Merid-nunda - Tumblr Posts
apparently, reddit nuked the "meridia is a black hole" post. here's how I understand/remember this theory
meridia was once merid-nunda, a star orphan. black holes form when massive stars collapse at the end of their life cycle
massive objects (like black holes) create strong gravitational fields that curve and stretch the "fabric" of space-time. "… thus does Merid-Nunda [ride? slide?] across the rainbow road from end to end, at one end stretching the Dragon [Akatosh, the Time God], at the other end compressing him …. - Exegesis of Merid-Nunda
black holes can "bend" the light rays that pass close enough to them. this is how meridia created her colored rooms. "But Merid-Nunda formed of her substance a great drag-lens, and the light of Magnus was bent thereby. The rays [carved? focused?] a new sphere from the chaos, which Merid-Nunda, [laughing? sparkling?], did claim for her own." - Exegesis of Merid-Nunda
"For Meridia, time is said to be relative, and her priestesses have been known to grant time-altering blessing" - UESP just google "black holes time travel"
"the Daedra Lady of Greed" - UESP yeah, it's about her strong gravitational field
"To MERIDIA who contains the Plenum" - PGE. Plenum (physics), a space completely filled with matter. black holes are incredibly dense
meridia's light is not her own! if material such as gas, dust or stars gets too close to a black hole, it gets sucked in by the enormous gravitational force. as it falls towards the black hole, it heats up and becomes incredibly bright
meridia, you're not fooling anyone with your beams of light. we know it's your relativistic jets. stop LARPing as a sun/light goddess
(WARNING: this is unpolished and before was made before Gold Road came out)
Analysis of the Nine Coruscations Part 2
Xero-Lyg, The Black Star
Right off the bat we have her Element as Flesh. Xero-Lyg is like Mnemo-Li in that she was mentioned a long time ago and had mentions even before the Exegesis of Merid-Nunda.
Xero-Lyg's writeup quickly makes mention to the past Kalpa or "World Cycle" of Lyg where Rebel Mehrunes Dagon overthrow Molag Bal back when he was the King of Dreugh. Xero-Lyg is specifically called out as one of the creators of Mehrunes Dagon who imbued him with Hope in the Mysterium Xarxes. She's said to have fought alongside Lorkh (Lorkhan).
"The next kalpa … to spiral ever-out and see the land and sky preferred to sea. She was left to wander beside the serpent, so dark as to not be at all."
The serpent likely refers to Anu-Padomay/Satakal/Akatoka. The mad union of two opposing forces.
"Xero-Lyg cataloged all the events that … through time and untime, and there she found paths yet unseen to those among the stars."
All of this sounds like Xero-Lyg was accidentally thrown into the future and had to contend with it.
Merid-Nunda, the Red Star
"Who bore witness to the Crucible of Creation."
She bore witness to the Creation of the Aurbis
"Free will is to be surrendered to passion … destiny is fulfilled for the vessel."
Meridia has a known control freak streak but perhaps its a feature instead of a flaw? I speculate that Meridia serves to force the Hero into where they need to be. After all, remember that the Groundskeeper (disguised Meridia) and the Hooded Figure that leads the Vestige to their death (and thus destiny) has the same model. Someone must shepherd the Hero into the Prison so that they may free themselves and it might just be Merid's role.
"Blinding the Dragon and bending his form."
This very much refers to her time manipulation through the compression of the Dragon/Akatosh. This is how she manages to get the Vestige to Time-Travel to do other alliance quests.
"With the fire of new light may the Mundus be reforged."
Mehrunes Dagon was said to wish to reforge the world and was made to do such a thing. Perhaps this is a shared goal of him and his "mother"?
Iana-Lor, the Violet Star
"Scatters the souls of mortals along innumerable roads. Through this … fate has a chance to be born."
Roads refers to paths which refers to what people do and where they go. I'd take a look at Khajiiti mythos to understand the importance of roads (which how it ties into Ithelia). Iana-Lor seems to take a psychopompic role by taking souls that are lost. Fate having a chance to be born seems important but I can't figure out what it's implying. Do you (the reader) have any guesses or theories?
(Ithelia), the White Star
At last we get to the head honcho.
People often forget Nir when it comes to the Cosmology of TES. Anu and Padomay may have started the story but it's Nir who gave it life. Nir is the possipoint with all it's possibilities. Nir which is connected to Nirn is the MAYBE to Anu IS and Padomay's IS NOT. Nir is harmony of opposing forces working in unison. Nir is the balance that allows the Aurbris to exist. Now let's get some of the White Star's description.
"Harmony within duality; unity of opposites … that contained starlight and endless possibility beyond cosmic interplay."
