- Where
- Western Tamriel, with High Rock to the north, Skyrim to the north-east and Cyrodiil to the south-east.
- People
- The Redguards, who came to Tamriel from the sunken continent of Yokuda.
- Status in 4E 206
- Outside the Empire since the Great War, and listed under High Queen Iradne.
This is series lore, not game news
Everything on this page comes from earlier games and books in the series. It explains the place, and it says nothing about how the new game will use it. Bethesda has not said how much of Hammerfell you will visit, or whether the city of Sentinel is the main location.
The place
Hammerfell
A province on the west of Tamriel with long coasts on the Iliac Bay, the Eltheric Ocean and the Abecean Sea, and islands such as Stros M'Kai. The Alik'r Desert lies at its heart.
Sentinel
A major Redguard city and the capital of the kingdom of Sentinel, in the north-west of the province. It looks over the Iliac Bay with the Alik'r Desert to its south. Its oldest and largest building is the palace.
The Redguards
A people known for their warriors, who arrived after Yokuda was largely lost beneath the sea. Their old split is between the Crowns, the noble loyalists, and the Forebears, descended from the first settlers.
Where you have seen it before
- The Elder Scrolls: Arena, where the whole continent was on the map.
- The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, set around the Iliac Bay, with Sentinel as one of its great kingdoms.
- The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard, set on Stros M'Kai.
- The Elder Scrolls Online, which lets you walk through Sentinel in an earlier era.
How Hammerfell reached the Fourth Era
4E 42: the Night of Green Fire
Thalmor agents attack Altmer dissidents who had fled to Sentinel and destroy the city's refugee quarter.
4E 171: the Great War
The Aldmeri Dominion invades Hammerfell's southern coast, and the Imperial legions there retreat across the Alik'r.
4E 173: Sentinel's army
A Forebear army from Sentinel breaks the siege of the Crown city of Hegathe, and the two old rivals are reconciled.
4E 175: the Concordat
The White-Gold Concordat would have given much of southern Hammerfell to the Dominion. The Redguards reject it, and the Emperor gives up Hammerfell as a province.
4E 180: alone and independent
After five more years of fighting, the Second Treaty of Stros M'Kai sends the Dominion home and leaves Hammerfell free but badly damaged.
4E 201: Skyrim
The events of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim begin, five years before the date on the teaser's quote.
One detail worth keeping in mind
According to the lore, the Elder Scrolls disappeared from the Imperial Library in 4E 175, and the Moth Priests have been looking for them across Tamriel since. A Moth Priest reading a scroll for a queen of Hammerfell in 4E 206 is therefore something new. How it came about is not known.
Cross-checked
Cross-checked on 4 November 2026 against UESP's pages on Hammerfell, Sentinel and the Cult of the Ancestor Moth, and the summaries of the setting in CBR, Kotaku and The Verge's report as relayed by other outlets. The dates of the Fourth Era are UESP's, drawn from the games and their books. Not from a playthrough: this is the history of the series, and nothing here describes the new game. Still to confirm in-game.