When have the names been ironic? I don't remember any focus on smithing in Anvil. Windhelm more likely would come from it being windy, and a helm is a helmet. A windmill is something they probably have all over the place, it's a basic tool for grinding wheat and such. I'm not sure why you think Solitude is on an island, I haven't seen any evidence to suggest that. Nonetheless, the entire Northeastern region is snowy. Solitude is right next to the ocean, and also right at the mouth of a river. Windhelm is simply next to a thin river section (it's the size of Oblivion's map roughly, so a river that wide on the map is not very big). Also, if you look, you can see next to the city, some smaller pools of water, which is consistent with the tundra marsh area to the southeast. Although on second look it's possible some of those are light patches of snow, it's hard to tell because it's a bit foggy.

Anvil is the home of Varel Morvayn, who has a slightly more detailed backstory than any other smith in Oblivion, a longer career, and the only one with an apprentice. So technically, there are two self-proclaimed blacksmiths in Anvil that both work at a smithy. My point? Anvil has more blacksmiths (not armorers) than any other town thus it's name can be interpreted as ironic. The maps I've seen show an island that is seperated from the mainland by a small river that runs between them horizontally. Look harder. I'm just suggesting possibilities.

Edit: Studying it now, I can see that the line on the map may either be a stream of water, snow, ice, or just a flaw in design.


Awesome, then I'm so stoked for that. Hope they let me stand on the Throat of the World's peak.

Hm.. Here are the official maps to date. http://skyrimguild.com/wp-content/forum-image-uploads/ajifoster3/signature/Skyrim.JPG http://www.thedragonborn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/skyrimmap.jpg
I've looked at them for a while, but I'm sorry, I really can't see any island. I mean there is an island-like glacier just East of Solitude but not that I can see where the city is.

My biggest worry is that most of the landscape is going to be all frozen and snowy, which from what I've seen, is incredibly bland.

Im really liking the landscape. You don't really see many games set in a mountainous regions.
It also reminds me of the mountains near my home.

Look at the map I just posted. Regions are

-Snowy
-Tundra
-Tundra marsh
-Volcanic Tundra
-Pine Forest
-Fall forest
-Canyon (the name of this one is speculation as it is not visible, but it can be seen to be a different region)

Is it labeled on the map? I don't see any of those.

Yes. It's easier to read on the map that is blurry on the left side.

Eh, every map looks a little bit different. The one I have saved to my desktop is quite clear and vivid. The northern tip of the peninsula that extends out into the ocean has a stream of some sort running straight across the land and I'd be inclined to call it an island myself. But I very well may be mistaken.

Dude, what?

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m245/A_User_Name_That_Isnt_Taken/temp-1655.jpg

Dude, I posted 2 maps. Here the other one is again. http://www.thedragonborn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/skyrimmap.jpg

Snow - Written in Northeast region, west of lake, east of "The Pale"
Tundra - West of Whiterun, South of a group of mountains
Tundra marsh - Above tundra region, written directly below a road
Vocanic tundra - Far East, written above Eastmarch
Fall forest - Southeast region, above mountains and below big lake with island in centre
Pine forest - Green region next to fall forest, written Southeast of the lake in this area - On the map you linked, the words "Pine forest" are also visible in the Northwest corner
Canyon - Writing not visible but it'sthe differently coloured region with the big canyon in it.

Hopefully clear enough for you.

Oh ok. You said the one on the left.

I said "The map I just posted".

I don't know what game you're talking about but it's not Skyrim. I pretty much detailed most of the enviroments I saw or heard about in my original post but judging from what you just said, I doubt you read that. Just look at the trailer. It shows a forest in fall with broken birch trees and orange leaves covering the ground - Augurous, dark woods infested with packs of wolves - Vibrant groves filled with herding elk - Rivers, streams, and oceans with dynamic water flow - Treacherous rocky ravines. There's five right there excluding everything that's "frozen and snowy" (if you want to count water as an enviroment :blink:). We haven't even seen all of the different areas yet. There's still gorges, marshes, volcanic tundras, and many others they've announced.

Edit: Here's the map I've been using Dragonbone - http://i51.tinypic.com/2yxrds8.jpg

Any place where I can shoot dragons with arrows is cool.

I found this map very helpful to clarify regions http://skyrimguild.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Skyrim-map.png

That's exactly what I thought too. The subtitle of the picture would have to be "epic."

I understand that there are several different environment types, but what I'm saying is that they probably make up a small portion of the whole map.

If the maps that are out are accurate then it appears that a good portion of the landscape will not be a snowy wasteland.

That map is fanmade and not as reliable as the official ones.


I actually made that map, a long time ago, new info has come out that make some things in it false. Markarth for instance is where I placed Karthwasten and I'm not sure if the one where I placed Markarth is actually a town at all. It should be REASONABLY accurate though. Just done to make things a bit clearer. And some of the names of towns and such is still speculation based on old maps. Also, those numbers and the small writing was added by someone else later on it seems.


Well I showed you the maps, didn't I? You can see where the environment types are. Snow only covers the Northeast corner +mountains (where it would expectedly be).

The only barren, snowy, and bland (if you need to call it that) section of the map is The Pale and that's not any bigger than the rest of the areas.

I personally have always been a fan of the snowy mountainous look. However I am just excited to see it all especially the volcanic tundra.

@dragonbone That is really cool that you made that map! Props to you!

If it's not reliable, then why does it look identical to this "official" one in the Bethesda studios? - http://i51.tinypic.com/2dhis0p.jpg
And this one - http://i53.tinypic.com/14ndxl1.jpg
Just sayin...

Well for starters, neither of the official ones have a seperate island where Solitude is. If you look closely, there are several small differences. It's just an attempt to make the official one clearer, but they may have made mistakes and thus it can't be taken as a reliable source. This map is the same principle. http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/1717/skyrimmapls.png Some things in the official map are not clear enough to draw conclusions from so they have estimated to the best of their ability what it looks like.

The only difference is that the last one has extra locations and writing from the staff on it.