The Battle of Red Mountain was the climactic final battle of the War of the First Council. The war was fought between the Chimer (comprised of the Great Houses as well as the nomadic Ashlanders, united under Indoril Nerevar the Hortator); the secular Dwemer, also known as the Dwarves; and the Nords of Skyrim under High King Wulfharth, intent on reconquering lost territory.

The war started after the discovery by Voryn Dagoth, the leader of the Chimer Great House of Dagoth, that the Dwemer had discovered a powerful artifact called the Heart of Lorkhan underneath Red Mountain. The Heart of Lorkhan is said to be the actual heart or “divine spark” of the god Lorkhan, fired into the sea by Auriel/Akatosh as punishment for creating the mortal plane. High Craftlord and Chief Tonal Architect of the Dwemer Kagrenac had planned to harness the heart and use it to power a giant mechanical god called Numidium. After the discovery of this by the Chimer, Nerevar confronted his friend Dumac, king of the Dwemer, and the two quarreled bitterly. As a result of this, Nerevar led the Chimer to war against the Dwemer in order to stop what was called by the Chimer a “profane” usurpation of godhood.

The battle itself was mostly fought between the Chimer and the Dwemer in the year 1E 700, although many Nords and Orcs were present. Some sources list them as allies of the Dwemer. Accounts of what exactly happened during the battle differ depending on who you ask. The account of Vivec, the close advisor of Nerevar who was present at the battle, covers most of the events, although outside sources are needed to supplement his narrative as several key events are conspicuously missing. The absence of death of Indoril Nerevar in particular is important, as it is one of the most contentious topics in Tamrielic history. Vivec tells us that the battle proceeds thus: Outside of the mountain, the Chimer lured many Dwemer out from their secure strongholds and pinned them down thanks to plans laid out by Nerevar. After this, Nerevar left others to command the assault outside while he took a small party, including Lord Voryn Dagoth, into the chamber in the center of Dumac’s citadel where the Heart was kept. Vivec attributes this to “secret” means, although at least once source claims that an act of treason allowed them entry. Inside the heart chamber, Nerevar’s party met with and fought against Dumac Dwarfking and his guards. According to Vivec, Nerevar and Dumac fought each other directly, and both sustained grievous wounds.

Here sources diverge, but I will use Vivec’s personal account of the battle rather than the orthodoxy of the Tribunal Temple as it is the generally agreed upon series of events. Kagrenac, out of an act of desparation soon after Dumac fell, used his Tools on the heart in an attempt to tap its power. This final gambit of Kagrenac ultimately proved the undoing of the Dwemer, as the act of using the Tools caused the disappearance of every known Dwemer on Nirn (one individual Dwemer was known to have survived, as he was in a plane of Oblivion at the time) and, consequently, the apparent extinction of the Dwemer race.

Henceforth, the most contentious events of the Battle occur. According to Vivec, Lord Dagoth recommended the immediate destruction of the Tools of Kagrenac, but Nerevar wished to consult with his councilors. He entrusted the tools to Dagoth and had himself carried out to the Tribunal (his three most trusted friends, including Vivec) out on the slopes of the mountain. The Tribunal recommended that the tools be preserved in case the Dwemer returned, but on their return to the chamber Dagoth refused to relenquish the tools. Apparently, he behaved irrationally: the Temple would later conclude that he had inexplicably adopted the views of Kagrenac. Nerevar and his guard resorted to force, and after the fight was over, Dagoth was gone, presumed dead, Nerevar was dying, presumably from wounds sustained by Dumac, and the Tribunal was in possession of the tools, which they used to give themselves immortality and elevate themselves to godhood.

Many sources disagree on this account of events. Vivec’s story suggests that Dagoth Ur was nothing but loyal to Nerevar throughout the battle and a few sources even peg Dagoth as the most loyal out of all of Nerevar’s advisors. Other sources, however, treat House Dagoth as having openly aligned with the Dwemer during the battle, citing House Dagoth as a more “secular” organization that did not want to go to war with the Dwemer over the tools. Furthermore, Ashlander sources allege that during the meeting with his advisors, Nerevar was betrayed and murdered by the Tribunal outside of the mountain (FOUL MURDER) before the three then confronted a defiant Dagoth for the heart. When he would not yield, they drove him below the mountain and stole their divinity.

Whatever the case, the battle ultimately ended with the disappearance of the Dwemer, the death of the Hortator Indoril Nerevar, and the ascension to godhood of the Tribunal: Vivec, Almalexia, and Sotha Sil. The Tribunal’s divinity in particular is significant, as it greatly angered the traditional god of the Chimer people, Azura. As a result of her people’s betrayal, Azura cursed the Chimer to have dark skin and red eyes instead of their pale gold appearance as before, turning the Chimer into the race that is today known as the Dunmer.

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