Potential ‘Skyrim’ DLC Expansions

*This article contains spoilers!*

So, as much as I hate to admit it, I’ve played through the majority of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.  Yes, the never-ending game does, in fact, reach a point where nothing noteworthy happens.  When we look back on the months leading up to Skyrim‘s release, we all remember gasping at the estimated length of time you could spend in the game before you complected everything: 300 hours.  My time with Skyrim was significantly less (about 220 hours, across four different characters) and it’s probably the most amount of time I’ve ever spent with a video game.  Still, I’m not satisfied, at least, in one sense.  I’ve gotten as much out of the original game as I think just about anyone could.  It’s been spectacular and definitely worth the money I paid.  But I want more.

Bethesda has created a universe that, like a good book, is worth investing large amounts of time into.  And much like a good book, there are often side-quests or sequels that expand the universe.  So with that in mind, I’d like to venture into the  unknown and ever changing land of speculation and rumor.  I’m talking, of course, about any and all plans for Skyrim‘s DLC.  Just to be clear, anything after this point is simply speculation, rumor, or a combination of the two.

Because I don’t want to get too ahead of myself, I’ll simply list three options that Bethesda could possibly choose for any DLC expansions:

1. The Psijic Order

Now, if you’ve played through ‘The College of Winterhold‘ quest-line, you’ve already seen several of the known members of the Psijic Order.  If you remember, soon after starting the quest, you’re contacted by a representative of the Order, Quanranir.  Throughout the rest of the quest-line you gain very little knowledge of the Order’s history or true intentions, but it is obvious that they’re immensely powerful and incredibly wise.  After you kill Ancono, members of the Order appear and magic the Eye of Magnus away from the College.  They also tell you that it was their plan all along for you to become Arch-Mage of the college and that they had “always believed in you.”

Now, if that doesn’t sound like the start of a good story, I don’t know what is!  There’s so much that Bethesda could do with the Order, and I think that the opportunity is too good to pass up.  Because the Order is thought to reside somewhere on the Summerset Isles, it is possible that you could leave Skyrim and journey to the Order’s headquarters, although I doubt that will happen because the Isle is nearly the size of Skyrim itself.  Still, I would love to see and DLC dealing with this mysterious and powerful force.

2. The Dwemer

If you’ve played any number of quests in Skyrim, or if you’ve simply walked around for an hour, chances are that you’ve entered a Dwemer ruin.  Inside, you normally find a great number of steam pipes, valves, and machines that seem quite advanced for a lost civilization.  The closest comparison I can think of is the Forerunners from the Halo franchise; they were an immensely advanced civilization that suddenly vanished into thin air, and people have been searching for answers ever since.

Skyrim presents a unique opportunity for Bethesda to expand Dwemer lore.  Because of the large number of ruins throughout Skyrim (the largest being Blackreach,) Bethesda could easily fill a few hours of DLC with trying to figure out where the Dwemer have gone, what had made them disappear to in the first place, and whether or not any still live.

I’ll be honest, whenever I had to go into a Dwemer ruin in Skyrim, I wasn’t exactly overjoyed.  For me, the problem was the repetitiveness of the ruins—not in the sense of the layout, but in the textures and spacing—every hallway felt the same as the last.  The exception, of course, is Blackreach, the massive cavern which stands as a connecting hub for all the other major Dwemer cities.  That was such a radical change from everything else I had encountered before and it really opened my eyes to the complexity of Dwemer technology and building.  If done right, I think that Bethesda could make a fantastic story from this lost civilization.

3. Cyrodil and Morrowind

A few weeks back, Destructoid reported on the findings of “an adventurous Tumblr”.  After doing a fair bit of noclipping, someone had managed to find a scaled down landmass that resembled the providence of Morrowind.  Walking further, this person also managed to find the Imperial City, or rather, a much smaller, less textured, empty mass that the city would normally reside in.  There are many explanations for these findings, as Destructoid reports: Firstly, it could mean that there was already a plan for DLC that would take place in either Morrowind or Cyrodil.  Secondly, it could mean that Bethesda was simply using the landmasses as a way of keeping Skyrim easy to navigate and build.  Thirdly, it could be a way of “giving modders more room to work with.”  While I’m not opposed to the last two explanations at all, I’m leaning more towards the first simply because it seems to be the most obvious.

So, what do you think?  Do you like the options I listed above, or do you have some of your own?  Let me know in the comment section below!

Here’s pictures of Skyrim’s version of the landmasses mentioned above: 

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