Bethesda Game Studios finally revealed the name of the next mainline Elder Scrolls game earlier this week. The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel takes its title from one of the oldest cities in Hammerfell, the desert homeland of the Redguards on the western edge of Tamriel. A companion post from the official Elder Scrolls account quoted a Moth Priest serving High Queen Iradne of Hammerfell in the year 4E 206, five years after the events of Skyrim. Check out the official posts down below:
Bethesda Support confirmed the game is still in pre-production, and no platforms or release window have been announced. Here is what the series has already established about the Redguards, Hammerfell and the city of Sentinel.
Who The Redguards Are
The Redguards are descended from the Ra Gada, a warrior people who fled the sinking continent of Yokuda and sailed east to Tamriel. They conquered the land that became Hammerfell, a province that runs from the shores of the Iliac Bay in the north down through the Alik'r Desert. In the games, Redguards are described as the most naturally talented warriors in Tamriel, and the series has given them bonuses to combat skills since the earliest entries.
Redguard society has long been split between two factions. The Crowns descend from the old Yokudan nobility, the Na-Totambu, and hold to traditional customs. The Forebears descend from the warrior settlers who arrived first, and they have been more open to trade and to the rest of Tamriel. The rivalry has been so bitter at times that the two sides have left each other to fend for themselves during invasions.
At the top of Redguard martial tradition are the Ansei, or sword-singers. The greatest Ansei could summon a Shehai, a spirit sword formed by the warrior's own will. The poet Weltan of Sentinel wrote about them in the Epode of the Ansei Wards, one of the in-game books players can find across the series.
A City Built By The Ra Gada
Sentinel sits on the southern coast of the Iliac Bay. According to the game's own lore books, it was founded after the Ra Gada first landed at Hegathe, when the warrior-sailors of Grandee Yaghoub sailed north, rounded Cape Shira and became the first Ra Gada to reach the Iliac Bay. A watchman spotted a harbor at dawn on the seventeenth of Second Seed, and Yaghoub declared that he would build a city there. His banner became Sentinel's crest.
Yaghoub put the local population to work building his palace, Samaruik, which remains the oldest and largest building in the city. The city's landmarks also include the Impervious Vault, and Sentinel grew into one of the richest trading ports in the region. During the Interregnum, the Na-Totambu High King moved his throne from Hegathe to Sentinel, and by that point the city controlled a third of the trade in the entire Iliac Bay. In-game guides also describe it as a retreat for the nobility of Daggerfall and Wayrest, who came for its food, crafts and theater.
Sentinel also has a long history with necromancy. In 2E 582, under the Forebear King Fahara'jad, an undead army threatened the city before it was defeated. That is the version of Sentinel that players explored in The Elder Scrolls Online.
Hammerfell In The Fourth Era
The Fourth Era has been hard on Sentinel. In 4E 42, Altmer dissidents who had escaped the Thalmor and settled in the city were attacked by Thalmor operatives in what became known as the Night of Green Fire, and the city's refugee district was destroyed before Imperial Legion soldiers arrived.
The Great War made things worse. When the Aldmeri Dominion besieged the Crown city of Hegathe in 4E 173, a Forebear army from Sentinel marched to its aid and broke the siege, which helped bring the two factions closer together. When the Empire signed the White-Gold Concordat with the Dominion, it agreed to give up part of southern Hammerfell. The Redguards refused to accept the deal, left the Empire, and kept fighting until they drove the Dominion out on their own. The war in Hammerfell ended with the Second Treaty of Stros M'Kai in 4E 180, leaving the province independent of both the Empire and the Dominion. Characters in Skyrim still bring up that history, and the Alik'r warriors who arrive in Whiterun hunting a Redguard woman named Saadia in the quest In My Time of Need are one of the few direct looks at Hammerfell in that game. All of this is the backdrop for a Hammerfell ruled by a High Queen in 4E 206.
Every Time Bethesda Has Visited Hammerfell
- The Elder Scrolls: Arena (1994): Sentinel appeared as one of the cities players could visit across the whole of Tamriel.
- The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (1996): Sentinel was one of the major kingdoms in the Iliac Bay, ruled by King Caacte and locked in a rivalry with Hegathe.
- The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard (1998): Players controlled the hero Cyrus, a Redguard with ties to Sentinel, on the island of Stros M'Kai during Tiber Septim's conquest of Hammerfell.
- The Elder Scrolls Online (2014): The Alik'r Desert zone brought players to Sentinel during King Fahara'jad's reign, with Crown and Forebear politics at the center of the story.
The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel will be the first mainline game to return to Hammerfell since Daggerfall in 1996. Gamefragger covered the reveal in The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel Officially Revealed, Teasing Long-Rumored Setting, and Oblivion fans can also check out The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Soundtrack Is Coming To Vinyl With Exclusive Oblivion Gate Discs.
Which part of Hammerfell's history do you want The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel to explore, the Crown and Forebear rivalry, the Ansei sword-singers, or the aftermath of the Great War?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.