A Universe Divided: Texts vs. Games in The Elder Scrolls

Dennis Jansen examines how fan communities construct and contest the narrative universe of The Elder Scrolls, focusing on the Imperial Library, a Drupal-based fan archive in which only designated "Librarians" hold editing rights. Drawing on Derrida's concept of the archive, Genette's paratexts, and Klastrup and Tosca's model of transmedial worlds (mythos, topos, and ethos), the analysis argues that the archive operates as a form of "archontic fandom." Its structure functions as a paratext that determines which texts are discovered, annotated, and treated as canonical.

The central finding is a persistent fan tension between a "universe-as-games" and a "universe-as-texts." The Elder Scrolls is understood as a hyperdiegetic narrative universe, a shared mental construct governed by internal logic that extends beyond Tamriel and any single medium. The 2004 forum roleplay "The Trial at Hogithum Hall," written by former developers and fans, illustrates the problem: the Library summarizes it and files it under Vivec's page yet labels it only "semi-official," while sites like UESP treat out-of-game material with suspicion.

The Library's text-first orientation reflects a paradox. Most in-universe books exist only inside the games until fans transcribe them, so the texts depend on the games, yet the archive elevates texts over gameplay. Librarians explain that this approach emerged organically, helping them avoid gameplay inconsistencies such as unstable spell schools and treating written works as reflections of authorial intent. The author connects this stance to early ludology while stressing that these fans do not deny the narrativity of games. Debates over whether Oblivion's Cyrodiil is canon, and praise for Morrowind's lore, show the preference in practice.

The archive thus formalizes what counts as valid discourse in a Foucauldian sense, yet its authority remains contestable. Other fans, including some Librarians, regard the games' visual depictions of Tamriel as more authoritative than the texts, leaving the universe's canon an ongoing negotiation.