Is there any lore surrounding slaves and gladiators in the Empire at all? I know Morrowind had slaves that were sold to the great houses, one of which used their purchased slaves for gladiatorial fights like House Redoran. Maybe the Vivec Arena had fights? I know many people can join the arena in Cyrodiil in hopes for coin and fame, but I am also sure there are prisoners brought from other provinces to fight in the arena.

The first match when the player reaches Gladiator rank, you fight three Argonians: "You got three opponents this time. And you have to beat them all. They are argonian prisoners brought here from Black Marsh. They've been told they have to kill you in exchange for their freedom".-Owyn.

They are Argonian prisoners, but nothing said about them being slaves. Even though argonians are known for making good slaves. I want to know is this:

A) How did slaves that were to become gladiators work within House Redoran? Did they fight in the Vivec Arena?

B) Was it like in real life with the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire? Such as ludi(gladiator school), and so on so forth?

C) Cyrodiil did not have slavery in the Third Era, so did that mean slaves from provinces such as Morrowind were permitted to fight in the Imperial City arena?

If there is any good information regarding slaves and gladiators in the Elder Scrolls please do tell me. I know many of you may have some lore to share

I can't recall anything about Redoran gladiators (although it's been a while since I've played Morrowind) but if there are gladiators, then yes, they'd probably fight at the Arena. Unless there happens to be a mainland Morrowind arena that I don't know about.


I never heard of one, but I'd suspect you're expected to train yourself or seek training on your own time. I could be wrong, but I never heard of a gladiator school in TES.


It would depend on their laws. If their laws said that a slave in Morrowind remained a slave in Cyrodiil, than yes, they could probably be made to fight. If slavery was simply not allowed at all in Cyrodiil regardless of the legality of where the slave was brought from, then probably not. But even so, anyone can choose to fight in the Arena. And it's amazing how so many people do, considering how every match is to the death.


Other than that, the only arenas I know of are the Kvatch Arena (which was destroyed), the Cann Arena (which is also in ruins and while combat apparently took place there around the time of TES IV, not only did the Heretics not intend it, but only one of the participants was a gladiator), the Rotheran Arena (which while it's still intact, again, most of the participants are unwilling slaves and prisoners with no combat training), and the Felgourad Arena (which is only http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Shivering:Scented_Parchment by a supposed gladiator champion in Cann, and I've never heard of such a place in Tamriel)

There was one other race known for its slaves. The Ayleids (Heartland High Elves), when they ruled what is now the Imperial Province, they kept human slaves and it was through a slave revolt that they were overthrown and slavery banned from Cyrodiil permanently.

I have a feeling that the Arena in Vivec was used primarily for settling honor disputes than actual entertainment. Ok, it probably played host to touring arena groups that fought each other for Imperial citizens' (and Imperialized Dunmer's) entertainment, but I feel like the arena was always scarcely occupied, and only used for honor matches.


-What? We can't incorporate Arena's original design into the lore?

The Vivec Arena doesn't host regular duelers(is that a word ha?). It's used, mainly, to settle disputes.

Fighters in the Imperial City Arena trained at the arena itself. I believe there were also training rooms within the Arena Canton in Vivec. IIRC, there were free gladiators in the latter but not slaves.

[edit: UESP does not support my belief that there were gladiators at Vivec. Just trainers, apparently. All recorded combats were duels, as Rivaldo said]

I think you mean http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Rotheran instead of House Redoran.

No, I mean house Redoran.

"The plantations of House Hlaalu nobles make widespread use of slaves as farm labor. House Redoran employs them in a lesser degree, though some of their warriors use slaves like gladiators in ancient Rome, pitting them against beasts for entertainment."

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Slavery

Thanks for the posts guys, it seems we don't have much information on gladiatorial slaves. Instead most are willing combatants. How was Arena(The game) portrayed? I didn't seem to recall it had any gladiators in it.

Well there's your problem. There should be a [citation needed] after that sentence. That statement by Uesp is not sourced, at all. And I can't think of any lore book that corrobrates the statement or justifies comparisons to ancient rome. Also, UESP articles aren't evidence of anything except that UESP users exist.

Damn....there goes my hope for a fanfiction. Meh.....well, thanks anyways everyone. I should report that link.