Who controls the lore?

Llidoryc

Who is most responsible for what is and isn't Canon in the Elder Scrolls lore? Is it from an individual person or a team of writers?

Aigym_Hlervu

"So I don't have to tell you guys this, but the lore – maybe some of your readers will know this – but the lore in Elder Scrolls is never definitive, it's always told through the eyes of people that live in the world, which gives developers – not just us, but everyone that works on Elder Scrolls – certain leeway to kind of find what that person meant when they were telling the story."
- Matt Firor, UESP's PAX 2018 Interview.

"I think people want the answers, always, like, 'What is Truth?'—but what is Truth in the history of Earth? Truth is often written by the winners, and that there are always different perspectives on what happened in history, and so we do take that approach with the lore in Elder Scrolls, where all perspectives can be correct. But which one is more correct? That's why we get in these debates over, 'Hey, what is Truth?' And so, for us, it's sort of a priority. The truth in Elder Scrolls, primarily, is what you saw on the screen. Like, you can read a thousand books and say, 'There are no dragons,' and if a dragon comes up on the screen, well, you saw it happen in a game."
- Todd Howard, BethesdaGameDays Day 1, 2019, timestamp: 2:18:19 - 2:18:57.

"... people want to know truth, but even my perspective is one version of truth of what happened in the history of Elder Scrolls and so forth."
""What's the order of priority?" If you saw it on the screen that's number one, that's the most truth. If you read it in the game, that's second truth. If you read it in an official thing outside the game, in the manual, that's the third. If you read it from a fan on the Internet that's way down there, that's like not on the list, right! But that's the main three. On the screen, something you see happen, regardless of what game it is or when it came out, that for us is the primary. A book in the game is second, and then a book that's official outside the game is third."
- Todd Howard, UESP's PAX East 2019 Interview.

"And what your character does, and says, and believes, becomes part of that world. For you, and whoever else shares the experience, what happened is now part of the lore. The non-player characters are all there, ready to share their stories with you, but it’s you who makes those stories live, because your character has agency and meaningful choices where the NPCs do not. Moreover, what your character does persists for you, and the stories you’ve told and the experiences you’ve shared with your friends live on in your own memories. You just added to the history of Tamriel.""
- A farewell letter from Loremaster Lawrence Schick to the ESO community, ESO official site, 2019.

"As the Loremaster, he had ample opportunity to force his authorial will on the material, but he didn't. He urged us all to give the lore some breathing room — to keep things open to interpretation. It's very good advice, and I plan on following it!"
- Leamon Tuttle Loremaster 2019 Interview regarding Lawrence Schick and TES lore.

PrayingSeraph

Bethesda is the highest authority on it. I remember reading that the ESO loremaster(currently Tuttle) works with both ZOS and Bethesda, makinh sure things fit with canon.

idk

Matt Firor and Rich Lambert control the lore. There is a loremaster, as pointed out above, but it is Rich and Matt that always have the final decision on anything created or changed in ESO.

RaddlemanNumber7

Todd. It's all his fault, especially in regards to world eating.

Elsonso

Llidoryc wrote: »

Who is most responsible for what is and isn't Canon in the Elder Scrolls lore? Is it from an individual person or a team of writers?

idk wrote: »

Matt Firor and Rich Lambert control the lore. There is a loremaster, as pointed out above, but it is Rich and Matt that always have the final decision on anything created or changed in ESO.

I am not sure how much Firor gets involved in these things, but nothing gets put into the game without Lambert's approval. That is what Lambert has said.

I guess that makes Lambert the sole person responsible for Lore in the Elder Scrolls universe right now, as there is no TES game in active development (that we know of).

Gilvoth

Cygemai_Hlervu wrote: »

"So I don't have to tell you guys this, but the lore – maybe some of your readers will know this – but the lore in Elder Scrolls is never definitive, it's always told through the eyes of people that live in the world, which gives developers – not just us, but everyone that works on Elder Scrolls – certain leeway to kind of find what that person meant when they were telling the story."
- Matt Firor, UESP's PAX 2018 Interview.

"I think people want the answers, always, like, 'What is Truth?'—but what is Truth in the history of Earth? Truth is often written by the winners, and that there are always different perspectives on what happened in history, and so we do take that approach with the lore in Elder Scrolls, where all perspectives can be correct. But which one is more correct? That's why we get in these debates over, 'Hey, what is Truth?' And so, for us, it's sort of a priority. The truth in Elder Scrolls, primarily, is what you saw on the screen. Like, you can read a thousand books and say, 'There are no dragons,' and if a dragon comes up on the screen, well, you saw it happen in a game."
- Todd Howard, BethesdaGameDays Day 1, 2019, timestamp: 2:18:19 - 2:18:57.

