Skyrim's Real Life Size

[TheObstinateNoviceSmith]

Introduction

 

What's up people?

 

So upon reading an interesting story written by a friend of mine, I was reminded of a question I had a while ago that I had forgot to continue to attempt to find an answer to due to my ADD.

 

Basically, at some point, for no logical reason at all, I was curious as to how large Skyrim would be in real life.

 

I Googled and couldn't find the answer. Instead, I kept seeing people consistently quote two figures: 14.8 Sq mi and 15.8 Sq mi.

 

This of course wasn't what I wanted to know, so I decided to try and hypothesize it myself. I mean I did make a calculator for converting Creation Kit height numbers into real life measurements so why not figure this out as well.

 

I know the answer is coming all late and what not and that this isn't truly truly official, but since I didn't find ANY answer remotely close to what sounded right to me and what I came up with seemed legit enough, I figured I would share.

 

So here we are. Be easy on me with my terms. I didn't really know what to call certain things. Also, I know this is up for debate, but this is what I think it is and you can take it or leave it.

 

Hopefully it makes someone feel a little bit better about this if they were wondering like me.

 

 

The Work

 

* Game Real Size (Sq mi) - Between 14.8 and 15.8 Sq mi

 

* 1 yard equals 1 mi – "...For a large game, 500 yards is the equivalent of 500 miles..."

 

* Game Real Size (Sq Yds) - Between 45,844,480 and 48,942,080 Sq Yds

 

* I've seen people state that Skyrim is 1/10 its size and this would mean that we should multiply the Sq Yds by 10 and that didn't/doesn't feel right to me.

 

I have no real basis to say this as Elder Scrolls is fictional and their planet may actually somehow be bigger than ours. I could be thinking of the math wrong, but anyway, it just seemed right to divide by 10 instead.

 

* Real Life Size (Sq mi) - Between 4,584,448 and 4,894,208 Sq mi (same in Sq yds)

 

* Now to figure out roughly how many miles across Skyrim is horizontally and vertically, we start by getting the square root - Between 2,141 and 2,212 mi (same in Sq yds)

 

* Skyrim is roughly 1.6 times as long horizontally as it is vertically so horizontally Skyrim is - Between 2,141 * 1.6 = 3,426 and 2,212 * 1.6 = 3,539 mi (same in yds)

 

* And is long vertically roughly - Between 2,141 / 1.6 = 1,338 and 2,212 / 1.6 = 1,383 mi (same in yds)

 

 

The Conclusion - Skyrim's Size

 

Game Real Size (Sq mi): Between 14.8 and 15.8

Game Real Size (Sq k): Between 33.3 and 40.9

 

Real Life Size (Sq mi): Between 4,584,448 and 4,894,208

Real Life Size (Sq k): Between 11,873,666 and 12,675,941

 

Real Life Size Horizontally (mi): Between 3,426 and 3,539

Real Life Size Vertically (mi): Between 1,338 and 1,383

 

Real Life Size Horizontally (k): Between 5,514 and 5,695

Real Life Size Vertically (k): Between 3,446 and 3,560

[Signette]

Thanks for this math, it's quite useful, since, as you stated, there are not too many accurate topics on that matter and some folks might be interested in that stuff, additional thanks for converting it into Metric, because I suck at Imperial, hard to judge numbers.

 

On the side note these calculations are worthwhile, but one fact kinda drains sense out of it. Thing is: Skyrim's territory also includes dungeons and other interiors, which might be even half of entire Skyrim territory in size (hence Blackreach), now that would be a real drag to measure it all up and summorize in real total distance, but only this way we can know true Skyrim size. Another fact that interiors aren't fit in size for exterior, for example: house from inside might be bigger (or smaller) than model we see from the outside. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Edited January 13, 2016 by Signette

[TheObstinateNoviceSmith]

First off, thanks your response and positive words. Much appreciated.

 

You're right, interiors of any kind whether they be natural enclosures or man made ones, were not factored into my calculation process attempt at all. The reason for this is because I do not believe this is how landmass is generally measured in real life.

 

It's like the United States is said to be 3.8 million Sq mi (or 9.8 million Sq k) and I don't think it includes measurements of all its many caves and such as I am almost certain that landmass in real life is merely a measurement of "surface terrain" if that makes sense.

