#and how the extinction of snow whales but persistence of deep-sea elves also carry a neat metaphor for the falmer

[tes-trash-blog]

Omg so I'm coming to you bc Im making a quiz rn about the elf races in TES and one of the questions revolves around animals and I'm having a hard time thinking of one to assign to snow elves. I'm trying to think of animals that live in snowy or cold environments, specifically ones that live in modern day skyrim but I can't decide. So the question is, what animals do you think would have been significant to the Falmer? I was thinking maybe a wolf or a whale because of its long lifespan and conservation status.

Oh goodness, just one animal. That's a tough one!

If I had to absolutely choose from canon, my first instinct says the vale deer for the modern day Falmer: it's an animal that is hunted down and killed yet persists, albeit changed from years spent in the darkness.

The Ancient Falmer are a bit more of a challenge. What would differentiate them from the Altmer and Ayleids while maintaining the whole Elven aesthetic and Aurielic belief? Gyrfalcons and goshawks feel a bit too on the nose, but have an undeniable appeal because they follow the Elven/avian motif and they're just so damn pretty.

Not even bringing up my Mary Sue Snow Elf whose name basically means "little blackbird (affectionate)"

Wolves are also up there for me, especially with the Mara as Wolfmother headcanon, though I see this more as a guardian role. Mara gave up her divinity to watch over her fathers' favored ones.

Snow whales also deeply appeal to me, and I can see their fates inextricably intertwined: Both were mythical, and both were eventually hunted to hell. As with the Falmer, the snow whales are no more.