The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim/WMG

The Shivering Isles-equivalent DLC for Skyrim will be in Cyrodill, where you beat back the Thalmor
The dragons are gone, and the Civil War is finished. Seems like the only antagonistic force left in the game is the Thalmor, and everyone would love to get a crack at them. The height map for a good chunk of the province is finished too, and they can draw from Oblivion for the general layout of the continent, so that would be less work for them. And finally, since the Dragonborn originally crossed the border from Cyrodill to Skyrim, maybe we can explore a bit of his past too! Seems like a very good expansion opportunity, and Bethesda already laid a fair amount of the groundwork down.

"They" are the dragons
TES lore has never been above having in universe books simply be wrong. It also neatly explains why the dragons are around in the first place.

The dragons are related to Alduin
Alduin is "a terrible, ravenous dragon who presides over the cycle of existence and devours the universe at intervals", described as a firestorm, his coming is feared by the religious Nords...
 * And since a number of people find Dragons to be a sort of analogue to angelic spirits in Akatosh/Alduin's service, it does explain why the dragons seem to be an antagonistic force.
 * Also, the lyrics in the teaser, when translated, do involve Alduin.
 * User:Deuxhero: Hmm, seems like a pretty good guess for something I came up with during a quick look at Skyrim and Nord lore.
 * CONFIRMED! The Dragons as they appear in Skyrim are servants of Alduin.

You may wind up being the Dovahkiin/Dragonborn
User:JH finds this somewhat obvious. You (The player), have to make your way around the cival war, convincing people that your the Dragonborn, kinda like convincing people your Nerevarine in Morrowind and will not only bring the civil war to an end, but defend the place from the dragons that are going to try to annihilate the place.

That or you may end up bringing the doom to the land and aid the dragons in destroying the place.


 * This being The Elder Scrolls, it's likely that you will be able to decide (remember Daggerfall).
 * Not just Daggerfall, technically you fit only about half of the requirements to be the Nerevarine, and at the end of the main storyline, while you talk to Dagoth Ur, you can say: "I am the Nerevarine," "I'm not the Nerevarine," or "I'm just as confused as you are."
 * Don't forget "I am going to defeat you, not Nerevar"
 * This one's looking to be somewhat less ambiguous. Being the dragonborn isn't just being the guy foretold to stop this; it's about physical/magical capability regarding the use of dragon-shouts and the absorption of dragon souls for that purpose. If there's ambiguity it may be in regards to whether or not you're in fact the last dragonborn, or if there are others who may fill the role or even be working against you, but you're almost certainly a dragonborn.
 * Confirmed. You are the dragonborn.

The loose ends in Oblivion will be covered in Skyrim.
Feel free to add any points I have missed.
 * What will Jyggalag do now that he is free?
 * Will the new Sheogorath become immortal? Or stay mortal and have to constantly be replaced?
 * Yes, the new Sheogorath became immortal. And changed form to look like the old Sheogorath.
 * Or, were the events in Shivering Isles all an aspect of the Mad God's, er, madness, and none of it was actually true, with the original returning to reclaim his throne when he got bored? Or did the Sheogorath personality slowly take over the "new" one? Either of these fits the character better than the events as presented, and would explain why he looks and sounds like he used to, not to mention the absence of old Jyggy. The world may never know.
 * What became of the artifact of Azani Blackheart in the Fighters Guild quests?
 * What would happen if Clavicus Vile gets a hold of Umbra?
 * From the sound of his dog familiar, Barbas, it'd be more accurate to say "What would happen if Umbra got ahold of Clavicus?"
 * The Infernal City already clued us in on this front.

The "dragons" aren't the same as the "dragons" in the lore
Similar to Daggerfall's Atronach's being Golems while every other game uses it to refer to Daedra or how "Ash Vampires" have nothing to do with blood vampires. I suspect the ones in Skyrim are servants of Alduin, unrelated to the Akaviri race. Correction: I hope this happens, Oblivion's divine terraforming killed enough brain cells.
 * Confirmed! The black dragons are actually Jills, aedric servants of Alduin.
 * Er, not quite. The Blades certainly seem to think that the Dragons are the same.

Skyrim's Imperial loyalists are supporting Alduin.
IF Alduin really is Akatosh, Chief Deity of the Imperial pantheon, then would it be too far fetched that they're on Alduin's 'side'? Perhaps the Empire, desperate to restore it's former glory, made some kind of weird eldritch pact with the Akatosh statue in the Temple of the One, 'resurrecting' it. Of course, this will probably bite them in the ass later on.
 * Alduin is Akatosh, who is also Lorkhan. So it's not an unreasonable guess.
 * ... Lorkhan being one with Akatosh... kind of depends on who's myths (and which versions) are true. And they are a bit of a mess, compounded by boatloads of syncretization. In many they're distinct, even directly antagonistic, entities; in others they appear to be a single entity; some accounts even have multiple versions, in which an identical character with an identical role takes identical actions, but is either called Lorkhan/Shor/Shezzar, or Akatosh/Auri-El/Alduin (precisely who gifted the Amulet of Kings to Alessia being a prime example).
 * All that only confirms Akatosh and Lorkhan being the same. Self-contradiction is the most important aspect of a god in TES lore.
 * Actually, the Eight/Nine Divines being BS is historical fact in the game's universe, the pantheon is known to be a merging of the Proto-Elf and Nord pantheons by the first Emperor to please all her allies. "Akatosh" is merely a merger of Auri-El and Alduin. Not that it really matters, as Bethesda doesn't give a shit about their own lore in Oblivion.
 * Another Sheogorath-Jyggalag "identity crisis" then with Akatosh?
 * That would be, frankly, amazing. Do that!
 * Lorkhan being directly antagonistic to Akatosh means that he is Akatosh in some of the more esoteric backstory. Gotta love that Kirkbride.
 * You're forgetting though, Akatosh is the Dragon god of TIME, what is the most important aspect of time? It builds things up, then consumes them, sort of a Shiva/Kali sort of thig, Alduin is the cosuming and decaying aspect of Time, whereas Akatosh is the nurturing, building aspect of time.
 * JOSSED! But it is close.

The wrath of Alduin is the direct result of the last three games.
The Warp in the West, mere mortals interfering with spacetime for their own ends, mightily pissed off the "Dragon-God of Time." The Nerevarine's destruction of the Heart of Lorkhan unintentionally removed the eponymous god's last link to Nirn, and thus any chance of timely intervention by the greatest champion of mankind. When Martin shattered the Amulet of Kings, he fulfilled and ended Akatosh's oath to Alessia. No longer bound by ancient promises or wary of the power of his foe, Alduin's ready to exact some vengeance...
 * Sorta confirmed. The events in all four previous games (The shattering of the Staff of Chaos in Arena, The appearance of Numidium in Daggerfall, The eruption of Red Mountain that's said to happen after Morrowind, and the Oblivion Crisis in, well, Oblivion) were all described/prophesied in the Elder Scrolls as events that fortold the coming of Alduin, along with an event that would happen during Skyrim, which would be a civil war between the Nords (after their king dies, the Nords would have a civil war over whether or not they should stay in the Empire).

The Champion of Cyrodiil was also a Dragon-Born
We know that Uriel Septim had prophetic dreams, so him having Martin could have been a plan of his to save Nirn from Dagon, an event he had perceived. However, he had a second illegitimate child, as a back-up plan. He arranged events in both of their lives, so that they would eventually be brought together to fight Dagon's invasion. When Martin died, people thought the royal bloodline had ended, and the Champion had no idea of his heritage. So, he went on with his life, travelled the world and eventually started a family in Skyrim. 200 years later, it would be revealed the Champion and all his descendants were Dragon-Born, to give the world a chance against Alduin.
 * Er, what if the Champion of Cyrodiil was Argonian or whatever?
 * I don't think Uriel Septim cared all that much about what he screwed.
 * Impossible. It is clearly stated that the Amulet of Kings can only be worn by a member of the Septim bloodline. While it is unknown how Mankar Camoran manages to wear it, it always slips off the player's neck if they attempt to do so. If the Champion of Cyrodiil was indeed Uriel's child, then the player should have been able to wear it and relight the Dragonfires personally.
 * The Amulet of Kings was created and worn by emperors long before the Septim dynasty was established, up to and including Reman III (but not by the Akaviri rulers of the Second Era). The exact prerequisites for wearing it are indeed bit hazy, but seem to require the wearer be able to be considered an heir of Alessia, by blood OR position.
 * Again, though, Uriel was an heir of Alessia. If the Champion was indeed his son, then that should be a direct tie back to Alessia. Uriel's son = wearing the Amulet of Kings, no problem. The Champion of Cyrodiil couldn't. Then again, it is also possible that the Champion of Cyrodiil was Dragonborn without being closely related enough to the Septims/Alessia to wear the Amulet.
 * Especially since even a madman could wear the Amulet (Pelagius) since he was a Septim.
 * The games seem to indicate that there are multiple sets of Dragonborn. See The Book of the Dragonborn in Skyrim. It's entirely possible that the Champion was a Dragonborn unrelated to the various royal dynasties of Tamriel. But since there weren't any dragons around to absorb souls from until Skyrim, we'll never be able to tell. Personally, I like to think that all the various heroes of The Elder Scrolls, from Barenziah's Champion on down, were Dragonborn.

The Fan Dumb/Hate Dumb common for the series will trash this for not being "Oblivion" enough.
This is The Elder Scrolls - 90% of the complaints of Morrowind were that it wasn't Daggerfall enough, and yet 90% of the complaints of Oblivion seem to be some variant of "It's not Morrowind."
 * Doubtful. Daggerfall fans who disliked Morrowind are nowhere near as vocal as Morrowind fans who disliked Oblivion. If anything, 90% of the complaints on Skyrim will probably be that it's not Morrowind enough either.
 * They are less common since Daggerfall was not a very popular game. This particular RPG genre was far more niche when it came out then when Morrowind came out and the people actually following the genre generally viewed it as a mediocre game that sounded better on paper than actual execution.

Skyrim is a prequel to How to Train Your Dragon
Both involve a land inhabited by a viking-like people who are terrorized by dragons, which sets the stage for how the plot in the latter got started in the first place. The dragon that we see in the trailer bears some similarities to the Monstrous Nightmare (especially in using its wings as forelimbs while on the ground). And it explains just what the Red Death is and what it was doing: it's Alduin, recovering from His defeat in Skyrim and gathering strength to make His return.

The Avatar of Akatosh in Oblivion wasn't there to save Cyrodil from the Oblivion Invasion
It was really just clearing Mehrunes Dagon out of the way so that Akatosh/Alduin could take Nirn for itself, it just disguised it's goals as saving Cyrodil because it was necessary, seeing as the Skyrim Civil War that was supposed to herald it's reappearance hadn't happened yet. Having Dagon taking over Nirn would prevent the Skyrim Civil War from happening, keeping Alduin sealed wherever he was held. Luckily for him Martin was there to unwittingly aid his plans to escape.
 * Well, thing is that by stopping Dagon's invasion, and in doing so killing Martin, Akatosh was actually causing the Skyrim Civil War. The war starts/started because the Nords were undecided as to whether they should remain with an empire that no longer had divine right to rule, which any ruler after Martin wouldn't by virtue of not being an heir of Alessia. So there's that dual motive to it; if Dagon succeeded then obviously Akatosh wouldn't have a world to make a move on, but in stopping Dagon Akatosh wasn't just clearing the way for his own invasion, he was actually setting it into motion.
 * Um, did you just play the main quest and pay no attention to the lore or anything else? The civil war only started in the last couple decades, after the Aldmeri Dominion forced the Empire to outlaw Talos worship. This didn't go over well with the Nords, mainly because Talos, a.k.a. Tiber Septim, the founder of the Empire, was a Nord.
 * Also an important point to make: Alduin is not Akatosh. He is related in some form to him but the two are not one and the same. What Akatosh wants and does and what Alduin wants and does do not have to line up.

Skyrim will end with Jyggalag replacing Akatosh as the god of time
Everything we've seen so far indicates that the main antagonist of the game will be somebody who fills a pretty important position in the Nine Divines. For reasons described above, he's probably mad enough at humanity that a Heel-Face turn would be very unlikely.

Jyggalag, the Daedric Prince of Order, by contrast, seems to be a pretty nice guy in his ending speech in Shivering Isles. At the very least, he owes humanity a favor for freeing him from his stint as Sheogorath. He's also described to be hypercompetent, even for a Daedra. And, as of the end of Shivering Isles, he's out of a job.

So when Akatosh/Alduin is inevitably defeated, the Nine Divines will need a new guy to keep clocks running forward. The most logical choice for a replacement would be the guy who's going to be trying to do that anyway, and the game will end with Jyggalag becoming the new Akatosh.


 * Extremely doubtful. It's implied in most of the lore that Akatosh/Alduin/Auriel is a reflection of a reflection of Anu Who IS. You could no more kill the A-Dragon than you you can kill an image projected on smoke (though you could stir the smoke up quite a bit).


 * Maybe you can't kill him, but some variant upon the ancient art of can sealing could occur. Whatever happens to him in the game, it's unlikely that he's going to go back to his day job in the Nine Divines after trying to destroy the mortal world.


 * Alduin, Akatosh, and Auriel are different interpretations given pantheon; Alduin will try to eat the world and Akatosh will oppose him because Akatosh loves man. Sying anything more than this would be pure speculation.
 * Only sort of true. While yes, they are all just how different cultures interpret Time, Akatosh is only partially separated by a powerful and mysterious ritual and the collective unconscious of the Imperials. This is all pretty explicit in the lore. Whether or not that will have an effect on the immediate plot is an exciting question.


 * Jossed, Alduin.

The game will start...
With the player character in prison. The shocking swerve will be that we will actually be told why we're in prison this time.
 * Inciting drunken Nords into an unusually large barfight?
 * For assisting enemies in this civil war?
 * Jaywalking
 * Probably Necrophilia, like the last protagonist...
 * OP here. Original thought was being brought in on suspicion of being the Dragonborn, either by a/the faction serving Alduin, with the intention of killing you, or by the faction opposing them bringing you in with the intention of putting you through some test or such to find out if you're the real thing, and recruit you. In the former case, the rebells break you out just in time. In the latter, Poor Communication Kills and you escape and fight off this faction believing them to be the enemy for the first act of the game until they reveal that this could have all been avoided. Jaywalking's good, though.
 * The way crime worked in Oblivion, chances are you were put in jail for accidentally picking up a fork.
 * At least partially confirmed. According to an interview with Todd Howard, Skyrim opens with the player
 * Partially Jossed. You're not in prison, your tied up in a cart being transported to your execution from just being captured with the leader of the rebels.

There will be a Highlander reference
Since you absorb a dragon's soul after you beat him to gain his magic, the opportunity for a Shout-Out is too great. Ahem: "THE QUICKENING!".
 * If it turns out there's more than one dragonborn, at some point one of you will say "There can be only ONE!"

