Ever since Elder Scrolls 6 was officially announced at E3 in 2018, there has been much speculation among fans in their burning curiosity of the potential location of Tamriel where Elder Scrolls 6 will take place. By looking at the statements made by Todd Howard, the Director and executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios, and the teaser trailer for Elder Scrolls 6, there are some possible clues where the game may take place. 

But there is a lot of ambiguity and room to believe that the answer may not be as straight forward as many fans may believe or hope. And new theories seem to be produced at the same rate established ones become invalidated or undermined. There is an entire universe of theories which debate Elder Scrolls 6's next setting, with the most popular deduction being that Elder Scrolls 6 will take place somewhere on the west side of Tamriel, and not the east side.

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Hammerfell, High Rock, and Valenwood represent the most common and established theories for where the game may set itself. However, there are a ton of possibilities, in that Elder Scrolls 6 may traverse one region but none of these, these regions, multiple regions, or even all of Tamriel potentially.

Other Continents

First, the less popular theories which argue that Elder Scrolls 6 will be taking place on one of the unexplored continents overseas can mostly be ruled out. Pete Hines, the senior vice president of global marketing and communications at Bethesda, confirmed in June of 2018 that that the game will indeed take place in Tamriel. That does not necessarily mean that other continents can not be included too, but it is extremely unlikely.

High Rock

Perhaps one of the most popular theories, based on the visual setting from the teaser trailer, is that Elder Scrolls 6 will take place in High Rock. The geography in the trailer shows rocky mountains, large open plains, and enough greenery that it visually resembles High Rock. As such, this is perhaps one of the biggest theories of them all.

elder scrolls valenwood 2

Valenwood

However, one can spend literally days scouring the internet and find plenty of valid reasons and pieces of evidence why it could be just about any coastal region on the map of Tamriel. For example, another popular theory pointed Elder Scrolls 6 to Valenwood in the southwest of Tamriel, given that it shares similar geography, is set in the western region, and is an unexplored area in the single player games. Yet, it is very much open for exploration in Elder Scrolls Online, which undermines the strongest selling point of this theory and argument. That doesn't make it impossible, but it does seem less likely as a result.

Hammerfell

Perhaps one of the strongest arguments making the rounds is one that at least deduces the setting to take place on the west side of Tamriel, given the visual evidence in the trailer that identifies where the sun and shadows are located in relation to the direction of the coast. While Valenwood is on the west side, there are some key arguments that point to Hammerfell being a more likely setting, given the seagulls that are flying in the distance and reportedly only seen in this country. This would not necessarily rule out the popular argument of a High Rock setting either, given it is just to the north of Hammerfell, but the coastal geometry also more closely matches Hammerfell.

Winterhold in Skyrim

Skyrim, Cyrodiil, Morrowind

Though some of the visual geography in the trailer is similar to some of the areas seen in Skyrim, Cyrodiil and Morrowind, given that they are already the settings included in the last three single player Elder Scrolls games, it is highly unlikely that these will represent the main setting for Elder Scrolls 6. However, given that Elder Scrolls 3 only takes place in the Vvardenfell portion of the map, there is some room for possibility that it could take place in another area of Morrowind which even Elder Scrolls: Online has not explored. To date, there are no strong theories currently circulating to suggest this, however.

Summerset Isle, Elsweyr, Black Marsh

The regions of Summerset Isle, Elsweyr, and Black Marsh present the least likely settings for Elder Scrolls 6, given that their geography does not even closely resemble the visuals displayed in the teaser trailer. Also, given that these regions were recently added to Elder Scrolls: Online as expansions and DLC, it also makes them more unlikely to be used again so soon. However, there is a small piece of evidence which may suggest Elsweyr may be an area open for exploration if we take into account the next theory that will be explored in detail: the possibility that Elder Scrolls 6 may include multiple regions. 

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Multiple Regions or All of Tamriel

While many people are searching for the exact location of Elder Scrolls 6, there is also a less popular, though very viable possibility: it could take place in multiple regions, or maybe all of Tamriel. And this possibility certainly has its own subtle pieces of evidence and valid supporting arguments to go along with it, by which it can be considered a viable possibility at this point.

Bethesda revealed that The Elder Scrolls 6 would utilize photogrammetry technology to scan in real life geography and objects. Those familiar with this technology have clarified that it allows developers to quickly create large swaths of graphical 3D mass, with each area being particularly unique to the real-life geography or object it is scanned from. Perhaps the very definition of the word, photogrammetry, summarizes this technology best: "the process of making surveys and maps through the use of photographs, especially aerial photographs." 

This is different than the previous methods used in many open world games where an algorithm generates the geographical land mass spread throughout a game's setting, by which this method is more vulnerable to geographical repetition as the setting increases. The other method is to hand-draw the map, but that can be very time consuming and difficult as the size of the map becomes large. It would seem that photogrammetry presents the best of both worlds, creating gigantic sized maps that look unique throughout, with a development timeframe that is viable.

In June 2019, Todd Howard also provided more key information stating that he would like Elder Scrolls 6 to be a game that people can play and enjoy for a decade, "at least." It seems very plausible that the setting for such a game would have to be fairly enormous to keep most gamers entertained for such a long period of time. 

 

In Bethesda's video celebrating 25 years of The Elder Scrolls, there is some interesting video footage showcasing an interview with Elder Scrolls 6's Art Director, Matt Carofano. He demonstrates the photogrammetry technology being used for the game's development. On the computer monitor in which he is demonstrating this technology, both graphical and real-life geographical images of gigantic rocks resembling those in a desert setting are shown. This type of geography would be very foreign to areas such as Hammerfell and High Rock. 

On the contrary, it is important to read into this in a nuanced manner. It could be a strong cue for Elder Scrolls 6 encompassing multiple geographical regions on Tamriel's large map, from the desert landscapes of Elsweyr, to the rocky mountains of High Rock. Or it could merely be a tech demo or some other form of material that is absolutely irrelevant to Elder Scrolls 6. There are many possibilities, as is the case with all the theories and the context of the evidence that is utilized in them.

Even in the Elder Scrolls 6 teaser trailer, there is some potential visual variation in the geography at the start of the trailer, in the fog, in comparison to the clear view of the landscape set further out. Ultimately, the fans' theories will continue to evolve, and maybe something more concrete will finally present itself as the Elder Scrolls community searches every scrap of information for answers. Rather than trying to use the trailer as a concrete means to determine the setting for Elder Scrolls 6, perhaps fans should instead be asking themselves if the region in the trailer is just one glimpse of a world far larger and more spanned out.

Elder Scrolls 6 is currently in development

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