Summary
The Thieves Guild has a presence across all the provinces and countries of Tamriel, and Hammerfell is no different. With the possibility thatThe Elder Scrolls 6will be set in Hammerfell, there’s an opportunity to reinvent the Thieves Guild so that, while it still remains true to the tenets of the other guildhalls in other parts of Tamriel, it reflects theenvironment and history of Hammerfell.
WhileThe Elder Scrollsmain series hasn’t depicted Hammerfell sinceThe Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall, it has featured heavily inThe Elder Scrolls Online, and its Thieves Guild even gets insight into theThieves GuildDLC. Hammerfell’s unique culture has the potential to shape the Thieves Guild inThe Elder Scrolls 6and turn it into a faction more interactive and meaningful than ever before.
How Thieve’s Guild Could Work in The Elder Scrolls 6
Hammerfell is a massive regionwith a large interior far from the ocean, but it also has a long coastline that includes a multitude of islands.The Elder Scrolls Online’s depiction of Hammerfell included pirates along the coast, particularly centered around Abah’s Landing, a city located on the peninsula on the southern coast of Hammerfell. While pirates and the Thieves Guild are two separate entities inThe Elder Scrolls Online, there is a time gap of at least 949 years betweenESOandSkyrim. Much may have changed between the two entities, and it’s not outside the realm of possibility that they could be working together, or have merged by the time ofThe Elder Scrolls 6. Because piracy plays such a large role in crime in the region, combining the two would be a natural progression.
While pirates would be centered on the coast, it’s not unusual for the Thieves Guild to have a single city as a base of operations, such as Riften inSkyrim. Abah’s Landing could work as this base city, and have a structure that’s based on piracy and smuggling along the coast, particularly the islands such as Stros M’Kai.The Elder Scrolls 6could handle the Thieves Guild in several ways, two of which having the Abah’s Landing chapter of the Thieves Guild specialize in piracy, while other chapters further inland could focus on more conventional pickpocketing and burglary. An alternative option would be for the Thieves Guild to have two different specialized routes that the player can choose between, one being piracy, and the other being pickpocketing and burglary.
Changing the Thieves Guild for Hammerfell
Both of these options would give the Thieves Guild some much-needed variation while keeping it on theme and within the context of Hammerfell. As the College of Winterhold and Companions were shaped by the history and culture of Skyrim, theworld and culture should shape the factions of Hammerfell. This is also an opportunity to make faction storylines and characters more engaging and interactive, especially if it forces players to interact with the environments and venture into different parts of Hammerfell.
The guilds inThe Elder Scrollshave gone through significant changes thanks to geographic location and timeline before. This was seen inThe Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind’s Dark Brotherhood, with the Morag Tong in control and forcing the Dark Brotherhood out of the province, the College of Winterhold in lieu of the Mages Guild, and the Companions in place of the Fighters Guild inSkyrim. Even the Dark Brotherhood inSkyrimhas experienced an upheaval thanks to the lack of a Listener, although it was restored to its recognizable form throughout the events of the game.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
WHERE TO PLAY
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