is never shown accurately as ignorance as that would reflect poorly on the myth-makers.
Kagrenac himself is a concentrated archetype of the dwarven mastery over nature. Kagrenac as "tonal architect" mimics Magnus as Mundane Architect and usurps the power of the gods. The idea of a "tonal architect" was probably based on primitive and incorrect ideas about magic being based on "cosmic notes" or the "music of the stars." Many mages still believe such foolish notions today. In the role of pseudo-Magnus, Kagrenac is a useful target for any negative feelings early man had toward the gods and nature. When they suffered, instead of blaming themselves, they could make up a story about Kagrenac's folly. They could express anger towards the gods as the folly of Kagrenac without fear of retribution. Obvious remnants of this idea can be seen in the original folktalkes of the dwarves as well as more recent imitators such as Marobar Sul.
Next, we shall examine the Anumidium, a myth of recent origin. It is based on the fear caused by Tiber Septim and Zurin Arctus when they summoned the great Atronach known as the Numidium. Especially for the elves, such a terrible weapon and sign of technological mastery could not possibly be the work of mere men. And thus the elves created the myth that it was an avatar of Lorkhan, the usual divine scapegoat of elves. This was entangled with various tales of the dwarves and Numidium became, rather transparently, the Anumidium which is said to exist variously in the distant past, in the distant future, in some ruins in Elseweyr, and under Red Mountain. The Heart of Lorkhan, already present in other myths, was confused with the Mantella, a practical application of the Empire's more advanced soul-trapping magic. Zurin Arctus was confused with the mythical Underking, the equally mythical King of Worms, King Wulfrich, and even Lorkhan (again!) by common people who are too ignorant to separate well documented historical events from folklore.
While on the topic of Lorkhan, it is worth examining whether such an entity exists. Lorkhan has a presence and unique status is almost every cosmology. In most regions he is not mortal, not Aedra, and not Daedra (to the extent that the false distinctions between these categories apply). He cannot be summoned and no sensible cults or covens worship him (unless you blindly equate Lorkhan with Talos). But the origins of the Emperor Cult and the clear inability of a mortal like Tiber Septim to somehow become one of the Aedra are well known. The closest any Lorkhan figure came to genuine worship is in the Nordic Shor, but whether these are truly the same entity is highly debatable. So what is Lorkhan and where did the concept of Lorkhan come from? We may never be certain, but it seems reasonable that the elves had a devil figure of sorts, a trickster and a scapegoat named Lorkhan, who was never worshiped but may have been placated. The Atmorans had a similar figure called Shor. When the two cultures met and engaged in a long conflict, the Atmoran descendants syncretized Shor and Lorkhan. Since the elves believed Lorkhan was evil and the cause of both the human invasion and their fall from a mythical state of grace, men began to see Shor-Lorkhan as a patron as well as a trickster. This was the basis for Lorkhan later becoming a mythic symbol of Tiber Septim and the divine justification for his conquests. Earlier or alternate justifications based on Akatosh favoring men over elves are still present in the Imperial Seal and early dragon symbolism of the Empire, but these were soon replaced with those of Lorkhan and ultimately those of the Emperor Cult. Alas, the syncretism, censorship, and iconoclasm of the Alessians and early Third Empire has obscured the origin of most of the gods as they were combined, split, recombined, renamed and are now a tangle that may never be unraveled.
Lorkhan's Heart has often been described as a falling star or comet. This is another clear indication that the tale comes from the primitive mind and not from historical events. Tales such as the "starfall" that created the great volcano of Vvardenfell are caused by the obsession of primitive man with the mysteries of the heavens. Indeed, many myths begin or end the Mythic Era with the stars falling to the land. The moving Aedra, changes in brightness, comets, eclipses, and the unpredictable movement of Sithis were fascinating to the primitive mind. Today, of course, right-thinking scholars know that comets and falling stars are not fires being thrown by Sheogorath (a folktale apparently originating on the border of Skyrim and High Rock in the early days of the second era, and probably related to the general confusion of Shezarr, Shor, Sheor, Sithis and so on in that region). Nor are they the burning corpses of racial heroes like Baan-Dar (a myth that could only come from the frail dreams of an unreformed skooma addict). Nor are they giant rocks, like the Ministry of Truth (a story told by Vivec for his own purposes). Indeed, as Arcole Warwick (a greatly respected scholar here in Wayrest and one of my former patients) recently announced, comets and "falling stars" are a natural and necessary corrective transfer of Aetheric energies into Mundus. But to the primitive mind, a comet was a frightening mystery and a terrible omen. Any story with a comet or "falling star" is far more likely to be myth than historical fact.
