Arena to Skyrim - What is Elder Scrolls Lore? Developers & Community - What's C0DA? (TESLORE)

[@RebSike]

Craziest lore I've heard of? Some Stormcloak tried telling me that Redguards had curved swords. I said "NOT IN MY C0DA SNOWBACK",slayed him, and deleted that line from the gamefiles

[@KadoTheNorm]

AYE YOU'VE SHOWN YOUR METTLE

[@SleepingPepper]

Oi, wut business you got bein' in muy C0DA?

[@thnkng]

Actually, it's CQDA with a Q in my CQDA, you s w i n e

[@theimperialnord38]

@@KadoTheNorm STOP LOLLYGAGGIN

[@slizzardshroomer9666]

@@theimperialnord38 I used to be an adventurer like you, but then I t- AhH *gurgle* *gurgle*

[@roach9397]

Cyrus is VERY passionate about swords.

[@cult_of_odin]

Rick Berman McCallum by sword he really means penis.

[@roach9397]

Big Boss ...

[@lucasv5715]

Rick Berman McCallum Hmmmmmm, big fucking huge curved swords!

[@mysterio1967]

Lucas V Curved. Swords.

[@mysterio1967]

Rick Berman McCallum Hey the Prince became a Sword Ill make these people fall into my control

[@enclavesoldier769]

TES lore is very deep and rich but a really big mess that makes no sense sometimes

[@bruc3wa7ne]

Enclave Soldier AKA Chim, C0DA, Dreamsleeve etc.

[@pyro7497]

Enclave Soldier rip your faction

[@Some-Pasty-Scandinavian-Pagan]

my video feed is broken, and i am the chosen one, so you better watch your language.

[@tarponpet]

Comrade Dom C0DA ain't lore

[@ShishouDzukiZaManako]

personally i lost my interest at the point we had about 5 elder scrolls in our possession in skyrim, we only got 1 in oblivion..... from a library..... meant to house them.... HOW did this happen?

[@speedygun198]

I felt so inspired to pick up a sword after the Redguard scene and then it cuts to you saying it was their worst game ever made 😂

[@thomascollins5622]

I feel the same, honestly.

[@johnniewoodard648]

I played both Arena and Daggerfall and almost gave up after on Bethesda, after I was unable to get Redguard or BattleSpire to run for me. I waited for sometime after it's release before getting Morrowind. I was completely blown away by the view of Morrowind when stepping on the deck of the prison ship the first time.

[@scarymonsters524]

@@johnniewoodard648 What view? Render distance is like Silent Hill lmoa

[@gabler7992]

@@scarymonsters524 it was wild back then, trust me

[@wisecracknmama]

My C0DA is that nachos exist in TES and Ulfric wants the empires secret nacho recipe. THe damn nachos will be mine

[@InfernoTemperr]

Martha Dalseth Nice gamer poop joke

[@lewisconroy6225]

In my C0DA Ulfric Doesn't even exist, nor does the empire or even tamriel

[@ShishouDzukiZaManako]

no nachos, only tacos, and only of tuesday... by decree of Dorn

[@Khotgor]

@@ShishouDzukiZaManako Tacos are on Fridays, not Tuesdays. The Emperor and the Inquisition would like to know your location, Heretic.

[@Buboniica]

OH MY... BY THE THE NINES!

[@neonz2712]

I've played as the same vampire illusion mage all the way from Arena to Skyrim. He was born in High Rock and spent most of his early years in the High Rock and Hammerfell regions until he became a vampire and defeated Jagar Tharn, then he moved back to High Rock in Daggerfall and avenged the death of King Lysandus, joining the Dark Brotherhood and local vampire clans as well as making a pact with the Daedric lord of dreams and nightmares, Vaermina, in the process. He then was arrested off the coast of Morrowind as he was deemed a pirate despite just being a sailor. He then discovered he was the Nerevarine and defeated Dagoth Ur. After those events he heard of the Oblivion Crisis going on in the Imperial province. This was deemed as a problem for him as he new that if Oblivion merged with this world that his pact with Vaermina would be nullified and his soul would be reclaimed by Molag Bal. This led him to race to Cyrodill, defeat Mehrunes Dagon, and make amends with Akatosh. After defeating Mehrunes Dagon, Akatosh told the vampiric Breton to take a pilgrimage to Skyrim, the land of the dragons. A place that the Breton had not visited since he last went to Labarynthian to find a piece of the Staff of Chaos to defeat Jagar Tharn. He did not want to travel there, however he could not deny or refuse the requests of an Aedra. He crossed the border, taking all the time he wanted as he was considering retirement before Akatosh requested otherwise. It was at this time he was contacted again by Akatosh first and Vaermina second, both telling the Breton that he must cease the rise of Alduin. He then made his way to Helgen and was captured at the border. He then defeated Alduin, studied with the Grey Beards, ended the Civil War, and went to Solstheim to defeat Miraak, the first of the Dovahkiin. That is where he defeated Hermaeus Mora and ended his journey. Well until I write more events for the next game.

