Red Year The " Red Year " was the name given to the disaster in 4E 05 , either on the fourth of Sun ' s Dawn or the fifth , which caused the destruction of Vvardenfell and parts of Morrowind , and countless amounts of Dunmer . When the last member of the Tribunal , the warrior - poet Vivec , mysteriously disappeared , the power that kept the meteor Baar Dau floating over the city of Vivec began to diminish over time . In order to keep the moon from crashing down , a device known as the Ingenium kept it afloat . After the device was destroyed , Baar Dau fell from the sky and crashed into Vivec City . This resulted in a chain reaction of events that caused Red Mountain to erupt , decimating Vvardenfell and covering a large portion of Morrowind in ash , with many Dunmer dying in the carnage or losing their homes . History . Prelude . Shortly after the founding of Vivec City , Sheogorath tricked the meteor Baar Dau to change its course through Oblivion and head towards the city in response to the blasphemy of the Tribunal , as he believed Vivec built the city in a mockery of the heavens . In response , Vivec merely lifted his hand , immediately causing Baar Dau to freeze in place above the city . Vivec left the meteor to remain frozen above the city , so that if the people ever stopped loving him , the force keeping the meteor at bay would also stop . Baar Dau was later mined out and became the Ministry of Truth , where it would remain in place for centuries . Following the Oblivion Crisis in 3E 433 , Vivec mysteriously disappeared , and much of the faith and love the people had for him diminished . Some followers of Azura were warned of the impending eruption by the goddess ' prophecies , and fled west to Skyrim . In order to keep the Ministry afloat and prevent it from crashing into Vivec City , two Dunmer , named Ezhmaar Sul and Vuhon , made a deal with Clavicus Vile for a device known as the Ingenium , which would keep the Baar Dau suspended in the sky without the need for Vivec . In return , the Ingenium would need to be powered by souls to keep it running . Initially , only the souls of outlaws , prisoners , and other undesirables were sacrificed for the Ingenium . Eventually , citizens were needed to be used as a source as well . The Ingenium was powered for five years until the wife of Sul , Ilzheven , was about to be sacrificed . Sul attempted to save his wife , but the result ended up inevitably destroying the Ingenium . Without anything holding it up , Baar Dau began to fall towards the ground . The Eruption . Baar Dau collided into the very heart of Vivec City , wiping it out completely . This caused the Red Mountain to erupt , devastating cities such as Balmora , Ald ' ruhn , Gnisis and Sadrith Mora , and regions like Molag Amur being diminished to ash . The devastation was not limited to Vvardenfell , as even some parts of the mainland , like Tear , suffered from continuous earthquakes and floods caused by the eruption . A month later , a House Redoran councilor , who was living in Mournhold , which was spared from the destruction , issued relief efforts to the ruined island . Vvardenfell was later on the road of recovery , where some of the settlements had been rebuilt over the years . Aftermath . Following the eruption , Morrowind became less habitable , and even the air was difficult to breathe in . Two hundred years after the event , the waters in the Sea of Ghosts still remained too tainted with ash for fish to live in them . Mysterious compounds known as Heart Stone s and violent creatures called Ash Spawn s also arose from debris spread by the eruption . The Silt Strider species was nearly wiped out , as many of them were native to Vvardenfell . Many Dunmer fled to Solstheim , which had its climate drastically changed in the southern areas , and was later given to the Morrowind by the High King of Skyrim in 4E 16 . Others decided to settle in Skyrim , mainly in Winterhold , Windhelm , and Riften . In 4E 6 , the Argonian s took advantage of Morrowind ' s weakened state , and launched an invasion as revenge for centuries of slavery under the Dunmer , killing hundreds of innocents . Under the command of the An - Xileel , they captured territories in southern Morrowind , but were then halted by the armies of House Redoran . The Argonians cursed the waters near the ruins of Vivec City forever , turning it into a boiling hot area known as Scathing Bay . When Umbriel flew over Morrowind in 4E 40 , it resurrected the bodies of the many Red Year victims buried in the waters of the Inner Sea as zombies . The Great Collapse , which occurred in 4E 122 and had destroyed large portions of Winterhold , resulting in the deaths of many civilians , is suspected to be caused by late - term aftershocks from the eruption of Red Mountain .