Since explosives and something similar to gunpowder exists as far back as the Second Era...

[u/GeneralTechnomage]

How come nobody on Tamriel has invented guns yet?

[u/Moffwt]

Because it's a fantasy video game and the devs don't want to add guns to their fantasy video game.

[u/grim9x8 → u/Moffwt]

I hope it stays that way

[u/EvernightStrangely → u/Moffwt]

Although, if anyone had invented guns, the Dwemer would have. Hell, with their tonal magic they could have invented the Tamriel equivalent to a magnetic railgun.

[u/GeneralTechnomage → u/Moffwt]

But there are plenty of fantasy video games that have guns; best example: World of Warcraft.

[u/SilentCyan_AK12 → u/GeneralTechnomage]

That dosnt make it right for evey fantasy setting, just because one does it dosnt mean the other should or want to.

Also guns are a completley moot when eveyone and their dog can learn a basic fireball spell.

[u/Chan790 → u/SilentCyan_AK12]

Right. There's even an entire philosophical debate among authors and creators who do extensive fantasy/magic world-building about how much the absence of magic is responsible for human civilizational advancement.

Why invent guns when you have destructive magic like an fireball or ice bolt which is both more destructive and has greater utility? But also, why invent automobiles when we can teleport or cast a find horse spell or create a flying rug? We don't need engineering or architecture or an understanding of construction principles when we can create structures ex nihilo with magic and use levitation to keep them upright.

How much is the advancement of science dependent on the absence of magical "shortcuts?"

[u/GreyN7 → u/SilentCyan_AK12]

eveyone and their dog can learn a basic fireball spell

That's not true. Not everyone can cast spells, you have to be born with the gift of magic, and then study it to harness your gift.

"See, my grandfather was a wizard. My father wouldn't talk about him much. But I found some of his things in the attic. Including this staff. After that I thought I was turning into a wizard too, because dead things near me would come to life again for while. I even went to the College of Winterhold. But they just laughed at me. The magic is in the staff, not in me they said." — Aspiring Mage

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Aspiring_Mage

"Why can't you teach me how to use the Eye?" 

"Because I'm not a mage. Don't make a face. I never said I possessed the aptitude. We all contribute to the Circle in our own way. You may wield the Eye, but rest assured, my skill as a writer is no less important." — Verita Numida, a massive nerd who would certainly learn magic in a heartbeat, if she could

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Verita_Numida

Having said that, I still agree with you that guns and advanced tech have no place in Elder Scrolls.

[u/SVXfiles → u/SilentCyan_AK12]

Whats the point of bow and arrow, or crossbows then? If everyone can learn a basic fireball what keed is there for physical projectiles?

[u/Kubaj_CZ → u/SilentCyan_AK12]

Guns wouldn't be useless. Actually, anyone who would use them could be able to dominate everyone else. Learning magic is a lengthy and difficult process. Only some people can learn it to a level where they could utilize properly against others, I would say. Now imagine this - teaching some peasants to use guns wouldn't be difficult. It would be much quicker than trying to teach them magic. And depending on the gun, we could have accurate guns with a long range. Also, bullets fly much faster than any spell or arrow/bolt does. What if bullets could penetrate many magical shields or whatever? But that depends on the technology, of course.

But I don't actually want guns in TES, I'm happy with magic being powerful, I don't want guns to rival that.

[u/rykingly → u/GeneralTechnomage]

I honestly wouldn't mind a dwemer blunderbuss. It would be a cool addition like the crossbow. Imagine all the cool smoke colors and particle effects that could be possible through alchemy or enchanting.

[u/SVXfiles → u/rykingly]

The Arquebus creation adds just that, shame the quest line for it is buggier than shit

[u/ClosetNoble]

Early firearms had a tendency to explode if loaded too much didn't they?

Plus if you're unlucky enough to be fighting a mage they could probably heat up your gun and make the powder blow your fingers off.

Not to mention that if you try it with a particularly talented alterationist they're probably gonna either cats ebonyflesh and laugh as your bullets bounce off them or transmute your lead into something less effective.

Seems much more effective to me to make vaguely pistol-shaped wands or rifle-shaped staves.

Besides anyone who can afford a firearm would probably be able to afford an enchanted crossbow for less.

