Biggest creatures in The Elder Scrolls

Hello everyone! Just for fun, I made a list of the biggest creatures in The Elder Scrolls! Of course, this will not be including gods or the Princes (although for any exceptional individuals, I will note them below). Additionally, I will not include machines or plants.

A large, odd looking fish (?) that lives in the acid caves below Stros M'kai. Each one is approximately the size of an elephant, and has no issue with a person riding on their back, with even more of their body hidden beneath the corrosive acid, which does not bother them. Other than that, very little is known of these mysterious creatures.


One of the bigger known races of lesser daedra, Inferniums are horrid monsters in the service of Mehrunes Dagon (although others no doubt serve other Princes, or even have no Lord at all). Inferniums are big enough that they can easily devour a horse (or horse-sized creature). Inferniums can grow over 4.6m long. Inferniums were the original inspiration for the Daedric Siege engine(s) we see during the Oblivion Crisis, and are possibly much smarter than their beastial appearences would imply...

Mammoths are huge, well, mammoths. They are even bigger than your average giant, who in turn protects and guards the mammoths from any potential dangers, and farm them for their milk, which they make into cheese. Mammoth tusks are said to be as hard as steel, and only the giants know the secret of turning them into powder.

Arguably the most well known monsters of Black Marsh, Wamasu's are lizards known for their powerful lightning abilities. The Fang of Haynekhtnamet is a weapon made from the tooth of a powerful Wamasu of the same name, and retained its electrical powers even centuries after the beasts death, after a battle which took seven days and seven nights (source). One wamasu threatened the foundations of a stone building, threatening the bring an entire settlement down. Wamasus can grow over 8.5m long.

Very little are known of spawn mothers, other than they are a kind of grummite (possibly daedric) found in the seas of the Shivering Isles. From our only sighting of them however, we can tell just how big they can grow from the seagulls that surround them.

Found in the Battlespire, the Mock Turtle is a member of a species of great turtles, and used to be a normal turtle. Mock Turtles are the source of the Soup of Kings, and due to their rarity, many scholars doubt they exist at all. But exist they do, and you can meet one in the Battlespire, who will tell you its sad tale. Mock Turtles are said to be half-living creature, half-architecture. The mock turtle is so big that you only come up to the level of its eyes.

Colossal reptilian beasts found in Black Marsh of truly kaiju proportions, Swamp Leviathan's are big enough to swallow a person alive and whole, with claws 9 feet long (or over 2.7m). A swamp leviathan has been shown to have a flock of around eight or so birds fly between its mighty legs.

Although dragons can range in size, dragons are known to reach over 31m long with a wingspan of over 45m. Large dragons are more than capable of eating a person whole, with some dragons easily being bigger than entire buildings. Dragons can swoop up giants and even mammoths. The biggest dragon we see is the skeleton of Dragonne Papre, who's head dwarves their rider, and was used by the battlemages to travel from the Battlespire to the surrounding pocket universes of Oblivion, and potentially back to Tamriel in times of danger (although this was sadly not the case in the end).

Note: Including specific dragons and gods, Alduin at full size & strength is big enough to have all of Nirn in his stomach, and Akatosh, the embodiment of time, would encompass infinite space and infinite time; obviously this would put dragons at the largest creatures on the list. The Aspect of Alkosh, the Khajiiti aspect of the Time Dragon, reaches a staggering 401m long.

Taken on average, Storm atronachs are big but not as big as flesh atronachs, stone atronachs or air atronachs, the largest of the storm atronachs are by far the biggest, easily dwarving old ships (which we can see from ingame, can reach up to at least 3 floors in height). Even smaller atronachs than this are shown to be massive, with Stormfist towering over 3 or 4 times taller than the people attacking it (source), and the summonable Stormfist brings forth a hand big enough to hold & crush a person; one particular storm atronach is described as having "man-sized hands" and swipping away dozens of skeletons.

Like in our world, whales can grow to incredible sizes, and are depicted in the puzzles and walls of the Halls of Stories in ancient Nord ruins Whales are hunted by the ancient Nords and the sea giants for their blubber, meat and oil. Although we don't see any live whales in the games, we do see the remains of a whale, in Sovngarde, which forms the mythical Whale-Bone Bridge. This skeleton is far bigger even than the blue whale (note Tsun, who is already much taller than everyone else, is dwarved by the Whale-Bone Bridge skeleton). An OOG source says that this is infact a reference to Snow-Whales.

Found in the seas around Pyandonea and Hammerfell, sea serpents can reach over 64 feet (over 19.5m) above water level (which isn't even including the parts of them still underwater). Sea serpents can grow at least twice the length of a galleon and have been known to capsize warships, with mouths big enough to fit people within their jaws (something that is clearly demonstratible with the Colossal Serpent Skull furnishing). Certain incredibly powerful sea serpents cannot be defeated by mortal weapons, and only sealed away (see the source for large sea serpents eating people, and the related quest). The Maomer use the sea serpents as mounts during naval battles to attack the ships & fleets of Tamriel.