You aren't the Dragonborn... But you have to pretend to be
The real Dragonborn is killed in battle at the beginning, so for whatever reason Esbern begins grooming you to replace him. With help from the Greybeards, they convince the public that you are the real Dragonborn, well meanwhile searching for some kind of MacGuffin to help you beat Alduin.
 * And the dragon-shout thing is faked by magic?
 * Either it's magic, or it's NOT unique to the Dragonborn at all. The Greybeards lied, anyone can do it! It's not as if it has any real historical precedence...right?
 * here's some pre-Skyrim lore on thu'um (shouts). general, andan important figure
 * A minority of characters other than the PC will be able to use Dragon Shouts, so it isn't something that only the Dragonborn can do so much as a rare and coveted ability. Maybe that's the reason why Esbern wants the PC specifically even though they aren't Dragonborn; they're one of the few who can actually become good enough with Dragon Shouts to actually pull off faking being Dovahkiin.
 * Or perhaps simply by being the best at the shouts the soul of a dragon infuses you and you BECOME the Dovahkiin
 * "Walk like them until they walk like you" is a common theme in The Elder Scrolls lore. The Nerevarine is said to not be born the Nerevarine, but is one who may become the Nerevarine. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy kind of deal. You may not be The Dragonborn, but that doesn't mean you can't become The Dragonborn.
 * Dev team's been stating pretty hard that you don't "become the dragonborn, you are the dragonborn", and that's a non-negotiable aspect. Which, assuming this really is about lineage, makes sense; you can't choose to be part of a bloodline. On the other hand, mayhaps the devs doth protest too much...
 * Supposedly the case with werewolves, so not unlikely.
 * Well, seeing as the ability to absorb dragon souls is said to be something only Dovahkiin can do, I'd say that he/she is in fact a Dovahkiin.
 * But wait, if only the one and only Dovahkiin can absorb dragon souls, how is it that others who aren't Dovahkiin can use Dragon Shouts? You need the soul of a dragon for every word you unlock.
 * Maybe Dragons Souls are just a shortcut to mastering a shout? Maybe other people who learned Thu'um managed to unlock their shouts by more practice than would be feasible for gameplay? I don't know for sure, but chances are someone will find a lore-friendly answer to this. Maybe there will be an answer in-game.
 * I'd think the previous Troper's conjecture is confirmed during the main quest. From what the eldest Greybeard said, during a great war between the Dragons and Mortals, Kynareth blessed Mortals with the ability to use The Voice. The entire group of Greybeards you meet are old masters who have spent YEARS training to even understand and speak Dragon well enough to use The Voice (with a result that all they can do is use the Voice; they refrain from speaking to ensure that they don't kill anybody who isn't used to hearing it). As a Dragonborn, you have the ability to siphon this knowledge and power directly from dragons you slay or certain people who willingly give up the knowledge of Words without having to bother with figuring out what those Words do or mean.
 * The above troper is completely correct. You are the dragonborn, you are special not because you can shout but because you can shout instinctively and easily.
 * Also notice how most characters can only do a few of them, and have to practice them for many hours per day.

The Player character is a descendant of the Septim dynasty

 * Or, at least, one of the OTHER dragonborn dynasties that ruled Tamriel in the past(The Allesians or the Remans) and was an unknown heir to the Dragon Throne. With luck, this character might, in an expansion pack, then journey to Cyrodiil and claim the Dragon Throne and found a fourth Empire(and we also get to see what's happened in Cyrodiil since the Oblivion Crisis).
 * But that would completely rule out playing as Argonians and Khajitt,and quite possibly the Orcs as well. It seems unlikely the devs would do that.
 * Probably wouldn't rule out the Orcs; they aren't a beast race, but a kind of elf who were cursed and took on a new form, rather like the Dunmer, but in a different circumstance. In Oblivion the Grand Champion of the Arena is a half-Orc who is the son of an Imperial father and an Orcish mother, and he appears as mostly Orcish but with pale skin, so Orcs with human ancestry isn't entirely out of the question. The point about the Argonians and Khajiit is valid, though, as they are radically different from humans and there has never been the confirmation of a half-breed between them.
 * IIRC, Any sentient species can interbreed with any other sentient species, as long as the equipment's compatible, but the resulting child takes on the species of their mother (so if an Imperial male and Argonian female did the nasty, an Argonian would result. If an Orc male and a Kajhiit felame did it, a Kajhiit would result.). However, my lore knowledge is a bit rusty, so I may be wrong.
 * There's never been any confirmation that all of the ten races are interfertile with each other. All human and elven races, yes, but not the Argonians and Kahjiit. The possibility, and the problems thereof, is discussed in greater detail in this in-game document. It hasn't been ruled out, but it is definitely not confirmed, either.

Sheogorath is The Champion of Cyrodiil

 * And we'll be treated to a reference to Oblivion during his Shrine Quest.
 * This could be the reason why the Champion didn't do a better job of holding the empire together. The champion could very well have been master of the fighter's guild, archmage of the mage's guild, would have had the full support of the blades, could be personal friends with every count and countess in the province, and if one assumes the Knights of the Nine takes place before the Shivering Isles, then they're pretty much The Messiah. Being the most politically powerful(not to mention, flat out most powerful) person in the country, the champion could have made a grab for the throne themselves with a fairly decent chance of success, and that's likely what Martin had in mind before sacrificing himself. However, upon becoming Sheogorath, the champion was forced to abandon Cyrodiil to tend to their realms of Oblivion, eventually losing interest in mortal affairs.

Sheogorath will not appear

 * Haskill steps in instead, with the excuse that Sheogorath is busy at the moment, in order to create ambiguity. The statue itself will probably be of the old Sheogorath, as his mortal worshippers probably didn't know about what happened in the Shivering Isles, and didn't make a new statue to reflect the change.
 * Jossed: He definitely appears, and seems largely the same as he was in Shivering Isles, to boot. Exactly how that works is anyone's guess, though...
 * Obviously, the new Sheogorath slowly changed shape and image until they looked and acted exactly like the old Sheogorath, slowly changing to fit the role.
 * Or he just used the Wabbajack on himself so as to fit the image of himself as shown in the Sheogorath shrines.

The allusions to Summerset Isle weren't a red herring
It will be the location of a New Vegas equivalent. It will also introduce Imga as a playable race.
 * Surprised this one went untouched for so long. Anyway, the allusions to the Summerset Isles in the random npc chatter from Oblivion seem to have been foreshadowing the rise of the Thalmor and the succession of the Altmeri Dominion. While Summerset being a possible location for a future game or dlc are decent, it does raise some questions as access to the island was restricted for non-altmer before they got taken over by the nazi elves.

The PC is not Dragonborn, but a Jill in mortal form
The PC was born when Alduin, planning his assault on the world some decades before the start of the game, sent one of his most powerful Jills to take on a humanoid form, being born as one of them and living among them, to act as a general and a leader to his forces when the time comes. However, the Jill has forgotten who he/she was upon being born as a mortal, and thanks to the tutelage of Esbern, turns against Alduin and uses their aedric power to fight him. The PC's ability to use dragon shouts and absorb the souls of other dragons do not come from being Dragonborn; the last true Dragonborn was Martin Septim, and Bethesda seems to hint that the Dragonborn in this game will be different from previous ones. The power of this "Dragonborn" comes from the fact that they have the soul of a Jill, and thus can use their powers.
 * Um, actually a dragon soul in a human body is exactly what the dragonborn IS so... yeah this is kinda confirmed...
 * The point isn't so much the PC having a dragon's soul, but being specically the soul of one of Alduin's personal Jill servants. True, that would still make them Dragonborn, but a different kind of Dragonborn than those like Esbern are probably expecting.
 * This would also explain why non-human player characters are also Dragonborn.
 * Explanation of that is not required: as in-game documents comfirm being the Dragonborn is not a matter of descent alone. The Septims were a line of Dragonborn but other Dragonborn have existed outside that bloodline.

The PC is Akatosh
It's been said that the PC is different than other dragonborn, maybe he/she is Akatosh in mortal form? I have no other proof for this other than it would be awesome.
 * Actually, that's a theory that holds some merit. If the PC is going around collecting the Jills souls, maybe it's not to stop Alduin's invasion. Maybe it's to become Alduin (since Alduin = Akatosh) in the same way that Martin used the amulet of kings to become an avatar of Akatosh, and the plan is for the PC to actually start the next cycle for Tamriel (which would necessitate destroying the old one, according to lore). Basically making you the hero AND the villain.
 * Jossed. Alduin is not Akatosh and neither is the PC. Alduin is trying to destroy the world (possibly ahead of the appointed time), the PC is trying to stop it.

The Dragonborn will become the New Emperor
Ok lets look at the facts, General Talos (Aka Tiber Septim) used an shout based ability called the Thu'um, but he didnt seem to have it early on for one, it has verious powers, much like Dragon Shouts, teleporting, knocking down walls, ect. He is reffered to as the "dragon born" by others, and later it is said that the Blood of the dragon flows in septim veins, "allowing them to see more than lesser men." It out and out states that the Amulet of Kings is made of the divine blood of akatosh, and the references from when he speaks to Alessia, "If no heir of our joined blood wears this amulet" (stress of joined blood)Also, you may recall that the last person to wear the amulet before Tiber Septim was Reman the III and they were entirely unrelated, same with Allesia and Reman. in short it's not winning the position, nor being born to it that makes one an Emperor, it's the blood of the Dragon, also, after Martin's death in Oblivion, if you speak to about any of the blades(especially Barus of Jauffre) what do they say? "We will wait until the next Dragon-born arises" you're not the LAST dragonborn at all! You're the first of a new line!
 * Also, if instead of supporting the imperials you support the Stormcloak rebels, you'll take over as their leader and become King in the North.
 * Alternatively, once the Dragonborn rises to lead the Stormcloaks he or she will lead a re-conquest of Tamriel.
 * This could be why marriage was introduced, so the Dragonborn can start a new ruling line.
 * The Big Question would be how they'd handle this in future games - people would probably dislike if their choices were made clearly un-canon, and while Sheogorath has in-built handwaves (to begin with, it is Sheogorath - he might well be mad enough to remember all the different possibilities that he could have done, back when he was Champion of Cyrodiil, as things he did when he was Champion of Cyrodiil), the Emperor not being a Khajiit/Argonian... does not (those two races are the problem - all the others are interfertile, but not them).
 * They could add an "import your save file" feature to TES 6, kinda like BioWare did with Dragon Age II. That would solve the problem quite well, and open the door for plotlines like some political tensions resulting from the choice of player race in Skyrim (e.g. people getting mad about having a Dunmer on the Empire's throne, or worried that the Empire is secretly supporting the Renrijra Krin if the Dovahkiin was a Khajiit). It'd be a lot of extra work, but well worth it IMHO.
 * Maybe, thanks to the influence of the Companions, the Dovahkiin makes Emperor an elected position. Like in the Holy Roman Empire or Warhammer.
 * For a setting where every race opposes every other (most of the time), that's a terrible idea. The guy with a platform of killing all orcs would probably get elected.
 * It's not like either of the examples had mass elections. The only voters were the provincial and church leaders.
 * This would be good DLC. Becoming a god in Oblivion is a tough act to follow, but I suppose the Dragonborn could settle for merely becoming an Emperor.
 * If the Dragonborn becomes Emperor, Ulfric might well swear fealty to them. He objected to the Empire as it was ruled, but he might be willing to serve under the Dragonborn if they'd proven themselves in combat beside him. So, Skyrim could rejoin the Empire regardless of how the war turns out, which would tie up a few questions about how Bethesda would handle the next game.

There will be a logical reason for why you can't cross borders this time
Since Todd Howard already said you are arrested and  for crossing the border in this game, it makes sense you won't cross the borders, seeing as they're locked down for the duration of the Civil War, and with Skyrim being a mountainous county, one CAPABLE of stopping people trying to border hop, they block the border with mountains except for a couple passes with Insurmountable Waist High Fences that happen to be heavily guarded. Voila, border guards, logical reason not to cross the border, better immersion. (and if Bethesda doesn't do this, I'm sure some modder eventually will.)

The actions of the player in Oblivion's sidequests will be attributed to multiple characters
While the "Champion of Cyrodill" will be completely vague on what exactly happened, the final Archmage of the Third Era, the (re)founder of the Knights of the Nine (ect) will be spoken of as if they were another character. They may or may not have any other details assigned.
 * This is actually pretty likely, in part. In Oblivion, they never made links between all the questlines of Morrowind when they were being talked about, but rather than being actively attributed to multiple people it is left ambiguous so that someone who didn't play Morrowind at all or only did certain questlines in Morrowind would see them as having been done by someone else. This will likely happen again.

You can be a werewolf in this game
A trailer has already confirmed the exsistance of werewolves in this game. How you look as a werewolf is decided by what race and gender your character is.
 * What trailer are you talking about? Because if you're talking about what I think you're talking about, that was a Frost Troll, not a Werewolf. In fact, I think the Devs are still tight-lipped about the existence of Were-creatures.
 * Ah shit, sorry. I'm blind. D:
 * Confirmed!

You can recruit followers in this game
Bethesda made Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, and there you could have followers. Maybe you can have followers here.
 * It's been confirmed that you'll be able to convince people to come along and adventure with you. The interview was vague, but it seems this will apply to most any NPC as opposed to the select few you could have in the fallout games.
 * Ah, I didn't know that. Should the wmg be removed then?
 * Nah, good enough place to leave it up for speculation. From what I'm hearing(and a lot of this is second hand+), the original plan was that you could recruit anyone who liked you enough to follow you, but that was nixed. There will supposedly be more followers than in Fallout or Oblivion, but they'll be less distinct and developed than the ones in Fallout. Whether this is due to conservation of detail or to allow more player freedom by not giving followers personalities that would conflict with player choices, I have no idea. They might be trying to avoid situations like in Fallout 3 where you had to be a set alignment to have certain followers(and the best follower was for good characters only), or the situation in New Vegas where certain followers would abandon you if you sided with/against certain factions. Whether or not that's worth trading off the increased character development is something Your Mileage May Vary on, I suppose. the YMMV filter is dumb
 * Here we go.
 * Hate to be a pedant, but Bethesda merely published New Vegas. It was developed by Obsidian.
 * True. However, New Vegas should still be taken into account when discussing what they will and won't do in regards to Skyrim; its the game from this family that's most recent in peoples minds and it's the game this one will be held up against. outside of people saying it still isn't enough like Morrowind.
 * The apparently genuine manual that has been leaked recently has a secton on "hirelings" freelancers whom the player can recruit for a fee. Interstingly, this means that there are now NPC's who follow the tried and tested career path of many PC's - hanging round taverns bothering people until someone offers them a job.
 * Bethesda didn't actually make New Vegas, they just published it.

You'll be able to become a werewolf... But only in DLC
Bethesda's been pretty enthusiastic about releasing lots of DLC. If we're getting werewolves, it's probably like this.
 * Nope. The quest chain is even available fairly early on in the game, the day it launched.

You can sell stolen goods to shopkeepers
Hopefully they're not psychic in this game.
 * Hopefully there's a balance. Yes, it's stupid when you can't sell anything stolen, but on the flip side if you could sell them the stuff you just stole from them, that's not much better.
 * That one has been impossible since Morrowind, since shopkeepers can recognize when you sell them their own stuff.
 * Confirmed! One of the perks for the Speech skill is "Fence", which allows the player to sell stolen goods to shopkeepers they've invested in.

There will be a Shout-Out to The Call of Cthulhu in the game.
Oblivion had "A Shadow Over Hackdirt", a quest based on A Shadow Over Innsmouth. Fallout 3 had the Dunwich Building, a shout-out to The Dunwich Horror. If the trend continues, then following the theme of Lovecraft's most famous stories, the next one will probably be a shout-out to The Call of Cthulhu. The story of the game is already about an ancient god awakening and trying to destroy the world.
 * If it does have one, my bets are on At the Mountains of Madness.

Jagar Tharn&Barenziah's child will be mentioned/appear
Dark Elves (at least the Telvanni, I don't recall anyone else getting a quoted age) are long lived (Tharn is half Dunmer and one of the books says mixed race children normally have their mom's race), easily enough to last till Skyrim. My guess: They will appear as a claimant to the throne of Morrowind/be mentioned as leading Morrowind, as either an ally or potential enemy of Skyrim.
 * Partially confirmed: The Thieves' Guild questline gives us However, there is no relation to Jagar.

