Watch the video:
https://youtu.be/Er726BVgQ5M

David and Andrew dig into The Forgotten City beyond the first-pass Golden Rule underworld: ethics, truth, and whether religious claims can be real when the game's "god" is only a superhuman power play. Spoilers for the full game.

In this Mythic Mind Games conversation, they praise the Socratic form and time-loop intrigue while pressing where the philosophy goes soft: relativism, absolute morality, and what happens when the underworld's ruler is not the prime mover.

Related: Forgotten City initial thoughts (Mythic Mind Games, ep. 25) https://youtu.be/GSfW2U4V7Q0.<... />
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#MythicMind #MythicMindGames #ForgottenCity #Ethics #Truth #Religion #GoldenRule #Philosophy #Underworld

As we discuss Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, we touch on various topics, including:

•   What is the artistic value of video games?

•  What is the artistic value of this game in particular? Where does it direct us?

•  What is the “best” ending?

• How do we rank value in sub-created worlds?
• How does the game frame the relationship between art and grief? What does a healthy relationship look like?
• What light can Tolkien’s Leaf by Niggle shed on the ideas raised by E33?

Watch the video for this episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel here:
https://youtu.be/nfOFa9eOnsg

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Watch the video:
https://youtu.be/BRyGEMc2I58

Skyrim's Dawnguard pits rebuilt vampire hunters against Harkon's Volkihar clan and the Tyranny of the Sun, while Dragonborn sends you to Solstheim against Miraak: All-Maker thralls, Apocrypha's Black Books, and Hermaeus Mora's bargain. Across both DLCs the chat turns to vampires, Boethius, and Faustian bargains: what power costs when immortality, knowledge, or domination is the price.

In this Elder Scrolls & Philosophy live conversation (~104 min), Dr. Andrew Snyder and the Mythic Mind Games community dig into Skyrim's expansions together: Dawnguard and Dragonborn plots, vampire ethics, Miraak's false prophecy, and where the Games podcast goes next after this final (for now) Elder Scrolls unit.

Related: Skyrim Chat: Civil War, Dragonborn, Talos, Northern Mythos (ep. 38) https://youtu.be/JKbtu8VYciE; The Story of Skyrim: Dawnguard, Vampires, and Tyranny of the Sun (ep. 39) https://youtu.be/k-FEFvAcT44; The Story of Skyrim: Dragonborn, Miraak, and Solstheim (ep. 39 twin) https://youtu.be/3wKIrE8yjLU; Skyrim and the Northern Mythos: Dragon, Doom, and Northern Courage (ep. 36) https://youtu.be/C907wJJN8l8; The Story of Skyrim: Dragonborn, Civil War, and Destiny (ep. 35) https://youtu.be/1dPXdcZxzm8.<... />
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Two Skyrim expansion story overviews in one episode.

Watch Dawnguard: https://youtu.be/k-FEFvAcT44
Watch Dragonborn: https://youtu.be/3wKIrE8yjLU

--- Dawnguard ---
Skyrim's Dawnguard pits rebuilt vampire hunters against Lord Harkon's Volkihar clan and the Tyranny of the Sun: a prophecy to blot out daylight forever. Serana, Elder Scrolls, the Soul Cairn, and Auriel's Bow lead to a final stand at Castle Volkihar.

In this Elder Scrolls & Philosophy story overview, Dr. Andrew Snyder traces Dimhollow Crypt through Ancestor Glade and the Forgotten Vale as the Dragonborn chooses the Dawnguard's light over vampire-lord immortality and ends Harkon's dream of eternal night.

Related: The Story of Skyrim (Mythic Mind Games, ep. 35) https://youtu.be/1dPXdcZxzm8; Skyrim and the Northern Mythos (ep. 36) https://youtu.be/C907wJJN8l8; The Story of Skyrim: Dragonborn (ep. 39 twin) https://youtu.be/3wKIrE8yjLU.<... />
--- Dragonborn ---
Skyrim's Dragonborn sends you to ash-choked Solstheim after Miraak's cultists brand you a false prophet. All-Maker stones enslave the Skaal; Black Books open Apocrypha; Hermaeus Mora bargains as the first Dragonborn steals souls and claims the title.

