So, I wasn’t exactly sure where to put this. Basically it is a discussion of the presentation of the lore in Morrowind and praise for its quality, and less a “lore discussion” in the typical sense. It’s a pseudo-review of sorts, but more selective (it's about lore!) and not comprehensive. Maybe it would be more appropriate in Morrowind General, but I thought the audience who thought most about the game’s lore would probably be the most interested audience.

ANYWAY

Finding myself with a lot more free time than I normally have, I recently picked up Morrowind again for the first time in a few years, and I was really re-impressed by the qualities of some of its more subtle aspects. I think Morrowind has 2 major themes, one of course being naked Nords, and the other being history. Both are equally compelling, but I think for now I’ll focus on the latter.

The way the game presents the history, and the central role it plays in the main quest, was pretty awesome. If you actually paid attention to the stuff going on, the main quest was really all about sorting through different accounts of what happened in the Red Mountain: what the temple doctrine is, what the Ashlanders believe, what the average Dunmer believes, what Vivec claims, how the Imperials see all this indigenous nonsense etc. Puzzling over these obscure and conflicting accounts, and the fact that an ultimate truth is never really revealed, is a fantastic representation of the nature of history, in all its incompleteness and ambiguity. To take just one of many possible examples, I loved the fact that the Ashlanders weren’t the wise all-knowing noble savages that they could have been: their accounts and beliefs just as the others had holes, biases, and suffered from the vagaries of oral tradition.

Intersecting the main plot’s treatment of history is a perhaps even more compelling one, the mystery of the Dwemer. Again, there are the conflicting accounts, differing theories, views into scholarship (the Mages Guild/Imperial vs. Telvanni competition, anolysis through questionable literature in the fantastic “Tales of the Dwemer” series, etc.) and of course physical ruins across Vvardenfell to explore. And whoever wrote “The Hanging Gardens…” has definitely nailed the style of god-awful historical translation. I loved the fact that areas in Dwemer ruins and artifacts themselves seemed to have historical purposes beyond streamlined action oriented gameplay, even if those purposes were left somewhat mysterious to the player. To me, that’s the mark of a good fantasy game developer, and as this sort of detail that made the world feel lived in was present all over Morrowind, it speaks highly of the Morrowind design team. Aspects of the narrative presentation of this history – the “last living dwarf”, bloated and deformed, and living in the dungeon of an old wizard – I thought were brilliant, especially since this tied into gameplay: you could take your Dwemer books to this guy and have them translated, or you could take them to some reclusive Telvanni and get a subtly different interpretation. It is in this theme of history –and the associated lore- that Morrowind really shines, and really shows itself to be a mature game, far more than any blood or badonkadonk would, ie. far more than most recent games, rpg or otherwise.


That is not to say that I think the treatment of the theme is perfect. Of course the game could have given it more attention, perhaps more emphasis, but I think where it suffered most was from its delivery through gameplay. The quests that exposed you to this history – and the associated gameplay - were often not particularly compelling by themselves. They were usually at their heart about clearing a dungeon, escorting some dude or killing some dude. While I have no particular problem your standard dungeon crawl (I am a big Daggerfall fan, and dearly miss procedural content in the elder scrolls games), I don’t think it is always best way to present the player with the opportunity to explore the carefully crafted lore(s) of the game. This problem was particularly noticeable in the main quest, where the majority of the action connected to the narrative only indirectly: the Mage would send you to do this or that random errand, before you would get the information you needed, ie the part relating to the narrative. This is probably why one of the best parts of the Main quest was rescuing Mehra Milo from the Ministry of Truth: the action WAS the narrative. In addition, exploring history was largely separate from the roleplaying aspect of the game: no skills dealt with lore, and as discussed, quests usually dealt with it indirectly (“kill this guy and his dungeon for me, oh yeah and read this book if you want.”) In general, the excitement and challenge of the game’s basic gameplay ran out long before the excitement of the setting.

