It’s very clear the second you step into Windhelm that these two races are bitterly disliked, but why? The Stormcloaks and their supporters don’t seem to have a problem with the Altmer of Windhelm (e.g. the woman who owns the stall in the market, the guy who owns The White Phial store and finally the couple who own the stables) despite the fact that these are the people who outlawed the Worship of Talos. If you speak to the Altmer stall-owner in the market, you can ask her about how Altmer are treated in Windhelm, to which she responds with saying that the Nords were a bit suspicious of her at first, but came to accept her. What? They have no problem with the race that outlawed their favourite person and is now kind of sided with their currently biggest enemy, yet they absolutely resent two races that are completely unaffiliated with the Empire (as both Morrowind and Black Marsh aren’t part of the Empire), completely unrelated to the Great War and had absolutely nothing to do with the outlaw of Talos worship. It makes no sense. If they just hated everyone, that’d be a little unfair but at least it’s reasoned. But instead, they’re accepting of the race they should in theory hate the most, and detest two races they have absolutely no reason to hate. I understand that they still don’t particularly like Altmer, but they can accept them, when really they should hate them the most.

Some interesting new info in this one, including confirmation that Hollowjack is a scion of Hircine.

https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/67361

Say i wanna kill like 30 people in my lifetime, it cant be led back to me at all, they aren't all that important so NM would probably give the go ahead for all of them and i have like 30 bodies at my disposal, could i just do it infinitely? If not could i just force someone to do it for me, kill them then make the next soon to be body use that body to do it for me? Literally no drawbacks.

One thing that's always stuck out to me that isn't mentioned much is the strange amount of caves containing architecture found commonly in chimer strongholds, be it towers, walls or even caved in rooms in the case of the urshilaku burial caverns.

The chimer are noted to have had a decline in high velothi culture in the late merethic era, and yet whatever came afterwards is seemingly undocumented while the usage of velothi architecture remains strong in vvardenfell in the third era.

Could the ancient pieces of strongholds be the remains of the brief period in which high velothi culture was declining? Why are these underground ruins even underground when most strongholds are above ground? What could have been the purpose of these ruins?

Imagine your male!PC-orc marrying a female nord warrior. (or not your)

What do you want from this dynamic given the cultural code? How do you see their relationship?

I have some developments for one mod project, but, you understand, this is het... :D Het is not my cup of tea, but I want to make it immersive. There is not romantic orc/nord couple in the game, I have nothing to base my thoughts on... Any concept, guys, please?

(And, as we remember, there is a huge difference between orcs who were raised in strongholds and orcs who were raised in cities, yes :D)

English is not my language, obviously :?)

Why exactly was he sent to The Pits if he abandoned the ways of Peryite and no longer worshipped him? Did having the affliction screw him over or did he possibly pledge his own soul some time before his betrayal?

I just finished a replay of ESO: Elswyer and I think I stumbled onto an interesting idea.

The Shadow that stole the pieces of the Song of Kingdoms said that the one the Vestige meets in Grahtwood was one aspect of Rahjin, his desire. The Shadow also mentions that he represents a trait or vice.

Which got me thinking… 7 Shadows, 7 Sins? Are each of Rajhin’s Shadows a representation of a Deadly Sin? The Grahtwood one is easy, Lust. The Anquiena one could be Pride, as in the pride in his people. Or Envy that he didn’t get the steal the Singing Crystal which was stolen when he was Mortal.

The majority of ancestral tombs on Vvardenfell are usually pretty tiny (or even copy pasted design-wise), especially in ESO. However, dunmer have been around for ages and it feels like they'd be far larger in scope.

The size of tombs for influential members of great houses (e.g. Venim) are also very small, and it feels like if it weren't for developer laziness/time crunch they would've been huge.

Are tombs larger than presented in-game? Is there a lore reason for why the majority of tombs share the same 4-5 designs?

Hey all, just tuning in here because I've seen some misconceptions on this sub about Dragonblood, Dragonborn, and everything in between. Particularly, I've seen claims that:

a) There is a distinction between being a Dragonborn and having Dragonblood, particularly between "Dragonborn Heroes" and "Dragonborn Emperors"

b) The concept of a Dragonborn or Dragonblooded individual was invented in Skyrim and retrofitted to earlier lore

Both of these beliefs are incorrect. Here is some evidence to prove this!

