History VideoGame / TheElderScrollsIVOBlivion

* IgnoredConfession: During a Dark Brotherhood quest where you are required to kill 5 people in a ClosedCircle ala Creator/AgathaChristie, you can straight up tell the person who greets you that you are an assassin, sent to kill everyone. She'll laugh, praise your sense of humour, and her disposition will rocket to full.

* KillEmAll: There are lots of scripted NPC deaths in the game. Let's leave it at that.
** Played straight in the Who Dun It quest.

* EndOfAnAge: The end of the Cyrodillic Empire to be exact. The Septim bloodline is gone and the empire itself in a weakened state. [=NPCs=] in the game already talk about the High Elves planning to go against the empire and, after finishing the main quest, some of the provinces plan on seceding. [[spoiler: Turns out that in [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]], the High Elves formed their own Empire, slowly picking away territory. And, like the NPC's said, 2 of the other provinces did indeed secede. By the time Skyrim's story starts, the Empire is only a shadow of its former self.]]

-->-- '''[[Creator/{{PatrickStewart}} Emperor Uriel Septim VII]]'''

** A nonstandard use is in the very beginning. "Why am [[{{AFGNCAAP}} I]] in jail?" [[BecauseDestinySaysSo "Perhaps the Gods have placed you here so that we may meet."]]

** The ''Knights of the Nine'' expansion also adds Aurorans, humanoid Daedra associated with Meridia, that wear [[LightIsNotGood golden armor]] and feature the same hulking body structure as the Xivilai. They act as Umaril's personal army of [[SmashMook Smash Mooks]], and wield Ayleid Battle-Axes in combat.

* HammerspacePoliceForce

* HideYourChildren

* AnAxeToGrind: Interestingly governed by the Blunt skill. The official explanation is that the act of swinging an axe [[TruthInTelevision is more akin to using a club than a sword]], tending to cause "hack/chop" injuries that have elements of both blunt and sharp trauma and deal internal damage similar to that of a mace, flail, or war hammer.

* GiantMook: The Xivilai, massive daedra who wield [[AnAxeToGrind battle axes]] and [[DropTheHammer warhammers]] in ''one hand''.

* HornyDevils: The Dark Seducers' name implies this, but it really isn't true. [[GoodIsNotNice " Seductive" they sure as heck ain't]].

* INeverSentAnyLetters: The Dark Brotherhood quest line has a variant. [[spoiler:You receive assassination orders from your handler Lucien via DeadDrop, but a traitor starts intercepting them and replacing them with orders that target the Brotherhood leadership. Lucien confronts you in a panic after your fifth murder as an UnwittingPawn.]]

** One quest in Anvil involves investigating a series of robberies for the town watch. A group of women have been luring men to a remote cabin with promises of a good time, only to take all their possessions once the men have removed their gear. If you go to a local inn soon afterwards, you will meet the women. If the player character is male, they will attempt to lure him to the cabin with the aforementioned promises. If the PC is female, however, they will offer her a place in their gang. That evening, the quest calls for you to join them at the cabin. No matter whether the PC is male or female, your only dialogue options involve revealing your status as a mole, then taking out the whole gang by yourself in combat. As a female character (who may even be a member of the Thieves Guild and/or Dark Brotherhood and whose railroaded behavior therefore makes little sense), this seems like [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot a waste of a good plot]].

** The many corpses seen strung up in the realm of Oblivion, along with the sacks of skin simply labelled "The Punished" have their fates left to the player's imagination, but they were no doubt very painful deaths. That is, [[FridgeHorror assuming they're dead]].

* CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption: In the Mehrunes' Razor DLC, [[spoiler:the "normal" way to finish the final puzzle and get the Razor is by ''eating a still living man's heart'', getting you a massive infamy penalty. The only others options are to either force the gate (which requires a near maxed out strength stat), or fight ThatOneBoss.]][[note]][[spoiler:Although you can take the heart, not eat it, and try to force the gate. This will weaken the aforementioned boss significantly without the negative effects of eating the heart, which include contracting Porphyric Hemophilia (the disease that turns you into a vampire) and Cannibal's Prion. Additionally, if you keep the heart, you can make a potion that turns you into a vampire with maxed Alchemy.]][[/note]]

* FountainOfMemes: Due to the popularity of Bethesda's open world games, naturally memes will ensue. However Oblivion in particular reserves special recognition as a meme machine, even decades after it's release. Oblivion's NPC AI is infamous in gaming culture for its stupidity, bugginess and just odd logic coded into the game, often having humorous results. In fact Oblivion was one of the first games to really help create Youtube Poop.

