Studying the various titles and Spin-offs in the Elder Scrolls Franchise, I have come to realise that Bethesda has foreshadowed the plot of Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim in the game that came before it. In Redguard you see a bookshelf. On that bookshelf are books with all the Elder Scrolls Games that came before redguard as their titles. Also on that bookshelf are the games, Morrowind, Oblivion and a fifth illegible title. Keep in mind Redguard was two years before Morrowind, eight years before Oblivion and 13 years before Bethesda even made a fifth game (Skyrim).

And then in Morrowind’s Tribunal expansion when talking to Eno Romari during the Show of Power quest, he talks about the impending apocalypse, the releasing of daedra upon Tamriel, and the coming of Mehrunes Dagon. This is the plot of Oblivion in a nutshell.

References to Skyrim can also be found in Oblivion. M’aiq the Liar says the following line “I have seen dragons. Perhaps you will see a dragon. I won't say where I saw one. Perhaps I did not.” This is clearly a reference to the return of the dragons in Skyrim. Towards the end of Oblivion, if you speak to Captain Steffan, he will state “With no Emperor to serve, the Blades now return to our ancient role. We will bide our time until the next dragonborn arises.” Well in Skyrim the Dragonborn is assisted heavily by the Blades.

Clearly, Bethesda has a trend of leaving subtle hints and nods to their future instalments. But this got me thinking, what about Skyrim? It stands to reason that Bethesda would at least make a minor reference to the plot of the next Elder Scrolls Game, if they are a following this pattern.

Skyrim does make numerous references to a future Second Great War. The Thalmor forebodingly refer to the Great War as “The First Great War with the Empire”. General Tulius even mentions that he believes the second Great War is on the horizon.

So that could be the plot of the next game, but what about the player character? Well, I believe that the player character is going to be a Shezzarine. Shezzarines are the mortal representation of Shor or Lorkhan. Notable Shezzarines include Pelinal Whitestrake, Tiber Septim, Wulfharth (High King of Skyrim) and Zurin Arctus (an Imperial Battlemage).

Shezzarines are considered champions of mankind and commonly fight against elven oppressors and enemies. This fits in nicely with the Second Great War with the Thalmor. The Elder Scrolls games usually revolve around the “Chosen One” archetype, as seen by the Dovahkiin, Nerevarine, Hero of Kvatch and the Vestige. These characters are the chosen of a god or gods, with the Dovahkiin a chosen of Akatosh, Nerevarine a chosen of Azura, Hero of Kvatch a chosen of Sheogorath and the Vestige a chosen of Meridia. Thus it stands to reason that the Player Character of the next game would follow suit. Thus a Shezzarine seems logical.

There may in fact be a subtle reference to the Shezzarine in Skyrim. In Sovngarde, Shor is missing. I know some of you may think this is because Lorkhan is dead, but I have another theory. Shor isn’t missing because he is dead, but because he is alive-or at least his aspect is. His aspect, the Shezzarine is somewhere in the world right now, and that’s why he’s missing.

Regarding the foreshadowing of Morrowind in Redguard, Bethesda had already said at that point that TES III was going to Morrowind. It was the fact that it also had Oblivion on that bookshelf that stood out.

But yeah, based on how Oblivion and Skyrim were foreshadowed by their immediate predecessors, indeed people dig around for whatever they can find that may hint at where we are going in TESVI. The Alik'r Warriors and Ebony Warrior are reasons some think we will be going to Hammerfell, for example. The issue of the Void Nights suggest to others that Elsweyr will be coming up. I'm sure there is something to find, but right now there are only so many straws to grasp at.

Many would argue that ALL our characters are Shezzarines.

They NPCs in Sovengarde say he isn't missing at all, you just can't see him because you are alive.

I'd argue that the Hero of Kvatch was also a chosen of Akatosh. They were a packaged deal with Martin, 2 'Ones' with a single 'Chosen'.

I wouldn't say 'Clearly', and i generally tend to write many of these things off people seeing patterns where there are none. Oblivion, for instance, also talks about Skyrim invading Morrowind, Daedric cults in Summerset, and all the other so-called 'Rumours' that were thrown about by NPCs that turned out to be absolutely nothing.

With the exception of a single line in Morrowind, i don't see anything that really constitutes Foreshadowing, at least not without a direct confirmation that it was intended to be such from Bethesda.

That said... I do think they are planning something with the second Great War. What, i can't really say, but seeing as Legends somehow got the green-light story-wise, i'm not looking forward to it. If they're smart, they'll just have it happen in the background like the Great War did, and we'll learn about the changed political landscape after the fact.

This is pretty much common knowledge to anyone that paid attention while playing the main quest in Skyrim.

The Thalmor will very likely be involved again.


Well, it seemed really obvious to me, anyways.

We have a thread for ideas on future on TES games: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1615518-official-beyond-skyrim-tes-vi-92/

But if this thread stays on topic about how Skyrim foreshadows what happens next, it can stay open.

Ok. I'll try to make sure this thread stays on topic

P.S I've deleted that line.

While Skyrim has, without a doubt, easter eggs to the next Elder Scrolls title, we can't know for sure which are actual forshadowing and which are just random bits of worldbuilding. While it's almost certain to have the Thalmor and involve them in some way, that's probably the only thing we can say for certain at this point. And even then, it's less "foreshadowing" and more "acknowledging where the game is likely to go."

two wordss: Mysterious Akavir

One word: M'aiq

Not so clearly. It's quite probably he's also talking about the end of Oblivion's main quest, where... "you will see a dragon."

And? That doesn't imply the next game will have you as the Dragonborn with faux-Blades at your side. Besides, it's often argued that Delphine and Esbern are merely using you, on their quest to kill dragons and Thalmor. If you tell them you won't kill a certain dragon, they want nothing to do with you.

"That′s three words."

-M′aiq

It's also possibly an acknowledgement of the huge changes to Cyrodiil from what many in the community at the time may have been expecting. Cyrodiil was supposed to be home to the Chantry of Akatosb, which actively bred Dragons, and the Imperial City was full of them, either flying around the towers or basking in the rivers.

Calling it now: We will find the corpse/skeleton of an adventurer with an arrow stuck in his knee

Bloodmoon also has a prophecy about the Oblivion Crisis once you complete its main quest.

There's also the question of whether or not something Foreshadowing, or taken and developed as a story hook after the fact.


Foreshadowing is deliberate, and requires a foreknowledge of what's to come. That would inherently imply that Bethesda knows where they're taking things well in advance.


That doesn't mean you can't take a reference, hook or idea from previous adventures and flesh it out into a full story of its own, of course. Doing so is actually a pretty common thing in writing, and is part of the reason why fiction, especially Fantasy, has a tendency to have a bunch of loose ends... But that doesn't make the original reference Foreshadowing.


So, it's all going to depend on how far ahead one thinks Bethesda has planned, and how strongly they adhere to that plan. A reference towards Hammerfell only constitutes foreshadowing if they intended it to be when it was included.