I played arena for the first time today, and according to the game manual the player's name should be talin and he is leader of the imperial guard. can anyone confirm this? is his identity hinted or known?

No....

No player character is ever canonized, ever.

Here's an exert from http://www.imperial-library.info/content/interviews-douglass-goodall

The Eternal Champion has too many names. Was it Grachta the Redguard Knight? Dunastyr the Breton Sorcerer? Shathra, the Khajiti Assassin? Tyronicus, the Cyrodilic Battlemage? Jobasha does not know. It seems that every year, the hero earns a dozen names. Jobasha does not believe any of these names, though Jobasha once saw a tapestry of Shathra... It is a shame that Shathra is only legend, for the artist made her quite beautiful for an Ohmes.

Thats the guy who is thrown into Oblivion with the Emperor is Talin and you save him in the end as well. Manual's little story ain't exactly canon... it just shows what happened.

I'm not sure if a non-canon interview with a former developer is the best source to use in a discussion of what is and is not canon

I'm sure you'll be more than happy to provide evidence to the contrary, then, since you take the time to post here with your pretty little smilies.

The point is, there is no canonized hero, but there was one.

It is if there's no evidence to the contrary from a higher level of canon.

It's a pretty consistent aspect of the games that the hero is known only by a title and afterward fades into history. Not to mention that the character mentioned in the OP is clearly Talin Warhaft, who was imprisoned with Uriel VII in the actual game.

Touchy touchy. :rolleyes: <--- Pretty! Petty! HD was actually being his usual nice, even tempered and generally pleasant self. Re-read what he wrote - he wasn't being sarcastic - he was making an observation that other members have also made about former devs and canon vs. non-canon. You on the other hand did an attempt at mis-direction, by making a personal remark rather than responding to what he wrote.

I took out some of the other off topic bits, let's try and stick to the actual subject at hand and not get into sticks and stones stuff. (<---also kind of pretty. I'm not as nice as HD.)

I actually agree that the Eternal Champion, and for that matter the heroes of TES II, III, and IV, don't have a single "canonical" storyline later decided by the devs. Not only are references to these characters in subsequent games purposefully kept quite vague but Bethesda has bent over backwards with metaphysical events like the Dragon Break to allow for this.

I'm sorry I didn't mention my stance on the issue, I simply found it a bit amusing that you'd quote a non-canonical source as evidence in a discussion of canon.

You're not wrong, that interview has no predictive value as to gamesas's policy, being by a relatively minor ex-employee. But feathers get ruffled when you raise up "canon" and "ex-devs" in this forum. You're probably not in-tune with that, but some people (moderators included) have said some pretty hurtful things about some pretty excellent people - people who deserve our utmost respect - under the guise of talking about what is and isn't canon.

The Champion's birthday (3E 370) was also given in the Daggerfall Chronicles, as was that of the Daggerfall protagonist (3E 375). Though in later games they were just as mysterious as the Nerevarine. A change in outlook, I'd say.

although I played through Arena as Jouffre (i think that's how i's spelled, this was like almost a year ago), who as 'eternal champion' was master of the blades.

The arena character is known by many names and faces because he was under a spell that concealed his identity. don't believe me? reread the first few dreams you get from the dead girl she conceals your identity to try to hide you from tharn.

Comments one whether something is canon or not says nothing about it's quality. There are several excellent moments on these forums, such as the Trial of Vivec and Loranna's RPs, which weren't canon (at least at the time) but still wonderful additions to the lore.

As for Douglass Goodall, I talked with him often here when he was an active participant on the forums and even pvssyd with him several times on LiveJournal. I'd never want to insult or degrade him and I hope if he ever did feel that I was treating him badly he'd let me know - although I realize while saying this that it's unlikely he'll ever see something I type. That's rather disappointing really, it would be nice to have a conversation with him now that I'm more than a teenage college student.

I will note that calling him a "minor ex-employee" seems quite unfair given that he was one of the three primary designers working on Morrowind.

As for canon, from my understanding Bethesda defines canon as anything in an officially published product. Any peripheral content, regardless of author, is non-canon. It is certainly possible for something to be included in a later game or other official media which would then make it canon, and this has happened before. If you wish to discuss the issue of canon further I'd prefer a PM as continuing it here would be off topic.

Nevermind.

What I mean to say is that the fact that things by Michael Kirkbride don't appear in game has been used as a basis for attacking Michael Kirkbride in the past, often in unconscionable ways, always by people who did not understand the least bit of what Michael Kirkbride has written. It is, I think, with that in mind that Hairdo Galosh Jam made that response, which I don't think was fair. I'm just trying to explain why he took your post the wrong way.

But I think that's enough off-topic.

What the [censored] is a Cyrodiil, Jobasha? Presumably a Breton living in the Imp...


At least we can be fairly sure it wasn't an Orc.

It should be also noted that in Daggerfall, PC gave the totem to all six factions, like there were six agents... and six totems???

The book http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Hallgerd%27s_Tale mention the champion as unknown so I guess the heroes of TES vanish into the obscurreties of legend, while only their actions remain.

Haha, I'm unsure if your being sarcastic, so don't take offense, but a Cyrodill is slang (I guess slang) for an Imperial, or anyone born in Cyrodill I suppose

I thought that the only religions with saints were the Tribunal and the Marukhati Selective.

"Saints" are a fairly generic concept, and I see no reason why many other religions couldn't have them. There are the Sword-Saints of the Yokuda, for example.

I always thought that it was the other way around; Cyrodils come from Cyrodiil, Imperial is a "slang" term (or a later official one) for them due to the Cyrodilic empires.

On topic; Talin is not the Eternal Champion. The PCs for the main series have no canonical versions. So you can be whoever you like! :tes:

Edit: I believe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-CLcNe0yao is Talin at 0.33. Spoiler warning, if you don't want to see the end of Arena.

Most likely had to do with Arena's roots as a fighting game rather than an RPG. Characters set in stone vs being developed by the player.