Is Snow-Throat the Throat of The World? If so, what is its stone? I remember reading that Kirkbride said the "cave", but I'm not sure what that is in relation to the Throat of The World.

The only cave I can think of in terms of mountains is Red Mountain and a reference to the cave glow of Red Mountain.

The Throat of the World is also referred to also as the snow tower.

What is the source for that? Was it from the series or simply assumed?

Personally, I think the "cave" is Alduin's maw. Stones are supposed to be echoes of the Zero Stone. Ada-mantia allowed reality, and Red Mountain stabilized it. Perhaps Snow-Throat's stone is discreation. I dunno.

/opinion

Is there a cave mentioned in any of the sources dealing with the mountain? For some reason I had originally thought the Greybeards lived in a cave, but that might have been my imagination.

MK said it on the IRC chat.

From Shor, Son of Shor. This was after they had all returned to Hrothgar from where ever they had been fighting.

He said it was the cave used by Shor to enter the Underworld in "Shor son of Shor", if the post I read it from was right. Considering that Shor went to commune with his father in the cave, it stands to reason that this underworld is Sovngarde.

It sounds to me like the Cave is a portal to Sovngarde. In Skyrim, we enter a portal to Sovngarde on Skuldafn.

If the Cave is the Stone of Snow-Throat, and the Cave is the portal Alduin uses to reach Sovngarde, then logically Snow-Throat must be Skuldafn. Unless it's been stated that the Throat of the World is Snow-Throat, in which case this theory is dead.

So.. is Padomay in Sovngarde then? *shrug*..

I always took the Shor in "Shor son of Shor" to be a subgradient of Lorkhan, and the "Shor" that is Shor's father is actually Lorkhan.

Could you please define Zero Stone?

There are also some good discussions about the towers on The Imperial Library site. You can go there and search "snow tower", red tower stone", etc. One thread with some snow tower info can be found here:

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/some-simple-questions-about-skyrim-and-cyrodiil

The Nu-Mantia Intercepts may also be helpful (e.g. Letter #5):

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/nu-mantia-intercept

Yeah I'm quite sure you're right given the context. My bad haha.

Intercept says it's the impossipoint of Convention, whatever the hell that means. All I know is that Ada-mantia is the first spike of reality, so perhaps the stone is tied to the moment of Creation.

I've read both of those. They got me thinking about this, which is why I'm looking for where the idea of Throat of the World being Snow-Throat is from. The Throat of the World is incredibly important but it doesn't fit with what MK said about the Cave being Snow-Throat's stone. It makes me wonder whether or not the TOTW is just a red herring, because it doesn't seem to fit Snow-Throat's description.

The peak is described as being "half there", which many take to mean the Time Wound but I disagree. A time wound doesn't take away. A portal, on the other hand, would be "half there" as it leads to another place.

The zero stone is from Adamantine. It doesn't really have a stone...the "stone" is Convention. So, it bears the title "Zero Stone".

The TotW is the snow tower and is key to Alduin's return. From Book of the Dragonborn in Skyrim:

"When misrule takes its place at the eight corners of the world
When the Brass Tower walks and Time is reshaped
When the thrice-blessed fail and the Red Tower trembles
When the Dragonborn Ruler loses his throne, and the White Tower falls
When the Snow Tower lies sundered, kingless, bleeding
The World-Eater wakes, and the Wheel turns upon the Last Dragonborn."

[Sorry for the back-to-back posts]

It is key to Alduin's return, but I don't think literally so. I just think it has to lie kingless and bleeding, so that does not necessarily make TOTW Snow-Throat.

It does make me wonder if Skyrim is the end of the Tower plot. After all, the prophecy makes it sound like "Once all the towers are inactive, Alduin wakes up to start the next kalpa."

Adamantine is still active though. Maybe Alduin had to eat the world before the last Tower falls.

IMO: When the snow tower lies sundered [time wound], kingless [no High King], bleeding [civil war], the World Eater...

I read somewhere (can't recall where) that 'Snow Tower' could refer to the the Nordic people themselves. Maybe there's something to it.

That is merging all the dominant theories together, which makes sense I guess, but it doesn't shed any more light on what the Cave is.

Or maybe the portal at Skuldafn is the Cave, but it isn't on Snow Throat so how is it the Stone? That is true for the other theories as well though.

When the Snow Tower lies sundered, kingless, bleeding

I still don't buy that time wound = Throat bleeding stuff. Given this talk of caves, gotta go with Canto, the Snow Tower is the Nords themselves, and the Stone is their mortality (let's just call that changeable nature). Man - essential ingredient.

I don't think the Nords are the Tower, but they may be the stone. I recall the Nord creation myth mentioning Kyne breathing them to life on Snow-Throat, which still doesn't explain the Cave...

Hmm... Kyne did breathe the Nords into existence atop the Throat of the World. I believe one of the word walls refers to Shor as the 'Hoar-Father,' so perhaps the Nords were formed from the ice of the apex of the mountain. Not sure how to relate it to a cave, but I'm pretty damn sure a throat is involved here.