Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-4839729-20140221224932

Okay, so I might be grasping at straws, but maybe the Great Collapse could be a reflection of the weakening of the fabric of Nirn as a result of the loss of Towers.

In a relatively short period of time, Walk-Brass (Numidium), Red Tower (Red Mountain), Crystal-Like-Law, and possibly White Gold all fell or were deactivated. Orichalc was already lost, and since Green-Sap (Falinesti), said to have stopped walking, is under the thumb of the Thalmor and their endgame is probably the undoing of Nirn to ascend all the Thalmor back to godhood, it's probably been deactivated too. That leaves Snow Throat, which if Alduin was its Stone, may have been deactivated as well, and Ada-Mantia.

Consider that Winterhold and the Sea of Ghosts are on the fringes of Skyrim, and maybe the Great Collapse and other incidents are signs that the world is buckling under the strain. The Moons disappear in the Void Nights, Red Mountain erupts, Umbriel appears in the sky over Black Marsh, the Dragons return from outside time to Skyrim? A weighted cloth held on the points of many knives will rest easily, if perilously, but the same cloth on a single blade is torn asunder. 