A lot happens in the time covered by The Elder Scrolls' many games, but there's far more lore to the world than just what can be played in the main series. In fact, there are thousands of years of history that occurred on Tamriel and beyond before the first game, Elder Scrolls: Arena, was set. Each of the games available to fans only covers a small window of time in a vast and complex history, so there's bound to be cataclysmic or wondrous events that have not been witnessed first-hand.

Players are familiar with momentous happenings such as the defeat of Mehrunes Dagon at the end of Elder Scrolls' Oblivion Crisis, or the Last Dragonborn finally destroying the World-Eater, Alduin, in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. These events are well-documented through their existence in playable content, but the lore of Elder Scrolls contains some intriguing stories that, even if never incorporated into a possible future game title, can still make for an exciting tale. Tiger-dragons, giant automatons, and vampiric man-serpents are only a few of the many unexplored corners of the universe.

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The following lore events would each make for excellent settings in possible future titles in their own right, but as of this moment, they have only ever been described by NPCs, books, or legends from Tamriel's timeline in other Elder Scrolls games. Fans have had to piece together how these events came about and where they fit on the universe's timeline. It's a shame that fans haven't been able to experience these events as a player in an Elder Scrolls game, but they're still impressive to learn about.

Elder Scrolls' Ayleid Elves Of Ancient Cyrodiil & The Rebellion Of Men

Elder Scrolls: Why Did The Ayleid Elves Disappear?

Long before humans on Tamriel held any kind of military or political power, the Ayleid elves ruled the known world. They were based in what is now Cyrodiil, having built the White-Gold Tower (then called the Temple of The Ancestors) where it would still stand millennia later, ironically becoming a symbol of humanity's resilience. Before their disappearance, the Ayleids of Elder Scrolls worshipped the Daedra and were proponents of racial superiority, enslaving the humans within their kingdom and treating them with unrivaled cruelty and torture.

In time, the unthinkable suffering inflicted upon humanity led to the Ayleid's downfall at their own slaves' hands. The Slave Queen of men, Alessia, began a rebellion that culminated in the capture of the Temple of the Ancestors in 1E 243. She made the once-elven temple into a capital city for the Alessian Empire, the first empire of men on Tamriel. From the disparate religions of the different human races who made up her rebellion, legitimate worship of Elder Scrolls' Eight Divines (including Talos) was also established to show veneration for the Aedra, and Daedra worship fell out of mainstream religion.

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The Ayleids of The Elder Scrolls were driven out of their own lands and over the centuries, their numbers dwindled. Due to losses and eventual integration into other elven nations, the Ayleids no longer exist, their terrible crimes against humanity fading into legend. The Empire has existed in one form or another ever since, its humans determined never to return to an existence of servitude.

The (Possible) Extinction Of The Elder Scrolls' Tsaesci

Elder Scrolls Tsaesci Army

Tamriel is the continent that fans are most familiar with, home to provinces such as Skyrim, Morrowind, Cyrodiil and Daggerfall to name a few. However, the planet of Nirn (orbited by two moons, Masser and Secunda) has more than one continent. There's Atmora, the frozen land at the northernmost cap of the world, where men originated from, but most mysterious of all is Akavir. Far to the east of Tamriel lies a continent shrouded in legend. What little is known about the people living there is only from scattered stories about invasions and remnants of civilizations that were left behind.

It is unknown exactly how many races there are on Akavir, but what is known, is that there used to be both people and dragons there a long time ago. They were likely hunted to extinction by the resident Tsaesci, Elder Scrolls' vampiric humanoid serpents who are steeped in legend. Stories tell of the serpents' fiercest rivals, the Ka Po'Tun, tiger-like cat-folk who resemble Tamriel's Khajiit. The Ka Po'Tun worshipped the dragons, but after their disappearance from the continent, the leader of these tiger-folk figured out how to transform into a dragon himself.

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Tosh Raka, the king of the Ka Po'Tun, became a god-like leader in the form of an orange dragon with black stripes, and he waged a devastating war on the Tsaesci, possibly to avenge the dragons of Akavir. Nothing is known about the exact timeline or outcome of this war, but the simple fact that the Tsaesci no longer appear to exist is evidence that the Ka Po'Tun were successful in their onslaught. Whether the tiger-folk plan on conquering Tamriel in a future Elder Scrolls game is not known, but any army that could erase the Tsaesci would be one worth fearing.

Important Elder Scrolls Lore - Numidium & The Fall Of The Dwemer

Skyrim Dwemer What Happened To The Dwarves Elder Scrolls

The Dwemer of Elder Scrolls were an ancient race of mer who inhabited Tamriel many ages ago, but absolutely nothing living is left of them to this day. Players who visit their ruins scattered about the north of the continent in Skyrim will find ingenious mechanical inventions that still run due to a combination of steam power and magic. The Dwemer were indeed far ahead of their time, but all records of them end abruptly at the closing of the First Era.

The most popular theory explaining why the Dwemer vanished involves their most powerful creation, the Numidium, an immense brass golem built with the ability to fracture time. The Dwemer may have believed they could control such a weapon and use it to quite literally scour their enemies from history, but in the midst of a cataclysmic battle with the Chimer - the ancestors of Morrowind's Dark Elves, who comprise a part of Skyrim's diverse society - known as the Red Moment, the Numidium was activated and every Dwemer, living or dead, was suddenly erased from existence. The only remnants of them are the inventions they left behind, and no one knows whether they were banished to the far future or simply wiped off the timeline as brutal recompense for their hubris.

The Ancient Nords and The Dragon War of Elder Scrolls

The Elder Scrolls Skyrim Tenth Dragon Mask

Many, many centuries ago in Skyrim, the humans that lived there worshipped the dragons. In the Merethic Era, the Atmorans who settled on the north of Tamriel brought with them their totemic religion in which they worshipped a variety of different animals, the dragon among them. When they encountered real dragons in Skyrim, they were eager to worship the ancient creatures. The dragons were predictably satisfied with this arrangement and would give some of their power to a chosen few humans, the Dragon Priests of ancient Skyrim.

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The Dragon Priests were rulers of Nord society, but over time, the Priests grew cruel and monstrous, oppressing their people beyond what they could tolerate. The Ancient Nords rebelled against the Dragon Priests and their draconic masters in what would be known as the Dragon War. Alduin, the most powerful of all dragons, was particularly merciless, exterminating any people he came across. But his brother, Paarthunaxx, was beseeched by the Nordic goddess Kyne to teach the way of the Voice to humans, giving them the edge that they needed in order to turn the tide of the war. The eventual banishment of Alduin and Paarthunaxx feature in Skyrim's story, but the real cost of the Dragon War has never been experienced first-hand by fans.

All of these historic events are momentous in their own right and, despite not having their own games, the whispers of their legends do live on in existing Elder Scrolls titles. If players are curious enough, plenty of Elder Scrolls games already reference happenings such as the Red Moment or the Dragon War, the remnants of which could be right beneath their feet. The lore surrounding The Elder Scrolls' universe is far more wide-reaching than some may expect, and fantasy fanatics certainly don't have to stop at merely playing the games.

Next: How The Elder Scrolls Novels Bridge The Lore Of Oblivion & Skyrim