Echmer: Mer or Beast?

Madelyn, Imperial Office of Foreign Affairs

Something that has perplexed many academic scholars since the beginning of the Third Era is the true origins of the race known as the Echmer, or the ‘bat’ or ‘echo folk’. Brought into the Imperial Fold with the annexation of their homeland of Yneslea during Uriel Septim V’s attempt at conquering Akavir, the Echmer are most peculiar alongside the other sentient races.

According to the Echmeri people’s own accounts their race were once ordinary bats accidently changed by the Dwemer’s Tonal Architecture, a form of magic that utilizes sounds to warp reality. Their body structure gradually took on the likeness of that of a mer’s and they gained sentience as well as black souls. They still retained much of their chiropteran appearance, habits, and traits however. It wasn’t until many centuries later that the tonal changes completely took root and the modern Echmer that we see today emerged.

For some the above clearly demonstrates that the Echmer should be classified alongside the other elves. Because their transformation was – accidently or not – facilitated by the Dwemer, than their changes into more merish forms means that they are mer. The Echmer having some form of ancestor worship, interesting caste systems and government organizations, and a contempt for anything not Echmer strongly alludes to them being of merish stock.

However, many believe that the Echmer’s evolution from bats and their bat-like appearance disproves that they are mer and are instead Betmeri – beast folk. Their bodies are lightly covered in fur, they possess an unique ability called echolocation, and underneath their arms are membranes that allow them to fly. Their feet even still allows them to hang from the ceiling if they so wished. These scholars therefore think that Echmer are a beast race like the Khajiit and the Argonians.

Both parties seem to agree that there is no possibility that the Echmer are related to the races of men, even the ones that were eaten in Akavir.

So is right to even call the bat elves of Yneslea ‘elves’ at all? Perhaps we shall never truly find the answer to that question. Or if we do, we’ll probably never understand it.