 

But I could be wrong.

[heyiforgot]

If I can find it back I'll link to it but I had seen discussions on the size of Tamriel elsewhere. There were some reasonable sounding estimates made by using the time taken to travel between certain places mentioned in the novels and the in-game books and then using that to calculate the distance between those places and using that to measure the size of the continent.

 

- edited to add- Here you go-

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/ui64h/tamriels_size_in_square_miles/

Edited January 14, 2016 by heyiforgot

[TheObstinateNoviceSmith]

Thank you for your post and for the link.

 

But personally, all those numbers seemed extremely too low. Especially given the numerous times I have seen it stated that Tamriel is 12 million Sq mi.

 

The way I see it, Tamriel is intended to be a large continent and 12 million Sq would make it similar in size to Africa and the numbers I came up with would make Skyrim roughly around the size of the United States. My math, my reasoning behind it, and the resulting numbers all make more sense to/for me.

 

But I can understand why some would take those numbers and the methods used there.

 

Regardless, thanks again for providing a link to that information.

[536861646f57]

Bethesda...wtf...I really hope TESVI is not downscaled, myself and pretty much all the other ES fans want a full world, something that takes weeks to get from one end of the province to the other, not mere ingame hours. Thanks for the calculations. Since you have the calculator, how long is a typical greatsword in Skyrim? A real life g/s should be between 90 and 120 centimetres. I felt that the swords in Skyrim were exceptionally short.

[TheObstinateNoviceSmith]

Hey, thanks for the post but yeah... I don't know.

 

My math was just for calculating land mass. I feel like realistically, you have to downscale the land from what it really would be due to practicality as well as budget and game/computer constraints. I mean you wouldn't try fitting a full sized car on your bookshelf. You put a scaled down model of it there.

 

And even though it would be nice if everything was nice and neat and even, I don't think the same scale formulas can be used for one thing can be used for another simply because they are in the same game because not everything in that game requires the same amount of scaling in order to maintain practicality of playing.

 

I could be wrong in this case of course, but in works of fiction, the scaling for one thing (land) doesn't always seem to be the same for another (i.e. - weapon size)... assuming they bother to really worry about scaling at all the same way people like myself do.

[536861646f57]

Hey, thanks for the post but yeah... I don't know.

 

My math was just for calculating land mass. I feel like realistically, you have to downscale the land from what it really would be due to practicality as well as budget and game/computer constraints. I mean you wouldn't try fitting a full sized car on your bookshelf. You put a scaled down model of it there.

 

And even though it would be nice if everything was nice and neat and even, I don't think the same scale formulas can be used for one thing can be used for another simply because they are in the same game because not everything in that game requires the same amount of scaling in order to maintain practicality of playing.

 

I could be wrong in this case of course, but in works of fiction, the scaling for one thing (land) doesn't always seem to be the same for another (i.e. - weapon size)... assuming they bother to really worry about scaling at all the same way people like myself do.

Ah, okay. If you've played Oblivion hopefully you'll notice a weapon size difference.

[Signette]

First off, thanks your response and positive words. Much appreciated.

 

You're right, interiors of any kind whether they be natural enclosures or man made ones, were not factored into my calculation process attempt at all. The reason for this is because I do not believe this is how landmass is generally measured in real life.

 

It's like the United States is said to be 3.8 million Sq mi (or 9.8 million Sq k) and I don't think it includes measurements of all its many caves and such as I am almost certain that landmass in real life is merely a measurement of "surface terrain" if that makes sense.

 

But I could be wrong.

NP, you did a good job after all. And I meant it kinda in game argument sense, you know, when people start comparing territories, and saying stuff like Witcher has bigger lands, or GTA or any other, totally neglecting that game also has underworld which in addition to overworld is much bigger in size. In real life sense calculating underworld makes no sense, I agree.

 

Also, there are some fun facts about total territory sizes of TES which makes very little sense now to consider previous games or books to estimate it, check this out:

http://i.imgur.com/6s2fFTC.jpg

ROFL*

 

And yeah, weapon scaling in Oblivion was sooo damn stupid...

[Moksha8088]

Perhaps Tamriel expands and contracts from time to time due to the variable kinetic pressure of the TES lore.