Mephala and Falinesti

Spoilers for several ESO quests from Grahtwood to Reapers March.

So one of the subplots of the Aldmeri Dominion has been the disappearance of Falinesti; you visit the walking city's various seasonal sites as you progress through AD zones.

The first quest that deals with the disappearance revolves around finding Rajhin's Mantle for Queen Ayrenn. During the quest we find out that one of Rajhin's shadows attempted to seduce an Altmer resident of Falinesti named Nairume, then decided to imprison her alongside his mantle for a hundred years after she rebuked his advances. After you free Nairume and secure the mantle, Rajhin's shadow appears and claims to have stolen away Falinesti in order to keep Nairume from reuniting with her husband.

Rajhin's shadow is a bit of a dick, however his reasons for spiriting away the city may not be as simple as him wanting to get petty revenge on a random woman who didn't want to sleep with him. I'll get into that in a bit.

The Falinesti site quest in Malabal Tor features Farandare. another woman separated from her husband due to the city's disappearance. She has been researching the missing city and theorizes that it is currently hidden away somewhere in Oblivion. She attempts to summon it back to Nirn, but only accomplishes opening up a bunch of portals allowing daedra to run rampant.

The last site is in Reaper's March and involves the Falinesti Faithful, a group that makes religious pilgrimages to all four sites, transforming into the Arbordawn cult. It turns out that there is a temple dedicated to Mephala beneath the site that she used to influence the Faithful into reorganizing into the Arbordawn cult. The cult are actually Deathweavers that serve Mephala.

These pictures show the conversation with Mephala: First one second one third one fourth one

So remember how I said I'd get back to that whole thing about Rajhin pilfering an entire city and how it isn't as simple as it appears? Well, it turns out that Rajhin has strong connections to a certain Daedric Prince. Any guesses as to which one? Like I didn't already spoil that with title of the thread.

The Thief God's Treasures gives us this paragraph,

“Rajhin's most well-known plunder was the celebrated Ring of Khajiit, named after our people. It was once the Anticipation's Finger, and only found its way to Tamriel because it was stolen from the eighth arm of the Webspinner herself. With the Ring of Khajiit, Rajhin grasped the spark of godhood. It wrapped him in shadow so dark that none could reach him. Not the Anticipation of Vivec; not even the passage of time.”

So. . .

Rajhin's godhood originated from an artifact he stole from Mephala.

And one of Rajhin's shadows was attempting to seduce a married woman into betraying her husband – hey isn't that Mephala's kind of thing?

And Falinesti may be currently be located somewhere within Oblivion.

And there was a old temple dedicated to Mephala beneath the site where Falinesti settles within Reaper's March.

And Mephala flat out says the lost city trembles in her web.

So its kind of safe to say Mephala probably was the one behind Falinesti's disappearance right? I mean it could be someone else, but come on.

It's also noteworthy that it was Rajhin's shadow who claimed to have been behind the theft of the city, not actually Rajhin himself.

A bit of conjecture on my part, but the shadow could currently be under Mephala's control and acting independently of Rajhin. It was her ring that pushed him to become a god in the first place.

The Thief God's Treasures text also has this line, “Rajhin is not cruel, or malicious—sometimes, when the Moons fit his mood, he gives them back.” Unless the Khajiit have very strange definitions of what constitutes as cruel and malicious, it appears the shadow is not living up to Rajhin's normal character.