The Falmer, formerly called the Snow Elves, lived above ground and were eradicated in war against the Nords. SOME books seem to say they allied with the Dwemer (who by some account should already have been gone from the world, and maybe only the world as we knew it since Skyrim was a place where Nords came from but not a place we'd been or knew much about before this release) who betrayed them. They're diseased and part of the disease was to make them blind. They've been belowground for so long that they've adapted in addition to the changes to their bodies to be able to hear, smell and even taste better than they did before.

You're seeing them make noises in one direction and track you because they likely do use some form of echolocation like bats... and they're still not going to be able to take over the world or be "tamed" into helping us in our fight against the Thalmor. I'm pretty sure if it moves and wasn't with them before the fight started that the Falmer kill it, end of. I've found dead Falmer in caves where only Falmer are, as if to suggest they even kill eachother.

And yeah, there's a cart outside of Dragon Bridge and down to the junction where you can find Falmer arrows and an obvious looting scene. They're definately venturing above ground.

A guard at Whiterun will give you a quest to go investigate if you don't get the radiant quest from the Companions. He says he saw the ugliest little creature outside that cave that he's ever seen. Charus?

anyway... yeah... I don't think they're a reliable resource. I think they'd like us all to go home now and we're not going, so... we'll slowly wipe them out one cave settlement at a time until there aren't enough of them to repopulate.

btw... anyone seen YOUNG Falmer? or GIRL Falmer? just a curiosity.

My current character cuts down Draugr Death Lords without breaking a sweat. Dragons and Giants are a minor nuissance. Bandits and necromancers are brushed aside while I eat my lunch. I thought I was invulnerable, ... until I was ambushed by a party of Falmer. Nasty beasts.

Sounds boring as hell playing the game like that IMO. I did this on my first play through, then stopped after a few hours.

Falmer Shadowmasters will kill any follower I bring along.

Well, the fact that they have survived this long says they have conquered that little problem.

they are mer, so they do have a base two hundred years or so (give or take depending on how powerful they really are) which menas they don't really have to reproduce that much. Not compared to men at least.

A Falmer invasion of the surface world might be a cool topic for an expansion or a mod. They can conduct raids on settlements, killing or dragging back victims in the night and leaving the Charus to guard their caves, ruins, and hideaways by day.

Ultimately, you would be tasked to find whoever is leading them, only to discover that one (or maybe more, perhaps a small conclave) of normal, unaffected Snow Elves still exist and are coordinating the attacks and commanding the others. The final fight, or even some of the final missions, could have you fighting full Falmer elves, full of hatred for surfacers and ruthlessly efficient as fighters. It would culminate in a speech by the Falmer commander, who explains that he believes the world above still belongs to the Falmer as their ancestral lands and expanding to the surface to live may be the only way for his people to return to their original state.

Ehh, not for me it wouldn't but we all have our own niches. Thats ones just not for me though. Falmer had potential to be far more than these Desent wannabees with swords and bows. However, their just beasts now.

I know that they really want to kill Nords because of the past. But you guys are right. It was been like 1000 years, the Falmer are other creatures from the snow elfs. Perhaps they just see us as food or as animals. But i know, they kill surface creatures for some reason. We can see tons of humans skeletons on their houses also i saw bodys on the cave.

They Dwemer met the falmer and acted all hospitable and nice but then they trapped and forced the falmer into slavery (I think that's what happened, given my current level of information)

Man and mer skelletons have no differences save for height really. Theres no way of knowing if those are really human bones and not other Falmer.

This sounds brilliant, would be a fantastic DLC. They don't seem organised at all when you look at them, maybe they will take the surface by surprise with planning etc. The use of their domesticated animals, giant spiders and chaurus, could be a big help.

I suppose a lore nazi will come and discredit this though.

Well, logically it doesn't make sense for there to be any normal ones left. It was their seclusion, enslavement, inbreeding and moss addiction that turned them. There would have to be a steady supply of non-related mer to breed with. You don't gotta be a 'lore' nazi for that. Falmer are a developing thing though since we previously thought them all dead, so who knows where the direction can go.

How long has it been since they were driven underground? Could've been that their leaders could have strongholds deep underground with enough food stores for a few. Breeding may not be necessary depending on how long they live and if they were skilled enough in magic. Divayth Fyr was four thousand years old after all.

Its been since the return of Ysgramore in the mythic era. We've seen thousands of years since then, and Fyr was only alive through necromancy and powerful magic. During the time they were with the Dwenmer were when they were enslaved and doped up on mind dibilitating moss that kept them dossile and easy to control. They didn't origionate underground, they were forced there and into the service of the Dwenmer.

100s of chaurus eggs? what do you think they eat for breakfast?

