Mysterious
Inventive...
Lost...
The Dwemer...
Throughout this series, up to this point, the Dwemer elves have been mentioned in practically every video in some manner.
Despite the Dwemer barely appearing in the video games at all...
The Dwemer feature arguably the most unique and mystifying history among the various races and the elder scrolls.
Most notably due to their sudden disappearance from Tamriel.
This video will mainly focus on the fictional history of the deep elves, and less on their technological
achievements that survived into the later eras.
The origin of the Dwemer elves is slightly more unknown compared to some of their brethren and
There are a few different accounts and legends of their beginnings
Some attests that, like all the other races of elves, the Dwemer originated on Somerset Isle and traveled across Tamriel to settle.
Another account states that they were originally part of the Chimer Elves that traveled to Morrowind,
and began to move into the mountains and became their own civilization.
A legend says that the Dwemer are actually descendants of the original
inhabitants of Tamriel, and were already settled when the Chimer arrived in Morrowind.
Regardless, the Dwemer settled in the mountain ranges, and underground areas, between Morrowind and Skyrim.
Which led to eventual conflicts with both the Chimer and the Nords.
In addition the Dwemer themselves had an internal conflict known as the Aetherium Wars.
Aetherium was a blue crystal found in the underground regions of Skyrim
that was filled with magical energy, and was extremely difficult to work with.
Little is known of the capabilities of aetherium,
but the Dwemer created a forge capable of working the crystals into powerful artifacts.
The war broke out as various Dwemer city-states
vied for control of the forge, and the result was a weakened civilization.
The Nords saw an opportunity, and managed to conquer a number of Dwemer cities,
but a century later the Dwemer reunited and reclaimed most of their cities.
The majority of conflicts for the Dwemer during the First Era however, were with the Chimer of Morrowind,
mostly due to religious and cultural differences.
The Chimer were staunch worshipers of Daedra,
and took the Dwemer's lack of faith in the gods to be highly offensive.
As the Nords of Skyrim conquered the Snow Elves, and began to push into Morrowind however,
the two races found a common enemy,
and created a pact to fend off their mutual enemy.
During this time the few remaining Snow Elves avoided genocide from the Nords,
by hiding in the underground depths and turning to the Dwemer for assistance.
As part of being taken in to live among the Dwemer,
the Snow Elves were fed a toxic fungi that eventually rendered them blind.
Depending on the account,
the Snow Elves either willingly consumed the fungi in order to have a safe haven,
or they were instead tricked about its true nature by the Dwemer.
Either way, the Snow Elves that lived underground eventually became blind slaves,
known as Falmer.
It's believed that the Dwemer wanted slave labour in order to mine the aetherium crystals
in the deep depths underneath Skyrim.
The Falmer would eventually rise up against the Dwemer and launch a full war against their enslavers.
At some point prior to this,
the Dwemer discovered a magical artifact beneath the Red Mountain in Morrowind.
The Chief Architect, and High Priest of the Dwemer,
Kagrenac,
determined that the artifact was in fact the Heart of Lorkhan.
Lorkhan was a deity, who was chiefly responsible for the creation of the planet of Nirn,
due to tricking the Aedra into giving up some of their divinity in order to create it.
As retribution, a group of Aedra tore Lorkhan's heart out and attempted to destroy it.
After failing to do so they tied it to an arrow and fired it into the sea.
Where supposedly it landed and the Red Mountain grew around it.
Despite the Dwemer's lack of faith in the gods, they recognized magical power when they saw it,
and Kagrenac forged three artifacts to work with the heart:
a dagger, a hammer, and a gauntlet.
Kagrenac believed that the Heart could be used as a power source,
for a massive humanoid golem known as the Numidium.
The exact reasoning for the Dwemer's construction of the Numidium is unknown,
but most likely it was to be used to transcend the Dwemer race to something akin to godhood.
The Chimer found out about the Heart of Lorkhan, and the Numidium,
and they believe that the Dwemer were now taking things too far as an affront to their religion,
and they went to war once again.
The final battle commenced at the Red Mountain, in the Chamber of the Heart.
The leaders of the Chimer and the Dwemer both succumbed to grievous wounds,
and things looked dire for the Dwemer.
Two separate accounts remain of what occurred next, with either Kagrenac using his tools on the Heart,
or the Chimer being directed by a Daedric Lord to use the tools on the Heart.
Either way, some sort of function of the Heart of Lorkhan was activated,
causing the entire Dwemer race to instantly and completely disappear.
There have been numerous theories since then about what happened to the Dwemer;
ranging from being transported to an alternate dimension,
ascended to a form of godhood,
or even propelled forward in time to a much later era.
Since their disappearance
countless scholars have studied their technology, culture, history, and philosophy;
and many expeditions have been made into the ancient Dwemer ruins.
Dwemer weapons and armor have proven to be remarkably strong even still into the Fourth Era, and
Dwemer security devices such as mechanical spiders and constructs have slain many a foolish adventurer
The Numidium golem was gifted to Tiber Septim by the Dunmer Tribunal,
in order for Morrowind to retain some of its autonomy after being conquered by the Empire.
Septim used the Numidium, powered by an alternate source, to assist in conquering all of Tamriel.
The Numidium was later shattered by Septim's imperial battle mage,
who sought to stop Septim's mad conquest.
A second Numidium would begin to be constructed in the Third Era,
but would never be activated.
The only surviving Dwemer would be encountered by The Nerevarine in the Third Era:
Yagrum Bagarn was a master crafter that worked under Kagrenac.
But when the Dwemer race disappeared,
Yagrum was on an alternate plane and was not affected.
When he returned to Nirn, and found his people gone,
he spent decades attempting to discover what happened,
and where they were.
Sadly he has been unsuccessful,
and eventually was afflicted by the Corprus Disease,
rendering him bloated and unable to move without mechanical help.
It's unknown if Yagrum survived into the Fourth Era.
Even though only a single Dwemer occurs throughout the entire Elder Scrolls franchise,
their runes and technology contribute some of the most interesting concepts in the series.
The mechanical constructs,
and steampunk aesthetics, provide a stark contrast to the more traditional 'fantasy' elements,
and supply a sense of wonder about the ancient nature of the fictional world around the player.
While plenty of fans would love to see the return of the Dwemer race in a future game,
time will tell if the Dwemer are meant to be only relics of a mysterious and wondrous past.
[[End of Narration]]