In just about every Elder Scrolls title, players are able to find history books that tell tales of adventure and intrigue that happened centuries before the events of the game. Even in the first game in the series, Arena, the events take place relatively late in the lifecycle of Tamriel. For the most part, each new game in the series takes place sometime after the previous one and moves the timeline forward somewhat, but this isn’t always the case.
As of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the timeline in the Elder Scrolls series has officially moved into the Fourth Era, several thousand years after the ancient Merethic Era that began several conflicts between the ancient races of man and mer, but not every game in the series takes place in the same era.
12 Online: Second Era 582
The earliest game in the series, at least in terms of when it takes place in the timeline, is The Elder Scrolls Online, which takes place at the tail end of the Second Era. In The Elder Scrolls Online, players take the role of the Vestige, a soulless protagonist who was sacrificed by Mannimarco to Molag Bal before the events of the game. It sees the player fight against the Daedric Prince of Domination, preventing them from forcefully merging Oblivion and Nirn together. While there are several canonical and historical events that take place in The Elder Scrolls Online, there is some contention about whether or not the game itself is canon, largely due to several of the alliances making little to no sense in the context of the world at the time.
11 Redguard: Second Era 864
Long before The Elder Scrolls Online came along to push the timeline back, The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard was released. It was set during a time long before the events of the games that came before it. In this title, players take the role of the titular Redguard, Cyrus, who travels to Stros M’Kai to find his lost sister and ends up in the middle of yet another political power play. Redguard doesn’t allow the player to choose their race and is played in a strictly third-person view rather than the first-person view that most other Elder Scrolls games are known for.
10 Arena: Third Era 389-399
The events of the first Elder Scrolls game, Arena, take place around 400 years after the events of The Elder Scrolls Online. Between Online and Arena, the Second Era transitioned into the Third Era in 2E 896 with the crowning of Tiber Septim, marking the beginning of a new, powerful nation and the creation of the Septim Dynasty. Unlike most other Elder Scrolls games, Arena takes place over a period of 10 years, with the player taking the role of the Eternal Champion, a warrior who has to thwart the attempts of an Imperial Battlemage, Jagar Tharn, from stealing the throne from Uriel Septim VII. Arena is one of the only games in the series where the protagonist has a canon name, Talin, though this can be changed at any time.
9 Shadowkey: Third Era 397
One of the three mobile games under the Elder Scrolls Travels branding that was released for the N-Gage back in the early 2000s, Shadowkey takes place during the events of Arena. But in this case, the player takes control of the Hero of Azra’s Crossing as they adventure around not only Hammerfell but sections of Skyrim and High Rock as well. Shadowkey is also notable for featuring local multiplayer at the time, something that the mainline Elder Scrolls series has yet to implement.
8 Battlespire: Third Era 398-405
Released as An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire, this title begins towards the end of Arena’s timeline and ends with the beginning of Daggerfall’s. In Battlespire, the player takes control of The Apprentice, a Battlemage in training who has to thwart Mehrunes Dagon’s invasion of Nirn by venturing into Oblivion to fight back against his minions. Battlespire was originally intended to be an expansion for Daggerfall but was later released as its own title with massively upgraded graphics, at least for the time.
7 Daggerfall: Third Era 405
Several years after Uriel Septim VII was returned to the throne, the events of Daggerfall take place in both High Rock and Hammerfell, with Daggerfall itself being a major city of High Rock. The events of The Elder Scrolls II cover what would later be known as the Warp in the West, an event caused by the intervention of the player character, known as both The Agent and The Hero of Daggerfall.
The Warp in the West is somewhat referenced during The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, with the event itself being caused by a similar Dragon Break that allowed Alduin to be sent forward in time during his reign over Skyrim. The Dragon Break in Daggerfall also means that all four endings are canon and happened simultaneously thanks to the alteration of time flow in the region at the time.
6 Morrowind: Third Era 427
Following the events of the Warp in the West, the player takes the role of, presumably, a Dunmer who is labeled as the Nereverine, the reincarnation of Indoril Nerevar, a Chimer from the First Era who fought against the Dwemer before their disappearance. The events of Morrowind follow a prophecy about the Nerevarine, who would reunite Morrowind and reveal the Tribunal, three elves who used the powers of Dwemer technology to become god-like beings, as false gods.
5 Oblivion: Third Era 433
3E 433 marked an enormous turning point in Tamriel known as the Oblivion Crisis. It began with the death of Uriel Septim VII, the Emperor of Cyrodiil who was instrumental in many events over the course of the previous Elder Scrolls games. While Oblivion Gates opened up all across the continent, the game takes place primarily in Cyrodiil, the Imperial capital city. It follows the Hero of Kvatch, yet another prisoner-turned-hero in the world of the Elder Scrolls series who is tasked with forcing Mehrunes Dagon back to Oblivion.
4 Legends: Fourth Era 175, 188, and 201
The free-to-play strategy card game The Elder Scrolls Legends may not fit into the world of the Elder Scrolls particularly neatly, but the events of the game do span several important events in the world and take place over many years. The most notable event is the fall of the Dark Brotherhood, which is mentioned in passing in Skyrim and is the reason why Cicero left Cyrodiil with the Night Mother’s sarcophagus in the first place.
The latest events in the timeline take place during the Return to Clockwork City expansion, which explores the long-abandoned Clockwork City that was once a thriving metropolis created by Sotha Sil, while granting players access to several returning characters from the series, including the Tribunal, Delvin Mallory, and J’Zargo.
3 Blades: Fourth Era 180
The mobile game The Elder Scrolls: Blades, as polarizing as its reception has been, does take place during the main timeline of the Elder Scrolls series. Specifically, it takes place just before the events of Skyrim and just after the Great War that saw the Imperial Legion and the Thalmor come into heavy conflict, resulting in their extended presence in Skyrim. Despite the title suggesting that the Blades make a strong appearance in the game, they are only really mentioned in passing and the game doesn’t add anything of value to the history of the Blades.
2 Skyrim: Fourth Era 201
The most recent game in the series in terms of where it sits in the timeline, Skyrim leaps forward a few centuries into the Fourth Era, which began with the conclusion of the Oblivion Crisis in The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. This allowed the series to explore new scenarios in Tamriel, such as the Great War that was the backbone for a large portion of the events in Skyrim. It also finally brings dragons into the series in a prominent fashion, with them serving as the central antagonistic element of the main story.
1 Stormhold and Dawnstar: Unknown
While both The Elder Scrolls Travels: Stormhold and its successor, Dawnstar, are both in the same series as Shadowkey, their placement in the Elder Scrolls timeline is much harder to pin down. While they most likely take place some time in the Third Era, as this is where the majority of Elder Scrolls games take place, there isn’t enough information given in the game to definitively say when these titles actually occur in the timeline.
