Now that Bethesda has finally confirmed that The Elder Scrolls 6 is in development, fans have been quick to speculate where the next game in the series will take place. Considering that every release in the Elder Scrolls series are centered around their settings, including many of the Elder Scrolls Online expansions, exactly where the next title takes place will set the pace for the game.
Looking back at some of the settings that previous The Elder Scrolls titles have already visited in the past, such as Skyrim and Morrowind, there is still plenty of room in the larger world of Tamriel. One of these places that might be the most likely is Hammerfell, with some fans theorizing that Bethesda may have even teased the location with a recent tweet about the upcoming title.
In a tweet by Bethesda, the developer revealed a map of the region of Skyrim that some have interpreted as a tease that The Elder Scrolls 6 will be in Hammerfell. The leading clues that fans have clung to is the three candles that appear scattered across the map, with one placed under the label for the region of Hammerfell to the southwest of the main area. It’s the highlighting of the region’s label, as well as the fact that surrounding regions have been obscured by objects or cropped out of the tweeted image that seems to have “confirmed” the tease for these fans.
Additional clues include people assuming that another candle on the northern shore of the map is meant to represent a boat, one that can actually be found by players in Skyrim. As far as teases go, it isn’t uncommon for developers to hide this kind of content in the background of released images, and the placements might be as deliberate as fans claim. However, not everyone is completely convinced by this tease, similar to other suggested teases for upcoming Bethesda titles, and some that have commented on what is in the image are playing along for more comical reasons.
While some of the fan theories about how Bethesda has already hinted at Hammerfell might be questionable at best, there is plenty of reason to believe that the region has been in the planning for some time. Specifically speaking, Skyrim previously gave players a much clearer view of Hammerfell and the Redguard in The Elder Scrolls than its predecessor did. This on its own excited many players to the idea that some upcoming DLC involving the Redguards and this new culture that Oblivion had never really delved into.
In fact, it always seemed strange that the sidequest pertaining to the Alik’r warriors that come into Whiterun looking for Saadia is really all players get to see of Hammerfell natives. Their presence is strange enough in the game world for it to warrant a spoken line from the guards that has been the center of hundreds of Skyrim memes since the game launched. After the “they have curved swords” line in Skyrim, it really felt like the game might send players there at some point, but it never did.
One of the benefits of The Elder Scrolls Online is that the game technically takes place in an ancient past, well before any of the main titles of the series occur. This means that it can easily tread over older areas like, Skyrim and Morrowind in Elder Scrolls Online without feeling like it’s just repeating previous games. However, the “modern” times of the games Skyrim and Morrowind have essentially been explored as completely as they can be.
This means that there aren’t too many places left for Elder Scrolls 6 to explore without retreading over the previously explored areas of Tamriel. While it is possible that future titles will head back to previous regions, there are still a lot of sections of the larger world that still need proper representation. In the main series, the three that stand out the most are Elsweyr, the Summerset Isles, and Hammerfell, with the last being one of the most requested by fans.
Of the many areas that Bethesda has to choose from when it comes to planning the setting for the next Elder Scrolls, Hammerfell also stands out as a fan favorite. It might not necessarily be the developer’s intention to simply give players everything they ask for, since this can make it difficult to deliver meaningful surprises. On that same note, considering how little fans really know of the Redguards from firsthand interactions with the culture, Bethesda still has room to work with.
There’s a delicate balance to maintain when it comes to both delivering fans a compelling experience while also being open to requests. This is something that players have seen Bethesda struggling with in it’s other franchises, most notably with Fallout 76’s Wastelanders expansion that brought new requested features, but its own list of issues as well. That being said, giving into fan requests for where to go as far as Elder Scrolls 6’s location goes is a much smaller concession in the grander scheme of the series.
So, mentioning up above that Hammerfell hasn’t been explored in the “main series” is a bit of a workaround for how the region has previously been explored by the extended canon. Before Elder Scrolls Online first visited Hammerfell, there was a game released in 1998 titled The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard that had mostly taken place within the region. Unfortunately, this game was panned by fans, in most cases for being a major departure from titles like The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall that had come before it, as well as every open-world title that would come after.
The game was an action-adventure title with a set character and specifically crafted set of skills for the player to use, instead of the vast customization options players had been used to. Altogether, it wasn’t to say that the game itself was flawed, as the critical scores were about what players might expect from an early Bethesda title. However, the change in style made “exploring” Hammerfell a much less exciting adventure than any of the other regions have been, which has led fans to request a return to the region so heavily.
The Elder Scrolls 6 is currently in development by Bethesda.
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