to be fair, the guard says "welcome to Markarth, safest city in the reach." And technically, given that Markarth is the ONLY city in the reach, he's not lying.
First time I've ever been to Markarth (during my first playthrough) was waking up at the Temple of Dibella after losing a night of drinking against Sanguine. I walked out, wondered where the hell I am, then accidentally walked over a cliff and died after falling into the canal.
That’s one hell of a hangover cure; brutally effective. Once I worked out that was where you started Sanguine’s quest; I made sure to get the front gate before I found Sam to avoid screwing myself over.
I didn't. I noticed the awesome architecture right away and I thought I was in a Cyrodil-Oblivion like environment build by Altmer or smth. I admired the architecture today.
I think the most fascinating for me was the Falmer-Dwemer "rosetta stone" in Calcelmo's quarters. I've always wondered what it said. I think the Dwarves blinded the Snow Elves so that they couldn't see the Dwemer's most secret creations. Also, if you are blinded, you are much more vulnerable and easy to manipulate. And the "tonal magic" the Dwemer used *is* mentioned by Katria during the "Lost to the Ages" quest. She describes the resonators at the top of Arkngthamz as "tonal locks".
Here's my crackpot theory, if you remember the quest from the collage of Winterhold where the dude has you go get keening and the warped soulgem and he gets bound to you? I think, now hear me out, if he had the full set of the Kagrenac's tools as well as used tonal magic, he might have succeeded and been sent to where the dwarves are.
This theory made me remember this gag from Family Guy: Peter: "Oh, my God! Movable, printed type. We must keep this from the serfs, lest they gain literacy and threatened the landed gentry." Serf: "What you got there, m'lord?" Peter: *"NOTHING!!!* Back to your turnips!"
9:30 It would be funny if the Thieves Guild quest would have allowed the player to print out the dwarven side of the wall. That if Enthir sees it, he goes: "No, NO!! this is not the right language, go back and print the other side of the wall! ". Come back to the museum and the guards have quadrupled in people
"Bloodiest beef in the Reach" Always gets to me, does he have a special menu for his fellow cultists, or just letting the entire city partake unknowingly?
@@metetural9140 I beg to differ! I still play Daggerfall to this day and even have put more hours into it all together than Skyrim. I do still play Skyrim on and off to be fair.
Falmer: gets attacked relentlessly by Nords. Dwemer: defeats Nords. Falmer: thank you for rescuing us, how can repay you! Dwemer: rescue? More like change of ownership..
I love how the Reach feels old but powerful. Get some massive eldritch vibes in Markarth and the area as a whole is the best place for insurgents and the insane.
Also has one of the biggest and untouched ancient Nord ruins, as well. Most ruins tend to be already partially occupied by bandits, mages, and Forsworn, but Ragnvald is untouched, and dominated solely by draugr and its resident Dragon Priest, who has an interesting story himself as well.
On the stone tablet. Maybe the Falmer weren't "tricked" into being blind after all (as the old story says they were). Maybe the dwarves weren't originally cruel masters. So why were the Falmer blinded? Well in real life, when people go blind their hearing drastically increases, and one of the main things people comment on is that music sounds a lot better. And what are the dwarves known for? Tonal magic, musical magic. The Dwemer wanted to teach the snow elves about tonal magic so they could work better! And perhaps disappear along with the Dwemer, although unfortunately they weren't attuned enough by the time the disappearing ritual took place, and so were left to rot and become the Falmer we know today
"And as your vision clouds, as the darkness sets in, fear not." Bruh. I really wonder what the dwarves' intentions were when turning the snow elves into the falmer we know today.
Is it possible that the Dwemer were also blinding themselves with the fungus? Blind people have better hearing which could help one better harness a magic based on sound. The fruit of the stones, symbol of their bond, sure sounds like it's already part of their culture.
@@dylannecros3636 not saying the entire race blinded themselves, they still needed people to build machines and maintain other aspects of the society. However, I think blinding ones self would still be very common if they expect all (if not most of) the Falmer to blind themselves as well. I'd expect at least 20% of Dwemer society maintains their vision for practical reasons.
