The Klopniscope

Happy 30th birthday to The Elder Scrolls!

I won't pretend to have been alive when The Elder Scrolls: Arena was released 30 years ago today, but I did the maths earlier and worked out that I've been a fan of the series for over half the time it's been around. Oblivion was my first. I remember being somewhere around seven years old and watching in awe as my dad scaled a sigil-tower in the hellish landscape of the Deadlands, Mehrunes Dagon's realm of Oblivion. And I was hooked. I watched some more. This time, he was breaking out of prison in Skingrad, leaving a cold, dank jail cell behind so that he could go spelunking in a cold, dank cave—which I'm sure was much more enjoyable!

Before long, I'd started playing Oblivion myself. My first character was an Altmer mage, who (by an astounding coincidence) happened to have the same name as me. That one was quickly abandoned in favour of an Argonian... jack-of-all-trades? His name was Huleenapa, but truth be told, I can't actually remember what his playstyle was—other than frequently abusing the console commands. I'm so vehemently against cheating in games now that I can't begin to imagine what kind of enjoyment I was able to glean from playing it in such a way, but to say I enjoyed it nonetheless would be an understatement. The game was my childhood. I played it before and after school. I bored my first crush to tears (not literally) by inviting her over and then making her watch me play it for about an hour. I was insufferable. And I loved it.

In the following years, I explored other games in the series. I played Morrowind when I was still far too young to grasp what was going on. I didn't have the attention span for it back then, unfortunately, but upon giving it a proper try in my late teenage years, I was kicking myself for not having done so sooner. It's a masterpiece of a game—possibly the best in the series, and certainly one of the most fascinating worlds I've ever found myself dropped into. At some point, I'll write an essay on the parallels between Morrowind, Dune, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, because all three are exactly my cup of tea, and it blows my mind that no one seems to have pointed out yet that they share basically the same premise.

I was in Year Eight or thereabouts when Skyrim came out, and to this day, I think only Baldur's Gate 3 has hit the same high water mark of release-day hype amongst my social circle. I remember counting down the days until 11/11/11 with my classmate, then frantically comparing notes each morning in the weeks that followed. Skyrim doesn't quite capture my heart in the same way that the nostalgia of Oblivion or the depth of Morrowind manages, but I can't deny that it's a beautiful game with a lot of charm.

Tamriel, the starry heart of Dawn's Beauty, was the first fantasy world I inhabited after graduating from my younger obsession with Neverland. If I hadn't been introduced to The Elder Scrolls, I genuinely think my life would have turned out quite differently. Some of my best friends in the entire world are friends I got to know better through Dungeons & Dragons. I've even run Elder Scrolls campaigns—but heck, I may not have tried D&D in the first place had the groundwork not been laid by the creative minds at Bethesda!

Suffice it to say, then, that I owe a debt of gratitude to the people that have worked for the past 30 years to craft such a compelling world, filled to the brim with eccentric personalities, exhilarating plotlines, and the best horse armour in video game history. Thank you, folks. Here's to the next 30 years—by which time we may only have a few months to wait until The Elder Scrolls VI!


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