A Complete Overview of the Elder Scrolls Franchise

What is The Elder Scrolls franchise? A series of open-world fantasy RPGs set on the continent of Tamriel, including five mainline titles—Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim—plus The Elder Scrolls Online and multiple spin-offs.

Released between 1994 and present, these games share interconnected lore, Daedric deities, and signature first-person gameplay where exploration and choice define your experience.

New players typically start with Skyrim (most accessible), Oblivion (balanced), or ESO (multiplayer), depending on preference.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this article:

• Origins of the franchise at Bethesda
• Main series games and their stories
• The world of Tamriel and its lore
• What the Elder Scrolls actually are
• Complete list of games and media

What is The Elder Scrolls?

A Legacy of Open-World Role-Playing

The Elder Scrolls is the longest-running and best-selling Western RPG franchise, with over 59 million copies sold worldwide.

Since 1994, Bethesda has released five mainline games, each setting new standards for open-world design.

You’re dropped into vast continents where you can ignore the main quest, join guilds, become a criminal, or simply explore.

The series combines pre-medieval elements (like a Roman-style Empire) with high fantasy themes.

Magic exists alongside swords, mythological creatures roam the land, and technology remains deliberately limited.

Each game takes place on Tamriel, a continent roughly the size of Africa, divided into nine provinces inhabited by distinct races.

What sets The Elder Scrolls apart is its scale and freedom.

Morrowind offered 9 square miles of hand-crafted terrain. Daggerfall generated a game world the size of Great Britain.

You can spend hundreds of hours in a single game without touching the main storyline.

Learn everything about The Elder Scrolls franchise, from the main games and lore of Tamriel to the history of Bethesda’s iconic RPG series.

The Philosophy of Player Freedom

Bethesda designed these games around a simple question: What would a great pen-and-paper RPG look like in a video game?

The answer was an environment where you decide who to be and what to do.

No predetermined hero archetype. No forced moral alignment.

Daggerfall’s manual declared the developers wanted to “create a book with blank pages.”

Choices matter, but the game doesn’t judge. You can pursue good, chase evil, or ignore both—just like real life.

This design philosophy persisted through every subsequent release.

The character progression systems evolved with each game. Arena used traditional experience points.

Daggerfall through Oblivion rewarded skill usage. Skyrim shifted focus from character creation to character development.

But the core remained: you shape your own story.

The Game Modding Community

The Elder Scrolls Construction Set changed everything.

Starting with Morrowind, Bethesda released official tools that let players modify games however they wanted.

This spawned one of gaming’s largest modding communities.

Mods fix bugs, adjust balance, add new quests, overhaul graphics, and create new game worlds.

Some mods are so extensive they rival official expansions in scope.

The community has kept older games alive for decades beyond their release dates.

Console modding arrived with Skyrim Special Edition in 2016.

For the first time, Xbox and PlayStation players could access thousands of community-created modifications.

This extended the game’s lifespan significantly and set a new standard for developer-community relationships.

The Story of the Main Series

Arena: The Staff of Chaos

Emperor Uriel Septim VII rules Tamriel peacefully until his Imperial Battlemage, Jagar Tharn, imprisons him in Oblivion.

Tharn assumes the Emperor’s appearance and begins a tyrannical reign.

But the ghost of his murdered apprentice, Ria Silmane, contacts you—a minor noble—to stop him.

Your quest spans the entire continent.

You must collect eight pieces of the Staff of Chaos, scattered across Tamriel’s provinces.

Each piece requires navigating massive dungeons and solving the local province’s problems.

Only the reassembled Staff can defeat Tharn and free the Emperor.

The plot was straightforward by modern standards, but it established key lore elements.

The Third Empire under the Septim dynasty, the existence of Oblivion as a separate dimension, and the political structure of Tamriel all debuted here.

The ending promised more adventures to come.

Daggerfall: The Lost Superweapon

Six years after Tharn’s defeat, Emperor Uriel Septim VII sends you to High Rock.

Your mission: investigate King Lysandus’s ghost haunting the city of Daggerfall and recover a letter the Emperor sent to the Queen that never arrived.

The investigation uncovers a conspiracy involving the Numidium—a giant Dwemer-built construct that once conquered Tamriel.

Multiple factions want control: the Empire, several kingdoms in High Rock, the Orcs of Orsinium, and the Underking (a powerful undead being).

Daggerfall introduced multiple endings.

