Myes, here I've gone and pondered ever since I read the Infernal City. What kind of role will the Dunmer play in future TES Games (Skyrim for one), seeing as their homeland of Morrowind, especially Vvardenfell, has been blown into the ashes of history, being (more or less) in the hands of the Argonians.

Will they attempt to gain land in Skyrim or what?
After 200 years, will Resdaynia have risen again?
WILL THE TELVANNI TAKE THE ABOSOLUTE POWER!?

Ahem.. taken in consideration that there is also the Fifth Era Love Letter (I do hope that Bethesda makes sure it loses its canon-position..) writes as such:

C0DA Digitals have confirmed that a subject in sensory deprivation begins to hallucinate after only twenty minutes. Scale unto this along the magical spectrum and maintenance of time, which is forever, and you begin to see the Lunar God’s failure as Greatest Gift. As above, “This is the love of God.”

Why Love?

Know Love to avoid the Landfall, my brothers and sisters of the past.

The New Man becomes God becomes Amaranth, everlasting hypnogogic. Hallucinations become lucid under His eye and therefore, like all parents of their children, the Amaranth cherishes and adores all that is come from Him.

The letter is written by a Dunmer (most likely) who belongs to the House of Sul (Mahap the house is founded by the very same Sul from the Infernal City?), and "Landfall" clearly points out the cataclysm that shook Morrowind to the ground. (Ministery of Truth crashing, causing Red Mountain to erupt, yada yada yada).

Also, in one of Vivec's Sermons, he says (roughly): "The Ministery of Truth shall remain where it is as a reminder to the people - should their love love for me ever fall, so will their lives fall.

Now.. Bethesda has done the time deux ex machina with Daggerfall and the Warp in the West before.. Could it be possible that another weird time freak-session happens again - this time making sure Morrowind prevails and that the Argonians (curse that insignificant race..) never rises to topple the Dunmer? Could it be that Fifth Era Love Letter actually warns us about the future, and helps us prevent it? If we love! \o/

And IF SO, will it be explained in the second book?

Do discuss

Sorry, but the Warp fits neither definition. On the other hand, retconing the Infernal City would be the very definition of an unlikely and contrived solution.

Could the Dunmer rise to power again? Maybe. Many have died, all that did not have scattered throughout Tamriel. They no longer have anything to unite them. They have likely re-settled parts of Morrowind by 4E200, but probably do not hold any sort of power.

Mh'well, we dont know if Helseth survived. Hopes goes to he did.

When Morrowind becomes liveable again (that's gonna take awhile), it's conceivable traditionalist Dunmer will return/come up out of the ground. My initial anolysis is that it'd be ungovernable on the part of the Argonians. But if a Hist Grove gets planted on Vvardenfell, say maybe on its highest point, it may be.

In one possible future, House Sul is the ruling house of the Dunmer people. But that version of Landfall was avoided.

What would his survival change? He was already breaking up (imperializing) Dunmer culture, which wouldn't help much in keeping a peoples together after they've lost god and land. I can see him surviving and ruling "Morrowind" in name only. People may even hate him more if they believe that their abandonment of tradition is what led to the cataclysm.

I'm fairly confident that Morrowind wont yet have been reclaimed by the Dunmer by Skyrim's time. I just don't think Bethesda would make such a massive change then immediately change it "back" without a single game having actually taken place. Maybe they'll reclaim it before TES VI, who knows.

Personally, I hope the Dunmer that fled to Solsthiem have used all this time to turn it into the new "official" territory. If what MK hinted at is true and the Nords will help the Dunmer out, they may allow them to colonize the land. I like to think that the newly colonized Solsthiem will become the "New North" mentioned in the Loveletter.

With House Sul having its base of operations there. The dunmer may have lived well in the cold, but lets see if the biting nordic cold can temper them into a finer breed of mer.

Meh, I personally dont like the MK Loveletter, I think it's the worst piece of.. guardung ever.

What's your problem with it, exactly?

Dont like the way they are going with it - It's abit hard to explain, but I am more.. conservative, I'd like Morrowind to stay the good, old same.

Eh, I understand where you're coming from, and many people share that sentiment, but I strongly disagree. Where is the fun in a wholly static world? Theres nothing for us to study or discuss if nothing ever changes. Morrowind will always be there for you, unaltered, in TES:3.

Not all of Morrowind though! I've always wanted to see the Talvannis District, Narsis, Kragenmoor, etc. But yeah, I see where you are coming for - But I cant help but feel abit empty. Morrowind and the Dunmer were my favourite part of lore, and especially with a strong attachment to TES III: Morrowind, you do get to feel alittle down.

I didn't, I was amazed. Amazed that Beth followed up on the sermons, obscure texts, and most of all, willing to let a land people held near and dear be obliterated. Like with some shows I've watched, the series didn't get so interesting, mature, or emotional gripping till a popular character died, one who had been in the series for quite some time, perhaps from the beginning. It creates a big emotional impact, which is evident by the responses people had.