[@losnos79]

brilliant stuff, this is the kind of stuff i always try to think up but never do

[@domportera]

damn this dude is chosen af

[@defied4360]

Why would you play a vampire in any game before skyrim lol

[@neonz2712]

@@defied4360 Read the Wiki. There are tons of benefits if you build your character right. Also, it's fun to RP.

[@defied4360]

@@neonz2712 I know. I meant it as a joke becuase playing a vampire in skyrim is a lot more viable than the previous entries

[@jaernihiltheus7817]

Craziest thing I've heard about the lore? Spaceships.

[@jamesjabs3517]

Jaer Nihiltheus you must have missed the Khajit moon mission lore....

[@Zer0sLegion]

The one where they all stood on each others shoulders?

[@jamesjabs3517]

Mezer0 Enterprises that's the one, I find it infinitely more plausible that the dwemer discovered propellant and used it to propel a craft into space. These people had airships in the 1st era. I would believe that over the most massive and literally impossible game of janga.

[@Schruk]

The Khajiit didn't actually do that, they were just really really high on Skooma and they imagined it.

[@jaernihiltheus7817]

Schruk Agreed.

[@DuskWolfGaming]

That cutscene from Redguard was awesome! haha

[@ianbaker672]

The scene is good, but the technology made it ear rape

[@redgeoblaze3752]

@@ianbaker672 Well that's the kind of ear rape I'd happily catch stockholm syndrome for.

[@KleisKlijs]

Now I'm here hoping that Bethesda goes almost bankrupt just so they can make another game like Morrowind...

[@Elias___]

I doubt this can happen in this day and age, unless managements stop sucking thier own thumbs and big risks

[@MaxPower321]

Lol this comment may have aged well and you may get your wish

[@worcestershirey]

The whole dragonbreak thing is bullshit. "Why isn't x mentioned in Skyrim?" Devs: *sweating nervously* B- because paradox shit idk

[@worcestershirey]

***** Or the "Well, what do you think the ruined books are? Haha" Like fuck off, you're telling me that literally every single bit of information about what happened in ESO was lost somehow? Not even a mention? Actually, the ruined book thing is a much better explanation than the dragonbreak, because shit like that happens in real life too

[@rafatondela8204]

WorcestershireySauce I think i saw in the wikia that the game elder scrolls daggerfall the player had 6 possible endings, and by having no ideas how to put that into the next TES Bethesda just said the character had created 6 different versions of parallel worlds! Pretty much like in DC Comics where they have multiple versions of the same Earth, so yeah maybe dagoth ur was never awoke bc there was no nerevarine, maybe the hero of kvatch instead of saving kvatch just gave the amulet of kings to Jauffre and headed to the Shivering Isles to become MadGod and he didn't became Champion of Cyrodill because the thalmor in Skyrim said they had a part in stopping the oblivion crysis wich is not true. Maybe all the TES's since Daggerfall happened in different timelines. This is just a theory but yeah, that doesn't explain the missing books of what happened in all of Tamriel between Manimarco and the gates to molag bal's realm of oblivion!

[@rafatondela8204]

WorcestershireySauce I think i saw in the wikia that the game elder scrolls daggerfall the player had 6 possible endings, and by having no ideas how to put that into the next TES Bethesda just said the character had created 6 different versions of parallel worlds! Pretty much like in DC Comics where they have multiple versions of the same Earth, so yeah maybe dagoth ur was never awoke bc there was no nerevarine, maybe the hero of kvatch instead of saving kvatch just gave the amulet of kings to Jauffre and headed to the Shivering Isles to become MadGod and he didn't became Champion of Cyrodill because the thalmor in Skyrim said they had a part in stopping the oblivion crysis wich is not true. Maybe all the TES's since Daggerfall happened in different timelines. This is just a theory but yeah, that doesn't explain the missing books of what happened in all of Tamriel between Manimarco and the gates to molag bal's realm

[@ddboy8571]

it could be possible that the Mantellan Crux (which contained the Underking's soul) was recycled by the dreamsleeve, but because the Agent delivered the totem to him it caused his soul to be recycled into its original owner which would cause the metaphysics of Mundus to contradict the laws of the Aetherial plane and the only 'safe' point to return to was the 2nd era where no Heros existed (player characters are considered not to have fates as referenced in skyrim) which caused the TRUE dragonbreak where the soulburst released the mana from aetherius into mundus for a brief moment which killed or damaged the minds of mages across nirn. it could be possible that Molag Bal's invasion is the /real/ ending of daggerfall in which Numidium (or rather the power source being the Underking's soul) nearly destroyed tamriel because the Non-Dragonblood Agent attempted to control it tying all the games together.

[@the_rose_garden01]

KFC Guy C0DA made it canon

[@slenpaiwashere3599]

and i thought Star Wars lore was complicated

[@slenpaiwashere3599]

Zaric Zhakaron same though Everytime I say I love the EU my friends think I've turned against Murica

[@frog.capone3070]

Zaric Zhakaron Have you ever considered doing 1 or a series of in depth commentary on the Star Wars EU? I would love to hear your opinion on the events and concepts within the Star Wars universe.

