Lore:Winterhold (city)

thumb|right|Map of Skyrim 
Winterhold (also spelled out as Winter Hold)  is one of the nine major cities in the province of Skyrim,  and it serves as the capital city of the eponymous hold, Winterhold. For the longest time, Winterhold served as the capital of Skyrim, one with a rich and illustrious history,  and even in its prime, it rivaled Solitude to the west.  Most of the city was lost when an event known as the Great Collapse had cast most of it into the Sea of Ghosts in  .  The most well-known landmark in the city is the College of Winterhold, Skyrim's premier institute in the arcane arts.  
 

Layout and Geography
thumb|right|The College of Winterhold
thumb|left|The Chill
Winterhold is built on  ,  the very tip of the   and where   first landed in Skyrim.  From the south, the city is protected by a mountain range that spans across the northern Old Holds. Despite the fact that the city is located on the coast,  and its people commonly work out of the sea,  the city is built far above the shore and it is a very steep drop below.  But at some point, Winterhold had a port and the island,   was a summer day's sail from the city.  Winterhold is located at the end of the one road that runs through the region, which wraps around the mountains and runs along the northeast coast. The College of Winterhold is separated from the rest of the settlement by a deep ravine and connected to it via a narrow stone bridge.  Winterhold is neighbored by several settlements, including   to the south-southeast,   to the west,   to the southwest. 

The scope of Winterhold, before it was destroyed, has never been detailed but after the Great Collapse, the former capital city was a set of homes on the main thoroughfare. The only intact buildings in the town were the Jarl's Longhouse, the local inn across the road, a couple of homes along the mountain, and the College of Winterhold, which remained intact of the destruction. Homes that are behind the street and closer to the edge of the cape are completely destroyed and encased in snow. A path between the Jarl's Longhouse and the General Goods Store leads into the greater Winterhold wilderness while another path that goes under the bridge to the college wraps around the mountain. The city's prison is called the Chill, an ice cave far north from Winterhold. 

Notable Locales


History
:For the history of the hold, see the:  '''''
Early History
thumb|right|Arch-Mage Shalidor
thumb|left|King Borgas of Winterhold
Even though the Nords have lived in the region since they first embarked onto Tamriel,  the story of Winterhold's origins have never been fully stated. One of the most well-known myths that date back to the   and surround the Arch-Mage,   was that he built the city from a whispered spell.  By the early First Era, Winterhold was already an established city-state, and one of its earliest known residents was King  , the last of  's dynasty.  When Borgas died in distant  , the seat of the High King was vacant and Winterhold's jarl,   was the next one in line.  But when the   passed, Hanse was not given the title and Skyrim delved into a hundred years of conflict called the  .  In that time, Winterhold and other cities fell to the rise of  , which was transcribed in  's contribution to the  . 

In the late years of Emperor  's reign, the city of Winterhold openly rebelled against the   and Kastav ordered the   to come in and quell their uprising. But the master of the Dragonguard refused his order on the grounds that it violated their Oath of Allegiance, and they paid the price when their supplies were cut off. In their stead, an   warrior named   was sent to personally stop the  , which led to the city's destruction in   and a scar on the public's perception on the Dragonguard.  Despite that, the rebellion ended on a high note when the newly-named Emperor,   ended the rebellion swiftly and made peace with the Nords. His ability to restore peace in the north was noted as his first great achievement throughout his tenure.  In a map that labels provincial capitals as of  , made for the   of the  , Winterhold is listed among them as Skyrim's capital. 

Winterhold in the Third Empire
During the   in the late  , the city-state of Winterhold was an active settlement. It was ruled by King Erarne and had a rivalry with Dawnstar and  . After they acquired their first piece of the   from  , the   traveled northeast into Skyrim to find the second piece in a place called the  . Their quest eventually brought them to the local   in Winterhold, where they met the leader,  . He offered to help the warrior if they retrieved a tablet stolen by knights from the  , a tablet that could decipher a part of an   that would reveal the Labyrinthian's location.  After they delved into the dungeon, they returned to Winterhold with the tablet and was able to find their way to the Labyrinthian.  After the Eternal Champion defeated   and rescued Emperor  , loyalists of the   re-traced the champion's steps throughout his quest and occasionally found themselves in Winterhold. 

