The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion/Characters

Player Character

The Prisoner (aka The Hero of Kvatch, and later Champion of Cyrodiil; ultimately Sheogorath)

A prisoner in the Imperial Prison that was lucky enough to cross paths with Emperor Uriel Septim and the Blades. After escaping and witnessing the Emperor's assassination, they are tasked with delivering the Amulet of Kings to Jauffre.

• A God Am I: By the end of Shivering Isles.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Becomes the new Daedric Prince of Madness during the events of the Shivering Isles.
• Anti-Hero: If played with high infamy.
  • Skyrim further implies that the player character canonically ultimately became Sheogorath, dropping small hints that he may have been involved with the Dark Brotherhood questline (he mentions a severed head) and Thieves Guild (he mentions a fox).
  • Well, you do start the game in prison...
  • Karma Houdini/Villain with Good Publicity: Perhaps. References in Skyrim suggest the Champion may have joined both the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild; despite that, they still get hailed as a hero and rewarded with near god-like power. As always, however, the truth is left ambiguous.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Simply using a spell/skill a lot can make the player have incredible strength, the ability to jump impossible heights, run faster than a charging bear, among many other traits.
• Featureless Protagonist: Can be male, female, human, elven or even argonian or khajiit. It's really up to you. Skyrim suggests that the canonical choice was an Imperial Male, but the Daedra can change race, sex and shape like clothes, so it's still only a suggestion.
• The Lancer
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Empire collapses sometime after the game despite all your efforts to save it and partially because of them.
• Previous Player Character Cameo: Shows up again in Skyrim as the new Sheogorath.
• Silent Protagonist: Pretty much. Despite having the occasional line of text, your character isn't voiced aside from grunts and yells in battle.
• Sociopathic Hero/Villain Protagonist: Depending on how you play. There's no reason why you can't go around punching the shit out of everyone you see, and still save the world. And the Dark Brotherhood quest line is very much intended to allow the player to be a Complete Monster.
• Supporting Protagonist: To Martin.
• Took a Level in Badass: The Flavor Text for the level up descriptions portrays this nicely.
• Unwitting Pawn: During the second half of the Dark Brotherhood questline.
• Weapon of Choice:
  • The Archer: The Marksman skill.
  • An Axe to Grind/Drop the Hammer: The Blunt skill.
  • Bare-Fisted Monk: The Unarmed skill. It's more effective than you'd think.
  • Boom Stick: Staves that can do pretty much anything.
  • Cool Sword/BFS/KnifeNut: The Blade skill.
  • Elemental Powers:
    • An Ice Person
    • Playing with Fire
    • Shock and Awe
  • Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: The Block skill.

Main Quest characters

Emperor Uriel Septim VII

Voiced by: Patrick Stewart

The Emperor of Tamriel. The player meets him at the beginning of the game, as he is escaping from a group of assassins through a secret passage in the Imperial Dungeons. His attempts to flee are futile, and he is eventually killed, but not before handing the player the Amulet of Kings, which starts the main storyline of the game.

• Cool Old Guy
• Cursed with Awesome: He can't turn off his prophetic dreams, so when you meet him he's been having terrible nightmares of the suffering to come.
• Hey, It's That Voice!
• I'm About To Be Assassinated, Please Take the Amulet of Kings
• Nice Guy

Martin Septim

Voiced by: Sean Bean

The last surviving son of Emperor Uriel Septim, Martin was raised as a priest in the city of Kvatch. After the Emperor's death, daedra invade Kvatch in order to hunt Martin down, but he is rescued by the player. Despite being reluctant at first, he grows to suit the role of Emperor.

• Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence
• The Atoner: He used to be a Daedra worshipper - even a previous owner of one of their legendary artifacts - but when you meet him he's a quiet and humble priest.
• Badass Bookworm: He spends most of the game at Cloud Ruler temple, poring over old tomes to help the player retrieve the Amulet of Kings, but proves himself quite a capable combatant in the Battle of Bruma.
• Big Good: Being the only one who can seal the gates of Oblivion and Emperor of Tamriel.
• Bling of War: His Dragon Armor, which is essentially a set of Imperial Legion plate reworked in solid gold.
• Doomed Hometown: He was raised in Kvatch, which is on fire and full of daedra by the time the player reaches it.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Martin gives up his soul to become an avatar of Akatosh to defeat Mehrunes Dagon at the end of the main quest.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Sean Bean, playing another prince who sacrifices himself to save others.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something

Jauffre

Voiced by: Ralph Cosham

The aging leader of the Blades, who comes out of retirement during the Oblivion crisis and serves as a mentor to Martin.

