Let’s just get this out of the way. I have at least 500 hours+ in both Oblivion and Skyrim each (I didn’t have a gaming PC for Morrowind until way after release, I’ll get to it eventually), and I can’t wait to one day play the next game in what is arguably my favorite series of all time. That said, I felt nothing when The Elder Scrolls VI was announced. It was just so soulless and devoid of details. How can I get excited about a small teaser that looked so generic that I couldn’t even be sure that it was actually anything related to the game? That is until people much smarter, and sharper eyed than I started to piece together what the teaser could be hinting at, both in terms of location and story.
Not long after the announcement, a Reddit user by the name of TERAFLOPPER, put together a very compelling, and pretty logical pitch on what the plot of the game might be that you can read in its entirety here (it’s not that long). But in sum, he guesses that the location will be the northwestern portion of Tamriel somewhere around High Rock and Hammerfell. The coast of High Rock was the location of an invasion attempt by the Akavirian people earlier in Tamriel’s history. Tamriel is incredibly divided after the events of Skyrim (the old Empire as knew it is barely intact with or without Skyrim), and Tamriel could be ripe for another invasion in that area.
Adding fuel to the theory of a High Rock/Hammerfell (and maybe even Akaviri) locale for The Elder Scrolls VI is an article written by Shawn Case of Gamer Professionals. He goes into a detailed breakdown of what is actually shown in the trailer, and is able to deduce a precise location of where the trailer takes place based on the geography and the buildings: Satakalaam of Hammerfell, which also happens to be a short boat ride away from High Rock. I won’t go into anymore detail than that cause Case and GP deserve a click of their own. So definitely head over there and see how he was able to deduce that.
Nothing is confirmed though until it’s verified by Bethesda of course. This is all 100% speculation, and take it with a huge grain of salt; let’s just make sure that’s clear. BUT… a High Rock/Hammerfell bid with an Akaviri invasion plot mixed in is starting to look PRETTY convincing, does it not?
I could not get excited for The Elder Scrolls VI until some details were actually revealed. This feels real enough to me, I feel like I have details now, and now, I care a lot.