I'm probably reading way too much into something innocuous, but while doing some exploring in Blackreach, I kept getting attacked by Human Falmer servants. They didn't seem to be hypnotized or acting at the behest of their masters or anything. They seemed to be attacking out of some real devotion to their masters and I found this oddly fascinating. It has made me think of the Falmer less harshly.

The Falmer have a fully fleshed out society.
They use language, farm mushrooms and chaurus, they build and make all sorts of things, use alchemy and magic etc. etc.
I have found they use spiders and humans to feed the chaurus, on which they rely for building materials.
(you can often find chaurus eggs in a Falmer spider lair and dead people in a Chaurus pen.)
No doubt they are clever.
They just arent very friendly to topsiders.

When it comes to their pacified human servants and maybe also the chaurus, I have thought it is possible that they use the same addictive mushrooms on them as the Dwemer did on the Falmer.
Its possible that this is why chaurus dont attack them and the humans dont try to escape.

I understand them just fine. They're nasty hard-to-kill unpleasant little buggers. I mean even Foresworn will occasionally deal with outsiders. Falmer? They just wallow in bitterness and self-pity.

Actually, I think it's more likely to be fear. Humans hunted them to near extinction, elves destroyed their sight, body, minds and culture. They're savage, fearful creatures. Pitiful, but still dangerous.

Can you blame them? The Falmer, were once called Snow Elves. According to Tamerial history, they were a peaceful race. When the Nords came into the Skyrim lands, they started killing the Snow Elves. The elves had no choice but to fight back, sadly, they were overwhelmed and the only chance for surrival was going underground.

They made an alliance of sorts with the Dwemer who turned around and betrayed them. The Dwemer poisoned the Snow Elves to be more compliance and the two worst parts about the poison were the Snow Elves needed it to survive and the effects would pass on to their children and their children’s children.

The Snow Elves did not like being betrayed and rose up against the Dwemer, this war went on for some time without the surface people knowing it was going on at all. Then one day the war stopped because the Dwemer vanished.

They were forced out of their surface home and there last refuge turned out to be their damnation not their salvation. The race was trying to survive and all they received in returned was betrayal. They have known nothing but hate for surface dwellers for centuries, while I do feel sorry for them, I refuse not to kill them because there vile creatures who have become the very essence of their own hatred.

False, nords and snow elves lived peacfully beside eachother but the elves got paranoid and committed mass human genocide in the night of tears, this pissed off the humans so Ysgramor left and came back from Atmora with some buddies and kicked the elves but. They had it comming.

Hmm, strange, maybe I misunderstood, but I swore I ran into a few NPCs that said what I said. Oh well, however it happened, it happened.

Here is a more in-depth explanation from the ES wiki if you are interested

Saweet! Thank you so much!

Once you generalize something or make it into a modern boogey-man then you become nothing better than it, itself.
The falmer I think are generally trying to send out a message when they attack people, to say "this is our territory, you've had your warning, so go away."
Or they are looking for a better, more steady and reliable food resource so as to feed chaurus with. Humans would look to be perfect for this.

But I believe if someone actually took the time to understand the falmer culture and language, they could bring new understanding to skyrim's populace.
Perhaps even alliances and cultural reform for the falmer could be made. Untill then however, don't butcher a race because of not fully understood actions.


Paranoid? no. It is heavily implied in the College of Winterhold questline that the falmer found out about the Eye of Magnus within Saarthal, the nord capital.
And performed the Night of Tears to get at this hidden gem of power, but only for them to be fooled by nord ingenuity- as it seems they might of not spotted
the little walled entrance trick to gaining access to the tomb. But this all was a clash of tradition: the elves were sophisticated and likely wanted to harness
the Eye's power to use to their own ends. The nords on the other hand looked to bury it deeply within the earth, to keep the 'bad mojo' from the light of day.

If those nords are anything like the present day nords, then I'm not surprised.

