Summary
- Oblivion’s lore can still be weird, as evidenced by the story of Pelinal Whitestrake.
- Pelinal was certainly gay, but he may not have been a cyborg or from the future.
- Pelinal is likely the Shezzarine, a mythological figure referenced in-game.
It’s a commonly held sentiment that The Elder Scrolls’ lore has gradually become less esoteric with every subsequent instalment. I don’t think this is necessarily true, but there’s no doubt the strange land of Vvardenfell from The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind is difficult to match in how weird everything is.
Much of the more abstruse lore comes from Michael Kirkbride, a former concept artist and writer at Bethesda, known for writing the Pocket Guide to the Empire and various in-game books. Kirkbride continued to actively post about The Elder Scrolls’ lore after departing Bethesda, and despite his posts not being canon, many Elder Scrolls lore enthusiasts still use his words as a reference point for contentious and complex lore concepts.
Kirkbride is responsible for writing the in-game series of books, the Song of Pelinal. These volumes detail the life of Pelinal Whitestrake, a key character in Oblivion’s Knights of the Nine expansion. Pelinal is the ghost you meet in the sky above the White Gold Tower, for those who have forgotten.
Possibly a Cyborg, Definitely Gay
A recent post on Reddit by SightlessProtector uses Pelinal Whitestrake as an example of how Oblivion’s lore can also get quite weird, even if Morrowind is best known for that sort of thing.
SightlessProtector alleges that Pelinal Whitestrake is a “gay cyborg from the future.” As with many of the lore concepts in The Elder Scrolls, this isn’t explicitly true or false. It is, however, a fantastic way to summarise the demigod’s story.
Pelinal is said to have first appeared when the slave Alessia prayed to the goddess Kyne for assistance in taking revenge on her Ayleid captors. His armour, the Crusader’s Relics, was described as “futuristic”, and no Ayleid blade could pierce the vestments.
This doesn’t explicitly mean that Pelinal is from the future, but rather that the Eight Divines granted him metal plate armour, something that was beyond the technology of the Ayleids. He also, at one point, spoke in an Early Modern English dialect, but the linguistic evolution of Tamriel isn’t entirely clear, so this isn’t necessarily evidence either.
Kirkbride, in non-canonical posts, suggests that Pelinal could be a cyborg or a construct. There’s also a suggestion in the Song of Pelinal that beneath Pelinal’s armour, there is no heart but rather a red diamond, possibly the Amulet of Kings.
It would appear, as pointed out by ClassicNeedlework6 in the comments, that Pelinal Whitestrake could be Shezzarine. This mythological individual was a great warrior who aided the races of Man against the Ayleid oppressors, but mysteriously vanished after freeing mankind.
Despite the contentious nature of Pelinal’s status as a cyborg and/or a time traveller, one thing that does appear certain is that he was either homosexual or bisexual. He is said to have taken a man named Huna as a lover, a former slave whom he freed and raised into a warrior.
As with all things Elder Scrolls, much of this is open to interpretation. However, researching this certainly gave me a newfound appreciation for the ghost above White Gold Tower. We’re literally talking to the person responsible for freeing the races of Man from oppression.