In this Elder Scrolls & Philosophy story overview, Dr. Andrew Snyder traces Raven Rock through Miraak's temple, Neloth's Black Book hunt, and Storn's sacrifice to the duel where the seeker of knowledge is consumed by it, leaving Solstheim free.

Related: The Story of Skyrim (Mythic Mind Games, ep. 35) https://youtu.be/1dPXdcZxzm8; Skyrim and the Northern Mythos (ep. 36) https://youtu.be/C907wJJN8l8; The Story of Skyrim: Dawnguard (ep. 39 twin) https://youtu.be/k-FEFvAcT44.<... />
Join the Mythic Mind Fellowship:
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- Mythic Mind
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#MythicMind #MythicMindGames #Skyrim #Dawnguard #Dragonborn #Vampires #Harkon #Serana #Miraak #Solstheim #HermaeusMora #ElderScrolls #Philosophy

Watch the video:
https://youtu.be/JKbtu8VYciE

Skyrim's base game puts a prisoner on the path of the Dragonborn amid Imperial-Stormcloak civil war: Talos worship under Thalmor pressure, Greybeards and Blades, prophecy against Alduin, and a Nord homeland steeped in northern mythos from Sovngarde to the mead-hall.

In this Elder Scrolls & Philosophy live conversation (~108 min), Dr. Andrew Snyder and the Mythic Mind Games community dig into Skyrim together: civil war stakes, Dragonborn destiny, Talos and empire, and how the northern mythos lecture frames courage, doom, and the World-Eater.

Related: The Story of Skyrim: Dragonborn, Civil War, and Destiny (ep. 35) https://youtu.be/1dPXdcZxzm8; Skyrim and the Northern Mythos: Dragon, Doom, and Northern Courage (ep. 36) https://youtu.be/C907wJJN8l8; The Story of Skyrim: Dawnguard, Vampires, and Tyranny of the Sun (ep. 39) https://youtu.be/k-FEFvAcT44; The Story of Skyrim: Dragonborn, Miraak, and Solstheim (ep. 39 twin) https://youtu.be/3wKIrE8yjLU; Dawnguard & Dragonborn Chat (ep. 40) https://youtu.be/BRyGEMc2I58.<... />
Join the Mythic Mind Fellowship:
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Listen to/watch the Mythic Mind podcasts:
- Mythic Mind
- Mythic Mind Games
- Mythic Mind Movies

Watch the video:
https://youtu.be/fns-nZoOs0A

In Oblivion's Shivering Isles, mantling Sheogorath means walking like the Mad God until you become him. The Champion of Cyrodiil lives Sheogorath's steps, scripts, and contingency plan, then takes the vacant throne when the Greymarch turns the Mad God back into Jyggalag: walk like them until they must walk like you.

In this Mythic Mind Games conversation for the Elder Scrolls & Philosophy study, Dr. Andrew Snyder is joined by Ian and Tyler. They read Mania and Dementia as boundless possibility versus hyper-limitation, map those poles onto Kierkegaard's despair of infinitude and finitude, and treat Sheogorath's refusal to be Jyggalag as demonic defiant despair. From there the talk opens the in-world metaphysics of mantling (Enantiomorph / steps of the dead), compares it to Nerevarine incarnation, Talos and Lorkhan, Mannimarco, and Pelinal, and asks whether the biblical mantle of Elijah to Elisha is analogy or contrast when TES makes the absorption literal. Along the way: clinical NPC writing, player mercy inside the maze, CHIM and save-file agency, and why later cheese-friendly Sheogorath may already be walking like the Champion.

Related: The Story of Oblivion: Shivering Isles (Mythic Mind Games, ep. 33) https://youtu.be/96XxCjhOkCQ; Oblivion's Sheogorath and Kierkegaard's Sickness unto Death (ep. 34) https://youtu.be/BZUgEUzaBXU; Oblivion and the Knight of Faith (ep. 30) https://youtu.be/9XUuJ7vLw1E.<... />
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#MythicMind #MythicMindGames #Oblivion #Sheogorath #ShiveringIsles #Mantling #Jyggalag #Greymarch #ElderScrolls #Kierkegaard #Philosophy

In this presentation, originally made for my Elder Scrolls & Philosophy study, I discuss some of the northern mythological inspirations for Skyrim.

