When The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion blew past its tenth anniversary last year, I remember thinking that it felt like just yesterday I was playing it for the first time. I rushed home with a preorder copy and ended up putting 300 hours of my life into exploring Oblivion’s manifold environs. Whether lurching through enchanting forests as a heavily armored member of the fey folk, sneaking through bandit lairs, trying (and often failing) to not get spotted, or avoiding frostbite near Bruma, the game was the richest video game experience I’d ever had. As well as the environments, the range of ways to earn your daily bread (or indeed, skooma) were as broad as a troll’s shoulders. If you fancied your chances being a high-fantasy Lara Croft, you could raid tombs and dungeons for artifacts. You could rise to the top of the Mage’s Guild (without even knowing magic, if you wanted a laugh.) Become a vampire, a ghostbuster, or spend your days fighting demons. The choice was yours.
The point I’m coming to in this long and rambling introduction is that while its age may be showing these days, I genuinely believe that Oblivion is a better game than Skyrim. The shift from Oblivion’s varied landscapes to Skyrim’s snowy plains hurt it for me, and no amount of northern lights could dazzle me out of seeing the faults in its writing. In this article, I’ve written on 25 of the coolest things you don’t know about Oblivion. When you’ve finished, spin the game up. It rules, and you need to remember that.
25 You Can Be A Horseman/Horselizardman Of The Apocalypse
Oblivion’s daedric quests were masterclasses in the weird, dark, and funny, and none more so than Sheogorath. This guy loves a jape, so when he finds Border Watch, a village that believes the end is coming, he enlists your help in proving them…well, kind of right. Their first sign of the apocalypse is the appearance of a plague of rats, so you sneak into a cheese collector’s house (that’s right, a cheese collector,) steal some, and put it into a cooking pot to attract rats. Who knew they loved fondue?
The second sign is livestock dying, so you need to grab the poison that’s put down to kill the rats, and poison their sheep’s food. Once this happens, Sheogorath fulfills their prophecy’s final sign, making it rain burning dogs from the heavens. It’s the end of their world as they know it, and they don’t feel fine at all, actually.
24 Search The Forests And You’ll Find This Unique Beast
Little do most people know, but there’s actually a unicorn present in Oblivion. Unfortunately for you, they aren’t the placid and pure-hearted beasts depicted in most media, no, it’s out for your blood, and will turn you into a kebab as quick as look at you. You can find it in a sacred grove northwest of Bravil, guarded by three Minotaurs of the Grove. Now. This is where it gets tricky. Attack any creature near it, and this thing will skewer you. Unsheathe a weapon near it too, and it’ll kill you.
Stealth is in order here. Sneak past the minotaurs, ideally with a chameleon effect, and you can gallop away. Once you mount it, it’s yours, but it will make its way back to the grove should you stray too far from it.
23 Never Thought I’d Feel Sorry For That
Oblivion is, by comparison to many other RPGs, actually pretty light in its subject matter. Yes, the game is about a demonic invasion of a Tolkien-esque high-fantasy realm, but it still doesn’t ever feel weighty. Occasionally, however, it genuinely does – one such case is the suicidal troll. Yep, the game made me feel for a troll. You’ll find this guy, and his chicken scratch suicide note, where he laments his inability to collect a toll from passers-by under a bridge near Bravil. So he necked a bottle of wine and threw himself into the river like the star of a demented Three Billy Goat’s Gruff.
The troll decided to end it all because it was the “wurst troll evurr.” Imposter syndrome can be tough Troll dude!
22 Paintbrushes Are For More Than Just Art
So if you’re one of those speedrunner types, listen up. Paintbrushes are for more than just making art in the world of Oblivion. If you place them in midair, they’ll float. There’s also a duplication glitch that lets you clone them as many times as you want. Do you see where I’m going with this?
As well as climbing over city walls, escaping from guards’ wrath with a makeshift ladder powered by creativity and glitches, you can use it to complete the game in record time. Duplicate enough paintbrushes, and climb into the Imperial City’s Temple. A couple of glitches later, and you can trigger the game’s ending sequence, without ever starting it. Gotta love programming holes, and the length that speedrunners will go to to find them.