We can lament the fall of Rome, but without it there would have been no Carolingians, no Ottomans, no Caliphates, no French Republic or British Empire. The Dunmer aren't gone, they've just changed (again). Back a'wandering.

May we forever seek the Seyda Neen...

This is true, I have been going through most of the Elder Scrolls series games again in preparation of Skyrim later this year. At the same time I find it kind of depressing to realize that all this area is no longer around when the new game takes place. It's like a photo of a dead loved one. At the same time it's very powerful, something I have never felt in a game series before.

I can't say that I forsee any majickal retconning of the destruction of Morrowind, Beth has effectively taken the favorite society of a large number of TES fans and scattered them to the four winds (I don't think Solstheim would serve as anything more than a life boat for a few Dunmer, it is 1/4th the size of Vvardenfell and only half of that is arable.) Now they can incorporate Dunmer refugee societies into any area that they choose to create a game in, sort of as an easter egg for long time fans. This will have a bigger impact in Skyrim since we know that most of the refugees will have gone there or Cyrodiil (and I bet many would have avoided Cyrodiil as it was the center of a power struggle amongst worlords). Don't we have texts explicitly stating that the Dunmer were having a large cultural impact on Windhelm? Also, the volcanic tundra on the map sounds like it would be mighty homey for any Vvardenfell refugees at least. Basically, all I am saying is that it seems likely that our old friends will be very present in the next game, and any others in the future, due to these events, hopefully they will be humble about it.

Skyrim is on the verge of an all out civil war. I think after Landfall any surviving Dunmer would be happy to be anywhere that would take them. I think its safe to say that they cant turn to the Argonians for help, so the only plausible places for refuge would be Solstheim, Skyrim and Cyroldiil.

Maybe we can look at it this way -- the Dunmer have gone from a stagnant society to the greater world, where anything's possible to achieve now. Maybe Vvardenfell will eventually start to reseed itself (though the Scathing Bay where Vivec City once stood is still uninhabitable forty years after) and some of the Dunmer will begin to trickle back to resettle Morrowind. The majority of the survivors' descendants will probably continue to live in the other provinces, though, I assume.

But I dont waaaaaant then tó become gypsies

The old Ashlanders were pretty much awesome gypsies were they not?

This actually makes alot of sense to me. The Dunmer were probably the most fractured and unstable of all cultures in that world. They've had their story, the Nerevarine redeemed their blood, but it seems a sort of poetic justice that a territory which endorsed intitutionalised assassination, slavery of all races, exploiting mine workers (though that may have been more a matter of the Empire), the murder of guildmasters, sheer Machiavellianism, etc. would eventually collapse. As it says in each games lore: "Despite their powerful skills and strengths, the Dunmer's vengeful nature, age-old conflicts, betrayals, and ill reputation prevent them from gaining more influence."

My guess is they'll now be like Orcs. Distrusted by some, nomadic, evil pasts and so on. I see the Province of Morrowind becoming an extension of the Argonian swamp, with a handful of native Dunmer still residing near the Red Mountain. Think constant tribal warfare. Of course, any Dunmer with two braincells to rub together has left that hell and gone their own path.

It does seem more fitting that the Dunmer would be loners rather than have any cohesive society. Think of the possibilities. In every game there'll be mysterious, self-serving Dark Elf rogues, nightblades, assassins, sorcerers. They could act as both friend and foe. For some reason I'm reminded of http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Redguard:Characters#Dram from the Redguard game...

I really need to play Redguard...

I agree with you, partly. I think the Dunmer are either going to become a nomadic, mistrusted group of outsiders everywhere they go; or their culture and racial identity will be drastically reformed as they find a new niche in another land. Hopefully Skyrim; I think the dynamic between Nordic and Dunmer cultures in such a situation would be excellent material.

It depend upon population, I think. If there are too few of them to maintain a strong social structure and cultural presence, we'll probably see the former. I don't know too much about the aftermath of Red Year though, I haven't even read the book yet.

(warning semi-satirical/comical post ahead): as for the future of morrowind, I foresee beth pursuing the fallout direction, in that we should see Fallout: Morrowind or TES: Falloutmorrowind (or some permutation therein). Think about it, huge destruction wrought on the land rendering the atmosphere unliveable. 200 or so years later and here we are, ready to save the (ash) wasteland. No doubt the explosion made when the ministry of truth struck the earth unearthed many advanced dwemer projectile weapons (steampunk morrowind-fallout, [censored] yeah!).

Apart from that, I don't really have much to contribute to the current discussion. I have (had?) a lot of stock in Vvardenfell, I enjoyed my adventures, and when the Infernal City first came out, I was initially shocked and a bit put out. But a collection of things (I read the lore and realized it was bound to happen eventually, not to mention the reason Lady N pointed out: what's the fun in a static world with no growth or depth?) changed my mind and I realized it was for the best.