InsaneJournal

In some of my drabbles, I have mentioned a certain whispering.

In the video game, after the Greybeards have officially recognized your character as the Dragonborn, Master Arngeir is able to start directing you to new Words of Power, and he typically begins with "we (the Greybeards) have felt the whisper of a Word".

For those of you that have no knowledge of my fandom but have been following my drabbles, my character's power as the Dragonborn operates from his sossedov, and through Words of Power, or rotmulaag in the dragons' tongue, which is called Dovahzul. Dovah means "dragon". Zul means "voice".

Your ability to use Dovahzul in its most powerful form is commonly referred to as "the Voice", or the Thu'um.

Each Thu'um attack, or Zaan, has three Rotmulaag and each rot do suleyk is scattered around the region, found etched into "rot vunds". Word walls.

GLOSSARY / TERMINOLOGY
listed in alphabetical order

Do - Pronounced like "doe". Means "of".
Dov - Means the dragons as a collective species. The plural form of Dovah
Dovah - Means a singular dragon.
Dovah sos - Means "dragon blood". As in, physical blood that seeps out the wound of an actual dragon.
Dovahzul - Means "dragon-voice".
Mulaag - Means "strength" but also "power" if referring to the collective words of power.
Rot - Means "word".
Se - Also means "of".
Sos - Means "blood".
Sossedov - Means "blood of dragonkind". Refers to the power born inside the dov and dovahkiin, alike. Also has influence over your personality, making you naturally drawn to the lust for power and domination. Can make one rather capricious in nature if not kept in check. Sometimes used interchangeably with "dovah sos", specifically Paarthurnax.
Suleyk - Means "power".
Thu'um - Means "the Voice" as the power, itself.
Way of the Voice - A philosophy discovered by Jurgen Windcaller. The Way is also referred to as "the Calm". For the non-Dovahkiin, the Way of the Voice generally dictates to not use the Thu'um unless in a time of "True Need". Generally viewed to be a philosophy of pacifism. However, Master Arngeir of the Greybeards encourages the Dragonborn to use his Voice, as it's a gift from Akatosh, who created dragonkind and by extension, the very concept of the Dragonborn. As long as the Dragonborn uses his Voice for its true purpose, he will remain true to the Way of the Voice.
Vund - Means "wall".

While I'm definitely playing off what Master Arngeir said, there is a key difference between Master Arngeir and my Dragonborn.

Being Dragonborn.

While Master Arngeir is far more studied in the Voice, he has also dedicated his entire life to this and has been honing his skill for decades.

He is the only one of the Greybeards that has tamed his Voice's cadence to be suitable for normal speech with the "common folk". Masters Einarth, Borri, and Wulfgar could kill you with naught but a whisper. When they address the Dovahkiin in passing, they say his name as they know it -- which is Dovahkiin. All the temple of High Hrothgar trembles when either three of them speak.

This is Dovahzul.

This is canon fact; the difference between the Greybeards and the Dovahkiin is that while the Greybeards have been learning Dovahzul their entire lives and studying the Way of the Voice under the dragon Paarthurnax, their journey in Dovahzul and learning to harness the Voice was difficult and time-consuming. For most people, it takes years of training and meditation to learn even the simplest of Shouts.

For the Dragonborn, learning new abilities in the Thu'um is simple in comparison to what other people go through. They learn a new word in Dovahzul like a master of the Voice and are able to employ these words in battle moments after learning the proper context of the word.

With the Voice, context and intent is everything. Without context and intent, your words are simply just words and they're useless.

Example: The word "yol", and the Thu'um attack "Fire Breath".

YOL TOOR SHUL
fire • inferno • sun

The dov commonly greet each other with Drem yol lok, which literally means "peace fire sky". Drem also means patience. Drem yol lok just means "I'm not going to hurt you... for now. Approach me, and let's talk." It's a temporary witholding of violence for the sake of conversation.

When the Dragonborn first meets Paarthurnax, you may or may not have already completed the quest for Dustman's Cairn (called "Proving Honor") from the Companion's storyline. A word of power for "Fire Breath" is in Dustman's Cairn, namely yol. Paarthurnax, one - teaches the Dragonborn the next word (toor), and imparts his knowledge of the word to the Dragonborn, making his use of that attack that much stronger. On top of that, Paarthurnax eagerly encourages the Dragonborn to use that same shout on him, and is overjoyed when the Dragonborn uses his own firebreath on Paarthurnax.

You have power, but power is inert without action or choice. Think of this as the fire builds in your breath.
What will you burn? What will you spare?
- Paarthurnax

This is just one quote from Paarthurnax trying to aid the Dragonborn in understanding the word better, after he's already learned it.

Gaining the context of a word comes via one of three ways:

1. They gain the context of the word and the knowledge needed to use it while absorbing a dragon's soul after they've killed that dragon.
2. Another dragon willingly teaches the Dragonborn this context, freely giving their knowledge to the Dragonborn. The dragon in question does not need to die to do this, and it does not harm them, nor the Dragonborn.
3. The Greybeards pass this knowledge to the Dragonborn the same way a dragon would. They are capable of the same draconic "transference" of knowledge.

While the Greybeards are certainly leagues more "learned" in the Voice, they are not at all embittered to the Dragonborn's ease of learning new words. Being in the presence of such a being is an honor to them, especially knowing they are the only people that have the power to help the Dragonborn master his own Voice and be the best he can be. This is their destiny, and what they were born to do, in their heads.

ONTO THE NEXT TOPIC:
Word Walls and their effects

The Dragonborn can hear the Word Walls whispering to him unintelligibly if he's relatively near the source. It's not a constant thing. When he starts getting closer, the words themselves become a little clearer and he hears them initially in Dovahzul. Once he's at the actual source of the Word, he is naturally drawn to the wall and his body pulls in the information automatically. It blurs his vision and fills his head with translations. Usually one word sticks out most to him.

The Greybeards never leave High Hrothgar. But they have trained themselves to listen for the echos and somehow, they know the general area the "lost word" is located. With some training from Master Arngeir, the Dragonborn would be capable of this same feat.

Ulfric Stormcloak is a former student of the Greybeards. He used his Voice to engage High King Torygg in a fight for the throne. Most people claim Ulfric literally tore Torygg apart with his Voice, while Ulfric claims it was his sword piercing Torygg's heart that actually killed him, though he doesn't deny his use of the Voice in their battle. That being said, Ulfric left his tutelage with the Greybeards to pursue the Great War. He only knows the Thu'um known as "Unrelenting Force". He is not Dovahkiin or a Greybeard, and is not skilled enough to pick up on the echos, voluntary or otherwise. If he was in the presence of a wall, he'd probably be able to learn the Rotmulaag, but because he left the Greybeards and is not Dovahkiin, it is highly unlikely he'd ever be able to learn the context needed to make use of the Shout. And even if he did have a way, it'd take years to learn it enough for it to have any real effect on the world.

Other people that are not Dovahkiin, the Greybeards, or those otherwise actively studying the Voice – They do not hear the Word Walls until they are actually standing there in front of one. But those words will always be nonsense because they don't know how to concentrate enough to pick up on the meaning unless they've had the proper training. Word Walls are just that – walls with a bunch of Dovahzul runes on them, none of which make a lick of sense.