I got another lead on what exactly had happened to winterhold, not the cause but the possible culprit.

i just remembered Aranea saying that long before the Red Mountain incident, A large number of Dunmers were warned of the incoming tragedy, and so they moved to Skyrim. They tribute an altar for Azurah for her help, but for the passing of time less and less Dunmers left the cult because of the fear of the "gift" that was given to them, seeing the future, eventually seeing how would they die.

the last eruption was 4E5 but The Great Collapse had happened 4E122, that's a rather big time gap right there.... even if the gap would be 1 year it is still unbelievabe that the fall of winterhold was an aftermath of the eruption, not counting the distance on how far the place is.

After i had finished doing the quest on Brelyna, she told the PC that most of the Winterhold city populace were Dunmer resident.

most of the Winterhold city populace were Dunmer resident.


Dunmer resident