Yes, Dwemer refers to the different breed of Elves that are famous for their mechanical constructions and are mistakenly referred to as "Dwarves", and have very little in common with the common Tolkien dwarf stereotype.

Yeah. But they were not short, they were more like elves with beards and technology.

Edit: Ninja'd

Mer = Elf
Dwe = Dwarf

Dwarf Elf

Except for beards, living underground, being master craftsmen, and hating all the other elves. Come on, let's not pretend there isn't a reason they're called dwarves.

House Redoran svcked anyhow. Death to Redoran!

They were called Dwarves by the giants of Skyrim. Dwemer are the same size as the other elves. They aren't short....

Telvanni is da [censored]. :disguise:

Also, "dwe" is "deep" in Aldmeri (and "mer" is "folk," although it specifically means elves), so dwemer means "deep folk."

"When dragons break and cliff racers flee
My thoughts, Hlaalu, are of thee
Let others boast of martial dash
For we have boldly fought with cash
We own all your helmets, we own all your shoes.
We own all your generals - touch us and you'll lose.
Hlaalu! Hlaalu!
Hlaalu owns the day!
We can rule you wholesale
Touch us and you'll pay."

Mmhh, the architecture certainly doesn′t look dwemer, so they either have the facts wrong or they are [you know what] up lore once again. (i wouldn′t be surprised)

Er, who has the facts wrong? It being the Dwemer ruin city is purely speculation by this thread.

It might just be an abandoned city built into the mountainside, instead of the dwemer city we've heard about. I do agree that it does not look very dwemer.
For all we know it's not even Markarth Side.

The image is labeled "markarth" so I don't know why people are still trying to figure it out.

Egh to me the only two details that made it look Dwemer-ish was the bronze color (Kind of like it was in Morrowind), and the style of the dome and door of the tower. Everything else looks completely different.

Considering that this may be Markarth Side it would explain the main building next to the tower looking very Imperial. Remember that Nords don't often make their buildings of pure stone. As for it being a possible former Dwemer base, look at the wall of the cliff in the lower left hand region and compare it to Morrowind style Dwemeri architecture. It is pretty similar. Not saying that it is for sure though, just a guess. Also sorry to offend anybody by saying this, but this maps rendition http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/3503/maplabels.png of Skyrim is off. Looking at how Riften, Whiterun, Solitude, and Windhelm are represented similar to Oblivion cities, I would say it is a stretch to label Falkreath as the fifth city and Riften isn't one. Also the image is probably taken in the Reach considering how it is surounded by shear cliffs, and since it seems to be the remnants of Markarth then the city was just moved over like what happened to Whiterun.

god, whatever that place is, it looks really beautiful!

i wonder if we can walk inside those "doors" built into the mountain... if thats the college of the voice, i wonder if we can enter it?

it does look abandoned, but maybe everyone is just inside? or maybe its a screenshot of the city before bethesda placed any NPCs in it?

we wont know until we get the game in our hands, most likely...

abandoned or not, im gonna explore every inch of it!

I wonder how many people replaced markarth01 with markarth02 in the url to see if there were any more pics? :ninja:

Exactly, unless they were teasing us (very very unlikely), it is Markhart Side.

http://static.zenimax.com/bethblog/upload/2011/01/Markarth01.jpg

See?

I made that map. The location of Markarth Side was only based on the official Bethesda map, but now it's pretty much confirmed to be located on a cliffside which pretty much puts it here: http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/1831/markn.png

I like how Bethesda is having the names of the cities make geographical sense.

Ummm Hammerfell is to th west of Skyrim...

Just one thought:

Tell me that the photo doesn't just scream levitation.

So could that tower be Sky Haven Temple? or am i totally off on this guess?

Doesn't this remind you of some sort of Legend of Zelda dungeon?

Nah. Last refuge supposes a state of disarray, which fits the pic ; plus I don't see them showing anything that's too far along the questline. So you find that place prolly at the beginning.


:rofl: Niiiiiice. I could see the Hlaalu seeking refuge in Ankh-Morpork. They would fit right in.

Tell me Balmora isn't Ankh-Morpork. They've got a questionable river running down the middle, plenty of trade, respectable Thieves' and Assassins' Guilds Cammona Tong and Morag Tong halls, and every invader has quickly lost interest in controlling the city and instead rapidly become just another ethnic minority with their own restaurants.

Larrius Varro is Vimes, naturally.

I don't think it's Makarth Side. Makarth Side is a settlement. I am pretty sure these are just some of the ruins inside of the canyon, because The Reach used to be the most cosmopolitan (read, IMPERIAL) of the Holds. Now based on the http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/1372/skyrimmap.jpg that we eyeballed to make a clarified representation of the http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1157442&view=findpost&p=16978794, we can't see much when it comes to settlements in the canyon, though I've noticed a few likely squares that didn't make it into Faulgor's attempts.

However, if that was Makarth Side, I think it would have said Makarth Side in the file name, and map would not have displayed it as a settlement, because that's definitely no settlement. My interpretation of what happened is that most of the cosmopolitan type settlements in The Reach were abandoned, maybe due to the Oblivion crisis, Skyrim kicking a lot of Imperials out, some other unforeseen event, or just the general decline of the Imperial's influence in Skyrim.

I am guessing that the settlements within the canyon, or maybe the canyon itself, were called Makarth. Thus, that's what we are seeing. Because that's definitely not Makarth Side. The guide on UESP states that many current settlements in Skyrim actually sit in valleys nearby the original Nordic settlements, overlooked by the ruins of their past fortresses. From the picture there are definitely no residents to that place. Maybe when everyone vacated those ruins, possibly due to some sort of threat like Oblivion gates or dragons, the people who remained settled in Makarth Side.

Based on the waterfall, this screen is where the river magically appears on the map. The river that formed that giant canyon. Whether it's called Makarth Side or not, it's not a settlement.

What is important, though, is that those are some of the coolest ruins I have ever seen in a video game, and definitely the coolest I have seen in an Elder Scrolls game. Can't wait to explore them and find out where that insane waterfall comes from.

EDIT: I went back and looked at the original capture from the GI video, and honestly I have no idea now. It's way too hard to see how many settlements are in the canyon. I can see one at the mouth to the canyon, and another directly to the West of the settlement near the side of the canyon.