Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-7153552-20130708162914/@comment-71.53.77.81-20160116133617

OK, disclaimer: I haven't read Kirkbride's material and am only barely understanding the conversation, but I'm just going to throw some stuff out there and see if it sticks.

Theory #1: The Eldergleam Sanctuary is the Tower Stone.


 * It is sacred to Kynareth, just like the mountain;


 * It is a literal cave;


 * The Eldergleam tree is nearly invincible, but can still be damaged (read: deactivated or destroyed) with the right tools. (Technically the tree would be the actual stone, but since everything else that grows in the cave is connected to it in some fashion the cave as a whole becomes an extension of it.)

Theory #2 (and I'm sure this flies in the face of Kirkbride, but here goes): The Throat of the World is not the Snow Tower.

Bear with me; this is derived from the idea that the Eye of Magnus is the Tower Stone. Consider how the Snow Tower is described in the prophecy: "sundered, kingless, bleeding." Arguably 'sundered' could refer to Skyrim being geopolitically split down the middle, and 'kingless' to the death of Torygg, but let's assume we're not making any assumptions. What place in Skyrim has been physically sundered? What place in Skyrim once hosted a king and no longer does? What place in Skyrim is not merely injured, but bleeding dry up to the precipice of death?

Answer: Winterhold.

Which prompts the theory: could the College of Winterhold, whose history prior to the Fourth Era we know almost nothing about, be the Snow Tower? Could it be that the Eye of Magnus - its Tower Stone - already resided there when Ysgramor arrived from Atmora, and was from there removed by the Atmorans to be housed in Saarthal?