Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-12481512-20130717104617/@comment-75.169.196.243-20150812092642

I find all of this arguing very funny. All of you are constantly bickering and trying to prove your point over everyone else's when none of it really matters. Cracks me up every time. It's a fictional game, people. Lighten up! Instead of saying it "is" this or that, a better term would be that it "may be" this or that. The only people who can say for sure what dwarven metal "is" in context with Skyrim are the people who came up with it: The people who came up with Skyrim in the first place.

That being said, I would like to share my own theory of the origin of Dwarven metal. What if it's actually an alloy of Steel and Orichalcum? Which is completely backwards in Skyrim because Dwarven items are placed on a lower grade then Orcish! :)

But, if you think about it, it kinda makes sense in a round-about way. In real life, Orichalcum is an unknown metal known as "Mountain Copper" that likely looks similar to gold in color. The name alone makes me think of Dwarves. The Dwemer obviously have mastered steam power which can be used in any number of industrial processes, including smelting. They are also known for using  Tonal Architecture, which is basically just frequency vibrations of sound or energy. Lots of their technology used this stuff, so one could hypothesize that their metalergy techniques used this to create Dwarven metal. Applying a frequency vibration or "tone" to metal during the smelting process can do funny things to it. Because this is Skyrim and magic is a real thing, then applying a "tone" of energy or "magic" to the metal during smelting could be a possible explanation for the origin of Dwarven metal. This is a proccess I like to nickname as "Tonal Forging".

So why Orichalcum and not something else? Well, Dwarven arms and armor are listed as heavy items. Moonstone, Malachite, and Quicksilver are all ores used for light arms and armor, as opposed to heavy ones. Ebony, Daedric, and Dragonbone are all higher grade stuff apparently, so those can be reasonably be ruled out. The only remaining ores are Orichalcum, Corundum, and Iron. In the Skyrim game, Orcish metal is made by combining Orichalcum and Iron. The end result is the hard, heavy, and slightly green tinted metal we all know. But why is it green? Going back to the name,  Orichalcum is known as "Mountain Copper". Copper. What happens when copper rusts? It turns green! So, taking a leap of logic, Orcish metal is made from an unpurified alloy of Orichalcum and Iron.

Now how did I decide that Dwarven metal was made from Orichalcum and Steel? In both real life and in Skyrim, Steel is not a naturally occuring metal. Real life Steel, or Iron Alloy, is made from a mixture of mostly Iron and Carbon. Skyrim Steel is made by combining Iron and Corundum. Made using either the real or fictional way, this implies that Steel is a purified or refined form of Iron alloy. Dwarven metal cannot be found anywhere in Skyrim in its natural state. Taking another leap of logic, this implies that Dwarven metal is not a naturally occuring metal. Isn't there another metal just like that? Steel! Taking into account that we have ruled out every other metal except Orichalcum, Steel, and Iron, and with Steel being an artificial alloy, the remaining answer is that Dwarven metal could be an alloy of Orichalcum, Corundum, and Iron. One that has been purified and refined through Tonal Forging, using the same methods as forging Steel, to create a copper colored metal alloy that doesn't dull or rust! This sounds a lot like Stainless Steel to me, which has the similar properties of not rusting.

The exact recipie and method of creating Dwarven metal, even with my theory, is meaningless because this is fiction and has no value in real life. But if I was going to guess, I would think that the Dwemer would start by smelting Iron down to a molten state, and then slowly mixing in quantities of molten Corundum and Orichalcum while using Tonal Forging as needed to purify and refine the mixture. Once the desired state has been reached, they shape the liquid metal into whatever form they need with molds and allow it to cool. Tonal Forging may also be used during the cooling proccess, but this is unknown.

Overall, I think that this is a highly logical and plausible method of creating Dwarven metal in Skyrim. Of course, this is all fiction anyway, so who cares? :)