Does the honor fall on TES?

As you probably know, most fiction involves some manner of lore, even if it's as simple as COD zombie lore, (No, I'm not joking) or Super Mario lore. (Sadly, still not joking.) Although there are plenty of noble contestants, such as The Lord of the Rings or Dark Souls, I don't see the same brute information, let alone the staggering depth of topics such as CHIM or other metaphysics. (Believe it or not, TLR is actually set on our earth.)

Of course, it would be unfair not to mention TES' grandfather, the dull and generic D&D. I don't know a whole lot about this universe, and it obviously lacks in depth and originality, but complexity, I cannot judge.

Gods, no. Read James Branch Cabell, Lord Dunsany, Stephen Donaldson, Robert Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H.P Lovecraft, C.S. Lewis, and a whole host of others.

You're telling me they are more complex than The Elder Scrolls?

I'm surprised you brought up C.S. Lewis and his Sunday school children's tales, though.

This thread is begging for a circlejerk but I don't think it'll get one.

There's also Robert Jordan, Frank Herbert, and George R. R. Martin which I think all three have created very interesting universes. I also think that Star Wars is hard to ignore if we're only talking about "complexity" if you take all the games and novels into account.

This sounds like it's coming from the mouth of someone who has little actual experience with C.S. Lewis' work.

Of course I'm telling you that. They created a lot of the ideas that TES has borrowed.

As for C.S.Lewis, I wasn't talking about just his Narnia stuff, although it certainly qualifies for complex world-building. Don't knock the product just because you don't agree with the message. Lord of the Rings is pretty "sunday school" too.

I can name you a whole bunch of writers who make Nirn look like a terrarium with three dead ferns in it. Try Robin Hobb.

This is your typical self-righteous internet jabber, 'Look at me, so astoundingly brilliant, while you petty peasants engage in ignorant nonsense'. ; I'm not asking for a, "circlejerk" or some other nasty figure of speech.

You're asking a highly subjective question on a forum dedicated to fans of one particular fictional universe. Just seems useless to me. I think http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1496812-es-vs-lotr/?p=23534834 sums it up pretty nicely.