Skyrim's Strangest Ruin, Explained (Kind of) 

It took me all morning climbing around to find this place!!! But now I'm ready, and I'm goin' in!!!

"Zel means City, and [...] Kagren can mean music" So Kagrenzel is .... Funky town?

Some postulates: The snow whales could fly by using their song. Kagranac's name contains the word for music and this is not a coincidence. Perhaps the whales were being studied for their tonal abilities.

Theory on the snow whales: Whales in our world were hunted back in the day for industrial oil purposes, which was crucial for the industrial evolution. Maybe the omnious "dwarf oil" from the game is actually snow whale oil and the Dwemer bred them for that very purpose.

The biggest mystery of skyrim is how much more content Nate can squeeze out of it. The answer: YES

Whales are known for their nearly magical singing.

Ancient Nords: Manage to extinct snow whales from the skies. Modern era Dragonborn: Can't even lower the amount of dragons flying around after defeating Alduin.

This makes the College of Winterhold even more upsetting. They had all of the stuff already build. All they needed to do was add some quests.

I accidentally turned up the volume so my ears got blasted with: HEY HOWS IT GOING GUYS

If it’s not the cloud district I don’t want it

The Dwemer actually named their cities by stepping on LEGOs and writing down whatever they called out

That kagrenak connection is very, VERY interesting, because those bones at whalebone bridge aren't just any whalebones-They're Aedra Bones, the remains of Stuhn, brother of Tsun the shield-thane of Shor, or Lorkhan. If those bones in kagrenzel are the bones of aedra-like creatures, and kagrenzel is the city of kagren, then kagrenzel housed not only the heart of lorkhan but also aedra-like bones. *_And kagrenak said he was making a god._* What better way to make a god than with the bones of aedra-like creatures and the actual heart of an aedra?

The cliffracers are back!! Never mind Alduin, this is priority.

Well the dragonborn is also implied to be a shezzarine, or mortal incarnation of lorkhan, so if the kagnrenac city theory is correct, the orb may have detected the soul of lorkhan

When i was in the stony creek cave i saw the "secret entrance/exit" and looked on the local map and was like "yo thats leads to somewhere!" So i did some epic bethesda wall climbing then saw this video and saw i entered it backwards 😂😂😂

"By refreshing my memory with "Divine Metaphysics," I believe I can explain. The Dwemer were not unified in their thinking. Kagrenac and his tonal architects, among them Bthuand Mzahnch, believed they could improve the Dwemer race. Others argued that the attempt would be too great a risk. The war with Nerevar and the Dunmer may have led Kagrenac to carry out his experiments prematurely. Although this book argues that nothing disastrous could result, the disappearance of my race argues otherwise." - Yagrum Bagarn. He says this in relation to a book called the Egg of Time in Elder Scrolls 3. He was not in Nirn at the time of the dwarves disappearing, meaning the disappearance was soley focused on Nirn and left him as a sole survivor, unfortunately he caught the corpus disease and ended up eventually falling himself. As for theories to where Kagrenac lived, Yagrum was one of his close friends and workmates so it would be reasonable to assume that they lived within the red mountain or atleast in the shared space of Vvardenfell, especially since Yagrum specifically states that Kagrenac's journals are within ruins on Vvardenfell. In fact this is further proven by both his journal and planbook being found in Morrowind, alongside sunder and keening which were core parts of his research. The theory behind the city being used to store a super weapon that had fallen out of use is possible, since in theory Kagrenac instead may have decided to use the heart of Lorkhan to turn the whole dwarven race into immortal gods. I am unclear on that part. Only one living character knows and he went off to Akavir and never came back.

It's pretty clear now almost ten years in that the amount of cut content may overshadow the amount of actual content.

so I just went to Kagrenzel during a playthrough, and while falling my character hit a jug and died. I just fell on the floor and laughed

Okay so I noticed a few things in this, and you should hear this out. 1) there's An expert locked chest at the bottom of the lake you fall in, which is extremely filled with overpowered loot. 2) those whale bones we see in the map - if you look at the spines of them sideways, it looks like there's letters on them, maybe dwarven alphabet or language of the dovah . 3) I totally agree with all these theories, you have just changed my life mate, thanks.