[@lewisconroy6225]

When discussing lore, especailly self contradictory lore like tES, I tend to follow a few rules. 1) Any theories and head-cannon are allowed, but must have substantial in-universe evidence 2) Even if the in-universe lore is contradictory, Nothing in head-cannon should contradict anything in the original source (I.e the Elder Scrolls games) 3) NOTHING can go much further than what is in official canon, should be counted as anything other than fanfiction. As far as I know, the tES community is the only one with this problem, as, you have said several times in the past some people go on about spaceships in the 9th era.

[@DaedhrotheElf]

agreed

[@TheGeekSquaredified]

I believe that lore is talking about the history of the world NOT THE FUTURE. Anything that talks about anything further than 4e 201 Shouldn't exist.

[@DaedhrotheElf]

Definitely! The "present" lore is always the newest es game (not side games like eso). Any kind of *speculation* that is based further than the year the current es game is, is most certainly invalid no matter what delusion the writer of that speculation is under.

[@TheGeekSquaredified]

Daedhro the Elf ESO is set in the past so i think it's fair game. If it was set alongside skyrim or after the events of skyrim i'd think would be weird. But i have not played ESO yet so i'd have to play it before seeing if it's can be fitted into the lore or just breaks it. I hope it only adds to the lore. But that would be speculation that only ES6 could confirm.

[@DaedhrotheElf]

Organized Anarchy​​ my point was basically the game that is furthest down the timeline is the present, e.g. skyrim is as it is set in 4e 201. I haven't played much of eso (I've got it) because I had a busy school year this year, and now that I've graduated I lack motivation XD. I've heard of bits and pieces of the game being contradictory to the lore but I'm not sure what. I'm just keen for ES6 because I'm sick of all the skybabies with their "SKEERUM BELONZ 2 DA NORDZ"

[@Borgarmeister]

I think the goofiest thing i've heard was Pelinal Whitestrake being a man made of metal going back in time from an elven dominated dystopia in order to start the Alessian rebellion. i.e The Terminator

[@miy1925hassun]

Jester 4108 Queen Ayrenn being a spaceship from the 9th Era was pretty bonkers too.

[@TemujinTheKhan]

Jester 4108 Yea,I don't consider that canon.

[@Lazypackmule]

It's written by the dude who wrote everything else about pelinal, and was pretty clearly hinted at in the in-game books It also solves the problem that was the subject of the first of those books, that being why he had a filthy elf name even though he hated the filthy elves

[@jaymes8132]

I saw the Michael Kirkbride Q&A Reddit post. Somebody asked if Pelinal was a robot from the future and he straight up said yes. So...there's that.

[@eroszakos9042]

@@Lazypackmule I thought Pelinal was one of Ysmir Wulfharth's undertakings.

[@Spacefrisian]

Well at least Bethesda hasnt reset there own lore, like Games Workshop did with there own Fantasy world. The reset was actually written in the story though as the End times...and than they went into Age of Sigmar. The concept is pretty BS if you ask me, world ends, godly angels swoop down and save some elves and humans to restart on giant space islands.

[@Spacefrisian]

What about doing a video on Warhammer fantasy and or Age of Sigmar lore, and give your thoughts on it. Could be an entire series where you pick somewhat lesser known fantasy lore and give your oppinion on it, ( i think many here havent even heard about Warmachine/ Hordes for example)

[@princesstinklepanties2720]

They're bringing fantasy back, from what ive read to test the waters with using digital models for the units instead of the physical ones they've always used

[@geruy]

So basicly, the lore community has been poisoned with fanfiction advocates making excuses for bad writting and executive mistakes of a company that doesn't give a shit anymore. Who could have seen that coming?

[@TheGeekSquaredified]

Making excuses for bad writing is okay. Finding a way for things like Skyrim not having a nordic pantheon too make sense in the world is actually a good thing. But saying that those decisions didn't exist in the first place is stupid and ignorant.

[@shadowwolf1762]

As long as they can explain it PROPERLY, then yes making excuses for bad writing is "okay". (I don't really agree with it hence this is my opinion). Second part I don't really care about. I agree with the last statement. However, back in the old times nobody ever cared about whether the story was true or not. They played it because it was a good experience. I'd rather a story be consistent throughout the series of games no matter what so I can be immersed. This is most likely unimaginative and not smart for someone such as myself, but I care not for that. I play games realistically because I find them fun not because of the story.

[@zurinarctus1329]

Some of the stories are actually filtered by Bethesda and Zenimax. Overall, the cooperation between two parties is what led to the success of TES today. TES and Fallout are rare examples of how successful fanfictions can contribute to a franchise.

[@EyeOfEld]

I still prefer the whole "all of ESO is in Coldharbor" idea.

[@notstorm208]

EyeOfEld wait what?

[@EyeOfEld]

st0rm This idea from... 4chan I think. Basically, the reason why ESO is a messed up distorted version of Tamriel because... you never left Coldharbor. The whole game takes place in the warped and twisted world of Molag Bal's design, for his own sick amusement.