You choose which faction receives the Numidium’s control device, the Totem of Tiber Septim.

Each choice reshapes the political landscape of western Tamriel.

Later games explained this paradox as a “dragon break”—a magical event where all endings occurred simultaneously.

Morrowind: The Nerevarine Prophecy

As a prisoner released on the Emperor’s orders, you arrive in the strange land of Morrowind.

You are tasked with investigating the Nerevarine prophecy—a tale of a reincarnated hero destined to save the province.

Morrowind is threatened by the Blight, a supernatural disease spreading from Red Mountain.

Here, the corrupted god Dagoth Ur has awakened to build an army and destroy the land.

You must navigate the complex politics of the Dunmer Great Houses and decide if you are the true Nerevarine or just an instrument of prophecy.

Your journey leads to a confrontation with Dagoth Ur.

By destroying the source of his power, the Heart of Lorkhan, you save Morrowind but also sever the connection of its living gods to their divinity.

Oblivion: The End of the Septim Dynasty

The Mythic Dawn cult assassinates Emperor Uriel Septim VII in the Imperial City sewers.

Before dying, he gives you the Amulet of Kings and tasks you with finding his illegitimate son, Martin.

Without an heir, the barriers between Tamriel and Oblivion weaken.

Mehrunes Dagon, Daedric Prince of Destruction, opens gates across Cyrodiil.

His armies pour through, destroying cities and killing thousands.

You must protect Martin while he discovers how to permanently seal the gates.

The solution requires the Amulet of Kings and a ritual that will cost Martin his life.

Martin sacrifices himself to become an avatar of Akatosh, the Dragon God of Time.

He defeats Dagon and permanently seals the barriers to Oblivion—but also ends the Septim bloodline and the Third Empire’s divine mandate.

This succession crisis sets up the political turmoil in Skyrim.

Skyrim: The Return of the World-Eater

Two hundred years after Oblivion, the Empire has barely survived a war with the Aldmeri Dominion.

The harsh peace treaty banned Talos worship, sparking a civil war in Skyrim between Imperial loyalists and Stormcloak rebels.

You’re caught in an Imperial ambush meant for the Stormcloaks.

Before your execution, Alduin attacks—a black dragon thought extinct for thousands of years.

He’s the World-Eater from Nordic prophecy, destined to destroy Tamriel.

You escape and discover you’re Dragonborn: you can absorb dragon souls and use their power.

You learn the “Dragonrend” shout by reading an Elder Scroll, which lets you ground Alduin.

After defeating him in the mortal realm, you pursue him to Sovngarde (the Nordic afterlife) for a final battle.

Alduin’s defeat doesn’t end the dragon threat, but it postpones the apocalypse indefinitely.

The History and Development of the Franchise

Before the Scrolls: Bethesda’s Origins

Bethesda Softworks spent its first six years making sports games and media adaptations.

From 1986 to 1992, they released ten games—six sports titles like Hockey League Simulator and Wayne Gretzky Hockey, plus four licensed games mostly based on the Terminator franchise.

The shift to RPGs seemed impossible.

Designer Ted Peterson recalled developers at Sir-Tech (makers of Wizardry VII) literally laughing at Bethesda’s ambitions.

A small studio known for sports games had no business attempting a large-scale role-playing game.

But Peterson, Vijay Lakshman, and Julian Lefay were passionate pen-and-paper RPG fans.

They’d spent years playing tabletop games and wanted to capture that experience digitally.

Their main inspiration was Looking Glass Studios’ Ultima Underworld series, which showed first-person dungeon crawling could work.

The Accidental RPG: The Elder Scrolls: Arena

Arena started as a gladiatorial combat game.

You’d travel the world with a team of fighters, competing in arenas until becoming grand champion of the Imperial City.

Side quests offered RPG elements, but tournaments remained the focus.

During development, those side quests became more interesting than the arena combat.

Cities expanded beyond tournament venues. Dungeons appeared between cities.

The team realized they were building a full RPG by accident, so they dropped the tournament system.

One problem: all the promotional materials already said “The Elder Scrolls: Arena.”

Vijay Lakshman had chosen “The Elder Scrolls” as the series title, and everything was printed.

So they kept the name and recontextualized it—the Elder Scrolls became Tamriel’s mystical tomes recording past, present, and future.

Bethesda missed their Christmas 1993 deadline, releasing in March 1994 instead.