In the latter years of the Third Era, a large exodus of   traveled west into Winterhold and brought it into a renaissance of power and influence. The Dark Elves brought their ideals and enriched the city's culture while invigorating its old mercantile spirit. A vast collection of text saved from the east was assembled together by the College of Winterhold and called the  , which had not only become a cornerstone of academia in the college but brought scholars from all over the Empire to the region.  However when the   broke out in  , a distrust in magic soon came over the Nordic populous and pitted them against the Dunmer and especially magic users, even though they were at the forefront of defense against the  .   Many Dark Elves were driven out of Winterhold in the wake of the crisis and the people became increasingly uncomfortable with the college. 

The Fourth Era and the Great Collapse
thumb|right|Magical anomalies all over Winterhold
thumb|left|Winterhold after the Great Collapse
When the   took place five years later and many Dark Elves were displaced, the Jarl of Winterhold took in refugees, especially those that could contribute to the College of Winterhold,  but some of those that already lived in the city left for Morrowind.  In  , the High King of Skyrim had relinquished the island of   to Morrowind  and there was an expectation by the Nords that mages in Winterhold would leave for the island, but that never happened and a lot of people were left unhappy. 

This contempt from the Nords came to a climax with an event known as the   in  . A series of violent storms clashed onto Skyrim's coast for a year until it ultimately led to Winterhold's destruction as a majority of the city was swallowed into the Sea of Ghosts. Many of its people were also lost to the sea, even the family of Jarl  . The College of Winterhold was left unscathed, and the Jarl's council insisted on blaming them. Rumors started to spread across the settlement and the then Arch-Mage,   wrote personally to the Jarl to state his case. Deneth stated that the fact that the college was intact is a testament to the protective magick placed around it many years ago and that they had no involvement in the city's outcome.  The city's original seat of power was lost in the Great Collapse and one of the old buildings was repurposed into the Jarl's Longhouse.  

Despite Deneth's claims, rumors persisted throughout the years and the people slowly left Winterhold until it was nigh a ghost town. By  , the town was ruled by Jarl   and the college's Arch-Mage was  . In that same year, the College of Winterhold made an expedition into the ruins of Saarthal where they discovered the  , an artifact of immense magical potential. While one of their   left to find the  , the   agent,   created a powerful barrier around the college's hall of attainment and tampered with the eye. The Arch-Mage and the initiate confronted the agent but were blasted out of the college and magical anomalies spewed onto Winterhold proper.  The college took swift action to deal with the anomalies around town and while they mourned the death of the Arch-Mage, the initiate left for the Labyrinthian, where they would find the Staff of Magnus. 

Culture
thumb|left|Anthor's Shadow Crown
thumb|right|Winterhold's symbol
The common folk of the Winterhold region are seasoned fishermen that have grown accustomed to the harsh winters and even though the land offers little for grazing, they have managed to make due successfully with food. A staple dish in Winterhold and other Nordic coastal cities is Coastal Clam Chowder, which is made from a combination of  ,  s,  s, and a variety of  , typically the catch of the day.   

One of the most lauded pieces of food to come out of the hold is  , their regional cheese dish. The cheese is made from the little supply of dairy they have, it is then smoked over a pile of dried seaweed, and then wrapped into a pastry made from   and  's suet. It is then baked to the point that the cheese is molten and steamy and that the crust is light and flaky. Ghostflesh is an ideal snack for Winterhold's fisherfolk while they are out at sea. 

The   of Winterhold tell the tale of  , the first great Nordic  , who spent the rest of his life attaining every bit of arcane knowledge to expand his prowess. He offered his skills to the   when they returned to Skyrim and later became a   in the  , but his quest for knowledge guided him to   and even  . Ever since then, he was never seen again, and some say he disappeared into Oblivion, others that he betrayed the cult and was subsequently killed, or that he hid into the depths of ruined  . In actuality, he fled to the island of Solstheim, where he was sealed into   with his relics. 

The Nords of Winterhold favor six-foot-long axes.  Winterhold's symbol, a three-pointed crown was recreated as a small   adornment called Anthor's Shadow Crown. It was worn by the master of hidden arcane knowledge in the city and some people even say that it never saw use in anything other than secret meetings, but the   author,   doubts it.  Other similar adornments are the Dawn's Eye Crown, which features the eye of Winterhold's college  and the Shrouded Crown. 

Gallery
 

Notes
Arena was originally conceived as a fighting game featuring a tournament that took the player to each of Tamriel's cities to challenge different gladiatorial teams. According to a file from that stage of development left behind in the final game, Winterhold's gladiatorial team would have been called "the Annihilators". 

See Also
For game-specific information, see the Arena and Skyrim articles.
Books


References