The tools of Kagrenac are hardly worth discussing, mainly due to their obvious nature as phallic symbols. This plain fact has somehow been overlooked by other scholars, but their masculine power and use in "striking" the heart are unmistakable. The heart's role here may seem obscure, but consider the role of women in primitive Atmoran and Nedic cultures. Women and the Heart of Lorkhan both represent a missing, cut-off piece; of men in one case, and of the so-called "god of man" in the other. The Heart is the archetypal "column/blade/law/spell the experts rejected" in many Breton (ultimately Direnni) folktales. The Heart represents the divine female, and the mystery of birth, which once ruled the primitive mind and was slowly replaced by modern Aedra worship. This is still symbolized by the clearly masculine imagery of The Tower which protects the world from chaotic, feminine, Padomaic influences. Lorkhan, of course, must have originally been female. Additionally, the phallic tools striking the forbidden Heart may be a remnant of some primitive morality, superstition, or rite of passage. Kagrenac's use of a glove to handle the tools, present in many versions of this myth, is suggestive in connection with his role as an usurper of Magnus and in conjunction with primitive sexual taboos.
The disappearance of the dwaves was originally the least mysterious part of this tale, but it has been twisted into an unnecessary mystery by modern interpretations. The dwarves had to be punished in the myth for their dominance over nature and desire to rule alongside or above the proper gods. Also, of course, the existence of their ruins had to be explained to those who lived near them. "Of course our ancestors couldn't have built that!" A similar phenomenon occurs in many areas, such as Skyrim and High Rock, where large structures built in previous Eras are seen as the work of "giants." Indeed, it seems any large above-ground ruin is the work of "giants" and any underground ruin is the work of "dwarves." The myth of the dwarves' disappearance handles their divine punishment as well as explaining the underground ruins.
And so we finally come to the correct interpretation of The Egg of Time. Like all such writings, it was clearly not produced by "dwarves" as they did not exist. It is simply a poor copy of "dwarven" carvings put into a book by people living much later along with pictures showing the morality myth of Kagrenac. For those who still doubt this theory, consider how likely it is that the dwarves, left very few books, two of which conveniently show the most common myth of their disappearance!
The symbolism of the pictures in The Egg of Time should be now be obvious to the reader.
Similarly, note the incomplete, almost corpse-like appearance of the "dwarf" figure in Divine Metaphysics. This image is another indication of the inhuman and inferior nature of the mythical dwarves. The death and decay imagery of the figure represent punishment for their conquest of nature and usurpation of the gods.
On the Confused Etymology of Numidium and the Song of Freedom
It seems no one can discuss The Egg of Time without also mentioning Divine Metaphysics. Therefore, let us do so as briefly as possible. Divine Metaphysics appears to be a very poor copy of the original. Even the title appears to have multiple copy errors as well as a severe translation error. The first word of the title does not contain any divine names or theological terms based on Aldmeri roots, but it does hint at a few Aldmeri roots such as "zero, infinity," "leap, spring, run," and "fall, sink." The second word's connections, particularly to shell, pod, and sheath, cannot be overlooked. Perhaps the original title may be better translated as Diving Second Shell. The drawing in this book probably represents some kind of protective armor for underwater use, possibly to protect the wearer from dreugh and slaughterfish.
And now on to The Egg of Time! Could the Dwemer be early Nu-Mantians? Could they have desired freedom so much that they spent centuries building a metaphysical model of Lorkhan (Anu-Midi) which allowed them to channel his divine power through song and escape from the prison of Nirn? These are the questions scholars should be asking.
How can the mainstream story of the Dwemer be so grossly incorrect? Most of the confusion comes from a poor understanding of etymology. For instance, one of the most common theories is that the Dwemer became the golden skin of the Anumidium. It appears this notion comes from such closely related words as Nu-Midium and Ada-Mantia as well as Mantella, mantle, and mantilla. "Anumidium" is a mishmash of languages, being composed of the Aldmeris creator-diety *Anu as a root, the Ayleid verb *mid- or *mind-, and the Nedic case-ending *-um. This word is often translated as "god-cloak" or "god-skin," but as the word *mid- or *mind- is derived from a verb, it should be translated as "wearing Anu." So why is Anumidium associated with Lorkhan and not with Anu? While I cannot answer this question, it is clear that much of the original meaning has been lost or misunderstood.
