Who is the king of skyrim? What was his name. The only thing I know about the king of skyrim is that Fourth Era he dies.

I was under the impression that Skyrim, in large part, was pretty much City States, like ancient Greece.

Unknowable at the moment. Even if we knew who the King of Skyrim was at the time of Oblivion, ESV is 200 years later.

I believe you're right, but there is a High King selected by the Moot, at least when there's no obvious heir. And it's apparently soon after his assassination that Skyrim's story begins.

No idea. Play Skyrim when it comes out and find out. Or maybe they'll tell us prior to the release date.

Even during Oblivion, I didn't think there was a high king. Guess I need to look harder.

You may be right. From the 3rd Edition PGE:



But if I were forced to guess, I would assume that the Empire would select a provincial King (anologous to King Helseth in Morrowind), and it is one of his descendants whose identity the OP is questioning after.

The simple answer is we don't know yet but we can assume that at some point after Tes IV and before Tes V a single ruler managed to unify the clans of Skyrim, as in the days of old, and now he or one of his descendants has been murdered.

Why make it more complicated than that? I'm sure this will be addressed in the game.

Because I like doing things the hard way, darn it.

No, I'm only joking. You're exactly right.

The High King of Skyrim, Thassad II, resists the Imperial invasions, even as he sees other kingdoms crumble.

Something like that.

There's a lot of stuff that happened in the 200 years between Oblivion and Skyrim, and I'm keeping both fingers crossed for a plethora of new books on the subject in Skyrim. I'm sure the Mede Dynasty (or whoever ended up taking over Cyrodill..Lord of Souls will fill in that blank. Will Titus be assassinated by Aldmeri Dominion? Will Attrebus take the throne? Will Vuhon or some other evil force? Who knows?) probably focused heavily on internal affairs for a while before beginning the aggressive Imperial expansion into other territories.

gives the impression of multiple kingdoms.

gives the impression of multiple kingdoms.

Yes...sometime around the events of Oblivion and Morrowind. But as has been stated, there have been multiple times throughout Skyrim's history where all kingdoms have been united under a single High King. It's not unheard of it would happen again between Oblivion and Skyrim.

Or like Illiac Bay before the Warp in the West?

Depending on the precise definition of "united", it is not impossible that Skyrim is both at the same time, i.e. consisting of a loose "gathering" of kingdoms, counties or city-states, which are periodically "united" under a single High King. The question is whether this "union" is nominal or complete.

What I mean to say is: the mention of a High King which has united all of Skyrim does not necessarily invalidate the existance of the other, lesser kings or rulers. It might be that the High King serves as (nominal) overlord of the lesser kings, i.e. holding a preponderant or chief position amongst them.

"First Among Equals"


I'm set on joining the Restless League.

Or perhaps something like medieval Ireland - one High King with essentially no power "ruling" over several kings who are practically independent, with a High King occasionally managing to knock the rest into line temporarily, at least until a moment of weakness or the accession of an unskilled ruler breaks the whole thing up and renders the ruler once again practically powerless. Maybe more a variation of what you said (or perhaps what you said restated in other terms and I'm just not paying enough attention ), but still an interesting option.

only thing would change is the Greece part more like Ancient Ireland whom had kings and then had a High King too and was divided into small kingdoms which i see skyrim being much more like. Though the High King was not elected by a moot. So ancient Ireland with more voting involved im sure many other ancient cultures had High Kings too but ill be damned if i can think of another off the top of my head right now.

The "High King" s the "Hortator/Nerevarine" of Skyrim. The person who is "High King" has been selected by the majority of the "Moot". the "Moot" is comparable to the Great Houses and the Ashlanders in Morrowind, but with no access to a Morag Tong to settle petty disputes.

The King of Skyrim is anyone who can claim to be Bretwalda without being laughed into Oblivion.

Yep, that stuff from the PGE pretty much made me believe Skyrim was pretty much like the Iliac Bay during Daggerfall.

This.

Apparently, between the events of TES IV and TES V, the Cyrodillic Empire manages to lose most of its fringe territories (Valenwood, the Summerset Isles, Elsweyr, Black Marsh), as well as some of the southernmost counties of Cyrodiil itself (Bravil and Leyawiin). Titus Mede manages to reclaim the lost Cyrodiilic territory, but it's clear that the major decline-period of the Empire has already begun, and he evidently never reconquers the secessionist Elven lands.

The next novel and TES V will undoubtedly be bridging those events together, but it's something we're going to be forced to wait until this fall to finally learn about in full, unabridged detail.

From what I gathered about Skyrim, it's politically more like modern day Spain. There is a central government with some real power, however, the various areas do have a large degree of autonomy; some probably more than others. For instance, Solitude is a major economic center, as well as Winterhold; it would make sense for them to yield a good deal more influence and self-rule as opposed to Windhelm. The High King would still be important though. When Skyrim was independent, they were probably chiefly concerned with keeping the army to defend or conquer other territorial holdings, as well as keeping the general peace within Skyrim. Now that Skyrim is an imperial holding, they're probably mostly concerned with keeping the peace, making sure everything runs smoothly for the economy and trade, as well as representing Skyrim in the Cyrodiilic Empire. With the Septim line extinct and the Empire falling apart, their position is much more important, and it's no wonder everything falls apart upon their death.