Elder Scrolls going into print

In the course of playing the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, players come across hundreds of books, many of which add new details to the sprawling game's expansive backstory. Now, the Elder Scrolls series itself is getting the novelization treatment, courtesy of famed science fiction and fantasy...

In the course of playing the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, players come across hundreds of books, many of which add new details to the sprawling game's expansive backstory. Now, the Elder Scrolls series itself is getting the novelization treatment, courtesy of famed science fiction and fantasy publishing label Del Rey.

In a joint statement sent out today, Del Rey and developer-publisher Bethesda Softworks announced that two Elder Scrolls novels are in the works. The first, The Infernal City, is due out this fall and will be written by Greg Keyes, author of the best-selling Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone fantasy series. Keyes also penned several entries in the Star Wars: The New Jedi Order series, based on the titular sci-fi film franchise.

The Infernal City's plot will be set after The Elder Scrolls IV, when the realm of Tamriel is threatened by a new menace--a flying city that touches down to wreak havoc on the landscape. It will follow two protagonists--a 17-year-old girl and the young son of the new emperor--as they investigate the city's origin and try to stop it.

202 Comments

  • ShadowmeresFury

    Posted Sep 19, 2009 6:46 am PT

    this has the potential to be really interesting...I hope it turns out that way. I have spent countless hours studying Elder Scrolls lore so this could either be awesome or a total letdown.

  • jshint

    Posted Aug 6, 2009 5:51 am PT

    what new emperor? theres not supposed to be a new emperor, its supposed to turn into a democracy or something, weird.

  • phatsy

    Posted Jul 12, 2009 9:35 pm PT

    zphinx wtf are you talking about? did you memorise all of the books in the game?

  • MaxP93

    Posted Jul 9, 2009 11:49 pm PT

    TES 4 is one of my favorite games and i already have a book that came with tue game about the history of the imperial city and it was alright. So i will defiantly chek out these books

  • sphinx7410

    Posted Jul 2, 2009 6:41 pm PT

    A flying city desent make sense , though i have the sky castle mod.
    I certainly dont want this anywhere near ES5.
    There is no heir , so that means the break up of the empire.
    An alliance between Colovia and Skyrim should facilitatean expedition to akavir does sound inviting .
    As well i dont trust Ocato ( a highelf Decended from the Aylieds),im sure he will be just as dangerous as Jagar Tharn.
    Put it this way The Dark Brotherhood has a suspended contract on both him and Marius Caro.

  • Arch-MageJJxx

    Posted Jun 24, 2009 11:30 pm PT

    im only 14 and im currently writing a book on oblivion as its my #1 game ever and from my eyes its turning out really well.its based on my travels through cyrodill from my escape through the imperial prison to my downfall as an assasin to my rise as the champion of cyrodill.i hope it turns out good.

  • tacoflamekitty

    Posted Jun 17, 2009 7:43 pm PT

    I found a l33t little error. if u have shadowmere, turn difficulty down, not it out, and search it.
    when u do this, put important things into it, wait, and It will stand back up. to get ur things back, not it out and search. 360 only i beleive.

  • Lord_Kiatos6

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 8:29 am PT

    Cool. There making a book.
    p.s. if u love chuck norris and oblivion check out Chuck Norris in Oblivion on youtube

  • electronic_eye

    Posted May 20, 2009 5:46 pm PT

    there's a little info out there online about the elder scrolls 5. this is from Wikipedia, and there's no caption on there saying anything needs better references/verification. "In late October 2008, shortly after the release of Fallout 3, Bethesda's Publishing Executive, Paul Oughton, indicated that the series' fifth installment could be released in 2010.[3] Zenimax, the owner of Bethesda Softworks, had trademarked the name "Skyrim" in 2006,[4] but its relation to the fifth installment of the series is uncertain." Might be the same or more info on Bethesda's site.

