When Does Skyrim Take Place? Complete Timeline of Skyrim

When does Skyrim take place? Let’s take a look at the timeline of the Elder Scrolls world and see where the Skyrim era begins.

Skyrim is set in a fantasy world in a fictional timeline where the main character is known as the Dragonborn. Whether you are curious to know or are just a history enthusiast, you’ll be curious to know when does Skyrim take place and how long does the main story of the game last for. That is why this guide will show you just that and more!

Guide Contents

When Does Skyrim Take Place?

Skyrim begins at 4E 201, 200 years after the Third Era ended along with the Septim bloodline. When you start the game, the time is Morndas, the 17th of Last Seed, 4E201, at approximately 9:30. In terms of our time, these events could have taken place anywhere in the past 500-1000 years.

Players that are new to the Skyrim universe will not know what “Morndas” or “Last Seed” means. Worry not because we’ll explain it to you so that you are well aware of how time works in Skyrim. With that said, let’s take a look at when does Skyrim take place and find out what the game’s time means.

Skyrim’s Timeline

As mentioned earlier, when you start the game and get control of your character, it is roughly 9:30 in the morning and it is Morndas, the 17th of Last Seed. While this is extremely confusing for new players since you do not use this time in the real world, it makes sense in Skyrim.

The Elder Scrolls has its own timeline that is not set in the real world. If it were, I would speculate that it would be somewhere between 500-1000 years prior to our time. However, if you want to fully immerse yourself in the world of Skyrim, you will want to learn what the terminologies mean.

Skyrim’s Months

To make it easier for everyone to understand, we’ve compiled all the months and days in table form.

Name of month	Days
Morning Star (January)	31
Sun’s Dawn (February)	28
First Seed (March)	31
Rain’s Hand (April)	30
Second Seed (May)	31
Midyear (June)	30
Sun’s Height (July)	31
Last Seed (August)	31
Hearthfire (September)	30
Frostfall (October)	31
Sun’s Dusk (November)	30
Evening Star (December)	31

Since Skyrim has its own universe, the months aren’t called what we have come to know. They are referred to names such as Evening Star or Sun’s Dusk. This means that the game starts in August (Last Seed) when you first gain control of your character.

Skyrim’s Days

Now, since every month has a unique name that is different from what we know in the real world, the days also have their own names. If you want to know about them, we’ve listed them down below as well.

Name of day	Gregorian Calendar name
Sundas	Sunday
Morndas	Monday
Tirdas	Tuesday
Middas	Wednesday
Turdas	Thursday
Fredas	Friday
Loredas	Saturday

As you can see above, Skyrim features 12 months and 7 days just like in the Gregorian calendar. Plus, the number of hours in the day is also 24, so don’t worry about that. Apart from the names for the months and days, everything else is the same. So, judging by this, we can conclude that the game start’s on Monday, 17th August.

What Year Does the Game Take Place

After getting familiar with the calendar of Skyrim, let’s find out what year the game takes place in and how long it has been since the events of Oblivion have passed. When you start the game, it is 4E 201 in Skyrim, which means that it is the Fourth Era.

Oblivion took place during the final year of the Third Era. So, if we take a look at the year Skyrim is set in and compare it to Oblivion, there are about 401 years that have passed between the two games. This is a massive jump compared to what Oblivion and Morrowind had. In the Elder Scrolls universe, this is the longest time skip that we have seen so far. Maybe Elder Scrolls 6 will change that.

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