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No character at this point has returned for a sequel, so that would be going against the grain. As cool as the Dragonborn is, especially with the importance of Dragonborns in the series and their connection to dragons (badass) and Akatosh, I can understand that the Dragonborn's story is over; Alduin is slain.

As for events that were set in motion, I will say that Bethesda left a cliffhanger in the game if the player went through with the civil war storyline, although you could say that the civil war was just a B-story, defeating Alduin was the A-story. Dealing with the civil war and the Thalmor wasn't really Dragonborn's purpose, at least initially, and Bethesda has 3 options:

1. Continue the Dragonborn's story in the fight against the Aldmeri Dominion.
2. Create a new hero to deal with the Aldmeri Dominion, perhaps a decade or longer after the events of ESV.
3. Have ESVI take place during the aftermath of the war, and the story can either relate to the war or have no relation.

But I think the majority of us do indeed have an interest in the war. I would like to kick Thalmor butt, but I would like to know what exactly their machinations are. Just learning of the events after they occurred may be lackluster, but it would also satiate my curiosity. We, the players, ultimately can't truly determine the outcome of the war anyway, it's all scripted.

Yes, with regards to the lack of choice when dealing with the thalmor in general, i think the strangest thing about them is you could meet a band of justicars on the road, and through reasonably innocuous responses in the conversation, incur their wrath - that was very provocative as it put you in contact with an authority with violence a hair trigger away if you gave the 'wrong answer' (which is easy to do if you are role playing / being honest)

The Thalmor plot will probably be resolved via between-game canon (in a similar way that the red mountain events were slipped into the story) and we'll start TES6 as Dominion citizens, we might even be in a Tamreil where the nastiness has been forgotten and their plans make sense (or at least are not being immediately enacted if they involve the end of the world). Lol there's every chance that the death of the dovahkiin in a mighty battle will feature in a book on a shelf somewhere in TES6.

If this is the case then I like the way they have changed the politics of Tamreil by doing away with the empire as it shows the ability to move forwards, even though I feel we probably won't get the closure we are looking for in a computer game. They probably won't continue the Dovahkiin's fight with the dominion - the time to do this was last year and TES is about new starts and freedom of choice.

I am half expecting Beth to post a storyboard/essay/animation of what happened next on an official site to just round things off for Skyrim, or even a PC-only dlc in the next year or so - which would be annoying for some console owners but i think acceptable for the majority - they would get away with it if we're all having fun with TESO.

Another possibility is that comercially Bethesda have created a situation in Skyrim that cries out for a novel or two in the next year or two - so it might be a happy coincidence that there's a few loose ends and large fan base clamouring for answers

we're in uncharted territory really, new gen consoles, new puppet masters holding the strings in Tamreil, can't wait for the next game. Hope they hurry up with it, and that Skyrim was a bit of a blip story - wise

i would like to go to Elsewheyr next game - the Khaajiti really interested me in Skyrim. But a trip to Summerset would also make sense.

I agree with your sentiments here, and would like to Dragonborn fight the Aldmeri [&@%!]! Bring it Bethesda!

I too agree it would be an interesting change of pace, but what ramifications would that have in the game itself? Would humans be slaves, for instance? If you played as am Imperial, Nord, Redguard, or Breton, would you be attacked on sight? Would we be continuing on where ESV left off, perhaps trying to overthrow the Aldmeri Dominion? Or would the Aldmeri Dominion ultimately be a more aristocratic but otherwise ok version of the empire? Would the remainder of the series be set in an Aldmeri Dominion-ruled Tamriel? Because at some point the games will most likely return to the status quo, and Bethesda did a good job getting most fans angered with the Thalmor.

This might also be a good set-up to introduce the Maormer, or perhaps have another Akaviri invasion?

I always thought Skyrim ended on a bit of weird note. The whole ''dragon crisis'' is blown out of proportions, and they don't do much before you finally cut the head off the supposed 'big threat'. So I don't see how Skyrim's main quest helps set up any future storyline other than just ''there are dragons now''.

I've also always thought Skyrim's main questline should have been about the Thalmor/Dominion, who came across as much more threatening and dangerous opponents, who had a lot more to do with the world and the events that were taking place. But now that I'm completely finished with Skyrim, I don't really feel like fighting the Dominion anymore because I think Bethesda missed the best opportunity and the best time for them to take advantage of the Dominion and have them be the bad guys. Continuing/Beginning the fight in another game would feel odd and out of place; as if Skyrim was simply dragging on into another setting, and finally doing what it should have in the first place. And I wouldn't really enjoy that as it would feel to me as if the games had simply taken too long to get to the point.

