I know most people who are familiar with the Lore of the Elder Scrolls will already know this, but by reading some of the comments left in the threads since the Dawnguard picture was released, I'm getting the impression that there needs to be a minor Lore clarification.

People are talking about the Falmer, the Snow Elves, and the Snow Prince as if they're all separate races of Mer... such is not so.

The Falmer are the Snow elves, and the Snow Prince is a Falmer. Just like all of the High Elves are Altmer, and all of the Dark Elves are Dunmer; all of the Snow Elves are Falmer.

Here, follow this link. http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Falmer


It explains that the Falmer were once a very proud, noble, powerful race of Mer like the Altmer, whose lands stretched from all of Skyrim to include the Island of Solstheim. They had pure white skin, and a slight covering of frost over that. The Falmer once controlled all of the lands consisting of Skyrim and the Island of Solstheim. Their southern border was made by the border with the Ayleid Empire, and southeastern by the Dwemer lands.

The Snow Elves are the Falmer, and the Snow Prince (the greatest of all Falmer) fell and was buried on the island of Solstheim where his tomb still stands today.

Whether or not the DLC has the Falmer reverting back to their pre-Dwemer-enslavement-blinding days, whether they become a playable Race of Mer or still stay enemies, doesn't matter.

I just wanted the misconception that the Snow Elves and the Falmer are two different races to cease. lol

I've been trying to explain this to people on tumblr, & to my friends since Skyrim came out. Some people seem to think if you change somethings name, that makes it something different.

The Falmer are probably my favorite race in the entire game. I would die if they became a playable race.
Or even if Danwguard was just about the Snow Prince.

The way I normally explain it is Snow elf = falmer, just like dark elf = dunmer.

It would of been quite a nice touch to see that the people they kidnap(and seemingly experiment on?), have had their eyes removed. Perhaps in a rather unscientific attempt to restore they're own vision. Plus how the character in the released DLC picture has glowing eyes, just seems weird to me.

lol i would get annoyed when i would read a comment that was like "omg the snow elves are going to be in the dlc and the snow prince too omg omg omg" and im just like, the snow elves have been in the game the entire time

When people talk about Snow Elves in the dlc thread, they are usually referring to the old Falmer, while the term Falmer is used to refer to the present day Falmer. It helps avoid confusion.

Snow elf, dark elf, wood elf, and high elf, is what the barbaric Nedes refer various mer races as. That's what happens when Tamrielic language happens to be their second language.

I still think its way to bright in the dwemer caves and building for something to lose its eyes and become that mutated through simple evolution. Maybe it has something to do with what happened to the dwemer.

The Snow Elves gets cured and take back their land?
Nah.. Well The DLC is something about the snow prince we dont know anything,but why else was it added in the update,And i am just wondering,why was it added? And how did someone find it?

Yea i noticed people used the term Falmer as if the blind-ones were a different species from the Snow Elves

I think the Dwemer poisoned them with something that made them go blind.

Poisonous fungal mushrooms...common lore

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that the dwemer fed them poisonous mushrooms that wrecked their nervous systems, & blinded them.
And then used some weird eugenics program to breed the blindness, & neural degeneration in.

M'aiq knows why Falmer are blind. It has nothing to do with the Dwemer disappearing. Really.

Sorry, but snow elves and falmer are definetily NOT the same.

Falmer are underground blind freaks. Snow elves were above ground civilized folk with a vicious streak of genocide and racism.

The falmer EVOLVED from the Snow Elves, but it's clear that they are NOT the same species. Environmental pressures have caused a genomic divergence.

This is the epitome of Tamrielic language ignorance, Falmer is term used by the elves to describe snow elves and snow elf is term loosely invented by the Imperial or men in general. They both point to the same thing.

Thank you for posting this! It's like saying Argonians would he Kajiit if they weren't hatched

So what if I don't know the lore by heart?
In fact, your statement is purely diversionary. The 'falmer' in skyrim are the blind underground freaks. Snow elves are going to be VERY different than that in the DLC.

Two genetically unrelated species.
Falmer and Snow Elves are genetically related. But clearly different.

They were still called Falmer when they were still Snow Elves.

Yet the 'falmer' of the first era were genetically different from the 'falmer' of the 4th era.

I think the name distinction is useful.

This is stating that Falmor and Snow elves ARE the same race. It is to make it clear for people who think they're difference races. Correct? Or am Iost...?

Who cares! Theyre gonna be awesome

they went blind because of what the dwemer forced the falmer to eat

oh wow so you know something about the DLC that everybody else doesn't? please share with us what you know chosen one

the current falmer may very well be different from the falmer back then in terms of genetics, years of living in a different habitat can do that, but it doesn't change the fact that the words "falmer" and "snow elves" describe the exact same creature, I can call the blind underground falmer snow elves just as much as I can call the snow elves from long ago falmer,

yes some people use the terms to differentiate the race over the different times, but the words are synonymous and they both indicate the same race, time is irrelevant because they were called falmer snow elves a long time before they lost their eyes.