Why does the castle look so Nordic? http://download3.zenimax.com/akqacms/files/tes/concept_art/MarkarthCastleExterior.jpg

Could whoever suggested it in Twitter have made a mistake? Or did they build the castle later?

The face in the waterfall looks Dwemer to me.

Hm.. maybe. Reminded me very much of the 'viking' style, or perhaps totem poles of American Indians, and similar to that Norse temple in style, and much like the word-wall we saw, which I doubt was meant to be Dwemer.

Also, I think it's a bit of a shame that the screens we've seen of Markarth don't retain that rich texture witht the green like in the concept art. Looks a bit flat grey in the final version.

I'm not seeing the Dwemer connection here. That architecture is totally unlike any Dwemer ruin ever depicted, and the carvings look more Nord than anything else. That combined with the artistic waterfalls and buildings above ground? I'm not sure what it will be, but I'm reasonably certain it's not Dwemer.

They never keep things exactly the same as in concept art. Otherwise Vivec in Morrowind would have fire hair and a big, daedric V on his face.

It's an occupied ruin, keep that in mind. People tend to build on top of what's around them and it could be a strange mixture of Dwemer and Nordic. That would make it look different from any of the other UNoccupied ruins.

Yes, but I still think it's a shame. That little dab of colour really makes it look nicer and adds to the feeling of age IMO.

No it doesn't look traditionally Dwemer. So? And why are you so certain you are an expect on the Dwemer? These are the people that CREATED them They can do what they want with them.

Take this for example. The British have a style of archetecture right? When they sent the first fleet to Australia and set the convicts to work making the cities, the architecture was VERY different, arguably un-British. (I live in Australia )

Point being - regional differences exist. Just because the "traditional" Morrowind Dwemer architecture isn't making an appearance doesn't mean they aren't Dwemer.

Link please... sounds like a cool pic...

I could be wrong - but the Dwemer generally build underground not above ground. The only bits above ground are usually smokestacks, towers, observatories, maybe a crypt or two. The bulk of their strongholds were in mines, though.

The screenshots from Markath show huge, towering buildings outside, as well as buildings carved into the stone.

Do you have empirical proof thats the ONLY way the Dwemer has EVER built? Thats my point, you're making assumptions about things you don't know. And like I said before, Beth created these guys and know morethan you. Hell, that could just be a dwemmer ruin with an old Nord facelift on the front of it. Can't you have some suspension of belief and try really hard to entertain the possibility that that could be dwemer?

This is what I was thinking too. Since Nords are living in it now, it's entirely possible that they built structures on top of the original ruins, or restored buildings that were previously in bad shape, and since it's Nords living there now, it's certainly possible that the new structures would have a very Nordic look to them. I don't know this, of course, since I haven't played Skyrim, but it might explain why the castle would look Nordic.



It seems people find it rather hard to grasp that the same race can have more than one style of archetecture (Even though Morrowind was a prime example of this with the different Dunmer factions.) Or they don't want to grasp it because that would mean accepting that the Dwemer archetecture in Skyrim doesn't have to be an exact copy of what we saw in Morrowind.

What we've seen of Markarth doesn't look like the Dwemer archetecture I'm used to, but maybe in Skyrim, the Dwemer archetecture just looks different, if that's the case, I can accept it.

Thankyou! My point exactly

So it doesn't look like Vvardenfell's dwemeri architecture. I'll remind you that House Redoran, House Telvanni, and the ashlanders all had very different buildings. Likewise, architecture varied (thought it looked a bit samey) in Cyrodiil from one area to the next. Why the hell do all the Dwemer have to build the same spiky bronze towers? Surely the ones in Skyrim would have developed their own culture?

My point wasn't that it didn't look Dwemer, but that it DID look Nordic.

http://images.uesp.net//a/a0/MW-Concept16.jpg
http://images.uesp.net//4/40/MW-Concept7.jpg
http://pnmedia.gamespy.com/planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/fms/images/mods/4903/1287514973_fullres.jpg (blue fire hair and no V on face though :sadvaultboy: )

That's a sad sentiment, but I suppose it's true.

Didn't they say that they wanted Skyrims ruins to look like they have been there for ever? Meaning they put layer upon layer on them as new inhabitants have been there?

That's like asking why does Rome look so modern, instead of being all ancient villas.

The answer: people built stuff on top of the old buildings.

I know it's possible for that to happen. I was just wondering what people thought was more likely, since it's not something we've seen before in a TES game, or many games at all, and sometimes the marketing people get things wrong.

Dwemer ruins in Morrowind also had plenty of large outdoor structures. It wasn't all just a big door in a cave mouth leading to massive ruins. Some of the largest ones had several ruined structures on the surface, and there's even that tower in Dagon Fel which is entirely above ground that the wizard is living in.

The Dwemer of hammerfell have similar if not the same construction style that their Morrowind cousins have, you trying to tell me they all of a sudden change thier building style for a moment then went back to normal in Hammerfell? Im seeing to much inconsistencies, how close is Markarth to Morrowind? the Dwemer would have basically been building in enemy territory at the time, if these were....temporary installations thats all fine and well, otherwise dwemer being in Skyrim makes no sense thus far


gonna have to wait for the game to come out to see what it says,

the castle was probably built after the dwemer left by the nords

Architecture can vary from area to area even in the same civilization. Also, how do we know the nords didnt get their architecture from this group of dwenmers?