[@Articwoem]

EyeOfEld lol

[@the_rose_garden01]

I prefer to treat ESO as C0DA

[@thomascollins5622]

@@the_rose_garden01 You mean non-canon garbage written by an idiot?

[@bigmac8309]

My biggest problem with elder scrolls lore is that as the games become more mainstream, they try to force a role on your character that heavily diminishes the roleplaying elements of the games. For example, if I wanted to, I could make it so that I had one Altmer character throughout all the games, and lore-wise that would be possible. However, when Bethesda writes in protagonist roles like Nerevarine and the Dragonborn, it messes with that role-playing element. Like you've said before, it does have to do with power fantasy and market appeal, which is a problem for the lore community. Because Bethesda only cares about gameplay and profit, it diminishes the enjoyment of the game for people like me. Another example would be how in morrowind and oblivion they gave the main characters (Nerevarine and CoC) canon endings that would also mess with roleplaying.

[@thejoker9417]

I think that with any franchise fanfiction can be much better than the canon, that's because the people developing the fanfiction have nothing to lose and aren't restrained by budget, time limits, pressure from the producers etc. At some point with any franchise that has extensive lore the creators are no longer limited by their imagination whereas fans are and can write anything while the creators

[@joe_youtube]

While the creators what? I’ve been waiting two years to get an answer and i’m afraid i’ll never know what happens next.

[@santiagovaldez8286]

LOL

[@jamesmccloud7535]

@@joe_youtube everything is CODA, just make your own headcanon about what he will say XD

[@declanrex9435]

Nope the fanfiction is always worse than official lore

[@Tyzen7]

"ALLEGEDLY"

[@RebSike]

You can say anything if you say "allegedly", allegedly.

[@sennahoj777]

This makes me think of when you have to find the "Fang Lair" in Arena, the first dungeon, and you have to ask around for directions. Some guys says something like:"No one have known of that place in 500 years..." while som others says:"I think it's considered common sense now that the persons at the palace know where it is".

[@veniveci8450]

Very important lore question! Did action from lusty argonian maid actually happened?

[@PhantasmagoriaRS]

Veni Veci Sadly no. It is a play made by an eccentric Hlaalu councilman who wanted to be a playmaker... also wanted you to kiss him and undress in front of him no matter the gender...

[@veniveci8450]

PhantasmagoriaRS :< I feel like becoming Skyrim feminazi

[@jemolk8945]

Rotan It's from Morrowind. The name you want is Crassius Curio.

[@OttoVonGarfield]

Crassius once wrote a shitty romance erotica fiction, and it became the best selling adventure novel of all time. He is... The most interesting Imperial in the world.

[@veniveci8450]

Alright, gonna look for her in Oblivion for scientific purpose

[@lesbianduck7862]

why Bethesda hasn't hired some of these fans that write amazing lore to help with the main storyline is beyond me, the main quest for skyrim is abysmally boring

[@GooglyEyedJoe]

Because well firstly they don't care, people still buy the games, hiring someone just to appease the hardcore fans wouldn't be financially sound for them to bother with but also as Zaric says theres essentially a divide within the fans lore so even if they hired one lore writer, half the other ones would probably hate it etc

[@Ed-ealmighty]

To the point where u never speak to jarl balgruff u just go off and do other shit

[@theflipkartelcom]

They dont need to spend money when they could just Google forums

[@dirtyox6862]

@@theflipkartelcom offff

[@devilsadvocate1380]

@@guirgsson3299 Eh

[@egotisticalfrog9303]

Zaric you're spoiling us with all these hour long lore videos. My body can't handle it.

[@frysfolio]

After discovering you yesterday where you talked about why PumaTheroies is wrong, and I must say you are entertaining and still go very deep into lore misconceptions (and things I didn't know) like Akatosh's meaning for his name or the Tiber Septim-Talos misconception. So thanks great videos.

[@-Daidalos]

I haven't really heard weird lore, but a friend of mine back in school when we were playing Morrowind always told us crazy stuff he allegedly experienced, like when you levitate towards the moons long enough there'd be a dragon that eats you or when you get infected with corpus, you'd eventually lose your arm if you waited long enough.

[@ColeWolfsson]

please tell me this stuff is true

[@-Daidalos]

Never tested the dragon one (sounds ridiculous, though), but I tested the corpus one and waited like a month or so, but besides reducing my intelligence to 0 and increasing my strenght to ridiculous amounts, nothing happened. But when I cured the corpus, I kept the ridiculous strength, so that's something.

[@prospectshorizon3497]

It's really interesting and surprising that the community had some say in how the lore formulated

[@SpiderMatty]

The msot strange sounding "lore" i've heard is when I first started play skyrim in 2012, I went onto the forums and someone said that all argonians are actually daedra in disguise because reptiles are evil or something.

[@DragonessYT]

If anything they're basically the grandchildren children of Sithis. Sithis created the Hist and the Hist created the Argonians.