Initial distribution reached only 20,000 units.

The packaging (featuring a scantily clad female warrior) made distributors nervous.

But word-of-mouth sales grew month after month, turning Arena into a cult hit despite software bugs and demanding system requirements.

Expanding the World: The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

Development started immediately after Arena‘s March 1994 release.

Ted Peterson became lead designer, determined to make the plot less generic and offer multiple endings.

The team wanted to reward role-playing activities rather than just combat, so they scrapped experience points for skill-based progression.

Daggerfall used the XnGine, one of the first true 3D engines.

The game world was enormous: 161,600 square kilometers (the size of Great Britain), containing 15,000 towns and 750,000 NPCs.

Nearly all of it was procedurally generated, creating a sense of scale impossible to achieve through hand-crafting.

Character creation expanded significantly.

A GURPS-influenced system let you create custom classes and assign your own skills.

This flexibility became a series hallmark.

But the game’s September 1996 release suffered from significant bugs that frustrated early adopters.

Bethesda learned to be more careful with release schedules.

The Spin-Off Era: Battlespire and Redguard

Bethesda launched three simultaneous projects after Daggerfall: Battlespire, Redguard, and Morrowind.

The first two were experimental spin-offs testing different gameplay styles.

Battlespire (November 1997) began as a Daggerfall expansion but became a standalone dungeon crawler.

Set during Arena‘s timeframe, it focused on the Imperial Battlespire training facility being invaded by Mehrunes Dagon’s forces.

It added multiplayer deathmatch—the only series game with that mode until The Elder Scrolls Online in 2014.

Redguard (October 1998) was an action-adventure game inspired by Tomb Raider and Prince of Persia.

Set 400 years before Arena, you played as Cyrus the Redguard searching for his sister.

No character creation, just a fixed protagonist.

The Pocket Guide to the Empire included with the game established much of the series’ foundational lore.

Both games failed commercially.

Players wanted vast open worlds, not restricted dungeon crawls or linear adventures.

Bethesda took the message to heart and focused all resources on making Morrowind as expansive as possible.

A Hand-Crafted World: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Morrowind was conceived during Daggerfall‘s development but technology couldn’t handle the team’s vision.

They wanted all of Morrowind province and membership in all five Dunmer Great Houses.

Instead, they scaled back to Vvardenfell island and three Great Houses.

The XnGine was abandoned for Numerical Design Limited’s Gamebryo engine, supporting Direct3D, 32-bit textures, and skeletal animation.

But the biggest change was philosophical: Morrowind would be hand-crafted, not randomly generated.

Every building, NPC, and item was deliberately placed.

This required tripling Bethesda’s staff.

The first year was spent developing the Elder Scrolls Construction Set, which let designers easily modify and balance the game.

Ted Peterson returned as a lore consultant, expanding the world’s mythology and in-game books.

Morrowind launched May 1, 2002 for PC, with Xbox following June 7.

Despite being smaller in area than Daggerfall (9 square miles versus thousands), it felt larger due to content density and visual variety.

The writing quality and alien landscape—with its giant mushrooms, silt striders, and bizarre architecture—gave the game a unique identity.

Entering the Mainstream: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Development began in 2002 immediately after Morrowind shipped.

Bethesda aimed for cutting-edge graphics and tighter storytelling with more developed characters.

The Gamebryo engine received major upgrades for improved AI, physics, and visuals.

Procedural generation returned, but for terrain creation rather than content.

This produced complex, realistic landscapes without draining staff resources.

The team could focus on hand-crafting dungeons, cities, and quests while algorithms handled forests and mountains.

Oblivion launched March 21, 2006 for Xbox 360 and PC (with PlayStation 3 following later).

It was the first major RPG for seventh-generation consoles, showcasing their technical capabilities.

The game featured Radiant AI (NPCs with daily schedules), physics-based combat, and HDR lighting.

Two expansions followed.

Knights of the Nine (2006) added a questline about recovering Crusader relics.

Shivering Isles (2007) introduced an entire new realm—the Daedric Prince Sheogorath’s domain—with distinct visual style and unique quests.

Both expanded the game significantly.

Oblivion brought The Elder Scrolls to a wider gaming audience.

It sold millions of copies, won numerous Game of the Year awards, and introduced countless console players to open-world RPGs.

Reaching Global Success: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Todd Howard revealed in August 2010 that Bethesda had been working on a new game since Oblivion‘s release.

