LE What Happened To The Dwarves?

[MadPrince]

I have this idea for a mod. The dwarves mysteriously disappeared at some point a long time ago in the Elder Scrolls universe. What happened to them though? I think a good way to explain this is space. Yes, as in they went to outer space...sort of. This mod would have them living on one (or both) of the nearby moons. They certainly had a talent for combining machinery with magic so why not? Unfortunately I lack the experience in modding. I've started making mods for Oblivion and plan to mod for Skyrim eventually but if anybody else could make this mod that would be amazing! I'd be more than willing to write the story-line for it. Let me know what you think. It would be a really impressive mod!

[nobadeeftw]

I have this idea for a mod. The dwarves mysteriously disappeared at some point a long time ago in the Elder Scrolls universe. What happened to them though? I think a good way to explain this is space. Yes, as in they went to outer space...sort of. This mod would have them living on one (or both) of the nearby moons. They certainly had a talent for combining machinery with magic so why not? Unfortunately I lack the experience in modding. I've started making mods for Oblivion and plan to mod for Skyrim eventually but if anybody else could make this mod that would be amazing! I'd be more than willing to write the story-line for it. Let me know what you think. It would be a really impressive mod!

 

Read the book, Battle of Red Mountain. It paints a pretty good picture of what happened to the Dwemer. Basically they created a device that was suppose to transform them all into ethereal beings in theory; but, instead it vaporized every last one of them in an instant, leaving behind piles of ash where they stood. This is suppose to imply the moral lesson of over reaching and the consequences that follow. They wanted to become Gods and they annihilated themselves in the process. Perhaps this was planned out by the divines or even the daedric lords. Think about it, one of them could have easily fed them the plans to build such a device, to sew their own destruction. You could easily relate this to the judeo-christian god annihilating early humans, to make way for a more malleable race of humans following the destruction.

[acidzebra]

Read the book, Battle of Red Mountain. It paints a pretty good picture of what happened to the Dwemer. Basically they created a device that was suppose to transform them all into ethereal beings in theory; but, instead it vaporized every last one of them in an instant, leaving behind piles of ash where they stood.

 

Yeah, no, it's not as clear-cut as that.

 

Yes, all the Dwemer disappeared, no, it's not in any way clear what happened - there is only conjecture. Yours is based on a quote from a book which itself quotes Dagoth Ur, who was neither all-knowing nor particularly reliable.

 

Direct quote from said book:

 

[Only later did we hear from others present that Dagoth Ur had thought the Dwemer destroyed, not made immortal. And no one knows for sure what really happened there.]

 

See also Calcelmo's work on the topic, as well as a number of other sources.

Edited December 18, 2012 by acidzebra

[DragonbornArcher]

and interesting concept, but how would the dovah get to these said moons?

[Dudeman325]

They are basically soul-trapped inside the Numidium... Or not, maybe both at the same time. No one really knows because the Dwemer can't (don't want to?) come back to tell them.

 

Wherever they are, the return of the Dwemer is no light thing. They serve a much better role in the story at large if they stay "gone."

Edited December 19, 2012 by Dudeman325

[nobadeeftw]

Read the book, Battle of Red Mountain. It paints a pretty good picture of what happened to the Dwemer. Basically they created a device that was suppose to transform them all into ethereal beings in theory; but, instead it vaporized every last one of them in an instant, leaving behind piles of ash where they stood.

 

Yeah, no, it's not as clear-cut as that.

 

Yes, all the Dwemer disappeared, no, it's not in any way clear what happened - there is only conjecture. Yours is based on a quote from a book which itself quotes Dagoth Ur, who was neither all-knowing nor particularly reliable.

 

Direct quote from said book:

 

[Only later did we hear from others present that Dagoth Ur had thought the Dwemer destroyed, not made immortal. And no one knows for sure what really happened there.]

 

See also Calcelmo's work on the topic, as well as a number of other sources.

 

When studying the past, you base your understandings on events by what you do know, not by what you don't know. Therefore what I stated is as close to the truth as anyone could fathom for now, until more information becomes available. You cannot discount evidence just because it rubs you the wrong way.

 

Kagrenac turned his tools upon the Heart, and Nerevar said he saw Kagrenac and all his Dwemer companions at once disappear from the world. In that instant, Dwemer everywhere disappeared without a trace.

 

I suppose we should just discount anything Nerevar was claimed to have said as well right? It would only be fair. We should also discount Lord Vivic as well, since the story was his personal account of the event. When looking at multiple accounts of the same event, you have to look for common elements. For one, we know that after the death of Kagrenac, the Dwemer vanished from Nirn. What specifically caused it is what is being investigated. Some blame Nerevar and Dagoth Ur for killing all the Dwemer, some blame Karenac for destroying them all in a desperate attempt to empower the Dwemer; but, the Heart of Lorkhan is involved in each case.

[LordSarcasm]

They invented giants to launch them into space!

[UbersGoogle]

do ya''ll not know about the dwarven space mod? its a questline to gather aetherial shards and you get this ship to work in a mountain near falkreath, you get it working and you can travel to one of the moons of nirn, but thats it, there are no quests on so called moons, as of yet anyway, hoping that mod goes a lot further :)

 

here is a link to the mod if you would like to use it http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/23260

[geckonator9]

I think he's talking about making this mod off of official Bethesda canon.

 

In that case, the best way someone on the internet who is way more dedicated to the lore than 90% of the player-base put it something like this

The Dwemer (they are not dwarves in any way but their advanced technology, I'm tired of the misconception) wanted to become gods, so they used the power of the Heart of Lorkhan to disassemble themselves with the plan of being reassembled as either a new god, or an entire race of gods (it's not exactly clear). Unfortunately, they got the reassembly part wrong and they were essentially vaporized and left as ghosts (if I remember correctly their ghosts were wandering around ruins in Morrowind, like Arniel's shade). However, it could also be the Numindium soul trap theory, or the simple Aetherial beings instead of gods idea above. The Elder Scrolls can often get weird and metaphysical like that, with all versions of a single story being true simultaneously. Like how Akatosh is known Auriel to the elves, but they're both the same being AND two separate rival gods at the same time.

 

In short, they couldn't go to space. In fact, (correct me if I'm wrong) there IS no space to go to! The Elder Scrolls is essentially a universe where the types of the scientific misconceptions of our ancient past are true. The moons are Lorkhan's corpse rotting and regrowing every day, and the stars are holes from where the gods left the physical universe out of fear or anger towards the creation of Nirn. And all of that is scientifically verifiable on Tamriel because the remaining gods are real and give blessings to pilgrims, and every other aspect of that cosmology is correct.

[jcdenton2012]

They are basically soul-trapped inside the Numidium... Or not, maybe both at the same time. No one really knows because the Dwemer can't (don't want to?) come back to tell them.

 

Wherever they are, the return of the Dwemer is no light thing. They serve a much better role in the story at large if they stay "gone."

 

You are correct, but you are also incorrect. In academic writing you must include primary sources which might contradict your thesis in which case you must consider redrafting your thesis or find materials that contradict the primary sources being used. In this instance the quote comes from a book which is quoting Dagoth Ur. This then makes Dagoth Ur a secondary source not a primary source. If you want a primary source then ask Dagoth Ur yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0babZUEGGhE. In which case, he tells you directly that he has no clue what happened to the stupid dwarves.

 

The truth is that in all likelyhood they are either A) Erased from existence. B) Banished to the borders of reality from which they cannot or simply refuse to return. C) They teleported there entire species in desperation from Nirn to the Outer-realm in order to escape the vast armies allied against them.