• Badass Grandpa: He appears to be at least sixty years old, but does rather well for himself with a six-foot katana.
• Bald of Awesome
• Bookworm
• The Confidant: Served as one to Uriel Spetim VII.

Baurus

Voiced by: Michael Mack

A young Blade who served as Emperor Uriel's bodyguard during the last moments of his life.

• Black Best Friend: Shows shades of this with the player.
• Historical In-Joke: His name evokes Brutus, but is trying to protect the emperor.
• Ink Suit Actor: He bears a remarkable resemblance to his voice actor, Michael Mack (despite him voicing all Redguards in the game).
• My Greatest Failure: Blames himself for being unable to protect Uriel from death.

Mankar Camoran

Voiced by: Terence Stamp

An Altmer mage, leader of the Mythic Dawn cult, and bent on summoning Mehrunes Dagon to Tamriel. Writer of the "Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes".

• Affably Evil
• Consummate Liar: He's obviously not telling the whole truth. The real son of the Camoran Usurper was a Bosmer, and his list of Daedric realms and their rulers contradicts several other sources. His speech to the Mystic Dawn about Paradise is also more than a tad misleading. He's damned good at sounding believable, though.
  • Don't forget his speech if you walk into Paradise AFTER completing the Shivering Isles. He iwll have no idea you are now Sheogorath!
• The Dragon: Technically, to Mehrunes Dagon. Camoran's children, Raven and Ruma, are his Dragons. From a narrative sense, however, he's the Big Bad, since he's the one who spends the most time as the active villain.
  • The Heavy: Until the end when Mehrunes Dagon is summoned.
• Hannibal Lecture: As you travel through his paradise near the end of the main quest, you hear his voice in your head remarking on the futility of your actions and the true nature of the Daedra Lords and the Nine Divines. Apparently, Tamriel is just another place of Oblivion, and the Nine are traitors to the Daedra Lords, the true gods of the universe.
  • Though considering the amount of mistakes in the speech and holes in his backstory, he might just be a liar or badly informed.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Hey, General Zod is an elf now!
  • Or indeed Jor-El.
• Manipulative Bastard: Oh, boy. He told his followers the Mythic Dawn that they'd go to paradise. Turns out, this paradise is only for him, while his followers are tortured there and unable to die.

Kathutet

Voiced by: Wes Johnson

A Dremora that you encounter in Mankar Camoran's Paradise. He assists you in the quest by providing you with the Bands of the Chosen, should you agree to do a certain "favor" for him.

• Blood Knight
• Cruelty Is the Only Option: His "favor" involves freeing an Ax Crazy Xivilai named Anaxes, who had been imprisoned by a group of Ascended Immortals, and allowing him to continue killing his captors.
• Deadpan Snarker: If the Player chooses to fight him for the Bands instead of doing his favor, Kathutet responds with this:

Kathutet:"Your mind follows the simple path ... the choice of an animal. You see an enemy and you attack it, unthinking. But you have courage, at least. To slay a bold animal like you is not without glory."

• Jerkass: Being not only a Daedra, but a Dremora, it is natural for him to despise mortals.
• Large Ham: Being a Dremora, this is to be expected, but is surprisingly subdued...sometimes.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: He is not only the friendliest, but the least aggressive Dremora in the entire game.
• Noble Demon: Played straight, and since Kathutet is a Kynval (the Dremora equivalent of a knight), this is also played literally.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy
• Punch Clock Villain: One of the reasons he agrees to help you on your quest is because he despises Mankar Camoran as much as you do, and couldn't care less if Camoran's plans succeeded or not.
• Worthy Opponent: He sees the player as this, for defeating his fellow Dremora in the siege of Kvatch, and destroying their tower. This is also the other reason he agrees to help you in your quest.

Kathutet:"You destroyed the Sigil Tower at Ganonah. My kin say you fought well."
Player:"Ganonah? I've never heard of it."
Kathutet:"Our clan sacked your city of Kvatch... a trifling task fit for scamps. Your swift retribution earned you much respect among my people. We had not expected that a mortal would act with such resolution and honor. It is no dishonor for us to speak."

• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: If you don't want to do his favor, you can just kill him, and take the Bands of the Chosen from his corpse. This can be done, even after you do his favor for him.

