The fact that Elder Scrolls lore is deep enough or detailed enough that we can theorize about the plate tectonics, geology and such is one of the reasons I adore these games.

I wonder if skyrim geology kinda making sense sometimes is a result of deliberate planning or just an effect of unconsciouss knowledge about real world terrain.

something to note is that in-lore, time started on the Isle of Balfiera, trinimac ripped out lorkhan's heart, gave it to Auri-El, who knocked it on his bow, and shot it across the sky, and we all know red mountain formed around where it landed, but whats more obscure is that as the heart flew through the sky, its blood fell upon the land, and that blood crystalized into Ebony. Which is why you see ebony deposits going in that straight line

Tbf, the Dawn era could be eons long, so there's no telling how old Nirn really is.

To be fair, in the lore it's pretty heavily implied that ebony is the crystalized blood of Lorkhan, which is why so much of it is around Red Mountain, because that's where his heart landed. It being on top of the Throat of the World is probably a subtle indication that it scraped the heart on the way down because its so tall.

I'm a geology student and a TES lore enthusiast, this video felt like it was tailor made for me! It was really good, thank you very much, hope it brings you good results.

I've seen a a different video that mentioned that Skyrim lacks evidence of glaciation that exists in similar regions on Earth. If we dismiss the idea that Nirn is only 7000-15000 years old, this can easily be explained that unlike Earth, Nirn has not recently exited an ice age. In fact, the lore suggests Nirn is actually entering an ice age given that the climate has been stated to get colder such that the continent of Atmora had been rendered uninhabitable.

The age of mythology background music is deeply appreciated

Ebony is Lorian's blood, I'd say the ebony on the thought of the world is from when his heart was shot across the sky and some drops landed there, a sit is right at the surface

Another episode of stuff that you would never need to know or apply it to real life but find fascinating for some reason

Solthesteim was part of skyrims land and it was torn from it when miraak and vahlok the jailer fought .It was said that their battle was so intense that the explosions from their spells ripped solthesteim from skyrims mainland.

In addition to Nirn's structure and makeup: Nirn's age isn't quantifiable, as its creation spanned sometime within the Dawn Era, which is described as several thousands of dragon breaks happening at once, up until the War of the Ehlnofey. Side note: time only began to be traceable the moment Convention happened, aka the beating of the drum/the expelling of the heart of lorkhan/the council of Adamantia. Within the Dawn Era, Nirn went through many different forms and was made up of many different things that either still exist or don't any longer. On top of that, the "Earth Bones" mentioned in different parts of mythohistory are quite literally bones; or rather the internal structure of the world made from the corpses of a number of Et'ada. The Ehlnofey are also one form of these Earth Bones, remnants of the primeval gods. Ebony is the blood of the missing god Himself, which is why you can only find veins of it across where the arc ought to have shot when Trinimac fired Lorkhan's heart into the Eastern Sea. On Towers: Most towers act as symbols-turned-keystones, or rather, as spokes to a wheel. Most towers we know of were crafted by mortal (Merish) hands, and others were venerated as acts of the gods, or rather their predessesors. Snow Throat, the Throat of the World, is one such venerated tower. In mythohistory, it is said to be where the first Nords were formed by Kyne's breath, making it not only connected to the Ancient Falmer, but the Atmorans/Nords as well (hence why it is also seen as a homecoming for them, not a discovery of Tamriel). An example for a mortally-structured Tower is Crystal-like-Law on the Island of Alinor in the Summerset Isles, built by the ancient Elves. Each Tower serves a purpose especially designed in mind by who it was meant for. Crystal-like-Law is used mostly in the attaining of Dracochrysalis, one of the Six Walking Ways (toward Apotheosis). Others hold more symbolic meaning, such as Red Mountain, seen as the culmination of the hardship the Chimer were meant to endure as demanded by the Three Good Daedra/Anticipations (Azura, Boethiah, and Mephala). None of this is meant to deride your video, but I wanted to clarify some open-ended statements made in the video. Overall, it's another fascinating view on what could be seen as how everything could have been formed.

Waiting for one of the Devs to come out for an interview and get bombarded with Geological questions.

This video and the one about weather systems show that there's a lot more thought put into Skyrim than people realize.

