History TheElderScrolls / Tropes0ToA

* AmbiguousDisorder: [[TheCaligula Emperor Pelagius the Mad]]. Infamous for his eccentricities, he certainly lived up to his nickname, though exactly what caused his madness is unknown. He suffered from extreme weight fluctuations and tried to hang himself at the end of a royal ball. He insisted on his palace always being [[NeatFreak kept clean]] and (perhaps apocryphally) was said to defecate on the floors to keep his servants busy. He would only communicate with the [[LizardFolk Argonian]] ambassador in grunts and squeaks, believing it to be the Argonian language. He'd frequently strip naked in public and, toward the end of his life, would attack and bite visitors. His madness is theorized to have even been something supernatural left behind in Castle Solitude by his mad aunt, the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Wolf Queen Potema]], but it remains a mystery.

* AnAxeToGrind:
** Throughout the series, one can find a variety of one-handed "War Axes" and two-handed "Battle Axes" to use. Naturally, [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orcs]] and [[HornyVikings Nords]] get racial bonuses to using axes in several games. Out of the non-playable races, [[OurMinotaursAreDifferent Minotaurs]] favor axes (along with [[DropTheHammer warhammers]]), and are strong enough to use two-handed battle axes with one hand. (Sometimes even DualWielding them.)
** In the series' {{Backstory}}, the legendary Chimeri/Dunmeri hero, Lord Indoril Nerevar, used the "Named Axe" as his primary weapon for a time and used it to slay the Parliament of Craters. (He would later move on to using the FlamingSword, True Flame.)
** Boethiah, the Daedric Prince of Plots, is typically depicted as wielding a massive battle axe in his male statues. (Boethiah's [[GenderBender female form]] statues instead wield a CoolSword.)

* AlienLunch:
** The Bosmer are bound to some unusual dietary restrictions due to the [[BindingAncientTreaty Green Pact]], a deal they made with their patron deity to never harm the plant life in the forests of their homeland, Valenwood. Because they cannot harm the plant life in any way, they live on an almost strictly carnivorous diet (though it also includes honey, dairy, and mushrooms which do not count as plants), essentially [[InvertedTrope Inverting]] {{Veganopia}}. In order to get around these restrictions, they are also known to eat a variety of ''insects''. Thunderbugs in particular are used along with rotten meat to create the alcoholic beverage "[[GargleBlaster Rotmeth]]." Additionally, they are known to ''smoke'' insects in their bone pipes instead of the usual plant matter smoked by most races. These restrictions are significantly relaxed for Bosmer living outside of Valenwood.
** The Sload, a race of "slugmen" native to the Coral Kingdoms of Thras to the west of Tamriel, are said to serve various molds and fungi as meals. One account even mentions Sload consuming a regurgitated substance from one of their elders.

* AwesomeMcCoolname:
** The Nords, Tamriel's ProudWarriorRace of HornyVikings, typically have first names pulled from medieval Norse while they have badass sounding clan names or sobriquets, leading to this - Ulfric Stormcloak, Arkming the Flayer, Ulfgar the Unending, Else God-Hater, Falk Firebeard, Frofnir Trollsbane, Aldi Winterblade, Ulfberth War-Bear, Galmar Stone-Fist, Torbjorn Shatter-Shield, Idolaf Battle-Born, Mjoll the Lioness, Alea the Huntress, Oengul War-Anvil, Hermir Strong-Heart, Bolgeir Bearclaw... The list goes on and on and on with ''Skyrim'', set in the Nord homeland, providing many more. They are also known to subvert it with some rather lame sounding names mixed in, still in this fashion, such as [[WhoNamesTheirKidDude Vekel the Man]], Nils the Bland, Horstar Home-Wrecker, Geilir the Mumbling...
** The names of Dragons, when translated from Draconic, are a mix of this and LukeNounverber. Alduin, the BeastOfTheApocalypse in ''ES'' lore and BigBad of ''Skyrim'', translates to '''Destroyer Devour Master''' and just so happens to have the moniker ''World-Eater''. Other cool Dragon names include Nahagliiv ('''Fury-Burn-Wither'''), Sahloknir ('''Phantom-Sky-Hunt'''), Odahviing ('''Snow-Hunter-Wing''') and many more.
** Tiber Septim, the [[FounderOfTheKingdom founder]] of the Third Tamriellic Empire who [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascended after his death]] as [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Talos]], the Ninth Divine, had a few, some doubling as RedBaron titles. His original name ([[HistoricalHeroUpgrade at least according to Imperial orthodoxy]]) was "Talos", meaning "Stormcrown" in Ehlnofex, the language of the ancient {{Precursors}}. Other names he's been known to go by include Hjalti, Wulf, Ysmir (meaning "Dragon of the North"), and more.

