Future Skyrim DLC could contain Falmer-centric quests, crossbows

Files dug up in the latest Skyrim patch suggest future content for the game could contain crossbows as well a questline featuring those pesky Falmer who were once a race of elves.

Here's a partial list of the files courtesy of RipTen. The full list can be found on the Bethesda Forums:

• Animations\[b]DLC01\Chair_SnowElfPrinceDialogueA.HKX[/b]
• Animations\[b]DLC01\Chair_SnowElfPrinceDialogueB.HKX[/b]
• Animations\[b]DLC01\Chair_SnowElfPrinceDialogueC.HKX[/b]
• Animations\[b]DLC01\Chair_SnowElfPrinceDialogueD.HKX[/b]
• Animations\[b]DLC01[/b]\Chair_SnowElfPrinceDialogueE.HKX
• Animations\[b]DLC01[/b]\Chair_SnowElfPrinceFireBall.HKX
• Animations\[b]DLC01[/b]\Chair_SnowElfPrinceSitIdle.HKX
• Animations[b]\DLC01\SnowElfPrinceAscensionBurning.HKX[/b]
• crossbow_direction_behavior.hkx
• Animations\CrossBow_1stP_Run.hkx
• Animations\CrossBow_1stP_Walk.hkx
• Animations\CrossBow_Aim.hkx
• Animations\CrossBow_Equip.hkx
• Animations\CrossBow_IdleDrawn.hkx
• Animations\CrossBow_IdleHeld.hkx
• Animations\CrossBow_Release.hkx

Those familiar with Elder Scrolls lore will know the Snow Elves lived in Skyrim centuries before the Nords came, and eventually enslaved by the Dwemer. Living underground all those years turned them into the hideous, blind Falmer you run across in Dwemer ruins in the game.

You'll notice the files mention the Snow Elf Prince, who was the leader of the elves and led his race into battle with the first humans to enter Tamriel from Atmora. During the battle with the Nords of Nede during the second era, the prince was killed by a child at Moesring causing many of the elves to scatter.

Those found by the Nords were then slaughtered without quarter, and in order to save themselves, what remained of the race fled underground to the Dwemer. They should have just accepted death, as the Dwemer fed the elves a toxic fungi which caused their blindness and turned them into the horrid creatures they are in the game.

You can look at a depiction of what the elves looked like before becoming the Falmer in game by heading over to the Irkngthand Sanctuary. This is a Dwemer ruin you are sent to for a Thieves Guild quest, and while running about the place you will come across a large statue of an elf holding a book and staff. That, intrepid adventurers, is what the Snow Elves used to look like.

Since there have been reports around Skyrim of Falmer raids on cattle and crops it's said that the race intends to eventually come back to the surface to regain what it has lost. The files found within the patch could indicate a possible ill-attempted try at this - or just a new questline.

Yesterday, Bethesda said we could be handed a release date for the DLC sometime next week, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled.