Tu ' whacca , Arkay , Xarxes Content . It ' s not uncommon for scholars to note the clear similarities between the gods , Xarxes , Arkay , and Tu ' whacca . ( For a particularly uninspired summary of the obvious , see " Psychopomps of Tamriel " , by that old bloviator Phrastus of Elinhir . ) Nearly every culture on the continent worships these deities in one form of another - - indeed , the Wood Elves of Valenwood revere them both ! I wish , in this brief disquisition , to pose several questions about the origins of these gods , and then speculate upon the answers to those questions . We begin with Xarxes , as his worship , at least as recorded in written history , predates that of both Arkay and Tu ' whacca . An Elven deity who records the life - stories of all the races of Aldmer i , Xarxes appears in multiple creation or origin stories , many of which are inconsistant with each other . While some of these origins may be " false " , their multiplicity may also be a reflection of Xarxes ' many - fold nature . In the two most common origin myths , Xarxes appears either as Auri - El ' s scribe , recording events at his side since the beginning of time , or as a Merethic Aldmeri priest of Auri - El who was elevated to divinity by the higher deity . The latter story is consistent with the High Elves ' conceit that they are directly descended from the Aedra , and can , in certain miraculous circumstances , apotheosize and re - ascend to godly status . For the Altmer , Xarxes records not just the life stories of individual Elves , but all the connections and lineage and heritance that bind them together and link them to their ancestors . As nothing is more important to an Altmer than his or her ancestry , it is easy to understand Xarxes ' paramount role in defining and maintaining status and stability in Summerset society . Arkay , of course , is one of the Eight Divines that were presented to the newly - freed citizens of Cyrodiil by St . Alessia at the founding of the First Empire . Though official dogma of the Church of the Eight holds that Alessia was merely revealing to her subjects gods who had been watching over them all along , scholarly research of documentary fragments that survive from early in the First Era hint at a different story . Khosey ' s " Tamrilean Tractates " , are well known , but I had the privelege of styding Sandralath ' s " Nedic Oblations " and the anonymous " Death - Song for King Darodiil " in their original manuscripts . Comparisons of the latter two against each other illuminated several previously obscure passages in both , and the resulting clarification was the impetus for this paper . To come to the point , I believe I may well finally have enough evidence to confirm Sedulus ' speculative " Theory of Arkayn Convergence . " Most of my readers will doubtless be familiar with Sedulus ' proposal that the Arkay of the Eight Divines is , in origin , a fusion of aspects of the Elven deity Xarxes with those of the primal Atmoran death - god Orkey My new translation of the Death - Song and its ( formerly ill - understood ) " plea for soul - guidance " passages make it clear that the psychopomp being addressed possesses attributes of both the Elven and Atmoran deities . And , once the proper vowel - shift is applies , what is the name of this god ? " To - Arcka . " Which brings us , inevitably , to the Yokudan deity Tu ' whacca . How long he was worshipped in that name by the human tribes of Yokuda is now unknowable , as all our race ' s records were lost in the cataclysm that sank the archipelago . But as even old Phrastus had the wits to note , it cannot be a coincidence that Tu ' whacca performs the same functions for the Redguards that Arkay and Xarxes do to Tamrielic Men and Mer . Are these gods really separate and distinct deities , or are they all aspects of the same deity , worshipped under different names in different cultures ? You must seek the answer elsewhere , for that is where scholarship ends and theology begins .