There is no denying Skyrim is a huge game, packed with lore and secrets that, even now, players are still discovering. However, since so much content initially planned for the game was cut by developers Bethesda, it can mean that some secrets lie buried a little deeper than others. One of the biggest and potentially far-reaching secrets in Skyrim, unfortunately, involves cut content and missed opportunities.
Although Skyrim is over 11 years old, people still enjoy playing, talking, and theorizing about it. Even those who have played Skyrim since its release still find new areas, quests, and details despite hundreds of playthroughs. And much of that comes down to how rich and weird the lore of the Elder Scrolls universe is and just how much there is to do in the snowy province as the Dragonborn.
One of the biggest mysteries in Skyrim – and perhaps all the Elder Scrolls – involves the College of Winterhold and the intriguing Augur of Dunlain. Back in 2020, YouTuber Camelworks did a lot of research into the Augur and came up with some fascinating theories. Their deep dive into Elder Scrolls lore revealed a quest for power, links to Hagravens, and a possible culprit for the Great Collapse of the city of Winterhold.
Where To Find The Augur Of Dunlain In Skyrim
Some may be unfamiliar with the Augur of Dunlain, as not everyone enjoys playing as a mage or joins the College of Winterhold in Skyrim. As his presence in Skyrim is intrinsically linked with the College and its questline, some players can have never come across him. The Augur of Dunlain can be found deep in the Midden, a dungeon area below the College of Winterhold. Players will be sent to speak to him on two occasions during the game. Once as part of the College of Winterhold questline and once after a player has mastered the Restoration skill.
During the College questline, after the Dragonborn has been to Saarthal and the Eye of Magnus has been placed in the College, Ancano, who is representing the Thalmor in Skyrim, will summon players to the Arch-Mage’s quarters. Here, a Psijic Monk delivers a message of warning about the Eye. He suggests that the Dragonborn speak to the Augur of Dunlain but cannot tell the player where they are in the College.
Asking around, none of the mages at the College will talk about the Augur, not even the Arch-Mage. Finally, the player will have to ask either Tolfdir or Mirabelle Ervine. However, Tolfdir is the more helpful of the two. Tolfdir will provide a little background on the Augur and direct players down to the Midden. When players find him, they will speak to what appears to be a glowing ball of light. Deep in the Midden under Skyrim, the Augur of Dunlain will warn the player about the dangers of seeking knowledge and the threat the Eye poses. The Augur will also reveal that Ancano has already spoken to him, and to save the College, the Dragonborn needs to find the Staff of Magnus.
The only other time players can speak with the Augur is if they level their Restoration skill to 90+. After speaking with Colette Marence, the player will be sent back into the Midden to talk to the Augur. He will set the Dragonborn a test, and once it is passed, players will immediately know the Master level spell Bane of the Undead. After completing his challenge, players cannot interact with the Augur again, nor will any of Skyrim‘s NPCs speak to the Dragonborn about him.
With so little interaction with the Augur, it can be difficult for players to understand who he was and what he is now fully. He was once a student at the College, and there was an accident but little else. However, digging deep into the game files and Elder Scrolls lore can provide some answers. The Augur exists within the Midden Dark area of The Midden, and the Midden itself provides the first clues. Tolfdir will say: “I suppose he’s still down in the Midden,” when asked about the Augur indicating that the Midden was his private area to study before his accident. Dotted through the deep, somewhat long Skyrim dungeon are strange totems and sculptures that look very similar to Forsworn totems found in their camps.
The second clue to who the Augur was comes from his name or rather his title. An Augur is a title given to those with the gift of foresight, and there was only one other mention of an augur in Skyrim when it was released. The lore book The Legend of Red Eagle speaks about how augurs foretold the Red Eagle’s destiny. It is not too far a leap to assume then that with the Red Eagle’s links to the Reachmen, an augur was a position within Reachmen society.
His title also provides the third clue, as Dunlain could be Dunlain Falls, a location in the Elder Scrolls province High Rock. Dunlain Falls is located in the northeast of High Rock in Wrothgar, the northeastern part of with is known as the Western Reach. Players can visit Dunlain Falls in The Elder Scrolls: Arena, and Dunlain daisies are a plant found in High Rock in The Elder Scrolls Online. Finally, digging into the game files will reveal that the Augur is marked as a Breton. Adding all these clues together, it seems pretty clear that the Augur of Dunlain was a Breton man and most likely a Reachman. But there is also a stranger link to the Reachmen and their relationships with Hagravens.
