Side quests are a staple of the RPG genre, whether it's a single player CRPG, an action RPG, or a MMORPG like The Elder Scrolls Online. The Elder Scrolls franchise is well known for its fantastic side quests spanning the gamut between basic and bizarre, and while The Elder Scrolls Online is a little different, it has much of the series' DNA just like its predecessors Skyrim and Oblivion.
And The Elder Scrolls Online is a truly massive game with dozens of different playable areas and features more side quests than any of the more recent Elder Scrolls games, so it's easy to miss out on some of the best side stories available.
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10 Carnival Conundrum
Why it's easy to miss: It's out in the wilds
This base game quest in Greenshade, a region of Valenwood, is a fun, one and done, quest which involves helping a down on its luck carnival get ready for its performance. As is often the case in RPGs, everything has gone wrong for the organizers of this particular festival, and they're in danger of not being able to perform at all. But if the player so wishes this little carnival can be put back on track. The quest itself is fairly straightforward, and the actual reward a bit underwhelming. But as well as an item, some gold, and XP, players get to watch the carnival's attractions - which is arguably the real reward anyway.
9 The Ghostwriter of Giovesse
Why it's easy to miss: It's inside a building that players could easily walk past
The Ghostwriter of Giovesse is an unusual quest where the player is tasked with helping an aspiring writer do research for her yet-to-be-written romance novel. Of course, this being Tamriel, a little research involves a lot of spelunking and ghosts and all sorts of other nasties. Without spoiling anything, this quest is a wild ride with a potentially very weird outcome. But that's part of what makes it great, since it's a fun dive into Imperial lore with a decidedly personal aspect to it.
8 Help Rigurt the Brash and the Nord Cultural Exchange
Why it's easy to miss: Rigurt is often far off the beaten path
Less of a singular side quest and more of an interconnected set, players are able to help out Rigurt the Brash, an unapologetically enthusiastic Nord ambassador, in his attempts to spread awareness of Nord culture and customs while making valuable cultural connections with other peoples. Unfortunately for Rigurt and the Nords of the Ebonheart Pact, he's completely awful at his job. But his failure is the player's gain as Rigurt finds himself consistently in need of major assistance in some of the funniest quests in the Elder Scrolls Online.
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7 At Any Cost
Why it's easy to miss: This quest is out of the way and has a prerequisite quest.
Part of a duo of quests located in and around the Vvardenfell town of Vos, At Any Cost features an NPC familiar to players of Bethesda's Morrowind. Mistress Dratha is a Telvanni magister who was responsible for ruling over Vos, but after an extended illness, she was replaced. Players can help her get better, and once this is done she asks for help becoming immortal. This is kind of an origin story for Mistress Dratha who appears, later on in Tamriel's timeline, in Morrowind as a very old, immortal mage. A nice nod to the series' history and a fun look at a character's past.
6 A Khajiit's Tale
Why it's easy to miss: It is in an area where players normally wouldn't be anyway.
In Northern Wrothgar, homeland of the orcs, players can meet an unusual Khajiit called Zhasim. Unlike most khajiit, even those raised outside of the Khajiiti homeland Elsweyr, Zhasim was raised by orcs and sounds the part. What follows after meeting Zhasim is a look into families, adoption, and cultural belonging in what's actually a surprising deep quest for a side quest in an MMORPG. This is a fun quest to play and gives players a different look into how Tamriel's denizens build their cultures and relationships, and Zhasim shows up in Elsweyr, too.
5 An Abundance of Stibbons
Why it's easy to miss: It is in a location with nothing else there
Lady Clarisse Laurent and her long-suffering manservant Stibbons are popular recurring characters in the Elder Scrolls Online, being featured in a number of side quests in many different regions of the game. All of these quests are great, but An Abundance of Stibbons stands out and spawned a number of ESO memes. Lady Laurent loves to complain about the difficult in getting good help, but as this quest's name suggests, she is blessed (cursed?) with an overabundance of her manservant, Stibbons. But this quest is also a surprising dive into some neat Argonian lore as well as containing some fun puzzle sections.
4 Chiaroscuro Crossroads
Why it's easy to miss: It is in a zone that is filled with other content.
Encountered in the zone of Southern Elsweyr, Chiaroscuro Crossroads is a fascinating look into ancient Khajiiti myth and religion, as well as its more modern practice. This quest is a substantive dive into the mysteries of the Khajiiti religion, drawing on deep Tamrielic lore about Lorkhan, Daedric Prince Azura, and Namira - all wrapped up in traditional Khajiiti understanding - and how this relates to the fearsome Dro m'Athra. Players get to help a Twilight Cantor, a priestess of Azurah, unravel the mystery before her sister's husband dies without receiving his last rites.
3 The Tones of the Deep
Why it's easy to miss: It is in an area that has nothing to do with the main quest.
The Tones of the Deep is a fun look into the history of the Dwemer and their experiments in tonal architecture, an obscure form of magic little understood in Tamriel's present day. Or much of its future. Set inside a ruined Dwemer city/workshop deep inside the expansive subterranean world of Blackreach, The Tones of the Deep features three returning characters familiar to long-time players of The Elder Scrolls Online, and is a pleasing romp through a time-addled ruin that dangles some juicy pieces of Dwemer lore.
2 Half-Formed Understandings
Why it's easy to miss: It is hidden in a remote ruin
The ancient necromancer Mannimarco has been featured multiple times in the Elder Scrolls franchise, from his first appearance in Daggerfall, to subsequent appearances in Oblivion and The Elder Scrolls Online itself.
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Half-Formed Understandings gives players the opportunity to see where it all began for Mannimarco, and charts the sequence of events that led to his expulsion from the famous yet intensely secretive Psjic Order for his abominable experiments with the deepest mysteries of necromancy. The perfect quest for lore buffs.
1 Ashen Scar - Help Vastarie
Why it's easy to miss: It is in a location that is hard to get to.
This quest line is easily one of the best side quests in The Elder Scrolls Online and it's easy to miss. Players help Vastarie, an ancient undead necromancer, bring order to a troubled region of Northern Elsweyr. This quest is great for a bunch of different reasons, not least of which being its fun fights. But more than that, it's a deep dive into Khajiiti lore that really gives shape and life to a culture which hasn't really been explored much in more traditional Elder Scrolls games like Skyrim or Oblivion. This quest gives players the rundown on Khajiiti clan structures, ancient beliefs, and drops some tantalizing hints about the nature of Lorkhan. Well worth playing through.
The Elder Scrolls Online
- Franchise
- The Elder Scrolls
- Platform(s)
- PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , PC , macOS
- Genre(s)
- MMORPG