  • electronic_eye

    Posted May 20, 2009 5:37 pm PT

    sweet idea.

  • DarkFadi

    Posted May 13, 2009 1:45 pm PT

    Yes great.

  • Busta_Cap001

    Posted May 10, 2009 7:08 am PT

    books okay but a new game would be even better

  • duncanainsworth

    Posted May 10, 2009 5:00 am PT

    i think this will be a good idea as i loved the oblivion game, and the others for that matter, but a book on this series can only be a good thing

  • duncanainsworth

    Posted May 10, 2009 4:55 am PT

    i think this will be a good idea as i loved the oblivion game, and the others for that matter, but a book on this series can only be a good thing

  • Fady117

    Posted May 7, 2009 4:51 am PT

    Oh wow!!!! completely new protagonists, plus, we're going to get a sneek-peek at how things will probably end up later in Tamriel!!!! wicked cool, can't wait to grab these novels!

  • seriousjoker93

    Posted May 7, 2009 4:11 am PT

    This is good but where is the announcement of the next game??

  • noclue_27

    Posted May 6, 2009 10:26 pm PT

    I'M EEFING PUMPED!! XD

    Also hoping for a TES:V announcement at this E3.

  • Sovereign_13

    Posted May 5, 2009 2:38 pm PT

    Im no lore expert but i don't remember anything about a flying city, sinking cities maybe, but no flying cities

  • biagio55

    Posted May 5, 2009 12:51 pm PT

    in agreement here i want a game not a book!!!!!!!!!

  • Boom-Cheese

    Posted May 1, 2009 9:41 pm PT

    Awesome, books on the TES series.
    It deserves a few, as I can't believe how much work went into the history and past events of Tamriel.
    Looks to be utterly disappointing though. I mean, what the hell!, a flying city? Lame idea.
    We'll see how it goes, but looks pretty much terrible.

  • Cicatraz_ESP

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 4:56 pm PT

    Greg Keyes is a good author, I really enjoyed all of the NJO books he wrote.

  • Mr_Versipellis

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 1:10 pm PT

    Gah... Major TES fan and lore boffin here... THIS SUCKS!!! It doesn't have anything to do with Tamriel, and looks to be AWFULL.

  • spartanjd

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 10:27 am PT

    yes i am doing a story for school about oblivion main quest but i am no pro i hope to get my hands on one copy XD

  • Raidenkai

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 5:38 am PT

    Sounds like an interesting idea. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all pans out.

  • TristanVTV

    Posted Apr 30, 2009 5:26 am PT

    Could be interesting, I think Ill give any books a try at least because I though Oblivion was a great game.
    This is discussed in the Visiting The Village podcast at http://www.mode7games.com/blog/

  • Brantos1988

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 9:49 pm PT

    Yeah, we don't need a book we need a new game .

  • ZEALOTzeus

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 5:49 pm PT

    Flying city? can we have that in ES5?

  • 008Zulu

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 5:08 pm PT

    I bet after reading the book for a few minutes, you crash to the desktop.

  • okassar

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 3:00 pm PT

    How about a new elder scrolls GAME instead of book?lol,or both,like now.

  • mia_bori

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 12:59 pm PT

    I wonder who the new emperor is going to be??? and when is ES5 coming out?

  • gamedude1990

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 12:22 pm PT

    I love all the illiterate gamer rejects who put down books because theres not enough pictures in them are commenting on the Elder Scrolls book. I for one love the idea. Bethesda isn't making the book, you rejects. Don't worry, they're still going to make games. Books can create a much deeper and compelling story than any other video game can do.

  • donxenaro

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 12:04 pm PT

    Great games can give great books

  • mikeo1229

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 11:34 am PT

    Jedo that would be a great idea.

  • anshanlord

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 9:15 am PT

    im wondering who is the new emperor????

  • oldbones

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 8:45 am PT

    A book on the continuation of Oblivion is okay as long as the next Elder Scrolls does not necessarily follow the books outlines.

