This article is about the event. For the book, see Night of Tears (book).
The Night of Tears (also known as the Crying Night[1]) is the night an Elven force attacked and burned the first human city of Skyrim, Saarthal, built by the first Nordic inhabitants.[2] In retaliation, Ysgramor, the leader of the human colonization effort and the founder of the Companions, drove the elves out of Solstheim and Skyrim.[2][3][4]
The reason for the Night of Tears has been lost to time, but it is speculated that it was spurred by a discovery of something beneath the city of Saarthal, which prompted the elves to destroy the city to claim the power for themselves.[2] While it is impossible to know if this was the true cause for the Night of Tears, it was later discovered by the College of Winterhold that a powerful artifact was hidden within the ruins of Saarthal, which they dubbed "The Eye of Magnus".[5] Another theory, proposed by Imperial scholars, is that the elves feared that the humans' culture would surpass their own and so sought to drive the humans from their lands.[6]
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
- ^ Monsters of Northern Folklore — Minerva Calo, Imperial Chronicler
- ^ a b c Night of Tears — Dranor Seleth
- ^ Before the Ages of Man — Aicantar of Shimerene
- ^ Fall of the Snow Prince — Lokheim
- ^ Events of Skyrim
- ^ Pocket Guide to the Empire, 1st Edition: Skyrim — Imperial Geographical Society, 2E 864
- ^ Reynir the Destroyer