So no; I don't think the main storyline of the next game should focus on the Thalmor/Dominion, and I don't think we should play as the Dragonborn in the next game. To put it simply, I think that the opportunity to use them as a fun story drive has passed, and that the developers should just add in something entirely new to be the focus and just resolve the Dominion situation in the game's literature whether one way or the other for who ultimately won. I don't care about who the ''leader faction'' is in the next game, I'd be alright either way.

i had a thought about this

the voice of the emperor ability suggests (to me anyway) an imperial race memory - perhaps brought from Akavir by the ancient fore fathers of the blades - the idea of emperors using the thu'um.. so perhaps this ability would be banned or repressed in Imperials, who of course would no longer be called Imperials, but Cyrodiilics (?). This could be coincidence of course and my selective lore memory might have missed something

Interesting viewpoint. I thought though that perhaps the Voice of the Emperor is related to this little snippet "the well-educated and well-spoken Imperials are the natives of the civilized, cosmopolitan province of Cyrodiil." They may be using their silver tongues to pacify the opponents, rather than some special genetic power. I may be wrong, but it's just my theory.

That though would also lend to the dilemma presented; would Imperials still be well cultured under the rule of the Thalmor-controlled Aldmeri Dominion?

yeah that's interesting - what can they do now they are no longer the silver tongued diplomats serving the emperor? - maybe their society will degenerate..

its possible the Thalmor will want to administrate the lands from the white gold tower and keep the focus away from their homeland, so maybe the cyrodiils race will be kept on as civil servants and diplomats, like the butlers of the dominion lol

skyrim 2

I for one hope that the next Elder Scrolls will be set in Elsweyr. It's not only that I love cats, but I'm also intrigued by the very unique portrayal of Khajiiti in TES. As far as I know, TES is rather alone in having feline humanoids: most other games preferring werewolves or similar. And the concept of Khajiit is totally the product of Bethesda -correct me if I'm wrong- and that's very interesting. Their names, their culture and everything about them seems much more unique than the other races. It seems that they were not so much based upon real world conterparts, or other being in other fantasy worlds like, as the other races.

However, I think they might have painted themselves into a corner by bring to expansive in lore. I am of course thinking about the different kinds of Khajiit lore mentions. While it was still a problem in morrowind, oblivion and skyrim that there was just one kind of khajiit throughout the entire province, it didn't matter much because khajiits weren't of much import, but merely interesting but minor. But were the game to be set in Elsweyr the kahjiits are in the spotlight, and there's no avoiding the problem. Either they will try to portray Elsweyr as it has already been presented in lore -with all 17 types of kahjiit, playable or not- or they will have to scrap lore and just go with one kind of khajiit, as they've done in previous games.

That problem, though there are others, might be enough for the team to consider a game in Elsweyr to be too much trouble. Rewriting lore will make many fans mad, and not doing so will be a challange to make a realistic game out of. But I'm actually hoping they'll redo the lore, and while they're at it, redo everything else that doesn't fit with the new and evolved identity of TES. As we know, the TES universe was begun way back in arena but then it served a different purpose, and the atmosphere was totally different. It was more of a medieval fantasy, and the names given to races, towns and provinces were not names which were based on a rich lore, but rather ad-hoc names. What I mean by that is cities with names like darklight, firewatch, solitude, mournhold et cetera. Names that are in plain english, and which to me are totally immersion breaking. That's why I'm such a fan of Morrowind, where they've mostly replaced silly names like that with names of the rich lore they've created, like Balmora, sadrith mora, vivec, ald-ruhn et cetera. What I want TES to do is to just get rid off all these remnants from the arena-times, and replace them with the newer more immersive names, nd pretend the older ones never even existed. So Morrowind would be resdayn, dark elf would be dunmer, imperials would be cyrodiils et cetera.

So, the problem with Elsweyr thus for me already begins with it's name: Elsewhere. But we also have all the cities except Senchal, which in my view doesn't sound khajiit like at all. True, they are likely the names given to them by cyrodiils. And that is actually the excuse I think they should make in order to rename them, and that's the excuse the should've used to rename the cities in skyrim to something more nord-like. All they have to do is expand the ta'agra language, and just translate riverhold and dune into ta'agra, and voila, it's now totally immersive. Same should be done for the province name itself.

So, in short, I want Bethesda to make TES IV be set in Elsweyr, but I want them to get rid of the older medieval fantasy-esque lore which doesn't fit into the newer unique TES lore which has been established since Morrowind, and to scrap everything about khajiit morphology, and just go with one type.

I think the conflict with the Thalmor is serious enough to feature in the next game, and prominently, so one of the Dominion provinces would be a great setting. There's the next war (which the Thalmor could win, thus taking all of Tamriel), and assuming Thalmor victory, a subsequent period of oppression and uprising. The missed opportunity would be wrapping it all up between games, and I'd love to see a serial arc as long it's resolved at a reasonable time. In any case, I hope the PC is completely ordinary. The Dragonborn doesn't need to be carried over.

That is a possibility as well, they can't be everywhere and the Summerset Isles are the most beloved to them, but the Thalmor could place authority figures all over Tamriel to govern it just like they placed justicars throughout Tamriel to coerce or supersede local authority.



It would be interesting to see the the 17 types of Khajiit, however I can understand that would be a huge undertaking for Bethesda in both time and money to create about as many Khajiit as there are other races and creatures in the game.

