I have been thinking, and I fear that Skyrim may be the last game timeline wise. I was thinking of this because that it has been stated and confirmed multiple times that the events of every other Elder Scrolls game was merely leading up to the return of the Dragon's, and allowing for Alduin to devour the world. This basically makes Skyrim the climix of the series. What will they do after Skyrim? Say: "Oh no, we were just kidding, Alduin really was just a stepping stone for the return of Padomay!" Plus, the Elder Scrolls 5 sounds so final and complete.
I do think there are many possibilities for prequels, there's always room for prequels. But, I fear that Skyrim may be the culmination of the Elder Scrolls.

Any thoughts?

They stated that the previous games were about the end of the last era and the end of the reign of the Emperor's, while the new game begins a new era and new dynasty.

The only way this would have to be the end of the series is if you lose.

I don't think so. Because I highly doubt when they made Arena they said to themselves "Okay, so this is just step one guys. After this, we will make games 2, 3, and 4 and then finish with 5!" the elder scrolls will just have to predict another story worthy event

I hope not! There has yet to be a game set in Black Marsh, Summerset Isle, or Valenwood for instance. That's three more Elder Scrolls games right there! D=

It depends on what they think though. Is the story over? I dunno. It could be over. Todd seemed to imply as much.

But it could be he's talking about this story arc. It could be that in Elder Scrolls VI, we start a new story arc that takes us to more Elder Scrolls adventures.

EDIT: Even if they killed your character off in one Elder Scrolls game, dosn't mean you can't make a new one in the next.

No, the only way I'd see them ending it is if the player character became the emperor.

My impression;

Bethesda Softworks Boardroom-

"Heey, why don't we axe one of the largest moneymakers we've ever made because it doesn't fit with our established lore that we can change at any time?"

"Great idea! We could work on spinoffs, since games like Battlespire and Redguard were huge successes! I see nothing wrong with that plan!"

Oblivion, most likely, was the climix of the Elder Scrolls series. That means that Skyrim (since it's a new age) will be the start of a new meta-story involving the Elder Scrolls.

Actually, they stated (GameInformer atleast) that the events in previous games were part of an ancient prophecy foretelling Alduin's return.
The Alduin's Wall page.

No.

On the imperial library you can find a love letter that is from the 5th era and is considered canon.

They're using this game to tie together the other games so far and bring the (apparently) separate narratives of them into a single thread. That doesn't mean that there's nowhere to go from here - there are far, far more major events that could happen than a world-eating dragon, and there are piles of other things that they could explore that, while not as impactful as a pending apocalypse, are still pretty major.

Put simply: Morrowind dealt with the pending end of the world by a sort of demigod who was spreading a blight that would consume pretty much everyone on it. Oblivion dealt with the pending end of the world by the invasion of an actual god who is the embodiment of destruction and who was invading Tamriel in an attempt to completely and utterly obliterate it. Skyrim is going to deal with the pending end of the world by a dragon eating it, and it's going to tie together those other two apocalypses (and the events of the first two games) as causes for this current apocalypse. They've had no problem escalating so far and they've seen absolutely no issue with saying "well that was just a stepping stone for THIS apocalypse" already, so I don't see the sequels coming to a stop here.

The Belgariad didn't end with the fulfillment of the prophecy, I'm sure there ar eother prophecies, since the events in previous games were a setup im sure that Jagar Tharn could mke a return as the architect of the whole thing

I saw that once, but never read it because I didn't know it was canon!

well, see it as you see real life: just because you got everything you strived for, doesn't mean your life ends there. there's still plenty of stuff that can happen.

well, I'm pretty sure TES is just like that.
hell, maybe in TES6 we'll read books about an ancient civilisation who had to fight off oblivion itself because they lost their emperor...
you never know...

well, as long as they don't do a fable out of this though. I want this series to continue, but if you're gonna do it just to make another one, without any great ideas, you might as well just not make it...

