Elder Scrolls 6 Factions Guide: Crowns, Forebears, Thalmor & What Bethesda's History Tells Us About Joining Up

The faction system in TES6 might be the most politically complex Bethesda has built. I'm not saying this lightly. Morrowind had the Great Houses. Oblivion had competing guilds. Skyrim had the Civil War. But Hammerfell's situation is fundamentally different because every faction has a legitimate claim to be right about something. Honestly, it's the first time in a TES game where I genuinely don't know which side I'll pick.

The Crowns believe Hammerfell should honor traditional Yokudan customs and resist foreign influence. The Forebears argue the province needs to modernize and engage with the Empire. The Thalmor are here, officially as "advisors" but everyone knows what that means. And underneath all of it, there's an Akaviri artifact that multiple factions are racing to find.

This isn't good guys versus bad guys. This is four different visions of Hammerfell's future, and you're going to have to pick sides. I mean, you can try to play both sides for a while - accepting quests from everyone, telling each faction what they want to hear - but eventually someone asks you to do something that can't be undone.

Why Faction Order Matters More Than You Think

In Skyrim, you could join the Companions, College of Winterhold, Thieves Guild, and Dark Brotherhood in any order and nobody cared. The factions barely acknowledged each other. TES6 looks different. When the political factions are at odds, joining one probably closes doors to another. Not permanently, Bethesda doesn't usually do hard locks. But you might miss early quest rewards, unique dialogue, or companion options depending on which faction you align with first.

Here's what past games teach us about Bethesda faction design. In Morrowind, joining one Great House locked you out of the other two, plus had consequences for some guild questlines. In Fallout 4, faction allegiance determined the ending. In Skyrim, the Civil War pick changed which Jarls ruled which holds but didn't lock content. Kinda all over the place tbh.

My read on TES6: Crowns vs Forebears won't be a hard lock at first. Both sides will accept you initially for deniability. But by the mid-game, you'll be asked to do something that permanently burns one bridge. Save before those moments. You know the drill.

The Crowns - Traditionalists With Bite

The Crowns trace their lineage directly to Yokuda, the Redguards' lost homeland. They wear traditional clothing, speak old Redguard dialects, and believe Hammerfell's strength comes from its cultural purity. After the Great War, when Hammerfell fought the Thalmor to a standstill without Imperial help, the Crowns position got stronger. They've been saying "we don't need the Empire" for centuries, and the war proved them right.

If you join the Crowns, expect quests about recovering ancestral artifacts, defending sacred sites from Thalmor archaeologists, and rooting out Forebear "collaborators" who deal with Imperial merchants. The gear rewards are probably traditional Redguard equipment: scimitars, light armor with cultural enchantments, maybe unique Yokudan forging techniques for crafting. That sort of thing.

From a gameplay perspective, Crowns are the best faction for characters who care about melee combat, honor duels, and historical lore. If you're playing a Redguard warrior, this is the natural pick.

The Forebears - Pragmatists Who Get Things Done

The Forebears are the merchant class, the city-builders, the ones who think Hammerfell's future depends on trade with the Empire and modernization. They're not traitors. They just believe isolationism left Hammerfell poor while every other province advanced. After the Great War, the Forebears argued that Hammerfell only held off the Thalmor because of weapons and tactics developed through foreign contact.

A Forebear-aligned playthrough probably focuses on trade missions, diplomatic negotiations, rooting out Crown extremists who sabotage Imperial relations, and securing the Iliac Bay shipping lanes against pirates. Gear rewards skew toward Imperial-influenced equipment: steel weapons with practical enchantments, medium-to-heavy armor, maybe access to Imperial crafting recipes otherwise unavailable.

For merchant characters, Speech-focused builds, or anyone who wants better prices and trade routes, Forebears are the practical choice. They're also probably the faction that helps you upgrade your settlement fastest. And if you're like me and spend way too much time on base building, that alone might be worth the political compromises.

The Thalmor Presence - Join, Resist, or Exploit?

The Aldmeri Dominion keeps agents in Hammerfell under the terms of the White-Gold Concordat, but Hammerfell rejected that treaty. So technically, Thalmor presence is illegal. In practice, they operate as "cultural envoys" from Summerset, and nobody wants to start another war by kicking them out.

This creates an interesting gameplay possibility. The Thalmor might be a joinable faction, but joining them makes you persona non grata with both Crowns and Forebears. It's the extreme path. The rewards would be powerful: Altmer magic training, enchanted gear from Summerset, access to restricted lore. But the cost is being hated in your own homeland.

Alternatively, there's a likely resistance faction. Hammerfell already defeated the Dominion once. There are almost certainly underground cells planning to do it again. If Bethesda gives us a Thalmor resistance questline, that's where the best stealth content lives. Sabotage missions, intelligence gathering, assassinations. I'd be shocked if there isn't something like this in the final game.

The Mysterious Akaviri Artifact

This is the wildcard. Multiple sources suggest an Akaviri artifact is central to the main conflict. In TES lore, Akavir is the continent to the east, and its artifacts are rare and powerful. The Blades' armor and weapons were Akaviri in origin. Dragonborn was tied to Akaviri prophecy.

If the artifact hunt drives the main quest, whichever faction you join influences how you approach it. Crowns might want to use it to defend Hammerfell. Forebears might want to study it for technological advancement. The Thalmor might want to destroy it or take it back to Summerset. Or maybe there's a fourth option nobody's talking about yet - some hidden Akaviri loyalist faction that wants to return the artifact to its homeland.

What I'm hoping Bethesda does: make the artifact genuinely game-changing. Not just a damage buff. Something that alters a core mechanic. A new shout system. A unique spell school. A crafting tier beyond Daedric. The mystery around it deserves a reward that justifies the buildup. I guess we'll find out whenever this game actually launches.

Settlement Factions - The Construction Angle

Buried in the research is confirmation of a settlement, fortress, and village construction system. That means there's probably a faction or questline tied to building. Maybe the Fighters Guild equivalent has a "rebuild the border forts" arc. Maybe the Mages Guild equivalent has a "restore ancient Yokudan sanctuaries" quest chain.

If construction quests give unique blueprints or NPC settlers for your base, prioritize them. In Fallout 4, the Minutemen quests were tedious but unlocked settlement features available nowhere else. TES6 might pull the same trick. The "boring" construction faction might be the most mechanically rewarding.

I'll be joining whichever faction helps me build faster, regardless of their politics. I can roleplay a principled revolutionary on the second playthrough. The first one is about getting the best settlement, the fastest ship, and the most complete set of faction gear. Pragmatism wins round one. Idealism gets round two. That's just how I play these games, you know?