You will get to choose who will win Skyrim's civil war
Skyrim will not force the player onto one side of the loyalist vs. secessionist civil war. Instead, much like Daggerfall's multiple endings, the player will be allowed to choose which side they end up supporting and due to their actions, that will be the one that wins the civil war.
 * So, err, does this mean the dragon is going to break again? Actually, come to think of it, now isn't an odd time for that to happen...
 * This one seems to be confirmed by the achievement list.
 * Confirmed.

The main character of all core TES games is the same person
I mean, think about it; in Morrowind, your character became ageless (neither blight nor age can harm him, according to The Seven Visions, and IIRC a side-effect of Corprus is agelessness and immunity to all other disease. Divayth Fyr's potion just removed the contagiousness and stat changes), in The Lost Prophecy, it says:

""From seventh sign of eleventh generation,

Neither Hound nor Guar, nor Seed nor Harrow,

But Dragon-born and far-star-marked,

Outlander Incarnate beneath Red Mountain,

Blessed Guest counters seven curses,

Star-blessed hand wields thrice-cursed blade,

To reap the harvest of the unmourned house.""

This means the Morrowind character is both dragonborn (fulfilling requirements for Dovahkiin) and ageless (200 years? Pah! Puny mortals). Perhaps Uriel Septim knew this, and had your character mind-wiped after every game. Which would explain why you always seem to be in prison. With amnesia. As for how your character is suddenly disease-prone in Oblivion (and presumably Skyrim), i don't know. Maybe there's a rare spell out there that decreases disease resistance? Or perhaps Bethesda Retconned the disease resistance so you're only immune to blight. If you made your characters different races in every game, well, shame on you. Assume you played the same race every game, and this makes so much more sense.
 * Technically, the reference to Dragon-born doesn't prove that Morrowind character is a Dovahkiin - The Lost Prophecy is annoted, and an alternate explanation is presented: it simply refers to the main character coming from the Empire proper (you were shipped to Morrowind from the Imperial City Prison), so the Nerevarine was 'born under the Dragon', IE, the Septim Empire or Cyrodiil itself. That the terms are the same in Cyrodilic does not prove that the meanings are the same - Dragonborn for Dovahkiin is a literal translation of the draconic term, while both The Lost Prophecy's Dragon-born and the Oblivion reference to Martin as Dragonborn both seem to be logical derivation from the sign of the Septims. Of course, this being Wild Mass Guessing, there is nothing hindering a theory that yes, there is a connection, and it might be that the Nerevarine is up to tricks in Skyrim two hundred years after Dagoth Ur's death.

The game will loaded with game breaking bugs to the point of unplayability for at least six months after launch
It's a game with a brand-new engine, by a company known for releasing games in unstable state, on a gimmicky release date (11/11/11 because they knew it would stick in your heads). The reviewers will be paid not to mention these bugs.
 * If they do manage to succesfully and covertly bribe every major game review organization, I'd consider that an even greater achievement than making a good game. They really can't lose here.
 * Very possible (except for that insane reviewer-bribing part), but YMMV. When you consider the huge quantities of flak Bethesda has taken for buggy games, the fact that they're now paying close attention to the modding community to improve their own products, and the fact that the game's manual has already been completed, it's likely that they're well into bug-testing stages and are doing a better job of it this time around. Bethesda have also done away with the Gamebryo engine, and built a new one, so either they took note of Gamebryo's flaws/quirks and tried to avoid similar problems when building a whole new engine, or their unfamiliarity with this new engine will result in more flaws.
 * Jossed, thank Crystal Dragon Jesus-it had an unfortunate tendency to crash before post-release updates, but nary a bug in sight. There's a bad menu for the PC version, but that's due to it being the same as the console variety. So, either bribes only happened in the minds of certain Fan Dumb, or Bethesda wasted their money covering up the flaws they fixed through honest work.
 * Actually, a few people on consoles have run into quests that will never start and cells that will never load. Quite annoying when it means you can't complete quest lines.
 * This troper has had the game crash over a dozen times leaving corrupted data as saves (can only be prevented by turning off autosaves), Books become irretrievably trapped on shelves in owned houses, Missions that can't be completed for trivial reasons (stupid hargravan vengeance/Gaulder amulet/etc quest), shortly after starting the game an NPC ran up to me with a tale about escaping from kidnappers and asks me to stop them but the quest did not appear, A dead dragon appeared in solitude after I fast traveled there and has been stuck in the middle of the street rag-dolling around ever since, during the defense of Windhelm quest I had to deal not only with the stormcloak army but a second army of endlessly cloning copies of an NPC from a completely different city, nearly every mannequin I equip armour on simply turns invisible in the affected area and these are just the bugs off the top of my head. Two patches later and non of these have been fixed (PlayStation 3 by the way). Saying this WMG is jossed is a pretty big stretch.
 * The main point of 1.3 was fixing bugs introduced in 1.2. The other part was optimisation, which, while good, is not exactly bug-fixing... and there's still quite a number of various bugs featured.

Shadowmere will make an appearance.
She's a red-eyed horse who can't die. What if she's immortal, possibly an avatar of Sithis or the Night Mother?
 * Why would the avatar of Sithis or the Night Mother want to spend their time as a steed to members of the guild that serves them? "Hey, Lucien, guess what, I'm not just your horse, but also the god of death whom you worship. Now, the Dread Father demands another carrot."
 * You wouldn't suspect it would you? Considering that the Dark Brotherhood has a lot of enemies it would make sense that Sithis would want to keep a close eye on his subordinates.
 * She could be some kind of daedric servant of the NM or Sithis, too. And just because the NM and Sithis are gods doesn't mean they're proud and arrogant. They might not care about serving the members of the Black Hand the way the Black Hand does them, as a kind of reward for loyalty.
 * CONFIRMED! She comes back again in the Dark Brotherhood story, along with another amusing old friend.

The Falmer will play some kind of role, in absentia or not, in Skyrim.
The Falmer being, for those less versed in the lore, the Snow Elves—the original Elven strain that inhabited Skyrim. As far as anybody knows, they're all gone, much like the Dwemer. But it's possible some parts of Skyrim might reference them or even make them a major plot point.
 * Perhaps the ruins of Falmer cities will take the place of Dwemer and Ayleid ruins from the previous two games?
 * It has already been confirmed that Skyrim will have Dwemer ruins, like Morrowind.
 * Well, it's been confirmed Rieklings will be appearing. Not quite the same as Falmer, but they are said to be their decendants.
 * "Said" is far different from the truth: Fall of the Snow Prince and the works of modern historians in-universe suggest that the Riekling connection was made by the Nords to simply bash on the Falmer. Personally, I'm wondering if maybe some of the Thalmor might have some Falmer behind them pulling the strings, what with them stirring up trouble in Skyrim, the Falmers' hated enemy.
 * CONFIRMED! The Falmer appear, but they're a little...different than you might imagine.
 * So not blue-skinned beings with features somewhat elvish and somewhat orcish, sometimes called Ice Warriors?
 * They look a bit more pale-green/white skinned to me.
 * Also blind and

This game will culminate in the fall of the Nine Divines.
Anyone else notice how every game so far has a sort of god killing theme? (the Dwemer building a living God, the Warp in the West, Morrowind's entire plot, Sheogorath becoming a mortal, etc) Im thinking this will all lead to the prophecy in the Elder Scrolls where Akatosh will return and its up to the main character to bring him and all the other gods down as well.
 * Of course, the consequences of that would lead to events even worse then Alduin's return, like an Oblivion Invasion, and not just by Dagon this time. Not to mention the whole Lorkhan thing... I smell plot twist!
 * Actually, the Warp in the West added to the number of gods. In a manner of speaking - the God of Worms does appear to exist in some form. However, let's change it to god-changing theme, and it fits (deaths are changes... as are someone becoming a god, a god changing in nature, a new god arising, etc).

The Dragon you can summon towards the end of the game will be
The developers have outright stated that eventually you will be able to summon your own dragon to come to your aid towards the end of the game. Who better to help banish the evil dragons (it is implied that there is more than one species of dragons) than the guy who
 * Jossed:

M'aiq survived in a soul gem.
One of his non-sequiturs is "M'aiq was soul-trapped once. Not very pleasant." Ergo, his soul sat in a stone unused for 200 years, until his spirit was transferred into a new body. I guess that also makes him a lich. Go figure.
 * He does tell you how to become a lich in Morrowind...
 * I suppose that's more entertaining than my assumption that he was a Legacy Character.
 * One of M'aiq's comments is that both his father and his father's father had the same name. It's very possible he's simply the original's (great?) grandson.
 * That's just what he wants you to think.
 * No, it's true ... but his father and grandfather were born before the events of Morrowind.

It will all accumilate into a world (well, continent) wide war.
With the Thalmor and Empire already locked in a Cold War, I doubt it would take very much to fire it up again, but this time with Hammerfell (With their elf-hate), and Black Marsh (Who are basically the Vietcong) involved as well.

The cause of the whole game series is the usage of
"We agreed not to use it!" There is a good reason why they agreed to that. That is because invoking its power at a place known as THE TIME-WOUND is going to have serious consequences. And, after using it, one of the heroes notes, "May the spirits have mercy on our souls."
 * Time-wound was a result of using the scroll the first time. I'd think the reason to not want to use it is because it's like fighting Godzilla by glassing the planet.
 * CONFIRMED:
 * The Time Wound is a result of the temporal expunging of Alduin's physical form. It was not there until Felldir invoked the Elder Scroll's power to do that.

DLC for Skyrim...

 * Will focus on a Daedric Prince, à la Hircine in Bloodmoon or Sheogorath in Shivering Isles.
 * Maybe Azura's realm or Meridia's?
 * Technically Azura had a whole game and expansion to herself. Meridia is technically an important part of Knights of the Nine. And, Clavicus Vile has Redguard and a novel series. Maybe Peryite for the dragon theme, Boethiah for the upheaval theme, or Hermaeus Mora for using the Elder Scrolls themselves more?
 * Hermaeus Mora would be amazing, although they'd have to work out a reason for you not forfeiting your soul as soon as you stepped in his realm. He's the most Lovecraft-esque of the princes for a reason, after all.
 * What about Jyggalag? He doesn't have a shrine in Skyrim, and probably has forged a whole new plane of Oblivion, which you have to either defend against some threat or destroy with the help of said threat.
 * I seem to recall from Shivering Isles that Jyggalag's idea of perfect order is no life whatsoever (though it would've been nice to have had somebody build a shrine to him). Then again, it was Sheogorath who said it, so maybe this isn't the best proof. In any case, I'm throwing in a vote for Malacath, god of outcasts, maybe in a DLC prominently featuring the Orc strongholds.
 * Will deal with the Falmer and their former civilization.
 * Will deal with the Falmer (and their former civilization) while having the Dwemer figure heavily in the DLC (they were responsible for transforming the Falmer into their present degenerate state, after all).
 * Is set in, or focused on, Atmora. For those that don't know Atmora is an island north of Skyrim where the ancestors of the Nords came from.
 * Isn't Atmora the place where the High Elves are native to?
 * That would be Aldmeris, the lost continet where Aldmer (the first elves) come from.
 * Aldmeris have been implied to have been metaphorical rather than a physical place ('the sundering of Aldmeris'='the division of the Mer into many Mer races'), but yes. As for Atmora, it is supposed to have frozen since Tiber Septim's day at the very latest... but that doesn't hinder a DLC, it just implies there wouldn't be many native NPCs, if any.
 * Will travel to non-Imperial factions like Hammerfell or Argonian Morrowind and explore how these other powers view their political neighbours.
 * Will involve a comeback from Divayth Fyr.
 * Will be a redux of Bloodmoon - a quick scene in Hircine's quest indicates the Bloodmoon has come again... but this time Solstheim is full of refugee Dunmer, and the Skaal might not even be around as a culture anymore to recognise the signs...
 * It'll involve tying up the whole matter of the civil war, with the Dragonborn getting a proper reward (Becoming an Imperial General if you helped Tullius or becoming High King if you helped Ulfric. Neither of them are invincible after all...)
 * Perhaps the Stormcloak reward would be becoming the new Jarl of Eastmarch. The entire point of the Stormcloak Rebellion is to put Ulfric on the throne, so making you High King wouldn't make sense, and no real person could rule from two cities on opposite sides of the country.
 * I got the impression from some of Ulfric's statements that he intended to move the capitol from Solitude to Windhelm. He mentions that Solitude was the capitol mainly due to imperial influence when talking about Elisif, and speaks very sentimentally about the Palace of Kings, how it was the throne of not only his beloved father, but the throne of Ysggrimor. Also, whoever posted that suggestion seemed to be implying that it could be sparked by Ulfric's death, in which case the Dragonborn might be seen as a suitable replacement. Not that I'd mind becoming jarl of eastmarch if only so I could pull a Free-Winter and help out the dark elves and argonians.
 * Will give the Dragonborn the opportunity to help the Forsworn Rebellion if s/he didn't kill Madanach. Madanach will be able to replace the Jarl of the Reach.
 * Should be noted that it is fully possible for Madanach to die even if the player doesn't kill him; during the escape from Markarth, the forsworn are generally too weak to fight through the guards without taking some losses, and he might end up as one of them.
 * The Dragonborn will get the chance to become a Divine. The last game's DLC ended with the player becoming a Daedric prince. This time, you'll get to go the other way: you get to take the place of Talos. After all, worship of Talos was banned, but if another mortal takes his place, then that mortal can be worshipped freely.
 * Kind of unlikely. The Divines don't (Or can't) interfere with mortal affairs like the Daedric princes, so if it was possible to become a Divine you'd be spending ALOT of time in Aetherius.
 * It'll be about the Nerevarine's expedition to Akavir, mentioned in Oblivion. It'll be set in a small portion of Akavir, and finally let players see the mysterious land.
 * Will feature Draugrs growing in power under the command of one dragon, who they worship as they did in days of old.
 * Hammerfell. Think about it: it's distinct enough from Skyrim so as not to feel like a rehash (bonus points if they slip in a reference to The 13th Warrior somewhere); it connects well to the Civil War, since Hammerfell also declared independence and drove out the Thalmor; it borders Skyrim, so it would be easy to link in; and it features the city of Dragonstar, which is home to feuding populations of Nords and Redguards - with what's going on in Skyrim, I doubt that the Nords wouldn't be somehow interested. Really, the potential is enormous.
 * All of Hammerfell is rather unlikely -- Hammerfell is about the size of Skyrim, so either there'd be some majorly confusing variation in size compression, or it would be far, far too large a project for even an expansion pack, let alone a large DLC. However, a Dragonstar DLC would cover most of the things you mention, while keeping it at a reasonable size...