Other derivations of Anumidium, such as "new doom" or "doom walker," are fanciful and based solely on a lazy pronunciation of the word in modern Cyrodilic. A-new-(mi)-doom.
Ada-Mantia has a very similar, but less linguistically confused meaning. *ad- is the Aldmeris root for an unspecified "god" or divine being, although it is less often used in a way that may mean "first, foremost." *man(d)- is the Aldmeris noun form of "cloak, skin." Of course this root can also be a pronoun similar to "who" but the use in a compound word and the plural suffix preclude this possibility. So taken altogether, Ada-Mantia means "god cloaks" or "god skins." What could this name possibly mean? Perhaps it is related to early myths of The Tower holding up the tattered cloak of Oblivion. Usually these myths appear to refer to the constellation of The Tower and not, for instance, the Adamantine Tower, but the two may have both been confused in some way with the celestial pole. Why would the Adamantine Tower have such a similar sounding name and meaning to the Anumidium? This is a puzzle that must wait for another day, although it is clear that that name of the tower itself predates the use of the word "adamantium" to refer to the grey metal used so heavily in the tower's construction.
So what can we learn from this etymology? I believe the intent of the Dwemer was to wear the metaphysical cloak of Anu, not to become the skin of a construct. It is not clear to me why a physical Anumidium was necessary, but this is a question far outside my own specialty.
So what can philology tell us about The Egg of Time? Unfortunately, it cannot decipher the text as a language. However, it can definitively prove that the text is not in the Dwemer language. The letters do not form any known words or any roots of known words. A few words of Dwemeris are known, and if The Egg of Time contained any element of the Dwemer language it should be recognizable. As nothing in the text is recognizable, the letters do not represent the Dwemer language. Additionally, the brevity of the text indicates that it cannot be a complex message.
So what could the letters in The Egg of Time mean? Could the letters represent something else, such as musical notation? After all, Kagrenac was described as a tonal architect. There are no known examples of Dwemer musical notation, but we know that they had instruments and song.
What song could possibly be so important to be recorded in The Egg of Time? There are several possible uses of musical notation in this context. Perhaps the text indicates the musical notes required to construct or activate the Anumidium. Could it be the very song that let the Dwemer escape Nirn and mortality itself? Could the secret of how the Dwemer defied the gods be hidden in these notes?
Reconstructing musical notation itself would be a difficult and lengthy project, but perhaps the most important research ever conducted. A good starting assumption would be that each regular letter has a value. Perhaps the Dwemer used different letters to represent the same note, but with different durations. Blank spaces in the grid could indicate a sustain or a moment of silence. Some of the unusual symbols, such as the horizontal bar, may indicate an accidental. Or perhaps the non-alphabetical symbols represent a change of tempo or key.
What further interpretations does this suggest? Why does Kagrenac strike the Heart of Lorkhan? Perhaps the Heart rings with the tonic of Mundus. With this tone as a guide, the tonal architects could sing the song that freed them from the stifling bonds of Nirn. What purpose does Anumidium serve? Perhaps it is a resonant chamber in either a physical or metaphorical sense. And so, finally, what happened to the Dwemer? They sang the song of freedom, ascended to the Aetherius, joining-becoming the et'Ada, completing the cycle. In the unchanging bliss of eternity, time is not as we see it, and the Dwemer are there alive and dead, our descendants and creators. Even now they look down upon us prisoners from their lofty heights beyond the tattered cloak of Oblivion, peeking through the holes of the sky with pity.
Time, the Egg, and the Spaces Between
The Egg of Time is the most important text to be discovered in the Third Era. As the only successful interpreter of the text, it is my privilege and duty to inform the rest of Tamriel. My brilliant deciphering of the text will lead to revolutions in magic, theology, and cosmology. The folly of lesser scholars was to assume that such a great book could be confined to a single interpretation.
The Egg of Time is a partially completed Julianos Cube.
This Julianos Cube is a numerological prophetic text.
Seekers of knowledge must first recognize that the two 19x14 grids can be laid atop one another to produce the first two layers of an incomplete 19x19x19 Julianos Cube.
