Lore:Shor

is the Nordic version of Lorkhan. He sided with   after the creation of the world. Foreign gods (i.e., elven ones) conspired against him to bring about his defeat, dooming him to the "underworld", with his death remembered as bringing about the current world.   n myths depict him as a bloodthirsty warrior king who repeatedly led the Nords to victory over their Aldmeri oppressors. Before his doom, Shor, sometimes also called the '''Children's God''', was chief of the gods.  Dead gods such as Shor and Tsun don’t need temples,   for they have the biggest one of all; a vast hall of drinking and revelry known as the Hall of Valor (Shor’s Hall).   It is believed Shor can be found at  , an   utopia he built which is open in the afterlife to all Nords who prove their mettle or die valiantly in battle.  Though dead, ancient Nordic legends speak of Shor's ghost being "sung" back into the world at momentous occasions in Nordic history.  Shor is also associated with the Fox, one of the ancient Atmoran animal totems.    
 
History
thumb|right|Shor's Throne in the Hall of Valor
There are many ancient Nordic legends of Shor and his compatriots.   was his wife and later his widow,   was one of his Shield-thanes, and   died protecting him.  They say he fought   on the spirit plane at the beginning of time.  They also accept "Lorkhan" as the elven name for Shor; the two are widely regarded as the same entity,    as is Shezarr (though the reputation of the "Missing Sibling" of the   was watered-down a bit to be less offensive to elven cultures and those they had influenced).  Shor's also referred to as an "aspect" of Lorkhan. 

The Nords believe the chief of the gods had been killed by elven giants in ancient times, and they ripped out Shor's   and used it as a standard to strike fear into the Nords. This worked until   "Shouted Some Sense" and the Nords fought back again. Knowing that they were going to lose eventually, the Elven giants hid the Heart of Shor so that the Nords might never have their god back. 

Old Knocker
According to   scholars, the Nords believe their old enemy from Atmora,  , fooled them and used foul magic to reduce the Nordic lifespan to six years. Through unknown means, Shor showed up and removed the curse, throwing most of it onto the nearby  s. 

Nordic legend goes into greater detail. During the reign of High King   in the  , Orkey summoned Alduin, and nearly every Nord was "eaten down" to six years old by the Time-Eater. The boy Wulfharth pleaded to Shor for help. Shor's ghost then once again fought Alduin on the spirit plane, and he won. Orkey's folk, the Orcs, were ruined. It was by watching this battle in the sky that Wulfharth learned a new use of the   which allowed him to save his people. 

Red Mountain
:"I do not wreak vengeance on the   for the reasons that the   might believe I do. Nevertheless, it is true that they will die by my hand, and any whoever should side with them." — Shor 

During the   around  , the Nords learned from the     that the rediscovered Heart of Shor was at the center of that dispute between the Dwemer and the Chimer. The Tongues sang Shor's ghost into the world again, and he gathered an army as he did of old. Then he sucked in the long-strewn ashes of King Wulfharth and remade him to serve as a general. But the Devil of Dagoth petitioned to be that general, too, emphasizing his service in bringing the Nords the information. So Shor kept them both as generals and marched on  . 

The Nordic legends differ on what occurred at the   which followed. One story is that the whole thing was a ruse, and as soon as Shor's army arrived at  , the Chimer and Dwemer joined together to attack them. Their sorcerers lifted the mountain and threw it onto Shor, trapping him underneath Red Mountain until the end of time. 

The other, "secret" version of the tale is that Shor's Heart really was at the mountain.  At Shor's urging, his generals collected more troops of all kinds, even forging an alliance with  s. Many Nords could not bring themselves to ally with their traditional enemies, even in the face of Red Mountain, and were close to desertion, but an impassioned speech from Wulfharth about the importance of Shor and this war kept Shor's army together. Shor got his Heart back briefly during the battle, but he needed time, and his opponents set upon him wielding  . In the ensuing melee, Shor was wounded by the Dwemer King  , who was killed by Dagoth Ur, who was then struck down by Dumac's rage-filled friend, the Chimer Hortator  . Shor mortally wounded Nerevar, but Nerevar's trickery allowed him to cut out Shor's Heart, defeating the chief of the gods once again. 

Legacy
Many important figures throughout history have been attributed with some relationship with Shor. Saint   was called the wife of Shor.  When Nords saw   during the  , covered with elven blood after the first Pogrom, they said that Shor had returned, but Pelinal just spat at their feet for profaning Shor's name.  The unusual success of High King   in conquering various Dwemeri city-states in Skyrim during the First Era was attributed to the blessings of Shor.  The zealotry of King Wulfharth earned him the moniker "Shor's Tongue". 

In the dark days after the fall of  , Shor was demonized by the elven rulers in  y, where he became known as  , the Bad Man. 

Gallery
 

Notes
Someone called " " is said to have claimed that Cyrodiil became an egg during the famous thousand-year   of the First Era. 
A small mining community in Skyrim is called  . 
Arnand the Fox is equated with Zurin Arctus,  and Pelinal was known as Hans the Fox, said to be one of the Five Hundred Companions. 

See Also
 
 
 
 

References