So, as the title of this topic says, who is the most developed character in the Elder Scrolls universe? By this I mean which character, NPC or PC, has the most background story or most lore surrounding them in your opinion. Also, what is your favorite character throughout the lore of the series?

interesting question... are you looking for in-game lore only? or also parts of the extended lore not featured within games?

I ask simply because whih your looking for could very easily change the answer..



as to my favorite character? I will always have a special place for good ole Cyrus

Love him or hate him, it's gotta be Vivec. Maybe the most realized character in video games period.

Cyrus is up there for TES, and Barenziah has a lot of background and air time. Hell, she had a whole biography done about her.

Replying to funnybunny, (I'm relatively new to the forums so I do not know how to quote properly) any character, whether in game or not. Opinion on what makes a developed character is all up to you.

There should be a button that says "Quote" in the bottom right hand corner of the post. Hit that for a single quote. If you want to quote multiple posts, click "MultiQuote" just to the left of "Quote" for all the posts you want to reply to, then click "Reply to posts," a new prompt that will appear in the bottom right of your window.

To actually answer your question: I think it's Vivec.

For the purposes of this question, do Alduin and Auri-El count as Akatosh? Or should they be considered separate characters?

IIRC aren't they different culture's variations of the same god similar to many real world religious figures? I remember reading somewhere that they are all different avatars of some sort as in Auri-el was the past, Akatosh is the present, and Alduin is the future/end of that kalpa. Though I believe they would be counted as separate entities since Auri-el is the mer's interpretation of god of time which would lead them to have different myths compared to the man's myths of the St Alessia created Akatosh. Alduin I believe would be neither of them because in the events of Skyrim Parthurnax mentions that him and Alduin are the first born of Akatosh.

The way I understand it is that they're all separate and independent beings, but still the same. For example, Akatosh, Auri-El, and Alduin are all different aspects of the same oversoul, Aka, which is the being that jump started Time when it came into existence. So the Nords see Aka as Alduin, and Mer see Aka as Auri-El, but both of these beings exist independently of each other. The Nords don't see Auri-El as a dragon. To them, Auri-El is Auri-El, just like Alduin is Alduin and Akatosh is Akatosh.

It's less a case of "Jupiter is Roman name of the Greek God, Zeus," and more a case of "Jupiter and Zeus are the same being perceived by different cultures, but are their own entities and can interact with one another."

Edit: If the answer to my earlier question was yes, then Aka also has a whole lot written about them, but I'm not sure if the various aspects on their own have enough information to rank as high in the list. Alduin and Akatosh might.

For me it's a tie between Vivec and Dagoth Ur. They both have a lot of lore surrounding them and deep dialogue.

How about Tiber Septim? In terms of what we definitely know it's vague, but a lot of in-world ink has been spilled over him. Do those perspectives (from The Real Barenziah to The Arcturian Heresy) count as character development?

Yeah, I think he has good character development. Though I don't know if this topic is about characters you meet in game, or just in lore. But I did meet Talos in Morrowind in the form of his avatar Wulf.

and likely also as the Prophet from Knights of the Nine

Yep, you're right. I forgot about him.

I dunno, I'd say Handsome Jack is a contender for that