Starfield fans are convinced they've discovered a neat Elder Scrolls 6 joke in-game

The Elder Scrolls 6
(Image credit: Bethesda)

Starfield has quite a funny joke about The Elder Scrolls 6.

As spotted by the Reddit user below over the past weekend, there's a rather peculiar scroll holder in The Lodge, which is the headquarters of The Constellation troupe in Starfield. There's nothing much going on with this scroll holder, but it's being propped by a book called "Great Expectations," which can't be an accident.

Have to imagine this is an Elder Scrolls 6 reference from r/Starfield

We can't imagine Charles Dickens has much of a presence in Starfield's universe. Instead, this is surely a joke about The Elder Scrolls 6 being propped up the 'great expectations' of a hell of a lot of people around the world, as the Reddit user hypothesizes in the original post above.

This is either just about the greatest coincidence ever, or it's a really funny joke from the folk at Bethesda. We can't help but wonder who put these props here in The Lodge - is it someone that'll be heading off to work on The Elder Scrolls 6 after their time on the new spacefaring RPG is done?

If it is, we can't help but feel for them. Starfield was under a tremendous amount of pressure to deliver, not just because it's Bethesda's first new game world in well over two decades, but also because it had something to prove for Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass subscription service, and after eight long years in development, no less.

It's already been five years since The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced, and the pressure on Bethesda is only going to ramp up the more we learn about the game. Bethesda's head of publishing recently revealed The Elder Scrolls 6 is finally in development, now that Starfield has effectively shipped. The joke is funny, but there's no lies detected here. 

You can head over to our Starfield religions guide if you're a bit stuck on deciding which faction to align yourself with in the early hours. 

Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.

Read more
A screenshot of the trailer for the upcoming PC game, The Elder Scrolls 6.
The Elder Scrolls 6 sleuths use Starfield math to narrow down the Skyrim sequel's potential release window, and sorry folks, it's still looking like it's ages away
Elder Scrolls 6
The Elder Scrolls 6: Everything we know so far
A screenshot of the trailer for the upcoming PC game, The Elder Scrolls 6.
More than 4 years after its last Elder Scrolls 6 teaser, Bethesda officially re-acknowledges the RPG - using the exact same picture we saw in 2018
A screenshot of the trailer for the upcoming PC game, The Elder Scrolls 6.
Skyrim was 2,403 days old when The Elder Scrolls 6 trailer dropped - and now that same trailer is also 2,403 days old
The Elder Scrolls 6 screenshot of the landscape show in the announcement teaser
Upcoming Bethesda games: every game currently in the works
Starfield
Bethesda breaks silence as Starfield fans hope for an update: "We have a lot of exciting things planned for the game this year"
Latest in RPG
Atomfall screenshot
Fallout: New Vegas is a big inspiration for Atomfall, which is why you’ll be able to kill every NPC in post-apocalyptic Cumbria
Assassin's Creed Shadows cinematic screenshot
Assassin's Creed Shadows' transmog looks set to combine the best of Odyssey and Vahalla to make changing my drip easier than ever
Stardew Valley Baldur's Gate 3 mod Baldur's Village
Baldur's Gate 3 director Swen Vincke gives his official approval to the Stardew Valley mod that brings the D&D RPG to Pelican Town
The Witcher 3 lead says "not many games" were trying to match the RPG back in 2015, and that meant "there was a risk" to making it in the first place
The Blood of Dawnwalker
The Witcher 3 dev says his new vampire RPG Blood of Dawnwalker wants to challenge genre conventions, but only if "we're changing them to actually achieve some goal"
The Blood of Dawnwalker: A screenshot of the vampire Brencis holding up a crown during the trailer for the upcoming game.
The Witcher 3 devs created a Jekyll & Hyde-style character for their new vampire RPG "because nobody yet has done that"
Latest in News
Anthony Mackie in Captain America: Brave New World
Brave New World box office crosses milestone for Captain America movies, even though it still might not break even
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor
The first three episodes of the best Star Wars show are now available to watch for free ahead of the Andor season 2 premiere
Mio and Zoe holding a dragon during the trailer for Split Fiction.
Split Fiction blows It Takes Two out of the water by selling 1 million copies in 2 days, becoming Hazelight's fastest selling game ever
Death Stranding 2
Hideo Kojima says he'll "apologize beforehand" for Death Stranding 2 moments with Troy Baker's Higgs which are "so ridiculous" that "you'll probably throw the controller"
a stone giant walks on a field near a cliff
Erenshor, the 'MMORPG' with fake players that's not actually an MMO at all, gets an imminent release date
Michael Bay
Michael Bay and James Cameron had a call to commiserate over the state of the movie industry: "No one can greenlight anything anymore"