As some readers may not be familiar with a Julianos Cube, the idea is very simple. Each row, column, and diagonal in every dimension sum to the same number. In this case, the sum is 3439. The majesty of 3439 is not immediately obvious, but just as one example, consider that 3 plus 4 plus 3 plus 9 equals 19, a number that has been conspicuously ignored by numerologists, and 1 plus 9 equal 10! Anu and Padomay!
Each number in a Julianos Cube must be unique, and as anyone can see there are repeats in the symbols in two partial squares in The Egg of Time. My first brilliant insight into these numbers came when I realize the actual value was dependent on both the symbol and its position in the square. To protect the less enlightened, I must refrain from describing the method by which I deduced the true value of each square. Once I discovered the values, filling out the cube was a trivial exercise.
The Dwemer left the Julianos Cube incomplete to ensure that only the most worthy wisdom seekers in the future would be able to understand the dangerous, world-changing knowledge contained therein.
Seekers must next recognize that the Julianos Cube so formed is a numerological prophetic text. Although written over 3500 years ago, this text correctly predicts the end of the First and Second Eras as well as recent events of great importance such as the brief return of the Numidium and recent events in Morrowind.
The text continues its prophecy well into the future, but not as long as you think! The world of Tamriel will come to an end in a shockingly brief span of years. Only the knowledge contained in this prophetic text can protect the enlightened from total destruction! The same destruction visited upon the Dwemer!
Parts of the Julianos Cube are, in fact, a map of the Egg of Time itself. The Egg of Time is timeless Time--the "egg" from which Akatosh hatches when Padomay breaks the shell and brings the joy of difference to creation. This is just one of the revelations contained in the Cube!
Seekers of knowledge must finally recognize that the Julianos Cube contains hints of the ultimate message contained in The Egg of Time. This message is contained not in the letters themselves, but written in a different script in the spaces between the letters! The script I refer to is, of course, the same as the one used in the Elder Scrolls themselves! I suspect the Dwemer could only safely write this script in this inverse manner. Reading the final message is extremely dangerous! Only those with true spiritual insight should attempt this task, and no one should do so without reading the message of the Cube first. Even one such as I was blinded for nearly four months! But the knowledge gained is no less than the ultimate knowledge itself! APOTHEOSIS! Puncturing the sky! The way to become one of the secret rulers! Total mastery over one's own life and others! The most guarded secret of the ages!
Of course I cannot reveal a secret such as this in a book intended for a wide audience. Such knowledge must remain selective. Those who seek, seek me. Be prepared to give up everything for such golden wisdom.
The Disappearance of the Letters
Brevity is the mystery. If these are real books by dwarves, how could there be any meaning in one or two pages of sparse letters?
To keep this theory just as brief, could the original text have disappeared along with the dwarves? Could these disappearances be related? The original has several blank pages following the text as published by the University of Gwylin.
Suppose whatever ritual or accident led to the disappearance also took evidence of its workings with it? What would be left in a such as book about the ritual as The Egg of Time? Perhaps the remaining letters are spelling errors or some other leftover letters, while the true text now lies with the dwarves.
One theory of the disappearance is that the Aedra were upset at the dwarves attempting to control or usurp divine power. If so, could not these same Aedra have removed not just the dwarves, but also all evidence of how their blasphemy was accomplished? Indeed, to leave us an instructional text would be an apocalyptic temptation. The Aedra could easily have erased most of these works, leaving only a few scattered, now harmless, letters.
Similarly, why are there no other dwarven books? Could the dwarves have simply taken their books with them? They would have little need for the trinkets and furniture they left behind wherever they went, but perhaps knowledge would still be of use to them.
To summarize: The Egg of Time and Divine Metaphysics were altered or taken with the dwarves, whether by their choice or as a side-effect of the incident. Therefore, interpretations are impossible.
A Skeptical Review
Since I was personally involved with the recent events in Vvardenfell and the recovery of The Egg of Time, Philo Unmaterum asked me to review the high quality essays in this collection and include my own insights.
The University of Gwylim's copy of The Egg of Time appears entirely correct to me. I made a direct copy of the original, as shown to me by the discoverer, a person of some fame and importance in Morrowind. When I compared my copy to the University of Gwylim edition, everything matched perfectly. The original does not have any additional text or different text as has often been claimed. However, the original does have many blank pages and some have claimed that there is some kind of hidden message on these further pages. All I can say in that regard is that the pages appeared blank to me and resisted every effort to reveal any additional text. The provenance of the book was without question. It definitely came from a Dwemer ruin. However, it may not have been written by the Dwemer, as they rarely left any paper books.
