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Could the Nordic fear of magic ever reach Dragon Age proportions of skepticism and mistrust? Such as could you ever believe a group of magic hating/anti-mage Nord forming a watch of sorts in order to keep the Mages and Magic in check, considering how people blame the Oblivion crisis and Winterhold on magic users, could be foreseeable that anti-magic sentiment could build up staunch anti-mage types like the Knight Commander Meredith and the Templar Order?

Nords have depended upon magic as much as the elves. Magic is intrinsic to faith and the workings of the world. It's just that the elven style of magic has taken prominence over the old human ways.

So it's not so much they'll despise and prohibit magic-- they'll despise the mages. And even then, it will only be most kinds of mages they'll fear while certain others will be venerated.

The "Nordic fear of magic" you're talking about is in fact the fear of magic the peasants or others who don't have much knowledge about it. It does not relate to Nords as a race or a civilization.

I disagree with both of the above posters. The Nordic fear of magic is a recent phenomenon as of the Fourth Era, and stems directly from the Oblivion Crisis. Here's a quote from the god Tsun:

Tsun wrote:"Well met, mage of Skyrim. The Nords may have forgotten their forefathers' respect for the Clever Craft, but your comrades throng this hall. Here in Shor's house we honor it still."

Magic is dying for the Nord race, and indeed in the Empire at large. We already have something similar to that "watch of sorts" you're talking about. The Vigilants of Stendarr are extremists who oppose the Daedra and all who interact with them. Although feared and frowned upon historically, Daedra worship has generally been tolerated as a sort of necessary evil (barring Summerset, where it's punishable by death).

The attiutudes we see from the Vigilants and the Winterhold villagers will only increase as magic continues to be associated with the Thalmor. With the Mages Guild gone, the Imperial institutions are already severely weakened - not something that would have happened in a society that appreciates the common mage. And the Nords, in their ignorance, will no doubt be the first to Forget.

Still, the fear of something they could not comprehend has played a major role in the process for simple-minded peasants and non-IL warriors.

If only the levitation was back.

Personally, I think the real reason for banning levitation was that after finding and studying the journals of the protagonist of TESII, the concept of "The Void" which can be reached by using levitation was far too frightening for the mages' minds.

Marisa Kirisame wrote:The "Nordic fear of magic" you're talking about is in fact the fear of magic the peasants or others who don't have much knowledge about it. It does not relate to Nords as a race or a civilization.

I sincerely doubt this. Most every Nord you encounter who isn't a mage in the 4th era has only negative things to say about magic, plus I don't really get your wording of this.

[Deleted]

No. Nords don't fear magic but they do tend to hate it due to the Aldmeri Dominion demanding that they do not worship Talos or die. The Aldermeri Dominion is a powerful nation of magic users and no doubt, the amount of deaths caused by their magic has destroyed it's image. The Oblivion Crisis of the 3rd Era was caused by magic users thus when it came to light that the Mythic Dawn were behind it and magic was used, the Nords most likely turned their back on magic due to them viewing it as a coward's weapon. It may just be natural change of attitude due to the times and well, they have a bloodied history with magic users during their history. They view a true weapon to be something you wield in your hands and value courage. In their view, magic is a weak weapon that takes no courage to use.

Yet they respect Ulfric for using magic to kill a king who held a sword.
Of course, the Thu'um is a Nordic form of magic, so that's all hunkey-dory.

TO be fair, the Thu'um is erm......


Magic on steroids but not magic because it's a gift from a god and taught by a dragon and is powered by nord souls?


*dives out of the thread before anyone can point out the obvious*

The SheoDovah wrote:TO be fair, the Thu'um is erm......


Magic on steroids but not magic because it's a gift from a god and taught by a dragon and is powered by nord souls?

Regular magic is from the gods too. Thu'um isn't "powered" by anything, it's just a fancy (and incredibly difficult) school of magic.

A big part of this I believe is attributed to two things. One being the loss of Winterhold allegedly due to magic. That'd be enough to make many people wary. Then there's the resurgence of Nordic pride (Nords in Oblivion don't seem to dislike magic on a racial scale) since the insinuation of the Concordat, the same pride that glorifies the axe-wielding warrior archetype. If you don't fit that, how can you be a "true" hero?

The nords also probably lean towards "divine" magic over "arcane" magic. Of course all magic is provided by the gods, but it's the application that matters to them I think. Necromancy, influencing people with charm magic and generally subtle magics are frowned upon. "Divine" magic life healing and protection, as well as the Thu'um, are more accepted.

There's a very real nationalism factor to the supposed "distrust of magic", too.

The castle mages tend to be better trusted than the college mages, especially if they're "proper Nords".

The common perception is that Winterhold's magic college is ran by Elves as some kind of indoctrination camp. There's a very real difference in how Nord magic vs. Elven magic is seen, even if much of it is very similar in practice.

By the 4th Era though almost all Nords speak poorly of magic, even Nord mages comment on the fact that their kin do not like it which is a change from Nords of the 3rd era who had Fryse Hags, and even farther back during the Dragon Era when Nords openly practiced and honed frost magicks (see draugr and Dragon priests).

The Fyrse Hags don't represent mainland Skyrim practice, but some kind of offlander sea-reaver witch culture that supposedly inhabits large islands in the Sea of Ghosts. (At least that's implied by Bloodmoon's dialogue.)

The Castle Mages in Skyrim seem to be respected or at least tolerated in most cases in the 4th era, especially if they're Nords. Hedge mages and College mages seem to be the ones people have real problems with. On the other hand, nobody turns down the services of an alchemist, a healer or an enchanter.

Heck, overhearing two soldiers in the Thalmor Embassy will show you that even High Elves can look upon mages with disdain. There are aspects of classism as well as racism at play here.

To get back to the original question: no. The reason is that mages are not forced to use magic, it's a skill unlike in dragon age where it is something thrust upon you.

So if it got to a point where mages were being hunted, they just wouldn't use magic. Or more likely, smite the angry peasants with lightning.