Lore talk:Wyrd Covens

Opusculus "wyrd-woman" Is Most Likely Not a Wyress

I know we have a habit of connecting the dots on the most obscure things, but I don't think the use of the term "wyrd-woman" in the context that it appears in Opusculus Lamae Bal ta Mezzamortie has anything to do with Wyrd Covens.

This is going to be very difficult for me to articulate because I'm not intimately familiar with real-world Norse spirituality and mythology. I'm not someone who's really into witchcraft: that's not in my sphere of interests. But I've read enough books involving magic and have hung out in spaces adjacent to people who are into that stuff to know that the word "wyrd" is not unique to the Elder Scrolls. The Norse "wyrd" is a concept that has to do with fate, but I don't have a very deep understanding of it: I haven't read any literature about the subject.

I'm going to try to detail our knowledge of the Elder Scrolls capital-W Wyrd, starting from the beginning.

The very first mention of "Wyrd" is in Daggerfall, specifically in Brief History of the Empire, Part 1:

For two years, Kintyra II languished in an Imperial prison believed to be somewhere in Glenpoint or Glenmoril Wyrd before she was slain in her cell.

Here, Glenmoril Wyrd is a place, not an organization. The next time we see mention of the term "Wyrd" is with Bloodmoon in the likes of Ettiene of Glenmoril Wyrd. Knowing the context that the first mention of Glenmoril Wyrd is as a place, I believe that "Glenmoril Wyrd" is NOT supposed to be the name of a group in Bloodmoon, but rather Glenmoril Wyrd the place. [Blank] "of Glenmoril Wyrd" in this context means these witches are from Glenmoril Wyrd: they live at/in Glenmoril Wyrd. Consider how "of [blank]" is used elsewhere, not just in the Elder Scrolls, but in other media and real life: "Geralt of Rivia". "Isabella of Spain".

The devs in Bloodmoon were using Glenmoril Wyrd as a place: they hadn't invented the concept of "Wyress, as in witches that worship nature that we know as of ESO". Their coven is only referred to as "the Coven". They're consistently referred to as "Glenmoril Witches". Looking back at Daggerfall, we can corroborate the general use of the moniker with the existence of The Glenmoril Witches. The quest-related dialogue on Ettienne of Glenmoril Wyrd's page refers to her as "The Witch of Glenmoril Wyrd" in several places, so it's extremely plausible that "Glenmoril" in the term "Glenmoril Witches" refers to the place (specifically Glenmoril Wyrd). Their Coven is as of yet unnamed: all we know is where they came from. Where exactly Glenmoril Wyrd is at this point in the timeline (pre-real world 2011), I don't know. It might be near the Ilessan Hills, but that's not relevant here.

They're the witches. The Glenmoril Witches: the witches of Glenmoril. The poison made specifically to kill the witches from Glenmoril Wyrd.

Our next mention is not specifically of "the Wyrd", but of Glenmoril. In Oblivion, Melisande is is rumored to be "one of the last witches of Glenmoril" ("What little I have discovered points to the witches of Glenmoril"). It's worth noting that she's not referred to as "Wyrd" or a "Wyress". Manifesto Cyrodiil Vampyrum refers to a Glenmoril Wyrd ("those such as Glenmoril Wyrd, who live within the walls of Breton cities"), but it's ambiguous: are they referring to the witches of Glenmoril Wyrd or a vampire group called "Glenmoril Wyrd"? In any case, no connections are made to the wyrd-woman from Opusculus Lamae Bal ta Mezzamortie.

In Skyrim, the only place the word "Wyrd" (capitalized) shows up is in content added by Creation Club mods that work with concepts introduced by ESO. The only other mention of the word "wyrd" is in Opusculus.

ESO is the first game that the concept of the Wyresses as an organized, widespread thing took off. Every time someone mentions the Wyresses that the lore articles were written for, their affiliate name is capitalized. Resident NPC Guy LeBlanc says the following:

"...I'm not used to this sort of life. I sent the others to the Wyress camp nearby."

"The Wyresses are witches of a sort, devoted to nature and the Wyrd Tree. ..."

ESO's patch notes capitalize their name, as well:

(from changes in Glenumbra) "Champion of the Guardians: If a monster that is defending the Wyresses gets stuck, it will now reset properly and advance the quest."

ESO makes a big deal about "the Wyrd", but I don't think that nomad in the book is one of the Wyrd. I think the term "wyrd" (lowercase) is being used to denote her as a mystic or a woman of ritual/magic. Or that the word is being used closer in line to the Norse meaning: she's a fate-woman, perhaps a coroner, a healer, or someone of spiritual significance who deals with fate or death.

Considering the fact that "wyrd" is not unique to the Elder Scrolls, Wyresses as a concept are new, and especially given that they were introduced with ESO (which is actively making changes to the lore), I feel the need to open a dialogue about this. The Wyresses that we've written about so extensively are so new, I feel like we'd be doing a disservice by just letting this slip under the radar without acknowledging the original intent of the text or examining the historical use of the term "Wyrd" in the series, especially given the fact that the "wyrd" in "the nomad wyrd-woman" is not capitalized.

TLDR: the word "wyrd" as it is used in Opusculus Lamae Bal ta Mezzamortie does not imply that the Nedes who picked Lamae's corpse up off the side of the road were of the nature-worshipping witch variety that ESO introduces. Instead, it's used to paint our "wyrd-woman" as a character affiliated with magic, mysticism, fate, the supernatural, etc. The authors of Opusculus were Oblivion-era, and the nature-worshipping widespread Wyrd witches did not exist when they wrote it. -MolagBallet (talk) 01:40, 26 March 2023 (UTC)