[@melkhar7240]

Evil reptiles you say? That guy is clearly a fan of David Icke lol xD

[@Undomaranel]

Musician here. 'Coda' means 'tail' in Italian, and in music it means the tagged bit at the end of a piece that you have to jump to from the musical 'body'. It normally includes new material, as well as a reinterpretation of the main melody. The shift in tone isn't necessary, but does occasionally occur; usually it accentuates the overall feel of the piece, like putting salt/ pepper on steak.

[@kegans6296]

Undomaranel he's talking about C0da

[@Jaxicat]

These sorts of essays you do on lore, the community and the development of the Elder Scrolls are very cool.

[@konrad186]

We explain every inconsistency away because we want to our game to be as good as possible and it's more fun to make up dragon brakes then to say that someone at Bethesda misinterpreted some lore books from arena. Crazy I know and soooo hard to get.

[@MrCaptnrex]

18:40 so consolers ruined the RPG element for the later games?

[@gestapoboyz6375]

Makes perfect sense

[@jamesmccloud7535]

@@gestapoboyz6375 Honestly as being a console peasant for years and not having a decent pc I'm glad they port it to consoles so people like me get to experience and enjoy the games. :)

[@codieomeallain6635]

Generally yes, but I am a console player and I very much enjoyed Morrowind mechanics so do not blame all of us.

[@Gorgleful]

21:33 you are slightly wrong on this one. The explanations of this is talked about in the book Infernal City where it specifically says that “When the gates opened, Argonians poured into Oblivion with such fury and might, Dagon's Lieutenants had to close them.” p.19. I don't recall if the Hist warned them though, so that part is probably false.

[@Imperiused]

In TES IV Oblivion there are rumors that the Hist were calling Argonians back to Black Marsh for some unknown reason. I don't recall what the novels had to say about it, but we are given a first hand account of how the Hist influence and control Argonians.

[@JonSnowize]

Gorgleful quite a bunch of lore from the 2 books was used in skyrim, like the whole wrecking of morrowind, the Medes and so on. They're pretty standard reads but contain so much material it's a wonder Zaric hasn't made a video about them.

[@centurionnicolaum8588]

It was also pointed out that the character who said that the Argonians invaded Oblivion was spouting off An-Xileel propaganda. The stuff about the Hist Warning the Argonians is on page 34.

[@centurionnicolaum8588]

Page 34 is where it is mentioned that the Hist called the Argonians back to Black Marsh. It should be noted that the Argonians invading Oblivion should be taken with a grain of salt as it was pointed out as An-Xileel propaganda.

[@Pomerank420]

I think the entire Fantasy gendre has changed. The books that were popular in time of Daggerfall were full of Dragons, Goblins, Giant slimes and things like that... But then more realistic fantasy became popular the perfect example is Game of Thrones...

[@alexanderduvenage8035]

I see it as history. No of us was there, so we can only speculate about what have happened. What is told in the game is the accepted history, but like in real life history there are always gaps in the history and a lot of missing information. People how delve in to the lore are like historians how looks at the facts and try and full in the missing gaps.

[@ajohnson9630]

Kirkbride's out of game stuff may not be canon, but it is part of my head-canon. It is so much better and more interesting than where Elder Scrolls went. It is exactly what I want, but not what everyone wants. He seemed like a real writer. Someone that has a story to tell and an experience to create. I do think though that the pushback he may or may not have received helped make it actually approachable. Although meeting a flaming head Vivec would have made that first encounter with him/her way more epic.

[@badaxtion1878]

I have to watch a whole play through of Redguard now because of that clip

[@theflipkartelcom]

It's horrid .

[@thomascollins5622]

I hope you didn't. I've played the trash heap. Great writing, terrible gameplay.

[@miguelpereira9859]

@@thomascollins5622 Well even Zaric said that watching the game play through on KZbin is the best way to experience the story

[@megabyte5726]

the most BS piece of lore i herd was when that guy said he took a arrow in the knee. i dont believe it for a second

[@totalcrash5006]

it is a phrase

[@starclast7729]

So basically the best bits of the lore (mainly the concept of daedric princes) came from the community. That makes sense

[@dsyy90210]

i like kirkbride's stuff a lot, tempered by the "canon" in-game lore. he's obviously a major part of the lore of this game and the inspiration for a lot of what makes it interesting

[@DaedhrotheElf]

Stumbling across your ES lore vids gave me so much more information than I knew and helped a lot to understand the lore. Keep up the amazing work

[@CastIronNest]

I'm late as shit to this video but I gotta drop in to say even though I think Kirkbride is the best thing to ever happen to TES lore - the story that people at Bethsoft called his cut stuff "Kirkbride's Nonsense" is hilarious and fitting.

[@Uradamus]

I've been loving your talk videos. I decided to start porting all of the Morrowind .nifs into Blender files - for inspection and potential eventual replacement for use with OpenMW - and have been playing your videos in the background to have some interesting TES related content to listen to while I work.