Mehrunes Dagon

Daedric Prince of Destruction and the leader of the Daedric forces invading Tamriel. Worshipped by the Mythic Dawn as a god. Appears in the flesh at the end of the Main Quest in a last ditch attempt to stop the lighting of the dragonfires, forcing Martin to perform a Heroic Sacrifice to defeat him.

• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever
• Big Bad
• Person of Mass Destruction
• The Voiceless: Despite being the main antagonist (and being the only Daedric Prince (bar Sheogorath) that we see in the flesh), he never speaks a word in the game. Strangely, all his other appearances (Battlespire, Morrowind, Skyrim) have him speak.

Fighters Guild characters

Modryn Oreyn

Voiced by: Craig Sechler

Champion of Chorrol's Fighters Guild.

• Badass
• Badass Grandpa
• Giftedly Bad: At the art of war, he is a master. At the art of painting...not so much.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: To Virena.
• The Lancer: To you
• Submissive Badass: The first few times you encounter him, he essentially acts as the Guildmaster's soft-spoken, highly organised PA. Then the mace comes out...

Maglir

Voiced by: Craig Sechler

A fellow guild member who often refuses contracts, due to their danger and low pay.

• Dirty Coward
• I Have a Family: One of his excuses for defaulting on contracts.
• Face Heel Turn

Vilena Donton

Voiced by: Catherine Flye

The Guildmaster of the Fighters Guild

• A Mother to Her Men: A deconstruction. She's a doting and overprotective mother and this affects her judgement.
• Badass Grandma
• Da Chief

Viranus Donton

Voiced by: Wes Johnson

The Guildmaster's son.

• BFS
• Bury Your Gays
• Leeroy Jenkins: In practice and on paper.
• Sacrificial Lion
• Invisible to Gaydar

Mages Guild characters

Jeanne Frasoric

Voiced by: Catherien Flye

The rather inept head of Bruma's Mages Guild. Often the victim of pranks set up by the other guild members.

• Pointy-Haired Boss
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections

Raminus Polus

Voiced by: Wes Johnson

Mannimarco

Voiced by: Craig Sechler

Villain from Daggerfall, returning as the Big Bad of the Mages Guild questline

• Big Bad
• Informed Ability: Said to be nearly invincible, but is only slightly more powerful than the average necromancer.
• Villain Decay: When the player finally faces him, he appears to be a typical Altmer mage in some regular necromancer robes. Compare this to his appearance in Daggerfall, where he was a menacing hooded figure with Glowing Eyes of Doom.

Thieves Guild characters

The Gray Fox

Voiced by: Wes Johnson

• Catch Phrase: "Capital!"
• Just Like Robin Hood: The beggars of the Imperial City are all under his protection. In return, they serve as his spies.
• Ret-Gone: The cursed cowl he's forced to wear makes all traces of his existence vanish, even if he goes right up and reveals his identity to someone (which he apparently did to both his wife and you, but the curse pretty much erased that from history). He is always and simply "a stranger".
• Secret Identity: Count Corvus Umbranox.
• Shrouded in Myth: Mostly due to him supposedly living for over 300 years (because the cowl's curse makes it seem as if the same person has always been The Gray Fox, no matter how different each Fox is from the last).

Dark Brotherhood characters

Lucien Lachance

Voiced by: Wes Johnson

Speaker for the Dark Brotherhood.

• Affably Evil
• Captain Ersatz: In Skyrim, he is, essentially, an evil version of Obi-Wan Kenobi. He even says "I sense a great disturbance in the void!"
• Card-Carrying Villain
• Draco in Leather Pants/Evil Is Sexy: He is popular with the ^{[dead link]} game's ^{[dead link]} female ^{[dead link]} fans. Whether that's despite or because of him being a Complete Monster depends on who you ask.
• Ensemble Darkhorse: He is easily one of the most memorable characters in the game.
• Mr. Fanservice
• Large Ham: Even in comparison to other Imperials.
• Stuffed in The Fridge: Doubling as a Player Punch to many
• Villainous Breakdown: Has quite an epic one near the end of the Dark Brotherhood storyline.

