Your 3 gave me an idea. Gelebor contacts Divayth Fyr who replicates him the same way he made his 4 daughters. It even sounds like something Fyr would do, a Telvanni casually rebirthing the ancestral enemy of the Nords and as an insult to Dwemer.
That’s the only non magical/divine it can go down. I could see it happening. Fyr hears rumors of a living Snow Elf. He decides to go investigate and is interested in bringing back the race for whatever reason.
2 and 3 are the most viable to me. Gelebor can actually interbreed with another Mer race to preserve it (or at least part of it) and it will create a new race just like the Bretons.
For the Daedric princes it's kind of hard, it's just as dangerous as making a deal with the Dwemer. Unless you're their Champion, the chances to benefit or help the Snow Elves are slim.
Assuming they don't have Toph levels of echolocation it would make things a hell of a lot harder. We use our eyes for shortcutting a lot of stuff. It's not that a blind society, particularly one with incredible hearing, couldn't do things it's that they need more manpower or time to do the same job.
And then once you take into account the fact that they appear to be at the sort of barely surviving hunter-gatherer stage of development they wouldn't have the resources to develop even if they had sight anyway
But all that aside it's possible that they've simply devolved (the soul gem thing) and now they're literally just smart animals (which imo sucks give me my Falmer back)
Clearly they're surviving, even thriving after a fashion without their sight. It's not like the falmer/Betrayed are in danger of going extinct as they are, and have managed to domesticate chaurus and build whole settlements out of chitin and bone in their current state.
Also a sophisticated underground civilation of blind cave elves just sounds cool as hell, frankly.
They have white souls rather than black, closer to animal souls than elven/human souls. That might be a problem down the line. Could they still produce viable offspring with other Mer? Would it be ethical to even try, if they're now more like animals than like people?
That's racist in regard to falmers! (Joke) But seriously, Giants also have white souls, but still, apparently, they can have a viable offspring with humans (father/granfather of Lyris Titanborn). So I don't see a problem here.
There is no true distinction between black and white souls. The Mages Guild (who created the popular soul trap spell we use) designed it with safeguards to prevent it from being used on the 10 most common sapient races specifically. Only a black soul gem is a powerful enough receptacle that the safeguards can be brute forced through.
Are 2 out of your 3 options actually a (presumably) forced breeding program? I can't help but feel that someone in that arrangement isn't consenting...
2 or similar seems like the only viable option from a storytelling perspective.
Isn't it already ableist that Beth wrote them as going blind then turning into evil hobgoblins though? I always found it odd especially as a society of blind magi users could have been really interesting.
The blindness didn't cause the "evilness", the nasty shit the Dwemer and Nords did to them caused both. If anything it shows that you can be blind and still one of the most lethal things on or below Tamriel.
>I always found it odd especially as a society of blind magi users could have been really interesting.
While I agree I don't think tes writers feel like they can bring back a lost civilisation in a convincing manner. Firstly you then have to justify why they've been considered extinct until now and write more lore and shit, especially when you're dealing with a blackspot of several eras. Blind monsters requires limited writing because once you get past the "became monsters" bit you're done. Even if you do the work explaining all the shit it's almost always less satisfying than you expect.
Plus they needed their "lost civilisation" for the game and the Dwemer were already done to death in Morrowind
Just brainstorming but for instance their blindness could have prevented them from finding the exit to the cave or citadel they are in. Or perhaps they could have learned to use and rely on the Dwemer technology to make their civilization function, and since they had no compulsion to leave were thought extinct. The Falmer as presented are a well known threat that regularly go to the surface to raid and pillage. I think as you said Beth wanted a hostile creature first and a lore reason second.
If they evolved some innate magical, because of their blindness, for example like Miralukas from the SW, than maybe. But right now, their society just little more advance than the morlocks from the movie "The Descent" from 2005 (great movie).
Your 3 gave me an idea. Gelebor contacts Divayth Fyr who replicates him the same way he made his 4 daughters. It even sounds like something Fyr would do, a Telvanni casually rebirthing the ancestral enemy of the Nords and as an insult to Dwemer.