* AbsoluteCleavage: Throughout the series, the Daedric Prince Azura has fluctuated between this trope, BarbieDollAnatomy, and NippleAndDimed in her various appearances. Namira likewise fits the trope in her avatars and statues.

* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Throughout the series, it is possible to reach a level two or three times what it would take to reasonably beat every challenge in the game. ''Skyrim'' takes it UpToEleven thanks to the "Legendary Skill" feature, removing any semblance of a level cap. (Though if you have more than 255 unused perk points, the game crashes, meaning the effective max level is ''510''.)

** The 4th Era Dominion, its third incarnation, is led by the extremist Thalmor and plays this idea UpToEleven. Taking the credit for ending the Oblivion Crisis within their homeland brought the Thalmor immense populist support, and they eventually took over the entirety of the Altmeri government. After having Potentate Ocato assassinated in a successful attempt to destabilize the now Vestigial Septim Empire, they seceded, annexed Valenwood, and reformed the Dominion of old. The Thalmor-led Aldmeri Dominion serves as the GreaterScopeVillain of the Skyrim Civil War.

** Prior to ''Skyrim'' dropping classes, the series had Monk as a standard class. Hand to Hand tends to be the main combat skill of the class, though [[SimpleStaff Blunt Weapon]] also gets a boost. Given the [[EverythingIsTryingToKillYou nature]] of [[AdventureFriendlyWorld Tamriel]], it is actually rather justified that even the members of a religious order be able to defend themselves.

* AnEconomyIsYou: Averted throughout much of the series, where in addition to the normal adventuring fare (weapons, armor, potions, spells, etc.), you can find shops selling items that the average citizenry would want or need (food, drinks, books, VendorTrash, useless decorative clutter, etc.) as well.

* AdultFear: In addition to the usual "being preyed upon while you sleep" fear inherent to all [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]], the Telboth vampire bloodline of Valenwood is known to [[ChildEater prey upon children]]. The Telboth are then said to [[{{Shapeshifting}} take the place of those children]], eventually killing the entire family.

* ArmorAndMagicDontMix: Downplayed overall. Pure mage {{NPC}}s typically don't wear armor, as how effective it is depends mostly on your skill level with that armor class, and {{NPC}}s typically don't have many skill points outside of their class skills. However there's nothing that actually stops them from equipping it (look what happens if you cheat armor into their inventory in ''Morrowind''), and the series has always had several types of {{Magic Knight}}s on up to the heavy armor-wearing Battlemage. ''Oblivion'' and ''Skyrim'' add mechanics that gently encourage spellcasting characters not to wear armor (spell damage reduction varying by armor skill in the first case, and an Alteration perk that's only usable unarmored in the second), but it's still a valid choice.