Just yesterday i did “No one escapes Sidna Mine” and i realized too late I was helping Madanach, so in the confrontation between the guards and forsworn i attacked the forsworn, not realizing the guards were against me anyway, and now the entire reach is kill on sight whenever they detect me. A real shame, Markarth has always seemed so cool to me
You don't have to help the forsworn escape. You can kill Madanach in prison and take the key to the escape tunnel off his body, or pickpocket him and walk out. You only miss out on some enchanted forsworn armor, so no great loss.
There is a way to get the rewards for helping Madanach AND for killing him... As soon as you get the enchanted Forsworn armor before exiting the mine, kill him...
You can also kill Madanach and the rest of his crew within the city after you escape the mine with him, but it is very difficult. They are all very strong and they are trying to run away from you towards the gate where they disappear. Usually when you try to do this Thongvor Silver-Blood dies, but he came back to life for me after about an in-game month.
@ryanalving3785 if you are playing a mage and are quite far in development, you don't have the means to kill him in the prison, because he is tough, and you don't have your apparel to reduce mana requirements. But starting to help him and then killing him (once you get your stuff back before the exit) works.
One thing that I found interesting in that paragraph is that the Dwemer say they sent their machines against the enemies of the Falmer/Betrayed/Snow Elves. Which means that they might have gotten in a little, secret war with the nords for some time or just a few minor battles. And this also means that by that time their war machinery was as advanced as we can see in the Dwemer Ruins nowdays.
Markarth is my absolute favorite city. The tall stones, the vertical aspect, the aesthetic... everything! (The city’s color dark green also happens to be my fav color). Most people like Riften, which I can agree with. Riften is stunning when the weather is good, but oft as not it’s just gross fog.
Hey Nate, I wanted mention a theory I have about Markarth: That it was specifically built to house the Falmer refugees as they fled the Atmorans. Specifically how much of a defensive structure it is. That it seems very sun focused, the city seems almost like the dwemer attempt at making a temple to Auriel> 1. The city faces the morning sun, as does the entrance and balcony of the Keep. So if you are exiting the Underkeep, or ascending it to reach the Dwemer-Falmer welcoming stone) you will see the morning sun) 2. The tower near the front of the city having a sort of solar focusing lense on its roof that shines a beam of sunlight upon an alter at its enterance which I suspect once stood a statue of Auriel. Its not a piece of dwemer machinery like we normally see, as that building has no machinery in it. 3. The building that is now the temple of dibella having an already temple-like design at its core (as in the dwemer originally built it that way, instead of it being later modified) such as that water basin in the entrance hall (which reminds me of that who water ritual the Falmer have) 4. How practically all the buildings around this central temple seems to be housing, not workshops or laboratories. And there is very very little to no dwemer machinery in these areas. 5. Most obviously, the afformentioned stone at the top of the city explicitly made to welcome to the Falmer as wards of the Dwemer. Indicating that Markarth is where they began their new lives.
To lhis last part of the dwemer tablet. It almost sounds like "the vision fading" (the falmer going blind) is supposed to be a good thing. The talk about "radiance of our affection" and "final path to your new eternity", everything sounds so positive... People assume, that the dwemer blinded the falmer to enslave them. One hint for this being how the falmer evolved back to such a crude state. Though what if the dwemer planned for the complete opposite? They probably saw themselves as kind of "higher beings", rivaling the gods with their technology and tonal manipulation. Maybe they wanted to elevate the falmer to their level. Maybe they blinded them so they are more perceptive to sounds. Heck, maybe the dwemer themselves ate the "fruit of the stones" before (do we know, wether the dwemer were blind or not?). But while the falmer were still in the process of learning and evolving to a higher state (which obviously would be dependent on the dwemer), their teachers disappeared. Now with this lack of guidance they were forced to survive on their own, which led to their evolution do a 180 back to the stone age.
What if they blinded the snow elves to improve their hearing and use them as fine tuning? And what if tonal magic is the same as Thu'um, not words but pure notes that combine to an effect?
Tiny detail You cannot save logrolf's life But you can save his soul if you want to spit in the eye of molag bal/"save" logrolf If you kill him before he reaches the shrine the quest will fail And you won't get the mace But Bal won't get his soul either
I really wish during the civil war quest when Ulfric demands Markarth during the truce there would be a way to explain to General Tulius that you're not giving the Stormcloaks Markath, rather you are giving the Stormcloaks (Nords) to the Forsworn. Then you'd be able to watch the Stormcloaks having to fight a guerrilla warfare against the Forsworn and use what would be considered a diplomatic loss for the empire turn into a massive strategic victory.
