Alduin was going to eat back down to the Dawn Era and Dagon was going to stomp us back there. In Daggerfall we brought it into the present for a couple hours. Seems a little big for a DLC.

As for the skyforge... If it were a volcano creating the heat then wouldnt the the Underforge be inhospitable ? Going into it I would assume, would make for a very unplessant outcome.

If it were Hircine, why the hawk ? Why not a wolf head ?

The water is made weirder by the fact that the skyforge is on the hill. Shouldn't it all be turned to steam?

Lava that makes it to the surface is at 700 to 2100 degrees F, hot enough for most metal work at a forge. However, it would tricky to build anything on top of a magma vent, the only thing that would bring enough heat up to the surface that is not going to spew lava like a cone would. It could be possible the Skyforge's heat is sourced from the ground, but there has to be another reason for it.

Maybe theres a connection to Oblivion, the plane not game
Or maybe theres a divine artifact buried in/under the forge.

I don't know the exact timeline, but could this not have happened after Paarthurnax joined the Nords side, seeing how casually he spoke of it I assumed this was the case and that he could move about quite freely. Also, Dragon's and secret passages/tunnels really don't fit.

Whiterun may have had a dragon trapped there more than once. The dragon still lives even though it is trapped beneath Dragonsreach so why couldn't it's breath be the fuel that gives the Skyforge its power?

Skyrim is littered with caves. These caves had to be made somehow and since water is usually the main cause of cave systems, these underground streams making them would undoubtedly come to the surface at some point. It would make sense for anyone to build a town on or near a water source in an arid region.

Water most certainly can cut through rock, this is how Niagara falls was created, by an ancient river cutting through bedrock 10's of thousands of years ago. Also, the Grand canyon in the US was formed by an ancient river many,many,many years ago, you can see the erosion lines through out the canyon walls. Glaciers will also cause water to cut through rock due to the immense pressure caused by the glacier pushing down on the water flowing under it. This in it's self can create some amazing " weird" water sources, there is a pond called "dead man's pond" here home that was created when glaciers covered Canada which is very,very deep but it sits atop a rather large hill ( some may call it a small mountain ).

IMO Skyrim's land scape looks to have been shaped by glaciers, which leads me to believe that glaciers would be responsible for creating an esker or a glacial pond/lake under Dragon's reach. Or it could have been natural under ground springs, or rivers that where exposed by a passing glacier and was covered back over by glacial deposits, you would be surprised the amazing thing nature is capable of creating.

The existence of the underforge (and it's nature...) is interesting.

Illustrations of Hircine are often accompanied by predatory birds, and the skyforge has an enormous eagle stuck on top of it.

Could jorrvaskr and the skyforge have originally been a shrine to Hircine? Is the skyforge daedric?

This, the water seeps into the ground in the Mountain regions, follows the geology and rises as many springs in the Valley.

This. The Underforge was built to hold Hircine's totems.

THANK YOU.
I was about to point that out myself - the skyforge CANNOT be heated by some volcanic vent.

Also: there's no way the several large volume streams coming out of Whiterun are artesian. Simply impossible, because of physics, geology and simple gravity.

Do we know the skyforge don't require coal like an standard forge? You don't have to feed the standard forge or the smelters in the game anyway.

Water flow from the Whiterun streams is pretty limited. as streams and rivers go. perhaps 100 liter/ second or around that. I also doubt it's entirely natural guess they drilled an well down from the castle on the top, this would be useful in an siege. They got far down using magic or Dwemer technology and found an underground water layer below the Whiterun plateau.
This layer is under pressure like an oil well and is resupplied by water from the mountain to the north or something.

My 2 cents dollars: The skyforge was named the skyforge because it was the closest to the cloud district and higher into the sky, also the bird helps with the name.
The air has richer oxygen (Just go with it) and makes stronger steel.

As with the weird sewer/water system..
Mages? Even the water system confuses me.

EDIT:
I like this idea..

EUREKA! I'VE FOUND IT!!!!

"Songs Of The Return", volume 7.

The snow elves that are captives of Ygsgramor relate to him that they are terrified of the skyforge, and that it is so old, it PREDATES THE HEART OF LORKHAN.


WWWWHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAA, THAT IS COOL!!!!!!!

So it has something to do with the Heart of Lorkhan? I am confused...

Nope.

It was created by the Gods and BEFORE LORKHAN HAD HIS HEART TORN OUT.

That means it is oooooooooooooooooooooooooooold. And it also means that something else was going on in the area where Whiterun is now before ANYONE - even the snow elves or the dwemer - were there.

Could be magic too... You guys are making assumptions mostly as though this was a forge in the real world. It's a game, in a realm where there are many supernatural forces, any one of which could be responsible for the forge without further explanation.

Come to think of it: the hawk sculpture is extremely well preserved for being so old. It should have been worn down by weather and wind. Or is it newer? I guess it could have been replaced or restorated. In other case, it's definitely proof that there is magic involved.

This is a simply awesome thread. This is why this is such a great game/series. I love the speculation and theories on everything. I like mystery. There should be one huge Elder Scrolls Encyclopedia book available created by fans constructed from lore etc;

MAGIC

The Nords have been crafting great weapons in the Skyforge since before recorded history. The air in the bellows become the breath of Kyne herself. It is an open-air chapel and the anvil is an altar.

Once you fill up an underground chamber that has alternate outlets at the top of the chamber, where does the water go if it is being fed from a mountain? Gravity would actually account for it, the source only needs to be higher than the top of the chamber.

Different rocks erode at a different rate which is why a river often meanders. In an artesian environment, it only requires harder rocks all around to force the water to the surface.

And the waterways for the springs don't necessarily have to be natural, just connected to a higher mountain (Hrothgar, probably). Falmer aquaduct?

There are hints that the Falmer somehow 'built' the mountain in the first place.