I second that.
Seems also the most plausible scenario as well.
I also don't think the Falmer were the Reiklings.

Certainly not. The rieklings are just pesky snow goblins. I like to think the Falmer never fell to that level. They either disappeared completely, or went into hiding. Watching. Waiting...

I really want a couple of new races in Skyrim, and snow elves sound perfect!

The UESP has this to say about dragons:

"Historically Dragons lived in and around isolated villages, located high in mountain ranges. If any of these settlements still exist they remain undiscovered. The villages were aptly situated in areas that allowed both free flying without obstructions and flats for raising cattle. Dragons were known to keep deer and other animals for food, and their meals would simply involve flying low over a ranch and swooping down upon one of them. Dragons were also known to maintain lairs - usually in derelict mining tunnels - safe from thieves and other aggressors."
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Dragons

The same could be said of Falmer, if we believe rumours in the PGE1stE. Given that both of these races, the original inhabitants of Tamriel, have been pushed out of Skyrim, could the magically adept Falmer remnants have been conspiring with any remaining dragons, to come out of their secret lairs when the time is right? If you're going to strike at an ancient enemy (men), what better time than after the lands have been ravaged by Oblivion (according to rumours in Oblivion), when the Empire is in no position to send help and when Skyrim is tearing itself apart?

I'm really hoping that the Falmer will play a bigger role than we expected; perhaps being the architects behind the events of TES:V - seeking vengeance for their defeats in Skyrim and Solstheim, they have been watching, waiting, biding their time until they can strike back at a most hated enemy?

Snow Prince Spear!!!! Quest from a remote Falmer village to find it and return it to them, or choose to keep it.

i'm loving this falmer are the baddies idea!

here's a HEAP of information by a morrowind-moding-falmer-lore-loonatic (he's made 2 falmer mods, one with vality7)

Given that both of these races, the original inhabitants of Tamriel, have been pushed out of Skyrim, 

i'm a out 99% sure they come from the original elves aswell, and weren't the original inhabitants, the elves came over in the mythic area right? and spread out from there, as did men.

imo, i haven't actually seen any proof the falmer are gone, i'm pretty sure they'd want to destroy the nords on skyrim, and maybe they could have some dragons with them?

though, i think the "enemy" could be the nords from atmora (is that spelt right?) no ones know atmora still exists right? and wasn't there a civil war up there aswell? "When the sons of Skyrim would spill their own blood." well, the nords from atmora, if there are any wouldn't be the sons of skyrim, so that ideas flawed.
but falmer-baddies ftw!

there'll probably be some more information in the skyrim link in my sig

You're right that the Nords, at least, believe the Falmer to have been defeated utterly in Skyrim, before making a last stand in Solstheim:
"For at that time the Elves were as damned and near death as ever they had been during the great skirmishes of Solstheim. The Battle of the Moesring was to be the final stand between Nord and Elf on our fair island. Led by Ysgramor, we had driven the Elven scourge from Skyrim, and were intent on cleansing Solstheim of their kind as well. "
From Fall of the Snow Prince.

This is why the Pocket Guide, 1st Ed is intriguing - suggesting that the Falmer have not been entirely eradicated, but that the remnants have gone into hiding, in remote mountains and caves.

I hope we'll get some more lore on Atmora, but I doubt any threat could manifest from there. It's too cold, too dead - even for Nords.
"The last invasion - if that is the word for two ships, largely laden with corpses, begging to make port - occurred in the 68th year of the First Era. The description of the land these raiders had left changes radically over the years, leaving many to believe that it was gradually dying, smothered by frost. Expeditions to Atmora in modern times describe a place of permanent winter, with little life and no sign of human habitation. Whatever population did not succeed in fleeing to Tamriel doubtless succumbed to the ever-worsening climate many centuries ago."
http://www.imperial-library.info/content/pocket-guide-empire-third-edition-atmora

I'd like one unique case of Falmer in a quest or somethin'.

Rieklings or like the Aylieds, I think.

I think there should be a definite answer at the very least. Or maybe a seemingly definite answer with room for conspiracy theories like everything else in the lore. I do like the 'Falmer are the antagonists' idea though. It would be interesting to see how they have survived. They fit the bill of the enemy described in the trailer well enough ( besides fearing a Dragonborn individual). I'm still clinging desperately to the Akavir idea.

I personally want them to be separate from the main story but still have their own major quest.
I want something like the Dwemner from Morrowind, but more in depth. The Dwemner really intrigued me, the Ayleids were not even close to interesting what so ever.

I want to see them appear in triggered encounters in the deepest-reaches of the mountains.