Emperor crabs are the largest of the crabs we see in the Elder Scrolls, with the remains of the most famous, Skar, being so big that it houses the city of Ald'run inside it (further reading). Skar was said to have taken out entire armies, with only a powerful hero with a powerful spear being able to take it down (this is mentioned both in-universe, by the devs and has an entire quest around it) . Definately, Skar's husk has provided shelter from the elements for centuries. Some believe that Emperor crabs are related to mudcrabs (source), while others still believe that mudcrabs descended from emperor crabs, with emperor crabs being divine in nature but choosing 'mundane satisfactions' over 'divine pursuits' (source). In the Skyrim Creation Club, you can face off against the guardian spirit of an emperor crab. According to an OOG source, Skar was resurrected to fight the Daedra during the Oblivion Crisis, but even this colossal undead behemoth fell before the tides of Dagon (source).

Note: Given the gameplay limitations, it's possible that the already colossal Skar is even bigger in the lore.

Now we are truly entering mythic territory! While most giants would be big but not near the top, it is of course due to the ancient giants that giants are so high up on this list. For as mysterious as they are large, ancient giants are absolutely colossal, towering over the forests as they kick up huge clouds of dust just by walking. Are they ancient because they lived long ago, or ancient because they lived so long? No one knows. Even on a regular level, giants can grow quite big; in Skyrim they are depicted as being twice the height of a person or in some cases even bigger, and in ESO they are depicted as being up to four times the height of a person (these statements of twice are mentioned a few times such as here). One giant is described as having a club twice the size of an orc (source). The All-Maker Stones are described as being the size of frost giants (source). Other giants include sea giants.

The Old Bones are mysterious entities from a primordial era of sizes so massive that their remains bacame part of the landscape. One such entity, named the Destroyer, was said to have caused great quakes (felt a day before it even arrived), turned cliffs to slurry, destroyed entire villages and left barren swathes of land in its wake (although oddly, it didn't seem to attack out of maliciousness). Later, the remains of the Old Bones were uncovered by the Worm Cult who sought to use their power for their own ends. One of these, Dringoth (who is very likely the one and same Destroyer of old), says that his skull became a hill after being sealed by the Barrowbough tree. Dringoth's size was so great that one of his contemporaries said that he "levelled nations with his girth."

Note: It is possible that the Old Bones are members of the Ehlnofey themselves.

At last, we come to the biggest entities on the list. Alas, they are also the ones with the least sightings for (although Sea Serpents & Spawn Mothers technically fall under this category, and arguably even whales), but there is enough evidence to know that they are, in some way, out there. One witness reported a ship being smashed to pieces by tentacles that quickly rose from the ocean (causing their captain to change course into pirate-infested waters). The leviathan Ithguleoir is said to be so vast that it dredged out new channels and caused the Genumbra Banks (consisting of sandbars and small islands) to shift, something which occurs even on calm stormless nights. The Sload utilize huge sea monsters in their attacks against the people of Tamriel, the most powerful of these being the dreaded Molmor; a monster witnessed by multiple different groups of survivors, but with each account describing it radically differently. Wherever it went it turned the sea to boiling blackness, and it would crush everything when it came ashore. Such was it's size that to defeat it, a young druid turned it into an island (who's resources where then used to create a fleet to fight the Sload). Another, nameless terror of the deep, once appeared below a ship, causing the sky to darken even though there were no clouds, and an eye, bigger than any creation of man or mer, to appear beneath the boat. This horror is said to be bigger than the largest isles of High Isle, and could easily swallow a ship whole. The Druids of the Deep, a mythical group themselves, were said to have communed with the unknowable things that lived in the abyss (source). The Summerset Online cinematic features a huge sea monster which rises to swallow the Altmer Hero of Fates (which may represent the Daedric Triad). Krakens are known to exist in the oceans around Tamriel, but if they are as big as the krakens in our own mythologies is unknown. It is at the very least, true, that there are sea monsters.

Note: Many of the above sources suggest a connection between the monstrousities of the deep and the realm of Apocrypha, plane of Hermaeus Mora. As Herma-Mora has a connection to the sea, and indeed there are those who have ended up in Apocrypha via their boat being sunk in certain places or under certain conditions will end up in Fathoms Drift, it's possible that these sea monsters are creatures of Apocrypha who have managed to slip between planes, if only temporarily (it's also possible that these unspeakable horrors are manifestations of the Gardener of Men himself, although this would break the Coldharbour Compact). Within Apocrypha, we can infact see tentacles so gargantual that they are as wide as most dragons are long (if these tentacles are Mora himself or some other creature though, is unknown). Given all this, it could be argued that Herma-Hora is a sea monster himself, which would make him infinite in size; even as such, taking that into account, he would only be third on the list, as if we are including godlike beings, the Time Dragon is even more infinite.

That is my list! Thank you for reading!