21 There’s A Hidden Zelda Reference
I remember when I first played Oblivion, my first Elder Scrolls game, the idea of glass armor and weaponry seemed bizarre. That doesn’t seem like a good idea, unless you’re a bar brawler, right? However, it goes deeper than that. If you’ve played any of the Zelda games, you’ll be familiar with the Mirror Shield, a glass shield that can reflect magic. You can actually find these in Oblivion too, with the same abilities!
While the Mirror Shield itself is random, as a poster on Neoseeker pointed out, it’s also just an enchanted shield. If you’ve got the magical skills, you can go to an enchanting table and create your own. You could even make it more powerful than the base shield’s 14% reflect magic, giving it 100% reflect magic (for an extortionate price.) Go for it. Make Link’s look like a baby’s toy.
20 One Of The Thieves’ Guild Quests Turns You Into A Monster Of British Legends
In the Thieves’ Guild quest “The Boots of Springheel Jak” you steal (who’d have thought) a pair of eponymous boots, with the game intending you to Gray Fox. However, if you decide to deviate from the deviant pathway the Thieves’ Guild instructs you to follow, and don them, they’ll grant you a +50 to your acrobatics skill. Through a little glitching involving a Daedric quest and a trip to the Leyawiin dungeons, you can make that effect permanent, regardless of whether you’re wearing them or not. Though many wouldn’t give the boots a second thought beyond how nice it is to bounce around like a rocket-powered bunny, there’s a neat backstory. The boots and quest refer to a British legend of a demonic creature who terrorized Victorian London, and was able to jump vast distances in single bounds.
19 There’s A Town That Worships Demons And Practices Argonian Sacrifice
In the quest “A Shadow Over Hackdirt” you have to investigate the small town of Hackdirt. The uninspiring name of the town belies a deeper and darker secret. If you’re familiar with H.P. Lovecraft, you’ll probably have read the story The Shadow Over Innsmouth. While old H.P. “Race Hate” Lovecraft’s message is abominable, the story of townspeople who are intermingling with inhuman monsters has evidently left its mark on Oblivion.
In Hackdirt, the inhabitants are revealed to worship creatures known as The Deep Ones, and employ bug-eyed near-naked lunatics called the Brethren as security. The quest’s goal is to rescue an Argonian woman from Chorrol called Dar-Ma, who is due to be offered up as a scaly sacrifice. The Brethren’s massive eyes allow them to see better in the caves where she’s being held, so you’ll either need excellent alteration, superb sneaking, or a huge hammer to make your way through.
18 Some Inns Are Better Than Others
Well met, tired traveler. Are you exhausted from hours of fighting everything from minotaurs to city guards, and marching endlessly across Cyrodiil like a medieval meth head, and need a place to crash for the night? May I invite you to The Bloated Float in the Imperial City’s harbour? Spend a night on here, and you’ll see what makes us so different from the other Inns in the city!
That is certainly true. Decide to get some shuteye, and you’ll wake up to a nasty surprise. The boat has been sailed out to sea by a bunch of small-time pirates called The Blackwater Brigands! So what do you do? Well, grab your weapon and start practicing some restorative justice. If you’re a low-level character, I highly recommend grabbing the Blackwater Blade from the leader, Selene. It’s a good one-handed sword with a pretty nice absorb fatigue enchantment.
17 Who You Gonna Call?
In the town of Anvil, you can find a huge house, the Benirus Manor, for sale for the paltry price of 5000 gold. This seems a bargain, before you find the house isn’t so empty after all. Turns out its previous resident never really moved out, and they’re anxious to introduce themselves. The first time you sleep, three ghosts will show up to say hello (and try to tear your face off.)
Over the course of this quest, you’ll have to face down ghost after ghost with silver weaponry (or, amusingly, your fists. Never saw Rick Moranis doing that.) Eventually, Velywyn, who sold it to you, fully aware that his grandpa, who lived there previously, was a necromancer, and will reluctantly come back to lift the house’s curse for you, but chickens out at the last minute, leaving you to fight a lich of another of the home’s owners.
