The Elder Scrolls/Fridge

Fridge Brilliance

• I got to thinking, what makes the Mantella a suitable power source for Numidium in place of the Heart of Lorkhan? Surely if all Numidium needed was the soul of a powerful magician, then the Empire could just create a new Mantella for it. So why the Underking's soul specifically? Because the Underking is an avatar of the god Shor, who is the Nordic aspect of Lorkhan. Thus the Underking's soul is a part of Lorkhan as well. The Mantella, in a sense, is an artificial heart made of tissue from Numidium's original heart.
• It always confused me how, if you're playing an Argonian born under the sign of the Shadow, and are a member of the Dark Brotherhood, you are still able to kill Scar-Tail in "The Renagade Shadowscale" since it's illegal for a Shadowscale to kill another Shadowscale. Then, it hit me. Of course you're allowed to do it because you weren't part of the Shadowscale. The game treats you as if you weren't born in the Argonian homeland/somehow got skipped over, therefore, you were never a part of that system even if you were born under the required sign. THAT'S why you're able to kill another Shadowscale.
  • Actually, no. Shadowscales are born members of the Dark Brotherhood. Your character isn't even initiated until Lucien Lachance finds you.
• The locals of Bravil must think it odd that you regularly rock up to speak to the statue of the Lucky Old Lady. Oh wait, didn't you escape when Patrick, I mean Uriel Septim and the Blades made a break for it through your cell and then went on to become a hero? Lucky. Yeah, it's understandable that you'd come back weekly to thank her.
• On that note, spending time in prison lowers your skill levels. You start the games on Level 1 with almost no skills. Your character must have been in prison a long time, eh?
• I used to hate The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion because it was everything Morrowind wasn't re-hashing of utterly classical Sword&Sorcery fantasy with knights in shining plate armor and so on, completely Western-like culture anyone can instantly relate to, gothic architecture and radiant meadows everywhere for a major * yawn* of been-there-done-that, simplified mechanics to the max... Then I hit the painting quest which I found genuinely clever, and I started to play it as its own game rather than as Morrowind: Part Deux, and realized that, as far as classical RPGs go, that one's really not bad at all. It grew on me from then on. --User:Kobal 2
  • Normally, I was always complaining about why my old Radeon 9550 video card won't be able to handle the awesome graphics of Oblivion, rendering it unplayable. But now that I've read this entry, I have a renewed respect for Morrowind. The cultures there are not totally alien and one can relate to them, but they're different enough to give the game an unique feel. You don't see the Arabic-like Hlaalu architecture everywhere. --Da_Nuke
  • Corvus Umbranox. His last name can be translated from Latin as "Shade of Night." He is also the Gray Fox, who wears the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal, the Daedric Prince of Night and Darkness. --Apocalemur
    • And his first name means "raven". They really piled on the shadowy symbolism with this guy; anyone who speaks Latin knows something's up with the Umbranoxes as soon as they see the name.
• For the longest time I couldn't understand why the Dwemer are called dwarves when they're nothing like them. Then I realized that they actually are very dwarfy - they're reclusive, they live in underground strongholds carved into the mountains, they're superb metalsmiths and engineers, they don't get along with the (other) elves, and they have big, long beards. Bethsoft managed to keep the archetype almost completely intact, yet due to fresh visual portrayal they're unique and exciting again insted of the usual "like Tolkien's dwarves, but _____".
• In Morrowind, the first thing you hear, even before the main menu appears, is the deep rumble of a beating heart. The rhythm continues throughout the whole piece, and, since the music plays during regular gameplay, permeates the entire island of Vvardenfell.
• When you first meet Sheogorath in the Shivering Isles expansion for Oblivion he introduces himself as 'Prince of Maddness, and other things. I'm not telling right now.' Sounds like Sheogorath just being Sheogorath right? Well, later you learn that Sheogorath is also Jyggalag the Daedric Prince of Order. He wasn’t joking, he was foreshadowing the big reveal!
  • Sheogorath is also the patron of Expressiveness and the Arts, so it might as well be Sheogorath being Sheogorath.
• The Artificial Atmospheric Actions in Oblivion actually are a little more justified in Shivering Isles. Why? Because everyone in Shivering Isles is insane, that's why. Of course that's why they just walk around not minding about Runs-in-circles going "Ni-ni-ni-ni-ni-ni-ni-ni-ni-ni-ni-ni" or watching that old man in Highcross yelling "FILTHY PICKPOCKET! Pickpocket! Pickpocket!" at a random tree...to them, that's just another day.
• I always thought that the Nerevarine Prophecies were sort of a cop-out since your becoming the Nerevarine didn't really fulfill any of the hopes the Ashlanders had, like "striking down the Tribunal's false gods". Then it hit me. All of the Tribunal's gods DO fall over the course of the game. Sotha Sil is murdered by a mad Almalexia. Almalexia is literally struck down by the player character (the Nerevarine). Vivec also falls from grace because of the appearance of the Nerevarine, realizing that he needs to step down as head of the Temple. So, the Nerevarine indirectly struck down the gods of the Tribunal. Brilliant.
  • The destruction of the Heart of Lorkhan too; it's implied that Vivec's godlike powers will fade over time with the Heart destroyed. And of all of this, Azura put the Nerevarine on the path to do it, which can be a little bit unsettling, the more of her you know. Azura in Morrowind seems like a contradiction, being a genuinely benevolent creature that's trying to help save the nation; doing good and saving the land, where all the other Daedra are avatars of chaos in various forms. But the more one studies her, the more disturbing her behavior becomes. Ultimately, despite being one of the "Good Daedra" that the Tribunal believes can be trusted, it was Azura who succeeded in wiping out their gods, where the likes of Molag Bal and Mehrunes Dagon had failed before. She cursed the Tribunal's people into becoming the dark elves, she destroyed their gods, and then comes Skyrim, and we find out that at some point since, the entire island of Vvardenfell was destroyed in a volcanic eruption from Red Mountain. Man, do not cross Azura; she never lets go of a grudge.
• It's been considered odd that all of the Ayleid cities seem to consist of temples and crypts, nothing more. But the Ayleids were masters of necromancy. Suddenly you realize that what you're looking at is a giant industrial park, for an economy based on undead labor.
• Shivering Isles one: if you attack Sheogorath, he teleports you above the Hill of Suicides, where you fall to your death. But wait, why there specifically? ...because being stupid enough to attack a god MUST be suicide!
• Why is the culture of Cyrodiil in Oblivion so different from what's described in the Pocket Guide to the Empire included with Redguard? Because Redguard is a prequel. Civilisations change over time, especially over hundreds of years.