Hi,

I am not a longtime TES player, so this question may be silly, I dunno. I also searched, but couldn't find anything.

In looking at some maps online of Tamriel, I am struck by what looks to be a whole hunk of The Reach west of Markarth Side that is not modeled in the game.
I don't know if this is area meant for perhaps a Forsworn DLC, or is an area of Skyrim that isn't important (seems unlikely). The Reach seems to have been severely chopped off, with only its eastern section playable.

I'm not sure why they would do this, but maybe it is common to leave out sections of the map in other games too? I have no idea.

Here are some pictures to illustrate:

• http://myona.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/skyrim-map-hd.jpg.
  
• http://tes.nexusmods.com/imageshare/images/511948-1233008492.jpg.
  
• http://www.imperial-library.info/sites/default/files/gallery_files/minibigmaproadslore31gv.jpg.
  
• http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/011/e/d/skyrim_map_by_gothic_vampire13-d4m1f3p.png.

So it is probably not coincidence that many of these maps of Skyrim look the same, with extra land to the west of Markarth. If you position the world map camera, you can see they allow you to view this area fairly reasonably, so I wonder what the deal is? Has this been discussed to death already? If so, a link to the discussion would be great!

Aren't those last three all fan maps?

I think the short answer is that they just took a lot of liberties with the map. A lot got moved around. Markarth Side became Markarth and got moved to the edge. Whiterun got moved to a more central location. Falkreath looks like it got moved, as well. Windhelm got moved further south from it's location on most of the maps. And I notice a lack of Morthal on them.

So basically, there's nothing going on here. They just decided to change it.

Lot of those maps are old, and a lot of things in those maps have changed over the years. Look at your third link a lot of places in Skyrim arent even in similar places to the official map (and not just in Skyrim)

Dont ask "Why does Skyrim maps not have this land"
You should ask 'Why are these old maps showing lands that never existed xD"

I would imagine they all are fan maps, but for instance the 3rd one lists 2 towns in the area: Amber Guard and Dragonstar and I presumed the maker of the maps didn't invent the town names... then when a bunch of other maps matched having that additional land, I figured they were kosher.

I see a bunch of maps which must be pre-Skyrim that seem to include this area, and a bunch of others that are more post-Skyrim which reflect only the playable area. I have no clue which is "right", with the exception that I guess whatever bethesda chooses to do is correct.




Edit: Damn you guys are quick!.. okay, it is as I suspected, there is not a whole swath of land that should be there.


Thanks for your swift replies.

I believe that half of the Reach is in High Rock...

One possible explanation is that those maps might be Oblivion or earlier. Skyrim had a pretty healthy time jump before it, in which a major war went down. It's fully possible that the extra land you're seeing got taken over by the Thalmor or whatever.

They moved Markarth Side. Its not that the Skyrim borders changed, they just moved one of the cities to better fit in in the game.

The exact borders of the provinces could have been moved around during the war.

I don't see it. The first map is literally the boundaries of the game. The last map just looks sketchy haha

We can only hope that those three gates and one road leading outside the border are there for an expansion.

Well, the gate to Cyrodill is the only one closed and that's where the player was supposed to be caught "while crossing the border". But the one west of Falkreath and the two east of Windhelm and Riften respectively can lead to Hammerfell and Morrowind, in theory...

Having all but one major city at the edge of the map makes the gameworld seem bigger I suppose.

Maximizing minimal space? Considering Skyrim's actually smaller than, say, Liberty City in GTA4, I'd say you're right.

Lore-wise, the Reach's borders are constantly fluctuating between Skyrim and High Rock. Hence, we get a misshapen game world and the Forsworn faction.