Falmer? Now if the Nords invent a boom box and radio and broadcast polka music through it the Falmer are hosed.

I would like to see an "Underdark" expansion about a war between the Falmer and the goblins in Cyrodil.

Yeah, I wasn't sure about how many years it had been. I keep thinking that Alduin was last defeated 1000 years ago, which would make Divayth alive at the time, so that could be wrong, maybe it's 10,000 years? It would've taken a lot of preparation for the leaders of the Falmer to build suitable deep ground bases and horde enough normal food while remaining away from the Dwemer and their particular poison mushrooms.

Might be cool for a mod though.

@op No chance, the falmer are hiding in their cave, planning the ambush? The altmer bring it all down. The sonic, bat like hearing? Fus roh dah should theoretically make their head explode, if not completely blow their ears out. Never mind the fact that the surface raids would never happen - they could never get there. Their hearing adapted to allow them to discern prey and their surroundings in total darkness, underground. This type of hearing relies on the echo produced by a sound, if they spent centuries/their lives underground, I would be willing to wager that the never ending deafening roar that the outside world will produce would be almost crippling in effect.

<3

ultrasound? you mean echolocation....

LOL too much quotes to awnser. I will pick one.

This is also a prove that a blast of a fireball from a shadowmaster can take down a giant. Or a poisoned arrow from any Falmer could take down normal soldiers. Yeah on LORE, Imperial as well as Thalmor soldiers are well trained and capble of fighting. And of course the numbers in LORE goes to the tens of thousands and the cities such as Windhelm are much more bigger. As well as the Falmer numbers.

If wee see on LORE point of view, The Falmers would use range atacks. As you said. An arrow in the throat of anyone would kill the person instantly. Imagine hundreds of arrows falling from the sky at night while waves of spiders and Charus climb the cities walls and sewers.

I don't know about their numbers, probaly something like goblins in LOTR. Their reproducion coulds till be low tought. But it was been like a thousand years. Thery are not Snow elfs anymore. Their reproduction could be entirely diferent.

And bout the Charus, they are highly capble of taking down numberous numbers of soldiers. The Falmer use their skin to make weapons and armor! We are talking about 5x-6x times the armor of a shadow master on a creature much bigger as well deadly. They are small tanks.

Edit: Their arrows as well weapons deal a nice damage in game. The arrows are one of the best you can use. So the Charus mounth can easily cut trough skin.

The Falmer are'n t numerous enough to be a threat. They're pretty close to extinction more than anything.

Nope, i think you are wrong. i was doing another companion quest. I just stop playing Skyrim to tell my new discover. So Vikas telled me to rescue a guy in a cave. The was no problem except that when i fast traveled to the cave there was Falmer fences outside it. As well warnings. The cave was full of glowing mushrooms. That indicates that they still eat those mushrooms. Guarding the cave there was a giant frostbite spider. There was no way to scape from that spider. Because inside the cave there was a lake with waterfall on booth sides. And the spider was guarding the bridge to acess the falmer camp. So she could easily kill a group of bandits using her web. The guy i needed to rescue was getting smashed by a normal Falmer. And he was using elven weapons.

The plains of Whiterhun are full of caves. Some of them with are falmer inside. So they could easily invade Whiterhun by it's sewers at night. Since they build fences and warning outside their caves using human bones they would surely go outside to hunt. And caravans would be an easy prey as well mammoths and giants.

That means they would have to make surprise attacks at night, so a large force that can be spotted is out of the question. even then, if the defenders managed to last the night, the assault would have to be abandoned at day, and the following night they would be more vigilant. also, while i agree that a chaurus can rip you a new one, falmer arrows doing nice damage? seriously? i think that we're playing a different game, since falmer arrows have the lowest damage (exept rusty, which i have yet to find any) even the iron arrows are (slightly) stronger and if you do some barrow-delving, you can get enough nord arrows which damage-wise are on par with steel so that you don't even have to go there!

If your going to go from a LORE perspective then you'd notice that they adapted to the caves, and their hunting and senses are adapted to said cave. In an open field, they would be just as blind as blind could get. They strongly resemble bats and other cave dweling creatures who use sonic waves to pinpoint where their pray is. So LORE wise they would be lost outside their caves and would be easy targets for an army. Now imagine them running out into the field, unable to use sound or anything to locate where the enemy is. At that, imagine the shear noise of battle and how it would utterly confuse and destroy them. Theres no way they would be able to attack the surface world, their advantage lays underground, but above ground their dead.

But in LORE terms they are already walking around the surface, at night of course. But anyway they could try to adapt right? Since they show sings of inteligence like writing and read. They could learn how to fight on the day light. Or as i said, send the dogs for them. In the real world, with time the humans learned how to walk in the night, using fire. The same can be aplied to the Falmer. They just need time.