The lack of Daedra in Skyrim.
In Skyrim, there's a severe lack of Daedra to encounter/fight compared to previous games. Memorable types such as Scamps, Daedroths, Golden Saints, and others are gone, with only Dremora and the three Atronarch types remaining, and even then they're incredibly rare to find. I've got two explanations for this, a lore-one and a real one.
 * Lore explanation: When the barriers between Oblivion and the Mortal Realm were sealed by Martin and the Champion Of Cyrodil, it changed how Daedra could be summoned, making it more difficult to summon them into the world. After 200 years, most of the Daedra that were still in the world were sent back into Oblivion, and Daedra summoning became rare as people were afraid of another Oblivion Crisis (even though one could never happen again thanks to the aforementioned heroes). By the time of Skyrim, so few Daedra were left it was hard to find them.
 * It has been observed on the Elder Scrolls forum that several of the Daedric quests hints that the Daedra have a harder time interacting with Nirn these days than in any of the previous games. To add that to that, one of the pre-release Developer Lore Post Series in the same forum mentioned that restrictions on Daedric summoning in the wake of the Oblivion Crisis was one of the causes of the split of the Mages Guild.
 * On the other hand, you have both Sanguine and Nocturnal showing up in the flesh on Nirn, something that took Dagon quite a bit of effort to do in Oblivion.
 * It's mentioned in the Lore that the essence of several Aedra (the 'dead' Aedra) is becoming more and more closely bound with the matter of Mundus through each reproductive cycle of humans, Mer and other humanoid species. That would make the realm more resistant to Daedric entry as time goes by without affecting Aedric intervention as much.
 * Could be simplier than that. Daedra can only get to Mundus via magic. Nords, as a whole, don't care for magic.
 * Real explanation: After so much time working on a game and several expansions that focused on the Daedra, the devs were tired of them so didn't spend much time on them (instead favoring the Dragons), so they left most Daedra types out while only keeping a precious few to help remind everyone that they still exist.

The Dragons are just trying to say Hello!
The problem is that the Dragon word for Hello is Yol Toor Shul, which causes fire to spew forth and burn things. More specifically Yol = Hi, Yol Toor = Hello, Yol Toor Shul = Hello, how are you? This is evidenced for the fact that Paarthurnax ask you to greet him with the full Fire Breath Dragon Shout. Saying it had been a long time since anyone greeted him in the proper dragon tongue. So, the Dragons don't mean to burn down your village and roast your live stock. They just woke up from a long nap and are trying to get to know the new neighbors, it's only polite. And then you flip out and start shooting arrows at them, so they get pissy and bite you to death.
 * The dragons serve Alduin. Is Alduin just trying to say hello?
 * Of course not! He just thinks you look awfully cold in those rags.

The Thalmor will be the main antagonists in a future TES game, or an upcoming DLC

 * If not the next game. Skyrim sets it into the player's head that the Thalmor are NOT good, at all. Add to that that everyone in Skyrim dislikes them, for the most part: the Empire is just forced to work with them on threat of invasion.
 * It could even have a different feel, if same ultimate outcome, depending on the side the player took during the Civil War. For the Imperials, it would involve the rebuilding of the Empire's forces to contend with the Dominion's army and helping the Empire reforge its alliance with Hammerfell. For Stormcloaks, it would also involve the building of forces, and maybe negotiating a temporary alliance with the Empire against their common foe.

The "Warp in the West" Schrodinger's Ending for Skyrim's future lore in future Elder Scrolls games is that the Dragonborn / Dovahkiin founds a new Empire with Skyrim's Whiterun as it's capital.
It explains away both choices you can make in the game perfectly. Rebelled against the Cyrodillian Empire? Yes you did, and you founded your own located in the more defensible region of Skyrim. Supported the Empire? Yes you did, and you wisely founded a new dynasty to support it and intelligently moved the capital into the defensive region of Skyrim.
 * The only leaves how they'd explain who is the Emperor of the Empire - put it long enough after, and they could account for all man and mer races so long as they avoid mentioning what the founder was (a stretch in itself) - but Argonians and Khajiit are, to all indications, not interfertile with men or mer. So, uhm, the problem with that plan is that while it explains how Skyrim's Dragon Break would merge the civil war endings, it conversely makes it significantly harder for Bethesda to leave the Dovahkiin vague.
 * All future portraits and statues of the potential Dovakiin emperor represent the Dovakiin either as a stylized dragon or wearing incredibly heavy armor to solve the problem with the identity of race and gender. They could also give the character an assumed imperial name ala "Tiber Septum" or just refer to the character as the Emperor Dovakiin to further mask identity. It does, unfortunately mean that the Dovahkiin could never have been a Khajiit or Argonian, but they've never been an Emperor in canon (as far as I know), anyways. Depending on how the time skip and portrayal is handled it could still work.
 * Exactly: it'd discount Khajiit and Argonians. Which is the problem.
 * If they wanted to go this route, then the Khajit/Argonian problem can actually be solved fairly easily by making the renewed Empire even more of a Roman expy, and having the dynasty adopt heirs into the imperial family rather than going by blood, with a 'must have the gifts of the Dragonborn' as a pre-qualification. Throw in a couple of less mysterious Emperors/Empresses who were Khajit or Argonian in the time between the games, and I think the lore works out quite well. It opens up the space for the books in the next game to disagree violently over whether it started in Loyalty or Rebellion, and relate various secret history rumors of the dark deeds the founder of dynasty may (or most certainly did not) comit on their path to the throne.
 * Or they could just include an "import your Skyrim save" feature.

The Elder Scrolls VI will handle the issue of what happened in Skyrim by using a save data importer.
It works for Mass Effect, after all, and since the game will undoubtedly take place in a new province, the changes will likely be as cosmetic as they are in Mass Effect as well; all they'd need to do is tweak random dialogue based on a few notable factors, like whether or not Skyrim is part of the Empire or not. This would also allow them to tailor any descriptions of the Dragonborn based on the player's selection of race and sex, providing more than just a generic description. Besides dialogue, perhaps it would affect the outcome (or even existence) of certain quests, but that'd be pretty much all they'd have to do. For players that DON'T have a complete Skyrim save-data, the game will either allow you to pick from one of several pre-made scenarios (a la Dragon Age II) or merely Road Cone the events of Skyrim as they seem to have done with Oblivion. It would also give players a further sense of continuity, by having their choices in Skyrim directly affect the future games. In any case, might not be a bad idea to hold onto that save game data...

The Dragonborn will either be the savior or destroyer of the Empire
As we all know in Skyrim, you can assist the Empire or the Stormcloaks. There are three general outcomes: One is an Empire victory, two a Stormcloak victory, three a treaty between the two. Now, the Empire was weakened by the Oblivion Crisis and the Aldmeri Dominion largely won the war and forced the White-Gold Concordant. As several Thalmor seem to prove, they will strike the Empire again to cause genocide or just enslave. In the 6th game, depending on your save import (if they include it, they could just have beginning questions about the original outcome) the Dragonborn will support the Empire in the second Aldmer war, or just leave it behind altogether. If the Dragonborn does help, then your character will be in a regiment commanded by the Dragonborn and you will be the Dragonborn's second-in-command. Your unit will be captured, and placed into a dungeon that the Blades have secret knowledge of. In your cell, because of recent Thalmor victories, will be a member of the Blades who will help you out. After this, you'll decide the fate of the Empire and the Dominion. Will you overturn the Concordant, allowing Talos worship and giving a headstart for the Empire's reawakening? Or will you help the Dominion, overturning the Empire and keeping the Concordant? The state of the Empire is directly proportional to how well it is after the civil war: Terrible, basically overrun (Stormcloak victory). Staggered, but not done (Treaty). Trading hit for hit, evenly (Imperial). There are two initiations for both sides: Saving the Dragonborn, or executing the Dragonborn. Along the way, the various guilds line up for their side. If one side wins, that side's guilds will take over the others'.

It's improbable, but I think it'd be pretty cool.
 * The only problem with that is that there is no 'Treaty' option., so there is only two outcomes. Both of which are very plausible.

Ulfric was
The Thalmor dossier on him mentions that the Stormcloaks winning the war is in no way ideal for them.
 * Unlikely. He refused any future contact with them after they demanded his arrest in Markarth for worshipping Talos, even though the Jarl had promised Ulfric and his men freedom of worship in exchange for their help in taking the city.
 * Given that they outright state that he's given them nothing since Markarth, the only reason he still counts as an agent is that his actions continue to hurt the Empire and not the . Which still sucks, but really the best result in Stormcloak playthrough is to win the war quickly with minimum loss of life on both sides, so Ulfric can turn his troops against like he promised.
 * It's also worth noting that Ulfric is trying diplomatic overtures to gain alliances with neighbouring countries, such as High Rock. Though Hammerfell joining up with Skyrim seems quite likely given their mutual elf hatred and independence from the Empire.

Skyrim is the prequel to the Inheritance Cycle
All of the species are there, all of the government positions, weapons, magic, and so forth. The Dragonborn is the predecessor to the Dragon riders, with the Dragon Rider surpassing the need to absorb souls to gain dragon power.
 * Ah, I see the Thalmor found a way to make the world to their liking...
 * Alternately, the Inheritance Cycle is an alternate universe sequel to Skyrim where the Dovahkiin teamed up with Alduin and began the line of kings that led to Galbatorix.

The reason Thalmor Robes are so expensive.
400 gold for a pitiful Destruction enchantment? I'd rather believe that the shopkeeps just gave you a bit extra because you gave them the thought of a prissy elitist Thalmor mage being naked, facedown and dead in the snow. Worth every septim.
 * Slow Clap

The Song of the Dragonborn is sung by all of the Greybeards.
Past, present, and future. I mean, they are the only humans who are even close to fluent in Dragonspeak. It should really just make sense that way.
 * or perhaps it is sung by everybody in soverngard, being dead would allow a lot of time to learn dragontounge. even then they could just follow along with the others.
 * If that many Greybeards spoke so many words in the dragon language for so long at such volume the Throat of the World would be a four kilometre high pile of rubble by now.
 * Actually, not every word spoken in draconic causes shit to happen. Parthuunax talks to you, occasionally throwing draconic words in there, as do Odaving and I believe Alduin. Alduin does try to talk to you (probably some gloating), but then gets pissy when he realizes you don't speak the language.
 * The impression I got from the above evidence is not that not every word has power, but that there's a difference between simply speaking a word and using it in a shout. Arngeir and Paarthunax both use words of power in casual conversation. Whether or not they could do so with a raised voice is another question, but there's probably a difference between Shouting and shouting.

Sheogorath is responsible for the current state of the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood.
In Skyrim you find that the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood are shadows of what they once were. The Thieves Guild has lost almost all of its resources and is now a group of barely organized thugs while the Dark Brotherhood lacks a Listener and, without the ability to contact the Night Mother, is reduced to taking any contract possible just to survive. The reason? Well, during his quest Sheogorath drops hints that not only was he the Champion of Cyrodil but he also completed the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild questlines. So it’s no wonder those organizations are so broken by Skyrim; their leader was a literal madman who most likely abandoned them when he embraced his role as Sheogorath. And since they lack the infrastructure of the Mages Guild or the Fighters Guild once their leader left the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood probably descended into chaos. Heck, knowing Sheogorath he probably did for fun!
 * Jossed for the Thieves' Guild. The reason they're down on their luck is due to
 * While I haven't advanced very far into the thieves' guild questline, I'm so far under the impression that this is not the same thieves' guild as Oblivion's. Dialogue with some of your guildmates seems to imply that each of the provinces has their own guilds and syndicates that are independent of each other, though usually maintain contacts between them. I did get the same idea about the Dark Brotherhood, though.
 * Unlikely for the Dark Brotherhood and impossible for the thieves guild. Other than a bust of the Grey fox as a minor item salable to the guild, nothing indicates that this guild has any contacts outside Skyrim or is related to the one in Cyrodil. As for the Dark Brotherhood,  journals indicate that it still had a Listener within at least 50 years of the game. The Brotherhood has fallen on hard times, but it was more of a gradual slide than the sudden drop one would expect from the Madgod.
 * What about for players who chose the Fighters Guild, Mages Guild, Nights Of The Nine, or the other "good" quest lines instead? It seems like a sort of "take that" by Bethesda at a lot of players to say he was only in those two guilds.
 * That would be why it is left as hints. Remember, even if Sheogorath is the Champion of Cyrodiil, he is still the Madgod - normal rules about what he remembers, what actually happened and what he says need not apply (say, remembering things that the Champion potentially could have done, but in fact were done by someone else, as things the Champion did). Alternatively, what could be more fitting for madness than being both a champion of goodness and a murderous bastard, as well as leading the Fighters', Mages' and Thieves' Guild?

Skyrim will become independent regardless of the player's actions.
In the next game, it will be revealed that Skyrim became independent following a civil war. This may seem problematic, especially if one both sides with the Imperials (thus stomping out the Stormcloak rebellion) and. The resulting succession crisis weakens Imperial rule and possibly causes the Empire to collapse entirely, resulting in Skyrim gaining independence for both its own protection and to escape the maddening political landscape.
 * Skyrim founded the Empire once, why can't it do so again? Cyrodiil took the brunt of the great war, and the Imperial City has been sieged three times in the last 200 years. As for Skyrim, no matter what you do Elisif The Fair is likely to be the mother of the next high king and with Skyrim's new power and stability, a dragonborn standing behind the throne and the alligance of the Blades that child will be perfectly placed to declare themselves the new Emperor.

At least one of the expansions will feature the downfall of the Thalmor
The current ending of the game is a little bit too open. You may have defeated the baddest evilest dragon of them all, but the great threat of the Thalmor is still lurking around. According to some lore, the Thalmor will stop at nothing to eradicate all other races from the planet, because they believe it will grant them godhood. These guys are not something to be just ignored by such a powerful person as the Dragonborn.
 * The main 'blow', so to speak, against this theory is that the downfall of the Thalmor is such a grand story that it might well be better suited to be the story of Elder Scrolls VI rather than a mere expansion. They are, after all, the government of an empire controlling directly or indirectly a large portion of Tamriel.
 * The downfall of the Thalmor is played out as an overarching story in all the expansions, a la the overarching story of Ulysses in the FONV DL Cs.

Being Sheogorath isn't a full-time position for the former Champion of Cyrodiil.
Being the Prince of Insanity is an important job, but most of the post's responsibilities can be either saved for evenings and weekends or delegated to Haskill. Unless there's someone who needs to be driven insane right that minute, Sheogorath is generally free to shapeshift back into his/her natural form, sober up a bit, and go wandering the Planes of Oblivion.
 * Because of this WMG, this troper just had a mental picture of their old Oblivion character whistling merrily with the Sword of Jyggalag on his shoulder in Sheogorath's Regalia. Maybe a bit of a crazy smile too, as he cleaves Dremora...Wow. The Champion could then eternally torment Mehrunes Dagon for making Martin sacrifice himself...Mehrunes must REALLY be appreciating Jyggalag right now.
 * It gets better. Sheogorath mentions that Martin was the best Septim who ever ruled and that Martin did, in fact, become a dragon god. This means that they can probably still hang out together!
 * This troper's mental image is of my character dressed as Sheogorath riding Akatosh firing incredibly powerful spells he created into the hordes of deadra below.
 * ...This Troper's mental image of that mental image now includes Sheogorath wandering Oblivion whistling Twisted Nerve.

Assuming the Champion of Cyrodiil is Sheogorath, there's a reason he or she uses his old form.
My own theory is that, as our avatar, the Champion came to love the original Madgod as much as we do. Losing him hurt, especially seeing what he became. So the Champion wears his face and manner out of a mixture of professional respect and sorrow. Even the mad may mourn.

...also it's probably fun as hell.
 * Another theory is that spending extended periods of time in the Shivering Isles had caused Sheogorath's essence to seep into his successor, gradually altering his/her appearance into that of the realm's original master.
 * Though as of now, nothing has been said. Daedric princes can take whatever form they please and the Champion may have not seen any reason to let the world know what happened, lest their own name and reputation risk being smeared by it. The Champion may simply take that form when meeting mortals as it's "expected" for Sheogorath to look like that.

