Why this feels more confusing than it needs to be
Elder Scrolls lore is deliberately unreliable, told through biased in-world texts and events that different Dragon Breaks can contradict outright. That's genuinely part of the setting's charm, but it makes a simple timeline harder to pin down than in most fantasy franchises. Here's the version that actually matters for understanding where the games sit relative to each other.
The four eras, briefly
Before recorded history, the Merethic Era covers the earliest myths and the arrival of the Elves and Men on Tamriel. The First Era begins with Ysgramor and the founding of the first human kingdoms, and runs for thousands of years of slow political development. The Second Era covers the Interregnum, a long stretch with no legitimate Emperor on the throne, which is exactly the period The Elder Scrolls Online is set during. The Third Era is when the Empire is at its strongest under the Septim dynasty, and it's the setting for Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, and Oblivion. The Fourth Era begins after the Third Era's Emperor line ends, and it's when Skyrim takes place, roughly two hundred years after Oblivion.
Where each game actually sits
- The Elder Scrolls Online, Second Era, roughly a thousand years before Skyrim.
- Arena and Daggerfall, Third Era.
- Morrowind and Oblivion, also Third Era, later in the timeline than Arena and Daggerfall.
- Skyrim, Fourth Era, roughly two hundred years after Oblivion.
For the full rundown of how these games relate to each other and which to play first, see our complete lineup in order.
The wrinkle worth knowing about
Dragon Breaks complicate this further, since a handful of pivotal moments in the timeline have more than one canon outcome depending on which account you trust. We break that idea down fully in our Dragon Break guide, but the short version is that the timeline above is accurate for practical purposes even though the setting itself treats a few specific moments as genuinely, deliberately unresolved.
Want to actually play through the timeline yourself?
Shop Elder Scrolls Games →Want to see the games themselves in order? Check every Elder Scrolls game in order, or keep reading about the races of Tamriel.