Also I will note that the icons for America include many things from Goddess Justicia (the Blind Judge) to Lady Liberty and most notably, the Eagle. I will concede that the U.S. flag is an icon, but the point is that it is one of many icons, and that icons do not need to bear the same image as the flag. Maakrindah
May 7, 2015

Here's a bit of concept:

^the wall should be lower, methinks.

Here's one with "lok bo, thuum tuum" rather poorly done:

I, for one, really liked paarthurnax's second idea. It's very simplistic, and because it will be depicted in a very small way here and there, I think that's something we should be aiming for. I like the word wall idea too, but I'm not so sure how good it will turn out when it's really small.

I think the word wall is super awesome. I would be interested in seeing if it could fit into Paarthurnax's flags. Perhaps a word wall on the symbolic/stylized mountain. Just a thought. And I love the "D" Rune. Could a rune on a word wall on a stylized mountain work? Could we make all that fit together or is that too complex?

id like to throw in that a symbol / flag should be simple. a good herald is one that you can easily reproduce, a child of 5 years should be able to draw it yet it should be distinct enough from other symbols. A good flag is represantive without former knowledge so something with a dragon is self explaining, its cool and recognisable. a dragon rune is ok too but people likely wont have the "oh thats dovahzul" unless they do have knowledge

@Orkar Isber I agree with you about the simplicity of a flag. But I do think that a flag can be a little complex without ruining the simplicity. A Fleur d'Liis is a common flag symbol and I would argue that it is a more complex shape than Hiith's word wall and etc. Additionally, I don't think we need to worry about how recognizable it is to those outside the Dovahzul/Elder Scrolls communities. I think it is entirely likely that most of the general population has no clue what Dovahzul or Skyrim is, so making a flag that would be recognizable to those would be unnecessary and difficult. Most of the people who would know what Dovahzul is, would at least have a concept of what the runes generally look like, and would definitely recognize a word wall.

i try it with examples. the leather pride flag (BDSM) uses blue and black stripes with a well known symbol that most people will know "oh something celtic" but it was designed to be only known to insiders. Just like small hints like a Ring of O is meant to be recognised by insiders but not by outsiders. they achieve this by using already existant symbols in a slight variety that outsiders wont recognise as being different, thats the purpose. 

The homosexual flag is a rainbow color flag representing the multitude of possible sexual preferences, it is simple, recognisable and with certain symbols like 2 male symbols etc. pretty self explaining

I do realise that dovahzul may never be even close to the status of klingon, yet why not create a recognisable distinct flag - ok if its too complicated, then we cant do it but i think we should try first. the idea with the runes aint bad but i believe we can come up with something better. 

Word wall - no. A single "high lit" rune - great. a mountain - ok sure, why not, makes sense, is recognisable and relaitvely simple.

@Orkar Isber I agree with the general idea of keeping it simple, but I don't think every symbol should necessarily be recognizable to everybody. For instance, the Saudi Arabian flag features Arabic calligraphy with a culturally specific sword underneath. It is recognizable to any who generically knows what the writing looks like, however if one can read Arabic, he/she can understand it more specifically and in-depth.

I'm simply suggesting that we not make the flag an explanation of the language. No need to dumb it down for people who aren't at all familiar with The Elder Scrolls world.

BDSM and the GLBTI Flags are great examples, except that these are universal concepts that permeate all cultures. Every population has homosexuals and every culture has an intrinsic form of BDSM. While almost every culture does have a version of Dragons and Mountains, word walls and Dragon Runes are specific to the culture and therefor better represent Dovahzul and its community.

I think the universal symbols are important to include or consider, but without something culturally specific, someone might see the mountain and dragon and immediately think of "The Hobbit".

I see your point and i gotta agree on the Hobbit problem. 

Maybe we should try the other approach and first make a flag as complex as possible and then abstract it down to the core. Dragons indeed could be very misleading and can be left out, dragon runes are more essential. what i would like to see is some sort of "power" in the symbol after all the main purpose of the dragon tongue are the thuum and i think that power should be seen in the flag, somehow. Though i aint an artist and im not very creative so...no idea how thats gonna look like^^

Do we need to choose between the geometric flag versions of Paarthurnax and the word wall of Hiith, or is there a way for them to work together? Perhaps by playing with the geometry to fit a central(ish) word wall. The glowing rune on the word wall (or perhaps even the glowing word "Thu'um" ) would be reminiscent of the Rotmulaagge being learned in-game.

These are just a few thoughts. Maakrindah
May 11, 2015

I made a very basic sketch if y'all would like to check it out. I would make the word wall a bit bigger. It was just a quick sketch, so it's really just a main idea.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3aj6KpYwcndTWZPNFRYSTVYcWs&authuser=0

I think the word "Thuum" would be very representative, short and explaining. 

How to illustrate power - glow is good radiating is better. Maybe the rune cracks something near it, maybe it changes the landscape around it, maybe it creates waves of energy emmiting from it, maybe it makes its surroundings darker or we play with colors flickering around it or use a strong signal color like dark red that radiates brighter shades of red and blue or a rune that is inside a flame...

@Orkar Isber I thought about waves before, similar to the Fus Ro Dah shockwave, but again, we are going for something one can draw, and unfortunately the shockwave is a little too difficult to reproduce since it is an effect produced by a refraction of light. I'm not sure I'm clear on the difference between radiance and glow.