The Nords will one day convert to the worship of Chaos
One of the face paint options for characters in Skyrim looks like the Mark of Khorne, and there's an Eight-Pointed star on the Stormcloak Officer's armor's loincloth!
 * Does this mean that Sigmar is a Dragonborn? He is, after all, similar to Alessia, Reman, and Tiber in the sense that he founds an empire.

The Thalmor are controlling the adventurer population via a secret organization.
Said organization is a crack squad of marksmen, who single out aspiring adventurers, wait for the perfect moment to ambush them, and then let fly a devastating barrage of arrows. At their knees.
 * You know, this is surprisingly plausible, as far as fantasy goes. Imagine a military unit dedicated to crippling countless people for life. That's terrifying! You'd think twice about double-crossing these soldiers' masters. Machiavelli must've been a mer.
 * It also explains why the guards are so tough. Before their injuries restricted them to their posts, they used to be adventurers just like you. The only difference is, they were MORE experienced.

Mirmulnir was heading to Whiterun to locate Numinex' body
Think about it, according to so much lore, Numinex was a very powerful dragon, yet he is not amongst those raised by Alduin, because his corpse is his Dragonreach (his skull is above the throne). Alduin, unaware of this, sent Mirmulnir to locate his powerful servant Numinex' body so that Alduin could then resurrect him. Mirmulnir has an unfortunate meeting with the Dovahkiin and Numinex' body is never found by Alduin.

The Sheogorath the Dragonborn meets is not the Champion of Cyrodiil.
Yeah, yeah, I don't like it either, but somebody's got to put this theory forward, so I may as well play Mehrunes' advocate.

Sheogorath is a Daedric Prince, and would have had ways of observing the events of the Oblivion Crisis, and besides that would have taken an avid interest in the career of a wildcard like the Champion. That means that all his references could be to things he's seen rather than things he's done. Or it could just be random blather; Madgod, and all that. This would also mean that the events of The Shivering Isles aren't canon, which is untidy from a narrative point of view, but, again, Madgod.
 * But then, if the Sheogorath we encounter in Skyrim is the same Sheogorath who "kissed" Pelagius Septim, why is it Martin is his favorite of the lot?
 * You could argue that finding the best emperor to be one that never actually got around to ruling, or even doing the coronation rites, is not necessarily an entirely sane position to take...
 * Martin was mixed up with Daedra in his younger years. While it's implied he was closer to Sanguine than to Sheogorath, the Princes seem to have similar senses of humor. Martin might also be dear to the Mad God because he's the source of a delightful contradiction: His sacrifice simultaneously saved Nirn and threw Tamriel into chaos.
 * However, as is outlined above, the Champion becoming Sheogorath explains why he or she didn't do a better job of holding the Empire together. If the Champion didn't go insane ascending to a higher (or at least weirder) plane of existence, why couldn't someone with so much power and respect at least manage to get themselves named Regent or something? Even the Thalmor would think twice about messing with the Champion of Cyrodill/Archmage/Master of the Fighter's Guild/destroyer of Umaril the Unfeathered! And that's not even counting the shady stuff like Listener of the Dark Brotherhood and Grey Fox.
 * Besides, the Sheogorath we knew ceased to exist after the events of Shivering Isles. After all, Sheogorath was simply Jyggalag, transformed by the other Daedric Princes, and the main quest was breaking the cycle of transformation. Since the Champion of Cyrodiil was 'crowned' as the new Madgod...the Shivering Isles are a Daedric realm, after all. Give a man the staff of office, run him through the trials, and place him on the throne of Madness? The Champion was already granted a few decidedly superhuman powers over the realm, and it would make sense that in such a place, the title of Madgod actually holds power. It simply took time for him to grow into that power. And, since becoming the Daedric Prince of madness is probably a taxing enough ordeal, the Champion modeled his physical form after...well, after Sheogorath.
 * As the WMG-er admits, the theory does require an acceptance that nothing that transpired in The Shivering Isles actually happened. The problem there is that there's no real reason to assume that expansion wouldn't be canon, while everything else is.
 * Oblivion did establish that what the Champion sees happen and what actually happened does not necessarily fit together (through the Thieves' Guild storyline), and what could be a more fitting form of madness for someone that rapidly acquired great power than to think they have become a God?
 * As Sheogorath says; "A madgod. The madgod actually. It's a family title. I pass it on from me to, well, me, every few thousand years"
 * Now apparently Jossed by none other than Wes Johnson himself.

The Dragonborn will gain immortality in a later adventure just as the Nerevarine and Champion of Cyrodiil did
It seems to be trend with Elder Scrolls heroes these days; the Nerevarine became immune to age when his/her corprus was cured, and thus, even 200 years later in Skyrim, would presumably still be alive (in Akavir still?), provided he didn't die in battle (and considering how powerful the Nerevarine can become, this seems unlikely). Skyrim hints, but does not outright confirm that the Champion of Cyrodiil became Sheogorath, and is therefore, also immortal (since you can't "kill" madness). Therefore, I posit that a later adventure of the Dragonborn (one of the 'larger DL Cs' Bethesda talked about), will see the Dragonborn gain some form of immortality through a transformation, or ascendance, or what-have-you. Why that would be I can't rightly say, but it's a trend I've noticed. Perhaps Bethesda has some long-term plan for the games that requires most of its heroes to stick around on Nirn? Of course, this theory excludes the Eternal Champion from Arena and the Emperor's Agent from Daggerfall.
 * Technically, we know that Bethesda does not plan to have an expansion pack. However, since their plan is 'larger DL Cs, no expansion pack', that doesn't invalidate your theory - it would just be done in one of the DL Cs rather than a more proper expansion pack.
 * Hadn't heard that part, I just assumed one was coming based on the last two games. Thanks for the heads-up. The WMG has been edited appropriately!

Paarthurnax has an even harder time keeping his dragon nature in check than another dragon would have.
It is suggested that a dragon's name is related to a dragon's nature. Paarthurnax means Ambition Overlord Cruelty... which means that if the suggestion is true, being a cruel overlord is even more in Paarthurnax's nature than it is for the average dragon!
 * Along with that, and if you spare Paarthurnax after the main quest, Odahviing will fly in, and tell you that 'Not all dragons will follow his tyrannical Way of the Voice', which keys in a bit more about his personality than what it seems to be.
 * That could be some Blue and Orange Morality at play, though; everything we know about the way of the voice shows it as being a strict philosophy of peace and isolation; dragons are inherently violent, destructive creatures who seek to dominate those around them. That's their natural state; a path that doesn't allow for that may be seen as tyrannical in their eyes.

Amaund Motierre is related to Francois Motierre
Someone had to bring this up. Especially with Babette mentioning the Motierre family being an old and powerful Breton family from Cyrodiil. Old Francois probably passed on the story to his children of how the Dark Brotherhood saved his life, and they in turn passed it on to their children, which lead to Amaund thinking the Brotherhood could solve his problem.
 * Is this actually a guess? They share the same name, Babette references the right town and mentions a famous family. They may not have said it directly, but what other conclusion can you reach?

Sunder and Wraithguard will return in a future DLC
And if you dual wield Sunder with Keening while wearing Wraithguard (which will be retconned to be a set of gauntlets instead of just one), all three of Kagrenac's Tools will have their powers restored.
 * No retcon necessary - there were two Wraithguards in Morrowind. One was from questing with Vivec, and one from killing him.
 * Overruled: lorewise, there was one Wraithguard - you were supposed to get one or the other, with the two Wraithguards separated to allow for different effects (one comes pre-adapted to you, one requires the help of the Last Dwarf).
 * Who's to say they can't just model Wraithguard so it's only one gauntlet, with the other hand being bare?

The reason the Dovahkiin can sell his soul more than once

 * After promising his or her soul to Nocturnal, Hircine, Sithis, and possibly more, an observer may wonder how the Dovahkiin intends to repay the same debt so many times. However, the entire purpose of being Dragonborn is the ability to devour the souls of dragons and add them to your own power. Therefore, it is not too far-fetched an idea to say that upon the Dovahkiin's death, there will actually be multiple souls released, quite likely having changed to reflect the nature of the person they were a part of. Each party can lay claim to only one soul, and the others will ascend to Sovngarde.
 * Considering that the Dovahkiin is a dragon in terms of soul, and only a dragon can permanently kill a dragon by absorbing its soul, if s/he meets his/her end at a dragon, then all those people who were planning to take the Dovahkiin's soul just look at the dragon and go "Shit."
 * The Dovahkiin could also be pulling a John Constantine. For those not into comics, the titular character sells his soul to a bunch of different entities without their knowledge. Then when it comes time to collect, none of them can agree who gets it, so he's got effective immortality until the squabbling demons can sort it out.

The decline of the Empire is due to the Champion Of Cyrodil becoming a Daedric Prince

 * Think on it: By the time the Champion became Sheogarath, he'd have become the leader of the Fighters Guild, the Mages Guild, the Thieves Guild, and the Dark Brotherhood, as well as the most important and famous person in Cyrodil (having gained multiple knighthoods and various positionsv for service to the people). Had he remained mortal, he'd have likely become the next ruler, being the most qualified person for the job. Instead, he abandoned his post in exchange for godhood. This caused the Mage's Guild to collapse, since their leader disappeared while the Mages Guild was trying to put itself back together after the battle with Mannimarco and his minions. The Warriors Guild would likewise fall without a leader to guide them. So would the Thieve's Guild. And without a Listener, the Dark Brotherhood would come apart as well! Worse, without the hero of Cyrodil to become the new Emperor, the Empire would have suffered from internal strife and infighting over the position of Emperor, which would weaken the Empire severely. By the time the infighting was over, the Empire would never be able to recover, and the Thalmor could easily begin taking over. Nice Job Breaking It, Hero.
 * Which, when one considers it, is a certain amount of brilliance on part of the developers. There's no way the Champion wouldn't have become Emperor after all that awesomeness, and he would have kept the Empire together. But having a fragmented Empire makes for a wider scope and opens more possibilities, especially with the Thalmor on the rise.
 * While the College of Winterhold, the Thieves Guild, and the Companions are all distinct from their Cyrodil counterparts, the Dark Brotherhood is not. According to Cicero's journals, there was a Listener within 40 years of the game at most. Additionally, we have no information on what happened to the Cyrodil Thieves Guild, and all we know about the Fighter's Guild is that it doesn't operate in Skyrim, not why it doesn't. The Champion disappearing does explain his not becoming emperor, but we don't really know what happened to the guilds from the last game.
 * Also most of the groups seem unlikely to collapse simply due to their leader going away. The Mages lost a lot of people but the Fighters didn't, they'd probably just elect an new leader, Mdren Oryn probably. And the Theives Guild might not even know, all the Champion would have to do is hand over the Gray Fox's cowl to a competant subordinate and the cowl's effects would mean everyone would assume it was the same person.

Whatever happened to the Dwemer is related to their betrayal of the Falmer

 * This was prompted by an encounter I had with M'aiq the Liar, where he said, "The disappearance of the Dwemer has nothing to do with the Falmer. Absolutely nothing." My first thought was that this was a preemptive measure by the devs, since they've been using M'aiq to lampshade and give out Take Thats, but then I started thinking. He's M'aiq the Liar, afterall - why should we trust implicitly what he says? And the way he says that phrase... maybe the Falmer retaliated and wiped out the Dwemer. Maybe the Dwemer fled the revenge of the Falmer. Something caused the Dwemer to vanish, and it probably had something to do with the Falmer.
 * Having said all the above, however, I can't discount the more mundane possibilities that M'aiq was telling the truth ((From a Certain Point of View, perhaps?), or that this is a Batman Gambit from the devs to provoke WMGs and keep interest in Skyrim alive.
 * For what it is worth, at least one of his Morrowind forefather's statements was perfectly truthful, so familial tradition doesn't necessarily dictate lies, even of the Half Truth variety. There is also the fact that while the characters in-universe may have lost some of them by Skyrim, Morrowind gave us first and second-hand sources that connected the Dwemer's disappearance temporally to Kagrenac's usage of his Tools on the Heart (note that the Falmer were not actually a threat to the Volenfell and Resdayn Dwemer, at the time of their disappearance).
 * Kagrenac tweeked the Heart of Lorkhan and caused all the dwemer to disappear. You see Arniel Gane replicate the phenomenon in microcosm in his own little quest.

The Thalmor/Aldemeri Dominion will eventually take over everything sometime after TES V and before TES VI.

 * If the player wants to, they can join either side of the civil war. However, because Bethseda won't be able to cater to every option in future games, the Thalmor will have taken over everything as a compromise. This also may be why the PC is never able to launch a full-out assault on the Thalmor; if you beat them, who would be the one screwing everything up in TES VI?
 * Alternatively, TES VI will be about the Dominion's attempt to take over everything. After all, Skyrim may not be so averse to rejoining the Empire if the Concordat is overthrown and the Empire fights the Dominion directly once more (there would be problems in avoiding mentions of who won the Civil War, even if it didn't really matter in the end... but that would the case for a Thalmor victory, too). Ulfric may be, but that doesn't necessarily apply to all those of his subordinates that joined up with the Stormcloaks in the first place
 * If you talk to Ulfric after the stormcloak campaign, he makes it clear that while he's intends on keeping Skyrim independent and self-sufficient, he has no intentions on turning it into an isolationist state; he's fulling willing to work with the Empire, independent Hammerfell, and the Argonian state against the Dominion, he just doesn't think that the empire is worthy of ruling Skyrim anymore.
 * That doesn't mean the Thalmor can't take over. Remember, these are the people who killed most of the Blades.
 * Also, I doubt the Dominion is as much of a threat as it's feared to be. It won the great war due to a combination of surprise attacks and the stupidity of the imperial leadership. It's actually the third smallest power on the continent in terms of landmass; the Empire and the Argonian state both control more territory, even if they control fewer provinces(even with an independent Skyrim, the Empire's bigger than the Dominion). It also has a great deal of internal strife of it's one, what with these purges and reeducation camps we keep hearing about. Soon as someone gets the idea to send agents into Elswyr and Valenwood to rally a resistance movement from the inside, the whole thing comes toppling down.
 * The indications in-game and in the books is that the Dominion is the second-largest power, at least if one includes vassals - Argonia didn't conquer Morrowind, they overran Morrowind... and then withdrew to the contested territories (which previous sources said was Narsis and the area south of Narsis). The Dominion proper and its Khajiit vassals together are larger than that. As for the stupidity of the Imperial leadership... firstly, I would disagree (Cyrodiil was devasted and the Empire was not in a position to know just how weakened the Dominion was), secondly it is not so easy as sending agents to rally resistance movements from the inside - the Empire already has done that, before the Great War. The Valenwood rebellion was crushed.
 * This troper would like to add that the amount of territory a military power possesses does not equate to its military strength.

The Story Isn't Over...
Upon completion of the last main quest, both Tsun and Parthunax say the dragonborn will do more great deeds.

The last target of the Dark Brotherhood. says that he senses great ambition in you.

Of the five big questlines, only the civil war does not leave small jobs you can do forever.

The dragons are stopped, not vanquished, and the far more evil Thalmor receive no comeuppance.

No expansion, but a bunch of big DL Cs planned.

And finally, the game includes low-level rendering of most of Tamriel.

What does this add up to?

The game in the box is only the prologue.

The real story is about how the next Dragonborn Emperor conquered Tamriel.