Imagine that you're walking along some heavily-eroded path along the side of a mountain, when the ground (and your controller) begins to shake. Your HUD disappears, and your character falls, rolling down the rocks in the avalanche. Your vision is covered by snow, and begins to blur into darkness. As you hear your characters strained breathing, and your screen is a dark, snowy blur, your hear a soft, angelic singing in an unknown tongue. As it becomes louder, nearer, your vision brightens, but stays blurry. The snow is no longer on top of you, and you can make out the silhouettes of figures above you as you pass-out. You awaken along the side of the nearest foot-path, with "Gifts of the Falmer" in your inventory (these could be anything from powerful potions, to a new power, to an enchanted item. IDK exactly what they'd give you.)

I like the idea of a scenario where unseen snow-elves save your PC from death in the mountains, although I'd never heard of them in the lore until I came-across this thread. I don't know exactly how they behave, or what kind of magical capabilities they have, but IMO, a scenario like this one would float-my-boat.

Maybe they could save you from a dangerous creature, like a Yeti, or those Skyrim vampires from "Immortal Blood" that can grab you from underneath the ice without breaking it. Either way, I only want to see them briefly, if at all.

I would like too see the Falmer, maybe in a deep, underground city built into a mountain? Like the Varden in the Eragon series.They need your help to grow and you form an alliance for them between them and the local Nordic Tribe.

I actually want a mixture of Aylied/Dwemer. The common theory is that they where bred into the current races, but there is no actual proof, and it's a very debatable subject. Great, imo.

I also want the ruins to be fairly less common than Dwemer ruins in Morrowind, if there are any.

The Nords left no ruins. they destroyed anything of the frost elves that they could find. and as far as the reiklings theory well that highly unlikely,most likely they were battle fodder for the elves or if they were elves it could be like what happened to the orcs and they were transformed by the gods. How ever the most likely theory is and what i would say to be true is that the elves were nearly destroyed by the Nord armies how ever they knew the land better having been there much longer and were most likely skilled with powerful magics so while the armies for that is what i believe was destroyed in Solstheim took the Nords attention the women and children elderly and wounded would have fled. It is impossible that the Nords could have killed them all. Also as far as the elves being friendly if there are any left alive well most likely not we did ((we as in your next toon who is helping out skyrim)) almost destroy these people so they most likely hold a grudge. i know i would

As a bit of a correction on the Ayleids, folklore suggests that they may still be out in the wilderness in remote communities, somewhere. My bet is on that somewhere being the forests of Valenwood, but they couldn't stay in Cyrodiil, of course. There's a reason why they are called the "Wild Elves". In any case, I think the Falmer all like them - mostly dead and assimilated but with remote communities existing somewhere... perhaps even in Skyrim (the game).

uhhhhm ... Why would the nords have destroyed all their architecture? They didn't destroy the dwemer stuff, they moved into one of their cities When you raid an enemies city, what do you do? Kill the people and leave the infrastructure so the people can work for YOU under the new regime. Or if you want to wipe them out you leave the houses because its easier than building your own.

You need to think like someone bent on world domination

In the lore for dwarven ruins/artefacts the metals they used in well most everything is just valuable because its so rare its also because is either doesn't age and corrode or doesn't do so very easily not to mention dwarven stuff is worth more to sell/trade than to go through the effort of destroying it.
I hope we run into yagram bagarn he was last living dwarf as for falmer and ayleids if they were wild nomadic remnants they could have bumped into each other and interbred its just as possible. as possible as a rock hovering above Vivec city for hundreds/thousand years at about 200 ft or so one day falling causing a chain reaction with volcanic activity under Vvardenfell thus culminating in the destruction of morrowind as we had known it and loved but I digress we may never know at least for some brief time we had our fun and now its turned to ash.

But ... these are Nords we're talking about. They don't have to think logically or stratigically. Cause they're Nords.

It would be nice to be proven that they were real.

New playable snow elf race? Friggin' sweeeeeet.

If there was the option to bring them back and wipe them out then their lore would be indefinite which wouldn't be good.

I like the Skaal and would have no problem with the Falmer being Rieklings. I didn't like how the Ayleids were done in Oblivion, since there was nothing unique or special in any of their ruins, and no Ayleid equipment, just a lot of white stone.

Only relic remaining, still no concrete answers.


Wasn't the elven armor supposed to be Ayleid in origin?

Subtlety is key guys, a definitive answer would be lame.
We've already been told that there is pretty much no record of the Falmer anywhere, except for the small amount we found on Solstheim, so why would we suddenly start finding a bunch of ruins and crap in Skyrim?
The whole point is that there is no answer, the mystery is what makes them appealing.