Note/L10N/Origin_of_the_Mages_Guild/6/Books/OMGAedraandDaedraReexamined?
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Aedra and Daedra Reexamined<br>
By Azura's Star<br>
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During recent discussions with my fellow scholars, it has come to my attention that there exists an incomplete understanding of the difference between Aedra and Daedra. Indulge me, then, while I speculate on this matter. Perhaps you shall gain some measure of understanding as you read. Then again, perhaps not.
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We shall begin with an analysis of the only other work in existence which deals with the matter at hand: Aedra and Daedra, a short but informative paper penned by an anonymous scholar some years ago. It opens with a statement similar to that with which I began the very essay you currently read, and such a statement requires no analysis. It simply identifies the problem for the author to correct.
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The first statement of note is that the Aedra are, by popular belief, the ancestors of the Mer. The Daedra, by contrast, have no familial ties to the modern inhabitants of Tamriel. This belief can be traced back to the Altmeri legend of the Heart of the World (see The Monomyth), in which the first beings to settle on Mundus are aspects of the et?Ada, the precursors of modern Aedra and Daedra. The et?Ada who took no part in the creation of the mortal plane became the Daedra, so cannot be said to be predecessors of modern beings. Those who gave of themselves are now known as the Aedra, ancestors.
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My examined work, Aedra and Daedra, goes on to assert that the Aedra represent stasis, while the Daedra represent change. Here, I must disagree with my esteemed colleague. The latter part of his statement is, no doubt, true, for the Daedra are begotten from the undiluted blood of Padomay, the primal force of chaos, as stated in The Monomyth. The Aedra, however, are the product of the blood of both Padomay and his ancient antithesis, Anu. Thus do Aedra have the capacity for both stasis and change. Most blatant among possible examples of Aedra inciting change is the creation of Mundus. It certainly cannot be posited that the inception of a new plane of existence was an act of stasis, but the creation is universally held to be the doing of an Aedroth, Lorkhan. Perhaps the act of creation is, for an Aedroth, the expression of a compromise between the two ideals it contains. Creation does not modify an existing thing, but the universe as a whole is changed by the creation of a new aspect.
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The last three assertions made by my esteemed colleague must, for the purposes of this essay, be addressed as a whole. He states that the Aedra, because they are responsible for the creation of Nirn, are now bound to the Earth Bones, and that the Aedra can die, while the Daedra cannot. My theory is that the Earth Bones are not, as my colleague would have us believe, an ancient race. Rather, they are used in Altmeri mythology metaphorically to refer to the laws of nature. By my belief, this is also why Aedra are mortal and Daedra are not. Allow me to explain:
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In the beginning (if my speculations are founded in reality and not the fantastic imaginings of an overzealous scholar), when the Aedra created the world, they gave much of their power to its existence, weakening themselves. The Daedra, on the other hand, wanted no part of such things, and remained independent. The pieces of themselves which were given by the Aedra became the Earth Bones, natural laws. Kynareth, for example, gave the wind. The Daedra kept all of themselves. Mehrunes Dagon kept destruction, refusing to give it up. If an Aedroth dies, all that remains is the Earth Bone. Were Kynareth to face an untimely end, the wind would live on in Mundus as a law of nature, but it would no longer have a deity. A Daedroth cannot die, because the abstraction it represents (its Sphere, shall we say) is not independent. Were Mehrunes Dagon to die, destruction would die with him, and destruction cannot be killed.
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This, I feel, is the fundamental difference between Aedra and Daedra. Because of their actions during the Dawn Era, the Aedra are now independent from their abstractions (the Earth Bones), so are no longer necessary to the functionality of the mortal plane. The Daedra, who kept all of themselves, are now, in a very real sense, their abstractions (Spheres). They cannot be killed because to kill them would be to kill what they represent, which cannot be done.
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(Special thanks to Baghden for proposing the idea that creation is a compromise between change and stasis.)
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