It may not be really involved in Skyrim's setting but I'm curious if anyone knows about the current status of the 5 great houses now because there seems to be a lot of contradictions and confusion regarding them...for example House Telvanni is claimed to have been totally destroyed except for the guy in Riften as the only one left.. and yet you have that girl at the college, who has the surname of one of the magisters in Morrowind, speaks of the House Telvanni as if it still exists.

Hlaalu was supposed to have fared the best during Red year and seeing as they started the abolition of slavery they shouldn't have been the target of argonian uprising..unless they just went on indiscriminate killing spree. They also had Mournhold as their main seat and it's also not clear what became of the city.

not sure about the other three.

anyone know the closest thing to official status?

Indoril was for the most part destroyed well before the red year in the civil war shortly before oblivion and redoran was declining. as for post red year i'm not sure, but if i where to speculate i'd bet dres was likely destroyed it being the primary source of slave labor while it was still legal.

Telvanni has I think two surviving Members. One guy lives in Riften (The dude you set up to join the Thieves guild) and the other, is the girl dunmer in the College.

There's also a Hlaalu around Windhelm. Of the Great Houses, I expect Hlaalu fared better than the rest, since they have a lot of Imperial connections.

Redoran is Dead. (Red Year)

Dres is Dead. (Argonian Invasion)

Indoril is Dead. (Pre-Red Year)


For the Most Part, Morrowind society as we knew it no longer exists. It's implied that the Province has just started recovering from the eruption of Mount Vvardenfell.

There are a lot of Hlaalu elves still around, one even owns a farm by Windhelm. Not sure about the rest, though.

IIRC Brelyna mentions having family who sent her to the College, so it's more than just her and Brand-Shei. My guess when it comes to Brelyna and her family though is that they're descended from House Telvanni, but not exactly "members" since the House itself basically ceased to exist with the Argonian invasion.

The implication I've gotten from Skyrim along with The Infernal City / Lord of Souls is that, basically, the Great Houses we knew from the Third Era are gone. Kaput. Scattered. There's descendants all around, such as a few mer with the surname Hlaalu, and there's a few Sarethis (same name as one of the ruling families of Redoran) around as well, but they can't exactly claim membership in a House that doesn't exist anymore. Of the Houses but not in them, if that makes any sense...a bit like the descendants of House Dagoth were in MW, really. (Well...the ones that weren't lurking about in caves, noshing on corprus flesh, that is. )

My guess is we'll see new Great Houses (or smaller clan-sized ones) spring up soon, if there aren't some already. Maybe not in Skyrim, but certainly back in Morrowind and on Solstheim as well.

If you're interested, an unknown poster put this up in the Lore forum. I think everyone is excepting it until more legit evidence comes to light. Very interesting read, anyway.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1361197-pentannual-census-of-the-houses-of-morrowind-post-red-year-4e-166/

The feeling from Lord of Souls was that there are still tons of dunmer around who are descendants of great houses, so when its said the houses were destroyed, its not that they were killed to the last man - its just no one cares about the houses anymore. Even that was 160 years before Skyrim, so they'll care even less now.

I believe that Necrom survived the Red Year and is still and forever maintained by the Indoril.

I know that only two members of House Telvanni exist in Skyrim. Whether their elders are alive and kicking is not known.

There's a http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1361197-pentannual-census-of-the-houses-of-morrowind-post-red-year-4e-166/ in the lore forum about this.

Alas, the great houses are all but destroyed, save for a few exiles.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1361197-pentannual-census-of-the-houses-of-morrowind-post-red-year-4e-166/ is a nice read on the topic.

-Remember Redoran, Never Forget-