Chapter Text
Father,
I apologize for my abrupt departure. I realize, in retrospect, that I might not have properly explained my thoughts.
While you have always been a kind and loving father to me, I never felt like I had a place in Winterfell. It seemed like everywhere I turned, I was dismissed as being merely your bastard. It was as though I only had a home as an act of charity instead of it truly being mine. For a time, I thought to take the Black as a way to be my own man.
Uncle Benjen changed my mind. He explained that the Watch was not a place for honorable men to exercise their honor, but a place for men who had dishonored themselves to have a chance to seek redemption. He refused to speak on how he might have dishonored himself, but he told me that I would be wasted there. Instead, he encouraged me to find a way to make a name for myself and be my own man that would not have me simply cast out from society in a new way.
When that merchant from Tamriel made his way to Winterfell, I saw my chance. I was enthralled by his stories of a faraway land that was rich and plentiful, but no one from Westeros had ever been before. I thought that, maybe, I could be that first explorer. The first from Westeros to sail into the Sunset Sea and explore a new land. Sure, I would be a mere deckhand on the ship rather than a captain, and a random adventurer rather than an official diplomat, but it would be a way to make a name for myself.
My hope is that I can wander this continent for a bit, make some connections, learn, and perhaps return home with more merchants and trade contracts. Maybe even some samples of their scholarly learning or great treasures. If I am successful, it could be a great boon for the North as well as leave no doubts that I bring honor to the Starks, despite the circumstances of my birth. I hope that you and my siblings don’t begrudge me leaving with haste to join the only ship I knew of which sailed for Tamriel to take this chance.
I write this letter from the port of Leyawiin. It’s a significant city in the southern part of the continent. It sits on the mouth of a bay which leads to the capital of one of the major nations of this land. I’m still learning the local tongues, but from what I can tell, this nation is simply referred to as “The Empire.”
The land here is…indescribable. Even just after arriving in port, I have seen so many things that I can’t even begin to describe. I’m not sure how to put the words on the page without seeming mad. All I can say is that, despite being accompanied by a direwolf pup who will soon be larger than I am, Ghost barely draws a second glance. I have seen no other direwolves or signs of any, and yet the presence of such a magnificent beast is wholly unremarkable on the scale of wonders that this land provides.
Captain Salvis has graciously agreed to carry my letter with him on his next voyage to Westeros. He assures me that it will be soon, as he was able to turn a significant profit on his last voyage. In the meantime, I will be heading north. I must admit that I’m unused to the warmer climate of these southern latitudes, and I’ve heard tell that there is another nation known as “Skyrim” which is, in many ways, very similar to the North. I have high hopes that, on arrival there, I will be able to stimulate some sort of sense of kinship and perhaps use that to forge a connection between Westeros and Tamriel.
Since I will be mobile without a fixed location for you to direct a letter to, I ask you to refrain from sending a reply. I will endeavor to get additional messages to you and will inform you if I establish something more like a home (even if temporary), where I can reliably receive your letters.
In the meantime, give my love to my siblings.
Your Obedient Son,
Jon Snow
Father,
As it turns out, my lack of skill with the Tamrielic language proved more dangerous than I expected. I had been warned off of traveling to Skyrim, but I interpreted the warnings as a form of general advice to travelers to be cautious. Instead, too late, I discovered that there was a local conflict brewing in Skyrim.
I was arrested at the border and was confused for a member of the “Stormcloaks,” a movement local to Skyrim that is campaigning for independence from the Empire. My weak skills with the language served me poorly for explaining that not only was I not a Stormcloak, but I had never even heard of the conflict.
The situation quickly turned very chaotic in ways that I don’t have the words to fully explain, and I was able to escape with the aid of the Stormcloaks. In doing so, it turns out that I impressed Jarl Ulfric, their leader. He extended an invitation for me to join their cause, but I declined and did my best to explain that I was a foreigner who intended to avoid getting tangled in a local conflict.
From there, I made my way to the city of Whiterun, one of the major holds in Skyrim and the only one that steadfastly avoided taking a side in the conflict. While there, I was able to get a bit more context for the rebellion.
It seems that, in Tamriel, the primary gods worshipped are the Nine Divines. However, the Empire recently fought a war which concluded with a treaty that, among other things, banned the worship of Talos, one of the Nine. Talos is particularly popular as a patron god in Skyrim, and so this ban has been very unpopular and sparked some to seek independence from the Empire so as to no longer be bound by this treaty.
This was explained to me while standing next to a massive statue of Talos (complete with a priest almost constantly preaching the virtues of Talos) in the center of a city that professed neutrality in the civil war. The fact that such a neutral city is still very clearly enamoured with Talos did a lot to convince me that many of the so-called “rebels” were likely sincere in their claims to be fighting for the right to worship their gods.
Over the course of asking about this matter, I was able to learn quite a bit about the Nine Divines, and I was shocked to learn how closely they paralleled the Gods (both Old and New) of Westeros. In fact, Talos was the only one I could not tie to one of our gods, and that seemed to make sense to the locals.
Talos is said to have been a mortal man who was an emperor ruling all of Tamriel several hundred years ago. The facts of his rule as a mortal and how they are regarded by everyone (even those who do not consider him a god) make it seem as though he is held in a similar regard as Aegon the Conqueror. Where the disagreement comes from is that some say he ascended to divinity after his mortal life, while others say that he was a great man, but merely a mortal one.