Dragonborn vs. Dragonblooded

"The dragonborn can battle the dragons on another level. They're annointed by the gods. That's why they can light the dragonfires to become emperor. They kind of help make the world whole." - Todd Howard in Game Informer, Issue 214

This is an incontrovertible conflation of Dragonborn and Dragonblooded individuals from Todd Howard, the Creative Director of Skyrim.

"The line of Reman Cyrodiil of the Second Empire was certainly Dragonborn, but they died out at the end of the First Era, and between then and the date of ESO, no "'egitimate' Dragonborn has been confirmed by being able to light the Dragonfires in the Imperial City." - Elder Scrolls Online Ask Us Anything: Variety Pack 4

"Hail, Dragonborn! Hail Martin Septim! Hail!" - Blades in Oblivion

"With no Emperor to serve, the Blades now return to our ancient role. We will bide our time until the next Dragonborn arises." - Blades in Oblivion

"Thus, your Dragon Blood gives you an inborn ability to learn Words of Power." - Arngeir in Skyrim

"That's right! My grandfather used to tell stories about the Dragonborn. Those born with the Dragon Blood in 'em. Like old Tiber Septim himself." - Whiterun Guard in Skyrim

These quotes go to show that the terms Dragonborn are used interchangeably with people who would otherwise be considered merely Dragonblooded if this misconception was true.

"Alduin's Wall was finished, a dragon was located and slain, and Emperor Reman II visited to officially dedicate the Wall. The Blood Seal was consecrated in the presence of all the Dragonguard of Skyrim, a great honor of which few Temples can boast." - Annals of the Dragonguard

"Ah... here's the 'blood seal.' Another of the lost Akaviri arts. No doubt triggered by... well, blood. Your blood, Dragonborn." - Esbern in Skyrim

These two quotes go to show that Reman II was Dragonborn, not merely Dragonblooded, as he consecrated the blood seal which requires Dragonborn blood to activate.

Retcon

The Dragonborn are not a retcon. Plenty of pre-Skyrim, even pre-Oblivion sources exist which prove that the Dragonborn, their connection to the Thu'um, and their magical potency have existed since at least The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard.

"True enough and spoken like one who wishes he knew the God's honest truth, but alas, the true bloodline of Tiber Septim renders even most immortal blood illegitimate. There is more than meets the eye in Septim's blood, and any Daedra Lord will tell you, if he himself weren't afraid of the truth." Gary Noonan in Redguard Forum Madness, February 1999

This quote comes 12 and a half years before Skyrim and is a clear indication of his Dragonblood (and the hereditary nature of Dragonblood, but that is a more contentious matter without a clear, canon answer, unlike these two misconceptions).

"The Red Dome Templars were psycho-crusaders who drank the blood of Talos to get short-term martial shouting powers." - Michael Kirkrbide on r/teslore, February 14th, 2015

"Sadly, the Red Templars only made it into some onsite Runequest games I ran for the dev team in the earliest days." - Michael Kirkrbide on r/teslore, February 14th, 2015

These quotes comes from Michael Kirkbride and takes to three and a half years after Skyrim's release. They confirm that Talos' blood and Shouting had a connection way back in the Redguard days, the first Elder Scrolls game Kirkbride is credited on. Some people have contended, though, that while the Templars do date back that far, the bit about them drinking Dragonblood to Shout was added by Kirkbride as new lore following Skyrim's release. To clear this up, I asked him myself.

"The Red Dome Templars were being noodled on during Morrowind’s (and Redguard’s) development." - Michael Kirkbride on r/teslore, October 22nd, 2024

Confirmation from Kirkbride that the lore about them dated back to Morrowind and Redguard and was not created later with Skyrim's lore additions in mind.

it is said Aiden Direnni Signed the Rights Charter Reluctantly to draft bretons into battle. However Bretons were already butting heads and throwing fits and its said in "a life of strife and struggle" bretons were already turning alessian . it seems to almost imply the charter gave way more power to the nedic/breton people in order to fend off the overwhelming alessians. likely a lot of the power the direnni had was waining from minor uprising everywhere
is this incorrect

Say Skyrim wanted to build up a Navy for whatever reason, which town would be best to use to construct a large number of ships?