You cant imagine my disappointment when I thought it was going to be a old, ancient and huge dwemer ruin but turns out just to be your casual falmer cave, with no secret rooms or doors, and not even the interior is even dwemer.

"Hi, im Nate, and Skyrim is the oldest anarchy server in minecraft."

Considering the city is set so remotely, I could see it being a research center away from tonal pollution, like how telescopes / observatories are high on mountains to minimize light pollution.

I remember discovering this ruin fairly early in my first playthrough. None of my friends that played had found it yet, and there was hardly anything posted about it online. The curiosity turned my first character into role playing a dwemer focused archeologist. Seeking out every ruin on the map and scouring blackreach for any hint.

2:18 Technically, there are a couple quests that lead to Kagrenzel. Stony Creek Cave is also part of multiple quests. If someone were to be looking at the map of Stony Creek Cave while exploring it, they would have been able to see the tunnel leading to Kagrenzel. So it's not entirely by chance that you would stumble upon it.

Finally a place i didn't know exists and i've played this game for thousand hours.

"The orb must have subjected those nearby bandits to the same test. However, rather than let them down, it murdered them to death for some reason. Why?" *ad starts* "ACCIDENTS HAPPEN."

If there were flying whales imagine the shit rain they would cause...

"We don't know if snow whales existed" "There's a bridge made of snow whale bones in the Nordic heaven"

Ive always been curious what the "Market" was that is connected to black reach. Never seemed like a Market atmosphere to me. And I dont think the Falmer are buying and selling goods to each other...( that would be werid to run up on. A blind Falmer who dosnt know you are there; trying to sell items like Brynolf , but more clicking / alien like noises.)

Everytime I watch one of your intros I imagine you surrounded by thesauruses, frantically searching for a new synonym for giant.

When you think about it, Kagranac wasn’t creating a new god, he was rebuilding an old one.

Isn’t the dovahkiin sometimes refereed to as the “avatar of shore” you know the god, maybe the orb is there to recognize godlike souls/very powerful souls to power the numidium, just a thought.

"Only _ knows, and _ won't tell..." That's such a cheesy line it always puts a smile on my face

7:22 wait... no... those bones.. they cant be.... GIANT CLIFF RACERS! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES

Literally the Earth Bones. Interesting how close it was to the Aetherium Forge, though.

I actually went into Kagrenzel because of the sidequest from dawnguard in search for blueprints on crossbows and bolts. That alarm, if you touch the light totally jump scared me in my first visit because nothing like this is in any other dungeon.

Well, if it's true that the last dragonborn is an incarnation of Talos, and Talos mantled Shor/Lorkhan, this place has everything to do with us, because we ARE Lorkhan, whose heart was used to build the Numidium. That's why the security system let us in.

Speaking of kagrunzel, I once went in there not knowing about the giant fall, and was surprised when the ground opened up. At that point I still had no idea it was such a deep fall because I didn’t get to experience it. I fell a good distance and then I touched the bucket that falls with me with my feet. I died instantly. It mistook it for fall damage. Didn’t go back until I watched another video and was like woooww I missed out on that lmao.

First of all, I love these videos. This attention to detail when explaining Skyrim's secrets and interesting features is amazing. One correction though. The local maps are not hand drawn. They are generated from a top down view of the level geometry. Which of course makes the placement of those bones in the level no less intentional. But the renderings on the local map are actually just representations of the models seen when falling down that shaft. You can check that by using 'tcl' in the console and position your character inside such a rib cage to see the position indicator on the map line up with the rendering of the bones.

I just have to geek out for just a moment. I’ve been playing Skyrim since it first came out. But I’ve been watching your videos for over a year and I love them! I’ve actually downloaded mods you’ve recommended and I love how in depth you are with not only Skyrim but Fallout as well (which I play a great deal of) your videos keep me occupied and I learn so much! Keep it up cause I want to see more!

