The Elder Scrolls
 i
| |
|---|---|
| Developer | Bethesda Game Studios |
| Publisher | Bethesda Softworks |
| Genre | Action role-playing |
| First release | 1994 (Arena) |
| Platforms | PC, consoles, mobile |
| Setting | Tamriel (Mundus) |
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The Elder Scrolls (often shortened to TES) is a fantasy role-playing video game franchise created by Bethesda Softworks. The games take place on the large continent of Tamriel and are known for giving players an unusual amount of freedom to shape their own character and choose how their story unfolds. This open, "living world" approach helped set a standard for the role-playing genre.
1 Origins of the name✎
The franchise began with the game Arena. While Arena was being made, it changed from a combat-focused action game into a role-playing game. To make this clear to players, the phrase "The Elder Scrolls: Chapter I" was added to the title. The word "Chapter" was chosen to make the series feel like a book or tome, one that new "chapters" could be added to over time.[note 1][note 2]
The original idea was modeled on tabletop Dungeons & Dragons campaign packs, with large and small "chapters" being added to the first game over time, similar to what players today would call expansions or add-ons. However, the company did not yet have the technology to support that kind of system, so future "chapters" became full standalone games instead.[note 3]
A few of these planned "chapter" campaigns were originally designed for Arena, including adventures set on the open ocean, gladiator arenas, and a vampire castle called Mournhold. The Mournhold idea was first meant to be "The Elder Scrolls: Chapter II" before the team decided to build an entirely new game. The setting was later moved to the Iliac Bay region and the city of Daggerfall, which became the second main game.[note 4]
2 Games✎
The main series consists of five released games, with a sixth confirmed to be in development.
| Main series | |
|---|---|
| The Elder Scrolls: Chapter I — Arena | 1994 |
| The Elder Scrolls: Chapter II — Daggerfall | 1996 |
| The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind | 2002 |
| • Tribunal (expansion) | 2002 |
| • Bloodmoon (expansion) | 2003 |
| The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion | 2006 |
| • Knights of the Nine | 2006 |
| • Shivering Isles (expansion) | 2007 |
| • Oblivion Remastered | 2025 |
| The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | 2011 |
| • Dawnguard (add-on) | 2012 |
| • Dragonborn (add-on) | 2013 |
| • Creation Club (Special Edition add-ons) | 2017–2021 |
| The Elder Scrolls VI (in development) | TBA |
| Spin-off games | |
| An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire | 1997 |
| The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard | 1998 |
| The Elder Scrolls Travels: Dawnstar | 2003 |
| The Elder Scrolls Travels: Stormhold | 2003 |
| The Elder Scrolls Travels: Shadowkey | 2004 |
| The Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion (mobile) | 2006 |
| The Elder Scrolls Online | 2014–present |
| The Elder Scrolls: Legends | 2017–2025 |
| The Elder Scrolls: Blades | 2019–present |
| The Elder Scrolls: Castles | 2024–present |
| Canceled games | |
| Eye of Argonia · Paradise Sugar · Oblivion (PSP) · Legends China | |
The Elder Scrolls Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that has continued to grow through yearly story "Chapters" such as Morrowind (2017), Summerset (2018), Elsweyr (2019), and later releases, along with regular downloadable content.
3 Other media✎
Beyond video games, the franchise has expanded into other formats, including:
- Books — novels, guides, and other publications set in the series.
- Merchandise — physical media and official products.
- Board games — tabletop titles including The Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms (2020), Skyrim — The Adventure Game (2023), and Betrayal of the Second Era (2025).
4 The game world✎
The world of The Elder Scrolls is known for its detailed setting, with interconnected societies, cultures, and religions, each given its own history. Players learn about this world through in-game books and detailed conversations with characters. Fans who study this material closely sometimes call themselves "loremasters."
The games take place within the mortal world of Mundus, and almost always within one or more of the nine provinces of the continent of Tamriel:
| Province | Home of |
|---|---|
| Black Marsh | the Argonians |
| Cyrodiil | the Imperials and the extinct Ayleids |
| Elsweyr | the Khajiit |
| Hammerfell | the Redguards |
| High Rock | the Bretons and Orcs |
| Morrowind | the Dunmer and the presumed-extinct Dwemer |
| Skyrim | the Nords and Falmer |
| Summerset Isles | the Altmer |
| Valenwood | the Bosmer |
Some titles—especially Battlespire, Oblivion, and The Elder Scrolls Online—also take place partly within the Planes of Oblivion, alternate realms ruled by powerful beings called the Daedra. While other continents are known to exist beyond Tamriel, players have not yet visited them in any official game.
5 The Elder Scrolls themselves✎
Within the fiction, the "Elder Scrolls" are also a set of mysterious, ancient artifacts that the series is named after. They are prophetic objects said to contain knowledge of the past, present, and possible futures, and they play a role in several games' stories.