Lore:Khenarthi

A depiction of Khenarthi

Khenarthi, God of Winds, the Gatherer of Waters, the Elder Spirit of the Heavens, and the Wind God, is the Khajiiti goddess of weather and the sky, the most powerful of the Sky Spirits, who is believed to have given the first sounds to the world, and is the Khajiiti interpretation of Kynareth. When a Khajiit dies, it is Khenarthi who guides their soul either to Azurah for judgment, or to Llesw'er, the Sands Behind the Stars. And it is her clarion call that will summon the "eternal united spirit of all Khajiit" to defend creation at the end of time. Khajiit credit Khenarthi with leading their ships to safe harbor and their heroes to glory.

Khenarthi, like Alkosh, is said to be able to see across all the Many Paths of Fate. She is typically represented as a great hawk, and said to show grace in all things, even betrayal.

Religion and Culture

Mythic Role

Sometime in the Dawn Era, Khenarthi was born alongside Alkosh, Magrus, Mara, and S'rendarr, as part of the First Litter of Ahnurr and Fadomai. After the creation of the Second Litter, Khenarthi convinced her mother Fadomai to have more children, as she was lonely in her domain high in the heavens. Despite Ahnurr not wanting more children, Fadomai tricked him and gave birth to the Third Litter, consisting of Nirni, Azurah, and Lorkhaj.

After giving birth to Lorkhaj in the Great Darkness, Fadomai succumbed to the wounds Ahnurr inflicted on her for her disobedience. Before her death, Fadomai entrusted Azurah with several secrets that involved laying the groundwork for the transformation of Nirni's children into her secret defenders; the Khajiit. Azurah shared one of these secrets with Khenarthi, making her a psychopomp that would accompany the spirits of deceased Khajiit to the afterlife of Llesw'er, the Sands Behind the Stars. From Llesw'er, these spirits await until the Next Pounce, for Khenarthi will call upon their combined might to fight for creation at the end of time. Namiira is the antithesis to Khenarthi, who drags the victims of the Bent Dance into the Dark Behind the World, where they become part of her dark litter. Those of this litter occasionally slip through the cracks in Nirni to tempt true cats, so their souls can too be sent to the Dark to serve Namiira as dro-m'Athra. To combat Namiira's dark litter and save Khajiiti souls from corruption, from Azurah's tongue came the Dusk-Canticles, holy hymns used to exorcise dro-m'Athra. And so explains the fight for the souls of Khajiit.

Owing to her role in opposition to Namiira, the ringing of Khenarthi's sacred bells, normally used by the dying to announce the approach of their souls to Khenarthi, could drown out the sound of the Dark Heart, dispersing the Great Darkness that encroaches in areas with Dro-m'Athra presence, and even banishing the Bent Cats themselves. These antithetical roles have been acknowledged by Namiira herself, whose manifestations have been known to lure Khajiit souls to the dark through claims that Khenarthi rejects the sick and injured where Namiira does not.

The pre-ri'Datta beliefs state that after the Many Paths of Time were created by Akha, Alkosh inherited the role, and is aided by Khenarthi who ensures that the tapestry of time is mended. It was her who flew across the Many Paths and put Alkosh back together, and now they both "safeguard the Many Paths from the Dragons, the "wayward children of Akha" from his unions with the Winged Serpent of the East, the Dune Queen of the West, and the Mother Mammoth of the North.

In older traditions, Khenarthi is described as Azurah's messenger, who rocked the stillborn moons Jode and Jone in the sky, and lit lanters to make their eyes bright so they'd appear alive until her mother Fadomai passed. She is said to relight the lanterns in the eyes of the moons when they burn low, and to have passed her duty of maintaining the motion of the moons alongside Azurah to Hermorah after continuing became unbearable. In other myths, Nirni chose Y'ffer over Hircine as her mate after Y'ffer created the first flower for her and fathered many of her children. Heartbroken, Hircine slew the Graht-Elk, champion of Y'ffer, and took to wearing its head as a trophy. Eventually Y'ffer became corrupted by Namiira, who then struck and killed Nirni. Khenarthi sided with Hicine. Together with him and Azurah they slew Y'ffer and made a cairn out of his bones for their beloved sister.

A work from prior to the Riddle-Thar Epiphany, describes Boethra's involvement with the Middle Dawn and the dance of the Marukhati Selective. In this story, Boethra was called from her battle with Orkha by the Blue Star and brought to the Adamantine Tower by Khenarthi, in order to combat the Dragon Break and the attempted alteration of reality.