* AgentProvocateur: This is a favored tactic of the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Thalmor]]-led 4th Era [[AntiHumanAlliance Aldmeri]] [[TheEmpire Dominion]]. Though the nation of a LongLived WitchSpecies, the Altmer suffer from an ImmortalProcreationClause which limits their birthrates (and is further hampered by rumors that they cull children with undesirable traits), leaving them at a disadvantage in drawn-out wars of attrition. As such, they prefer a DivideAndConquer strategy which includes setting their enemies up to fight and weaken one another ahead of Dominion takeover. Through the use of agents, they sow discord in rival nations. Most notably, they used these to goad the [[LizardFolk Argonians]] into first seceding from the [[VestigialEmpire faltering Empire]] then invading a [[EarthShatteringKaboom Red]] [[ChekhovsVolcano Year]]-weakened Morrowind, home of their long time oppressors, the Dunmer (Dark Elves), stripping their ArchEnemy Empire of two provinces at once.

*** The Bretons are naturally resistant to magic, owing to their [[UnevenHybrid distant Elven ancestry]] which also makes them a WitchSpecies. In-game, this takes the form of magical effects having only 50-75% of their usual power against them, depending on the game.

** Magnus, the God of Magic who served as the architect for Mundus, the mortal plane, but abandoned it part way through creation, is sometimes referred to as "The Arch-Mage" as part of his divine title. He is highly regarded by several WitchSpecies, including the Altmer and Bretons.

** In ''Morrowind'', Jiub is the [[PlayerCharacter Nerevarine]]'s [[WalkingShirtlessScene shirtless]], [[BaldOfAwesome bald]], [[HandicappedBadass one-eyed]] fellow prisoner aboard the Imperial Prison Ship at the start of the game. He lets the Nerevarine known they've arrived in Morrowind and asks for the Nerevarine's name, and is never seen again once the Nerevarine exits the ship. Despite his [[SpearCarrier very limited role]], he was popular enough with fans to generate countless {{Fan Fic}}s and {{Game Mod}}s which add him back into the game. Bethesda took notice and, in ''Oblivion'', mention that [[HeroOfAnotherStory became a Saint]] in Morrowind for driving the ([[GoddamnedBats much reviled]]) Cliff Racers [[LegendaryInTheSequel to extinction]]. His spirit makes a cameo in ''Skyrim''[='s=] ''Dawnguard'' DLC, where he offers a sidequest in the [[SpiritWorld Soul Cairn]].

** Throughout the series, one can find a variety of one-handed "War Axes" and two-handed "Battle Axes" to use. Naturally, [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orcs]] and [[HornyVikings Nords]] get racial bonuses to using axes in several games. Out of the non-playable races, [[ALoadOfBull Minotaurs]] favor axes (along with [[DropTheHammer warhammers]]), and are strong enough to use two-handed battle axes with one hand. (Sometimes even DualWielding them.)

** Morihaus, the legendary "[[ALoadOfBull Man-Bull]]" who aided [[FounderOfTheKingdom St. Alessia]] in her [[SlaveLiberation slave revolt]] against the [[AbusivePrecursors Ayleid Empire]], was said to be the Aedric demi-god son of Kyne (aka Kynareth), one of the Nine Divines. He is described as a "[[VertebrateWithExtraLimbs winged man-bull]]", and had a nose hoop to go with the moniker. It is said that he was able to shake the entirety of the ''massive'' [[TheTower White-Gold Tower]] in Cyrodiil with his HornAttack. He became Alessia's [[DivineDate consort]] and their progeny become the first Minotaur.

* ALoadOfBull:
** Morihaus, the [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Aedric "demi-god"]] who aided the [[SlaveLiberation Alessian Revolt]] against their [[AbusivePrecursors Ayleid]] masters. Morihaus took the form of a massive "winged man-bull" with a favored fighting style of [[HornAttack goring enemies with his horns]]. Morihaus fell in love with Alessia, the human "slave queen", and remained with her for the rest of her life. [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse What happened to Morihaus after her death is unknown]].
** Minotaurs, a massive race of half-man/half-bulls, are are believed to descend from the union between Alessia and Morihaus. They are believed to be a sapient [[BeastMan Beast Race]], but are treated as little better than monsters by most other denizens of Tamriel. Alessia's son, Belharza, was said to be the first Minotaur, and became the second Emperor of the Alessian Empire following her death.