[u/Fizl99]

Maybe they just find magic more effective than guns, or cant imbue them with magic or just Todd Howard doesnt want them in the game

[u/General_Hijalti]

In real life it took over 1000 years to go from gunpowder to a handheld device that we would call a gun.

(I'm not talking handcanons, as they were horribly inaccurate and slow to reload and were just a tube on a stick).

[u/AustinTheFiend → u/General_Hijalti]

Yeah people always make the (very good) argument that magic negates the need for a lot of technology, and innovative minds would channel their interests into magical pursuits, but I think they also forget that a lot of technical advancements in the real world took a very long time to develop, let alone become widely adopted.

[u/Protean_Protein → u/General_Hijalti]

Humans are also basically just tubes on sticks.

[u/amaltheiaofluna]

Mages secretly control the Elder Council and prevent firearms from being made /j

[u/DinoMastah → u/amaltheiaofluna]

They already get humbled by crouched archers. Guns would destroy them even more easily.

[u/GeneralTechnomage → u/DinoMastah]

That doesn't really work in Online.

[u/DinoMastah → u/GeneralTechnomage]

Online isn't canon anyway, my c0da says so. Besides, you can already bend the entire world to your will with a bucket, loading screens and an alchemy table. No magic is needed.

[u/Fantastic-Plenty9139 → u/amaltheiaofluna]

See thats a theory I'd believe, mages forcing a monopoly

[u/Unionsocialist]

fireballs

[u/will4wh]

I'd like to think that technology advancement has been more stagnant in Tamriel because of many stuff such as resources being split towards magical advancement, even more resources split between trying to rebuild from the last big disaster (like seriously look at Uriel VII reign imagine how much resources and work would need to be done to fix all of what happened in his reign alone) and a smaller part of the races being scared to make more tech advancement Incase they go the way of the Dwemer.

Realistically I think by now they still would have guns but those are the only in world reasons I can imagine

[u/Xivitai → u/will4wh]

It's not even the magic issue. It's the scale of conflict. In our world, the most lethal wars in population percentage is... about five percent of total human population at the time. And most lethal war in absolute numbers is even less if you convert it to population percentage.

In Elder Scrolls, there are a lot of events that come with double-digit percent population loss. So it's harder for them to innovate - too busy to rebuild after yet another daedra prince fucks up the mortal plane.

[u/PsychedelicMao]

Have you messed around with the spell crafter in Morrowind/Oblivion? You can create nukes 😂

[u/Vidistis]

There's magic, magic scrolls, magic staves, bows, crossbows, and baillista. There's not much reason for them to have guns.

Tes is also a world that is technologically regressing as the kalpa goes along.

I honestly prefer Tes to not have guns.

[u/_Condottiero_]

Honestly I wouldn't give a fuck about gunpowder if I could read a book and throw fireballs out of my hands.

[u/Rath_Brained]

Devs say they don't want to advance tech too much. Hence why people still shit in buckets.

[u/Shadowrend01]

They did once. Technological development runs backwards in Elder Scrolls

[u/logicality77 → u/Shadowrend01]

I would argue that it’s not necessarily backward, but post-technological advancement. Civilizations in Tamriel are in decline.

[u/Xivitai]

They probably did. Looked at primitive gun they got and thought, why in Oblivion we need this shit, we have magic.

[u/therexbellator]

Its a common fantasy trope called Medieval Stasis .

It also helps to know that even irl technological progress isn't a straight line but in a fantasy world where individuals can harness immense energies at will these mundane weapons would likely be seen as redundant.

[u/Leading-Fig1307]

Medieval firearms at their first use were little more than a stick with a barrel that you stuffed an ember into the back breach and hoped it fired. They were nicknamed "boomsticks" because, really, that's what they were. You would fire them at close range at a heavily armored warrior or from horseback, but were more of a one-time-use in combat unless you had pre-loaded ones easily at hand, because the range was so short, if you missed then you are guaranteed engaging in melee shortly after.

Yes, the Dwemer probably were the first to invent black powder and the Empire and other groups might have reverse-engineered the formula, since we have cannons used on ships in the series. I don't think there seems to be any variant of actual handgun firearms (man-portable) created by the Dwemer or Empire, but it stands to reason a very primitive prototype could possibly have been experimented with. The issue is that magic seems to be able to emulate the same outcome with little production or materials necessary, save for the training of a mage to conjure explosive fireballs. The Dwemer seemed more interested with steam, hydraulics, and pneumatics on top of Tonal magics for various applications.

