The Elder Scrolls series of RPG games has its fair share of mysteries, and among the most intriguing is the Dwemer, an ancient race that mysteriously disappeared. The Elder Scrolls Online wanted to shed some light on that story, but Bethesda executive producer Todd Howard wasn’t so keen.
In an interview with Game Informer, Elder Scrolls Online creative director Rich Lambert revealed that the Dwemer was on the MMORPG game‘s drawing board, but the venture was quickly nixed. “We went down the path at one point where we were exploring Dwemer stuff. Everyone wants to know about that, and we wanted to know about it too, and we were digging into that,” Lambert explained, “and Todd kindly reminded us that this was something we will never do, we will never come out and spoil the mystery and the secrets of the Dwemer. But we did explore it just so we had a good idea of how this works.”
The Dwemer were an ancient, elven race in Tamriel, who vanished during the Battle of Red Mountain. Legend has it a Dwemer architect, Kagrenac, found some way to activate and harness the power of the Heart of Lorkhan, an Aedric artifact, during the battle to defend his race. It’s unknown what exactly occurred after, other than all but one of the Dwemer disappearing from Tamriel without a trace.
You do meet one member of the race, Yagrum Bagarn, in Morrowind. He was in another realm when the Heart was used, and got left behind. He’s been looking into what happened, trying to figure out where his people are, but to no avail.
As tantalising a prospect it would be to dive into all of this, for players and Bethesda alike, this is the kind of mythology that’s best left to the imagination. What happened? Make it up for yourself, the mystery is always more exciting than the answer.
Here’s an in-depth explainer on the Dwemer:
This all said, maybe Todd is saving the Dwemer for The Elder Scrolls 6? Don’t count on it, but it makes seeing more of Tamriel all the more intriguing.