The Falmer

Culture

The Falmer, or Snow Elves, were once a proud and radiant race who dwelled in Skyrim long before the coming of men. Their culture was deeply spiritual, revering the natural beauty of snow, ice, and the night sky. They built shining cities of white stone and crystal, their towers rising like frozen spires against the northern heavens. To outsiders, they were aloof and graceful; to themselves, they were chosen stewards of Skyrim’s frozen beauty.

Religion centered on Auri-El, chief of the Elven pantheon, with temples raised to honor him in mountain heights. Rituals emphasized purity, endurance, and the cycles of snow and season. Ancestors were revered as keepers of wisdom, while priests served as intermediaries between mortals and Auri-El’s eternal light. Festivals marked solstices and auroras, blending music, dance, and light into sacred spectacle.

Their society was hierarchical but not rigid. Nobles, priests, and artisans ruled cities, while hunters and warriors safeguarded the wild. Families were extended, bound by clan and kinship. Education focused on philosophy, artistry, and magic, cultivating grace as much as survival. The Falmer prized harmony with the frozen north, crafting art from ice, stone, and crystal. Music was ethereal, emphasizing flutes, chimes, and voices that echoed in snowy halls.

At their height, the Falmer were both peaceful and formidable. They traded with neighbors but defended their lands fiercely. They mastered frost magic, blending natural affinity with arcane skill. Their warriors wielded curved blades and enchanted bows, swift and deadly in snowbound terrain. Yet their pride bordered on arrogance: they viewed humans as crude invaders, unworthy of Skyrim’s beauty. This pride would prove their downfall.

History

The Falmer’s early history is tied to the Merethic Era, when they settled Skyrim and raised their civilization in its frozen peaks. They flourished for millennia, their temples and towers dotting the land. But in the late Merethic, disaster came: the Atmorans arrived under Ysgramor, settling in Saarthal. Tensions between men and elves erupted when the Falmer massacred the human colony, sparking the Night of Tears.

Ysgramor fled to Atmora, returning with the Five Hundred Companions. The resulting war drove the Falmer into retreat, their cities razed and their people slaughtered. By the early First Era, Nord dominance in Skyrim was secure, and the Falmer were a people in decline.

Desperate, many Falmer sought refuge with the Dwemer, their old rivals in Morrowind and Skyrim. The Dwemer agreed — but demanded servitude in return. Worse, the Falmer were fed a toxic fungus, said to blind them permanently. Over generations, they became slaves to Dwemer masters, their culture erased and their eyes lost forever. When the Dwemer vanished at Red Mountain, the Falmer remained underground, degenerated into twisted, blind creatures.

By the Second and Third Eras, the Falmer were considered extinct, remembered only in ruins and Nord sagas. Yet in truth, they survived beneath Skyrim, their once-proud race reduced to degenerate Falmer lurking in Dwemer ruins. By 4E 201, adventurers discovered these blind creatures, guided by sound and smell, swarming in twisted parody of their former glory. Their culture was gone, replaced by endless cycles of survival, hatred, and vengeance.

A few scattered legends tell of untainted Snow Elves who survived in hidden sanctuaries. The Forgotten Vale, guarded by the Chantry of Auri-El, preserved remnants of their faith. Here, rare uncorrupted Falmer survived into the Fourth Era, though diminished. They were the last flicker of a people destroyed by pride, war, and betrayal.

Other Information

Physiology:
The original Snow Elves were tall, graceful, and fair, with pale skin, white or silver hair, and eyes like starlight. They were akin to Altmer in build but adapted to cold, resistant to frost and hardy in snow. After their enslavement, the degenerate Falmer became hunched, blind, and twisted, their skin pale as cave fish, their eyes ruined. They grew more bestial, with sharp teeth and claws, surviving as predators. This stark divide between ancient grace and degenerate ruin defines their tragedy.

Architecture and Settlements:
Snow Elf cities shone with white stone and crystalline towers. Temples crowned mountains, while dwellings carved into cliffs blended with ice. Their architecture emphasized light, symmetry, and harmony with snowbound landscapes. By contrast, degenerate Falmer infest Dwemer ruins, crafting crude huts of chitin and bone within metal halls, their “architecture” parasitic and desperate.

Warfare:
Ancient Snow Elves wielded curved swords, bows, and frost spells. Their armies fought with speed and magic, striking like blizzards against foes. Degenerate Falmer, by contrast, fight with crude spears, chitin blades, and poisoned arrows. They swarm in numbers, guided by sound, ambushing intruders in Dwemer ruins. Their tactics are savage but effective, reflecting survival over strategy.

Magic and Attitudes:
The Snow Elves once mastered frost and light magic, blending artistry with sorcery. Priests of Auri-El wielded divine power, sustaining faith and law. Degenerate Falmer lost this heritage, reduced to crude shamans who imitate magic through poisons and traps. Their hatred for Nords and surface-dwellers remains instinctive, though their memory of why has long faded.

Naming Conventions:
Few authentic Snow Elf names survive, though those preserved in the Chantry of Auri-El bear similarity to Altmer forms: Gelebor, Vyrthur. Degenerate Falmer no longer use recognizable names, communicating instead through chittering sounds and primal signals.

Relations with Other Races:
Snow Elves saw themselves as stewards of Skyrim, but their massacre of men at Saarthal ensured enmity with Nords. Their reliance on Dwemer led to enslavement and corruption, fostering hatred of all outsiders. By the Fourth Era, degenerate Falmer were enemies of all races, feared as cave-dwelling predators. The few uncorrupted remnants remained isolated, unable to restore lost culture.

Art and Expression:
Ancient Falmer art emphasized light and winter: carvings of snowflakes, murals of auroras, and crystal instruments. Their music echoed flutes and chimes in snowy halls. Degenerate Falmer lost artistry, their crude crafts of bone and chitin reflecting necessity. What once was beauty became survival.

Afterlife and Philosophy:
The Snow Elves believed in eternal communion with Auri-El, ascending to his realm through purity and devotion. Their Chantries preserved this cycle, guiding souls to eternity. Degenerate Falmer, estranged from faith, retained only instinct and hatred. Their philosophy is lost, their afterlife hopes extinguished in darkness.

Legacy of the Falmer

The Falmer are Tamriel’s most tragic race: once radiant stewards of Skyrim, now degenerate shadows in its depths. Their downfall came from pride, war, and desperation, their survival a curse rather than triumph. Yet traces remain: ruins gleaming in snow, uncorrupted priests guarding forgotten temples, and blind hordes swarming in darkness. By 4E 201, their story was one of loss — proof that even the greatest cultures can be erased, leaving only ruins, monsters, and memory. Their legacy is tragedy: a warning that pride and cruelty invite ruin, and that survival without culture is only living death.