My best guess is Riften but that's only because it's the furthest South.

Let's just say for the fun of it that Alduin is permanently trapped in the time wound he's currently in.

Besides the obvious answer being that Ulfric Stormcloak, and the last Dragonborn would die, what else would occur? What effects would this have in the world and factions within It?

Would the dark brother still attempt to assassinate the Emperor?

Would the stormcloak rebellion fail?

Would Harkon be able to fulfill the tyranny of the sun?

Would Miraak be able to escape apocrypha?

Would Potemia the wolf queen be resurrected without the Dragonborns interference?

I'd also love to hear about some other things that might occur, if the player character hadn't been there to intervene.

I'm curious to hear what everyone's thoughts and opinions on what might happen.

The natural analogy would be how Rome militarily conquered Greece but adopted so much from the Greeks.

But I don't see it.

And the point of view wasn't only shared by High Elves(if it was it would be easy to explain away)

However many sources claim that Nedes were already there, Are Nedes descended from Atmorans that came with Ysgramor or are they maybe Tamriel's natives? I cant wrap my head around it.

This thread is for asking questions that, for whatever reason, you don’t want to ask in a thread of their own. If you think you have a “stupid question”, ask it here. Any and all questions regarding lore or the community are permitted.

Responses must be friendly, respectful, and nonjudgmental.

Resources (Click here for full list)

• FAQ

• How to Become a Lore Buff

• The Imperial Library

• UESP

By bryan David Baquero osorio de Colombia.

(Fan story not canon)

On my travels through Skyrim I received news from one of my colleagues. Apparently he had found an unknown ritual which the riekling of solstheim performed.

Excitedly I left my study of the "mud crabs and other crustaceans" although I must admit that I was getting fond of these peculiar crabs after kahjir served me one of his typical dishes.

Leaving the crabs aside I headed towards solstheim. I barely had enough budget to travel but luckily in the port of Windhelm, some mead drunk is always willing as long as you have a good pint of foam beer.

It was the 20th day of the second seed of the 120th year of the fourth and it was a very rainy day. The ship sailed from the port towards Raven Rock. The crew was somewhat modest, our friendly captain who was humming a boring song about a dragon and a cow, also an orc called Grum who came to trade orichalcum and eight Nordic settlers to seek fortune in the mines.

It was all a disaster! Never pay a Nordic lover of mead that smells like giant cheese. Our ship ran aground on a small iceberg and quickly the ship sank. I managed to escape by swimming to the shore, our captain decided to drown himself along with the ship, while Grum the orc drowned under the weight of the orichalcum. Only I and two settlers managed to survive, we reached an imperial outpost and they took us to Windhelm.

Two months have passed since that shipwreck but my desire to know about that dance I leave in the hands of some academic who wants to drown in the frozen waters of the Sea of Ghosts. While I will continue with my study of crabs and trying kahjir dishes.

How much stronger is a werewolf than certain opponents? Obviously a werewolf is possibly physically stronger than any humanoid, but what about against larger enemies, such as Giants, Trolls, Daedra or any kind of large monstrous creature. Also I imagine that in human form, the person infected with lycanthropy should be proportionally a little stronger than the standard, since at least in the old games this buff existed.

Title basically. The only real evidence I have for this is his "dad" potentially being Molag Bal and having "unfeathered" wings kinda like the vampire lord model in Skyrim. His oblivion model sorta looks like it could match a vampire lord if you stuffed it in golden armor as well.

However none of his like abilities seem to really match those of a vampire lord in the song of pelinal but other Ayleids do have seemingly necromantic powers and were known to worship Bal (gordhowl needing a plague spell to stop reforming, abagarlas etc)

Outside of this if molag and Merida "had a kid" and molag turned it into a vampire lord that could also sort of explain why meridia is jilted and hates necromancy now.

Beyond this i can't think of anything else and I was curious what y'all thought and if there was any other lore about umaril that could refute or corroborate this.

