Some times I see people creating elaborate backstories of their player characters' life stories, where they come from, what they've done, and so on and so forth.

Their situation in the beginning of the games does make me wonder though. In Morrowind, it was stated relatively clearly that you were an agent of the Empire, and Jiub seemed to not react in any strange way, so in that game it could be either way, I guess.

However, in Oblivion, you start out in a cell which everyone assumes to be empty.

In Skyrim, you start out by supposedly crossing the border into a province bloodied by civil war, just as the Empire ambushes the leader of the rebellion.. and just as Alduin is about to return.

What if the character isn't just randomly born with this destiny, like one would expect in say, a movie.. what if the characters are actually completely blank slates, literally inserted into the linear timeline by some TES god(s)? I might be off my rockers but my understanding of the TES universe is that only mortals actually perceive the world in terms of a linear timeline, whereas the gods are not subject to linear time.

I guess this is kinda stupid, but I got the ridiculous idea to write a journal for this character I am making (that I will play in a way that actually makes sense for a person in this gameworld), and I can't decide what to start it off with.

Is my character a completely confused amnesiac, or does she have a (possibly elaborate and fake/stolen) life story?

Some possible LIGHT spoilers: In Skyrim, at least, your character is occasionally given a chance to speak about his/her family. Mine was honest, and said that he did still have living family members, but that they weren't in Skyrim (he was a Breton, so I'd imagined him to be from Wayrest).


And in Oblivion, the only person who seemed to think the cell should have been empty was a member the Blades... presumably because that cell was an escape route, and protocols usually dictate that escape routes of important dignitaries are often kept hidden (like, say, as a prison cell) but clear (by having it be the "cell that never fills", skeletal cellmates aside).






Basically: Do it however's most fun for you, and be glad that your character doesn't actually start off in a prison this time around. Maybe they were just crossing the border to pick flowers, and went after the wrong bud at the wrong time.

in morrowind you were sent back to and released in morrrowind due to strict immigration laws turns out your the neravarine
in oblivion you were the janitor, just accidentally got locked in while cleaning, that's why noone knew you were there...turns out your "good will hunting"
in skyrim they catch you crossing the border and due to strict immigration laws are sentenced to death turns out your dragon born

I don't know man, I'm pretty sure I was arrested for chasing butterflies in Skyrim...

I got way too wasted one night with some mages, and next thing I know I wake up in the bushes in the middle of nowhere during some Imperial raid. Just my luck :nope:

A lot of bad things happen while drunk. Apparently I got in a drinking match with a friendly chap from Markarth one night, and by morning I'd defiled the temple of Dibella, stolen a goat and sold it to a giant, and married a hagraven.

M'Aiq was innocent, but for some reason he couldn't speak the truth.

4 out of 5 Elder Scroll main characters find themselves under arrest before the game begins. The 5th only sometimes ends up arrested before being sent to High Rock.

As for my Breton in Skyrim?

She was arrested for litterin'.

... and creatin' a public nuisance.

I loved this quest

Also as far as the protagonists go they all appear (well the last three) to have gotten some light crime under their belt. Obviously nothing to serous in oblvivon because if you murdered someone the dark brotherhood would have already sent for you, and none of the gaurds come after you for sneaking out of jail.

Objection! You can end up in prison without having committed a crime, light or otherwise. It's happened to me loads of times.
And yeah, that quest was brilliant fun. :foodndrink:

No its just that your a hero and hero's are born with the blessing/curse to control their own destiny.

In oblivion they talk about the divine plan plan, you know like the gods picked you for some reason, they knew you were gona get thrown in jail so they may have intervened a little to make sure you get in that specific cell, and then uriel says that he saw you in his dreams, so the divines also came to him and told him stuff so he would let you tag along with him and the blades.

I got the impression he'd dreamed of the CoC years before the events of Oblivion happened.

MY PC's got arrested for

-Trying to steal a boat

-Trying to steal a strawberry

-Trying to steal his own personal Stormcloaks.

That's how I imagine it, though. >_>