I know that, its right in the bit I quoted in my last topic, you could actually pay attention and read the comments :/

In hindsight the Nords were right. The Eye is powerful and if left to be controlled (especially by the Elves) it could and most likely would lead to abuse. Just as soon as it's dug up in Saarthal and taken back to Winterhold, what's the first thing that happens? Power hungry Elf goes after it and uses it to kill people.


Of course the Psijic Order have it now but who knows what will happen there.

Very true. Are Falmer misunderstood? Nope. Are they the victims of their ancestors stupidity? Absolutely.

Falmer used to be Snow Elves, the original native Aldmeri which occupied Skyrim before the first humans immigrated from Atmora to Skyrim in Tamriel

The Snow Elves initially accepted the first Atmoran immigrants into Skyrim. For several centuries Man and Mer coexisted peacefully.

Until the Aldmeri began to notice how poorly the human race was being assimilated in Skyrim (and throughout Tamriel).

They became alarmed at the fact humans were reproducing at significantly faster rates relative to the Mer. The human settlers also tended to be xenophobic, (aka prejudicial about accepting cultures that were not their own).

This sort prejudicial bias was especially true of those human descendants who chose to remain in Skyrim. These Nord ancestors were the most culturally egocentric of humans in Tamriel. They were the most resistant to any cultural assimilation or integration attempts by the Elves--a prejudicial view which persists in Skyrim to this day. This xenophobic attitude had a lot to do with Skyrim's close proximity to the Atmora mainland (which is to the immediate north of Skyrim).

The Aldmeri across Tamriel grew increasingly alarmed by human irreverence for Mer culture or customs. Particulary about their exploding population growth. They feared the power balance across Tamriel was shifting in favor of the humans. In Skyrim, the King of the Snow Elves --aka the Snow Prince--became the most alarmed of all the Elven leaders.

One night, the Snow King gave into his paranoia and attempted complete genocide of mankind in Skyrim. His psychotic murder spree nearly succeeded in annihilating the human race in Skyrim. All save 3 humans: Ysgramor and his two sons.

Swearing revenge, Ysgramor escaped and fled to Atmora. He gathered his legendary 500 companions, returned to Tamriel, and started Armageddon in Skyrim. The Snow Elven King was killed in the Battle of Moesring Mountain in Solstheim (near Morrowind border) http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Bloodmoon:Moesring_Mountains His defeat scattered the Snow Elves all across Skyrim and as far as Solstheim. Ysgramor and his companions proceeded to purge Skyrim of all Snow Elves. Most of the Elves who survived this massacre fled underground and sought help from their cousins the Dwemer. Big mistake.

The Snow Elves were doubly screwed by their Dwemer kinsmen. First they were tricked into eating poisonous mushrooms and becoming blind. This turned out to be a hereditary condition. Then their Dwemer kinsmen decided add insult to injury by enslaving them. After centuries of abuse, the Snow Elves lost their Elven identity and degenerated into the souless creatures known as Falmer.

To their credit, the Falmer eventually rebelled in a major subterranean war. They overthrew their Dwemer masters and fled deep into the Blackreach. The rest is history.

The wretched degenerate creatures you get the misfortune of meeting centuries later in Blackreach (and in Morrowind) is what's left of this once proud and noble Aldmeri race. Which is really too bad. From the TG quest line, their King was actually a rather handsome looking chap for an Aldmeri.

Bad Karma payback can be a real b*.itch. Especially since the victors get to write history.

Nord version of why the Falmer svck http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Fall_of_the_Snow_Prince

Also if you played Morrowind, you get a quest in Bloodmoon that gives you an Easter Egg of what was to come in Skyrim here http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Bloodmoon:In_Search_of_the_Falmer

The quest leads you to the Snow Prince's final resting place in the Moesring Mountains, where he met his most sorry and anticlimactic end.

I did not spot your quote when scrolling down. But I have the habit of usually quoting early and replying much later, so I could of skipped that post you made.