Potential Dragonbreak in ESO's timeline

Hurbster · June 2020

pffft.

A wizard did it.

Mr_Wolfe · June 2020

ManwithBeard9 wrote: »

No, ESO is not involved in any sort or dragon break. Matt Firor stated it himself- https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/b7cc1f/eso_is_not_in_a_dragon_break/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=post_body

The "3 Fates" cinematics and following Chapter ones are not canon and purely theatrical purposes.

Thew devs have also stated that the timeline for ESO canon TOO THE PLAYER. Whatever order you play the content in is what is canon in your storyline.

Nice to finally have a source for this. I've seen people bring up "ESO isn't in a dragonbreak, the devs said so!" every time this subject comes up. But after looking it over, it appears to be from a post on reddit by someone claiming to have interviewed Matt at a press event a year ago and gotten an off-topic response that sorta implies he didn't understand the question and/or had a knee jerk response due to some forum drama that's apparently been going around.

The article the reddit poster links to appears to be some kind of french blog, but since I can't read french I have no way to verify that the reddit poster and the blogger are actually the same person--let alone that the article says what they claim it does. Not exactly the most compelling evidence.

[edit] Ran the page through google translate. Assuming anything on there is legit, and the translation didn't screw up, it seems like Matt didn't understand what a 'Dragon Break' is.

Q: In any case, it raised the question: is TESO in a Dragon Break?
A:No. It's amazing, it's really part of the world. Bethesda has confirmed this several times as well. We are just seven hundred years before TESIV: Oblivion and almost a thousand years before TESV: Skyrim. So there has been a lot of time that has passed. But there is some lore about the presence of dragons in Tamriel before the events of Skyrim. It's just that nobody has ever talked about it.

According to discussion on the reddit thread where this article was linked, there's been a trend of people using the idea that ESO takes place during a dragon break to argue that the events of the game are not cannon, which isn't how a dragon break works at all. They don't remove events from Elder Scrolls cannon. If anything, the add more (simultaneous and seemingly contradictory) events to the canonical history of Tamriel. So it looks like he misunderstood and adressed the cannon/not cannon question rather than the 'is it a dragon break?' one. [/edit]

The funny thing is I was certain that there was in-game dialogue in the main quest that identified the Soul Burst as the start of a dragon break. Not sure if that's been changed or I simply misremembered.

Oakmontowls_ESO wrote: »

Unless you can have a dragon break within a dragon break, Summerset confirms that we are not in one during the events of the game. The Augur of the Obscure warns the player that using the staff of towers would cause a dragon break.

Not sure I agree. The psijics talk about how dangerous a dragon break could be and ask for your help preventing one, but iirc it's never explicitly stated that we aren't in one. Personally I always took that as a bit of an in-joke. ie: The order is panicking about a potential disaster while failing to realize that it's already happened. It's especially funny considering the psijics seem like one of the groups most likely to recognize a dragon break, yet come off as incredibly incompetent over the course of the Summerset questline. Also, early on Josajeh warns you not to trust anything that the Augur says unless you ask it a direct question, so there's that.

Overall, I see a lot more compelling (if circumstantial) evidence pointing to ESO taking place during a dragon break--but ultimately I'm not particularly concerned with whether it's 'cannon' or not. It's a fun interpretation and for me that's part of the enjoyment of role playing games. After all, there's no in-game evidence to support my dark elf sorcerer being a rogue Telvanni who joined the Ebonheart Pact because he disapproved of his house's unethical practices--but it makes the game more fun to say that he is.

Pinja · June 2020

@PrayingSeraph

According to The USEP which is the greatest source for canon lore, there is unarguable a dragon break occurring during TESO.
The timeline of the Tiber wars that crown Tiber Septim are layered on top of the events of ESO. As a matter all the events of ESO fit within the wars.

