The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road Is An Answer To The 10 Year Long Jungle Controversy

Summary

• Cyrodiil should be a jungle in the second era, but in ESO, it isn't.
• Lore heads in The Elder Scrolls community have long called out Zenimax over this discrepancy.
• Creative Director Rich Lambert says that Gold Road's sudden jungle appearance is "absolutely" an answer to the controversy.

The Elder Scrolls Online tells the story of the Three Banner War, as all sides of Tamriel fight for the throne in Cyrodiil, the heart of the empire. So, the game brings us back to a good chunk of the same land we explored in Oblivion, this time in the second era.

But dedicated loreheads were quick to point out that Zenimax had 'gotten it wrong'. All in-game texts describing Cyrodiil in the second era across previous games painted a picture of a luscious jungle dominating the land, one which Talos himself cut down to pave the way for the modern Imperial Empire.

How The Elder Scrolls Online's Newest Expansion Solves The Jungle Controversy

In Gold Road, a band of bosmer known as the Recollection have risen a forest in the West Weald, home to Skingrad. Finally, there's a jungle in Cyrodiil.

Perhaps we'll find out more about how this ties into the legends we read about in past games when the expansion launches, but right now, I'm going with a pretty simple headcanon - scholars simply embellished how big that jungle really was.

I asked creative director Rich Lambert whether the new jungle in Gold Coast was a purposeful answer to the controversy - "Absolutely."

The Elder Scrolls Online Creative Director Talks 10 Year Anniversary

"It’s really special to be at the ten year anniversary."

"There's lots of things that go into building a chapter or building a zone and we wanted to really make this special. So as we were going through and deciding biomes, we knew how to make a forest look cool. So we hit on that autumn stuff really soon.

"But then when we started going through, it's like, 'What would happen if we did this? That's always been a thing the lore hounds have commented on. 'What if we just did this? Would anybody pick up on it?' And obviously, you did right away."

So, after ten years, ESO is not only celebrating with events across the world and some of the best dailies yet, but with an expansion that at long last touches on jungle-gate.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road

The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road is an expansion for the popular Bethesda MMORPG. When a lost Daedric Prince returns to West Weald, chaos ensues. A new zone is added, as well as the Scribing system and a 12-person trial, the Lucent Citadel.