I am a huge fan of The Elder Scrolls, let's get that fact out of the way right away. These games will eat up your time because there is so much to do, and so far to level up. The maps are massive, there are seemingly endless missions and the storytelling is masterfully crafted. And one of my favorite things about the whole franchise is the interconnected lore that you get glimpses of. The going-ons of ♓the world of Nirn is shoved right in your face, you need to talk to crowds of people to learn the word of mouth history of the place. Tamriel has been a place of flux for thousands of years, and some of it is contained in those books you can't be bothered to read because you are busy sneak attacking a skeleton.

But if you can be bothered to read them, you'll find out a lot has happened. Since I don't have the rest of my life to write this article, I won't talk about everything that has happened in the Elder Scrolls. Instead, I'll do my best to fill you in on all of the wacky stuff that happened in-between Oblivion and Skyrim. And trust me, a lot has happened, since there is a 200-year leap between those games, the largest leap in-between any two of the titles in the series. Turns out all of the heroic deeds you pulled off in Oblivion had some long-lasting consequences, and not all of them were good. Which explains why the world of Skyrim is pretty much in shambles.

32 There Was No E🐈mperor For 400 Years

Although this happened during the events of Oblivion it is pretty much the jumping off point for all the craziness that happened in between the two games. Martin Septim gives his life defeating Mehrunes Dagon, leaving the throne empty. Even in the brief time you wꦯere in the world of Tamriel, ꦫthe empty throne was a huge ordeal.

This is the first time the throne has been empty in 400 years.

As a widespread Empire that had a fairly strong grip on mosꦺt of the known world, for it🍬 to suddenly be left leaderless presents a major problem.

31 Th🎃e Daedra ওAbruptly Disappear

Because you are the coolest, you closed the Oblivion Gates with relative ease. Although that’s undoubtedly a good thing, that means the thousands of Daedra that were ꦍpouring out suddenly ceased their attack. Not only did they cut out a huge chunk of the population, but it also left a lot of questions.

Most of the simple folk didn’t know why they were being attacked in the first place, to the point where some people were even in denial about it even happeni🧸ng. For whole towns to be demolished by an attacking force that suddenly disappeared, that’s going to leav🅰e a weird vacuum.

30 The High Elves Drift Away From The Empire ꦐ

With no leader, the territories begin to slip away from the Empire. One of these empires is Summerset Isle, home of the High Elves. High Elves have always had a fairly generous 𝐆opinion of themselves, but things get even worse when a faction within the High Elves known as the Thalmor pops up.

The Thalmor are a bunch of Elf pu✱rists, which is a fantasy way of saying they are bigots. They believe that all others were inferior🦩, and need to be guided by the High Elves. The stage is set for them to rise to power.

29 🎶 The Thalmor Take All The Credit

Like every terrible leader who has no right to be in powerꦆ, The Thalmor begin to make outrageous claims of♑ what they have done to help society at large. Their biggest claim to fame was the closing of the Oblivion Gates, something you’ll notice was actually very much your accomplishment as the player.

It’s a pretty brilliant plan, if you think about it. Nobody is 𝓰taking the credit for something that saved the lives of millions, and since nobody has any theories, why not just claim you knew some High Elf magic?

28 The Thꦏalmor Are Considere📖d Heroes! (Because They Silenced Everyone Who Disappeared)

Tamriel doesn’t exactly have the Internet, so there is bound to be a lot of misinformation flying around (it’s rampant in real life and we can G💮oogle everything.) So for a brief time, the Thalmor are celebrated as heroes, because nobody knows any better.

Of course, you can’t fool all the people all the time, so a few people start to call this out as nonsense. Those people are q꧑uickly silenced, and the myth of the great Thalmor continues without any dissenters.

27 High Chancellor Ocato Endꦓs Poorly

And I don’t mean that he gets impeached. If any of you remember the political upheaval from Oblivion you’ll remember that while Martin Septim remained to be found, the acting leader of the Empire wa𓄧s High Chancellor Ocato. After Martin sacrifices himself, I guess Ocato would just be acting 🌼ruler for a long time, gaining the title of Potentate.

Well, apparently in the interim period, someone thought it would be easier just to do away with Ocato, for rea♐sons that aren’t clear. He is quietly dispatched of, leaving things in further ruin.

26 🍸 But Who Was Behind It? (Spoilers: The Thalmor)

Here’s the weird thing about taking out someone like Potentate Ocato; he was an incredibl🧸y powerful Battlemage. It wasn’t like he was just some slouch you could come up to and stab in the back. Sure, he was a somewhat incompetent leader, but he knew his way around some defensive magic.

Couple that with the fact that he wꦐould have been incredibly well protected, in the most heavily fortified city in the Empire, and you are left with one huge clue. The Thalmor were behind his extermination. A dissenter even tried to confirm this, but unfortunately, had no proof.

25 🌃 Sheogorath Comes Back ♈

Possibly the best part of Oblivion was the Shivering Isles DLC. In it, you help the Daedric Pr✅ince of Madness, Sheogorath, turn himself back into his original form, the Daedric Prince of Order, Jyggalag. Unfortunately, the next time we see him, he’s back to being his old, totally insane self.

So we don’t have an exact timeline of when it happened, bu✱t at some point, Jyggalag turned back in Sheogorath, and then decided to take a weird vacation in th🦹e mind of Pelagius Septim III.

24 🌠 Black Marsh (And The Argonians) Break Away

Shortly after the untimely demise of Ocato, the Black Marsh decides to secede from the Empire. In 🎶case you were unaware, Black Marsh is the land that the Argonians, our favorite Lizardfolk, hail from. It is a gross, fetid swamp that nobody likes to visit,ꦦ except the Argonians.

So little is known about Black Marsh that there is little indication as to why they seced꧋ed. It isn’t even clear which governing body decided to secede, since it isn’t clear if they are run by a royal family or a council of officials.

23 🍷 S🤡o Do The Elsweyr (The Khajiit) Also Secedes

Things get progressively worse for the Empire when the homeland of the catfo🔯lk Khajiit decides to also secedes. This is more of a loss than Black Marsh since it doesn’t suck, and by all descriptions, is a weirdly beautiful place.

The Khajiit are even more secretive than the Argonians, since a hu🔴ge facet of their whole society is based on the value of secrets. We do know the Khajiit are ruled by a Mane, their spiritual leader, so it can be assumed that they are the one who decided to cut ties with the Empire.