Anvil

is a prosperous harbor city on the by the at the very southwest end of . It is the seat of County Anvil and it is located at the end of the , west of and .
Anvil consists of five districts: Castle Anvil, Chapelgate, Westgate, Guildgate and Harborside. The Redguards have had a notable influence on local architecture, which is of a similar style to that of nearby . The city's graveyard is located across the street from the Chapel of Dibella. North of the graveyard lies , one of Anvil's many stately manors. The city also houses chapters of the and , the latter of which specializes in .
Anvil's lighthouse has a history intertwined with the , having served as a center of recruitment for the Dark Brotherhood in and as the base of operations for deranged Black Hand member Mathieu Bellamont in 
A large statue of a mermaid can be found in Guildgate district. With no inscription decorating its base and no certificate of origin stored in the city records, the statue remains a blank canvas upon which locals and visitors alike have painted their own picture. Its known commonly as the Brine Maiden, the Leggy Lass, the Salty Serenader, the Stone Seductress or Selkie of West Skerry. Legends surrounding its origins are numerous but archaeological studies indicate that it pre-dates any structure in Anvil, suggesting that the city was possibly built around her.
==History==
Anvil has existed since at least , when led the against the of . Originally, Anvil was a small collection of ramshackle huts infamous for being a violent haven for pirates, refugees, thieves, thugs, "and any other men and women of ill intent who happened to wash up in Anvil Bay". When Bendu Olo returned after vanquishing the Sload, he began converting what was then known as Anvil Fortress into Anvil Castle.
Having declared itself a free city following the fall of the , Anvil functioned as an important port, attracting merchants, smugglers, and raiders from all across and as far south as . The and his court visited Anvil four times during his reign, but he was disliked by the city's citizens and never returned after the infamous "Anvil Commotion" of Mid-Year . In , , leader of the pirates, captured the city, installed herself as governor, and declared dominion over the entire Gold Coast. This put Anvil in conflict with nearby Kvatch, which remained loyal to the Empire. The city was not directly involved in the which later raged in the of Cyrodiil, benefiting from the rough stone wall originally built during to protect the Gold Coast from retaliation by the Longhouse Emperors. In , Anvil was threatened by from the nearby hills, and was subjected to a brief undead attack when s rose from the harbor later that year. Concurrently, many innocent citizens of Anvil also were killed as the Dark Brotherhood used the city as the epicenter of their recruitment drive.
By the time of the , the city had been reduced to a collection of ramshackle huts housing criminals and refugees, and Castle Anvil was no more. The town was controlled by the , but it was taken over and used as a base of operations by while he attempted to break up the fleet circa . During the battle in Anvil Bay between Umbranox and , the town was set alight. Dugal tried to flee, but Umbranox's battlemages caused a rocky outcropping to collapse over his ship, the Black Flag. As a reward for destroying the pirates, Umbranox was given the title of Count of Anvil, as well as the funds to build a city over the ashes of Old Anvil. He built a new Castle Anvil on the same island the Black Flag was buried under. Umbranox's would rule for centuries afterwards.
In , the s of Anvil's recently deceased became victim to , a wealthy who sought to prolong his own life by becoming a and destroying the city. A mob led by the local Mages Guild attacked Benirus Manor before he could complete his ritual, but the manor remained cursed by the spirits of the dead and was allowed to fall into ruin. Circa , Count of Anvil went missing after becoming the head of the and inheriting 's curse by donning the . His wife, Millona Umbranox, would rule in his stead for the next eleven years, and was beloved by her people.
In , several disasters struck Anvil. The city was briefly besieged by an to the during the , the city's men were targeted by a group of female thieves, and the entire crew of a ship was murdered in port by a crazed member of the . The priestesses at the Great Chapel of Dibella were also murdered and the chapel desecrated by s under the command of , who had returned to Tamriel to bring down the . However, the curse was also lifted from Benirus Manor, and the undead crew of the Black Flag were put to rest after the cavern of "" was excavated beneath Castle Anvil. Corvus Umbranox mysteriously returned to court that year and resumed his duties as count, after he used the power of an to alter history and destroy the Daedric curse.
During the , the city was put under siege by the armies of the , which ended with a Dominion victory in . Shortly after the Great War ended in , Anvil Keep was a ruined structure inhabited by monsters, although it is unknown what connection these ruins have to the city.
==Gallery==
File:ON-place-Anvil.jpg|Anvil circa 
File:OB-place-Anvil Castle.jpg|Anvil Castle circa 
File:ON-place-Anvil 05.jpg|The mermaid statue
File:OB-place-Dunbarrow Cove.jpg|Dunbarrow Cove, a cavern beneath Castle Anvil
File:BL-place-Anvil Keep.jpg|Anvil Keep circa 
File:RG-map-West Tamriel-1024x768.png|Anvil on a map of West Tamriel
==See Also==
* For game-specific information, see the Oblivion and ESO articles.
===Books===
* 
==References==