Since it's the biggest and most argued-about lore retcon in Elder Scrolls Online, though I'd think up an idea to make it seem legit.

I'm not good with dates in Elder Scrolls lore so that could blow my plan apart. Anyway the jungle in Cyroddil is from Imperial guide to Tamriel and is explained in Oblivion that Tiber Septim replaced it with forestry. So to get to the point: Elder Scrolls Online could be set before some incident that caused Cyrodiil to be changed into jungle. Not only those this explanation make Cyrodiil fit into lore without changing anything, that already had a lot of effort put into it. It also could set up for a expansion pack, similar to the Cataclysm expansion pack for World of Warcraft. Cyrodiil will be changed adding new PvP options (ambushes?), instances and new content.

For my personal idea: It could be something to do with ancient Ayleid magic (It is Cyrodiil after all). I was thinking maybe they excavate a large Ayleid city and find a powerful source of magic, they begin to bring it to somewhere to check it out when maybe they're attacked (Cyrodiil is war-zone after all) and somehow activate the artifact which is later found out to fertilize entire provinces, the Ayleids were meant to use it on Hammerfell but never got the chance. As well as changing PvP in the zone (new content), it could add either a raid or new area with the Ayleid city.

That's just my personal opinion on the matter and I hope Zenimax Online do a good job anyway.

TESO happenes during the latter part of the Second Era, between the end of the Akaviri Potentacy and the rise of Tiber Septim, so that kinda puts a nix on that.

Conversely, Morrowind retconned the Imperial Province from forest to jungle first. Just do a Youtube search for TES1: Arena footage. No matter how much they say "But Morrowind fleshed things out"... Arena was still there first.

Yeah I hate that they are making up things/ breaking the lore to make it fit ''Their'' Idea to make it more their game, lore that has been there for 20 years, but I digress.

Well they also said that the Summerset Isles buildings were to be made out of ''Real life building materials'' because that makes more sense, I mean with it being a fantasy game and all.....

The Imperial guide to Tamriel was written soon before Tiber Septim's rise if i remember and there's a few hundred year gap between that and TESO.

Yeah I'm pretty sure hes not even born for another 100 years or so.

So my idea could work

I'm not encouraging Zenimax Online's decision but at least think up something better than transcription error.


I know I love Arena but besides the Tharn storyline and the major cities, most of Arena was retconned.

it could... i guess.

Problem is, we know it is a transcription error in some cases and have known for years. The book Provinces of Tamriel and the Morrowind Savant dialogue describe Cyrodiil as endless jungle, although at the time it wasn't anymore one way or another. What's more, those sources copy the 1st PGE word for word: They simply transcribed from an earlier source.

"It is the largest region of the continent, and most is endless jungle."
- Morrowind Savant Dialogue

"It is the largest region of the continent, and most is endless jungle."
- Provinces of Tamriel

"It is the largest region of the continent, and most is endless jungle."
- Pocket Guide to the Empire, 1st Edition

We always assumed the PGE was the original source, but that isn't necessarily true. There are older sources that describe Cyrodiil as jungle (if not word for word like above), such as the Song of Pelinal which was at least older than the early 2nd era, but the transcription error could have occured at any time between. Why or even if the flora of Cyrodiil actually changed is still a mystery.

Wait, is this true? Why are all the lore buffs siding on the jungle side then?

Because so much has been retconned from Arena that they just decide to take Morrowind as de facto.

Well, they cant, its impossible to get that kind of atmosphere for MMORPG. Btw, I just finished Witcher 2 myself, theres quite cool stuff, if thats what you're into.

Dynamic weather, day/night cycle that should do it here.. maybe dynamic sky too. Also day/night is already confirmed and also stuff like theres more guards during nights.

Pretty much.

Morrowind was the defacto reboot of the series. Half of what makes TES into TES was introduced in that game.

And you guys didn't think it was a problem back then? If so, I find it a bit hypocritical to make a problem out of it in this MMO.

I think there were simply less people back then that could have had a problem with it. Plus, Morrowind and the 1st PGE fleshed out so much that was just unknown before.
That people take an issue with it now - well, I think it has several reasons. ZOS is the new kid on the block, and although there's only one TES lore shared between two studios, people feel they might now better about the lore than the "new ones". We have also gotten used to the "explanation" given by Kirkbride that was hinted at in the Xarxes Commentaries, and having to unravel that once more seems annoying. ZOS also has a very different approach to communicating with the community compared to BGS (none whatsoever), so because we already know quite a lot, we feel compelled to compare ESO's lore to that of past games - which is of course a futile attempt as we can't expect full explanations before the game's release. We rarely got any even after BGS released their games, usually we just end up with more questions.

Alright, I can understad it when put in this perspective. And I do agree on the communication aspect. I think that the lack of communication and releasing of info at a steady rate is the main reason for a lot of ignorant posts and QQ threads on this forum. I know they are in the stage of finishing the game and that they need to focus. But keeping the potential playerbase hooked, is important as well.

Not hypocritical. People didn't like it then either. However, they stated it was a reboot with the intention of making the game series more interesting. They also succeeded. TESO has introduced very few ideas that even seem interesting from a lore standpoint. Only two that I can think of. Some pretender to the Tribunal and the idea of a Planemeld. However how they are going to make the details interesting is yet to be seen. I have little faith in their lore department right now. They seem determined to go the safe and easy route. Like making the Altmer seem like Tolkien elves.

Yeah they could have got away with it only they added in the whole power of Talos thing (CHIM?) and that is even mentioned outside of books in Skyrim by the Talos preacher in Whiterun.