Full development waited until Fallout 3 shipped in 2008, but conceptual work started immediately.

The game was officially announced at the Spike Video Game Awards in December 2010.

Skyrim launched November 11, 2011 to commercial success and widespread praise.

Set 200 years after Oblivion, it dealt with the aftermath of the Empire’s war against the Aldmeri Dominion and the return of dragons.

The setting drew heavily from Scandinavian culture and Norse mythology.

The character progression system was overhauled.

Skills now contributed directly to leveling—the more you use a skill, the more you level up.

This removed the need for careful character planning and made the game more accessible.

Dual-wielding, finishing moves, and dragon shouts added combat variety.

Three DLCs expanded the game.

Dawnguard (2012) added a vampire questline. Hearthfire (2012) let you build houses and adopt children.

Dragonborn (2012) brought back Solstheim from Bloodmoon and introduced the first Dragonborn as the main antagonist.

Skyrim became a cultural phenomenon.

Special Edition (2016) updated graphics and added console mods.

VR and Switch versions followed in 2017. Anniversary Edition (2021) bundled all Creation Club content.

The game has sold tens of millions of copies across all platforms.

Going Online: ESO, Legends, and Blades

The Elder Scrolls Online was announced May 3, 2012 and launched April 4, 2014 for PC/Mac.

Developed by ZeniMax Online Studios, it’s set during the Second Era interregnum—about 1,000 years before Skyrim.

Three alliances fight for control of Cyrodiil while Molag Bal attempts to merge Tamriel with his realm.

The game launched with a subscription requirement but switched to buy-to-play in March 2015.

An optional “ESO Plus” subscription grants access to all DLC and various perks.

The game receives regular expansions called “Chapters” covering new zones and storylines.

The Elder Scrolls: Legends, announced at E3 2015, was a digital collectible card game.

It launched March 9, 2017 for PC and later expanded to mobile.

The game featured a story mode set around the Great War before Skyrim.

Development ended in 2019, though servers remain operational.

The Elder Scrolls: Blades (announced E3 2018, released 2020) brought the series to mobile devices.

You play as a Blades member rebuilding their destroyed town.

It features town-building, dungeon crawling, and PvP arena combat, all playable in portrait mode.

The Elder Scrolls: Castles (2024) is a management game similar to Fallout Shelter.

You oversee a kingdom through generations of rulers, making decisions that affect its prosperity.

It’s designed for short play sessions on mobile devices.

The Future: The Elder Scrolls VI

The Elder Scrolls VI was announced at E3 2018 with a brief teaser trailer showing a mountainous coastline.

No other details were provided except that it would follow Starfield, Bethesda’s space RPG.

The game spent years in pre-production while Bethesda focused on Starfield.

Todd Howard confirmed in June 2023 that it would be his last Elder Scrolls game.

Phil Spencer stated it would release after Playground Games’ Fable reboot.

Following Microsoft’s 2021 acquisition of ZeniMax Media (Bethesda’s parent company), The Elder Scrolls VI is expected to be exclusive to PC and Xbox Series X|S.

This makes it the first mainline Elder Scrolls game unavailable on PlayStation since Arena.

No release window has been announced.

Based on typical Bethesda development cycles and comments from developers, the game likely won’t launch until the late 2020s at the earliest.

The World of Tamriel: Setting and Lore

The Continent and Its Nine Provinces

Tamriel is a continent roughly the size of Africa on the planet Nirn.

It’s divided into nine provinces, each with distinct geography, climate, and dominant race:

• Black Marsh: Swampland home to the Argonians (lizard-people). Nearly impenetrable to outsiders due to disease and hostile wildlife.
• Cyrodiil: Central province, home to Imperials. Contains the Imperial City and serves as the Empire’s seat of power.
• Elsweyr: Desert and jungle regions inhabited by Khajiit (cat-people). Known for moon sugar production.
• Hammerfell: Arid deserts and coastlines, home to the Redguards. Known for their warrior culture.
• High Rock: Temperate region of Bretons (human-elf hybrids) and Orcs. Politically fragmented into small kingdoms.
• Morrowind: Volcanic ashlands and bizarre landscapes, home to Dunmer (Dark Elves). Contains Red Mountain.
• Skyrim: Frozen tundra and pine forests, home to Nords. Features the Throat of the World, Tamriel’s highest mountain.
• Summerset Isles: Archipelago home to Altmer (High Elves). The most isolated and xenophobic province.
• Valenwood: Dense forests inhabited by Bosmer (Wood Elves). Trees grow to enormous sizes.