Khenarthi's Roost is named after her; according to legend, Khenarthi rested upon a tree on the island during her first journey across the heavens. This tree would later become the Great Tree, found along the coast west of Mistral. Many of the island's Khajiit therefore worship Khenarthi.

Some myths link Khenarthi to the origin of Khajiit demigod and hero Khunzar-ri. One such story is that of Khunzar-ri and the Box at the Shrine, telling of an adept finding a box at a shrine to Khenarthi, within containing an infant Khunzar-ri who grew from a baby to an adult upon being taken out of the box. In another origin, "Khunzar-ri and the Tear of Joy", Sheggorath manages to cheer up a grumpy Alkosh through a joke at Hircine's expense, after Mara and Khenarthi failed to do so.. Alkosh laughs for thirty days and nights, shaking the sky and making the moons dance until, finally, a single tear of joy falls rolls down his cheek and lands onto Elsweyr where Khunzar-ri emerges from its depths, fully grown and ready for adventure.

Upon death members of the Pride of Alkosh are said to be raised to a place beyond even the Sands Behind the Stars and all that is known by Khenarthi. These champions of Alkosh are than said to then exist in a place outside the tapestry of time and linear progression and thus, in some sense, have always existed and will always exist, and are at once both first and last of their order. This tradition is said to have started with the Pride's founder Ja'darri, whose soul Khenarthi carried first into the darkness of her own heart, equipping her with a blade and lantern of light to combat the dark, and than carrying her beyond the world once her struggle was won.

Worship

Khenarthi's Pride armor that emulates the trappings of the Wind God

Mane-of-Many-Rivers hairstyle

As the spirit believed to have given the first sounds to the world, Khenarthi is honored through music, song, and the speaking of myths.

Khenarthi's winds are said to caress all of Tamriel, thus granting her knowledge of all that they touch. Khajiiti clan mothers that revere Khenarthi are said to listen for the whispers of the goddess on the wind, using their sacred bells to catch the deity's "holy exhalations", in the hopes of receiving her knowledge. Through this ritual Khenarthi has been known to share the information in the winds with her faithful, guiding them to find what they seek through signs such as smell, sight, and the direction of the winds.

Dying Khajiit would customarily cross the Passage of Dad'na Ghaten, ringing the bells along the way to announce their coming to Khenarthi and adding their life story to the Wall of Life, in preparation of the deity taking their souls to the Sands Behind the Stars. Khajiiti clan mothers often drink from opal-studded cups bearing the likeness of Khenarthi.

Circa 2E 582, armor sets meant to emulate the trappings of Khenarthi were known to be in circulatation in Tamriel. Faithful of Khenarthi sometimes wear their hair in a style called the "Mane-of-Many-Rivers", in honor of Khenarthi's agricultural aspect as the Gatherer of Waters.

Artifacts

Jewel of the Sphinx

The Jewel of the Sphinx was a highly valued artifact, regarded as one of the most renowned relics of Khenarthi's priesthood. It was described as Khenarthi's prized jewel.

Analogues

• Kynareth
• Kyne
• Tava

Notes

• Khenarthi is depicted in tapestries in the form resembling a real-world Greek Spynx. In the context of The Elder Scrolls, Sphinxes have known associations with the province of Elsweyr.

• 1.

  The Wandering Spirits recounts the tale of Akha, who fathered offspring with the Winged Serpent, Mother Mammoth, and Dune Queen. Upon Akha's vanishing in the South, Alkosh "was granted rule over the myriad kingdoms of Akha along the Many Paths", and would watch over Akha's children. However, they rebelled against Alkosh, only for Khenarthi to restore him afterward. Together, they now oversee them. The term "wayward children of Alkosh" was used by Clan Mother Tadali, a leader of a temple dedicated to Khenarthi, to describe dragons. Moreover, the dragon Nahfahlaar referred to Alkosh as his father.

• Jode's Core is a mysterious lunar artifact that contains great power, located in the Plane of Jode. The Core resembles a great orb of pale blue flame. In pre-ri'Datta myths, Khenarthi is said to have lit twin lanterns in the eyes of the moons, which she relights whenever they burn low. Pre-ri'Datta myths also describe Azurah lighting the funeral pyre of Lorkhaj with the twin lanterns of Jone and Jode, also known as the "lanterns of love and mercy". Given the similarities between the lantern, described as sources of flame of divine origin, and the Core, the two concepts might be related.

Gallery

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  Khenarthi's Breath temple

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  Khenarthic bell

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  Khenarthi's Windbells