16:18 Arnleif, the founder and former owner of 'Arnleif and Sons', is not the husband of Lisbet. When you asked her, "So who's Arnleif?", She replied "I inherited the store from my husband. His father was Arnleif. My husband, Gunnar, died about five years ago...." Therefore, Lisbet did not eat Arnleif, but she eat Gunnar, his husband Or maybe she eat them both?...
Just wanted to thank you for still making Skyrim videos. As many others I just can't stop playing it even if I sometimes take a break and play something else I always come back to our beloved Skyrim 👍
I would just like to point out that Azzada's story is a perfect exemple for Boethiah not just being about murder or treason: Boethiah's shtick is about impact, influence, making your mark upon the world. Stabbing a man so as to prove you exist. Or, in Azzada's case, saving him so he remembers you forever.
I get that Markarth has been carved out of the mountain making it a city of stone and Nate was probably taking creative license, but that bugged me too. Guess I'm just too type A about my favorite video game. Meh - there are worse things in life. Like if I'd never played Skyrim - that would suck!
The Dwemer needed slave labour because the automatons needed soul gems to work and it would be too expensive to make many robotic workers. The degenerated Falmer offered an stable source of soul gems for the automatons and cheap slave labour that is too primal, weak and beast like to fight back
Except soul gems as the power source was not conclusive, as Calcelmo pointed out in his texts, especially the ones you find in Alftand. From the way that stone read, it almost sounded like the Dwemer intended to actually guide the Falmer to becoming like them, as Nate made a guess at. But that didn't get too far before the Dwemer up and disappeared, leaving the Falmer behind to fare for themselves, and not getting along with the automatons. If the Falmer were supposed to be slave labor, you'd think the automatons would be geared to forcing the Falmer into labor, not outright attacking and killing them. Especially in Nchuand-Zel, which seems to be the place where the Falmer indoctrination began, and where once you turn the machinery back on, it all immediately goes into a rampage to exterminate the Falmer there.
the souls are artificialy made and that's is one of the reasons why they blinded them they didn't want them to be like the dark elves (trying to kill them) the whole "slave" thing was so they wouldn't be a bunch of freeloaders and war and other stuff and the robots would take to long to make
I didn't know I so badly wanted to learn what Calcelmo's stone said, until I woke up to this video! Thank you Nate, the lore addict in me is super happy now!
if you have the summon dremora butler ability, you can give him your armour and weapon before you get thrown in cidnah mine. when you can, conjure him up, get your gear back and go ballistic. bizarrely enough, nobody reacts to a dremora appearing. maybe coz the forsworn are in league with the daedra, or just an oversight by Bethesda. you can also do this when you get to gatecrash the thalmor's little shindig.
I thought the Dremora butler thing was a mod? It would explain why NPCs don’t react. I could be wrong, but I had a mod where you visit a Dremora tower & after you visit it, you get access to a conjured Dremora companion of your choice. Vanilla NPCs can’t easily be made to react to the modded character because the regular characters have their own scripts and voice lines & messing with them during a quest like Cidhna Mine could break the quest.
phantomhurricane666 Thanks for the reply! I really couldn’t remember bcuz, even on XB1, I modded the heck out of Skyrim for a few years now. 😁 I always find it a shame when we think of a cool opportunity for interaction in the story, only to have all NPCs completely ignore it, when it’s part of the game. NPC AI is hopefully getting smarter & more reactive in future games. That said, I always enjoy exploiting game mechanics to my advantage. 😁
“Oh man, I guess at the end of the day some people in this city gave quite a few skeletons in their closet or... refrigerator I suppose...” BEST QUOTE EVER
My boyfriend downloaded a mod on my switch so any time I open Skyrim it’s just Nate saying “the elder scrolls V Skyrim” and tbh it’s the only source of stability in my life.
I had a guard tell me: “pst! I know who you are. Hail Sithis.” When I was going to talk to a contact for the brotherhood(wearing full shrouded armour). I found it pretty cool.
You know. I challenge you to do a top 10 things you didn't know about pokemon games! You can start with any game you want. I just want to see if the great skyrim nate can find tiny details in the pokemon franchise.