* LordBritishPostulate: Mehrunes Dagon is actually killable, he just has a ridiculous amount of health and regeneration. If you can figure out how to hit over 10000 (see GameBreaker.TheElderScrolls), you can actually ''one-hit kill'' him.
** Alternatively, use Wabbajack, then wail on the poor Daedric Prince. Cue [[ImMelting melting]] [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments god]]. [[note]]Mehrunes Dagon character has no proper death animation programmed since he wasn't meant to be killed, and as a result of dying, the skeleton literally gives way and the 3D character model simply collapses to the ground. This will effectively happen with anything that has no proper skeleton installed, but is quite visible here just because Dagon is so damn BIG.[[/note]]

* LowLevelAdvantage: Many players despise the leveling system used for enemies, firstly since it prevents any real advancement and secondly because it can actually cause a character to become ''weaker'' as they level "up". At higher levels, the later effect can cause enemies to become overpowered. The same mechanic can be exploited to become a GameBreaker [[note]]by leveling up your combat skills (which happens independently of your character level, especially if you don't rest in beds or sleeping bags -- in which case you'll never level up -- or if you choose or build a class in such a way that your "major skills," for which each skill raised counts for 10% of the next level, don't include the combat skills you use the most. Enemies level up based on your character's level, not on your aggregate combat skills[[/note]]. Thankfully there is a difficulty slider if the game mechanic goes pathological.

* LuckStat: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Luck attribute]].

* MythologyGag: Jiub, the Dunmer who wakes you up on the prison ship at the start of ''Morrowind'' and is promptly taken to parts unknown, has been made a saint... for [[GoddamnedBats wiping out cliff racers]]. [[spoiler:His severed head can also be found in one of the ruined buildings of Kvatch, complete with eye scar, but nearly every player failed to notice who it was meant to be. It wasn't until the Skyrim expansions featured his spirit, mentioning that he was living in Kvatch at the time of the attack, that players noticed the head and realized who it was.]]

* SpellCrafting: The game grants the ability to create custom spells to players who progress to a certain point in the Mages' Guild quest line or purchase the Wizard's Tower DownloadableContent. The player chooses a spell's range (self, touch, or ranged), area of effect (single-target or SplashDamage), duration, and effects, and the game automatically assigns a Magicka cost depending on how powerful the spell is, theoretically maintaining game balance. In practice, it is hilariously easy to design [[GameBreaker game-breakingly]] powerful spells by combining synergistic effects such as Weakness to Fire + Fire Damage, or assigning a one-second duration to spells that increase the Persuasion skill (which only works in dialogue, which pauses the game clock). ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall'' and ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'' had similar features.

* TakeThat: The character M'aiq the Liar is a walking (well, running) take that and LampshadeHanging of various subjects: [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind the previous game (largely things that didn't make it into this one)]], [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks new additions and mechanics that some fans disapproved of]], [[MemeticMutation memes]] and [[spoiler:VideoGame/{{Fable}}]].

* TerminalTransformation: [[spoiler: Rona Hassildor [[SupernaturalAngst hated becoming a vampire]] so much that she refused to drink blood and fell into a coma. You can deliver a cure, but she's so weak that she dies as soon as she becomes human again.]]

* GameMod: Enough of them to build several whole new games. In fact, several mods are there for ''just that purpose''. Sadly, SturgeonsLaw is in effect for many of them, and they're only useful if you run the PC version.

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: The Imperial Capital is built over the ruins of Ayleid ruins which were repurposed after they were overthrown., so in this case it's actually justified.

* AdoringThePests: One of the first Fighter's Guild quests sends you to help out a woman who has a [[RatStomp 'rat problem']] in her basement. Turns out she actually likes having the rats down there; the problem is the mountain lions that keep killing them.
** It's also a reference to Morrowind, as a woman with a similar name asks you to kill a few rats for the first fighter's guild quest.

* AndIMustScream: A Wizard stole from Vaermina the Daedric Prince of Nightmares. Now he's trapped within nightmares for all eternity. [[spoiler: You have the option to MercyKill him]].

* AnimeHair: Several elven [=NPCs=] have magnificent gravity-defying 'dos. For example, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney Umbacano]], [[LoonyFan the Ador]][[TheScrappy ing Fan]], and [[CoolOldGuy Modryn]] Oreyn.

* AwesomeButImpractical: The unicorn, which is supremely cool to ride around on but has such a high aggression that it will attack anyone it sees with drawn steel, including you[[note]]Unless your fame - infamy >=50, that is[[/note]].

** In the Wizards storyline, you are sent as an envoy to the reclusive Count Hassildor, whose [[ObviousJudas obvious Mole]] of a steward tells you he'll only meet you at a remote mine shortly after midnight. To progress, you have to walk into the steward's [[TrapIsTheOnlyOption ambush]], then let the Count "rescue you" -- even if you beat your assailants yourself -- and repeatedly insult you for your foolishness.

* ButThouMust: One quest in Anvil involves investigating a series of robberies for the town watch. A group of women have been luring men to a remote cabin with promises of a good time, only to take all their possessions once the men have removed their gear. If you go to a local inn soon afterwards, you will meet the women. If the player character is male, they will attempt to lure him to the cabin with the aforementioned promises. If the PC is female, however, they will offer her a place in their gang. That evening, the quest calls for you to join them at the cabin. No matter whether the PC is male or female, your only dialogue options involve revealing your status as a mole, then taking out the whole gang by yourself in combat. As a female character (who may even be a member of the Thieves Guild and/or Dark Brotherhood and whose railroaded behavior therefore makes little sense), this seems like [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot a waste of a good plot]].

