The 10 Best Elder Scrolls Easter Eggs

As a series hugely influenced by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Bethesda Softworks’ The Elder Scrolls has no shortage of attention to detail—sometimes, to details players will never notice—even after many playthroughs.

Despite being known for stories about a (usually) nameless hero on a quest to save the world, The Elder Scrolls should also be known as the treasure trove of sometimes smart, sometimes hilarious, and sometimes even devious Easter Eggs that players might come across in their journeys. Let’s take a look at the best Easter Eggs in The Elder Scrolls series.

10

Umbacano’s Story (Morrowind & Oblivion)

Now This Is Character Development

• A brief but beautiful piece of continuity.

While exploring the world of Morrowind, players might enter a cave where they’ll find Umbacano, a friendly NPC looking for treasure. In Oblivion, they might encounter Umbacano in the Imperial City, this time at his huge manor. It seems he found his treasure after all. Players who didn’t play both games will likely never know the difference between Umbacano and every other NPC. Still, those lucky enough to have encountered both while playing the series will immediately know they’ve discovered something special.

There’s little continuity between games in The Elder Scrolls series overall, so Umbacano’s story—which, incidentally, translates to (A Cool Guy) in Portuguese—is a very welcome surprise.

The Gift That Keeps On Killing

• Powerful, vile, and hilarious.

The world of Morrowind is deadly, not just because of the monsters roaming the land, but also because of how it might entice players to make the wrong move. At some point in the game, players might see a man falling from the sky to his death, right next to the player. Looting this man will allow players to acquire something called the Scroll of Icarian Flight. Those who are aware of the ancient Greek myth of Icarus might immediately infer that this scroll will give them the ability to fly, and they’d be correct. Still, they should also be aware that, much like in the tale of Icarus, it doesn’t really give them the ability to land properly.

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Using this scroll will ensure that the next jump players make will have them flying high, but will also likely have them crash to their death shortly thereafter, just like the poor guy they got the scroll from. The Souls series is often known for finding the most devious ways to murder its players, but even the evil devs at FromSoft are yet to beat such a hilariously poisoned gift.

8

Nords Tricked By Witches (Morrowind)

They’re Part Of The Furniture

• The strongest characters in the game, and also the dumbest.

When traversing the world of Morrowind, it’s definitely not uncommon to find naked Nords frozen in place and time. That’s often due to one reason: witches. Witches are treacherous creatures, and Nords seemingly aren’t the smartest bunch, so witches like to prey on them to freeze them and take their stuff.

It’s hilarious because players get to talk to said Nords and can even try to help them, should they be interested, but this Easter Egg gets even better when playing one of the game’s DLCs.

7

The Nord Who Just Doesn’t Like Clothes (Morrowind Tribunal DLC)

How The Tables Have Turned

• A clever subversion, a hilarious joke, and a lesson to be learned about Nordic smarts.

When venturing into the Tribunal DLC, players might once again come across another Nord who’s wearing no clothes for no immediately discernible reason. Upon coming in contact with this man, he will reply in an offended tone.

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He asks if the player thinks he’s naked because he’d been tricked by a witch. Nope, turns out he’s not frozen and is merely naked because that’s his way of dealing with that region’s warmer weather. Do not underestimate the intelligence of the Nords.

6

The Mudcrab With The Goods (Morrowind)

Don’t Underestimate It

• He’s a merchant; the best one in the game, in fact.

It’s easy to become overloaded with all sorts of valuables on Morrowind, but it’s not easy to get rich. That’s because most merchants simply don’t have enough money to buy all the player’s goods all at once, and players will have to wait an entire day so that the merchant’s money gets replenished. That is, unless they know of the Merchant Mudcrab.

That’s right, mudcrabs are some of the most basic and seemingly least cunning opponents in the game—definitely creatures that players wouldn’t try to converse with. There is, however, in a very remote location in the game, with a Mudcrab that’s somehow willing to do business with the player, and it has more money than any other merchant. Now that’s a lesson on how not to underestimate NPCs, regardless of how foamy at the mouth they are.

5

A Tribute To Fallen Players (Morrowind)

Never Forget

• A beautiful tribute to three huge fans.

Before The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind became a huge hit among players, it was already a very hyped project on the Bethesda forums among Elder Scrolls fans. Sadly, some very active forum users passed away before the release of Morrowind, so the developers decided to pay tribute to their longstanding service by having shrines containing urns with their ashes that players could find in the actual game.

Therefore, should anyone feel puzzled as to who Lord Brinne, G. Lyngas, and D. Bryant are in the TES lore, now they know it goes much deeper than just lore.

4

GLaDOS Is In Skyrim (Skyrim)

In Her Potato-Powered Form

Skyrim

Released

November 11, 2011

• 

• It’s not Portal 3, but it’s still pretty good.

GLaDOS from the Portal series is one of the best villains in gaming history, and her story features one of its most hilarious turns as well. At some point in the game, this quasi-all-powerful AI is removed from the grid, and her brain gets connected to a kid’s science class-level potato battery.

Attentive Skyrim players may come across a bonfire where someone was seemingly attempting to cook this very specific version of GLaDOS, either out of hunger or for considering a talking potato the kind of dark magic that’s too dangerous to deal with.

3

Were Pokemon Real? (Morrowind)

Archaeological Data Indicates So

• Peke Utchoo, Marowak’s Spine, Weepingbell Hall, Kakuna Burial, and Charma’s Breath.

Pokemon was already huge when Morrowind came out back in ’03, but instead of seeing it as a rival, Bethesda embraced the Japanese brand in hilarious fashion. Players shouldn’t expect to straight-up find Pokeballs in Morrowind, but, should they pay attention, clues will reveal themselves.

Various locations in the game are clearly named after Pokemon, lending credence to the theory that Pokemon might have existed in the world of Morrowind. It’s a good thing Nintendo didn’t catch wind of these references; otherwise, Bethesda could’ve been in trouble.

2

Pac-Man (Oblivion)

Cheesy But Fun

• Unexpected, and possibly not for human consumption.

Most of the Easter Egg references to be found in The Elder Scrolls games mostly make sense in context. They’re either based on popular properties of their time or on games and stories that had a huge influence on the TES story.

Then there’s three-fourths of a wheel of cheese with three smaller pieces of cheese in front of it, a clear reference to Pac-Man, a game that couldn’t be more different from the playstyle or themes of any Elder Scrolls game—aside from the part where players sometimes have to deal with ghosts. Still, what it lacks in mathematical connection, it more than makes up for in surprise.

1

Castlevania References (Oblivion)

Please Take This Card To Sir Aluc

• Smart wordplay, and a lore-enriching addition that’s pretty funny for fans.

In Oblivion, players might (accidentally or not) kill an NPC named Jalbert and find out he’s in possession of a letter addressed to someone named Aluc Cardius, which, considering Jalbert’s tendency towards the arts of necromancy, can only be a reference to Alucard, the protagonist of Castlevania Symphony Of The Night.

Naturally, it doesn’t end there, as Oblivion features a bunch of other tongue-in-cheek references to other works of vampire literature, though this remains the funniest of the bunch.

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