WERE dwemer short? A discussion : The Elder Scrolls Series Discussion

» Mon May 07, 2012 9:44 pm

It's bandied about as common knowledge that dwemer were of average height for humanoids, and their common name "dwarf" is a misnomer, a name given to them by giants (to whom we would all be "dwarves") We get this from in-game sources, books which are known to be unreliable. Further, other in-game sources do describe the Dwemer as shorter than average. The only Dwemer we've ever seen in game have been ghosts or infected with corpus.

I know this is one of those things that we like to state with authority, but how reliable are our facts?

» Tue May 08, 2012 7:17 am

Going into the ancient ruins, their chairs/benches look to be about average height as do their beds, tables and other furniture. I can only speculate that this means they were of average height.

That's pretty much 'case closed.'

» Tue May 08, 2012 3:21 am

In Tribunal, there is undead dwemer weponsmith who doesn't seem much shorther.And I believe I read somewhere that dwemer were in truth no shorther than other mer races.

» Tue May 08, 2012 5:42 am

M'Aiq said that they were short (although not from their own perspective). But who knows how true that is?

» Tue May 08, 2012 12:32 am

Dwemer ghosts are of equal height to the Dunmer in Morrowind (a relative comparison in the CS, and making a correction for their "posture") .

Nothing conclusive of course as BGS has a habit of flipping lore around from game to game, but they are Mer, and it can be deduced that they would range in height from a Bosmer (shortest) to the Altmer (tallest), and all evidence suggests they were average Mer height.

» Mon May 07, 2012 11:13 pm

M'Aiq said that they were short (although not from their own perspective). But who knows how true that is?

He said, "... They were short folks... Or perhaps they were not."

M'aiq is a wikia written by a madman.

» Tue May 08, 2012 12:05 am

.And I believe I read somewhere that dwemer were in truth no shorther than other mer races.

That's what's being debated here, the reliability of that source. Other in game books describe them as looking like "large children with beards".

» Tue May 08, 2012 12:03 am

I just checked Uesp Dwemer article, said dwemer were no shorther than other elves. But mind that when you lurk their halls in Skyrim, beds and other things seem like they were made for an average mer. But if they were shorther, perhaps they were size of a bosmer, not dwarfes like in Lotr or Warhammer.

» Tue May 08, 2012 12:43 am

I just checked Uesp Dwemer article, said dwemer were no shorther than other elves.

We wrote that article: it's a wiki. It's only as accurate as whatever we think is correct, and as noted, there are in-game sources which both confirm and deny that stance.

» Tue May 08, 2012 8:21 am

Chimarvamidium describes a Dwemer warrior in full armor and was described as a golemn. Ever known golem's to be small? And it is a accurate source of information as it can be traced to the dwemer.

» Mon May 07, 2012 11:10 pm

From the perspective of a giant, who isn't?

» Tue May 08, 2012 9:47 am

The Dwemer are HUGE! Biggest people on Mundus. Considering they are the skin of the biggest thing on Mundus now.

» Tue May 08, 2012 9:51 am

The Dwemer are HUGE! Biggest people on Mundus. Considering they are the skin of the biggest thing on Mundus now.

Their possipoints are like the size of a VW golf.

» Tue May 08, 2012 9:18 am

Chimarvamidium describes a Dwemer warrior in full armor and was described as a golemn. Ever known golem's to be small? And it is a accurate source of information as it can be traced to the dwemer.

The word "golem" doesn't imply anything about size, a golem is simply an artificial man.

» Tue May 08, 2012 12:02 pm

Chimarvamidium describes a Dwemer warrior in full armor and was described as a golemn. Ever known golem's to be small? And it is a accurate source of information as it can be traced to the dwemer.

Irrelevant. Golems are manufactured beings, so, technically they can be any height.

» Tue May 08, 2012 12:26 pm

Irrelevant. Golems are manufactured beings, so, technically they can be any height.

It's implicit from the original Hebrew that it's a big old lunk of a thing.

» Tue May 08, 2012 3:42 am

It's implicit from the original Hebrew that it's a big old lunk of a thing.

Source?

» Tue May 08, 2012 1:43 am

Source?

Derived from Hebrew gōlem via Yiddish Goylem "Formless Mass". Cross-reference with etymology source of your choice.

» Tue May 08, 2012 1:28 am

Derived from Hebrew gōlem via Yiddish Goylem "Formless Mass". Cross-reference with etymology source of your choice.

Oh. So where is the part about it being a big thing?

» Tue May 08, 2012 3:53 am

I said it was implicit, not literal.

» Tue May 08, 2012 12:12 am

The Dwemer ghosts in Morrowind and the Tribunal expansion are around the same height as the other main races, which would seem to settle that question. Of course, that leaves the question: How do you define short? Kind of like how M'aiq puts it, short is simply a matter of opinion.

» Mon May 07, 2012 10:45 pm

They were about the right height.

» Tue May 08, 2012 6:58 am

They may have been shorter than average as some stuff in game may say, maybe similar to the size of a Bosmer. They're shorter than average but they aren't super short.
Oor the sources saying they are shorter are Altmer, and everything is shorter in comparison to them.

» Tue May 08, 2012 7:27 am

They may have been shorter than average as some stuff in game may say, maybe similar to the size of a Bosmer. They're shorter than average but they aren't super short.

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/4111/wdbr1.png Bosmer male are definitely smaller then Dwemer.

» Tue May 08, 2012 4:28 am

Typical sized beds, chairs, benches, tables, weapons, and stairs, all mean they weren't odd in their height as far as man/mer are concerned. Nothing to write home about.

I also don't remember ever having to duck through a doorway as a Nord or Altmer, while exploring Dwemer ruins.