--> '''Guard:''' [[MemeticMutation Stop! You violated the law. Pay the court a fine or serve your sentence. Your stolen goods are now forfeit.]]

* ChekhovsSkill: J'skar, the lovable Khajiit prankster of the Bruma Mages Guildhall, is shown to only be really good at invisibility. [[spoiler:When Mannimarco attacks Bruma's guildhall, his invisibility mastery is what makes him the sole survivor.]]
** [[spoiler:Or maybe not. His comments after you kill the necromancer looking for him sound like Mannimarco let him live to send a message to the rest of the guild.]]

* ContinuityNod: The "Hero of [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]" and [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsArena Jagar Tharn]] are mentioned in passing many times, in both in-game books and by a few certain characters. [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind The province of Morrowind]] has abolished slavery (according to NPC chatter). These examples are notable because most content in ''Oblivion'' is self-contained (though this is by no means an exhaustive list).

** Another couple of Morrowind examples: You can overhear two Elven [=NPCs=] talking about the [[PlayerCharacter Nerevarine]] having left on an expedition to Akavir. You can also over hear mention of "St. Jiub, who drove all the [[GoddamnedBats cliff racers]] from Morrowind."

* MercyKill: Azura's daedric quest has the player go into a mine to slay people who succubmed to vamparisim.

** Anvil's dock-side is ripe with pirates and smugglers, an outlaw-themed home is availble just on the coat outsideo of town for the player, according to old logs, one of the former Counts was secretly a smuggler and a certain important figure may well be one of greatest thieves of all time.

* ZipMode: Quick travel to major cities.

* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Relmyna Verenim.

* MurderInc: the Dark Brotherhood.

* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: [[spoiler:Count Janus Hassildor]] is pretty much the only vampire that ''doesn't'' want to kill you and drink your blood.

* OpenSecret: The existence of the Dark Brotherhood is officially "just a rumor" and categorically denied by the rulers of Cyrodil. However, the populace is firmly aware of its existence, and all of the royals are, too; chatting with a guard will sometimes have them comment that they specifically ruled out the Brotherhood as the culprits behind the Emperor's assassination.

* SociopathicHero: Relmyna Verenim. ''So much''.

* StaminaBurn: Called "Fatigue" for this game only, but still works the same and has effects that damage it.

* TheComputerIsALyingBastard: According to a loading screen tip, "Higher willpower allows you to defend against magical attacks." In reality, the magic damage formula does not reference "target's willpower" at any point.
* TheEmperor: A benevolent one. And he's played by Creator/PatrickStewart.
* TheUndead: Zombies. Animate skeletons. Ghosts that shriek like bats out of hell, wraiths and liches.

* TortureTechnician: Relmyna again.

** Cheydinhal, the place where the Dark Brotherhood's base of operations is. But of course, the Count and many others deny it.
** Skingrad's guards keep a tight-lid-on it. The people would freak-out if they knew, but as said secret is the reason the County is so well-taken care of no-one who knows wants it to get out. It seems to be working so far.
** Hackdirt and its cult.
* TranslationTrainwreck: The German translation suffered from multitude of shortcomings, among them: unwieldy, misleading or incorrect item and spell names and descriptions. Even quest texts had errors. There was bad dialogue, fragments of the english orginal, widely different subtitles and so on. Neither the reviewing press nor the German fans were pleased. The latter rectified many issues with mods.

* {{Troll}}: Sheogorath, obviously. Unlike the other Daedric princes who either have their preferred niche roles or see mortals as beneath them, Sheogorath prefers to mess with people directly, to either drive them mad or just be a total jerkwad. Most Daedra may have made an artifact that cursed people into evil; he makes a staff that forces four harmless but annoying Scamps to follow a person around. He also helps bring about the end times prophecy of a small village, just because he thinks the village is dull and because they ''have'' such a prophecy.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Some people will talk about unrest in Summerset about an Aldmeri uprising. ''Skyrim'' expands on this with the Aldmeri Dominion.
** Don't forget Umbacano, who [[spoiler:was going to gain the power of an ancient Ayleid king, solely to restore his own kind to power and subjugate everyone else... all while getting you to do all the hard work for him!]] It was already hinted at pretty strongly that a few Altmer wanted the old ways back.

* QuietingTheUnquietDead: Most undead are generic monsters with HardCodedHostility. However, one {{Sidequest}} has the player character help a FriendlyGhost move on by freeing his corpse from the shackles that caused him to drown.

** In ''Shivering Isles'', you can find a chest labeled "[[Music/{{Nightwish}} The Dark Chest of Wonders]]," and it contains the Ring of the Oceanborn.