Jagar Tharn's been pretty unequivocally destroyed in every sense of the word. There's not really any questions left about that, and bringing him back would be extremely weird and take a fairly major about-face (and be pretty pointless).

Yup, and the dragons uprising will lead to another even, then another, then another, then another.

With such an important franchise, I'm fairly certain Bethesda devs have already sketched out rough log lines for the next sequel or two, along with detailed plans for all the Skyrim DLC. It would be ridiculous not to have at least the basic germ of an idea for TES 6 before fleshing out the writing for Skyrim.

They have to provide investors (or ZeniMax overlords with release slates for the next few years (probably next 5 years) with slots filled out for the important releases in order to get their budgets approved.

I used to work at a film studio and we had all the big release slots planned five years in advance.

Not at all. There are plenty of opportunities for sequels. Look at the Star Wars films. The Jedi read the prophecy of the Chosen One and how he was to bring balance to the Force. They were correct in deciphering the prophecy, but they interpreted it wrong. We don't know exactly how Skyrim will end. One can assume Alduin will be defeated and Dragonborn will either die or become the Emperor, but who really knows? The Empire has been crumbling for 200 years and Tamriel has more than enough issues aside from Alduin. I do not expect Bethesda's chornological trend to stop as we are entering a new era in TES. If anything, Skyrim is merely just summing up the events of the previous games to make them make more sense.

He may have faked his own death, as I highly doubt self respecting mage/lich would lave his blood gem (or whatever it was) lying around and not in some vault somewhere

Well, I guess that means we'll eventually get to 5E ???.

You forgot Elsweyr.



By who?

But then we could say TES IV was the last game since it was the end of the septim line and the end of the third era. Im counting on an expansion pack to come out much later after TESV is released as they do with all their games, so they will find something to continue the story. be it a magical portal that takes you to another realm (e.g. Shivering Isles).

But they could do what most game companies do , and completely start with a new story or a remake of the story like the latest Prince Of Persia games.

May be the game will get more advanced in the time lime a couple of years and a new threat will appear from the remnants of the old time.

Could you get a link to this? I don't know what you're talking about.

"For Bethesda Game Studios, Skyrim is a new beginning. The previous four numbered entries and their many expansions and offshoots told the story of the end of Tamriel's third era and the fall of the Septim dynasty of emperors. For the fifth numbered entry, Bethesda is taking its fans two centuries into the future. Skyrim isn't a direct sequel in the traditional sense, but rather the next major chapter in the prophetic Elder Scrolls."

Does that sound like an ending, or a new beginning to a new chapter of the series?

Indeed I doubt the end of the this game will be the end of Bethesdas biggest franchise. There is room for more storys for the empire and the whole of Nirn as a whole. After we defeat or whatever is going to happen Alduin the world eater some other great epic threat will affect the new dynasty and the emperor whoever that may be, I think we can all rest assured the forth era will have plenty of cataclysms and almost apocalyptic events that will have us to keep returning to the all telling Elder Scrolls that the games are named after...

Maybe the other games could be less about Dragons, Prophecies, and Daedra and more regular old school war between angry people wanting land/power and being racist and whatnot. You know, like our world. The empire is clearly crumbling, with the Imperial Line being dead and Skyrim in a civil war, maybe other provinces start going ape[censored] too and we see a large-scale inter-province war.

He wasn't a lich, and you don't destroy him by busting some sort of blood gem. He did try to defend the only object capable of destroying him (when used with the Staff of Chaos) by keeping it hidden deep within the Imperial Palace and guarding it personally ("personally" meaning that he was at the gem itself, with the palace filled with his exceptionally powerful minions). And he definitely didn't fake his death. At the end of Arena, you let off a blast of power that destroys him, something that's verified in the game's ending.

Like I said, there's really no doubt about it. The guy was completely destroyed. Not just his body but every part of his essence, completely and totally obliterated.