Todd Howard says Elder Scrolls 6 “most definitely” has more trees than Skyrim, and now I’m pinning Valenwood to the location conspiracy board

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Like Grand Theft Auto 6, The Elder Scrolls 6 is one of the most eagerly awaited games, but after more than seven years since its first announcement, details are still scarce. Recently, Todd Howard, the director and executive producer at Bethesda, shared a key piece of information about the game – though it might not seem significant in the future.

A content creator named Any Austin set out to answer a question many Skyrim fans have pondered for years: how many trees are actually in the game? While Skyrim is famously huge and full of forests, the precise number is 46,430. Austin figured this out by painstakingly exploring the game world, collecting data, and verifying it with the game’s files – all without using mods or online resources. He even got a guess from Bethesda’s Todd Howard before revealing the real number, and Howard’s estimate was way off!

Howard estimated that Skyrim contains 111,111 trees, likely a nod to the game’s 2011 release year. However, his response to a question about the number of trees in The Elder Scrolls 6 was even more noteworthy. When asked if the next game would have more or fewer trees than Skyrim, Howard emphatically stated, “More… definitely more.”

This probably doesn’t amount to much, but if you’re willing to entertain some speculation, we can have a little fun and come up with a few ideas about what Howard might be hinting at.

It’s likely he’s simply saying The Elder Scrolls 6 will be much larger than Skyrim, and therefore have more trees, no matter what the landscape looks like. Based on his comment, we can probably assume the game won’t be set in a desert – unless he’s jokingly including cacti when he mentions trees, which seems unlikely.

If you’re interested in speculating about where the next Elder Scrolls game might be set – like diving deep into fan theories – let’s consider Valenwood. It’s described as a lush, subtropical region with dense forests along Tamriel’s southwestern coast. According to lore, Valenwood is a vibrant ‘sea of green’ with cities built amongst the trees – essentially Tamriel’s garden and home to the Bosmer. What’s really unique is that the region features massive, wandering trees so large that entire cities are built within their branches.

If Valenwood is a key setting in The Elder Scrolls 6, then Todd Howard’s recent comments about the game having significantly more trees than Skyrim would suddenly seem logical. It would explain his unusual focus on the increased foliage.

So, is Valenwood any more likely to be the setting for The Elder Scrolls 6 than any other part of Tamriel? It’s up for discussion, but it’s still interesting to speculate.

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2025-12-19 22:40