    Certainly hope that the next game will return to the "Morrowind" form.

  • Jedo

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 2:28 am PT

    From a game to a book?...sounds like a childish idea (literally - something I was doing when I was about 10). I think a much better idea was a mod where people wrote a whole bunch of Tamriel-related stories and stuck them in the game as books to enrich the libraries.

  • Scanzo

    Posted Apr 29, 2009 2:02 am PT

    seems interesting. very.

    but, i think it would be better as DLC for Oblivion.

  • -Near-

    Posted Apr 28, 2009 8:03 pm PT

    you can probably read more in the in game books than these novels, but I agree the books plot sounds like it should be DLC instead of a novel, and why are the heroes always 17 or 16?

  • metalgeargod22

    Posted Apr 28, 2009 7:54 pm PT

    This will be great to add to the story of TES. Very excited and will definitely be checking these out =]

  • ff7cloudking

    Posted Apr 28, 2009 6:39 pm PT

    I'm not familiar with any of Greg Keyes work, but I am hoping that he is a good author and I will defniitly be checking these books out.

  • NintendoSpartan

    Posted Apr 28, 2009 5:39 pm PT

    i got they might make another expansion pack (they did say they were done with tes4 expansion pack) they might make it to were you can get someone that is from the same family as urial (emperor) this person should be some one who has just moved in to the IC, and he/she should be imperial (urials race) first he does not know he is some what related to urial but the ocato (emperors battle mage) looks at him/her and says to u that he has a small idea of that person being the next emperor and he tells u that there is a dungeon that has a object that can tell if someone is the next emperor or not and there is more but i am wanting to make a demo of that.

  • NintendoSpartan

    Posted Apr 28, 2009 5:17 pm PT

    OK if you want to make books u will need notepad and the tes construction set (at bethesda download sight)
    and for the new game thing, Bethesda is now focused on fallout 3 but there are rumers that tes 5 is coming out soon (year) and they are also figuring out where they should make tes 5 at (on the tes map) and I assume it is going to be at summerset isles because there was a little chat room on a youtube video (commenting) saying that then next tes was going to be on summerset isles but still i think what would be cool is if they did 2 or more countries (tes) like mabye summerset isles, cyradil (tes 4 oblivion), and elswyr.

  • Ospov

    Posted Apr 28, 2009 4:37 pm PT

    How about let's make a new game instead of books, ok?

  • diorj

    Posted Apr 28, 2009 4:34 pm PT

    Greg keys is a great author. it sounds interesting.

  • bumbro8521

    Posted Apr 28, 2009 4:10 pm PT

    No. Just no. The're going to advance the story and not let the player take part. I really hope this won't effect the next game.

  • Cavalier_Eternl

    Posted Apr 28, 2009 4:05 pm PT

    I wonder if the next Elder will be based on the creations of this author?

  • Jedilink109

    Posted Apr 28, 2009 2:36 pm PT

    I'm actually somewhat surprised they haven't tried to do this before considering how much lore is there and how long some of the books can be even during the game!

    I'd check em out!

  • Awful_Cleric

    Posted Apr 28, 2009 2:34 pm PT

    Thats cool...
    Now...Make Another Game Dammit!

  • rpgnutt

    Posted Apr 28, 2009 2:25 pm PT

    i agree with georgeverity you are the ruler i mean you took over every thing every faction even in the dlcs u took over a whole entire realm. i think start from there than go about where you think it should go.i did not play morrowind but oblivion is still the best game ever made in history in my opinion.but if you remember they where still looking for someone to take the throne after the emperor son died turning into the dragon.but at the end of the day this how good games get screwed up.we dont no how many years this is after tes or character could be a memory by that time.

  • Akubura

    Posted Apr 28, 2009 2:23 pm PT

    As long as they follow the story with the upcoming games. It would be cool to have some kinda clue on whats to come.

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