The Elder Scrolls is a series with an impressive amount of background knowledge. The games themselves take place over a thousand years, with the history of The Elder Scrolls universe that goes back several millennia.
The Elder Scrolls games also tend to disproportionately focus on the affairs of the human inhabitants of Tamriel. This may make some fans curious about what races like the High Elves think about Tamriel and the history of The Elder Scrolls universe.
Origin of the High Elves
the most of The Elder ScrollsHigh Elves, or Altmer, come from the Summerset Islands, also known as Alinor. However, their origins date back to before the mortal world even existed. The Altmer believe they are descended from the Ehlnofey, descendants of the Adric gods. In addition, the High Elves believe that the trickster god Lorkhan manipulated the Adra and tricked them into sacrificing their power to create the world. This also severed the Ehlnofey’s connection to the spirit world, costing them their immortality.
The Altmer myth describes how their chief god Auri-El led the Ehlnofey in a great war against the trickster god. Auri-El won, killed Lorkhan and helped the remaining Ehlnofey establish the kingdoms of Atmora and Aldmeris before returning to the cosmos. The Atmorans became the first humans, while the inhabitants of Aldmeris became the Aldmer, the first elves.
Arrival in Tamriel
The Aldmer eventually had to leave their homeland for unknown reasons. Many High Elves believe that Aldmeris have sunk into the sea as a side effect of losing their immortality. However, all the descendants of the Aldmer know for sure is that their ancestors fled their homeland to escape an unknown crisis.
A group of Aldmer refugees was blown off course by a storm and tripped over the shores of Auridon, the smaller of the two main Summerset Islands. The High Elves have minimal history to this time, but they probably fought multiple wars with goblins, the snail-like Sload, and other races lost to history. However, the High Elves eventually managed to conquer the islands.
The Aldmer eventually became curious about the fate of Aldmeris and sent three ships in search of their lost homeland. Two of the ships would never return. The third, however, was led by the explorer Topal the Pilot, who discovered the mainland of Tamriel and mapped Cyrodiil’s Niben River. There he found a now extinct breed of Bird Men. Legend has it that Topal taught the Birdmen to speak and write in exchange for the islands in Lake Rumare. This would be the future location of the white gold tower, seen in The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and The Elder Scrolls Online. In time, the Aldmer would chart the rest of the coast of Tamriel and establish colonies across the continent.
However, this period was not without conflict. Through religious, cultural and political struggles, multiple waves of Elves would eventually leave the Summerset Islands for the untamed wilderness of mainland Tamriel. These groups would become the ancestors of the Bosmer, Dunmer and Orsamer, also known as The Elder ScrollsWood Elves, Dark Elves and Orcs.
Those who stayed eventually became The Elder Scrolls‘ modern High Elves. They called themselves Altmer, which means “civilized people.” The Altmer came to see themselves as the only “pure” descendants of the Aldmer and the most cultured of all races in Tamriel. During this period, the Aldmer also built the Crystal Tower. It would become Tamriel’s largest institution of magical learning until Cyrodiil’s Arcane University thousands of years later.
The first and second era
The rise of The Elder ScrollsWood Elf Kingdom of Valenwood weakened the Altmer’s influence on the continent, their colonies in Cyrodiil broke off to form independent kingdoms and city-states. However, this also isolated the Altmer from the conflicts in mainland Tamriel. The islands continued to face several minor internal wars and repelled multiple invasions from the Sload and the Maormer Sea Elves, who split from the Aldmer before Aldmeris disappeared. Despite these conflicts, the Summerset Isles remained a bastion of relative peace and stability. The High Elves would eventually fall under the nominal control of the Second Empire, based in Cyrodiil, but remained largely independent.
However, the collapse of the Cyrodilic Empire in the late Second Age left the continent in chaos and allowed The Elder ScrollsDaedric Prince Molag Bal to invade Tamriel. Seeing this, the Altmer Queen Ayrenn established the First Aldmeri Dominion as an alliance between the High Elves, Woodelves, and Khajiit. Believing that humans could not be trusted to rule Tamriel, the Dominion sought to unite the continent under Elven rule, paving the way for the events of The Elder Scrolls Online.
The First Aldmeri Dominion never achieved permanent control of the Imperial city and the alliance eventually dissolved. However, the High Elves would have another chance if civil war erupts over the throne of Valenwood. The Altmer used this war as a pretext to invade Valenwood, turning it into a vassal state and establishing the second Aldmeri Dominion. The Khajiit and Maormer later joined voluntarily.
This brought the Dominion into conflict with The Elder ScrollsTiber Septim, who tried to unite all of Tamriel under the Third Reich. After several indecisive border disputes, Tiber Septim conquered Valenwood and the Summerset Islands with the help of a huge dwarf golem, the Numidium. The Maormer later turned against their former allies and invaded the Summerset Islands. This forced the High Elves to turn to their human overlords for protection, much to the embarrassment of the Altmer.
The Crisis of Oblivion and the Fourth Age
The final years of the Third Era saw the rise of the Thalmor, an Elvan supremacist movement named after the bureaucratic and law enforcement branch of the Aldmeri Dominion. Initially ignored, their chance came during The Elder Scrolls 4‘s Oblivion Crisis, when the troops of Mehrunes Dagon, the Daedric Prince of Destruction, invaded Tamriel. Many High Elves perished during the invasion and the ancient Crystal Tower was destroyed.
The Thalmor took credit for saving the Summerset Islands and used their newfound popularity to depose the Altmeri monarchy. The Thalmor then took advantage of the empire’s instability to overthrow the king of Valenwood and manipulate the Khajiit of Elsweyr to join the Third Aldmeri Dominion. Not all of the High Elves supported this new Dominion, but The Thalmor’s brutality proved effective in securing their rule.
After decades of preparation, the Dominion was finally ready to invade the Empire during the Great War. And although the Thalmor did not meet all their demands, the terms of the peace treaty – which Elder Scrolls fans known as the White-Gold Concordant – would prove to be a huge blow to the empire. This leads to the events of Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls‘ Today.
The Elder Scrolls 6 is under development.
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