16 Everything About The Shivering Isles
There’s enough strange goings-on in The Shivering Isles for a list on its own, but in this entry, I’m going to try and sum up what makes it so cool. The Shivering Isles is a psychedelic dreamscape, made clear from the moment you first enter its lands amidst a flood of butterflies. Once you’re there, you have to fight a hulking metaphysical doorman known as The Gatekeeper, before moving into the Isles proper. The land is divided into the dark Dementia and bright Mania. You can choose to side with either Dementia’s Dark Seducers, or Mania’s Golden Saints.
I don’t want to get into the plot too much, because it deserves to be experienced, but all is not as crazy as it may seem with Sheogorath, and it’s time that the Isles had a change of management.
15 Akavir? I ‘ardly Knew ’er!
The Countess of Bruma loves to collect relics of the Akaviri, a people who ruled over Tamriel long ago. While she considers her collection to be the most complete in the land, she still wants more. So she sends you off to find the dauntingly-named Madstone in the Pale Pass fortress, north of the city.
The fortress was the site of many attempted Akaviri invasions of Tamriel in decades past, so you can expect there to have been a lot of death here. And boy, does it show. When you’re there, you have to do battle with what feels like an entire undead Akaviri army, all armed to the teeth with katanas and shields. Finally, you’ll face down the Akaviri commander, Mishaxhi. He’s a tough fight, especially after all the undead warriors, so for the love of the Nines be prepared.
14 The Unwavering, But The Unready
In the far North, near Bruma, you’ll find a Nord called Agnar the Unwavering. Or rather, what’s left of him. Agnar was Chieftain of a village called Thirsk near Solstheim, who came south in the Oblivion Crisis to face down Uderfrykte Matron, the matriarch of a clan of trolls. She’s an extraordinarily tough fight, even for the Hero of Kvatch, having 500 hit points, and a permanent invisibility effect. Unfortunately for Agnar, she proved too much for him. If you want to fight her, you need to get your JRPG head on, and think of the weaknesses an icy enemy such as her may have. She has a pretty nice drop though, the Frostwyrm Bow, which does 15 points of frost damage per shot. There’s also a not so nice one too, the dismembered remains of Agnar’s wife.
13 Another Argonian Eccentric
Anyone who’s played an Elder Scrolls game will know about M’aiq the Liar, a superb easter egg in the shape of a compulsively lying Khajiit. As well as providing a bit of comic relief, M’aiq also discusses features missing from the game, such as the lack of children in Oblivion. There’s also a less well known Argonian eccentric to be found in Cyrodiil, and one that’s far more pop culturally aware. This one, Runs-In-Circles, lives in the Shivering Isles’ Highcross.
This reptilian chancer will come up to you asking for some food, money, or shoes (presumably to make running in circles a little more comfortable.) If you refuse, as well as the protestations you’d expect, they’ll also start to run around a rock formation, screaming simply “Ni-ni-ni-ni-ni.” Someone ought to let them know that there’s a whole order dedicated to that sort of thing, they’d love it.
12 The Daedra Had Already Spread
The Planes of Oblivion are not the only place you’ll find Daedra in Cyrodiil. The high-ranking Daedra have shrines that serve as sentient stone quest-givers. Take a quest for Vaermina, and you’ll be directed to Arkved’s Tower, with the task of retrieving the Orb of Vaermina from a wizard, Arkved.
As well as the wizard, you’ll also find a terrifying collection of Daedra inside the tower, leveled to the player, which can produce some terrifying special enemies. The tower is based on Arkved’s mind, with each level producing a different environment, based on different facets of his nightmares, each containing an increasing amount of Daedra, culminating in discovering Arkved in an eternal sleep at the top of his tower. You don’t have to kill him, but he does have some decent gear, so, you know.
11 There’s A Secret Cabal Of Lizard Warriors Hidden In The Game
If you’re a wanderer in these games, you may have come across a location near Bravil called Veyond Cave. Now, there’s no strict reason to venture inside this place, no quest associated with it, and it won’t even come up in conversation. However, sometimes you need to make a little extra scratch: another day, another septim, and all that, so you wander in.