We know that in the non-canonical Fifth Era (C0DA), there is a group called Ghost Choir 9, which consists of traveling agents. They aim to fix the present and prevent Landfall. However, my question is: what events do we know that lead to Landfall? The obvious one is the event involving the Agent in Daggerfall, but what else?

2. On the organisation of society.

• The Ka Po’Tun Society is organised on the model of the mythical Dragontree :

• The "Roots", or more commonly known as the "Ko’Ra’Vnal", peasants-notable and women from the Ka Po’Tun anonymous background; they provide everyone‘s need and are the "Sip of Akaxia" (or to make a culinary parallel, the "salt of the earth").

• The "Trunk", the true organisation rely on the warriors Kza’R’Aka, land owners, intellectual and merchants, they are the elite of Ka Po’Tun Army and Empire [for war tactics and army organisation, see the "Ka Po’Tun Army" letter].

~ The most "en vue" war unit of the Ka Po’Tun, are the Kza’Aka Tset or "Dragon Warriors similar to the arrows sound", an elite war chariot unit personally linked with Tosh Raka and mostly heirs of the 9 Daughters.

~ Also, the Kuorwen or Priest [see the precedent letter] are part of the Trunk of the Dragontree.

• The "Bough" are the members of the court of Tosh Raka :

• The "Tongues of Fire" are the remnants Dragons from Akavir, allied and controlled by Tosh Raka, watchdogs of the Empire and "High Judges" of the OPTIMUM; endlessly patrolling into Ka Po’Tun cities, spying to discover any deviant.

• The Shik’Ari, the personal assassin’s order of the OPTIMUM, their scales are black as ashes and their exploits are renowned in all Akavir.

• The "9 Daughters", 9 Female Ka Po’Tun revealed to Tosh Raka after his Oath, to destroy old cults and laws of the Forgotten Tribes.

[Addition : from my discoveries, one of those so-called "Daughters" was reportedly exiled, during an obscure event called "The Northern Ra’A’Ksha", a sanctification expedition against the northern island of the Empire. Also, the ritual of intronisation of the "Daughters", called the R’Aka’A’Pe, or the "Union of Breath" a collective assembly which the entire "clan" mingle their "breath" into the chosen].

• The 36 Generals, heroes of the "300 Years War" and peacekeepers of the Empire, all elevated to "Saints" and objects of State controlled cult.

• The "Leaves" on the highest point of the Dragontree, are simply Tosh Raka and is "Celestial Court" of Daughters, endlessly singing the OTIMUM OATH.

Kza’At’Eda, dissident Kuo’R’Wen

In the Elder Scrolls series, we are often given choices to help one character, faction, or another. But this time, it's different. We're not talking about helping Rudof the fisherman or the Goblin Tribe (an outcome irrelevant to the future). HERE, WE'RE DEALING WITH THE GEOPOLITICAL FUTURE OF TAMRIEL

.

I can only see THREE scenarios where the outcome of the Civil War could be avoided:

-SITUATION 1: TES6 is a prequel. This would be more of a postponement. Sure, you avoid telling us who won the war, but when TES7 comes out in 2064, you'll have to address it. You can't delay it forever.

-SITUATION 2: TES6 is set far into the future, for example, 1,000 years ahead, creating a lack of continuity where the events of TES5 have been forgotten in the distant past. Personally, I don’t think this would happen because it would mean leaving behind a very interesting era.

-SITUATION 3: A catastrophic, large-scale event overshadows the outcome of the Civil War.

1. A meteor strikes and destroys half of Tamriel, plunging the continent into chaos.
2. A massive Akaviri invasion, with half of Tamriel conquered, including Skyrim (making the Civil War's outcome irrelevant).
3. Gigant daedric invasion, there no exist skyrim, the empire, hammerfell... all the remaining tamrielic population united against the invasion.

.