The Races of Nirn: Men, Mer, and Beastfolk

Tamriel’s playable races fall into three categories:

Men (humans):

• Imperials: Diplomatic and educated, excellent merchants and politicians
• Nords: Hardy warriors from Skyrim, resistant to cold
• Redguards: Skilled swordsmen from Hammerfell with a proud warrior tradition
• Bretons: Magically-talented humans with elven ancestry from High Rock

Mer (elves):

• Altmer (High Elves): Talented mages from Summerset Isle, often arrogant
• Bosmer (Wood Elves): Small, agile archers from Valenwood
• Dunmer (Dark Elves): Gray-skinned elves from Morrowind, skilled in magic and combat
• Orsimer (Orcs): Strong warriors technically classified as elves, worship Malacath

Beast Races:

• Argonians: Reptilian people from Black Marsh, can breathe underwater
• Khajiit: Feline race from Elsweyr with many subraces ranging from house cat to tiger-like

Several extinct or hidden races appear in lore.

Dwemer (disappeared mysteriously), Ayleids (ancient elven slavers), Falmer (corrupted Snow Elves), and Akaviri (from another continent).

Cosmology: The Aedra, the Daedra, and the Creation of Mundus

The Elder Scrolls cosmology draws from Gnostic philosophy.

In the beginning, there were et’Ada—original spirits existing in the void.

Lorkhan convinced some spirits to create Mundus (the mortal plane), which required surrendering portions of their power.

The Aedra (“our ancestors”): Eight spirits who sacrificed power to create Mundus. They became the Eight Divines, worshipped as benevolent gods:

• Akatosh (time)
• Arkay (life and death)
• Dibella (beauty and love)
• Julianos (wisdom and logic)
• Kynareth (nature)
• Mara (love and compassion)
• Stendarr (mercy and justice)
• Zenithar (work and commerce)

A ninth Divine, Talos, was added after Tiber Septim’s death.

His divinity remains controversial, especially among elves who see him as a mortal conqueror rather than a god.

The Daedra (“not our ancestors”): Spirits who refused to participate in creating Mundus.

They retained their full power and created their own realms in Oblivion.

Seventeen Daedric Princes are known, including Mehrunes Dagon (destruction), Molag Bal (domination), Sheogorath (madness), and Azura (dusk and dawn).

Daedra aren’t inherently evil—they simply lack mortal perspective.

Some are helpful, others malevolent, most are indifferent to mortal concerns.

A Timeline of Tamriel’s Eras

Tamriel’s history spans thousands of years divided into distinct Eras:

Dawn Era: Mythic time when gods walked Nirn. History and myth blend together. Ended with the formation of linear time.

Merethic Era: Elves dominate Tamriel. Humans gradually migrate from other continents. Nords arrive in Skyrim, Redguards come from the sunken continent of Yokuda.

First Era (2920 years): Marked by the rise and fall of various empires. The Alessian Empire (human supremacists) controls Cyrodiil. The Reman Dynasty eventually reunites much of Tamriel.

Second Era (896 years): Interregnum period of chaos and war. The Elder Scrolls Online takes place during this era. Tiber Septim conquers Tamriel and begins the Third Era.

Third Era (433 years): The Septim Dynasty rules. Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, and Oblivion occur during this era. Ends with the Oblivion Crisis and Martin Septim’s sacrifice.

Fourth Era: Current era beginning after the Oblivion Crisis. The Empire declines. The Great War against the Aldmeri Dominion devastates Tamriel. Skyrim takes place in 4E 201.

What Exactly are the Elder Scrolls?

Fragments of Creation

The Elder Scrolls are mysterious artifacts that give the series its name.

They are said to be archives of all past, present, and future events.

Their exact origin is unknown.

Nobody knows how many Scrolls exist. They “do not exist in countable form”—they can appear and disappear from moment to moment, place to place.

You can’t count them like normal objects because they exist outside typical physical laws.

According to lore, the Elder Scrolls are fragments of creation itself.

They record everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen.

But reading them shows different things to different people at different times.

Two people reading the same Scroll might see completely different visions.

Prophecy, Blindness, and Insanity

Reading an Elder Scroll comes with severe consequences.

The most common is blindness—not necessarily immediate, but eventually all who regularly study the Scrolls lose their sight.