Gameplay WMG: The reason dragons show up in out-of-the-way places is that they are actively hunting you.
Think about it. If the Greybeards could pick up that a new Dragonborn is on the rise, then you can bet that Alduin and his ilk know it, too. Players have been reporting dragon attacks in places like the College of Winterhold that are far from anything that would be important to a dragon. Well, anything besides yourself. If you were a dragon and noticed that the Dovahkiin frequented a certain location (particularly a location with little other defense), then wouldn't that be the best place to find and attack them?
 * Also, they never attack when you're NOT around. Just fly around.
 * They do attack when you're not around. One of the larger quest-related issues is non-essential quest NPC's getting killed by attacking wildlife, such as giants, trolls, and in rare cases, dragons.

Paarthurnax IS repressing his inner nature, but not what you think.
The dragon acts like he's faking his demeanor, and only seems to sound in a subtle happy mood. What's he normally like? Well, his voice actor is Charles Martinet....


 * So he's going to fight another fire breathing dragon and save the same princess in multiple sequels?

The next elder scrolls game will put general focus on the Dwemer
They appereantly have developed a technic that allows someone to read Elder Scrolls without side-effects.
 * A tecnique to extract knowledge safely from Elder Scrolls and put them in another object without side-effects, actually. It is a subtle difference, but the series being what it is, subtle differences can be very, very important. A problem would be that it can be said that we already got a game that put general focus on the Dwemer (Morrowind - the Sixth House was echoing the Dwemer, the final dungeon was a Dwemer fortress, Dagoth Ur's plan centred around a modified Dwemer project, the Last Dwarf was a character [and in one way a fairly important one - he is one of the very few Essential characters that actually is essential to all paths to the endgame]...). That, and the Elder Scrolls haven't really been important to the series - they flat-out played no part at all in Daggerfall, got a name-drop as part of the reason the Emperor sent you in Morrowind, and while they did play a central part in a storyline in Oblivion, that storyline wasn't the main one.
 * Also, there really isn't any old dwemer territory left to put a game in. Skyrim, morrowind and hammerfall were all already featured in a game.
 * If one wants to be technical, while the heart of Dwemer settlement in Morrowind has been covered, they did have settlements on the mainland, which haven't been featured officially (beyond Mournhold itself) since Arena. There is also the possibility of Dwemer settlements in the Western Reach - after all, before Skyrim Skyrim wasn't thought to be quite so settled by the Dwemer as it turned out to be, so handwaving in Dwemer settlements in an area that borders both the Reach and Hammerfell seems not so much of a stretch - and while Daggerfall did cover parts of High Rock, the Western Reach was not one of them.

The reasons Ulfric (and, hell, a lot of people) is(/are) so damn racist:
His dossier says that he was interrogated during the Great War, by the Aldemeri Dominion. That explains the elves. The Forsworn could easily sway someone against Bretons, Orcs and Beast Races, well, no one ever really liked them anyway.
 * It's most likely because their Nords in Skyrim. They are a very proud people and don't think much of those who don't measure up to their standards of honor and such and with the whole Aldmeri Dominion thing and the White Gold Concordat they are especially hostile towards outsiders.
 * Tamriel's history involves lots of bloodshed because of racial conflicts. The most prominent is, of course, Man vs Mer, but everybody's fought against/enslaved other races at one point or another. Men and Beastmen hated elves because of Ayleid and Dunmer slavers, and the elves hated men because their creation myth holds humankind responsible for a sort of "fall from grace". Even within an individual specie there have been conflicts; the Forsworn, who hate the Empire and the Stormcloaks equally, are quick to point out that their culture was all but eradicated when the Nords conquered Skyrim. Sadly, racial tension within the Empire didn't start with the Great War, it was only exacerbated by it.

Skeevers are giant because of
Think about it. One guy says that he owned a skeever as a pet when he was a kid and claims they used to be smaller. That's a pretty short time frame for them to change. When you read 's journal it's clear he's been experimenting on skeevers for a long time. Perhaps his earlier experiments managed to escape and replace the native skeevers.

Ulfric secretly wants to be a bard, and has since he was young.
Ulfric frequently insists that things be done for the sake of drama, or because they'll make better songs. This troper firmly believes that this is because Ulfric had no interest in learning the Voice; he wanted to learn how to sing at the Bard's College. This is also why he wants to take Solitude so badly (and why the Bard's College is unharmed after the assault).


 * Aside from it being the capital city of Skyrim, anyway. But most Nords seem to have an appreciation for stories and oral tradition, so he may have been interested in Skalds in his youth. Hell, it may be a hobby of his to this day.
 * It does explain why he's so grumpy though. He just wanted to learn how to sing.
 * Hitler just wanted to paint... Fride Horror?
 * Nords are based on Norse mythology/history. Old Scandinavian cultures were eminently focused on battle and song. Therefore, Jarl Ulfric's dramatic leanings do not necessarily mean 'he wanted to be a bard/skald', but rather it may simply mean 'he wants to be immortalized in song one day'.
 * I like to think of him as a troper to be quite honest.

The Elder Scrolls 6 will involve the return of the Dwemer.
As a result of the player's actions in Skyrim, the Thalmor will eventually destroy the 8th tower, which would normally bring the world to an end. However, the Brass Tower was removed from Mundus with the Dwemer when... whatever happened happened. My WMG is that the final tower which is still active and in Mundus will, when destroyed or deactivated, cause the Dwemer to return to Nirn, possibly without their tower. The main plot of ES 6 will be convincing the Dwemer to go to war with the Thalmor, and keeping the Thalmor from accessing the Brass Tower. Possibly, the reason why the Dwemer disappeared will be kept a cosmic Noodle Incident, possibly as a plot point: to keep the Thalmor from learning how to access the Brass Tower.
 * The Dwemer became Brass-Walks' skin. If they returned in force, it would imply they stopped being Brass-Walk, and that Brass-Walk is therefore inoperative.

Ob Jek Shun is a Shout.
It's a lesser version of Unrelenting Force, which is why it knocks the targets back slightly.

The leader of the Thalmor is nobody less than Mannimarco
He was suspiciously absent in Skyrim. Not to mention that destroying Talos seems exactly like something he would do.
 * Why would the lack of his presence be suspicious? The Champion of Cyrodiil killed Wimpy Altmer Mannimarco, so that one has a perfectly good reason for not being around. The God of Worms would be doing whatever non-Daedra gods do (like being the reason for Black Soul Gems), and the King of Worms is a bit too blatantly not-fitting with Thalmor ideals - the guy is a lich, which is hardly pure Altmer. On the plus side of things, he does share an enemy (the Psijic Order) and a common origin (Altmer of Summerset Isle) to the Thalmor.
 * When you're a lich, being killed wouldn't put a damper on you coming back at all.

The 'friend' of yours who tells you where to find word walls is...
Ulfric: Based on Ulfric not being fully hostile towards you, and based on him being willing to answer any questions you may have about the Greybeards before you go, he may consider you a friend. His training might have allowed him to sense out word-walls and Thu'um users like the Greybeards do.

OR

Farengar: He studies dragons, so it wouldn't be too strange if he managed to figure out where it was. He seems really egotistical and jerkassy, but he probably finds it just fascinating. He's in sort of a position of power, so keeping track of a roaming Dovahkin might not be so hard for him.

OR

Maiq the Liar: He travels everywhere. Who knows what he knows?
 * Before M'aiq the Liar is discounted based on his name, it is worth pointing out that his Morrowind predecessor at times showed accurate knowledge of relatively obscure facts. He said less accurate things too, of course, but about the sunken Shrine of Boethiah he was spot on.

OR

A random NPC who saw you in action but didn't want to write their name down for fear of being labelled a "dragonborn sympathizer" by their fellow villagers: this one seems somewhat more likely, since the courier with the letter could show up just minutes after the incident that prompted it. Word of mouth can't spread that fast.
 * Yes it can. You can do a quest for someone, kill them without being caught, and a courier will find you outside and offer you your inheritance money.

I just feel I ought to point out the fact I got a letter for shouting inside the Dark Brotherhood's sanctuary. It must be someone who can track you. But it can't be the Dark Brotherhood themselves, because I killed them all, and am still receiving letters.

OR



OR

Talos: The Dragonborn has very few opportunities to work for the Thalmor (Ondolemar's quest to help him convict a Talos worshipper might be the only one) and plenty of opportunities to antagonize them (Ending the Civil War for either side, restoring the Blades, the Mages Guild questline, freeing Stormcloak sympathisers during the Gray-Mane's quest, assaulting Thalmor who are transporting prisoners, etc). Talos has a motive to help the Dragonborn become as powerful as possible so they'll continue to be a thorn in the Thalmor's side, and might even be planning to use them as a champion in future (DLC). But as a god, he's forbidden from directly interfering in the Dragonborn's destiny, and can only communicate with them via courier.
 * This one actually makes the most sense. Imagine a Talos worshiper, overt or secret, witnessing you Shouting, and then goes to a Talos shrine to pray. They pass on the knowledge that they saw a Dragonborn wielding the Thu'um while praying, and Talos quietly arranges for a courier to deliver a message from the god himself.
 * Or, Talos tells the worshiper to deliver a message, via courier, directing the Dragonborn to a spot with a Word Wall. The worshiper sends the message, Talos gets back to reinforcing the world, and the Dragonborn becomes that much stronger of an asset.

OR

The developers: the letters are a hint system in disguise.


 * You can trigger a letter from a friend in any area marked as civilized or something like that - including Western Watchtower when nobody is there. It could be none other than Akatosh himself!

The Amulet of Mara has a hypnotising effect.
You only open up marriage dialogue when you're wearing the amulet, despite the fact that it isn't that hard to ask someone whether you're interested in them. Also, no matter what their dialogue was like to you beforehand, despite the fact you might just have beat them up in a Bar Brawl, they still call you 'love' and 'my dear', and will move to your house, which could be at the other side of Skyrim, despite the fact that you're an adventurer and rarely stay in one place for long. And they will ditch whatever job they were doing, and open up a shop selling junk, just so you have a source of income.
 * Fridge Horror: If the above is true, does that mean that, with every single married couple living in Skyrim, one of the two parties involved has been mind-raped into believing they love the other? (It certainly puts a much, MUCH darker spin on the quests the PC can run for the Priesthood of Mara.)
 * Not necessarily. The custom seems to be that the Amulet is put on once you've gotten a feel for the other's feeling... meaning that the person mind-controlled sometimes would already have loved the other.
 * That was my thought, as well. The amulet doesn't work at all on complete strangers, as you need to do something for your fiancee to get their disposition high enough for the marriage option to be available, so having the amulet on simply signals that your interest in someone (and vice verse) isn't just platonic. On a more meta/practical note, it allows Bethesda to easily designate dozens of NPC's as marriagable without having to write individual, gameplay-month-long courting quests for each one, which would have been a ton more work for the writers.

The Champion of Cyrodiil was a female Breton named Ann-Marie

 * When you meet Sheogorath, he tells you that you can call him Ann-Marie (a Breton name), then threatens to kill you if you do. It's possible he was briefly reflecting on his mortal life before ascending to godhood.

How exactly the Champion of Cyrodiil took Sheogorath's appearence

 * The champion got to live a normal life after being crowned, considering you can still leave the Shivering Isles. It's possible that s/he died and was reborn in the Shivering Isles with Sheogorath's form.
 * S/he can take any form and just took that form out of respect to his/her predescesor.
 * Word of God confirmed this. The Champion apparently used the Wabbajack to take Sheogorath's previous form for fun.

Alduin originally thought Ulfric was the Dragonborn until you came along.

 * A prominent Nord noble kills the High King using the dragon tongue, which most of Skyrim thinks is an old Nord myth? The Greybeards would know better, having trained him, but Alduin may not have. It just wasn't until you killed Mirmulnir that Alduin figured out he had the wrong prisoner.
 * Doubtful; Alduin leans more towards areas you're in/have been in as opposed to areas Ulfric's been in.
 * Not at all. Alduin never specifically 'leans to places you've been in' and the only time he does is when you'e in a tower. Coincidentally, Ulfric is there too. Furthermore, when you find him in Kynesgrove reviving Sahloknir, he is surprised to find that you are the Dragonborn. As he says he senses no Dragon soul about you. Though, he could just be insulting you for nothing. It's just as likely that he only found out who the Dragonborn precisely was after you killed Mirmulnir, rather than him knowing as soon as he emerges in the Fourth Era.

The REAL reason behind all the people getting shot in the knee with arrows.

 * Basically it's all a conspiracy to injure heros so the healers can make a buck.

The reason the Falmer are so adept at locating and/or attacking intruders, in spite of being blind? They're using sonar.

 * It seems like a pragmatic adaptation, considering their subterranean nature. Although it would normally take millions of years to evolve to that point, the Dwemer did screw around an awful lot with their physiology to begin with- who's to say it wasn't a contingency measure, or an unexpected side effect of their experiments? (Also, they do seem to make odd clicking sounds when you are nearby, but not visible... though that might be the Chaurus.)
 * One of the loading screens does state that the Falmer's other senses have become very acute to compensate for their blindness.

The Void Nights previous to Skyrim, when the twin moons disappeared, were caused by the Thalmor
It might have been unintentional, though, perhaps through messing about with very old magic they didn't quite understand, which is why the Void Nights lasted for two years until the Thalmor figured out how to undo it. Of course, it's just as likely (perhaps even moreso) that the Void Nights were engineered specifically to bring Elsweyr into the Dominion, because the Khajiits relied so heavily on the waxing and waning of the moons. Thus, they brought about the Void Nights to throw Elsweyr into chaos for two years, then pop up conveniently with the solution (Dawn Magic), and thus earn the loyalty and trust of two of the Khajiiti kingdoms, who throw in with the Dominion, thus weakening the Empire (this was before the Great War, mind) and strengthening the Dominion since the Thalmor then used Elsweyr to attack Cyrodiil from the south at the onset of the Great War. This will probably be a plot-point when the Elder Scrolls get around to making the Thalmor the major antagonists.

The Thalmor will eventually succeed in "killing" Talos
As reality falls apart due to Talos' death, the Dragonborn will sacrifice himself/herself to save the world by taking Tiber Septim's place among the Divines, becoming the new Talos. And since everyone on Nirn now knows the consequences of letting Talos die, the Thalmor will be overthrown by an alliance of the other peoples of Tamriel, who will set aside their differences because they would rather keep existing.
 * I love this idea, make it so!

Irileth is the Nerevarine
When the Dovakiin first discovered s/he is Dragonborn, she seemed very resistant to the idea of a legendary warrior saving the day Because Destiny Says So, which chimes with the whole message in Morrowind of the Nerevarine possibly being a self-made hero rather than one who was chosen. She claims to have been all over Tamriel and to have seen many improbable things, and being a mer she could easily have lived 200 years.
 * Irileth wouldn't even have to be a mer to have lived over 200 years if she's the Nerevarine; over the course of Morrowind's MQ the Nerevarine becomes immune to sickness, and age, rendering him/her effectively immortal unless s/he dies in battle.
 * And if asked about her own backstory ("How did a dunmer became a housecarl?"), Irileth mentions serving with Balgruf in their youth but quickly turns suspicious and evasive before dropping the issue. Though that might just be her being Properly Paranoid about threats to the jarl.


 * Or, maybe she's just a former Ordinator. She does say "I've got my eyes on you" quite often and uses the word "sera" instead of "sir" - old habits die hard.

The Dwemer ruins are the remains of a Dwarf Fortress

 * Let's see: Elaborate Underground Base? Check. All sorts of long-forgotten technology that can kill you? Check. Also, the Falmer are the descendents of elves that were being held prisoner when the fortress fell.
 * Makes sense. Numidium was just their Megaproject. Thankfully for Tamriel the Hidden Fun Stuff has yet to be encountered.
 * Original poster here: Maybe Oblivion IS the Hidden Fun Stuff...