[@beybladerocks7]

And that is why the part of the elder scrolls community that actually calls itself fanfiction can be so goddamn good

[@brunosiffredi]

Ken was right. When the game themes evoke things from real life, movies, literature, etc., it makes them more powerful.

[@Moravia300]

Well, Zaric Zhakaron, I first thought you are a arrogant "lore master", one of people who try to justify every single piece of trash Bethesda produce, but that "thought" (= impression) lasted only few minutes :D Your ideas are great. Here are, in my opinion, the worst examples of Bethesda's inconsistency: 1) Story about Miraak being "The first Dragonborn", instead of Alessia, where they didn't introduce any real explanation for that; 2) imperial edict about levitation spell, where they shaped lore to justify engine limitations; 3) in book "Immortal Blood" they wrote about Volkihar clan of vampires, and their super abilities (hiding beyond ice to ambush prey, for example). What we get is that retarded half-bet. Although, I'm not sure this one can be actually called "lore". And there are more examples, I just can't remember all of them at this moment. All of this doesn't really change the fact that TES one of the best RPG franchises (I have over 1000 hours in Skyrim alone).

[@afrog2666]

6:15 lol, it`s like Bill&Ted reading shakespeare :D

[@brunosiffredi]

LOL. Ken was so right. Too often modern game developers take inspiration from other videogames, while truly great games take inspiration from other sources. Mario could have just ate a yellow pellet like Pac-Man to get stronger, but instead Miyamoto was inspired by Alice in Wonderland to have the power up sprite be a mushroom. People take these things for granted, but they are at the core of what makes an interesting fictional universe.

[@proild]

The most controversial piece of TES lore I heard is that Dwemer of Rourken clan that used to inhabit Hammerfell turned into orcs when Dumak accidentally mantled Trinimac during the battle at the Red Mountain, explaining what happened to all Dwemer who were not in Morrownid at the time. And the weird thing is that the theory actually makes sense, at least in Kirkbride's interpretation of the lore, if not modern Bethesda's one.

[@broccoliman5700]

Crazy idea I read somewhere: Vivec and Tiber Septim used the Creation Kit after they reached CHIM

[@VengefulNonsense]

What ever happened to "Lore Friendly" Fan Fiction?

[@Mbeluba]

I AM THE LORE

[@billfred9411]

i heard a story about the tiger race that lives on the Continent of Akavir. if you never heard of them basically picture a buff Khajiit. i don't remember the details but basically it said one of these tiger people named Tosh-Raka transformed himself into a dragon with tiger stripes.

[@Jaloogman]

Hey Zaric, just want to say thank you for the work you put into your videos and explaining how to use mods. Also your humor is top notch :) Merry Christmas and best of luck to you.

[@christianholzschuh6853]

Hrm. I've played Morrowind extensively on X-Box. I never felt "lost". Just open up the journal and read through the quest. Everyone explains where to go. And then I headed out into that direction, stopped at a sea, and let my charakter (a pure mage, by the way) get hit by mudcrabs while wearing heavy armore, to get heavy armor up by 10 points, to get my body up by 5 points for a level up, because that's the first stat to level up in order to get max hp. My greatest Problem with Morrowind was always the inability to regain mana and the limits on your spellpool. Untill I found out how to increase my intelligence to 6.000.000...

[@magnethand9478]

The amount of franchises ruined and dumbed down by dense people who barely play games or see gaming as "passing the time" is truly tragic.

[@ihaztehSNIPAH]

lol your pronunciation of 'gamebryo' made me laugh so hard

[@divisionunion1658]

I finally understand some things, thank you Zaric, you are awesome.

[@lxjuani]

The colours of your modded Skyrim gameplay really hurt.

[@ColeWolfsson]

I find enbs silly

[@Goliath1337]

What a refreshing take and explanation instead of the usual snobfest video where people just come to glorify morrowind and hate on skyrim because 'muh story' and 'muh nostalgia'. Good job!

[@Teutius]

The only concrete piece of lore in TES series is "The Lusty Argonian Maid".

[@vitosanto9702]

Can´t help but admire your bravery. I´d never be man enough to save in third person.

[@theflipkartelcom]

Y?

[@jamesmccloud7535]

@@theflipkartelcom Y?

[@ivanesparza3589]

Skyrim was one of my first games ever. Played it when I was 10, and I’m sad to see how broken it’s universe is. Although I’m glad that my attachment to the franchise isn’t strong, and I can put my hopes on another franchise like the highly anticipated, at least for me, wayward realms.

[@owjars]

I'm in the group of people that hope to make a Elder Scrolls like RPG in the future, also I just love TES

[@doge5401]

Zhakaron, I doubt you'll ever see this as I understand you're busy, and I realize this doesn't exactly pertain to the topic of the video, but I'm curious; what would your opinions be on a TES game that was in the main series (Not a more linear spin-off like Redguard) set **during** the Chimer/Dwemer conflict, allowing the player to play as a Chimer/Dwemer (Or possibly even Snow Elf/Nede, though I'm unsure if those two races would logically have a presence in the area during the time). I ask this because you seem to understand TES lore extremely well, and this is something of a 'dream game' for me (I absolutely adore the Dwemer culture/technology/art). If you happen to see this, thanks for reading! :)

[@Shadowprince116]

In Regards to Argonians and the Oblivion gates it was mentioned in the official Elder Scrolls Novel "The Infernal City" that Argonians flooded into the gates in Blackmarsh causing Dagon to close them.

