Top 10 Things You Never Knew About Elder Scrolls

“The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion” (2006)
More and more, we hear people complaining about cash grab DLCs, or a DLC that should have been included in the base game. The issue wasn’t as prevalent ten years ago, around the time Oblivion was released, but boy was there one piece of downloadable content for the game that had people up in arms. You could pay real world dollars for what was essentially an outfit for your horse. Yep, that’s it. The reception was not positive, to say the least, but the crazy thing is, is that the DLC is still being bought on occasion to this very day, over ten years after its release.

“The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion” (2006)
There’s high tension between North Korea and the rest of the world, and people are wary of inciting nuclear war when they criticize or make jokes about North Korea. When the country comes up with propaganda using the soundtrack to Oblivion in their video, however, they’re just asking for it. Seriously, it’s hard to take this video seriously when they’ve used a song from a fantasy role-playing game. Either the editor was a fan, or was ignorant of the origin of the music. In any case, their message probably didn’t come off as effective as they’d hoped.

“The Elder Scrolls: Arena” (1994)
What if the Elder Scrolls never came to be? We can’t imagine the world without it. It almost happened, though, with Bethesda initially planning on releasing the game titled “Arena.” Arena was a very different idea to what eventually came to fruition. The primary objective of the game was to travel across the continent, competing in gladiator-type battles to become the champion fighter. Eventually, the idea was expanded on, and an open world was created, full of quests and characters. The basic premise of Arena was scrapped, and the result was The Elder Scrolls: Arena. With all the assets, posters, and concepts created for the initial idea, the subtitle of Arena had to remain.

“The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind” (2002)
When you have the power to kill absolutely everyone, chaos ensues… as well as game-breaking experiences. In Oblivion and Skyrim, the game prohibited us from permanently killing essential NPCs, such as ones vital to the completion of a quest. This wasn’t the case in Morrowind, however, and if you killed an NPC that you needed to progress through a storyline, then you’d better hope you have a recent save, otherwise you’re screwed. If you weren’t so inclined to finish the main quest, it would make for an interesting experience being the only person in the province left alive.

“The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” (2011)
Here, we have two very different characters. One is a wise, old dragon with a dark and menacing voice, and the other is a fat Italian plumber with a high-pitched voice. If you hadn’t known otherwise, you’d have never guessed that the voice behind Nintendo mascot Mario, and Paarthurnax the dragon from Skyrim was the same person. Charles Martinet has incredible vocal range to pull of such widely different tones. The fact that he’s contributed to games that have such an iconic status, as well as being an immensely charismatic and easy going fella, adds a ton of bonus points in our books.

“The Elder Scrolls” series (1994-)
M’aiq the Liar is an interesting character. He first entered the series in Morrowind, and acted as a sort of communicator between the developers and the players, talking about things that can be referenced as a thought process either had by a player or Bethesda themselves. The character, who’s come to be known as a recurring Easter egg, is featured in Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, and even The Elder Scrolls Online, and provides commentary on a lot of things found in the Elder Scrolls universe. M’aiq isn’t the only Easter egg employed by Bethesda. The team has also put the sweetroll food item in an as many of their games as possible, including the Fallout series.

“The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard” (1998)
You’d be forgiven if you had no idea that spin off games of the Elder Scrolls exist as they’re fairly unremarkable. One such game was Redguard. It took everything fans loved about the Elder Scrolls series, such as character customization and an open world… and got rid of them, as well as forcing them to play in the third-person perspective. It took inspiration from such games as Tomb Raider and Prince of Persia, only it didn’t quite match the same level of enjoyment either of those games had.

“The Elder Scrolls” series (1994-)
It’s easy to forget that Tamriel is just one continent on the planet Nirn, and that there’s lore surrounding the many others that have yet to be visited. One of these continents is Akavir, which has warring factions, unique races, dragons, a power struggle, and even themes of enslavement. It kind of sounds a lot like Westeros. What started as a failed invasion from a race called the Tsaesci that hailed from Akavir, led to the creation of the Cyrodiilic Empire. This just scratches the surface of the history of Akavir, but Bethesda has created an immense amount of lore not only surrounding Akavir, but the other continents too.

“The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall” (1996)
The Elder Scrolls has been hailed for allowing the player to roleplay any kind of character they want, whether it’s a simple farmer, a fierce gladiator, a mystical magician or a combination of all three and anything in between… even a prostitute! Well, not really, but it was almost a possibility. In Daggerfall, the initial intention was that players could have sex with NPCs and even level up a prostitution skill tree. While the Elder Scrolls sometimes dealt with mature themes, it never quite went that far, and you can’t argue that it would have definitely changed the overall feel of the game.

“The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall” (1996)
Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim have huge maps. Even if you think otherwise, the sheer amount of content and places to explore within the map make them seem larger than they really are. It takes about two hours to cross from one end of the map to the other in Skyrim. If you think that’s long, Daggerfall is a hell of a lot bigger. In fact, it’s so big, if you were to cross from one end to the other, it would take roughly seventy hours. Yikes! Even if you’re a true role-playing enthusiast, we don’t think you’d be able to get through the game without the use of fast travel. Sorry to burst your bubble.