The Cult of the Ancestor Moth in Cyrodiil dedicates their lives to reading Scrolls, accepting blindness as inevitable.

Mental instability is another risk.

The knowledge contained in the Scrolls can drive readers insane.

The visions are too vast, too contradictory, too overwhelming for mortal minds to fully comprehend.

Some readers become obsessed, spending their lives trying to understand what they saw.

Despite these dangers, the Scrolls remain invaluable for understanding past events and predicting future ones.

Various organizations throughout Tamriel’s history have sought them for strategic advantage.

The Imperial Library maintained a collection for centuries, though their use was heavily restricted.

The Scrolls’ Role Within the Games

For most of the series, the Elder Scrolls existed only as a thematic framing device.

The opening of Arena references them: “It has been foretold in the Elder Scrolls…”

But you never actually saw or used one until Oblivion.

In Oblivion, an Elder Scroll appears in the final Thieves Guild quest.

You steal it from the Imperial Library—it appears as an incomprehensible chart with glowing glyphs.

Monks studying it wear blindfolds because they’ve already lost their sight.

Skyrim integrated the Scrolls directly into the main quest.

You need one to travel back in time and learn how ancient Nords defeated Alduin previously.

Reading it temporarily blinds you (your vision returns after completing the quest).

The Dawnguard expansion adds another Scroll used to prevent a vampire lord from blotting out the sun.

The name “The Elder Scrolls” was actually chosen because it “sounded cool” according to former developer Ted Peterson.

Only later did they determine what an Elder Scroll actually was in-universe.

This reverse-engineering of the central concept is typical of how the series developed its lore over time.

Complete List of Games and Other Media

Main Series Games and Expansions

The Elder Scrolls: Arena (1994)

• Platform: MS-DOS, later made freeware

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (1996)

• Platform: MS-DOS, later made freeware

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002)

• Platforms: PC, Xbox
• Tribunal expansion (2002)
• Bloodmoon expansion (2003)
• Official plugins

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006)

• Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
• Knights of the Nine (2006)
• Shivering Isles expansion (2007)
• Official downloads

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011)

• Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
• Dawnguard (2012)
• Hearthfire (2012)
• Dragonborn (2012)
• Special Edition (2016): PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
• VR (2017): PlayStation VR, PC VR
• Nintendo Switch version (2017)
• Anniversary Edition (2021): PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5
• Creation Club content (2017-2021)

The Elder Scrolls VI (TBA)

• Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X|S

Spin-Offs, Travels, and Online Games

An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire (1997)

• Platform: PC

The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard (1998)

• Platform: PC

The Elder Scrolls Travels series (2003-2004)

• Stormhold (2003): J2ME mobile devices
• Dawnstar (2003): J2ME mobile devices
• Shadowkey (2004): N-Gage
• Oblivion (2006): Mobile phones, PSP version cancelled

The Elder Scrolls Online (2014-present)

• Platforms: PC, Mac, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Stadia
• Chapters: Morrowind (2017), Summerset (2018), Elsweyr (2019), Greymoor (2020), Blackwood (2021), High Isle (2022), Necrom (2023), Gold Road (2024)
• Numerous DLC game packs

The Elder Scrolls: Legends (2017-present)

• Platforms: PC, iOS, Android
• Story expansions: Fall of the Dark Brotherhood (2017), Return to Clockwork City (2017), Isle of Madness (2018)
• Development ended in 2019; servers remain operational

The Elder Scrolls: Blades (2019-present)

• Platforms: iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch

The Elder Scrolls: Castles (2024-present)

• Platforms: Android, iOS

Novels, Board Games, and C0DA

Novels by Greg Keyes:

• The Infernal City (2009)
• Lord of Souls (2011)

Board and Tabletop Games:

• The Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms miniatures wargame (2020)
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – The Adventure Game (2023)
• The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era (2025)

Other Media:

• Pocket Guide to the Empire (included with Redguard)
• Various in-game book compilations
• C0DA: Unofficial graphic novel script by Michael Kirkbride encouraging fan interpretations of lore

The franchise has expanded far beyond video games into novels, tabletop gaming, and merchandise.

Each medium explores different aspects of Tamriel’s vast lore, giving fans multiple ways to engage with the world.

The open-ended nature of the setting—where contradictory accounts and player interpretation are encouraged—makes The Elder Scrolls unique among fantasy franchises.