No joke I completely forgot about geological rifting and was mad for a long time that the reach wasn't called the rift... cause, yanno, canyons. Thank you for helping me put the pieces together

I have been personally working on a somewhat speculative "larger" Tamriel Map, where it is sized-up to somewhat akin to how Daggerfall was. Something I think could be interesting is that instead of a tectonic break-up; Auridon and some nearby islands are instead on a Geologic Hotspot; similar to Japan, Taiwan and the Phillipines. Whilst we have no real image of Pyandonea, it seems people generally agree it is Crescent Shaped. Which could further indicate that it is along a Fault Line with Auridon; dependent on how close or far it is from Tamriel

The little details that many miss, like this, weather, the night sky etc. are part of the reason why Skyrim has such a real feel to it. This shows how much thought they put into the environment.

Remember that mission about Aetherium and ends in subterranean dvarven forge under the Rift? I think you can use their ruins as point of reference not only because they search for ore but becase they use geothermical energy to power their citys and forges

I've been watching a lot of fudgemuppet and used to the serious tone when listening to skyrim lore so when I found this channel not only did I burst out laughing sometimes but actually learned, really like the format and vibes 😂🤣💪

Me about to marry the love of my life: checks phone "shit, gotta go, new leftoverPat lore video"

You said the Ehlnofey arrived on a nirn similar to the current. However, I seem to recall massive landmasses being sunk in the war between Wandering and Old. This is entirely plausible taking into account Yokuda as well as Vahlok and Miraak splitting of Solstheim.

Ive had little interest in geology but you explained it in a both simple yet complex way that it really drew me into the speculations! awesome video 10/10!

Fantastic, I'll be eagerly waiting

"I won't talk about everything." Please do talk about everything.

Never imagined the geology of Skyrim (let alone the Elder Scrolls) would be so intricate! Thank you for enlightening me! Definitely worth the wait mate 👍

So good Pat. Makes my day everytime you drop a video. I’d watch any of your videos even if it was on an entirely different subject. Your presenting style is really clear, script is well written, and your editing is smooth. Thank you!

IIRC there is a loading screen that says the steam and unstable ground in the Rift is caused by the degrading, massive steam conduit and power systems from the underground Dwemer ruins in the region that have fallen into disrepair from not being properly maintained. Although, that doesn't account for the lack of steam cracks around other Dwemer ruins in similar states of deterioration

Many years after the game came out and Bethesda's details still impresses me

The return of the king

People say Skyrim is shallow compared to the older Elder Scrolls games, but it's still an Elder Scrolls game, so you know there's lore details in every pixel of grass.

Another amazing video about something that I literally would never think about yet makes so much sense! I'm intrigued to know what's up with those rocks that glow blue in Blackreach. They're meant to be made of aetherium I believe, but then what even is aetherium? Is it literally from aetherius? Why is it only found underground? Why does it seem to make random geode veins grow around it too? And has it always been there or did the Dwemer somehow cultivise the aetherium using some crazy ancient knowledge hidden in one of their lexicons? Great video anyway!

I always thought Eastmarch was an impact crater, but this makes more sense. Thanks for the vid

The fact that if this was shown in science class and ALOT of students would take away real facts away from this than a normal class is both impressive and scary

I'm a little bit in awe of you and how much information you get into a short video. You are so impressive

That is a great point about Eastmarch being once in the way of a hot spot. The dragon lair in the middle of it is literally a caldera. Now about the hot springs and those circular colorful platforms... I think there are similar formations in Nevada and Utah. Also, can you check out Greenshadow Cave? The cave with lots of flora & fauna and a huge cliff in the middle of it (idk how to geologically explain it, Huge ancient stalagmite?) Anyways Great video!

Skyrim geology? I'm still caught up on the physics phenomenon brought about by giants pushing players to escape velocity with one swing.

As someone with geology BS working towards a volcanology master’s degree I approve this message everything he said is spot on

My favourite part about learning video game lore is that, bizarrely, it teaches you a lot about the real world as well.

These are the kinds of videos they need to show on school to get people interested in stuff like this.

Never would have thought that I’d be watching a video on video game geology, and enjoy it! Thanks for the vid :)

I love this shit way too much. Keep it up, even if you don't see immediate viewership results.

I can't believe this only has 23000 views! You deserve so much more!!

First time seeing your channel and you had me at "let's rock." LOL Oh I love puns.

