For beginners the vast world of TES lore can be a daunting place. Thankfully there are numerous resources we can use to ease us on our path to enlightenment. Below are a list of sites which can help you find the information you are looking for. Also, don't be afraid to use our Ask your lore questions here thread if you want that one-to-one interaction.
UESP.Net Is an incredibly useful and reliable site for both gameplay and lore aspects of TES. For newcomers, I'd recommend UESP as the place to start thanks to it's links by category.
The Imperial Library is a huge library dealing with primary sources, community-accepted theories and developer interviews. The librarians there have been given exclusive permission to reproduce the special ESO collectors books. For more advanced scholars who know their sources, you really can't do better than TIL.
The New Whirling School is a guide to interpreting the rich, deep and challenging series of books, The 36 Lessons of Vivec. It is a work in progress but well worth your time if you wish to learn Vivec's mysteries.
The Loremaster's Archive is ESO's biweekly article on a TES lore subject. Specifically dealing with 2E lore, it nevertheless can give great insight into established lore. Of particular note are the questions submitted by fans and the in-universe/unreliable narrator style answers.
Who is MK and why is he so controversial?
Michael Kirkbride worked for Bethesda as a writer on TES III Morrowind and some parts of TES IV Oblivion as a freelance writer. Despite this, he frequently continues to write and discuss TES lore on various forums and sites which has led a lot of people to question the canonicity of his work. The reason fans tend to hold his work in such high esteem is due in no small part to the massive impact he has had on lore, as evidenced by the in-game books he has authored:
A lot of those books form the foundations of TES lore and are essential reading in order to understand the metaphysics of The Elder Scrolls Universe. A lot of his oog works expand on these concepts.
We all try not to take it to heart that only MK can save Skyrim from the trash heap - but I can say that even without directly writing any books, I'd say there's more of his influence on Skyrim than Oblivion. Probably a lot more - if you look at the chapter from the PGE on Skyrim, (pretty sure that was one of his - I can't remember any more who wrote which one, it's Bilbo and Strider all over again), and that chapter is the foundation for the whole setting. And if you look really hard, you might even find a painted cow. (No comment on flying whales.) Kurt Kuhlmann
Who is Talos and is he actually a god?
Talo is an amalgamation of Hjalti Early-Beard, Zurin Arctus and Wulfharth of Atmora. All three of these beings took part in an enantiomorphic event which allowed Hjalti to mantle Lorkhan and become the god known as Tiber Septim in the Empire or Talos in Skyrim. The question of his divinity wasn't too much a problem until the events of TES V Skyrim as, up until then, his godhood was presented in the same way as the other Divines and presented as fact. Consequently proving his divinity from texts is hard and delving into oog sources is needed. Proving his divinity in-game is much easier thanks to the Blood of the Divines quest in TES IV Oblivion or the blessings bestowed upon the player from statues.
What is the life expectancy of the races?
Elves live two to three times as long as humans and the “beast-races” (Orcs, Khajiiti, Argonians). A 200-year-old Elf is old; a 300-year-old Elf is very, very old indeed. Anyone older than that has prolonged his or her lifespan through powerful magic.
For beginners the vast world of TES lore can be a daunting place. Thankfully there are numerous resources we can use to ease us on our path to enlightenment. Below are a list of sites which can help you find the information you are looking for. Also, don't be afraid to use our Ask your lore questions here thread if you want that one-to-one interaction.
UESP.Net Is an incredibly useful and reliable site for both gameplay and lore aspects of TES. For newcomers, I'd recommend UESP as the place to start thanks to it's links by category.
The Imperial Library is a huge library dealing with primary sources, community-accepted theories and developer interviews. The librarians there have been given exclusive permission to reproduce the special ESO collectors books. For more advanced scholars who know their sources, you really can't do better than TIL.
The New Whirling School is a guide to interpreting the rich, deep and challenging series of books, The 36 Lessons of Vivec. It is a work in progress but well worth your time if you wish to learn Vivec's mysteries.
The Loremaster's Archive is ESO's biweekly article on a TES lore subject. Specifically dealing with 2E lore, it nevertheless can give great insight into established lore. Of particular note are the questions submitted by fans and the in-universe/unreliable narrator style answers.
Who is MK and why is he so controversial?
Michael Kirkbride worked for Bethesda as a writer on TES III Morrowind and some parts of TES IV Oblivion as a freelance writer. Despite this, he frequently continues to write and discuss TES lore on various forums and sites which has led a lot of people to question the canonicity of his work. The reason fans tend to hold his work in such high esteem is due in no small part to the massive impact he has had on lore, as evidenced by the in-game books he has authored:
A lot of those books form the foundations of TES lore and are essential reading in order to understand the metaphysics of The Elder Scrolls Universe. A lot of his oog works expand on these concepts.
We all try not to take it to heart that only MK can save Skyrim from the trash heap - but I can say that even without directly writing any books, I'd say there's more of his influence on Skyrim than Oblivion. Probably a lot more - if you look at the chapter from the PGE on Skyrim, (pretty sure that was one of his - I can't remember any more who wrote which one, it's Bilbo and Strider all over again), and that chapter is the foundation for the whole setting. And if you look really hard, you might even find a painted cow. (No comment on flying whales.) Kurt Kuhlmann
Who is Talos and is he actually a god?
Talo is an amalgamation of Hjalti Early-Beard, Zurin Arctus and Wulfharth of Atmora. All three of these beings took part in an enantiomorphic event which allowed Hjalti to mantle Lorkhan and become the god known as Tiber Septim in the Empire or Talos in Skyrim. The question of his divinity wasn't too much a problem until the events of TES V Skyrim as, up until then, his godhood was presented in the same way as the other Divines and presented as fact. Consequently proving his divinity from texts is hard and delving into oog sources is needed. Proving his divinity in-game is much easier thanks to the Blood of the Divines quest in TES IV Oblivion or the blessings bestowed upon the player from statues.
What is the life expectancy of the races?
Elves live two to three times as long as humans and the “beast-races” (Orcs, Khajiiti, Argonians). A 200-year-old Elf is old; a 300-year-old Elf is very, very old indeed. Anyone older than that has prolonged his or her lifespan through powerful magic.
Just something I've discovered recently and thought I'd share it here. At the moment, UESP can be somewhat out of date when it comes to some ESO content. Not all of, there are some complete articles, but it's gotten to the point where I've found that the ES Wikia tends to be a bit more to date, the actual information seems to be as hit or miss as ever, but it's more complete, so it's occasionally useful for when a UESP page is out of date.
Just something I've discovered recently and thought I'd share it here. At the moment, UESP can be somewhat out of date when it comes to some ESO content. Not all of, there are some complete articles, but it's gotten to the point where I've found that the ES Wikia tends to be a bit more to date, the actual information seems to be as hit or miss as ever, but it's more complete, so it's occasionally useful for when a UESP page is out of date.
True enough. It's the same situation with TIL - they don't always add every book as it requires time and dedication to do, so they triage what gets added. For UESP and quests it's even harder as the game works differently due to being an MMO. We can't save before a quest, so unless you go into it with the intention of data-mining and recording info, so much gets missed.
True enough. It's the same situation with TIL - they don't always add every book as it requires time and dedication to do, so they triage what gets added. For UESP and quests it's even harder as the game works differently due to being an MMO. We can't save before a quest, so unless you go into it with the intention of data-mining and recording info, so much gets missed.