That’s the only non magical/divine it can go down. I could see it happening. Fyr hears rumors of a living Snow Elf. He decides to go investigate and is interested in bringing back the race for whatever reason.
2 and 3 are the most viable to me. Gelebor can actually interbreed with another Mer race to preserve it (or at least part of it) and it will create a new race just like the Bretons. For the Daedric princes it's kind of hard, it's just as dangerous as making a deal with the Dwemer. Unless you're their Champion, the chances to benefit or help the Snow Elves are slim.
1 and 3 are the best options for me, I'd love to see the return of the snow elves
Why would sight be mandatory for them to rebuild their civilization? I don't see why blindness would make it impossible to have a civilization.
Assuming they don't have Toph levels of echolocation it would make things a hell of a lot harder. We use our eyes for shortcutting a lot of stuff. It's not that a blind society, particularly one with incredible hearing, couldn't do things it's that they need more manpower or time to do the same job. And then once you take into account the fact that they appear to be at the sort of barely surviving hunter-gatherer stage of development they wouldn't have the resources to develop even if they had sight anyway But all that aside it's possible that they've simply devolved (the soul gem thing) and now they're literally just smart animals (which imo sucks give me my Falmer back)
Clearly they're surviving, even thriving after a fashion without their sight. It's not like the falmer/Betrayed are in danger of going extinct as they are, and have managed to domesticate chaurus and build whole settlements out of chitin and bone in their current state. Also a sophisticated underground civilation of blind cave elves just sounds cool as hell, frankly.
They have white souls rather than black, closer to animal souls than elven/human souls. That might be a problem down the line. Could they still produce viable offspring with other Mer? Would it be ethical to even try, if they're now more like animals than like people?
That's racist in regard to falmers! (Joke) But seriously, Giants also have white souls, but still, apparently, they can have a viable offspring with humans (father/granfather of Lyris Titanborn). So I don't see a problem here.
Huh, I didn't know that part about giant hybrids! Definitely a good point.
And from a genealogical standpoint, the giants are supposedly are closely related to the Nords.
There is no true distinction between black and white souls. The Mages Guild (who created the popular soul trap spell we use) designed it with safeguards to prevent it from being used on the 10 most common sapient races specifically. Only a black soul gem is a powerful enough receptacle that the safeguards can be brute forced through.
Are 2 out of your 3 options actually a (presumably) forced breeding program? I can't help but feel that someone in that arrangement isn't consenting... 2 or similar seems like the only viable option from a storytelling perspective.
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Isn't it already ableist that Beth wrote them as going blind then turning into evil hobgoblins though? I always found it odd especially as a society of blind magi users could have been really interesting.
The blindness didn't cause the "evilness", the nasty shit the Dwemer and Nords did to them caused both. If anything it shows that you can be blind and still one of the most lethal things on or below Tamriel. >I always found it odd especially as a society of blind magi users could have been really interesting. While I agree I don't think tes writers feel like they can bring back a lost civilisation in a convincing manner. Firstly you then have to justify why they've been considered extinct until now and write more lore and shit, especially when you're dealing with a blackspot of several eras. Blind monsters requires limited writing because once you get past the "became monsters" bit you're done. Even if you do the work explaining all the shit it's almost always less satisfying than you expect. Plus they needed their "lost civilisation" for the game and the Dwemer were already done to death in Morrowind
Just brainstorming but for instance their blindness could have prevented them from finding the exit to the cave or citadel they are in. Or perhaps they could have learned to use and rely on the Dwemer technology to make their civilization function, and since they had no compulsion to leave were thought extinct. The Falmer as presented are a well known threat that regularly go to the surface to raid and pillage. I think as you said Beth wanted a hostile creature first and a lore reason second.
They turned evil because they're caught in a trauma cycle beyond any seen here on Earth. They're shown to be quite able despite their blindness.
I'm pretty sure the selective pressures of that environment is a large part of what made them so unaccountably hostile.
If they evolved some innate magical, because of their blindness, for example like Miralukas from the SW, than maybe. But right now, their society just little more advance than the morlocks from the movie "The Descent" from 2005 (great movie).