Inside, like some extras from a D&D game, you’ll find a ton of heavily armed Argonian warriors, as well as an armored Argonian chieftain who guards a couple of chests. The tragedy is that these chests don’t really contain anything worthwhile, and the rest of the loot pretty much amounts to whatever you can salvage off the dead bodies. Congrats, Hero of Kvatch, all you’ve done there is basically kill a bunch of guys and girls who were just minding their own business!
10 An Elf On The Edge
Another darker piece of Oblivion lore, in addition to the suicidal troll, is a diminutive (well, he is a Wood Elf) guy called Glarthir. Once he sees you in Skingrad, he’ll follow you around until you talk to him, at which point he’ll arrange a clandestine meeting behind Skingrad’s Great Chapel of Julianos, where he’ll let loose about his paranoia.
He wants you to help him check out some people he believes are following him. You can follow them or not, and tell him the truth or not, it doesn’t matter, he’ll pay you either way. This is where the chaotic and lawful players get separated. It’ll culminate in him asking you to kill them, which’ll land you 1000 gold. If you refuse, he’ll head home, grab a battleaxe and head out to kill them himself.
9 The Best Laid Plans Of Mice And Devs
I’d wager that most people who’ve played Oblivion have, at one point or another, tried out the Arena questline. It’s pretty much what you’d expect in the Imperial City, a locale modeled closely after Rome. You and another participant take part in fights to the death, for money, glory, and the irritating affections of an adoring fan, here and there.
What’s less well-known is that every city in the land was originally going to have an arena.
If you want to verify this, you can go take a look at Kvatch’s ruins, and see an arena ravaged by the Daedra hordes. I’d expect the Daedra to be into blood sport honestly, but there you are. If you take a look at Oblivion’s official trailer, you’ll find more evidence: an arena located in the snowy locales of Bruma.
8 A Long Lost Hobbit
In the quest “Unfriendly Competition” you take on some work for a merchant Jensine, who’s worried by his competitor Thoronir’s low low prices, concerned that he’s selling stolen merchandise. Over the course of the quest, it is revealed that Thronir’s merch is being supplied by a grave robber called Agarmir. In Agarmir’s house, you’ll find the appropriately named Macabre Manifest, a list of all the graves he’s robbed.
Here’s where it gets more interesting, as apparently, in Oblivion’s lore, a certain Hobbit met his end in Anvil, before his grave was pilfered by Agarmir. Their name? Oford Gabings, an anagram of Frodo Baggins. Amongst his possessions were a “gold ring with inscription (cursed?)”. Trying to dispose of that ring in Oblivion’s gonna give someone a fun time.
7 Hints Of Oblivion
It’s probably obvious that the development of these games is going to be a long, involved affair, but what’s incredible is how far back the games were apparently planned. If you go back to the second Elder Scrolls game, Redguard, released in 1998, and watch its opening cinematic, the camera pans across books on a shelf. Though it’s a fast cinematic, if you’re quick you can see the titles of the TES games up to that point, Arena and Redguard, as well as Morrowind, and Oblivion.
In Morrowind’s Tribunal expansion, released in 2002, you can come across a character called Eno Romari, who will speak of a prophecy where “the gates of Oblivion will open.” Makes me want to dig into Skyrim to see if any potential hints about The Elder Scrolls IV are in there somewhere.
6 Oblivion No Habla Español
So Oblivion’s English dialogue was pretty good, despite some absolute clunkers (have you heard of the Grey Fox?), but the Spanish localization was…really not that great. The most famous example of the bad translation goes back to a Spanish blog post from 2009, where the blogger found that the compulsively-training Argonian, Saliith had his line “no talk, no talk, only train” rendered, uh, interestingly. Instead of using the verb “entrenar”: to train, they used the word tren, which means train as in something you might ride to work.
There were a couple of other ones that didn’t make their way into the Mediterranean or Latin America all that well. “Night Mother” got translated super literally into “Madre Noche,” which doesn’t offer any connection between the two, instead of “Madre de la Noche,” which’d make way more sense. Anvil was also translated completely literally, rendered as Yunque.
