Just curious, has anyone ever attempted to catalog a list of retcons from title to title?

Seems like that'd be something fairly useful that puts perspective on the ever-changing universe, as well as alerts people to dramatic changes in lore that they should be aware of when going to play a newer game title.

There are none. Usually, any retcons we have are explained in lore.

I know that's a lazy answer, but it's true, more-or-less.

Arena doesn't have retcons other than "demons are daedra". For the most part.

And Daggerfall's Argonian names.

Most of what we perceive as retcons in newer games are labeled that way only because they contradict some pre-existing lore, but not actual pre-existing canon which is what we actually witness in the games. That's what we can be absolutely sure is real. The other sources are fallible and often contradictory.

I would consider a ret con something that fundamentally alters the actual continuity of the coherent universe. The biggest one I can think of is the Warp in the West, since different players could create different continuities in the Daggerfall universe by helping different factions. Any situation where major choices such as this are made which can't realistically be followed through in subsequent games would be a ret con.

Another example is the ultimate fate of the guilds and factions you chose to help in Morrowind. Since different players could do different things, they kept the lore about how that nation was progressing vague in Oblivion and then dropped a rock on it between Oblivion and Skyrim.

A lot of people on here complain that the way Skyrim handles Dragons and other Skyrim lore such as religion is a ret con, but I wouldn't personally call it that. It's more of a clarification and correction of pre conceived notions - notion which were lore, but not canon. Many of us assume we know more about this universe than we actually do. I'm skeptical of any and all sources, even the trustworthy ones. Hell, I don't even trust what I see with my own eyes if it doesn't make sense.

I believe the biggest ret con is yet to come. Bethesda will need to do something clever to appease both players who chose Stormcloaks and players who chose Imperials. Both sides can't end up winning, ultimately. Something has to give.

Bassically everything in Arena besides the Main Quest is a Retcon.

-Well Cyrodill retcon is probably the most noticable one,
-Also locations who where eighter removed (Mir Corupt) or dumbed down locations (city of Sutch to fort Sutch)
-Elements that where present in written lore but havent been included ingame eg like uniqueness of skyrims vampires
-Skyrim lore about dragons could be treated as a retcon, but its more like an addition that came out of nowhere
-Warp of the west was a giant retcon for sequels historical sake
-Some people could say the images of the akaviri (pale pass and wall of alduin) where retconed to humanoids, where people wanted the belowed imortall-vampire-snake-men (humans of akavir where devoured by Taesci long ago), altough still we dont know what/who the hell we really seen as it was limited to "dudes in samurai armor with fancy swords"
-lore included with morrowind was a giant retcon too, mostly to make it from another typical fantasy to something more

Right. I was thinking with such a list, it'd have to be generous and list perceived retcons in different degrees and categories. For example, perhaps some would consider city of Sutch to Fort Sutch or Nords having no problem with magic to outright hating it as retcons, even though there's no concrete evidence that these things make no sense. Sutch can dwindle with time and Nords suddenly hating magic is explained by Winterhold, though it is obviously a drastic and sudden turn in their culture. These things would need to be listed, though all of the retcons would perhaps need to be color-coded so as to indicate their severity. Perhaps dark red for severe retcons (Warp in the West) a darker shade of pink for questionable transitions (City of sutch to fort sutch) and a light pink for things that are really more just....very sudden changes (Nords hating magic).

Mind the rock-dropping was implied (very, very loosely mind, but still) in both Morrowind and Oblivion, like the Oblivion Crisis was foreshadowed in Morrowind and the Thalmor and Skyrim's Civil War was foreshadowed in Oblivion.

Warp in the North allows Tulius Stormcloak to become king of Tamriel.


My comments in order of presentation in the quote:
-True 'dat brother
-They were intended, just Bethesda never got around to actually implementing them. Skyrim has "forts" where there are cities in Arena as well.
-In my opinion, Skyrim was pretty faithful to the preexisting lore (Thieves' Guild den in Riften; Greybeards; Arcturian heresy; etc.) , but that aside, you're right.
-Again, agreed.
-If I remember, Dragon-Breaks were read about in Daggerfall, so it's not that contrived.
-If I remember correctly, the Tscaeci were always that way in previous lore; ambigiously human or snake or both (due to concept eating)
-Morrowind was always "alien". So no retconning there. Morrowind was intended to be the province of TESII for the sake of making it stand out from other fantasy worlds.

Bethesda thinks ahead (or behind) more than we give them credit for. The only example I can think of though

MK gave us explict confirmation about the Taseci and stated that their appearance in OB was for technical reasons and said that the Taeseci were litterally "Immotal.Vampire.snakemen". I wouldn't count OB's Akiviri as a retcon of the Taseci like I would Cyrodiil geography.