I think they might use one or several separate dream sequences as training grounds (moving, shooting, magic use). These dream sequences would flesh out the PC's ancestry as they're dreams of his ancestor dragonhunters. Once that's over you wake up in prison by your cell mate, who asks you a bunch of question which defines your class/race etc (much like in Morrowind), Suddenly there's a large rumble/explosion far above, you see guards run pass shouting and the clamour of other prisoners as they're trapped in their cells. You have no idea what is going on until a second explosion occurs and and the ceiling down the hall caves in raining down stones crushing guards and prisoners alike. A guard is crushed just outside your cell and you grab his keys. you open the gate only for a giant stone block to crash down and bar your way. Your cell mate screams 'we're gonna die!' (or something). A third rumble and the wall of your cell falls away and your behold a grand vista, realising that you're in the cell of a castle perched on a rocky precipice. You see a massive dragon circling the sky attacking the castle. You then follow your cell mate out of the hole in the wall sliding down to a narrow path that leads to a cave system in the mountain the castle is built on.

eventually you work through the small cave system (this could also be the tutorial sequence in lieu of the dreams) and emerge on the otherside of the mountain. Another rumble and you look up to see an avalanche of rocks crush you and your cell mate. you black out.

you wake up to find Esberg looking down at you in a cave/hideaway/hunting lodge much like one of the first posters suggested.

EDIT: having not read all the other posts before adding mine, looks like the crumbling prison cell idea is quite popular!

Youre in prision in some town a dragon swoops in blows a whole in the wall you escape then someone sees you and drags you into helping the town as a tutorial.

You will start as a child left in a basket in front of one of the blade′s house. He will then educate and teach you the arts of combat aswell as some magic. The old man will eventually die and you′ll be venturing yourself in the land of Skyrim :teehee:

I would like it to start from a ship, as a prisoner.
Docked at a settlement on one of the islands near Winterhold.
You have to escape and make your way to the mainland.

I imagine that you'd be in prison when it falls under attack by one faction of the civil war and you escape amidst the confusion.

Hopefully the intros will be different depending on what race you selected at character selection.

I.e.

Nord - Wake up in a tavern
Imperial - Wake up in a bed with 3 men or women
Argonian - Wake up in a dark, damp cellar
Khajiit - Wake up in a tree
Bosmer - Wake up next to a half devoured enemy

etc etc


On a serious note, I like Glorious' idea.

I can imagine that you start in prison together with Esbren. Esbren is in prison because somebody found out about his Blades history. Maybe he is due to execution the next day or so. Then a dragon attacks the town, you get the chance to flee. During your escape a (mini) dragon charges you. Esbren thinks you're fried but you somehow stop it with your thu'um. Then Esbren remebers some ancient legend he was told during his duty with the Blades...

Imperial - Wake up in a bed with 3 men

lmao...I dont wanna play a hoe :sadvaultboy:

In the GI article the only town mentioned is Riverwood, which is in the south.


My guess is you start off in a mountain pass, which is a tunnel, leading from Cyrodiil. You're headed to Skyrim because of a letter from Esbern (one of the last blades), asking you to Riverwood.

You can't turn back because there was just a cave-in. The rest of the dungeon is a tutorial.

For someone who has a Daggerfall box as an avatar, you sure seem to forget that you start off in a cave, not in prison, nor were you a prisoner in the first place in Daggerfall. Also, if you really want to say all, you better hold your tongue. It's not just Daggerfall, but Redguard and Battlespire also.

Anyway, I'd like to hope in a tavern, by boat, or something OTHER than being in a [censored], unimaginative prison. Only two games had it so you explicitly were in a prison, Oblivion and Arena. Morrowind you can write it off, as it doesn't stress that part much. Daggerfall you were sent by the emperor to go to the Illiac Bay by boat, as you were one of his friends or something and had the mission to put some ghost to rest. Redguard you're on a ship that is attacked by pirates, you kick their asses, and get to port (not prison). And, in Battlespire, you enter the Battlespire and find out it got pwnd, no prison.

The player character will be an agent of late King. The Court erupts, as secessionists and loyalists fight for the citadel. Your spy master gathers several of his agents, and the lot of you meander through the passages of the old city. None but you and he escape. Once within the ruined, mountain monastery, your spy master reveals his name is Esbern, and he's watched you for several years. Esbern believes you can help him; so he gives a short exposition - about the King, the Blades, the Dragonborn, and Alduin - withholding details, of course. Then, Esbern asks for your help. If you answer the Call, your journey begins. If you refuse the Call - if you choose not to believe the "crazy, old man" - indeed, the dragons will not return; and your life will progress, without the world he beckoned you to believe awaits. Esbern respects your decision, and he pardons you.

As Zurin Arctus posited: Each event is preceded by Prophecy. But without the hero, there is no Event.


I'd imagine the old city is peppered with undead or what-have-you, and this passage through the old city, leads to the monastery. The lot of you were escaping, under the pretense you would organize some kind of resistance, against the secessionists, who seemed to carry the battle, for the citadel. Esbern planned to used as many of you as possible, for his objective. However, all but you died, so he chose you. Maybe a couple survive. I think whatever cuts down the "chosen one" crap is a good gimmick to employ. We all know the game is about the player.

Anyhoo, that's my basic pick for a beginning.

You start out in a dungeon. You have been brought there by your mentor to recover an artifact, and as a test of your abilities. He guides you remotely, teaching you the basics of gameplay along the way. Then he sticks a demon in your head -- what a jerk.

Eh, "mentor" just has bad associations for me now.

You'll have to hit the "start" button on the crontroller.

ship-wreck survivor

man that would make such an awesome intro, your fighting for your life in the icy water, then all goes dark then you wake up on the shore

sounds like fun :whistling:

I doubt we'll start in a prison this time. Even though I hope we do. But I also hope that there's a way to skip the 10 minute tutorial, if there is a tutorial like that. Maybe have a key that you can pick up, and once you use it on a door it gets stuck in there due to rust or something, so it's a one time use key. And it works on one of two doors, the door to the tunnel that leads outside, or the door to the tutorial area, whatever it will be.

You are right, DF started in a cave/dungeon after being shipwrecked. Arena started in prison, as did OB. MW actually started on a prison ship after having been taken out of prison, on your way to being released.

I can see that being a start, except without the mentor part sticking a demon in your head.

Redguard and Battlespire are offshoots, not actually part of the TES series. They just take place in the same universe, hence the reason we're still on TES V, not TES VII.

Yes, I forgot that DF was a cave as opposed to a prison....it's been a while.

While you started in a cave/dungeon in Daggerfall, you still needed to escape it, so you were a prisoner, just not of the "law".

Just like in morrowind, except they replace Jiub with the adoring fan.

You were prisoner to the pirates. It's not really prison but at least some sort of

that would be frightening. but i'm not sure he could live another 200 years.

In any case we will start as a prisoner who made something wrong(no one knows exactly what it was, like always), but blades grandmaster will tell us that u are dragonborn etc

I say we start off as a courier, who gets shot and left for dead in a shallow gra-

Haha, nah just kiddin'

Really though, I'm calling it now, we will be a Prisoner of War in the Skyrim civil war. Maybe we were just traveling, and were mistaken for the enemy, and imprisoned.
Then maybe you and another prisoner break free? Maybe you are imprisoned WITH the last surviving blade, and he recognizes your talent for dragon shouts? Maybe he can sense it?

I don't know. Really though, I'm excited.