Skooma allows characters to Break the Fourth Wall

 * In Universe M'aiq the Liar has skooma when you scan his inventory, he breaks the fourth wall, and because he's Mythic and is M'aiq, he's developed a resistance to skooma and has access to the Fourth Wall regularly but gets tired after too much. The other mortals have no resistance and become insane with knowledge they don't know of and must have more to prevent relapsing. The PC has no ill effects because he is controlled by you.

Wuunferth the Unliving is a necromancer

 * If confronted during Blood on the Ice, he will deny the accusations of necromancy, citing that he is a member of the College of Winterhold in good standing and that the College doesn't allow necromancy. The thing is, you can find out from one of the members at the College that necromancy is perfectly acceptable to them, so long as it is kept low-key to avoid offending the locals. So why would Wuunferth lie? He panicked under the press of there being actual evidence of necromancy, of course! Of course, he presumably is Sharn gra-Muzbog style about it rather than Wormite style.
 * Perhaps he isn't just a necromancer, but a lich as well. "The Unliving" isn't exactly a title you'd expect for a perfectly normal human being. He looks normal because he became a lich in the relatively recent past and hasn't begun to decay yet.
 * Not only that, he is probably the strongest lich out there, considering detect life reveals him. His powers just sort of destroy your own magic.

The next game will feature an argonian invasion.

 * Over the course of the past few games, most of the argonians we met were either friendly or victims and we only got a few glimpses into their greater society, not even knowing how they joined the empire. And none of those glimpses promised anything good. In oblivion, we learned that the argonians had a pact with the dark brotherhood. They knew the oblivion crisis was coming(through the hist trees) and didn't warn anyone. They used the crash of the ministry of truth to do massive damage to morrowind. They haven't suffered any major losses for at least three hundred years, while the empire and the thalmor have been exhausting their power on each other. And now skyrim is falling apart as well. Truly, the time has never been better for the argonians to attack.
 * And given their reptilian nature, they could amass thousands of Argonian soldiers in years by sheer force of reproduction on a grand scale in a short amount of time.
 * Also notable is that, even before the empire fell apart, the infrastructure of black marsh kept falling apart, which made sure that as few people as possible ever visited the province and that it was very easy to keep secrets.

The Dwemer would have become Gods...

 * If the existing Gods didn't wipe them from existence first. Despite being mostly benevolent, they did not like the idea of a huge influx of n00bs. They waited until there were no doubts that the Dwemer would succeed, in the hope that they would stop before it was too late. But the Dwarves went to far and had to be erased. The Falmer were already enslaved by the Dwarves at this point, but were still relatively unchanged. The Gods changed them into what they are today to keep any other nosy mortals from poking around and finding out what the Dwemer knew. This second part of the guess comes from one of M'aiq's lines: "M'aiq knows why the Falmer are blind. It has nothing to do with the Dwemer dissapearing. Really." A future expansion or sequel will feature some group learning the method to achieve Godhood, and trying to use it without realizing that doing so will cause the Gods to destroy them.

The psijic order is responsible for the failed invasion of akavir
Going by the story reported in Report: disaster at Ionith, the failed expedition can be attributed to two factors: weird weather and weakened magic. The empire had used magical scouts on akavir for four years prior to the invasion, and yet those two factors came completely out of nowhere. The book suggests that it may have been Tsaesci magic, but also notes that there is no real evidence of them having this power(even when they invaded tamriel). However, both powers are associated with the psijic order, which is not exactly friendly with the empire.
 * Furthermore, in fragment: on arteum it is mentioned that the emperor apparently ignored the advice of the psijic order when he attempted to invade akavir.

The smuggled skooma in skyrim is watered down
Which explains why it is no longer as strong, grants no negative effects and is less addicting.

Nirn is a post-Combine Earth.
Earth was ultimately saved by the Aedra, dragging Earth into the Mundus and expelling the Combine. Remaining living humans were put in suspended animation while the Aedra began work repairing the planet. Once humanity emerged, the entire planet had changed from what it once was and the Beast Races and Mer were already there. That's why the Space Core is there. Underground facilities are largely intact, hence the presence of Aperture. Also Earth's old moon orbits the planet, it's just only visible under certain conditions. So now Chell has emerged on what is likely Tamriel.


 * So, how do you explain Shor/Lorkhan/Shezzar's death?

Aventus Aretino will return for the Dark Brotherhood questline in the next game.
As a prominent member, if not the listener himself.
 * But you are already the Listener after Astrid gives you your first job.
 * That assumes there won't be another time skip, or that something won't happen to where the dragonborn takes off. Bethesda's never done a direct sequel in TES, and it's unlikely they'll break that pattern now.

The Spheriphem (space spheres) are the other children of Akatosh.
Pay close attention to some of the stuff the space core says when you interact with it. Its father is "all the dragons", and somehow also space. Now, as anyone with even the faintest grasp of general relativity can tell you, space and time are effectively the same thing. And which of the Divines is represented as a dragon? Akatosh, the god of time. Clearly, having despaired at the destruction wrought by Alduin and those who aided him, the Dragon God of Time decided to fashion for himself children that had no such obsession with conquest and slaughter.

The Dwemer as a race, were Atheist.
"They scorned the Daedra and mocked our foolish rituals." The Dwarves clearly weren't buying any of the "Voodoo Bullshit" that people claim Nirn runs on. The went into there cities and fortress' and built for themselves. They didn't feel a need to have to pay tribute to Daedra or Aedra simply because they don't believe in them. "They instead embraced there gods of Logic and knowledge." They don't have any, but they worshipped science as thoush it was a religon so the Nords thought they had science god's. This also explains why none of their ruins have any shrines to Mara, Akatosh, Talos, Diabella, Molag Bol, Boethiah, or even Namira.
 * Or even better, they worshipped themselves and praises there abilities to create robots thousands of years ahead of anyone else.
 * If they did use logic, it wouldn't take them long to deduce that gods do exist in the Elder Scrolls universe. It would require a ridiculous number of coincidences for there not to be.
 * They might have been atheist in the classical sense; they believed the gods existed, but but that doesn't mean they have to worship them.
 * So why try to become gods, then?
 * Unlimited cosmic power?
 * Clearly not, as there is a tale where a Dwemer manages to outfox Azura herself.

The Falmer or Snow-elves, created the Dunmer or Dark Elves.
The Falmer are weak to fire but easilly embrace the frost, Dunmer are just the inverse. The Falmer created the first dark elves using Dwemer science or black(er) magic to learn how to become invunerable to fire.
 * Thing is, we know the who (every Chimer) and when (at or just after the Battle of Red Mountain) of how the Dunmer came to be. So the Falmer would have had the means to transform an entire race, most of whom lives in another province... while preparing for the final offensive on the Skyrim Dwemer?

The gods are Sufficiently Advanced Aliens.
Ya'know just because.
 * Actually this may not be a Troll theory. It's already been established that the games take place on a different planet. Plus, on a skyrim related note: Alduin is called the World Eater. If Nirn is the ONLY planet in this universe, how would anyone understand the concept of planets, stars and world eating. Alduin must have eaten other planets in the past. IT ALL MAKES SENSE AHAHAHAHA!!
 * Nirn isn't the only planet in the universe. Of course, Alduin, so far as is known, haven't eaten them, so the Canonical Answer is that Alduin re-starts the world by eating it when it is time for a new 'kalpa' (he just jumps the gun from time to time). As for why it is known, partly because Alduin and a number of other sources not exactly of Nirn says he is going to eat the kalpa/world.
 * Or both the Daedra and the Divines are warring factions of Ancient Astronauts, they made used their alien technology to give the peoples of Nirn "magical" abilities. Which are basically telekinetic powers.
 * Given how much power the gods have, calling them "aliens" instead wouldn't really make a difference.

In Response to the above, Everything in Skyrim can be explained by science.
Just Because.

Shadowmere is the ghost of Artax.
After sinking into the Swamp of Sadness, Artax's grief consumes him, body and soul, and transforms him into a twisted version of his former self that rises from the black waters to greet its new home and master- what was once the proud, white steed of a warrior is now the dark, heartless horse of an assassin. He also became a female horse for some reason.

Alternately; Shadowmere is the ghost of Agro.

 * It was clear he was wounded at the end of the game, perhaps leading Mono to put him down shortly after. The sorrow of the girl he helped revive killing him causes his soul to become corrupt and become Shadowmere as we know... He/she/it.

The Dragonborn, the Hero of Kvatch, and the Nerevarine are all extrordinarily powerful because they have achieved CHIM.

 * H/She knows that he's a figment of someone's imagination, and he's just A okay with it.
 * What the hell is CHIM?

The death of the dragonborn will cause a massive war in Oblivion, weakening the fabric of reality
During playing through skyrim, the player will probably have his/her soul indebted to at least two divine entitities, probably more. The player is also a being of immense power, able to snack on dragon souls like they were mashed potatoes, and destroying Alduin. A being of this power would surely be fought over by all those that have any claim to his/her soul. It would also give new storytelling opportunity for elder scrolls VI, as this would mean the thalmor could achieve their ultimate goal, leading to a new great war.
 * Or more likely an An all out War between the Daedra and Aedra over who gets to keep the savior of the Universe.

Norman Bates was the Dragonborn in a previous life.

 * The Dragonborn kills people because a corpse in a casket that he refers to as "Mother" tells him to. He's the only one who can hear her voice.
 * In a less specific speculation, Norman Bates could just be the Listener (whoever he may be) of the Dark Brotherhood.
 * This sounds a little disrespectful.

Ulfric Stormcloak is based on Sonata Arctica singer Tony Kakko.

 * His near obsession with song and Romanticism may not just be a character quirk. Finnish power metal band Sonata Arctica is pretty popular among gamers and fantasy fans in general. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to think that some Bethesda employees are fans as well. It makes sense, given the game's icy Scandinavian theme. Oh, and they're nearly identical, so there's that too.

Jyggalag will eventually return and it will be important

 * I've wondered why the Nine seemed to allow their chosen hero to become the new Sheogorath. Certainly not to hopefully replace him with someone better, because as we see here, the Champion eventually became a lot like the old one. Taking the Champion away from Cyrodiil was probably a bad thing(no doubt if they'd made the Champion of Cyrodiil the new Emperor, things would have gone better), as eventually morphing into a daedric prince would rob the Champion of the ability to appear in Mundus. Except for one thing... Jyggalag was restored in the process. Perhaps the divine plan eventually sees Jyggalag play an important role in the Empire. How so, hard to say, but Jyggalag is about order, and the Thalmor's reign is causing anything but in the grand scheme of things.

This could even be instigated by Sheogorath, finally fed up over the land "he" once saved having been ruined, sending the Dragonborn on an important quest.
 * Well, it is still possible to say that the old Sheogorath was replaced with someone better - it just ended up with a somewhat better but still a lot like the old one Sheogorath. After all, old Sheogorath would, as far as we could tell, be disinclined to help someone become more sane - which is exactly what you do in Sheogorath's quest in Skyrim. Otherwise, it is worth noting that it is implied that Heroes (IE, player characters) in The Elder Scrolls exist outside the ordinary fate... so the Nine might well simply not have had say in the matter (especially since it was not a simple matter of them chosing the Champion, the Champion also choose them as he/she elected to move towards becoming the Divine Crusader). Still, regardless of the reasons, one can only hope that Jyggalag - the Daedra that took so long to be seen after having been heard of, appeared on a grand scale, and then was not heard from again - will play an important rule in the future.

The "Heart" of Lorkhan is actually a soul gem containing the "soul" of Lorkhan
Evidence:
 * In one winterhold sidequest, one researcher tried to repeat the ritual that caused the disappearance of the Dwemer by using "warped" soul Gem.
 * Soul gems can be used to make magic. They may be used to enchant weapons, and with certain perk they will recharge your magicka.
 * The Soul gems from "Sentient" beings like humans and mer are powerful enough to completly restore an artifact given by a daedric lord into full "charge". So what kind of wonders could be achieved with a soul gem containing a Soul of a God?
 * I doubt it. The word "Heart" is in the name. If it said "stone" of Lorkhan however....


 * Keep in mind that you get to see the heart up-close and personal at the end of Morrowind, and it looks like a living beating heart.

The "canon" dragonborn will be a nightengale/listener, just like it is hinted the "canon" champion of cyrodiil was the grey fox/listener.

 * If these questlines aren't completed, the associated factions are more or less doomed. Without returning the skeleton key, Noturnal's influence over the world fades drastically which could have dire consequences, and without a listener the dark brotherhood will eventually die out. These quests need to be done for the factions to continue existing.
 * Ah, but the Dragonborn isn't necessarily necessary - Karliah could have done a lot of what was done on her own, especially since she would have been more successful during the early part of the Thieves' Guild storyline, when she was trying to create a schism between Maven and the Guild. All she needs to do is get back the Skeleton Key, and preferably pay back Mercer Frey's betrayal on the way, and the Thieves Guild is well on its way to ressurection... with or without the Dragonborn. For the Dark Brotherhood, it is even easier - the Night Mother isn't destroyed, Babette is never killed, and unless you do the Dark Brotherhood storyline, Cicero is never killed. End result: everything is in place for someone to become Listener.
 * Alternatively they could pull a Mass Effect and let you import your actions regarding the Guilds into the next game.
 * Probably not, as that could screw with people who modded some of the questlines.
 * People modded the quest chains in Oblivion, too.
 * And Skyrim didn't import what people had done in Oblivion. That was the point: Mass Effect-style importing really only works well if the modding capabilities are more limited than what they are in Skyrim.
 * People who modded questlines dug their own graves.

Giants are an elven race.

 * Hey, why not? They're another sentient race of pointy-eared humanoids, ain't they? They could be Jotmer (from Jotunn, the Norse giants) or somethin'.
 * At the very least, they are liable to be Ehlnofey-descended (that is, they share the same ancestor as men and mer).

The next game will take place in Akavir
The IV from oblIVion formed the roman numeral 4. The top half of the Y in skYrim formed the roman numeral 5. Only area left that fits VI would be akaVIr.
 * While the reasoning behind this is...questionable, it's entirely possible. Elder Scrolls games are never direct sequels and people have been wanting a look at Akavir for a while now.
 * There's no III in Morrowind, though.

Moira is an aspect of Nocturnal
Having played through the lower levels a few times I almost always get a band of mercenaries after me with a contract from someone named Moira. When I couldn't get my head around why the other Moira would want me dead for stealing some flowers from a shack in the woods I concluded that it must have something to do with the Patron of thieves herself! Perhaps she's been scouting for new Nightingales a little longer than we thought?
 * Moira is actually a hagraven associated with a Daedric quest. Those flowers are her property.

Cicero is (somehow) related to The Fool

 * Well is you elaborate I might believe you.

Alduin is not Akatosh' son, exactly
He is the firstborn of Akatosh, but the meaning isn't that he was born as a mortal would see it. Rather he, he was an aspect of Akatosh... but spun-off again as his own. Thus, he is firstborn of Akatosh: the first aspect to become so diverged from Akatosh as to be non-aspect. Any reference to him being a son and the like of Akatosh is a result of Dovah and divinities dumbing it down for mortals.
 * Alternatively...

Akatosh is a Troll
He decided to save Nirn, just so he could kill it later. While he was using his Alduin ruse, he lied and said he was his own son. Just to throw the accusations off of him.
 * There is a reason that the Daedra hate him.

M'aiq the Liar is a Dragonborn
He does say he can "shout whenever he wants", so it's a distinct possibility.

