The Skull Crusher (also spelled Skull-Crusher) is an amazingly large and powerful warhammer created together by the wizard, Dorach Gusal and the great weaponsmith, Hilbongard Rolamus of Skyrim,[1] in the forge of Anudnabia sometime in the early First Era,[2] during the Skyrim Captivity.[1] The creation of this weapon is riddled in magic, such as the fires it was forged in and the steel that was tempered for it. It is incredibly light but hard, which provides for its deadly blows compared to those of a Daedric Prince.[3] The artifact was intended to be used as an attraction for a local festival, but it was stolen beforehand. However, a curse was unleashed so Skull Crusher would betray the unlawful,[1] and so that it would search Tamriel for its creators.[4]
HistoryEdit
It is uncertain when either Dorach or Hilbongard died, but they were both in attendance at the wake of Mordrin Hanin, which took place several years later in the First Era. Here many other attendees died from Hanin's deadly drink. But it is unknown if they were among them.[2] Regardless of their fate, the artifact returned to the place of its creation.[5]
The last living dwarf, Yagrum Bagarn, at one point befriended the sorcerer Divayth Fyr.[6] At Fyr's behest, Yagrum Bagarn wrote a book that would later be known as Tamrielic Lore[7]:241 from the notes that he gathered over the centuries, listing Skull Crusher among the artifacts of "unimaginable significance".[4] By the Interregnum, copies of this book circulated throughout Tamriel, providing some general information on the artifact to its readers.[8]
Circa 3E 427, an acolyte of the Imperial Cult was sent to retrieve it. Since the lower levels of Anudnabia have long since been closed off, the acolyte traversed through the Omaren Ancestral Tomb and entered Anudnabia's forgotten vaults. They recovered the Skull-Crusher from a chest above the forge of Hilbongard and returned it to the Imperial Cult in Castle Ebonheart.[5] Later that year, the warhammer was sold to Torasa Aram, who put it on display in her Museum of Artifacts in Mournhold.[9]
Sometime after worship of the Tribunal as gods was deemed as heretical by the New Temple,[10][11] one cult of Almalexia worshippers constructed a hidden temple in a cave on Solstheim known as Ashfall's Tear, just north of Raven Rock. The Ashfall's Tear cult gathered and preserved many relics from Morrowind in the temple's armory, including Skull Crusher. Circa 4E 201, the Last Dragonborn was alerted to the cult's existence when they attempted to recover several additional artifacts. It is unknown if the Dragonborn agreed to help the cult or if it was wiped out.[12] Regardless, Skull Crusher and other relics were retrieved from the armory, and this arsenal was used to defeat remnants of the Sixth House[UOL 1] led by the Dunmer Erden Relvel, who became a priest of Dagoth Ur after becoming corrupted by his mask.[13]
GalleryEdit
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Morrowind
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Skyrim
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The Forge of Hilbongard
See AlsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
- ^ a b c Lalatia Varian's dialogue in Morrowind
- ^ a b Hanin's Wake
- ^ Dunmer Savant's dialogue in Morrowind
- ^ a b Tamrielic Lore — Yagrum Bagarn
- ^ a b Skull-Crusher quest in Morrowind
- ^ Yagrum Bagarn's dialogue in Morrowind
- ^ The Morrowind Prophecies: Game of the Year Edition — Peter Olafson
- ^ Tamrielic Artifacts
- ^ The Museum quest in Morrowind: Tribunal
- ^ Heretic Dossier: Blacksmith's Confessional
- ^ Reclamation Priest's Journal
- ^ Events of the quest Ghosts of the Tribunal
- ^ Ashen Heart quest in Skyrim
Note: The following references are considered to be unofficial sources. They are included to round off this article and may not be authoritative or conclusive.
- ^ Ghosts of the Tribunal Sneak Peak official summary