So I vaguely understand that the Aldmeri Dominion seeks to erase Man from the cosmos because they believe that in so doing they might return to the state of being in which Elves existed before Lorkhan broke everything and made a world. Yes? Maybe? So they mean to kill all the humans, I think, and erase any memory of their existence. Fine. And Talos, it would seem, is a significant obstacle to their goals.

I think I have that right. Maybe not, but I think that's all more or less correct.

What I don't understand is why Talos is so crucial. He's only been around for an Era and a half, really. What about the First and Second Eras? Was there a stand-in for Talos that existed back then? Because I sort of understood Tiber Septim to be the first and last mantler of Lorkhan. At least...in this Kalpa? Why, then, or perhaps how did the Elves fail to act back before he existed? What's so special about this new god if the world got along fine without him for thousands of years?

Do the Mer perceive that he simply will represent an unacceptable advantage to the Men which they seek to destroy in the next Awful Fighting? His patronage being a shield or perhaps a sword that will be used against them if he persists? Or is he actually a fundamental keystone to the preservation of Lorkhan's construct? If so, how?

Here is MK's relevant http://www.imperial-library.info/content/forum-archives-michael-kirkbride:

There, you see, you answered your own question.

Talos, simply, is Lorkhan.

Sure, fair enough, but why is Talos so special? There were two very long Eras that passed in linear time alone before Tiber Septim rose to conquer Tamriel.

Numidium.

Numidium. Wait...do you mean...or are you saying that....what are you saying?

Back then there were more Towers to uphold reality. Most of them are gone now, so Talos is needed to keep things together.

Interesting. What towers have we lost, and how did we lose them?

Orichalc Tower (May have been destroyed with Yokuda), Red Mountain (Heart's enchantments were unbound), Falinesti (Unknown, but it's inert) White-Gold (Amulet of Kings destroyed), Crystal Tower (Shattered by Mehrunes Dagon). Only ones we know of which we have left are Snow-Throat and Ada-Mantia.

I see. And this would help to explain why the Elves were not overtly interested in overthrowing Talos from the beginning. Red Mountain, White Gold and Crystal Tower were all deactivated relatively recently.

Very interesting. Much obliged.

It all goes down and down and spiraling down.
From Anu and Padomay to the Et'Ada is a downward spiral.
Enter Lorkhan who tricks or convinces Magnus to draw a plan to cease the downward spiral and create something no one Et'Ada is capable of.
Instead of one splitting to form many lesser, many will join to create a greater.

But on the Nirn everything goes down, down, down again.
The overarching pattern is repeated and the Aedra become many lesser beings or things, such as the Ehlnofey and Earthbones just in order to make the centre hold.
Enter Talos.
Talos goes up, reaches towards the sky, transcends mortality, is an amalgam of many avatars of Lorkhan who each played their part in mirroring the story of creation.
Talos is a big giant YES towards Nirn, a spoke in the Wheel of Creation.

The Thalmor Altmeri view creation as a prison and a trap.
Therefore they seek to tear down the foundation, even if said foundation was laid after the structure was built.

Talos is very different from Altmeri ancestor gods such as Phynaster and Trinimac and arguably Mannimarco, who all sought to escape/ transcend/ utilise the Mundus rather than pillar it.

As far as I know per ideology, the Elves see themselves as genuine descendants of gods, spirits in the flest. Humanity is just another beast-race to them. So, a human that conquered them and defied their beliefs by becoming a god, is a bit of a [censored]-slap.

And there are some who say Snow-Throat is also done for since it was sundered with that time wound.

How we do know what kind place Tamriel was before time of Talos and Numidium? Maybe Altmer Dominion Ruled almost everything. Then Talos came with big stomper and literally made the history anew. How the story goes; "eight plane(t)s orbiting it and singing world refusals"?

I read about Crystal Tower in The Great War, but how do we know about Orichalc and Falinesti being destroyed/disabled?


Walk-Brass is a tower as well, isn't it? Also disabled ...

Falinesti: stopped walking and rooted itself to a fixed location during the Oblivion Crisis.

Orichalc: If Orichalc is the construct of the left-handed elves, (all towers except for Red Mountain and Ada-Mantia are elven works) then it would most likely have been destroyed by the redguards when they obliterated Yokuda.

That conclusion is difficult to swallow for me.
Skyrim's loading screens still talk about the Bosmer living in migratory tree cities though. Now I know loading screens are a poor source, but is such a vague rumour from OB's time enough to conclude with certainty that it was disabled, be it temporarily but especially permanently? Assuming it even was Green-Sap?

With one important tower (literally) falling off-screen, I'd honestly hate for it to have happened to another

But Talos overtook Reman, who overtook Shezarr, who was born of Shor, who is the living part of Sithis (I'm not using the name Lorkhan because Lorkhan is used to describe both Sithis and Shor and for the mannish religion the term is inconsequential anyway.)

As such, Talos has been there since the very beginning. It was his plot to make the world. The Elves(minus Dunmer but plus the redguards) want to remove him from the cycle of existence so they can become infinite again (by removing space/limit.)

THe rumor itself wasn't vague. As I recall, it specifically mention Falinesti itself not moving anymore. Of course, that brings up the question of whether or not Falinesti is really green-sap.

I was not aware that Reman's legacy was met with such violent opposition.

[At Don't Forget This]

The implications were, though. I'm willing to forego the question of whether rumours can be trusted, but I'm really not familiar enough with Falinesti, it's behaviour, nature or function to make such a big leap just yet

I mean, a tower collapsing (Crystal-Like-Law) is a pretty sure sign it's down for the count. A walking tree settling down for a while is less so, I'd think.

First of all, its not a rumor. Its a fact, described in the 3rd Edition of the Pocket Guide to the Empire.


The "current events" that the book relates took place a year or more before Oblivion. And Falinesti is described as simply "rooting itself", albeit for the first time in recorded history. The idea that Falinesti is indeed Green-Sap is circumstantial at best, but even if we assume that it is, the fact that it rooted itself doesn't make it probable that it was deactivated. It is certainly an important gesture (perhaps it was preparing for the coming Oblivion Crisis), but we haven't heard high nor hell from it since, some 200 years later. For all we know, it uprooted itself and continues on its merry migration. The fact that Skyrim loading screens give some mention to migrating trees should be enough to calm anyone's fear that it is deactivated.

I don't think White Gold is deactivated either. In Lord of Souls, it seems perfectly functional. It is likely that its not broken, but rather it is no longer serving its former purpose.

Can I possibly get a list of the known Towers, their locations and their present status, with links to the resources wherein they are described, please?

Its all apocryphal, so, no.
They are listed above

Ada-Mant, Crystal-Like-law, Walking-Brass, Re-Man, Tree-Sap, etc.


Nu-Mantia!
Liberty!

Apocrypha? In the Elder Scrolls? Inconceivable!

So, as far as I can tell, White Gold is the Ayleid Tower that became the Imperial Palace. Ada-Mantia is the Aedric Tower wherein the gods held Convention. Tree-Sap, presumably, is the tower of the Bosmer somewhere in Valenwood. Snow-Throat is the Skyrim mountain. Red Mountain was the volcano of Vvardenfell. Crystal-Like-Law was the Altmer tower of Summerset Isle which was destroyed during the Oblivion Crisis. Orichalc, from what I gather in this thread, was built by the Left-Handed Elves in Yokuda. Was Walk-Brass the Numidium? I am not familiar with Re-Man.