The Cheydinhal Guildhall

• Affably Evil: Almost without exception. It's just how the Brotherhood conducts its affairs.
• Dumb Muscle: Gogron, who gets a shout-out to Lenny from Of Mice and Men in his backstory.
• Equal Opportunity Evil: The lineup consists of a vampire, two Argonians, a Khajiit, an Orc, a Wood Elf (the last two of which are sleeping together) and a Breton, diversity that would make any other guild hang its head in shame.
  • And that's all in one Sanctuary, too! Outside of there, you can find two Imperials, a High Elf, a Nord, another Khajiit, an Argonian, two Dark Elves, another Breton, and another Wood Elf, who's the leader of the whole Brotherhood.
• Five-Bad Band
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: Vicente Valtieri and Ocheeva. Ocheeva's the nominal head but Vicente hands out assignments too and, being a vampire and all, is significantly more formidable.
  • The Dragon: Teinavaa, Ocheeva's brother.
  • The Evil Genius: Mraaj-Dar.
  • The Brute: Gogron Gro-Bolmog.
  • The Dark Chick: Taelandril and Antoinetta Marie.
  • Team Pet: Schemer the rat and the Dark Guardian.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: Gogron's too big and clumsy for sneaking, and too unsubtle to care. He just kills anything between him and his target, even forgoing the Brotherhood's trademark Shrouded Armour to help him do so.
• Jerkass: Mraaj-Dar, who is consistently rude to you until you enter the Sanctuary with orders to kill him.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Antoinetta Marie had a miserable life until she was welcomed into the Brotherhood, but now she's terrifyingly chirpy about killing large numbers of people.

Mathieu Bellamont

Voiced by: Ralph Cosham

• Ax Crazy
• Big Bad: Of the Dark Brotherhood questline.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Killed the entire crew of the Serpent's Wake ship for an insult.
• Evil Versus Evil
• Manipulative Bastard
• The Mole
• Room Full of Crazy: Lives in one.
• You Killed My Father: Motivated to destroy the Dark Brotherhood in revenge for Lucian killing their mother.

The Black Hand

• Five-Bad Band: invoked and enforced, by always having five members.
  • Big Bad: Ungolim, the Listener. Also, the Night Mother.
  • The Dragon: Arquen, a Speaker who leads the other Speakers toward the end of the quest line. Also, every member of the Black Hand has their own personal Silencer. Shaleez and Havilstein Hoar-Blood are two of them, as are two of the three Speakers at the end.
    • The Starscream: Mathieu Bellamont, Speaker at endgame, and Silencer before that.
  • The Evil Genius: Alval Uvani, a Speaker and master of Destruction Magic.
  • The Brute: J'Ghasta, a Speaker and Hand-To-Hand master.
  • The Chick/The Dark Chick: Belisarius Arius and Banus Alor, Speakers at endgame who are both killed without a fight.
  • The Heart: Lucien Lachance could be an evil one; after he loses control, almost everyone ends up dying.

Arena characters

Owyn

Voiced by: Michael Mack

The Arena's Blademaster, who sorts out matches and new competitors.

• Badass Beard
• Drill Sergeant Nasty
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Although he's rather abrasive to new fighters, he does show respect to you as you raise through the ranks, and he's genuinely concerned for his daughter.
• Scary Black Man: Early on, he is pretty mean, but becomes friendlier as you gain fame in the Arena.

Agronak gro-Malog aka The Gray Prince

Voiced by: Jonathan Bryce

The Champion of the Arena, rumored to be a "Half-Orc".

• Dhampyr: With an orc, oddly enough.
• Suicide by Cop: If you do the sidequest where he learns of his heritage, he won't even flinch when you fight him for the title, though he does defend himself eventually if the fight drags on too long, saying "I don't care about my heritage! I won't die like a beast!"

The Adoring Fan

Voiced by: Craig Sechler

A small wood elf fan the player gains after becoming the Grand Champion of the Arena, who can follow you around and worship you.

• Anime Hair: His bright yellow "chocolate kiss" shaped hair (As the Strategy Guide describes it) is his most noticeable physical trait.
• Bumbling Sidekick
• The Chew Toy
• Cowardly Sidekick
• Ensemble Darkhorse
• Hero Worshipper
• Joke Character: Though he will follow you anywhere (even into Oblivion) he will run away when you get into a fight.
• Memetic Mutation: "By Azura! By Azura! By Azura!"
• Mythology Gag: Seems to have become one for Bethesda Softworks, with an identically-voiced Expy named Sticky, appearing in Fallout 3. In Skyrim, a passing reference is made to a past Arena Champion who was murdered by a supposed 'Adoring Fan', in reality a member of the Dark Brotherhood. By Azura!
• Not Completely Useless: As annoying as he can be, he does take out a torch whenever it gets dark, freeing up a hand for the player. Of course, there's still the issue of him running away, which can be remedied with a Rally spell.
• Sour Supporter: He can be. If you lower the Adoring Fan's disposition enough—training up your pickpocketing skill on him will do the trick—he'll constantly sneer at you.
• They Killed Kenny: He respawns if he dies, leading players to find hundreds of creative ways to kill him, only for him to reappear by the Arena in three days, still worshipping the ground you walk on.

