Tales of Tamriel; Book I: The Land

 Written Various Authors (Bethesda Softworks)
Published by Titan Books, London, 2015
ISBN: 9781783293179

The front cover of Tales of Tamriel; Book I: The Land

Tales of Tamriel is very similar to The Skyrim Library. Both are collections of in-game books, split into various volumes. Whereas The Skyrim Library is a compilation of all the in-game books from The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim, Tales of Tamriel is a compilation of all the in-game books from The Elder Scrolls Online. It’s worth mentioning that this only includes the books from the base game and not any of the newer books added with the many expansions to the game since its release. While this book, without a doubt, makes for a wonderful collector’s piece, is it worth reading?

This first volume is split up into five subsections, history, Aldmeri Dominion, Daggerfall Covenant, Ebonheart Pact, and Creatures, in that order. The first section, history, is the shortest, at only eight pages, with two of them being a double page art spread. It is interesting, as it covers the eras of pre-history within Tamriel. Its short length left me wanting to learn more about this early period of Tamriel’s existence. I suppose that’s the problem with pre-history, we don’t have a lot of information to go on. This remains as true within Nirn as it does on Earth. Still, it would have been nice to get some information on the things that we do know, such as the heart of Lorkhan, which is only briefly skimmed over. Another subject that would have been interesting to read about would have been the dragons that came with man from Atmora. How did these dragons’ tie-in with the Nord’s war against the Falmer? I don’t understand why the history section of this book is so shockingly short.

A photo of Tales of Tamriel: Book I: The Land. The book is open to a double page art spread showing an Altmer, Bosmer, and Khajiit posing dramatically. 

The Aldmeri Dominion section covers information on the alliance of elves and khajiit known as the first Aldmeri Dominion. This is one of the three new alliances that’s fighting for the ruby throne and control over Tamriel. We get to learn about the formation of the Dominion, as well as how each of the three participating governments felt about the alliance. The High Elves, an historically isolationist people, seem to have the most trouble with integrating with the bosmer and khajiit people. Life in the Eagle’s Shadow is the journal of an Altmer, or High Elf, commoner that’s fascinating to read. We get to see how the Three Banners War tears this young man’s life apart, and instead of blaming the war, he instantly turns to racism and becomes radicalized. Given the highly charged political climate of our real-world, this was a thought-provoking read; Especially when viewed as an allegory for how many young men are being radicalized in real life. My one complaint about this section was that it felt like it focused too much on the bosmer and altmer and ignores the khajiit. As a massive fan of the beast folk, I was looking forward to learning more about the khajiit culture and history, but sadly that’s overlooked here.

The Daggerfall Covenant encompasses the redguards, bretons, and orcs. I enjoyed this section despite these being the races I typically avoid playing as within the games themselves. I learned a lot of lore that I was unaware of before and that was a real treat. The book, The Bretons, Mongrels or Paragons was a particularly interesting read as it detailed the historical connection between the elves and the humans, and how this interbreeding led to the modern day breton people. Then we get to learn about redguards and their ancient art of sword singing, passed down in the book of circles from master Hunding. The books Redguards, history and heroes volumes one and two detail the story of Hunding’s life. Learning about how he became such a legendary hero was a highlight of this section.

A photo of Tales of Tamriel: Book I: The Land. The book is opened on page 180-181, the title reads 'Second Invasion Reports. 

The Ebonheart Pact covers the nords, argonians, and dunmer races. This is my favourite section of this book because it covers the second Akarviri invasion. For those unsure, Akarvir is a continent that we know very little about, save that it exists somewhere to the east of Tamriel and is inhabited by a race of vampiric snake people. These serpentine vampires have invaded Tamriel twice, first in 1E 2703, and then again in 2E 572, ten years before the events of The Elder Scrolls Online. The alliance of nords, argonians, and dark elves was first established to push back against the Akarviri invasion, but then when on to continue after it, eventually attempting to lay claim to the Ruby throne in the Three Banners War.

The last section, Creatures, is a short section that deals with a few of the different animals and monsters that call Tamriel home. The most interesting of these are the werewolves, because we get a look at different opinions on these human-wolf hybrids. The book Living with Lycanthropy talks about the werewolf condition from the perspective of someone afflicted with it. They argue that it’s possible to live peacefully as a werewolf. If one respects Hircine’s gift, it’s possible to only hunt fair prey, without destroying others for sport. Meanwhile, the book Dealing with Werewolves argues that werewolves are vicious creatures that exhibit severe bloodlust. Seeing the pride that actual werewolves have in their condition is fascinating when placed next to the hatred and fear from non-werewolves. It reframes these creatures as more than just monsters, they are people who, if given the chance, can live rich lives without harming others. Despite this, those outside of their own community, fear them to the point of violence and eradication. This could very easily be read as an allegory for almost any minority group.

A photo of Tales of Tamriel: Book I: The Land. The book is opened on page 220-221, the left page is titled 'Living with Lycanthropy' while the right page is titled 'The Werewolf's Hide'.

Overall, I feel like Volume One of Tales of Tamriel suffers with the same problems as The Skyrim Library. It’s only going to be of interest to The Elder Scrolls fans, and even then, those fans could just read all these books for free within The Elder Scrolls Online. The one advantage here is that the online nature of ESO means that players typically have less of a chance to read these books within the game. I also feel like Volume One of this series has a lot of interesting stories that act as interesting allegories for real life issues. Such as Life in the Eagles Shadow being an allegory for real life radicalisation or Living with Lycanthropy and Dealing with Werewolves acting as an allegory for the dehumanisation of minority groups. These help give this collection more value than just a collector’s piece, although it does make a wonderful addition to any collection!

If you’re an Elder Scrolls fan: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

If you’re a more casual fan or new to the series: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✩