When speaking to Tolfdir, he will tell players that the Augur used magic in a way no one had seen before. Colette will say something similar, mentioning that the Augur was especially gifted in Skyrim’s Restoration skill tree and “mastered spells others could barely comprehend.” These conversations paint a picture of a gifted mage who used magic unlike anything else seen at the College.
Camelworks theorizes that this is because the Augur was the son of a Hagraven, and the theory is compelling. Hagravens are shown to have strange magic that, if passed down to a human-looking son, would look strange to those unfamiliar with it. Another link comes from the Augur’s gift with Restoration magic, as Hagravens are seen in ESO reviving dead Reachmen. This magic restores the person to life, not reanimate them like necromancy would, thus making it a powerful Restoration spell.
Investigating Skyrim’s Creation Kit, not to be confused with Skyrim’s Creation Club for mods, reveals that the Augur does have a specifically designed face. He’s not the most attractive; in fact, he’s downright ugly. However, this is all intentional, and looking more closely, the Augur looks a lot like the male version of a Hagraven.
ESO May Hold Clues To The Augur’s Intentions
Tolfdir claims that the Augur was too focused on gaining power and that his accident left him fused to the energies flowing through the College. This is interesting because there are many examples of magical experiments resulting in accidents in Skyrim, and they all result in dead mages. For an experiment to go wrong and fuse an already powerful mage to infinite magic energies seems like a pretty positive accident, almost as if it were deliberate.
The College of Winterhold was founded by the great mage Shalidor in the First Era. A good theory for why it was built in the middle of nowhere is that Shalidor built the College there to use the magical energies in the area. If the Dragonborn is a member of the Dark Brotherhood and summons the Spectral Assassin while at the College, he will say: “Do you feel it? Magic. Deep and ancient. It resonates from the College, like the beating of a heart.”
Strangely enough, a heart deep beneath Skyrim, the Dark Heart of Skyrim, is seen in ESO. Players can find the Dark Heart in Blackreach as ESO’s Greymoor chapter returned to Skyrim. Players learn in ESO that in Reachmen tales, they are taught of the Dark Heart below Skyrim. According to their folklore, the Heart deals with souls, shadows, and endings. It is a piece of the primal void between Mundus, Aetherius, and Oblivion and can grant access to eternal life and unlimited power. All it will cost is souls, a lot of souls. In fact, a mass death would be needed to awaken it.
So did the Augur of Dunlain attempt to tap into the energies of the College or awaken the Dark Heart of Skyrim using magic new to the Elder Scrolls world? It’s possible he did both. By using the powerful magical energies of the College, the Augur might have been able to bring about a terrible event to open the Heart. The Great Collapse happened 79 years before the events of Skyrim and was a tragic event when most of the city of Winterhold fell into the sea.The city’s collapse caused mass death, resulting in a significant number of souls to fuel whatever the Augur was trying to accomplish. Souls are commonly used to power magical rituals and items in the Elder Scrolls, such as enchanting. The storms seen in the area prior to the collapse could have been to cover his tracks or as a side effect of his ritual. Either way, it seems the Augur of Dunlain could have deliberately caused the Great Collapse to further his goals of gaining power.
When asking about the Augur, several members of the College will mention Tolfdir, with Colette saying to ask Tolfdir as he was around at the time. When spoken to, Tolfdir does speak of him with familiarity and admits they used to talk. Arch-Mage Savos mentions he has spoken to Tolfdr about telling stories about the Augur in the past. Although, when asked directly, Tolfdir will deny being at the College at the time of the Augur’s incident. However, he may be lying to distance himself and Skyrim’s College of Winterhold from the Great Collapse.
Due To Skyrim’s Cut Content, Theories Are All That Fans Have
Ultimately all of this comes down to lots of speculation and theorizing. The information does seem to be there in-game, but the context is lacking. What is clear is that the Augur of Dunlain is a huge missed opportunity within Skyrim. Perhaps the College questline would have involved discovering more about the collapse and the Augur.
The College of Winterhold questline is far too short and feels totally unfinished. Given the details found in the Midden, it is evident that many things got cut or scrapped from that area. It’s almost as though the developers pieced together the parts that they had, and that’s what ended up in the game. Given some of the locations explored in ESO, it might be making use of storylines/questlines cut from Skyrim. If this is true, perhaps more details will emerge about the College. Otherwise, Elder Scrolls fans will have to wait to see if the Augur and his role within the College are expanded on in the next Elder Scrolls installment, filling in what was left unfinished in Skyrim.
Source: Camelworks/YouTube