* OneHundredAndEight: Used prominently throughout the series, especially in background lore. To note:
** 108 itself - A number commonly associated with Akatosh, the [[TopGod chief deity]] of the [[SaintlyChurch Nine Divines]] pantheon.
** 1+0+8 - Essentially 9, a recurring ArcNumber for the series, usually expressed in the form of 1+8. There are [[OurGodsAreDifferent 9 Divines]] in the [[SaintlyChurch Imperial religion]], comprising 8 conventional gods and 1 [[DeityOfHumanOrigin human who became a god]]. There are traditionally 9 provinces in the Cyrodiilic Empire (Cyrodiil itself and 8 others), and 9 districts and principal cities in the provinces of Skyrim and Cyrodiil (both the capital plus 8 others). The [[OnlyTheChosenMayWield Amulet of Kings]] has 8 small jewels and 1 large jewel. There are eight '[[TheTower Towers]]' sustaining the barriers between the realms, and one 'zeroth stone' that is the origin of their power. Even the universe itself is said to be shaped like a wheel with 8 spokes, the '+1' being the solid line made when viewed on it's side.
** 1008 - the very first and longest lasting [[http://www.imperial-library.info/obscure_text/complete_dragonbroke.shtml Dragon Break]], a type TimeCrash with CosmicRetcon like effects associated with the aforementioned Akatosh, lasted precisely 1008 years. How could they tell how much time passed despite time being non-linear during that period? They used the cycles of Nirn's [[WeirdMoon two moons]], which are said to be the "flesh divinity" (i.e. the sundered, rotting corpse) of the [[GodIsDead dead creator god]] and was thus unaffected, to tell how much time had passed.
** 100008 - See also "O Aka! I beg you one hundred thousand and eight times!" from the [[http://www.imperial-library.info/obscure_text/aldudagga.shtml Alduddaggas]].

** The Morag Tong, a legal [[MurderInc assassin's guild]] of {{Professional Killer}}s in Morrowind, consider themselves to be this, as does the [[OurElvesAreBetter Dunmeri]] government which sanctioned them. The Tong has a set of strict rules and a code of honor in terms of performing executions, maintaining a policy of impartiality. They were sanctioned as an alternative to the destructive {{Allowed Internal War}}s of the [[TheClan Great Houses]], which weaken the Dunmer overall.

** The Ayleids, the "[[OurElvesAreBetter Wild Elves]]" of Cyrodiil, were a fairly extreme example. They initially split off from their Aldmeri ancestors to get around the (Aedra worshiping) Aldmeri ban on Daedra worship and would eventually found Tamriel's first empire in Cyrodiil. They enslaved the Nedes (human ancestors to the Bretons, Imperials, and possibly Nords), and some of their more horrific acts toward these slaves included: forcing them all to work naked, force-feeding them hallucinogenic drugs and watching their reactions, creating sculptures out of their bones, creating gardens out of their entrails, and setting human children on fire then siccing hungry animals on them. Eventually, under the leadership of [[FounderOfTheKingdom Alessia]] and with the support of the Aedra who would eventually be recognized as the "Divines" (who were obviously not too happy with the Ayleids' Daedra worship), their human slaves [[SlaveLiberation rose up]] and [[TheDogBitesBack revolted]], driving the Ayleids to near-extinction (save for the few who [[TokenHeroicOrc sided with the humans]] and were allowed to keep their lands as vassals to the new empire of Men). About a century later, the young empire took up an extremist [[FantasticRacism anti-Elven]] religion and drove out the remaining Ayleids as well as destroyed any vestiges of Ayleid culture they could find, driving them to apparent extinction as a unique race.

