Since its release in 2014, ZeniMax and Bethesda's MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online has received a number of new Chapters and DLCs. Each one of these has helped to expand the story and the setting, as well as add new elements like Trials and gameplay systems. Set in the beloved continent of Tamriel so familiar to fans of The Elder Scrolls series, The Elder Scrolls Online lets players explore the Second Era, hundreds of years before the events of The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, and The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.
With each successive Chapter opening up new areas of Tamriel and offering more insights into the franchise's expansive lore, players have been enjoying the post-launch content for The Elder Scrolls Online over the years. The latest Chapter, The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle, is considered by some fans as the best new content the game has had in a while and has been praised for its involved and intriguing story. With political rivalries, plots to uncover, and mysterious factions to investigate, High Isle has it all, but one of the most interesting elements might be the role of the Ascendant Lord and their interfering cohorts.
The High Isle Expansion
High Isle dispensed with a lot of the elements that players might have come to expect from a new expansion, and while this was a risky strategy it seems to have paid off given the positive reception of the latest Chapter. Instead of one Big Bad, High Isle explored some more nuanced threats through societal division and political intrigue – elements that needed some great plotting and storytelling to pull off. Shifting the action into a brand-new area and focusing on the hierarchical world of the Bretons allowed for these more mature and complex themes to play out, and offered something fresh and different from the previous Elder Scrolls Online Chapters.
High Isle and Amenos are new areas that also provided a contrast to previous Elder Scrolls Online settings, with their nautical landscapes, lush jungles, and towering cliffs. Alongside the story, players will be able to make use of dozens of new items, cosmetics, and armor sets, in addition to two new companions – Isobel the Breton and Ember the Khajit. The Breton-focused saga will unfold across the year with staggered storytelling and additional content coming over time, but already many mysteries and intriguing narrative threads have been established since High Isle launched in June.
The Ascendant Order And Their Leader
The main plot of High Isle centers around the Three Banners War – a conflict between the Ebonheart Pact, the Aldmeri Dominion, and the Daggerfall Covenant. Players are attempting to help Lady Arabelle Davaux organize peace talks between the warring factions and hopefully bring an end to the ongoing conflict, but of course, things aren't quite that simple. As well as dealing with historical rivalries and backstabbing bids for power, there are also two groups vying for control in High Isle. One group, The Steadfast, purports to be an organization that promotes peace and wants to secure cooperation between the many different sides. The other is the Ascendant Order led by the Ascendant Magus and the Ascendant Lord who want to destroy traditional hierarchies and keep the war going.
This group may be brash and bothersome, but they're also incredibly secretive, keeping the identity of their members and their leaders a mystery while claiming that they have people all throughout Tamriel, at every level of society. While their goal initially seems noble – to end empires and put a stop to the bloodshed caused by kings and queens that fight each other for power – some don't think their ends justify their violent means. With a slew of shady organizations, powerful aristocrats getting in on the action, and a web of deceit and allegiances to navigate, High Isle has already proved itself to be an engaging new Chapter.
The Advantage Of A Complex Antagonist
High Isle allows the players to really get stuck in and peel back the layers of the plot to unveil mystery after mystery as more secrets reveal themselves and gamers have to work to get at the truth. With High Isle being an entirely new area to explore, the Chapter can't rely on established lore quite so much as previous expansions, and this leaves a lot of room for surprises to encounter and conspiracies to uncover. The Ascendant Order may have made a bit of an impact already, but the identity of those at the top and the true motives of the Ascendant Lord and their second-in-command are puzzles yet to be solved.
The secret order of knights led by the Ascendant Lord definitely wants to disrupt the peace talks that could bring an end to the Three Banners War, and due to the player's position at the start of the High Isle Chapter, they are initially set up in opposition to this secretive organization. They claim to want to tear down the unjust systems that are currently in place, and their goal means some major disruptions need to take place, which will inevitably lead to more conflict before they can be resolved. This is their justification for their increasingly violent tactics, but some have dismissed them as fanatics just out to profit from the ongoing conflict. The Ascendant Lord and Ascendant Magus are rumored to be from nobility themselves, further casting doubt on their actions and motives.
The Ascendant Lord is an interesting figure at the heart of this group. While some may not agree with their methods or their goals, shaking up the status quo and bringing down corrupt leaders for the greater good is arguably a noble aim. This isn't a typical good versus evil fight, and this antagonistic setup feeds perfectly into High Isle's much more complicated and nuanced storyline. Antagonists with complexities always make for the best baddies, as players can sympathize with their goals while condemning their methods, and this provides more layers to a straightforward binary storyline. There will undoubtedly be some twists and turns to come as the High Isle content gets released over the coming months, with allegiances tested and truths interrogated, and potentially even Ascendant Lords unmasked.
The Elder Scrolls Online is available now for Google Stadia, Mac, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.