My questions on the matter led to me inevitably learning about the other Divines. Danica, the woman I spoke with, is a priestess of Kynareth, who is their Goddess of Nature. The more I learned about Kynareth, the more and more she started to sound like one of the Old Gods. The practices surrounding her are very similar to many of our traditions in the North. Whiterun even has a massive tree right outside her temple. While not a weirdwood, this tree seems to be similarly regarded as an object of worship and holds a mystical air about it that I cannot describe. This is in addition to Kynareth having holy glades throughout Skyrim, which sound very similar to godswoods, simply outside of castle walls.
The more I spoke with Danica, the more she became convinced that we worship Kynareth in the North, simply under a different name. In Tamriel, they are no strangers to their gods having different names in different places. Kynareth herself is also known as Kyne, Kin, Khenarthi, and Tava by different groups within Tamriel. So Danica felt confident in claiming that, while she is familiar with one manifestation of Kynareth, we are simply familiar with a different manifestation of her. Nothing I said would dissuade her, and I must be honest that I found myself doubting my own objections. Perhaps, when I return to Winterfell, I shall have to invite Danica to join me so she can pray in the godswood of Winterfell. If nothing else, I’m curious to see what revelations that might give her.
When our conversation turned to the other seven Divines, I found myself shocked at how similar they sounded to the New Gods. I might not consider myself to be a follower of the Seven, but I have paid attention to those who do follow them. Some of them are so painfully similar that it’s hard to ignore.
For example, Mara is sometimes known as “The Mother,” even in Tamriel, and her role as a goddess of love and nurturing protection sounds too similar to The Mother of Westeros to be a coincidence. Perhaps if that was the only parallel, I could ignore it, but that wasn’t the only one.
Diabella very much sounds like The Maiden. Though, from how it sounds, her devotees might be a bit more open to a more direct and physical expression of their love for the goddess of beauty than the septons and septas of Westeros are.
Julianos sounds very much like The Crone. He is a male god rather than a female goddess, but he is similarly an old and wise figure prayed to when one is searching for knowledge and the guidance of experience.
Zenithar is painfully obvious as The Smith. In fact, his preferred sigil is an anvil, and blacksmiths seem to be regarded as worshiping him, even if in a passive way, when they do their work.
Akatosh seems to fill a similar role as The Father, since he is the King of the Divines. Interestingly, he is typically depicted as a dragon, meaning that dragon iconography is very common in Tamriel. Much more so than in Westeros, where it seems mostly reserved for representing the Targaryens.
Stendarr seems to be The Warrior. Among other things, he is the patron god of the Imperial legions and is very commonly prayed to by soldiers (when they are not praying to Talos).
Finally, Arkay is The Stranger and is frequently prayed to at funerals. It seems that every major city has a temple to him, which also contain the crypts where they bury their dead. Priests of Arkay are the ones who prepare the bodies for burial and pray for the protection of the souls of those lost.
When I spoke with Danica about these things, she became even more convinced that Westeros as a whole worships the Divines. She even clarified that Tamriel is no stranger to other pantheons and acknowledged that sometimes people worship a different set of gods (both good and evil), but she is confident in saying that the Divines have touched Westeros in their own way and left their blessing. It is a matter that I must contemplate further, but I can’t help but feel that she may have a point.
In other news, I managed to accidentally provide an irreplaceable service to Jarl Balgruuf, the ruler of Whiterun, and he has given me a title and property. I must ask you to pass on my thanks to Ser Rodrik and Ser Wylis for their lessons on the sword and Maester Luwin for his lessons on courtly politics. Without their lessons, I do not believe I would have had the skills necessary to face the challenges placed before me.
The title of Thane is mostly a ceremonial one (similar to being knighted for service to the crown), and it is not hereditary, but it grants me a level of respect that I have never before seen in my life. To honor my connections to the Stark family, I have selected the direwolf as my sigil. Though it is a white wolf on a dark grey background to make it unique and my own.
The property I have been granted is merely a small house in the city, but it does mean that I have a place where correspondence can be directed if you wish to reply to my letters. I do not know how long it will take messages to reach me, especially since I plan to continue travelling Skyrim, but letters directed to Breezehome in Whiterun will reach me eventually.
Also, being a Thane means that I have been assigned a housecarl, which is a form of sworn sword. It seems that everyone with any sort of title has at least one housecarl to serve as a sort of squire, but Lydia is more experienced than a mere squire. She is prepared to fight for me rather than merely learn how to fight. In fact, I think she might be more experienced than I am. She served with the city guard for many years and has received her posting as my housecarl as a form of promotion. I’ve tried to get her to be less formal and deferential with me, out of respect for her experience, but I suspect she is now insisting on calling me “My Thane” every chance she gets as a way of making fun of me.
Also, I should clarify that, yes, my sworn sword is a woman and, no, that does not seem to be meant as any form of insult. Despite being obviously feminine, Lydia is every inch the soldier and moves around in heavy armor with a shield in one hand and a sword in the other like they are a part of her. If anything, I might be a little jealous of the fact that her arms are bigger than mine.
Something that has become readily apparent to me is that, in Tamriel, men and women have the freedom to seek any form of employment that they deem fit. In Skyrim, it is especially common for women to become “shield-maidens” and have long and healthy lives as soldiers. Among the Nords, as the people of Skyrim are called, being a warrior is seen as an honorable profession for any person. I suspect that Arya would fit in quite well here.
Your Obedient Son,
Jon Snow