u/Course_I_Can

Orsimer are the most evolved race of Mer. They are not, as their enemies claim, “cursed” or “deformed.”

The traditional myth goes that the Velothi launched an exodus from the Aldmeri society. Trinimac tried to stop the exodus, and Boethiah swallowed him, spoke with his voice to mock him, and excreted Trinimac from her bowels, transforming him into Malacath, and his followers into Orsimer (orcs).

Many orcs have internalized this myth, with devastating psychological effects. However, the orcs of Orsinium reject the Malacath myth: they assert that Malacath is a pretender, and Trinimac still lives.

What is the truth? I have a hypothesis: The Boethiah/Malacath myth is propaganda used to denigrate the orcs. The myth is likely a parable explaining a civil conflict within Aldmeri society. The traditionalist Aldmer waged a conflict with the heterodox Velothi. In the parable, Boethiah represents the Velothi, and Trinimac represents the traditionalist Aldmer.

The Aldermi likely sent an elite batch of troops to fight the Velothi. When these troops were defeated (eaten and excreted, per the myth), they were shunned by the Aldmeri and the Velothi alike, cast out into the wilderness, where they evolved into the Orsimer.

Orsimer are one of several races of Mer that evolved to adapt to their environment. Maormer adapted to the sea, and became aquatic in form. Likewise the Dwemer adapted to the underground, and the Falmer adapted to deep cave dwellings and symbiosis with cave life.

Every race of Mer that is allowed to evolve and adapt, has done so. Note that the Altmer purposely prevent evolution and adaptation by practicing to eugenics and infanticide. They are the control group. The Bosmer were created by the Green, and the Dunmer are cursed by Boethiah into their current form. Yet all the Mer allowed to evolve, did evolve.

I submit that the orcs are the optimal form of Mer. They have adapted to harsh mountain climates where their foes use magic against them. As such they resist magic, have highly muscular frames and impressive physical prowess.

The “shame” that cursed the Orsimer is likely the fact that they lost to the Velothi, and their “transformation” is their evolution while in exile.

Orsimer are not cursed, they are blessed with an optimized biology.

Blessed be the Orsimer. Bb

Silas is a Redguard from the Dragontail Mountains, born to a father from a Crown family and a mother who was the daughter of a well‑known Forebear. His father chose love over politics, left his Crown kin behind, and built a life with her in the mountains.

His father became a general‑goods merchant, partnered with an Orsimer friend. For years he traveled across High Rock, Skyrim, and Hammerfell, contracting with merchants and shipping goods back to the Orc’s vendor stall in Orsinium. Silas spent most of his childhood on the road with him, learning the rhythms of trade and travel. Meanwhile, his mother ran her own shop in Dragonstar, with the family home above it.

One day, while Silas and his father were out on a business trip, they were waylaid by highwaymen. The bandits slashed Silas across the eyes, blinding him, killed his father, and stole the wagon’s goods. A traveling Khajiit merchant found the boy and restored his sight with a blessing from Azura. Because the night was moonless, Silas’s restored eyes became pitch black.

While recovering with the Khajiit, Silas saw his father’s old Orsimer partner passing along the road and flagged him down. After embracing Silas, the Orc told him the second blow: Silas’s mother had fallen ill and died shortly after hearing that her husband and son had been killed.

Silas then spent the next ten years in the Orsimer’s care, helping run the shop in Orsinium and later returning to Dragonstar to manage his family’s store. When that store began to fail, the old Orc intervened again. He told Silas that his parents were gone, that he was a man now, and that he belonged to the world. He urged Silas to leave Hammerfell and its grief behind.

So Silas traveled east to the Imperial City — and there, he was arrested. That is where the events of Oblivion begin.

The Parable of Trinimac and Boethiah: Reading Between the Lines