Nir is balance and harmony and so is Ithelia (Hence why she's able to manipulate Fate itself). Both Nir and Ithelia are what Could Be and thus Possibility itself (which is a concept intrinsically important to understanding the Prisoner Unbound).
Ithelia is described as the Prime Archon (Main patron of the Cult writing this book) and also implied as the First Daughter of Magnus.
As u/Gleaming-Veil on Reddit hypothesizes:
"The Colors of Light: White is the color achieved when all other colors are made composite. Light pre-refraction. Like the other Ge, a constructed being. Ithelia being an amalgamation of spheres/forces, the White Star formed of all the colors of light. In the prologue quest she's said to have the ability to know all the paths and outcomes of fate (like Mora), go and exert influence anywhere in existence (the sole exception being the Mythos of Apocrypha itself) and decide any outcome of fate to change into the one she deems or simply undo any event or choice she doesn't approve of. She possesses the spheres of multiple gods in one essentially."
Ithelia was too OP and had to be nerfed by Mora with the combined might of the Three Good Daedra.
"Thus we must … against Man … that our violence might bring forth a Numinous Paravant, who may with unbound hands echo forth the Prime Archon's endeavor."
This suggests that the group of Ayleids led by Star-Queen Varalias (who wrote the text) oppressed men not out of malice or apathy, but rather they did it in order to bring forth a savior that would Echo forth "The Prime Archon's endeavor".
Numinous was the original title of the Vestige back in the ESO early concepts. The Vestige was just one of these "Numinous" while Paravant is a title supposedly given to Saint Alessia from the Aedra that meant "A mortal worthy of the majesty that is Killing-Questing-Healing." This is starting to sound ALOT like a Prisoner.
I believe that this implies that Alessia was a Prisoner brought forward by the violence committed by the Alyeids against Men. "But Asteria!" You may ask. "Doesn't Paravant mean "the First". Well, that's an assumption by UESP and the Fandom thanks to the real word's meaning. Let's look at this passage from the
"You knew her as Paravant, given to her when crowned, 'first of its kind', by which the gods meant a mortal worthy of the majesty that is killing-questing-healing."
Not just any Prisoner, but the First Prisoner. The First Paravant. The Hero was brought forth to overthrow the tyrannical Alyeids.
Finally, I speculate two things. That ALL Magne-Ge are Echos of existing beings (hence why the original Magne-Ge pantheon is so similar to already existing spirits) and that the Nine Coruscations serve as the personal "Fates" (Think the Greek Fates but Norns could work too) for the Prisoner.
Both Ithelia and Meridia's designs are angelic in appearance and Meridia is outright called an angel. All of them are directly or indirectly linked to Fate as a concept.
Mnemo-Li (whose Echo I am unsure of) who keeps the Elder Scrolls, helps to ensure that "There is always a Prisoner Unbound", and fixes Dragonbreaks to make sure time stays in linear order.
Sheza-Rana is the Echo of Shezarr who teaches the heroes the knowledge of before sagas so that they may continue the story and brings peace to the world after Dragonbreaks.
Londa-Vera is the Echo of Feminine presenting being whose very existence allows the Aurbis to exist.
Valia-Sha (whose Echo I am unsure of) who gave magic and thus life to all beings.
Unala-Se is the Echo of Boethiah and who taught her sisters to be strong so that they may guide the Prisoner.
Xero-Lyg (whose Echo is possibly Lorkhan as suggested by SaltyMapleSyrup whichc would work if you see Lorkhan as a dualistic deity) who writes down ALL events while she stands beside the Serpent in the Void.
Merid-Nunda (whose Echo I am unsure of but possibly Magnus himself if you believe Redshift = Magnus) gets the Prisoner into position so the Story may begin and bends time so that the Prisoner may accomplish their tasks.
Iana-Lor (whose Echo is possibly Mephala as suggested by @SaltyMapleSyrup) is the one who decides what the Prisoner needs to do (such as the main quest of the games) and is likely the second-in-command of the Prime Archon and thus Merid-Nunda's boss. Merid-Nunda hears the proclamation of Iana-Lor and gets it done.
Ithelia whose Echo is Nir. She is the First Daughter of Magnus and the Prime Archon. The one supposed to be in charge of this group of Star-Orphans and the one who set forth the endeavor that all the Prisoners indirectly strive towards.
What is this endeavor? I personally believe that it's healing the Aurbis and establishing harmony instead of conflict but I don't know everything. If you have any other ideas do tell me in the comments. May the numerous roads and paths lead us back to one another.
"A possipoint, is the other side of the coin, it's where something that is can become something else, an opportunity, a revolution, a revelation." - u/laurelanthalasa
Special thanks to @SaltyMapleSyrup, u/Gleaming-Veil, and u/CE-Nex.
Further reading (For passages I didn't discuss in this)