Watch the video for this episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/C907wJJN8l8

Tolkien and the Long Defeat: https://youtu.be/zQZuCpAd8t8?si=A8w-Mu_k4IXpz657

Beowulf & Boethius Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1Ayf0uZnOZGm3sKsYH7pMx5cNJUDJopl


Become a patron at patreon.com/mythicmind

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(Or become a patron and get all three shows early and ad-free in a single feed.)

Become a Tier 3 patron to participate in the upcoming Silmarillion study!

Watch the video:
https://youtu.be/1dPXdcZxzm8

Skyrim's main story follows the Dragonborn from a Helgen execution amid Imperial-Stormcloak civil war to a prophesied stand against Alduin the World-Eater. Greybeards and Blades, Dragonrend at the Time-Wound, a wartime truce at High Hrothgar, and the last battle in Sovngarde's Hall of Valor.

In this Elder Scrolls & Philosophy story overview, Dr. Andrew Snyder traces how civil war, prophecy, and destiny converge on the Dragonborn: prisoner, Voice, and the one Alduin's Wall names against the apocalypse. A short gateway into the Skyrim unit before the deeper philosophy talks.

Related: Skyrim and the Northern Mythos (Mythic Mind Games, ep. 36) https://youtu.be/C907wJJN8l8.<... />
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#MythicMind #MythicMindGames #Skyrim #Dragonborn #Alduin #CivilWar #Destiny #Sovngarde #ElderScrolls #Philosophy

Oblivion's Shivering Isles splits madness into Mania and Dementia. Kierkegaard's The Sickness unto Death names those poles as despair of infinitude and despair of finitude, then diagnoses Sheogorath's defiance as the self that will not be itself.

In this Elder Scrolls & Philosophy talk, Dr. Andrew Snyder reads Bliss and Crucible, Thadon and Syl, Jyggalag and Sheogorath through Christian existential psychology: why unchecked possibility and hyper-limitation both destroy the self, and how the Champion of Cyrodiil integrates finitude and infinitude in a leap of faith toward an authentic whole. Along the way: Chesterton on sane insanity, Nietzsche's madman, Augustine on the tyrant as slave, and a closing line from Fear and Trembling.

Related: Mythic Mind Games ep. 33 (Story of Oblivion: Shivering Isles) and ep. 30 (Oblivion and the Knight of Faith).

Watch the video for this episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel here:
https://youtu.be/BZUgEUzaBXU

Join the Mythic Mind Fellowship:
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Listen to all THREE Mythic Mind podcasts:
• Mythic Mind
• Mythic Mind Games
• Mythic Mind Movies & Shows

Watch the video:
https://youtu.be/96XxCjhOkCQ

Oblivion's Shivering Isles is Sheogorath's realm of Mania and Dementia: Bliss and Crucible, the Gatekeeper, and a court of madness that commissions a mortal champion. The Greymarch reveals the secret. Sheogorath is Jyggalag, Daedric Lord of Order, locked in an endless cycle of chaos and gray dominion.

In this Elder Scrolls & Philosophy story overview, Dr. Andrew Snyder traces the path from Niben Bay through Haskill and New Sheoth to Mantling the Mad God, rebuilding the staff, and breaking the Greymarch so a new Sheogorath can reign.

Related: Oblivion's Sheogorath and Kierkegaard's Sickness unto Death (Mythic Mind Games, ep. 34) https://youtu.be/BZUgEUzaBXU; Oblivion and the Knight of Faith (ep. 30) https://youtu.be/9XUuJ7vLw1E; Mantling Sheogorath general chat https://youtu.be/fns-nZoOs0A.<... />
Join the Mythic Mind Fellowship:
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Listen to/watch the Mythic Mind podcasts:
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#MythicMind #MythicMindGames #Oblivion #ShiveringIsles #Sheogorath #Jyggalag #Greymarch #Mantling #ElderScrolls #Philosophy