Note: As a geopolitics enthusiast, I assert that reclaiming an entire Skyrim for the Empire would not be easy. It would be a long war with no guarantee of victory (I won’t go into details here). Therefore, if in TES6 Skyrim belongs to the Empire without explaining how the Empire regained it, to me, it would be an implicit confirmation that Tullius defeated Ulfric

I remembered an old Zaria Zhakaron video where he was talking about Skyrim and I believe he said something along the line of: “Joining the Stormcloaks will help Humanity in the long run since without Talos protecting Humanity the Thalmor will be able to kill all of Humanity and rise to Godhood”.

Now I’m not a lore beard so I need to know is there any semblance of truth in that clearly paraphrased statement?

I’ve heard him talk about it years and years ago on a video and basically it was “You might hate how racist and close minded the Stormcloaks are but they’re unknowingly trying to save all of Humanity” and I’m curious on if it’s true or not.

i noticed sometimes older elves marry humans and they are both ancient in equal measure by the time the human is old
(miner on solstheim)

There's sparse info on them since they only appear in the two novels, but I found them super interesting and I'm wondering how they would potentially live and age on Tamriel or another plane. I know that Umbrielian workers have very short life spans, and lords very long ones, but that's all in a specific context. Could an Umbrielian survive on another plane in the first place? The ending of the novels suggests yes but nothing further...

I know i saw saw a website that had some shouts listed from the lore that weren't in game. The only one i remember was the shout that had the other 2 words of the shout the graybeards use when they make you use whirlwind sprint to get through the gate. Can someone help me find it again?

Hello, I’ve started preparing a campaign based on Shadowkey, and I’d like to improve it with respect to what the game and story contribute, but I’d like to make sure I understand what Shadow Magic is.

1. Are shadows supposed to be the product of forces in conflict (the most basic being light versus darkness), and through shadows, is a Shadow Mage able to manipulate the forces that created them to create different versions of events?
2. What are the Shadow Worlds from which the other players in Shadowkey multiplayer come? Parallel Tamriels? Not entirely real, echoes? Something like Lyg or other kalpas? If these worlds are parallel versions or parallel timelines, is The Elder Scrolls supposed to be a multiverse in the vein of Marvel/science fiction or are just worlds that branched out from certain specific points like Dragon Breaks?
3. Is there any Daedra connected to this type of magic? Nocturnal, or perhaps Ithelia?
4. What are the Shadowkeys and the Shadow Gates? For a game called Shadowkey, the keys seem to only unlock doors—they don’t seem like impressive artifacts or particularly connected to the plot of the game.
5. Is the magic of the Shadow Mages the same as the one used by nightblades or other rogues to teleport and turn invisible, or do they just share a name? And if it’s the same, how does it relate to the forces in conflict?
6. What is Umbra’Keth origin? Is it something that naturally emerges during wars? Does it need to be summoned by a Shadow Mage? Should we assume that during Skyrim’s Civil War or the Great War, other Umbra’Keth appeared but were defeated off-screen?

So there’s a story where Meridia is shown as teaming up with Mehruhnes Dagon and Molag Bal… this flat out makes no sense when you see that basically every other POV from mortals sees them as bitter rivals and we literally see this rivalry in TSO when she opposes the planemeld when no other prince did, I know Meridia isn’t all good, but I can’t see any scenario where she willingly works with Molag Bal, also outside of this one story from this one cultural POV, we never ever see anything that backs up these events being based in facts.

I personally always thought that it was a special ability only reserved for powerful beings and like the Thuum it depends on said being, how fast he can achieve and master it.

But is there any other explanation?

Hi everyone, it’s that time again!

The Weekly Free-Talk Thread is an opportunity to forget the rules and chat about anything you like—whether it's The Elder Scrolls, other games, or even real life. This is also the place to promote your projects or other communities. Anything goes!

I know in Arena there's Kynareth, Mephala, Polydor, Eloisa, Seth, Ebonarm, and Ius, but then in Daggerfall they added the eight divine and 16 daedric princes as well as Mannimarco ascending into god hood, but what other gods and deities e existed, characters like Auriel, Magnus, Dagoth Ur, Tiber Septim, Syrabane, The Night Mother, Xarses, and Rajhin weren't yet gods, also variations of gods like Kyne or Alkosh did yet exist, and as far as I know Battlespire didn't introduce anyone else. Also I'm pretty sure Jephre or Y'ffre was introduced in Daggerfall.