Symbolism in Skyrim: Shouts

The meaning of Shouts in Skyrim

The Dragonborn absorbing the soul of a dead dragon. (Visualized by the dragon’s flesh burning off, leaving only bones.)

Shouts are the way dragons speak. They are somewhat similar to spells, but more primordial. Rather than arbitrary manipulation, the Words of Power that Shouts consist of are closer to words as we know them in their approximation to Logos. They describe and embody fundamental concepts and actions, and so, truly knowing and understanding these Words give power over these aspects of existence. The source of Shouts in the game is not mana, which is tied to magical skill and wizardry. Rather, being able to Shout comes with practice and meditation in the case of the Greybeards, or your very blood as Dragonborn. You might say Shouts are the offensive aspect to the language of the angels. While dragons aren’t demons in a 1:1 fashion (check out my previous post on this topic) they are earthly, monstrous representations of that destructive, chaotic quality that demons share. They are in the heavens and they appear at the end of the world. It’s said that when dragons breathe fire and frost, they are actually engaging in fierce debate and they enjoy philosophy. Thinking of them as fallen principalities helps to relate this to our own experiences. Just as Saint Peter was deterred from walking on water due to fear of the wind, so the demons whisper doubt into our thoughts, sometimes with a force (an Unrelenting Force, you might say) that can knock us from our path towards Christ.

Words of Power are learned in Skyrim in the following way. First, you have to learn what the actual word is. That’s earth. And sure enough, in the game you have to see and approach the physical marking of the Word of Power on the ground below, or against a “Word Wall”. The latter would normally be found either near dragon burial sites or in ancient Nordic tombs - again, the earth below. Feminine. You have to fight to earn it, much like how in fairy tales a knight fights to get the princess/treasure. It reminds me of the Eucharist, in the sense of reaping the fruits of death and integrating the body of Logos/Word. When you approach it, there is a sense of acquiring “insight” - there’s a gust of wind and light that surrounds you as well as accompanying music that declare the Dragonborn’s epiphany.

Bleak Falls Barrow, the first Nordic tomb the Dragonborn character enters into, learning the Shout '“Unrelenting Force”.

Example of the Word Walls on which Word of Powers are found.

But that’s not enough, next you need to “understand” the Word, the spiritual meaning of it, which unlocks it for use. That’s heaven. This understanding can be bestowed upon you by someone higher than you who gives you the knowledge directly. For instance the Greybeards. (Image below.) Alternatively, when you kill a dragon, you (the Dragonborn) captures the dragon’s very soul into yourself. You then use it to gain spiritual knowledge of the Words of Power. Again there is a gust of wind and light that streams to your character to signify relevance realization. NPCs in the game explicitly refer to this as “stealing” the power of the dragons.

The Greybeards passing on understanding of the Words of Power to the Dragonborn.

The whole thing reminds me also of Pentecost. It’s not dissimilar to the Apostles who received “tongues of fire” - that is, language granted directly from above that would aid them as they move out into the world, to the ends of the world. The “fire” part of “tongues of fire” is very relevant here, since the universal connotation with dragons as fire breathers is tight. Fire is multiplicity, passion, drive. In dragons it manifests as a kind of totalitarian destructive multiplicity: the Fall. But with the Apostles and the Dragonborn, that fire is turned and becomes cleansing as it’s used against the Enemy to spread the Gospel and “drive out spirits”, or in Skyrim, to drive out the dragons.

The first Shout the Dragonborn learns is Unrelenting Force - a Shout that pushes air forward in a way to destabilize your enemy. You might say this is the primordial Shout because it’s akin to breathing itself, specifically breathing out, which exemplifies the whole language of dragons in the first place.

In my upcoming articles I’ll look more closely at symbolism surrounding the Greybeards, their philosophy, and how Shouts differ from the Christian conception of prayer.