Okay, so Nirn in The Elder Scrolls definitely isn’t Earth, but a familiar debate is raging over the series’ setting. Just like the flat-Earthers, some believe that Nirn may not be a spherical planet.
As a quick lore recap, there are three main planes of existence within The Elder Scrolls. Let’s oversimplify things: Aetherius is the heavens, Oblivion is hell, and Mundus is the mortal plane. Within Mundus, Nirn is the world that contains Tamriel – the continent where our beloved games (mostly) take place. But is Nirn actually a planet, and a spherical one at that?
The answer may not be so simple. After all, many argue that the most concrete evidence we have to prove that Nirn is indeed spherical, is a single object – a pixelated globe from The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall. (There is a brief glimpse of a globe in Arena as well, but it mainly shows the sea.)
The contents of the globe seem to show the west side of Tamriel along with the mysterious Pyandonea continent looming in the south, home of the Maormer. Despite this dinky globe, the only official mapwork released by Bethesda is limited to some flat sketches of Tamriel. Therefore, many doubt the spherical nature of Nirn.
Clearly, not all fans seem to be convinced that Nirn is a normal planet. It is certainly true that Mundus’ system doesn’t traditionally orbit around its sun, Magnus; Rather, there is a complicated series of orbital patterns taking place.
Even Vivec himself, one of the Tribunal gods of Morrowind, suggests that there is an edge to the world of Nirn. However, if we trust the good citizens of Tamriel, they seem to have their solar system figured out. There are multiple orreries that appear throughout The Elder Scrolls, each showing off unique models of Mundus’ planets. Unless the developers are pulling a twisted trick on us, these representations are likely our best bet.
Fans may be going bonkers over the subject matter, but creative individuals have taken things into their own hands regardless. For example, Ares’ 3D rendering of Nirn as a planet is an impressive potential imagining.
Speaking of space, Todd Howard could pull a crazy move and allow players to visit Nirn in Starfield – Bethesda’s upcoming RPG; And hey, maybe the world will just be a floating disk.
Sources: Reddit, Fandom, YouTube