Other factions

Blackwood Company

A mercenary company that is making competition for the Fighters Guild.

• Evil Counterpart: To the Fighter's Guild.
• Expy: Most likely named after the Blackwater mercenary company.
• Psycho Serum

The Blades

An order of soldiers who serves as the Emperor's personal bodyguards and spies

• Roman Samurai: Their armor looks like a combination between the two cultures. They also wield katanas but serve a Roman-like Empire.
• Warrior Monks

Knights of the White Stallion

Order of the Virtuous Blood.

An order of Vampire Hunters set up in the Imperial city. When completing their quest, they can be a large source of gold for the player.

Shivering Isles characters

Sheogorath

Voiced By: Wes Johnson

Daedric Prince of Madness.

• Badass Beard: In fact, beards more badass than his are outlawed in the Shivering Isles on pain of death.
• Crazy Awesome: He's the god of this trope. Literally.
• Great Gazoo: Particularly when he makes flaming dogs fall out of the sky.
• Large Ham: Arguably the largest one in the game.
• Mad God: One of his many names and his main role.
• OOC Is Serious Business: Sheogorath stops all joking, overreacting and non- equiturs just before his transformation into Jyggalag. He's not yet under the orderly influence of Jyggalag, though, meaning that his despair over the fate of the Isles and his apparent failure to save them is genuine.
• Pimp Duds: Including the cane.
• What Beautiful Eyes!: By all appearances a handsome older gentleman with odd fashion sense...except his eyes, which are black with golden irises and pupils like those of a cat.

Haskill

Voiced By: Jeff Baker

• Only Sane Man: In the Realm of Madness. He bears it with a patient but long-suffering air.
• Servile Snarker

Jyggalag

Daedric Prince of Order.

• Big Bad: Of the Shivering Isles expansion.
• Light Is Not Good

Knights of the Nine characters

Pelinal Whitestrake

Voice By: Wes Johnson

A hero from the early First Era who helped the Nedes rebel against Ayleid tyranny.

• God in Human Form: Of both Akatosh and Shezarr.
• Heroic Albino
• Heroic Sociopath
• Insane Equals Violent: Would go on violent rampages, usually against Ayleids (though sometimes he would kill Nedes) when he particularly lost it.
• Mad God: Due to his connection with Akatosh.
• Mood Swinger: Like crazy.
• Time Travel: Was most likely from the future. He supposedly knew who Reman was thousands of years before his birth.
• Unstoppable Rage

Umaril

An Ayleid sorceror-king slain by Pelinal Whitestrake in ancient times, but returned thanks to a pact with Meridia.

• Big Bad: Of the Knights of the Nine expansion.
• Rage Against the Heavens: His motivation in the storyline.

Other characters

M'aiq the Liar

Voiced By: Jonathan Bryce

A Khajiit monk who runs around Cyrodill. When spoken to, he voices the opinion of the creators towards the Unpleasable Fanbase. Mostly in a very cryptic way of talking.

• Author Avatar: The only reason he has a role in the game, is to voice the creator's opinion.
• Catch Phrase: "M'aiq knows much, tells some. M'aiq knows many things others do not."
• Cloudcuckoolander: He comes over as very detached from the setting. Logical, since he is something of a literal Author Avatar.
• Deadpan Snarker: Some of his speeches are very sarcastic and rude towards certain fans.
• Easter Egg
• Ensemble Darkhorse: For a character who exists solely to flip off the fans, he has quite the fanbase.
• Legacy Character: There was also a Khajiit with his name in Morrowind and 200 years later in Skyrim.
• Self Deprecating Humor: Some of his comments mock features of previous games.
• Take That: Just about every speech he makes is a reaction the makers have about an aspect of the game fans aren't pleased about. An example is the fact throwing weapons are removed. M'aiq responds to this by saying that if people hold their weapon, they only need one.