Every The Elder Scrolls Region Yet to Be Featured in Mainline Games
The vast world of The Elder Scrolls is filled with deep lore across its regions, which has continued to captivate players for decades. It might be true that the series has mostly depicted all of its primary setting of Tamriel, but not all of its representations have been given the depth of a mainline entry set solely within one province. Despite appearing in media like ESO, several parts of The Elder Scrolls‘ world remain exciting prospects for future titles centered entirely around them.
After Skyrim tackled its namesake in the same vein as Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion featured Cyrodiil, TES6 is expected to once again shine a new light on a known province. It could be argued that Hammerfell and High Rock have already been shown in Arena and Daggerfall, but the generational developments in game design since the time of Daggerfall‘s procedural generation, for example, could make these places unrecognizable in a modern release. Each of the areas of Tamriel and the greater world of Nirn have their own potential for exploration, but many of them haven’t received the mainline game treatment.
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The Summerset Isles
The Home of the Altmer
Also known as Alinor, this lush archipelago of eight islands in the southwest is where The Elder Scrolls‘ High Elves are based. Known for the advanced state of their civilization and the magical prowess that sustains it, the Altmer exist in a culture characterized by elitism. Parts of these islands have been seen in other media, but the full depth of the region and its relationship to magical concepts like the Aedra still remains a matter open to interpretation. Thought to be the origin point of Mer races after they arrived from Aldmeris, the passage of time has since seen the rise of cities like Firsthold and Alinor alongside the mysterious Crystal Tower landmark.
Hammerfell and High Rock
The Lands of the Redguards and Bretons Are Often Associated
The northwestern Hammerfell consists of an array of environments, with everything from vast desert to jungles and swamps. Once home to The Elder Scrolls‘ Dwemer civilization, people who became Redguards later arrived after the fall of their lost continent of Yokuda. Known for port cities like Rihad and coastal regions such as Sentinel, the Iliac Bay connects the province to its northern neighbor.
Even further northwest lies High Rock, a fertile land that has remained a rich and stable part of Tamriel’s Empire across most of its history. The Bretons are known to have risen from here, as they are theorized to have begun as human-elf hybrid settlers long ago. Known for places like the city-state of Daggerfall in the Glenumbra region, Wayrest in Stormhaven, and the Orsinium of The Elder Scrolls‘ Orcs, this region is a blend of bountiful natural resources and political intrigue.
Valenwood
The Wild Forests of the Bosmer
Mostly consisting of wildernesses comprising forests, swamps, and rain forests, the southwestern land of the Wood Elves is only properly inhabited in the disparate homes of various clans throughout. Inhabited by a people who believe in the “Green Pact”, a policy banning the use of plant materials in construction, Valenwood is appropriately underdeveloped. Ruled by the Camoran Dynasty founded in The Elder Scrolls‘ First Era, their ruling capital of Falinesti is a graht-oak, a giant, moving tree which travels around based on the seasons and has been known to disappear.
Elsweyr
The Diverse Deserts and Jungles Where the Khajiit Originate
The ancestral home of the bestial Khajiit race, the southern province of Elsweyr can largely be divided into its arid and lush halves. The northern Anequina consists of desert badlands inhabited by nomads, while the more prosperous southern Pelletine contains nobility who produce various crops. The history of The Elder Scrolls‘ Khajiit and their creation myth centered around analogs to the Divines explains their status as an extremely diverse race, with various physical traits being determined by the moon phase of their birth.
Black Marsh
The Swamp Lands of the Argonians
Also called Argonia, this watery land of swamps in the southeast has always been home to the reptilian Argonian people. The site of battles to control its rough terrain and subjugate its people throughout history, this province is far from an economically prosperous ally of the Tamrielic Empire of The Elder Scrolls. With cities like Helstrom never being reached by the Imperials, or Blackrose with its prison and Stormhold with its connection to its neighbors, Black Marsh is an enigmatic source of speculation even in-universe.
The Majority of Mainland Morrowind
Only Vvardenfell and Solstheim Have Been Properly Explored
While players may have gotten to see some of the area around the capital city of the Mournhold in The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind‘s Tribunal expansion, exploration of the eastern home of the Dunmer has largely been relegated to islands off its main coast. With strange geography seemingly resulting from volcanic activity, regions such as the crags and fields of Stonefalls, or fringe cities like Blacklight and Firewatch have yet to ever be seen outside Arena. Considering elements like the rich lore behind the Dark Elves starting off as the Chimer before being cursed by the Daedric Prince Azura, the mainland of the province is likely to still hold secrets of its own.
The Lands Beyond Tamriel
Yokuda, Akavir, and More
While mostly mentioned in passing and yet to be fully understood, several of the continents that exist outside The Elder Scrolls‘ Tamriel are known to persist, or to at least have existed at one point. To the east lies Akavir, where dragons originate alongside fierce races like the Kamal snow demons or Ka Po’ Tun tiger people. To the north is the frozen Atmora, a continent where humans migrated from originally due to apparent unlivable cold conditions.
Pyandonea is in the far south, exiled by thick mist and home to the still-extant race of the rare Maormer who tame sea serpents but have mostly disappeared from the world stage. When it comes to the desert islands of Yokuda or the mysterious, alien-like land of Aldmeris, however, these lost continents are thought to have disappeared due to geological devastation or magical meddling, leaving only their descendants who escaped to the provinces of Tamriel behind.