But overall, I think that the themes of history and historiography exemplified the areas where Morrowind excelled, even if it also exposed some the areas where the game didn’t. The depth and breadth of the gameworld’s backstory and the picture of colliding cultures in Morrowind were definitely showcased, both in the ample supply of literature/dialog and the in more mundane details of everyday life in Vvardenfell. One of the highlights of my game was listening to a Dunmer haughtily explaining that “well, OUR gods actually walk among us,” mocking what she must have assumed was the more distant and metaphysical nature of my “outlander” worship. This was of course interesting from a cultural perpective, as it is a unique concept, but also from a narrative perspective, as you the player get to hear an argument in favor of what some have denounced as “false gods.” The theme of history also showcased the fantastically weird setting of Morrowind, which stands out amongst the legions of generic fantasy games and literature. There was a wonderful natural asymmetry to the world and its institutions, and what felt like layers of historical tension, development, and conflict. This uniqueness was somewhat undermined by heavy handed historical anologies (the empire is the Roman Empire, the Bretons have French names, etc), but I thought Dunmer culture and Vvardenfell biology were quite memorable. Finally, the game’s theme highlighted some great and memorable characters, among them Dyvath Fyr, Baladas Demenuuh(well his name was less memorable), Vivec (Almalexia was unfortunately more of a caricature) and Yagrum Bagarn.

I’m not sure which developers are most responsible for all this stuff I’ve praised, but whoever it was: impressive stuff, and thank you. I hope that whatever current development team is working on the Elder Scrolls takes a good look back at Morrowind and on both its great successes and some of its stumbling blocks in the realm of history , lore, and their presentation. And I certainly hope that the theme of history is recurring one in the Elder Scrolls series, and that it is approached with as much subtlety and grace as it was in Morrowind.

Woh, I completely agree with you. I didn't think it was possible to read something so close of my own state of mind. :blink:



And being French, I can tell you that it's especially funny when I play to the English version of the game.

Awesome anolysis, Mr. Happy. Those were, indeed, good times.

I agree, and I too like the way the Ashlanders weren't standard noble savages who were more enlightened than the settled peoples. They were hypocritical, ignorant and deluded (how the hell do you get to believe that azura, boethiah and mephala are your ancestors?), not to mention downright rude, and I love the way they "lost" the prophecies they don't like.

I do wish there was more Daggerfall style politics in the great houses - perhaps not in Redoran, but in Hlaalu at least I certainly expected more blackmail, bribery and corruption (yeah, I know you could expose the corrupt guy in Caldera or help him, but you were better rewarded for not being corrupt) than there actually was.

The Mages Guild was definitely better though, you felt more like an actual scholar, going around dwemer ruins and getting books and stuff (which only one mages guild quest did in Oblivion, when you went into that Ayleid ruin) as well as shutting down the competition; the mages guild is a monopolist organization after all.

It was nice hardly, if any, of the factions were really altruistic.

@ mrhappy1991: Fantastic! It makes me want to start playing Morrowind again.

Never read a text about Morrowind's themes before that I could so wholeheartedly agree with and which describes the fascination of Morrowind so accurately.

Fantastic post, I'm feeling the same as B. But can someone tell me what's the great deal with Baladas Demnevanni? I've only encountered him storywise in the Fighters' Guild storyline. Does he play a special part in the Mages Guild or Telvanni?

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Baladas_Demnevanni_(person) I don't remember the character, but I haven't played MW in years.

In Telvanni, Master Aryon wants him to join the Council, and you have to gather a couple books and a ring for him. And for the Mages Guild you consult him about the Dwemer.

Anyway, nice post mrhappy! I agree 100%.

Plus, in one Telvanni quest you have to ask him about the dwemer, and he gives a lot of cool information if his disposition is high. That sealed him as one of my favorite characters.

I hope all the designers on ESV read that.

Agreed :thumbsup:
Even though I currently play Oblivion, Morrwind may be the only game where I could just about be completley immersed in the game. A lot of that had to do with the history of Morrowind. Discovering more and more of Morrowinds history while playing and feeling like I (my character) was on the verge of becoming part of Morrowind history while playing. I cant recall any other game making me say "just one more hour then I'll go to bed" as often as Morrowind did.

I totally agree with the OP and everybody else in this thread. The Main Quest and every faction's sub-plot was interesting enough to keep you drawn into the world despite figuring out how clunky/scripted everything really is ages ago. In Oblivion, the Mage's and Fighter's seemed to be competing with a group of bad guys despite everybody being perfectly aware that there were gates from Hell opening outside of the towns that posed a much more immediate threat to the world than a bunch of crazy guys on Hist sap or resurrecting dead bodies.

Yeah in MW, you were still doing chores for various factions and people, but then again, Dagoth Ur hasn't sacked a city, and other than having a few caves and crazy people running around, is really out of the mindset/ eye of the general population.