I always thought the dwemer made the dwarven stuff but I remember reading an in-game book that said dwarven armor and weapons wasn't really made by the dwemer, but instead they were made by other races out of the scraps of dwemer artifacts.

Any truth to this?

wow really?i guess that could be true cuz the dwarves are supposably really small yet the armor fits normal people

Dwarves aren't tiny in TES, I think they're bigger than bosmer.

Edit: I think it comes from the fact that they lived next to giants who called them tiny.

:facepalm:
No, no, no, no, no, no, and NO! dwarves are not the damn drunken scottish midges everyone seems to think they are. The dwarves are dwemer, a race of mer that unmade themselves and became the golden skins of this giant, time warping stompy robot that doesn't really work called the Numidium. They were as tall as normal people, and looked like this: http://www.uesp.net/w/images/images.new/4/43/MW-art-Dwemer-Concept.jpg

As for their armor, what was found in MW looked a lot like it was robotic. However, it also gave the impression that it may have been a power armor of some sort, if all the pieces are being worn. Personally, I see it as pieces of robots they found and used for armor. The OB models I don't know, and either the "real" armor, or just a horrid artwork.

OB's armor is a replica of the real dwemer armor. it matches the MW concept art quite well. the MW dwemer armor is salvaged pieces of their centurions (see Ruins of Kemel-Ze)

Thought so, Thanks Lady Nerevar.

Looking at the armor in Oblivion, it looks more like armor than robot shells. And even then, the ruin under Mournhold had Dwemer armor and weaponry over ash piles.

I didn't like the helms. Rest was pretty good looking. Though, it could have used more shawl or something on it. Noted that the MW armor could have been crude power armor or something, or they really like the robotic look. I know there's that one story where a dwemer impersonated a robot to full of bunch of primitive chimer. Probably used the same armor we see in MW.

Probably because all the real armor was looted thousands of years ago, and all that's left are robot scraps.

That too

Maybe the OB armor was the real armor smuggled into Cyrodill.

It looked like it was fixed up and possibly modified to be more practical. At least it didn't have the giant boots.

The books were still kind of big though

I prefer to look like a pissed off robot. Thank you very much.

Robot Shell <=> Power Armor

See the Ruins of Kemel-Ze and the comment about what happens when you have a matching suit.

There was an aesthetic decision between Morrowind and Oblivion which changed the appearance of Dwemer armor. It looks much more like armor now. I'm not sure what the Lorum explanation is, but if I wanted to give it a nice retcon I'd say that there's more than one type of Dwarven armor, just as I'm sure the iron armor from Morrowind was different. The Imperials probably imported the type which more closely matched their body type into Cyrodill, leaving the clunkier kind in Morrowind. That other kind may have been more ceremonial, or outdated, or as others have said robot parts.

Yes, that is because there are no traces of Dwemer society in Cyrodill, so they may have there armor shipped from someone thats NOT Morrowind, like High Rock, oer Skyrim.

there are no dwemer in highrock or skyim. i think its been sufficiently explained: oblivion armor = actual armor, morrowind armor = adapted scraps.

Hammerfell was settled by a Dwemer clan that split off from those in Morrowind durning the first era. The armor may be based off theirs rather than the other artifacts from Vvardenfell. Also given the Dunmer's negative attitude toward the Dwemer, there may have been a greater desire to preserve their artifacts in Hammerfell than Morrowind. So the more ornate armor that we see in Oblivion may have just become too corroded to use in Morrowind, and only the robot chunks were left usable. God knows the fancy kind wears out quick enough.

I'm pretty sure i read something that said dwemer metal was enchanted to bend the earthbones so that it never corroded. This would certainly explain why solid metal structures such as their strongholds have withstood the weather and looting for thousands of years, with absolutely no maintenance. Real metal corrodes pretty quickly when abandoned to the elements.

But in Morrowind, Dwemer equipment showed signs of corrosion. It wasn't perfect, but still pretty impressive to have survived, more or less, all those years.

That theory makes no sense. There were piles of armor with weapons set at typical guard locations beneath Mournhold, meaning that that's what the Dwemer were wearing when they died. Unless you're suggesting that the Dwemer themselves (in one of their biggest cities) used adapted scraps as their armor of choice. And why would Dwemer scraps adapted to look like armor being lying all over the Dwemer ruins anyway, its just stupid, if somebody was going around adapting the Dwemer scraps into armor they surely wouldn't just leave it in the ruin once they finished making it. Not to mention that there's nothing to suggest that it was made from scraps, its just a weak fan theory to try and explain why the armor types are different between the games. :facepalm:

:turtle:

Wkinkade,

Allow me to explain. Ruins of Kemel-Ze states, unequivocally, that "Dwarven armor really is ... just the armored shells of ancient mechanical men." Marobar Sul's Ancient Tales of the Dwemer, Volume 6, The Chimarvamidium, tells of how the Dwemer, disguised as golems ("ancient mechanical men") were able to trick the Chimer. Taken together, it provides the perfect explanation: those pieces found in Dwemer ruins were golems, either half built, used for disguises, or already destroyed. Later on other races used both the pieces left behind by the Dwemer and those they themselves salvaged as armor.

Of course game mechanic (cursed be its name!) plays a large role as well. Obviously the ornate armor found in Oblivion was first designed for Morrowind, but because of some reason it was not included (mayhaps they did not see the point of having two sets). Since all Dwemer artifacts are property of the Empire, it makes sense that the rarest, most valuable Dwemer armor ended up in Cyrodiil. What does not make sense is that every brigand would be wearing it, but that is where game mechanics kicks in. Logically, original Dwemer armor (or highquality replicas thereof) is only found in the collections of nobles or in the possession of great warriors. We can safely ignore Oblivion's depiction and go with the above.

But the golem was modeled after a Dwemer soldier. Given their appearances, I think that this likely applies to the Centurions as well, built in the image of armored Dwemer. And as stated at least twice already, there is evidence of said armor being worn by Dwemer in that ruin under Mournhold. And as Yagrum pointed out, Dwemer Boots of Flying were enchanted by the Dwemer.

Edit: It seems that the Dwarven armor in Oblivion has been polished, restored, and heavily modified to be less bulky.

Where are yours sources? The only Dwemer that are ever seen in MW are Yagrum and those http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File%3a%44warven_Spectre.jpg that show up in the ruins.