Some more musings on stuff: For the idea of the eastmarch-rift hotsprings being a caldera of a volcano, I would say it's probably more plausible than it might seem. Although popular culture often has calderas being formed by volcanoes blowing their tops off, it can also happen through a volcano's magma chamber running out of magma and collapsing. Getting into bigger volcanic features it's pretty easy to see - I'd say the most obvious example is Olympus Mons on Mars, where you can easily see the various parts of it that have collapsed as the magma emptied out of the volcano's peak. I do think that it conflicts a bit with the hotspot idea though. Even if the volcano moves on, the ore will still stay around. It might even get better exposed as the topsoil of mountains erodes away. It would also take a bit of a stretch of imagination to consider how the hotspot would make all of Vvardenfell, but hardly show up as anything going back to the Jeralls/Bruma. I'm surprised you didn't mention Solstheim more in depth here - the quote about solstheim having been connected to Skyrim in years bygone is quite an interesting one and actually has some interesting parallels to real life events. First I should mention that it could totally make sense that Solstheim used to have a land bridge of sorts - smaller eroded volcanoes or the like. With active volcanos near the surface, it's common for them to spend a whole lot of time forming new islands and then the sea eroding them away, only to repeat over and over again. Some neat examples include Ferdinandea island in the Mediterranean and Jolnir around Iceland. Maybe some seamouns in the strait formed small ash islands that eroded away after a few decades? lastly, the Throat of the World is definitely volcanic of some sort. All mountains will either form through geological uplift or as volcanoes, but geological uplift won't just make one single mountain, it'll make a whole mountain range along the stress point (like the Jeralls or the Velothi mountains). The fact that the Throat of the World suddenly pokes up, clearly surpassing all of the other mountains in the area, definitely suggests that it probably was a volcano. And based on its very steep profile, I think we could also conclude that it was a very explosive one too - calm lava-flow-creating volcanos tend to be a lot flatter. Also, explosive volcanos tend to be part of tectonic areas near mountains made through geological uplift, which explains why the Throat of the World is so close to the Jeralls. For some closing thoughts: It definitely doesn't seem like geological thoroughness was put as a forefront in the design of Tamriel. They designed an interesting and diverse fantasy world first and foremost, and at best just put some hints alluding to geology inside of it. And I think that even makes sense from a lore view. Tamriel was created by the Et'Ada as a fusion of ideas, of concepts and themes - divine beings certainly, but still finite. It makes sense that they would create a world rife with the suggestion of, the themes of tectonic power and volcanism and geologic plates, but not go to the depth of seriously simulating these to exhaustion. Tamriel is a geologically young world - and there's no reason to think that given enough time it would not eventually begin to become more 'realistic' looking - but for now it remains this fusion of concepts, this allusion to memories of geology by the godhead, and a very interesting place to explore and ponder.

So in this one, we learn about geology. If only my geology class back in high school had this kind of video to introduce geology. This kind of video is what makes people interested in learning new topics!

Dude I just found this dudes channel on my recommendations, underrated stuff!

This is fucking insanity. The lore in The Elder scrolls is so in depth that theres something like this.

Ores are clearly made from high concentrations of magika forming around gems that Sheogorath hid around Nirn for a treasure hunt but he stopped after Mehrun’s Dagon was too impatient and started too early.

Love the use of a track from Age of Mythology.

AOM soundtrack is bussin, mad respect bruv

Something worth noting is the abundance of birch trees in the Rift. Birch trees thrive in more acidic soils, which volcanic soil tends to be. A small (and very beautiful) piece of further evidence.

The epic Nate 315 when he writes another tiny details you may have missed part 1987 video after seeing yours: “write that down, write that down”

I've never looked at Skyrim through a scientific lense but this is actually incredibly interesting

Pog

Developer who named The Rift: "Huh. I didn't know that."

Glad you're back! Loved your videos!

As a geography student, I loved this video lol

Part of the reason why Ebony appears near volcanoes is because according to Elder scrolls lore, it’s basically Lorkhans blood, or at the very least crystallized gods blood, And since his heart sprouted up red mountain… no idea if you covered this Because I haven’t completely finished it yet, but it’s just some thing I figured I’d put. Because why not

I took a geography class JUST to map out Tamriel's tectonics and etc for my mega map project. Seeing you do the same stuff I did, but better, is mindblowing, and I love you for it!

The beginning of your intro song sounds like a John Cena lullaby. Lovely video!

It makes perfect sense, that the White River's water level was much higher in the past, letting Jeek of the river to sail to the spot where Whiterun currently is. Maybe those rapids and waterfalls weren't there at the time, or perhaps the White river did in fact flow more towards the Pale, eventually rerouting towards Eastmarch for whatever reason. The whole Falkreath area may have been underwater at some point in time, too.