[@MisterClassified]

Oh, another Zaric Zharakron RPG rant. Nice! Whenever you release a new rant about RPGs, I get the urge to continue programming my pet RPG game. You should do more of these rants.

[@iRemainNameless]

Did you finish your RPG you were building?

[@MisterClassified]

@@iRemainNameless Naw, man. I made a space empire game instead.

[@sullysosavage365]

Loving these lore videos bro! Definitely earned my sub

[@LoudSodaCaleb]

I like the lore of the elder scrolls a lot. It's fun and very immersive.

[@Inilolo]

I like your pragmatic take on the many lacks of the devs and the lore community. Nothing is perfect. I would like to ask you to delve into shadow magic from a meta pov. It'll help you look at the lore from a different perspective.

[@SheevPalpatine]

So, where does the whole "the Thalmor want to destroy Mundus because they believe it will make them gods" thing come from?

[@rabidrivas]

Are you going to keep doing episodes of before skyrim?

[@Diskhate]

I agree that "Redguard" gets a bad rep...you definitely CAN'T play it expecting a standard TES game...but if you take it for what it is (a clunky "kinda advenutre" game) it definitely has some surprising moments, and some of the cinematics and the direction of the storytelling parts...is just awesome for what it is. Unfortunately the overall gameplay makes it my least favorite game in the serie to play; but i would suggest it nonetheless.

[@95keat]

I don't think I've ever seen a community that thought it's fanfiction was actual canon before this

[@antonderitu1877]

Thanks. Your video truly explains the sometimes tangled mess that is Elder Scrolls. They have a really good story. A unique and intresting one. BUT i always got the feeling that Elder Scrolls is a lot of guess work thrown at a wall and what sticks is what we have as the Elder Scrolls.

[@xBINARYGODx]

(Marrowind) "was solemnly rejected by most Xbox players" - what is your data or evidence to back this up? From Wikipedia: "Morrowind's Xbox release sold very well; it continued to rank among the top 10 sellers on the console one year after its initial release-a feat matched only by Halo: Combat Evolved." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_III:_Morrowind#Reception Such rejection cannot fuel long term sales success since that kind of success largely works on worth of mouth, such as it did for Halo (good reviews help, but you need a lot of people agreeing over the long term to keep selling well). From what I remember from that time on the internet, most of the complaining was centered around swinging your weapon as if you were in an action game, and missing over and over again. Really, all they had to do it remove hit-chance and I contend that there would have been nothing that controversial about the gameplay. Still, the game continued to sell well. You say Xbox players rejected the overall style of game that Marrowind presented, and I say that Xbox owners of the day liked/loved it in spite of a few arguable warts. My data is that it sold well, and less perfect, that generally the only negatives I read (repeatedly) concerned the hit-chance (and to some degree, the starting walk speed).

[@xBINARYGODx]

Zaric Zhakaron Except even back then most people buying the game did not interact with those forums. Also, my point was not that it sold well, is that it continued to sell well even a year later. If most xbox owners who bought the game felt that way, I fail to see how they could have maintained top-10-status a year later.

[@Sweet_Z_Official]

I really hate it when people repeatedly shit on the Khajiit because I think they're my all-time favorite class. The people who do this are bullies in my opinion and need to be called out!

[@masternest]

Zaric, you're fantastic. This is going to be a long one cos there are so many points that I want to cover. I don't even know if I'll remember em all. Firstly, I wanna say right off the bat that I really like your neutral stance (that's how I interpreted it) when it comes to the lore. I feel the same way. That Redguard scene was interesting. Made me think of all the other elder scrolls games like the adventures games. I wonder if any of those stories were ever mentioned in oblivion or Skyrim. It's cool to know fun facts like the names of the gods coming from the beta testers. Good stuff. I didn't know you worked for a time at imperial library info. I like their content. BTW, you've made me conscious now about your lips. I never noticed it before. Ignorance is bliss I guess. The video you used was when you were doing the mod where you can become a lich if I'm not mistaken. That was a nice quest. I'm pretty sure I'm missing a few things but lastly, the most bullshitiest theories that comes to mind are pretty much a lot of the ebony warrior theories. haha

[@miguelpereira9859]

This Kirkbride guy must be the real deal because the Dunmer are absolutely fascinating

[@chisasa9509]

God...the fact that Cyrus is Barbas makes me spin.

[@jamesprout9412]

Oh strange youtube algorithm bring me back again

[@kussyalkhudairy]

i love them talk videos.

[@dwainemccoy3458]

That Redgaurd clip is crazy... coulda been a movie

[@andrzejgieralt9872]

Very interesting. It seems like a big mess lol. Gotta love it XD The weirdest lore I've ever heard was that Pelinal is a cyborg from the future. And then there was that other robot who became the queen of the elves I think?

