Lore:Library

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The Lore Library is composed of book pages, all of which transclude transcripts of in-game books to the game namespace page where the content was originally entered, as well as any other namespaces for subsequent games where the writing made an appearance and the content was substantially unaltered. Books in a series have their own umbrella pages (e.g., A Dance in Fire). For the purposes of alphabetizing the lists of books, both case and initial articles ("a", "an", and "the") are ignored. Symbols are sorted by Unicode code points.

What qualifies to be in the Lore Library?[edit]

The Oghma Infinium (Skyrim)

The Lore Library is for works of literature which substantially contribute to the goal of the Lore namespace: to provide an encyclopedia of accurate and verifiable information in the Elder Scrolls universe, separate from game-related details. There is no one easy answer for what new literature meets this criteria; which writings are added is decided in the months, and in some cases years, following their publication.

Factors include:

  • Title - Almost all full-fledged "books" are included in the Library. While the title is informative, it can sometimes be misleading (e.g., The Windhelm Letters and Charwich-Koniinge Letters), and other material besides these books may be admissible based on other factors.
  • Authorship - Any writings besides journals, notes and letters which have an acknowledged author/editor are likely lore material.
  • In-game Appearance - Determining whether a book's cover is hard, its size, its availability, its value, the use of fancy letters, etc., can clear up ambiguity for some writings.
  • Relevance - The determination whether the information contained in the writing is inherently or tangentially important to fulfilling the goal of the lore namespace. Many writings, even notes and letters, can become part of the lore namespace for this reason (e.g., Cap'n Dugal's Journal and Letter to King Maxevian).
  • Game Specificity - The game-specific nature of the content of some writings can preclude it from Lore. Some books are excluded because they offer virtually nothing but game-specific information (e.g., Skyrim:Whiterun Home Decorating Guide). However, editors may still cite to book pages in other namespaces if necessary (e.g., the citations to Skyrim:Kodlak's Journal on Companions).
  • Redundancy - Some writings which would otherwise qualify to be in the Lore are not included because some other work renders them redundant and unnecessary. For example, Skyrim:Adonato's Book is substantively identical to Olaf and the Dragon, so there's no point in adding it just for the unique title, and Skyrim:Songs of Skyrim is unnecessary in light of the more comprehensive Songs of Skyrim: Revised.

The Lore Library is not meant for each and every scrap of paper in every game, and no unofficial content (UOL) should ever appear here. For that, see Unofficial Lore. Certain texts found outside of the games are permitted, provided they are of an official source, such as the official Bethesda website.

Images and Appearance[edit]

  • Some writings in Elder Scrolls games include initials or drop caps, which are pictures of a stylized letter that are put in the place of the first letter of the book, and possibly sections within the book (e.g., Skyrim:2920, First Seed, v3). The letter pics are subject to change in each new game, and some books already have multiple versions used (e.g., Oblivion:The Argonian Account, Book 1 and Skyrim:Argonian Account, Book 1). The current practice has been to omit the letter pics from the lore book pages where they have no special significance while still transcluding them to their applicable namespace(s) (e.g., The Argonian Account). {{LetterPic}} is used to more easily display letter pics in their appropriate namespace.
  • All other pictures typically appear on the lore book page roughly how they first appeared alongside the text in the game(s) (for example, Herbalist's Guide to Skyrim).
  • The appearance of a book on a game namespace page should not be changed merely because the version in a new game has some minor differences. In this situation, both game namespace pages should appear as they did in their respective games, and the Lore page itself may take the best of both worlds by incorporating new info and improvements while omitting any typos introduced into the new versions of old text (e.g., the differences in the Daggerfall version preserved on Galerion the Mystic).

Official Texts[edit]

The following is a list of all lore-related texts in the library, and their associated sources:

Sorted Lists[edit]

The texts on the following pages encompass in-game books, physical books and official website material.

  • Books by Subject — A master list of all lore-related texts, sorted by subject.
  • Books by Author — A master list of all mentioned authors and their works.
  • Mentioned Texts — A master list of all texts that are mentioned but cannot be read in-game.

Game-Specific[edit]

Lists of all lore-related texts that have appeared in specific Elder Scrolls games, sorted by subject.

Daggerfall • Morrowind • Oblivion • Skyrim • Online

Websites[edit]

Overview pages containing texts from various official websites.

Collector's Edition Texts[edit]

Official material that came packaged with collector's editions of certain Elder Scrolls games.

Other Physical Texts[edit]

Official material that was sold separately from Elder Scrolls games.

For a complete list of physical books, see Books page.

Mentioned Texts[edit]

The following titles are mentioned in the games or other official material, but have yet to actually be featured (besides short excerpts, in some cases). Some books are also present as contraband in Elder Scrolls Online. All titles are linked to the texts or source that references them:


See Also[edit]

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