Galmar, while drawing his battle axe and surrounded by only Nords: Not so fast elf Ondolemar, in classic High Elf fashion: I presume your talking to me
I'm deeply embroiled in both The Forsworn Conspiracy and Taste of Death right now: I'm a Forsworn from Druadach Redoubt you see (via "live another life" alternate start mod)....One random encounter that turned into A Night To Remember, found me waking up in the Temple of Dibella, smack in the middle of the last City in Tamriel I wanted to see any closer....
I think the Dwemer referring to the unbinding of bones is a reference to the Earth Bones, or the bones of Lorkhan, something the Dwemer were blatantly working against in the creation of Akulakhan. Kagrenac's tonal architecture experiments used the tools Sunder and Keening to manipulate the tonal energies of the heart of Lorkhan, in hopes of creating a mechanical god. Baladas of the Telvanni theorized that the Dwemer may have viewed Lorkhan creating the lives of the profane (their world and all that lived in it) could work in reverse, creating the sacred from the deaths of the profane. If they needed a handy source of sacrifices, the Falmer would have been quite a bit of cattle, but I don't think they would have been enough. The Dwemer linked themselves with Akulakhan, Falmer race intact, and that link is what caused them to all simultaneously (except Yagrum) zero-sum when the great event happened, leaving the Falmer behind. If the Falmer were at all part of the mass link, shouldn't they have also zero-summed, or did they in fact achieve CHIM? Did they reach another realization? Were they part of the link at all? ... I ask myself so many questions at night, knowing they may never be answered.
I really love that Ondolemar and Galmar scene. Note that the Thalmor were using Ulfric and his Stormcloaks to weaken the Empire (refer to Ulfric Dossier) but then they got stinged by their own venom.
A minor correction, Arnleif wasn't the shopkeep's husband. He was her father in law, her husband's father. He passed it to one of his sons, who married Lisbet. Who ate him, not sure if she killed him or not. Maybe she just ate him afterwords.
2:10 I'm so glad Azzada could settle down in Dragonsreach. Maybe he can tell me the wonders of the Cloud District one day since I don't go there often 😔
“You every been to Markarth? Some say it was built by the dwarves, but I don’t believe a word of it..”. P.S vigilant tyranus?.....darth tyranus...count dooku.
8:39 let us keep in mind that in Arena ALL the cities look the same, also Redguard does mention it is a rock city but nothing else, Bethesda did not just "change the lore."
When you’re in the Hall of Valor, in Sovngarde, one of the “Heroes of Sovngarde” will remark that they are in fact Dragonborn too, saying: “Hail, Dragonborn. That honour is also mine - to our shared birthright you’ll bring new glory!” And, while looking at the game’s voice files, one of them says “I too am Dragonborn, bring glory to our shared birthright.” The first line can be uttered by the voice types “femalenord” and “malenordcommander”, while the other one is from the voice type “malenord” So yeah I find that interesting, especially ging back to your video “Skyrim: 5 Spooky Theories Crazy Enough to be True - The Elder Scrolls 5 Lore (Part 7)”, where you discuss what happens to the Dragonborn when they die. Apparently they are not bound to Akatosh.
Perhaps they are given a choice? Given that (if i remember right) all dragonborn are created by Akatosh to balance things out in the world. Perhaps they are afforded special treatment, and can choose what plane of existence their soul will reside in. Like a Nord - Werewolf - Dragonborn could choose sovngarde, Hircine's hunting grounds, or whatever Akatosh offers.
Personally, I enjoy the idea that the Dwemer themselves were actually blind. It fits in perfectly with the lore in the idea that Tonal Magic is the magic of sound and without eyes or being blind, their other senses would be heightened and the tonal magic they used on themselves and others would be stronger. Its also intriguing to think because by blinding the elves, the power of the tonal magic would be increased and make them easier to command and manipulate to their whims. It would also explain the whole telekinesis bit since they may have been able to communicate with it instead of focusing on a single person. If the Dwemer had mastered Tonal magic, being able to command things to life or other things would be stronger too with blindness and the resonators you find amplifying that skill. The Tonal Magic would be their "eyes" in a sense and explain how they were able to construct such massive monoliths to their power without the whole cave structures collapsing and the enigmatic nature of their designs.