The Dragonborn will have the oppertunity become emperor and later a Divine
If you choose take help from the blades and restore them to their former glory Esbern will probably suggest that you should try to re-concur Tamirel, because the Blades would surely believe that the Dragonborn is the only worthy enough to rule Tamriel. This will lead to a similar tale of how Talos became emperor and later become a divine. Maybe the Thalmor succeeds in their plans, and you are the only one that can restore the balance.
 * If they won't let you talk to them without killing one of your friends, I doubt they think you're that worthy.

The Dragonborn is a reincarnation of Tiber Septim/Talos
He chose to become a mortal again for one or two reasons.
 * The Empire he founded banned his worship.
 * Alduin.

The Mother was the Target
In the mission where you first meet Astrid, the contract was on the mother. She doesn't take your shit, which is ballsy, by a mother would rather see her children again.

The Fall of the Space Core mod is canon, and Tamriel is going to face an invasion from The Combine.
The Space Core landing in Skyrim is a canon mod, and it shows that The Elder Scrolls takes place in the same multiverse as Portal, and therefore, Half Life. It is likely that the Combine would see an overall gain in conquering and colonizing Tamriel, then all of Nirn. However, considering the presence of many forms of magic in Tamriel, the people of Skyrim will be able to repel the Combine before the entire armada can arrive.

You are not the last Dragonborn
You're not even the only one alive at the time. The Greybeards outright discuss this as a possibility, and there's no evidence otherwise. Maybe they live in Skyrim, maybe not even inside Tamriel, but he or she exists. "When misrule takes its place at the eight corners of the world
 * The Akaviri prophecy associated with Alduin's return (which accurately foretold not only the chronology of events leading to his return but also the events preceding it no uncertain terms) does in fact state that you are the last.

When the Brass Tower walks and Time is reshaped

When the thrice-blessed fail and the Red Tower trembles

When the Dragonborn Ruler loses his throne, and the White Tower falls

When the Snow Tower lies sundered, kingless, bleeding

The World-Eater wakes, and the Wheel turns upon the Last Dragonborn."


 * They called Aang the "last Airbender," look how that turned out. The player might be the only one now but there could be more in the future...
 * Aang was never prophesized to become the last Airbender.
 * Well, there is that theory that the Nerevarine and The new Sheogorath are Dovahkiin too. So that could work. The prophecy could always mean the last Dragonborn meant to be alive right now.

Elder Scrolls VI: Argonia
... Yep.
 * Personally, it seems like the homeland of humans/elves would be the best places for an Elder Scroll game. The Khajiit and Argonians are meant to be the "mysterious" Beastmen and setting the game in their homelands would sorta take away from their mystique.
 * Except of course that you went to their homelands in the first game, right? And I'd still like to commit genocide on them. Or at least find out how they have a concept of chronology without having a word for time.
 * I'm thinking "The Elder Scrolls VI: Summerset" will be more likely. Black Marsh and Elsweyr could still be featured, of course, but the Thalmor need to be dealt with first.
 * Summerset Isle has been theorized as the Next Setting since Morrowind, which may either be seen as a negative (people keep on guessing that Summerset will be the next setting, and keep on being wrong) or positive (third time's the charm). On another note, dealing with the Thalmor would really have to be done before having Summerset as the main setting (the place had xenophobic rules in place even when it wasn't ruled by the Thalmor), while Elsweyr has a handwave for allowing Mannish visitors (they are not actually part of the Dominion proper).

This will be the last Elder Scrolls game
A huge sub plot of the game is how the end of the world is coming, and is unavoidable. The most you can do by beating the main big bad of the main story is stop him from getting it done too early. And in the background the Nazi elves are literally trying to kill Talos by wiping out worship of him because they know he's the only thing holding the current reality from ripping itself apart. In all likelyhood there'll eventually be some DLC expanding on stuff much in the same vein as Oblivion (since that game was more or less a testing grounds to see what could be done with this new downloadable game add on thing), but the last DLC released for the game will play out the final days of the Elder Scrolls universe as we know it. I mean these are all lore changing decisions right here.
 * Oh, please. If Bethesda intended to make Skyrim the last game in the series, they would have said so by now. Besides, with a Cash Cow Franchise like The Elder Scrolls, plus how successful both critically and financially this game alone has been, who would want the series to end here? Especially when there is still an uncountable amount of potential for the series, so many unexplained details, unexplored locations, and much, much more yet to do before it all ends. Plus, ending the series here would contradict the "And the Adventure Continues..." tone that the Main Quest ends on.
 * Well it would explain why you are able to make such pivotal decisions like
 * Does Titus Mede II live or die?
 * Does the Dark Brotherhood survive past this year?
 * Who's going to win the war?
 * What happened between Sheogorath and Jyggalag?
 * Does Barbas live or Die?
 * What happened to Azura's star?

Tamriel will be invaded by Akaviri forces by the time TES VI occurs
Think about it. The Empire has been divided and considerably weakened, Ka'Po'Tun has yet to invade Tamriel, and a certain Tiger-Dragon (Tosh Raka) has been interested in taking it over, once he has conquered the Tsaesci. Plus this could make the result of the Civil War in Skyrim ambiguous, and the Thalmor would be destroyed by a much more powerful foe. Seriously, it would take another invasion from a foreign power to fix this mess that Tamriel has been plunged into.
 * Technically, Mysterious Akavir is not the most reliable source (to quote from the Third Edition of the Pocket Guide to the Empire: "It should be noted that these various races of Akaviri have never been sighted by modern scholars. While tales that survive from the Akaviri Potentate describe these races in detail, it is unknown how literally they should be taken, given the possible mistranslation of the complex Tsaesci language")... but this is Wild Mass Guessing, not In-Universe Source Criticism.

Skyrim's Sheogorath is NOT the Champion of Cyrodiil.
But he knows that we remember playing the Shivering Isles DLC and is pretending that it was canon in order to mess with us.
 * I just want to point out, that at the point where you're Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, it seems absurd that you'd try to join up with the Thieves Guild. Or try to do both at the same time, which sort of invites a bit of disappointment from your 'family members'.

You remember Sheogorath looking that way because that's how you've seen him depicted.
Your mind is using that familiar image to fill in the holes in your memory. Why are there holes in your memory? Because Sheogorath was wearing the Cowl of the Grey Fox.
 * But I never played the past games.

Dawnguard will feature Meridia in a Blood Moon/Shivering Isles-esque manner.
It is Dawnguard, after all. Also considering the items on vampires discovered in data-mining recent patches, it syncs up with her hate of the undead, as well as vampires cooking in the nice daylight. Here's hoping for some of those super ice vampires.
 * The question (if we assume Meridia's involvement -- Dawn can mean a lot of things, especially considering the meaning of Tamriel, but the point about undead and Meridia is a good one), then, would be if it is Bloodmoon-esque (IE, she's at opposing ends to your goal in the DLC and responsible for the events) or Shivering Isle-esque (she recruits you to help her).
 * Surprisingly plausible - after all, there are hinted to be two mutually-exclusive questlines in the trailer, one for the Dawnguard and one for the faction of vampires (An evil-vampire-sounding speaker says "You are either With Us or Against Us"). The Vampire questline could be this generation's Bloodmoon, while the Dawnguard questline could be the Shivering Isles.

Recharging weapons with a soul gem doesn't destroy the soul
It just destroys the gem. Trapping a soul inside a soul gem causes some bizarre chemical or nuclear reaction that imparts prodigious energy to the gem (the Dwemer powered their automatons with the thermal energy from soul gems). When you recharge or enchant a weapon, you destroy the gem and use the power that the presence of a soul has given it to create the enchantment. The soul returns to Oblivion.

There's really no reason to think this other than the fact that it makes you less evil for using Black Soul Gems.


 * This is somewhat comforting for those of us who try to play somewhat moral characters.


 * I suppose it's worth mentioning that in-universe information dating back to at least TES 3 says that enchanted items are powered by souls that are trapped there, and are in fact used up in the process. That's just for limited-use items. Weapons and armor with constant enchantments? Souls are trapped there forever. Daedric armor and weapons are supposed to be ebony armor and weapons with enslaved daedra souls inside of them.

A future DLC will allow you (assuming if you've done the Companions quests), Kodlak and Ysgramor to launch a viking raid on Hircine's Hunting Grounds and save the Lycanthropic Harbingers
Because Kodlak alludes to it at the end of the chain and damn it, wouldn't it be awesome? Of course we'd have to account for the many Harbingers who may be okay with being Hircine's hounds, such as Terrfyg. But still. He can be a boss in that quest too.
 * Alternatively, for a Dragonborn Harbinger who likes being a werewolf, the DLC will instead be about defending Hircine's Hunting Grounds and the spirits of previous Harbingers Hircine has captured from Kodlak and Ysgramor's raid.

The final piece of Skyrim DLC will be the one where you drive the Thalmor out of Skyrim and reignite the Great War
Obviously the Big Bad would be Elenwen. Since the Thalmor do seem to stick around even if the Stormcloaks win the Civil War, it stands to reason the final piece of DLC for Skyrim will involve finally driving them out of Skyrim, either because it's the last thing Ulfric needs to do before he's named High King or because General Tullius has received orders that the Empire is ready to take them on again. This will be the event that begins the Second Great War and set the stage for the Elder Scrolls VI, where the war with the Thalmor will take center stage.

The Next Game in the series will have Cicero featured as the Spectral Assassin
Seeing as how Lucien became a Spectral Assassin in Skyrim, it would seem fair that in the next game (either because he was killed or died from other causes.) Cicero makes a reappearance as a Spectral Assassin.

Skyrim's other DLC will involve the Dwemer, in a BIG way
Skyrim is the first game in which Dwarven Ruins and technology was crucial to the main plot. It seems as time goes on more about the Dwemer have been revealed. Since every sequel is hinted during gameplay, whos to say that next time the Dwemer won't reappear? Maybe this time as an army of gods.
 * They established Hammerfell.
 * They were unbelievably advanced.
 * The manner of the disappearance (Ala, Arniels Endeavor).
 * This entire time, they've been hoarding an Elder Scroll
 * The main flaw with this theory is that it starts with an inaccurate assumption: Dwemer ruins and technology where extremely important in the main plot of Morrowind. Remember, the Ash Vampires you are most likely to meet are in Dwemer ruins, Dagoth Ur himself is in a Dwemer ruin, Akulakhan was a derivative of Dwemer technology, Sunder, Keening and Wraithguard were all three Dwemer artifacts (and of course the Tribunal and Dagoth Ur got their divinity by modifying Kagrenac's plan)...
 * Well excuse me for not having the patience to fully explore the storyline of Morrowind sir!
 * So, you say that you've never played Morrowind before, but you claim to know that the Dwarves have had more and more involvement? Explain to me again how you classify as an Elder Scrolls fan?
 * Not having the patience to fully explore the storyline of Morrowind is perfectly acceptable (indeed, if one does not pay attention Akulakhan's very name, let alone what it is, can be missed, as can the fact that Kagrenac's Tools is Kagrenac's Tools). However, it does not take fully exploring the storyline to know that Dwemer ruins are crucial to Morrowind's main plot, just playing through it at all would do that -- and there is the fact that you have to meet the Last Dwarf. Leaving all this said, it is nonetheless entirely possible that the Dwemer will be involved in a big way with another of Skyrim's downloadable content. They do have quite a presence in Skyrim for a race that is long gone, and Morrowind did get an expansion pack where Dwemer ruins and Dwemer technology played a key role...

In Cooperation with the above, the next game will take place At the time of "The Battle of Red Mountain"
You will be playing as the bodyguard of Kagrenac (The guy responsible for the disappearance). The game will end with you alone, in Kagrenac's laboratory, wondering what the fuck just happened.

The Thalmor will be felled by, amongst other things, the Dragonborn rallying the dragons to the cause.
The Aldmeri Dominion has always needed extraordinary measure to bring about their defeat. Reman Cyrodiil never managed to do it; the best he could manage was tribute after beating them about the heads and shoulders. Tiber Septim needed the freakin' Numidium to bring them down. The Mede Empire had neither a Dragonborn nor a giant stompy robot in the Great War, and thus didn't fare very well against them. The forces against the Thalmor have a Dragonborn amongst them again... but what about the largest force to bear? Numidium is long since beyond mortals' reach. That leaves... Dragons. The Dragonborn will convince Odahviing and/or Paarthurnax of the existential threat that the Thalmor pose, and then, through either of those dragon allies, rally most or all of Dragonkind to fight against the Thalmor.
 * Assuming the whole "World War II" thing that everyone is assuming to be DLC ever get's put to game, then why not?

There is a canon Dragonborn already in-game.
It's the guy in iron armor who hangs about the Bannered Mare in Whiterun all day. Bethesda did this so that they wouldn't have to be overly vauge about who the Dragonborn was and that those who played Skyrim would recognise him.

Dawngard will have at least one Shout-Out to Nightmare Moon
To be fair, I only have the day vs night thing to go on.
 * As awesome as that would be, I don't think we're that popular yet, Bro.

Every member of the Dawnguard is a werewolf...
...because lycanthropy provides immunity to vampirism. Sure explains why there are now werewolf perks...

The Vampire cult in Dawnguard are servants of Molag Bol.
Think about it: They eat souls, the forms they take look a lot like Molag Bol's servants the Winged Terrors, and you can clearly see an altar of Molag Bol in the trailer. Plus, the realm they have access to matches the description of Molag's realm, Coldharbour. Oh, and not to mention that of course, Molag Bol created Vampires in the first place.

The Vampire Lord faction in Dawnguard will have their own ranged weapon
Since the Dawnguard gets crossbows, the undead will get a ranged weapon suitable for a Vampire Lord; throwable wine glasses.

The Dovahkiin is Immortal by default.
A Dragon in TES lore is a Reality Warping, cosmic level Badass. You are a dragon. Just with a different body build (Extra points if you're an Argonian). Now before you get your panties in a bunch and ask me "What about Martin and Uriel dying?" those deaths were not natural. Let's look at the facts about Dragonborn. All true facts. Basically, as so long as Dovahkiin's body is in decent codition He/She/It cannot die.
 * Uriel Septim VII and his sons were stabbed to death.
 * Martin Septim sacrificed his body to allow Akatosh to enter the mortal world.
 * Pelagius Septim was a pussy.
 * Tiber Septim was cheapshotted

The Elder Scrolls can allow one to peak into Other Dimensions.
I don't mean Oblivion or Atherius oh no, I'm talking much much larger. The Scrolls don't just see through time and space they can see alternate tales of the Dragonborn or of Existence in general. All kinds of what if scenarios and alternate histories. But not only these super important parts of history, but also little nitpicks. Basically, Imagine looking at every save game of everyone who had ever played Elder Scrolls in a magnificent flash of light that lasted less than a minute.
 * What if Boethiah never corrupted Malacath?
 * What if Alduin was never born?
 * What if Talos declined the offer from the Divines?
 * What if Martin was never abandoned?
 * What if The Champion was able to save Uriel Septim?
 * What if Nerevarine spilled juice on their favorite shirt?
 * What if Valen Dreth was in Summerset Isle with your wife?
 * What if Dovahkiin was a woman?

There will be a third Big Stompy Robot
And it will be powered by you, the Dragonborn. Maybe this time it will be powerful enough to make sure that the Thalmor stay dead.

(For those not familiar with the lore: The first Big Stompy Robot was powered by Talos' battlemage and almost single-handedly defeated the First Aldmeri Dominion. The second one was supposed to be powered by the heart of Lorkhan but its construction was halted in the final battle of Morrowind)