User blog comment:Zippertrain85/Dawnguard Follow up./@comment-17114085-20131216013719/@comment-17114085-20131221202448

1) I didn't mean the Embassy, I meant the Northwatch Keep, with is right on the coast. Castle Volhikar is clearly visible from there. So unless some kind of magical force is hiding the Castle someone would have found it by now. I sticks out a lot, and it has been there atleast 1000 years. No way no one has ever spotted it. On PC, where the draw distance is farther it is clearly visible from the mountains in Haafingar.

2)After some research I came across some interesting facts. Before Harald Skyrim was a colony of Atmora, it was Harald that claimed Skyrim's independence. This is why he is considered the First High King of Skyrim. Ysgramor and whatever other nobles may or may not have ruled the rest of Skyrim were vassals to the ruler of Atmora.

3)That is exactly why she had plenty of time to read books while in the castle.

2&3)Because Serana says her mother had a craftsmen brought in to change the sun dial into a moon dial. And to make the secret passage.

4)They did colonize the land, evidence of this is the Akaviri Map found in the Skyrim(province) page. It shows all the current holds existed in the 1st Era. Also the last Snow Elves were actually killed in Harald's time, so that is how long the Snow Elves, that weren't in secret locations(like the forgotten vale) or with the Dwemer, survided.

5)Well no where else in all the TES lore does it say they looked like elves but had beards. She was the first to mention the fact, so she must have heard it from someone who saw a real dwemer, or all the references to the dwemer's appearance was lost to time.