I actually entered this place in reverse by whirlwind sprinting from a pile of rocks opposite the hidden entrance. Didn’t know there was the ruin above until a while later.

Since the dwemer had underground cities I think the skeletons belonged to the creature's that helped dig out places to build their cities

We do know where the numidium was built, under Red Mountain on Vardenfell in the same cave where Dagoth Ur was building his new one. That's the whole reason the Chimer attacked the Dwemer fortresses there, they sought to stop Kagrenacs work by force. The local maps in skyrim are also not hand drawn, they are dynamically generated by the game.

Awesome analysis as always! This ruin is easily one of the most stand-out experiences for me out of all my playtime in Skyrim. Found it completely by accident 6 or 7 years after release, went in with my Bosmer character and her companion Meeko, got dumped into that cavern and was petrified Meeko wouldn't survive the fall (he did, thank the gods), and by the time they saw the sun again, I had no idea what I'd just been through, or why it was even there. Underwhelming, maybe, but still loved rediscovering that sense of unknown adventure in Skyrim again.

I’ve got my own theory. First the giant skeletons could have been dragon skeletons in a massive dragon burial ground. We know that dragons can live forever, so they could potentially grow to infinite size. The consistent size of dragons we see in game is probably just because of engine limitations. The dwemmer could have excavated it hoping to learn more about dragon shouts, which are a form of tonal manipulation. After excavating it, kagranec could have used it to store the numidium and study dragonshouts at the same time. Th orb could be identifying you through your use of tonal manipulation with dragon shouts. The falmer could be workers who helped construct the numidium.

The name Kagrenzel is similar to the Dwemer ruin in Solstheim called Kagrumez which also traps the player in a cage once the middle pedestal is activated. The player is then attacked by waves of mechs in a Colosseum type battle where you can see that the Dwemer had viewing areas above the chamber almost for entertainment purposes. When I first found Kagrumez I noted that it sounded familiar and once those Darwven bars came up around me I distinctly remembered Kagrenzel and looked down in anticipation of being dropped.

Kagrenac resided strictly in Vvardenfell. The Numidium was kept under Red Mountain, and that's where it stayed inactive until Tiber Septim received it from the Tribunal after the Armistice. Kagrenzel was likely, in my personal opinion, simply an outpost or fort where the Dwemer of Clan Kagren (the clan that ruled over Skyrim at the time) mined for resources within the Velothi Mountains to be distributed to other colonies. Kagrenzel's namesake comes from.. well, obviously Orby. Who probably served as a security system against those who did not wield tonal magic.

OMG I stumbled across the stony creek cave the other day and saw that back entrance and was like "ok, I'll go outside and try to find the other entrance then, because it probably has one and I wanna explore it" and, after exploring for a long while, I stumbled upon Kagrenzel and my immediate reaction was "nope, this will certainly put me in blackreach again". I turned around and left, and I didn't continue to search for the entrance because I thought "well surely I'll have a quest sooner or later that'll tell me where it is"...

This is giving me flashbacks to the video about Fallout's Lovecraftian beast.

This has to be some kind of omen. This ruin has always stuck with me ever since Skyrim first came out and is part of my own elder scroll idea. It's great that even after all this time this secluded and mysterious place can be covered in an interesting light.

A concept: The whale bridge is one whole item, instead of parts. Whereas the mammoth comes in parts, so they found it more mysterious to use the mammoth bones instead

This reminds me very much of the Deep Ones from Oblivion! They were part of the Hackdirt quest, which were it's Lovecraftian influences on its sleeve. Any Lovecraft fan would recognize the quest name "Shadow Over Hackdirt" and understand the reference to Shadow Over Innsmouth. But what's really interesting to me, is that in the Hackdirt caves, you could hear growling and rumbling noises from behind some caved in rocks, indicating that the Deep Ones, whatever they are, *are still there*. It's not hard to draw a parallel between these large bones and rumblings in a subterranean location and the Deep Ones of Hackdirt.