*** The Colovian King Rislav started an uprising against the Order. He inspired the Direnni [[OurElvesAreBetter Altmer]] of High Rock and the High King of Skyrim, Hoag Merkiller[[note]]which was a nickname, meaning the Order was hated enough to create an alliance between a bastion of Merish might bordering Skyrim and a king of Skyrim so famous for killing Mer it became part of his name[[/note]], to fight against the Order as well. Though the Order would survive, they were dealt a crushing blow by the combined forces of their enemies at the Battle of Glenumbria Moors, which robbed the Empire of several more supporting nations (including the fracturing of Cyrodiil itself).

** Lorkhan, [[IHaveManyNames also known by many other names]], is the et'Ada who (depending on the storyteller) convinced/tricked some of the other et'Ada into sacrificing large portions of their divine power to create Mundus. For this perceived treachery, these et'Ada who made sacrifices (Aedra) punished Lorkhan by [[GodIsDead "killing"]] him, removing his divine center ("heart"), and casting it down into the world he helped to create where his spirit would be forced to wander. Most [[OurElvesAreBetter races of Mer (Elves)]] consider the creation of Mundus a malevolent act, which robbed their divine ancestors of their immortality and forced them to experience mortal suffering and loss. According to their religious teachings, Lorkhan is a powerful but "barely formed urge" of a being. Similarly, as Sep in [[ScaryBlackMan Yokudan/Redguard]] tradition, he was created by [[TopGod Ruptga]] to help guide spirits to the [[WarriorHeaven Far Shores]], but being driven by the same HorrorHunger that afflicts Satakal[[note]]the Yokudan/Redguard CompositeCharacter of the concepts of Anu and Padomay[[/note]] (having been formed from the "worldskins" that Satakal leaves behind), he attempts to consume those spirits and then, after being stopped by Ruptga, devises Mundus as an easier alternative to reaching the Far Shores. However, his plan is flawed and actually makes it ''harder'' for spirits to get there.

** In the series' backstory, the [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname Snow Prince]] was a [[OurElvesAreBetter Falmer (Snow Elf)]] OneManArmy who very nearly turned the tide of the war against the [[HornyVikings Nords]], who were attempting to [[FinalSolution drive the Falmer to extinction]]. The Snow Prince was a master of ice magic to the point that he was described as being "surrounded by snow and ice" as he cut a bloody swath through the Nords.

** The series has a version in the backstory known as Aldmeris. It is said to be the continent the {{Precursors}} of the modern [[OurElvesAreBetter Mer (Elven) races]], the Aldmer, came from. It is said that Aldmeris came under an unknown threat in the [[TimeOfMyths earliest Era of history following the creation of the mortal world]] and the Aldmer were forced to flee. It is said to be "lost," and whether it still exists (or ever existed at all, as other theories claim that Aldmeris was simply Tamriel before the races of Men arrived) is unknown.

** The games also drop hints at the cosmology and history of the universe, which are then expanded upon greatly by out-of-game, developer written supplemental writings known to the lore community as "Obscure Texts". As such, the series tends to look a lot more like generic HighFantasy than it really is to someone not well versed in the lore.

--> ''"Go here: '''w'''orld '''w'''ithout '''w'''heel, '''c'''harting '''zero''' '''d'''eaths, '''a'''nd '''e'''choes '''s'''inging," Seht said, until all of it was done, and in the center was anything whatever.''

* AfterTheEnd: ''[=C0DA=]'' is an "[[LooseCanon obscure text]]" written by former series writer (and occasional freelance contributor) Michael Kirkbride (with support from current Bethesda writer Kurt Kuhlmann). [[HumongousMecha Numidium]] has made Landfall. The [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Thalmor]] won, [[TimeCrash time is unbound]], Nirn is uninhabitable, and the survivors eke out a living under the surface of [[WeirdMoon the moon]]. Humans are ambiguously extinct, as the only races seen in the comic outside of flashbacks are Dunmer, Khajiit, and Hist. In the ''Morrowind'' expansion for ''The Elder Scrolls Online'', the URL for the ''[=C0DA=]'' website is referenced (in code), making it something of a CanonImmigrant EasterEgg.