"... people want to know truth, but even my perspective is one version of truth of what happened in the history of Elder Scrolls and so forth."
""What's the order of priority?" If you saw it on the screen that's number one, that's the most truth. If you read it in the game, that's second truth. If you read it in an official thing outside the game, in the manual, that's the third. If you read it from a fan on the Internet that's way down there, that's like not on the list, right! But that's the main three. On the screen, something you see happen, regardless of what game it is or when it came out, that for us is the primary. A book in the game is second, and then a book that's official outside the game is third."
- Todd Howard, UESP's PAX East 2019 Interview.

"And what your character does, and says, and believes, becomes part of that world. For you, and whoever else shares the experience, what happened is now part of the lore. The non-player characters are all there, ready to share their stories with you, but it’s you who makes those stories live, because your character has agency and meaningful choices where the NPCs do not. Moreover, what your character does persists for you, and the stories you’ve told and the experiences you’ve shared with your friends live on in your own memories. You just added to the history of Tamriel.""
- A farewell letter from Loremaster Lawrence Schick to the ESO community, ESO official site, 2019.

"As the Loremaster, he had ample opportunity to force his authorial will on the material, but he didn't. He urged us all to give the lore some breathing room — to keep things open to interpretation. It's very good advice, and I plan on following it!"
- Leamon Tuttle Loremaster 2019 Interview regarding Lawrence Schick and TES lore.

impressive work
nice compilation

Llidoryc

Thanks guys. This definitely answered my question

Eporem

Cygemai_Hlervu wrote: »

"So I don't have to tell you guys this, but the lore – maybe some of your readers will know this – but the lore in Elder Scrolls is never definitive, it's always told through the eyes of people that live in the world, which gives developers – not just us, but everyone that works on Elder Scrolls – certain leeway to kind of find what that person meant when they were telling the story."
- Matt Firor, UESP's PAX 2018 Interview.

"I think people want the answers, always, like, 'What is Truth?'—but what is Truth in the history of Earth? Truth is often written by the winners, and that there are always different perspectives on what happened in history, and so we do take that approach with the lore in Elder Scrolls, where all perspectives can be correct. But which one is more correct? That's why we get in these debates over, 'Hey, what is Truth?' And so, for us, it's sort of a priority. The truth in Elder Scrolls, primarily, is what you saw on the screen. Like, you can read a thousand books and say, 'There are no dragons,' and if a dragon comes up on the screen, well, you saw it happen in a game."
- Todd Howard, BethesdaGameDays Day 1, 2019, timestamp: 2:18:19 - 2:18:57.

"... people want to know truth, but even my perspective is one version of truth of what happened in the history of Elder Scrolls and so forth."
""What's the order of priority?" If you saw it on the screen that's number one, that's the most truth. If you read it in the game, that's second truth. If you read it in an official thing outside the game, in the manual, that's the third. If you read it from a fan on the Internet that's way down there, that's like not on the list, right! But that's the main three. On the screen, something you see happen, regardless of what game it is or when it came out, that for us is the primary. A book in the game is second, and then a book that's official outside the game is third."
- Todd Howard, UESP's PAX East 2019 Interview.

"And what your character does, and says, and believes, becomes part of that world. For you, and whoever else shares the experience, what happened is now part of the lore. The non-player characters are all there, ready to share their stories with you, but it’s you who makes those stories live, because your character has agency and meaningful choices where the NPCs do not. Moreover, what your character does persists for you, and the stories you’ve told and the experiences you’ve shared with your friends live on in your own memories. You just added to the history of Tamriel.""
- A farewell letter from Loremaster Lawrence Schick to the ESO community, ESO official site, 2019.

"As the Loremaster, he had ample opportunity to force his authorial will on the material, but he didn't. He urged us all to give the lore some breathing room — to keep things open to interpretation. It's very good advice, and I plan on following it!"
- Leamon Tuttle Loremaster 2019 Interview regarding Lawrence Schick and TES lore.

thanks for this @Cygemai_Hlervu - though where would these statements, and the Loremasters Archives and interviews fall under, in the Order of Priority. - Edit::) These would fall under #3 since they are not within the game, but written outside of it.