I keep hearing about the "hit or miss" of Flying snow whales. But there's potentially very strong evidence of them in Ysgramor's Tomb. At the end of the dungeon, above his sarcophagus. A whale appearing to be suspended in the clouds. But to the left, a boat in the water???

*Knock Knock* Me: Who's there Nate: Hey guys, how's it going ? It's Nate here !

The WOODEN MASK! If you wear the wooden mask- which has a mysterious "hum"- and use a healing spell on the orb- a secret passage opens up!

8:33 Maybe that explains their airships; Snow whale flight was powered by something, yes? Maybe the dwemer harvested that material to build airships on.

Maybe "Ac" Means lord, And kagren means sound or music, And Kagrenac, means lord of sound/music

Ok... I was like: "No way I missed this, I have played Skyrim for who knows how long, no way I...[Shows us the light orb and cage]...Wtf!"

I've heard you say it a few times now - but I'm pretty sure that the 'local maps' are generated top down images of the game 'cells' (areas that make up the maps) - they are not painted/drawn as you keep saying. That would be an absolutely stupid amount of work for the game artists to do without much value added for the investment of time but its very simple for the developers/engine to generate them for the game cells. This is also true for how mods get free local area maps when they add new cells to the game - the engine just generates them (and from memory it has done so since Morrowind when I used to do map modding) If they were all hand drawn, there would certainly be errors in them (just look at how many other inconsistencies there are in the game - no one is perfect!) that we could point to - to show that they're hand drawn.

It astounds me that I've been watching you for years and yet I still find videos that I haven't seen to this day. I just can't believe how much content about this game you've really put out that's amazing

So what's the difference between "ze" and "zel" in dwarven language? For clarification: There's a dwarven city called "Kemel-Ze" in Morrowind which translates to "Cliff City", but shouldn't that mean that "zel" means something else?

I hope we learn what fully happened to the Dwemer and where they went in The Elder Scrolls 6

The detail in Skyrim is vastly underrated and your investigation into Skyrim and its lore - its pure epic work my friend. Another top video.

This has always been one of my favorite locations. And the mystery surrounding it makes it even more eerie.

Snow whales, snow whales, chillin in the ozone, causing a commotion, cuz they are so awesome.

"not featured in any quests" thats where i'm gonna say wrong. i've had the dawnguard send me there before for dwemer schematics for a crossbow

The Sightless Pit in Skyrim is a bit like this dungeon. As far as I remember, no quests are attached to it, but it does feature a strange dwarven ruin in it if I remember correctly. Might be something worth investigating in a future video.

Q: Do we know enough about the Dwarvish language to support a reading of Kgrenak's City opposed to [music]'s city? I ask because (in High School) a friend read "the Hellespont" as "the Sea of the Hellenes" rather than "Sea of Helle" -- not understanding the differences involved. Q: Is it possible the dwarves also developed the Shout, or even were taught thus by the dragons?

Wow. Another mysterious ruin to explore. Can't wait to check it out. Thanks Nate

Let's go! New Nate video! 😁

Isn't it likely that the huge bones buried there are meant to be the bones of Ehlnofey (aka the Earth Bones) much like the massive bones of Ehlnofey that are found in Grahtwood in the Bone Orchard? We know from dialogue in Morrowind that Kagrenac's theories specifically involved using tonal manipulation on the Heart of Lorkhan to bend the Earth Bones into "obedience". Based on Kagrenac's theories, if Kagrenzel was a site where the dwemer performed significant tonal experiments (whether Kagrenac himself was directly involved or not, and whether it was the location where the Numidium was under construction or not) then it would make sense for it to be located at a site where the remains of Ehlnofey were physically present.

Perhaps the Heart of Lorkhan is stored in Blackreach, in the "sun orb" that hovers above the large Dwemer settlement. If the theory holds that Blackreach was the main settlement of the Dwemer in Skyrim, an artifact of that great importance to the Dwemers' future could surely be kept there?

When I first ran into this place I was SO confused and very weirded out at whatever was heppening when the cage appeared, and the orb of light started circling me.

