Board Thread:Morrowind/@comment-24399099-20140111121340/@comment-68.45.246.150-20160303144128

I can think of 6 ways he might die. The most damning piece of evidence for assuming he's dead, in my opinion, in probably that he isn't discussed.

Argonian Invasion, Red Mountain, assassination, magic accident, mundane accident, old age. In order...

Argonian Invasion: The player can teleport by various means. Most are fast, some are instant. Many other NPCs can teleport in the same ways, and Divayth Fyr is most likely the most powerful individual in Morrowind (not just Vvardenfell, either). If he knows it's coming, he can teleport away to safety as a last resort. He even has a method of teleporting, an amulet in a box near his worksation (unless the player took it). He's also noted as being the only individual capable of being able to travel between the planes at will. It stants to reason he'd have a sanctuary lined up.

Red Mountain: He's survived the eruption of Red Mountain before, according to the previous commentor. Even if he hasn't, off of the reasons he would have survived the invasion apply here.

Assassination: There are a few ways to assassinate someone. melee, archery, magic, poison. For melee and archery assassins, he's got Command Humanoid, daedric armor, and a ridiculous health pool (999). For magic assassins, he's got Strong Spelldrinker and Strong Reflect, which will make him very tough against even a large number of wizards. Poison is the most likely to succeed. But those spells are just he ones he knows from a gameplay perspective. There's no telling what spells he might know from a story perspective.

Magic Accident: He's cloned himself. He's kept himself alive for a very long time. He's collected daedric armor. He's produced a cure for corprus for the player. He's learned to plane-jump at will. In my opinion, he's not about to blow himself up.

Mundane Accident: 999 health is basically the developers' way of saying "an unreasonable amount", I think. Mundane accidents aren't going to kill him outright, and he'll heal himself with relative ease once it's happened. Unless he happens to hit his head and fall unconscious, he'll be fine.

Old Age: He's stated as being 4000 years old. But consider how round that number is. The first era started 4244 years before the events of Morrowind. So, it's pretty reasonable to conclude that he's been around since very early in teh first era, possibly even longer (he could have been around since before the first era began, and still be only shave off 1/9th of his lifespan to make it the nice, round "4000"). With that in mind, old age might eventually get him. But it's not happening in the (relatively) short time between Morrowind and Skyrim.

No one's discussing him: To that end, he might be thought to be dead. People might assume he was killed. He only had two companions he couldn't replace: Yagrum and Vistha-Kai (the Dwemer and his warden). I find it likely he'd focus on them if he couldn't get everyone. That leaves various clones and his corprusarium inmates all dead. If the cause for his fleeing was the invasion or the eruption, people might have just assumed he'd been killed.

In my opinion, it's incredibly likely that he's still alive somewhere. Maybe not at Tel Fyr. He might have teleported to Oblivion, or some Outer Plane. He might have teleported to the mainland or Cyrodil. He might have teleported to some sanctuary he'd set up long ago and just hasn't been motivated to return from his seclusion yet. He also might have treveled normally. He's both reclusive (so not easily recognized) and an incredibly powerful wizard, so he could have travelled unhindered by most mundane means, more than likely.