[@TrickyTrickyFox]

"Uriel Septim VII - was the first dragonborn"

[@raandomplayer8589]

wtf seriously? that was just a while before skyrim 200+his age. theres only 2 dragonborn???

[@satorukuroshiro]

Ah yes, critique, now if only people did critique right. Critique is supposed to include: What was done well, what was done not so well, and how it can be improved. Instead, people just say what is wrong, and not just say it, they scream it and bludgeon it into the artist's head like a nail on a finished building.

[@bulbasaur5534]

I have watched a couple of your videos now and I must say I really enjoy them, I like all the detail you go in to. I haven't played Arena or Daggerfall or any of the earlier games because I don't have a PC but I just picked up Morrowind for the original Xbox and I'm quite excited to play but also a bit nervous because from what I understand it is very different to the recent Elder Scrolls game but now I'm rambling I gave this video a like and I subbed keep doing what your doing cause it awesome!

[@sirgeekness5051]

Morrowind is a fun game. I think you'll enjoy it. A good tip is to have a weapon type or Destruction skill as one of your major skills. Then, use a weapon of that weapon type to fight. It'll make fighting easier.

[@bulbasaur5534]

Sir geekness well I wanted to make an argonian in medium armor that uses restoration and illusion with a little sneak and archery thrown in? would that be God to use I'm still trying to learn about the game mechanics before I jump in

[@sirgeekness5051]

Sounds good. Maybe add in short blade as a minor skill at least. You never know when you run out of arrows and need to melee.

[@bulbasaur5534]

Sir geekness haha I totally forgot to say spear as my melee attack I'm silly

[@bulbasaur5534]

so it would be an Argonian with Spear, Medium armor, Archery, Sneak, Restoration and Illusion as my major skills

[@RaspK]

We should point out that media wikis tend to be very loose in terms of what they allow: some Wikia pages are more strict than others when it comes to sticking only to canon, or whether something should be marked as canon, a widely-held theory, a fan theory with some backing, a piece of popular fanction, a retcon, etc.

[@MasterMahan-qm8hu]

Wow, very well explained. My eyes have been opened

[@emmathepony1992]

omg ... omg ... that redguard cutscene is so bad im crying hahahahaha

[@Heranara]

All i heard was every oblivion redguard ever.

[@packguar6617]

It is really good actually.

[@Strawhat_Kal]

wut

[@soulgamer78]

emma thepony Lol It was quite good actually.

[@lol69203]

The speech/writing itself is awesome. The acting and delivery was uhhh.......ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[@TheGeekSquaredified]

Not really something I thought is bull shit but I find incredibly interesting is the idea of the Towers and the wheel. At first I scorned it for feeling out of place. But I always find myself thinking about it be it when I'm in oblivion in the white-gold tower or at the throat of the world. Itjust seeps back into mind. And I realise why? It's just an extremely cool concept.

[@TheGeekSquaredified]

Plus I'd love to hear your opinion of the towers and the wheel.

[@patrickrowan6406]

@@TheGeekSquaredified What's the lore with the wheel.

[@matthewcrooks29]

hey zaric can't wait for the lore series to come back but can you also bring back what if oblivion was good and do it like how you did your what if skyrim was good

[@Ruthless_Robbery]

I started my Elder Scrolls journey with Morrowind GOTY on Xbox. Feels like ages ago, ah good times. Oh and I've always played as a Nord every single play through ever.

[@demigodgamer8517]

This is why I don't care. Bethesda obviously doesn't care, so when I play Skyrim or Oblivion, I just play through my own story and don't really care about what "lore" and fanfiction says. I even made up my own idea of the next culpa so I could have a fresh slate.

[@alpha-0874]

If I don't see it in-game, I don't consider it canon. Same goes for games of the Fallout series. Also the worst thing in the lore I've heard was that Pelinal Whitestrake was a time travelling robot.

[@arcticdragon3565]

Arena had artifacts with Minds of their own, even some Daedric and Aedric artifacts like Ohgma Infinium and Auriel's bow. (Forgive me for my spelling)

[@Hr1s7i]

Your smugness is one of the things I enjoy the most on YT. Thank you >:)

[@OnlyDeathIsEternal]

"Lady Nerevar" this name.

[@thelonedrone4058]

Looks like you had a hard time killing that rabbit at 24:30

[@kylethomas9130]

That scene with Cyrus, goosebumps. Want to play that game.

[@the_rose_garden01]

Honestly, I hate that people have their own version of The Elder Scrolls. No, it's not open source. Yes, in my personal headcanon, every character I've ever played are simply reincarnations of each other. This is how I can poorly role play and keep it as good role playing at the same time by skipping conversations and taking short cuts, because he's been there before in a past life. But no. That is not canon. It's not official. C0DA is not canon, fanfiction is not canon.

[@sdFreerey]

When I was in 8th grade concert band, our director would sometimes tell us to "play from the coda," to which I would say, "Who's Dakota?!" XD