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The Elder Scrolls raise some huge questions about the series’ universe.

RELATED: The Elder Scrolls 6 Needs to Take One Cue From D&D On the meta-level, however, their role is far more interesting. In Skyrim, for example, an Elder Scroll is used to look back in time and learn the Dragonrend shout needed to force Alduin to land. Their exact purpose generally changes to fit their function in that specific story. In terms of their function in the games, they’re largely magical MacGuffins. Reading an Elder Scroll without proper preparation or the use of a machine like the Dwemer Lexicon seen in Skyrim can lead to blindness and insanity. During the events of Oblivion, the Cult of the Ancestor Moth kept 273 Elder Scrolls in their library, though by the time Skyrim takes place many of the Elder Scrolls have been spread out over Tamriel. In the lore, the Cult of the Ancestor Moth is the main order able to read the Elder Scrolls, and its members believe they have a duty to do so even at the cost of their own sight. “Each reader sees different reflections through different lenses, and may come away with a different reading. “It’s a reflection of all possible futures and all possible pasts,” he explains. Orc mage Urag gro-Shub, who can be found at the College of Winterhold, makes an attempt at summarizing the workings of an Elder Scroll. Although occasional references to them as “aedric prophecies” might suggest divine origins, the in-game book Pension of the Ancestor Moth claims that “these writings exceed even the gods, both aedra and daedra.” In Skyrim, Paarthurnax says that the scrolls are “fragments of creation.” This supports the idea that the Elder Scrolls are fundamentally connected to the creation of the games’ universe rather than being created by beings within that reality. The origin of the Elder Scrolls is never explained in the games.