Zanir-jo's idea that The Egg of Time is a key to a Dwemer orrery may have merit. I have only seen one orrery, and it was fallen entirely into ruin. If a working orrery can be found, it may be worth aligning the orrery to the signs in the book and carefully observing the results. While I am not known for being cautious, a reminder of what happened to Kagrenac and the Dwemer seems to be in order. It would be extremely foolhardy to enter the full text without significant and cautious experiments and measurements.
I don't feel qualified to comment on the essay by Geor Elbert (no relation). It is very entertaining and contains many unusual ideas. I'm sure we all appreciate Geor's insights into the primitive mind. However, I believe the physical ruins, artifacts, automatons, ghosts, and historical accounts of the Dwemer indicate otherwise. Also, I had to help deliver a cow to a giant when I was an apprentice, and I've had to shave far too many giant toes into potions, so I am certain they are no mere myth!
Titianus Pundus appears to have an impressive command of etymology and philology, but since this is not my own specialty, I will only comment on the theory that the letters represent a musical notation. Given the oddities of the Dwemer, I would not assume that other cultures translating a concept or technique of the Dwemer into the word "tone" refers to a musical note, but neither would I assume a less literal interpretation. I look forward to future research along these lines. A simultaneous investigation of this theory and that of Zanir-jo may prove fruitful.
Emelin's assertions are the most interesting ones I've read all year. Alas, the essay is light on details, so I can only take the author at her word.
Nods-One-Time may be correct, but this theory offers little hope of ever figuring out the mystery.
Personally, I have no idea what The Egg of Time is. I wish I had a better theory to add to this collection, but from what we know of the Dwemer, the book could be anything. It could be Kagrenac's favorite ash yam recipe. It could be the plans for a Dwemer device with each letter representing a component. Some Dwemer plans have similar grids of letters on them in a much smaller scale, and their meaning is still unknown.
The person who brought me The Egg of Time said that an indisputable source (and readers will have to trust me that this would be a truly indisputable source, for to even say who it is would put my work and reputation in danger) claimed that the book was a warning about linking to a divine source of energy and how this might harm the mortal Dwemer. The divine and mortal are not meant to mix by force. Unfortunately, I was not able to interview this source myself.
One of the best theories I have heard, which is sadly absent from this book, is that the Dwemer compressed complex metaphysical arguments into shorthand or abbreviations. This occurs sometimes in my own hobby of archeology. For instance, the title Anom SGRw at 1E7C Sb is opaque to non-specialists. But if you know the code, you can instantly tell it is about the anomalous pottery (Stroked Glossy Redware) recently found at the famous site near Singbury from the seventh century of the First Era. The first word of The Egg of Time could be shorthand for a theory about the workings of the Anumidium, the weight of Lorkhan's Heart, or even the color of Akatosh's scales. If the Dwemer wrote with such abbreviations, we cannot continue without first discovering the code. We would need a great many more such books to be discovered to even have a chance of cracking such a shorthand. If the text is a very dense shorthand, it could be discussing Kagrenac's theories as some other experts on the Dwemer believe.
Another idea that has occurred to me is that the letters represent a logic puzzle. This idea is not impossible, even if it is singularly unhelpful. The Dwemer seemed obsessed with logic, or more precisely with un-logic. We recently found a strange device in a Dwemer ruin that we called the "pegboard device." It was a small, flat square of Dwemer metal with various pegs that could be pushed in or pulled out on the "front" of the device. There was a slot at the top and several slots at the bottom. When a ball found near the device was placed in the top, it came out one of the bottom slots (although the balls that came out were sometimes a different color or material, and one time five balls came out, so it is not certain that the ball that went in is ever the same one that came out). Apparently the placement of the pegs somehow controlled the motion of the ball and which slot it exited. There was clearly a logic to it that appeared simple at first, but as with everything Dwemer, the logic vanished with experience. If a peg was not fully in or out the device behaved in strange, seemingly impossible ways, and in our last test the device melted into a puddle of curdled milk and flower petals (possibly some kind of orchid). The letters could be shorthand for such a device or a kind of "thought device" where one moves from letter to letter "logically" to reach the conclusion of the work, possibly taking multiple paths to get the full meaning. Much like the pegboard device, The Egg of Time may forever remain a mystery.
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