I need honest opinions here.

Have a nice day.

Because Bethesda was too lazy to include another major city, so they put in a natural event with several plot holes that makes no sense just to piss off players who were looking forward to seeing a great city, only to find it was removed for no appropriate reason.

/me facepalms at Imperfect's non-answer

Anywho, I do think that magic was in fact involved, but that the College themselves were innocent. They had protections up, so they were protected, but for all we know, they could have very likely even been the target of the attack. As for who did it, or what group behind it, I think that'd actually be something reserved for an entire DLC add-on, where you'd deal with the people responsible and bring them to justice... Or you carry out their next attack on Solitude. >:D

As said. They were too lazy to make new material. The story for it is a lame coverup. This is from a game that pretends Winterhold, Falkreath, Morthal, Dawnstar, and Riverwood are 'cities.'

The city was built on a cliffside it may have simply collapsed due to weight. The city got to big and the underlying support slid away.


Seriously make helpful posts or take your &)*&*)$ rants against the game elsewhere

I don't think Riverwood is supposed to be anything other than a village, not being a Hold capital and all.

If you talk to Savos Aren he talks about how the effects of the explosion at Red Mountain may have caused many natural disasters years after it exploded. He then continues to say that the waves that consumed Winterhold may have been caused by that and that the Mages Guild DID NOT have anything to do with The Great Collapse. Although this isn't confirmed I figure it is the best explanation.

i thought falkreath was decent. the others however 1 or 2 houses each? ehhh...
edit: riverwood isnt bad its not ment to be a hold "city" more of a town so i can accept its size

Horkers, of course.

Could of been anything, maybe even the thalmor.

I think it's obviously the result of a tsunami. What caused it, I think, could be one of three things: simply a natural disaster, the inadvertent result of magic at the college, or the an attack on the college (maybe even by the divines for the use of more arcane magics).


Exactly.


I like the way you think! That would make for absolutely awesome DLC.

I'm thinking an inevitable and terrible natural disaster. So sad.

EDIT:


A Winterhold-centered DLC would be amazing!

It was mudcrabs, you fool! Mudcrabs!

Why did it collapse?

As far as I know, there aren't any clues in the game as to why. This I find odd. I'll have to look around next time I'm in the area.

According to dialogue in-game, people generally suspect that it was the College itself. And I think the College blames the traumatic events of the Red Year. But since the collapse happened a long time after the Red Year, I don't think this is the proper explanation. And the event seems way too big to have been a College operation. You'd have needed much more powerful wizards to do that.

My opinion?

I'm not sure I have a good one yet.

Bethesda. Other than that, I don't know what to believe since it isn't even explained throughtly in-game. Some think the cause is a side effect of the erruption of Red Mountain.

I agree. It just begs for an explanation in the form of DLC (yes please).

Maybe it was Alduin. Instead of just 'poof-ing' out of nowhere, he plummeted to Nirn from the sky and landed in the ocean (causing the Tsunami).