It's good to see you again and ready to learn

I'm a very big fan of your videos. Keep them coming!

*Takes out Elven Axe* "You never should have come here!"

I studied Geography at university (based in UK) so a video like this about one of my favourite games of all time is like gold-dust to me! Your video editing, commentary and topics of choice really are top-notch! I'm so shocked you don't have 100k subscribers at least! Seriously, keep at it - one day one of your videos you make (aside from your brilliant race video) will majorly blow up and you'll get the attention and subscribers you deserve! 🙂 Thanks for sharing this with us! 😄

yo im stoned and i love man keep the vids coming pure gold

I should be doing my senior project rn but here I am watching Skyrim geology

This was super interesting. I’m no geologist but I am trying to create a fictional world that blends realism and scientific literature with myth and superstition so you’re videos look super helpful.

Love the "Age of Mythology" soundtrack background :)

The idea of eastmarch being an active volcano (sorry, not a geologist so I don't know if that's quite what I mean, basically at risk of erruption ...) feels narratively interesting to me. The Nords of eastmarch are hostile to the dunmer refugees, perhaps not realising that they're at risk of the same fate.

Always happy to see one of your videos. Cheers.

As a recent Geoscience grad and Skyrim being one of my Special Interests. This is beautifully perfect and I didn't know I needed this. As I have only just found this, idk what all you've done. But you should do BOTW/TOTK! I've been running around looking at the geology and I feel like it looks so good. Like, I focused on geography and human geography with cultures and religions mostly, but a lot of my classes were rock mins and landforms and so I don't know a bunch but damn. I love seeing the geology in Zelda TOTK. And I mostly watch lore and religion videos about Skyrim, but I will Def be looking into the geology now!

Is this guy trying to teach me science while at the same time teaching me about Skyrim funny

Kept us waiting huh? Glad to see another video if yours! Love it as always lol

Another gem! I wish this chanel had more subs

Ok, holy shit I love this. I love skyrim and never even considered geology like this in games. I was entertained, engaged, and learned something new. I love the way you make your content and I don't know how you have so little subs. Thanks for taking my mind of stuff for 10 mins lol you earned yourself a sub.

I thought I was having a dream when I heard the Age of Mythology music background music

Again a video topic I wasn't expecting to be interested in, but here we are. A great video as always!

Who needs school when you have this guy!

That age of mythology music… nice

Dope video, I’m about to look at what else u got. Looks like some promising shit my man

Your little argonian guy is so cute! I want to see what kind of historical adventures he goes on lol

this man really tricked me into a geology lesson, goddamn.

Wanna know what's geologically cool: Skyrim

How tf have i not found u earlier... u my friend have just gained one subscriber :)

I just imagine a fifth-era book recounting the strife in the east after the red mountain undergoes a catastrophic explosive eruption.

Great intro.

...as a geology major and fan of Age of Mythology, I love this

This is the kind of lorebearding we need

There is an alternative in-universe explanation for the trailing pattern of Ebony ore deposits. In Morrowind, it is stated to originate from blood of the gods. The deposits we see at 5:44 are roughly along the path the Heart of Lorkhan travelled from Balfiera when it was thrown into the Red Mountain by Auriel; Vvardenfell has the most ebony because this is likely where the blood would splash upon the Heart landing.

Hell yeah man! Loving the videos

This is amazing to me that these games have so much to them and people still notice new things.

I was wondering to my guild in the past couple of months (sense of time is messed up, but I know it was fewer than 3 months ago) about if the area of Eastmarch is the collapsed remnants of a volcanic eruption. More please!

Why was this so fun

The fact that there is so much detail in the world building of TES it reinforces my idea that this franchise its the equivalent of the lotr of game industry

I recognized that Age of Mythology theme music soooo fast. my heart...

Started playing ESV less than a year ago. I thought the world was just some ancient and fantastical version of ours. Then I acknowledged the two massive moons in the sky (if that's what they even are). Now, a few days later, I'm seeing talk of clockwork planetary cores, lmao... Funny enough, in history class, I had actually once heard about a supposed ancient belief that the stars were holes in the sky revealing dots of light. That was around the time when the Earth was still considered flat, and the entire universe orbited it. I think...

I love the AOM background music!

i can only imagine the amount of time a video like this must take to make and the amount of veiws is criminally low. I just hope you keep making videos on the topics you find interesting no matter the statistics, love your stuff.

Yeah I can put that essay off for a ten minute Skyrim geography lesson at 2 AM