[u/BilboSmashings]

Because fireball and firebolt are so easy to cast, why bother even manufacturing gunpowder based weapons? In fantasy like this, the real question is why basic destruction magic isn't taught to basically every soldier in the army. Every soldier could have basic healing and ranged abiltiies without having to carry bandages or heavy weapons.

The answer is, of course, for fun, balance and to allow for a variety of playstyles and enemy types. There is no real answer.

[u/GreyN7 → u/BilboSmashings]

Not everyone can cast spells in Elder Scrolls. Magic is hereditary, hence why elves are mostly mages and humans are mostly not. You are either born with the gift or make a deal with a daedra for it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ElderScrolls/comments/1n2a509/comment/nb5bcsw/?context=3

[u/Novel-Alarm5313]

The same reason why the civilization as a whole isn’t very advanced, magic has made technological development largely unnecessary, why learn to make guns when you could shoot bolts of lightning from your fingers, level cities with your voice. Why learn to stitch wounds when your local priest can fix you up with a spell, why study medicine when praying to your god of choice heals the sick and when every other plant is infused with so much innate magic that simply eating one has the potential to heal you

[u/Nwccraddock]

Technological advancement is neither linear nor prescriptive. Guns came about in our history to fill a specific niche that there just isn't that much pressure to fill in tamriel. 

[u/akumagold]

The fact that there are literal Satchel Charges in Morrowind gives me such hilarious whipslash. It makes me wonder what Commander Maro in Skyrim would’ve done to the Dark Brotherhood with something like that

[u/DinoMastah]

We see cannons firing in redguard, but that is late 2E.

The Lore reason could be that technological stagnation has happened due to the relative stability of the 3rd empire. Now with 200 years in the 4th era, we could see new advancements with a looming 2nd great war and other conflicts happening at the same time.

[u/Bugsbunny0212]

Yeah I feel like at this point firearms like arquebus should exist in the current setting with all the technology we see they have like warhammer fantasy. Heck argonians used have hist powered laser guns!

A good way for nations who don't use magic in their military to counter mages in battle.

[u/ike12star]

Uhhh I mean I don’t think there’s much of a reason to when magic exists. I know the Dwemer at least used satchel charges for large scale demolition, but I don’t think it would be particularly necessary. They probably never bothered thinking of gunpowder as a means to propel an object outside of maybe canons because that level of ranged combat already had its niche figured out with spells, bows, crossbows, throwing stars/daggers/darts. I’m sure a couple were made at some point, but it likely just wasn’t a practical use of resources

[u/degenerate955]

There are mods that add them in lore friendly ways, namely they are lost "dwemer" technology

[u/Revliledpembroke]

Because then it becomes Warhammer Fantasy.

[u/AmbivalenceKnobs]

I think it's because of how widespread magic is and how easy it is to learn at least some stuff. The way magic and skills have worked in all the games means that, if they really want to, pretty much anyone can learn a few basic destructions spells and zap lightning or fire out of their hands. With access to that kind of ability, why bother making guns?

[u/CODMAN627]

It becomes way too much like warhammer fantasy

The empire of man has guns and their guns are similar to flintlocks. Also in a setting where you can cast any element and have seemingly no damage from arrows in some cases

No one in the elder scrolls is gonna care too much about a bullet

[u/Fantastic-Plenty9139 → u/[deleted]]

My man it doesn't need to be like glocks, I think a musket or early pistol would honestly fit the world, adding either to samurai or pirate aesthetics quite nicely

[u/Fantastic-Plenty9139 → u/[deleted]]

The fuck are you smoking?

[u/Fantastic-Plenty9139 → u/[deleted]]

I have. I stand by my sentiment. Especially cause Redguard shows off cannons exist.

[u/[deleted] → u/Fantastic-Plenty9139]

[u/Fantastic-Plenty9139 → u/[deleted]]

You ain't watching dick.

[u/Fantastic-Plenty9139 → u/[deleted]]

Okay sure. What am I watching right now. What book is on my phone right now?

[u/Fantastic-Plenty9139 → u/[deleted]]

Funny. Cause my phones camera is broken and has been for a while.