Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-24597741-20140106210548/@comment-3539474-20140107194444

Plenty of theories. What about Miraak's cult? perhaps he was the one controlling the elves all along.

The Falmer/Snow Elves launched a seemingly unprovoked attack on Saarthal, known as the Night of Tears, slaying everybody in the city, after which they were crushed by the Companions, whom Ysgramor brought from Atmora. They then were driven deep under Skyrim's subterranean cities and poisoned by the Dwemer, who "offered" them refuge. They were made to eat poisonous mushrooms that made them blind and enslaved by the dwarves.

Of course, history is written by the victor, the attack on Saarthal may not have been as unprovoked as the book suggest. Not to mention the fact that the Atmorans are rather eccentric bunch who came to settle in Tamriel uninvited by its inhabitants.