I think there was a side quest in ESO: Elsweyr, where some strange Nord woman mentions flying whales or some strange shit. I think she was on the Skooma. LOL

you are my go to guy for Fallout and Skyrim lore. I know I can always read up on the lore but waht's the fun in that when I can watch your videos that make the lore so clear.

8 years and there’s STILL stuff to explore.

I definitely think this place wasn't used to store the mecha, it's too small and there is no place for it to leave or enter

How can you still be finding content from skyrim. I wouldn’t even think all this information exist

I really imagine the whales in the "music city", since whales are well known for their sing Maybe the whales were kinda masters of tonal magic, just as dragons are masters of the voice (even there would have been pretty logic that nords annihilate the whales, they were in "competition" with the dragons they worshipped)

Kagrenzel scared the hell out of me three separate times when I first found it. First, when the cage suddenly shot up around me. Second, when that damn SCREECHING began. And finally, when the floor turned over and I fell for what felt like forever. Like I swear, that drop has to be as deep as the Throat of the World is tall, it's ridiculous.

What if the Dwemer was taken back in time where no other elves or nords lived in Tamriel yet? It isn't a far-fetch because no one knew how the Dwarves got in Tamriel even before the snow-elves or nords came. And in the process they lost all their knowledge so they work hard again just to end up in the same fate, vanishing again and again like a timeloop.

at this point im waiting for nate to do a fallout and skyrim play through. there is no way he cant do it after all of these

I absolutely love the mystery behind the Dwemer, and I love the way you investigate and come to these conclusions, that I like to believe are very close to the truth. I honestly hope the mystery of the Dwemer is never solved just to keep watching your videos.

Fun bit. This quest can potentially be involved in the “retrieve dwarven schematics” quest given by Sorine in the dawnguard as a radiant location. The schematic being located at top of the waterfall in Stony Creek cave (the quest marker will direct you to Stony Creek and not this ruin. Which, from stony creek is unreachable without some Whirlwind Sprint cheese.)

Last time I was this early the Dwemer were still around

This is exactly the video I wanted. No, really. I was also really curious about this place, but would have never guessed about the Dwemer language, and I'm not quite well-versed enough in lore to remember the scientist in question. Though I did know about the Numidium. That's kinda hard to forget.

Perhaps the bones in Kagrenzel were the bones of Lorkhan. After all, the gods cast the heart to Nirn, Lorkhan's flesh was apparently used to create the moons, but his bones are unaccounted for. The depiction of Numidium in Daggerfall had ribs. Anumidium had a skeleton. The bones had to come from somewhere. Perhaps the bones of Lorkhan were cast down to the earth and when the Dwemer found them, they moved them to Red Mountain and began the building of the Brass God.

This and the “Ug Qualtoth” video are my favorite videos you’ve made. Keep up the amazing work.

4:03 THE INFAMOUS "MURDERED TO DEATH" LINE

You should make another mod video

Love the vids m8, maybe consider putting ur most important tags as hashtags in your description helps you navigate the algorithm

Honestly you’re channel is better than pretty much every show and movie on netflix. I could watch you for hours

Yea I can stand by Orby acceptance of the dragonborn’s tonal shout power as a way to let them into the dungeon

Personally I want to see an elder scrolls, where the dwemer (seeing that defeat was imminent) decided to leave for a time to bolster their forces. And then they come back to eliminate the thalmor, and restore the falmer in exchange for their help. And then they become the big bad. I would also like to see them and falmer become playable races... That's just what I want to see

“Tonal Manipulation” ❌ “Supersized Sonic Screwdriver” ✅

Me: Why is there a mod for spawning cliff racers!?! Mehrunes Dagon: MISTAKES HAVE BEEN MADE.

I really hope we find out more about the dwemer in es6, the dwemer and what happened to jyggalag after we took his place in the shivering isles dlc in es4. Skyrim basically confirmed that to be canon at the start of sheos quest, so whatever happened to jyggalag? What happened to the dwarves? Two very important disappearances with zero clear answers.

I find it suspicious how I just rediscovered this ruin in a playthrough.

Finding this place naturally back in 2011 was such a fun experience

I really enjoy your videos, thank you