I'm also sure that they stick with the common form of Khajiit for gameplay purposes as well since they are most humanoid and thus make them interchangeable with other races regarding apparel, hit boxes, motion capturing, etc. But perhaps for those reasons we could see a return of the elvish-looking Khajiit that appeared in earlier games?

The fifth game gives us a united empire in the process of disintegrating. The sixth game will then, for the sake of dynamism, will emerge from one of two results: Tamriel is once again coalesced, or Tamriel has completely fractured...

...We've already seen Tamriel united in five previous games.

I think the world will be led by the thalmor in the next game. It will probably be just like any other, just with the elves in charge. But I imagine there will be secret rebel groups all over the place who perhaps fight against them or live in hiding, perhaps driven to live like the falmer.

Although personally, I am obsessed with the history. More than anything I would want a storyline set back in history. With all of the dwemer ruins I explored I would just love to be a part of that. Its so technilogically advanced, they seriously took steps back after them. Id like to know what happened to them, how did they ALL disapear. Another thing to bring up is.. We are going in time here, with each game. With the dwemer artifacts and machines, wouldnt we eventually learn how those things work and further our science as well? We can't have the medieval era forever.

I was thinking about that as well, but in previous games you could roleplay a character who hated the Empire and worked to see its downfall. The overall scripting of the Main Quests forces the final chapter, but you could still play the character in the mindset of a rebel.

So, why does playing a rebel against the Dominion seem fresh or different from being a rebel against the Empire?

It isnt. But Skyrim wouldnt even let you touch the issue of the Thalmor.. very frustrating to me. It just seems like its all leading up to their take over, they obviously have the upper hand. There's always some big opposition to overcome in each game. I'm not saying that will be the main storyline, but to me Thalmor takeover is obvious. And also, many humans that won't get in line for them is also obvious. And if they do takeover there is so much that they could change, the tables turning with elves vs humans. They could take that and run with it. In Skyrim magic is so foreign, after they would take over it seems magic users would dominate.


Dagoth Ur, the Oblivion crisis, the returning of the Dragons.. its hard telling what the next big catastrophic, save the world scenario is.

Indeed, having the Thalmor-controlled Aldmeri Dominion would add a whole new twist to the game that would allow for bold and new story elements.

The downside is that ES5 really set it up so that most people wanted to beat the snot out the Thalmor and were given few opportunities to do so, many people want to participate in the ensuing war but having ES6 take place after the war is over and the Thalmor win would really ruin it for a lot of people.
But, on a bright side, we could be given the options to either ally with the Thalmor to keep their stance or rebel and cause their ruin. And really, maybe it's the Thalmor's destiny to be vanquished? So even if you align with the Aldmeri Dominion, you could still have the option work with a sect that see the Thalmor as nazi's and oust them.



I am conflicted. I too would love to participate in past events and interact with the Dwemer before their disappearance, or interact with the Falmer before their downfall... I especially want to experience more about the Tsaesci and other Akavir inhabitants such as the Ka Po' Tun, Tang Mo, and Kamal. I will however say that, particularly in the case of the Dwemer, the mystery is part of the reason we are so interested in them.

It's sort of implied that the world didn't take steps back scientifically from when the Dwemer disappeared, but rather that the Dwemer were just so far more advanced than the other races that they took that knowledge to the grave with them. So while the other races have been studying Dwarven sciences and technology since their disappearance, they so far lack the genius to replicate and expand upon the Dwemers' works.

Apparently though the world won't always be so primitive, it's confirmed that the Elder Scrolls world will one day become scientifically and technologically more advanced (perhaps in the 5th era). But will we be introduced to that era anytime soon in the games? Something like that is drastic and will completely change the Elder Scrolls series, it would be like turning the series from Dungeons & Dragons into Star Wars. Is that really where we want the series to go? And if it doesn't work, could we even go back?

Unless perhaps it ends up being like the Thor movie where it's said "In Asgard, science and magic are one and the same."

Where has this been confirmed, if you don't mind? Because honestly that would be horrible.

Well Michael Kirkbride has posted some things, like how Pelinal Whitestrake is a cyborg from the future. There are also some things he has written which make references to a futuristic Tamriel:

http://www.imperial-library.info/conten ... se-tamriel

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/kinmune

I haven't read everything he has written, so it's possible that there are more references.

Oh please no. Seriously we have Fallout already.

While Michael Kirkbride is surely an interesting person, those works aren't really officially related to the games. He had his involvement in the creation of some parts of the lore, and may have intended for these things to happen if he had the helm of the franchise, but I do not believe his changes will be made now that he is no longer involved. A good point I have seen brought up is that Bethesda already has properties like Dishonored, Doom, Fallout, and Rage. If they were to make a game in a different kind of technological setting, they would do it through those franchises, instead of messing with their fantasy setting more than they have to.

True, true. Perhaps I jumped the gun a little in my previous comments.

Although, does that make his statement on Pelinel Whitestrake official or subject to change since he no longer has any control of the character?