The Elder Scrolls as a franchise may be popular in part due to Oblivion, Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls Online, at least in recent years, but its beginnings are with Arena, Daggerfall, the infamous Redguard and Morrowind.
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Morrowind is what ushered in the age of 'modern' Elder Scrolls, a divergence from the engine of old and a welcoming embrace to the newest of technology. It is one of the most detailed games in the series and has its fair share of trivia, and so in this list, we'll be delving into ten things that you may not have known.
10 Jiub Killed All The Cliffracers
The first face that you see when you enter the world of Morrowind is Jiub, a fellow prisoner. For context, before jumping into this story, due to a coding error, the Cliffracers became far more common in the province of Vvardenfell, which Bethesda utilized to create some interesting lore for our friend and compadre.
Following the events of Morrowind, Jiub slaughters the Cliffracers, gaining fame for ending their plague on the Dunmer country. Later on, in Oblivion, we find his head in Kvatch, indicating that he has died in the crisis, and then, in Skyrim, he is in the Soul Cairn in the Dawnguard DLC.
9 The Oblivion Crisis Was Teased
In the Tribunal DLC of Morrowind, the next game, the famous and beloved Oblivion, was actually teased, indicating that they knew what the sequel would be. Not many noticed this at the time, but in retrospect, it has become evidently clear.
Eno Romari remarks that, at the end of the era, "the gates of Oblivion will open," which is a fairly blatant reference to the Oblivion crisis, in which Mehrunes Dagon invades Tamriel via gateways, which marks the end of the era. He adds that the "coming age will be a time of horror," which is true, given the fall of the Imperial Empire, the rise of the Aldmeri Dominion and the return of Alduin that all follow.
8 The Corprus Disease Was Going To Gradually Spread
In the game, there is a lethal disease known as Corpus, which actually serves to give the player some semblance of immortality, due to quest shenanigans. Nonetheless, this plague is harmful to everybody else.
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Originally, this was intended to be much more blatant, as the disease would visibly spread across Vvardenfell, ruining towns and cities, causing untold damage as it grew. This was unfortunately never realized, but the concept is an intriguing one that Bethesda hopefully reutilize down the line. It would've made Morrowind feel even more alive, ironically.
7 The Ancestral Tombs Have Living Family Members
There are a plethora of ancestral tombs in Morrowind, with named deceased and plenty of loot for brave grave diggers who wish to power through the ghost-infected paranormal dungeons riddled with traps to stop family from being desecrated.
Bethesda didn't stop there, however, as they implemented a very interesting detail that adds depth to each of these tombs, which is that there are living relatives to the deceased buried in these locations that can be found across Vvardenfell.
6 Morrowind Was One Of The First Multi-Platform Western RPGs
In the early days of western RPGs, such as with Elder Scrolls' own Arena and Daggerfall, the genre found itself strapped to PC, as trying to make the leap was too arduous a task, even for FPS titles such as Doom which had to be massively downgraded to work.
As such, Morrowind was one of the pioneers as it launched for Xbox, making it one of the first multi-platform western RPGs, alongside other classics such as Knights of the Old Republic. You can likely find an old copy of Morrowind for Xbox in second-hand stores.
5 Dagoth Ur Was Originally Going To Be Joinable
The main villain, leader of one of the most sinister and eerie houses in all of Vvardenfell, Dagoth Ur, was originally intended to be joinable, in that the player could usurp their place as a hero, working alongside Vivec, to join the forces of evil.
Ultimately, this didn't see the light of day, but the concept of an evil ending is something that will hopefully be brought to fruition in Elder Scrolls 6, as the series hasn't embraced villainy quite like the early Fallout games just yet.
4 All Of Morrowind Was Intended To Be Playable
Despite the title of the game being Morrowind, you can't actually access the mainland, only being able to explore Vvardenfell and, through the DLC, a singular city in the actual province of Morrowind alongside Solstheim.
However, in the original vision of the game, the entirety of the province was fully intended to be playable, including both Morrowind and Vvardenfell. The map would've been enormous, competing even with Daggerfall's gigantic size.
3 The Richest Merchant In The Game Is A Mudcrab
There's a lot of merchants in Morrowind who have wares ready to be perused, and haggling is a major part of the experience, as there's nothing quite like selling off that Daedric artifact you found just so you can buy some nice shoes for fashion purposes.
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However, when you're selling off a bulk of stolen (or legally acquired) treasure, you tend to have to hop around merchants due to them not having the funds, but luckily, Bethesda included an incredibly rich salesman in the game. The catch? He's a mudcrab.
2 Wormgod, A Developer, Left His Username On The Dwemer Pipes
One of the developers went by the name Wormgod on the game's forums and he left a little bit of himself in Morrowind, keeping his legacy alive and his username known all of these years later.
How did he do this? Well, there's some incredibly obscure and hard-to-read text on the pipes in the Dwemer ruins and some internet sleuths found out that it read 'Wormgod', referencing one of Bethesda's developers.
In the world of The Elder Scrolls, there are fictional months and days, with some reference to the real world, such as Mondas, but in Morrowind, one of these months was strangely absent, which is likely an oversight rather than intentional.
In all games but Morrowind, the month of Morning Star is present, but for whatever reason, it was left out in the third main installment of the series - perhaps the Cliffracers got to it: who knows?
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