What is likely to have occurred is Akatosh himself, seeing the souls of the valiant Visage and Vestiges, manifested his son before the Planemeld, in order to end the Dragon break and resume time.
Which is why every Vestige who is worthy to become emperor only exists within the Amulet of Kings, that is by canon by the way. Meaning it's preserving an infinitesimal amount of souls making the Amulet of Kings nearly limitless in power. It would also explain why Vestiges exists as a Vestige, because they don't exist in a true timeline.
Taken that every emperor is cannon it's likely that multiple vestiges exist, just not fully within the same timeline. When you see another Vestiges in a quest with a partner NPC you see an alternative stock NPC going about a similar set of events in a parallel time layer. Their layer does affect your layer when they cross, if they kill a boss with you for instance, but other wise doesn't effect your timeline. But it is the nature of Vestige as seen in multiple time related quests to be able to posses different forms and persons within a different timeline. Meaning when one Vestige is in the time layer of another they simply do what a Vestige does when traveling through time and assumes a role in that timeline.

Reguarding Skyrim there are some openings for Time to be unwound, but I think less of time and more of reality.
What's Canon is you either help the Stormcloaks defeat the Empire or the Empire unifies Skyrim.
Seeing as you kill the Emperor in Skyrim, customs would dictate that the rightful heir of the empire is the Dragonborn child of Akatosh. What may have occurred in Skyrim is that your character is not male, female, men, nor mer, but a reborn manifestation of Talos come to reclaim the empire. Where Talos proves to all that including that Thalmor that they were not just a man but a child "deity" of Akatosh that can come as any form. Reshaping Talos worship into something else.

We'll see which direction they take in TES VI but undoubtedly ESO is in a dragon break. Just instead of one giant star, you have a giant constellation.

And how would a planned ten year running game not constitute enough reason the TESO universe for a dragon break? To say it was all simply forgotten is preposterous. Every inch of Tamriel was in some form of their own life ending turmoil except Murkmire... Not to mention you have the founding of the mages guild (nothing but record keepers at this point), Hermaeus mora, Xarxes, and the Elderscrolls!! You tell me there some how is a dark ages without a Dragon break?

khajiitNPC · June 2020

The significance of the Alliance Ouroboros still eludes many. Some players are NPCs, while others understand what CHIM makes possible. The dream sleeve is real. Many frown on Kirkbride yet Lawrence Schick specifically directs us to c0da with the 37th Sermon of Vivec. Yes I know, it’s an Easter egg — sure.

It’s a shame the TES franchise has existed for so long and a majority of the fan base dont understand the metaphysical concepts surrounding it.

Once a dragonbreak happened, it effects everything simultaneously. Let’s look at the facts.

Fact 1: Vestiges. I’m the Vestige and you’re the Vestige.

Fact 2: Multiple Instances.

Fact 3: Interactions with Darien, whether you’ve met him or not (or soon to meet him).

Fact 4: Staff of Towers fight, multiple Josajehs. Also note the staff of towers was previously used by The Marukhati Selective.

Fact 5: Try doing a fetch quest with a friend when you’ve already completed it. What happens? You cease to exist on each other’s screen.

Fact 6: There are literal time-wounds in sunspire trial.

Fact 7: You can start with any DLC.

Fact 8: It doesn’t matter who you sacrifice at the end of the vestige storyline because they return.

Fact 9: Sunspire dragonbreak is a literal achievement title. How else you could do a trial multiple times?

Fact 10: "It's good to see you again. And I do see you, in my own way. You are a wound in time, a tear in reality that shouldn't exist and cannot long endure." - The Prophet

I mean the list goes on and on and I’m not going to continue because there’s just so many.

Mr_Wolfe · June 2020

Non-linear temporal shenanigans tend to upset a lot of folks, particularly if they have trouble wrapping their heads around the concept. Add in the fact that, as an MMO, ESO probably has the most 'mainstream' attention of any Elder Scrolls game, and I can see why even the devs are hesitant to acknowledge some of the weirder elements of TES lore.

Personally, I've always liked the series' meta-contextural weirdness.