Avanchnzel – roughly “Eternal City” in the Dwemer tongue – is a Dwarven ruin built into the slopes of the Jerall Mountains, south of the Treva River and west of Riften. It was as much a library as a city, built to store the memories of the Dwemer, and it was tended almost entirely by Dwarven Spiders. Today it is mostly tended by things that want to stab you.
What you’ll find
- Plenty of Dwemer automatons – spiders and spheres – some awake, some dormant and waiting for you to walk past.
- Dwarven Centurions guarding the deepest chamber.
- Named sections such as the Animoncultory and the Boilery.
- Classic Dwemer hazards, including pressure plates tied to spinning-blade traps.
- Ghostly “resonances” – replays of a doomed expedition shown to you through the lexicon as you go.
- No Falmer: curiously, there are no records of them ever living here.
The lexicon and the lost expedition
In 4E 201, two Argonians, Watches-The-Roots and From-Deepest-Fathoms, hired Drennen and Breya to help them steal a lexicon from the ruin, believing its knowledge could turn paupers into kings. It went badly. Drennen tried to flee near the Animoncultory and died, Watches-The-Roots stepped on a pressure plate at the Boilery doors, and Breya fell bringing down one of the two centurions guarding the lexicon. Only From-Deepest-Fathoms escaped – and back in Riften the memories in the lexicon were driving her mad. She begs the Dragonborn to take it back to Avanchnzel, and on the way the lexicon replays the expedition’s last days in ghostly form.
Tips
Treat every pressure plate with suspicion – the ghosts are a fairly direct hint about what happens if you don’t. Dormant automatons tend to spring to life as you pass, so clear rooms methodically rather than sprinting. Save your best weapon or shock spells for the final chamber, where the centurions wait.
Good to know
The ruin dates from before 1E 700. Some scholars think the explorable halls are only the outer chambers of a much larger site. Nearby, the smaller Ruins of Bthalft once housed the Aetherium Forge built by other Dwemer clans.
Nearby
Closest places covered on TamrielSaga: Angarvunde, Largashbur, Heartwood Mill, Treva’s Watch, Froki’s Shack.
Location data (hold, map position, editor ID) read from the Skyrim game files; details checked against community wiki articles and summarised in our own words.