In 3E422, Valen Dreth began serving an 11-year sentence in the Imperial Prison. Five years later, the prisoner who would become the Nerevarine was sent from that very prison, "first by carriage, then by boat. To the East; to Morrowind." How likely do you think it is that Valen Dreth and the Nerevarine, possibly Jiub as well, met in that prison, with Dreth likely making jabs at one or the both of them?

Well I don't think that the Nerevarine and Jiub met until on the boat, because Jiub asks what the Nerevarine's name is.

Valen Dreth and the Nerevarine might have met. There is no solid evidence to support this theory but yeah it is possible. My Nerevarine would have hated Valen Dreth. Just like my CoC

Or maybe the nerevarine made him go crazy!

I say never nor do I ever consider that Nerevarine was really a "prisoner" to begin with.

Beth did, thankfully, leave it ambiguous for the most part. But if he was a prisoner, and happened to be imprisioned in the same dungeon in Oblivion where the CoC starts off, I'm going to pretend he messed up his mind...well at least that's what my nerevarine would have done to, you know, pass the time.

I think you're right my impression from that bit at the start is that this is the first time Jiub has spoken to the Nerevarine, hence the need to ask for a name. As for Valen Dreth? It could have happened, it also might not have, the game has never told us one way or another. And I don't think it matters much, it's not like the Nerevarine is likely to encounter him again.

They might have been in different cells in different parts of the prison.

And Jiub did become a saint, so maybe that prison has a nack for getting heroes.

"Uh Warden, you sure you wanna just let this guy go? He murdered five people!"

"Yeah, he did. But there's an army of rauaging Daedra incoming, and experience tells me there's about a 50/50 chance this guy could be the one to save us all. Just something I've noticed over the years."

Different parts of the prison? Wasn't the entire prison just one short hallway with six cells.

Could just be game mechanics. Also, there's the prison side (where you start) and the jail side (where you go if you serve a jail sentence in the Imperial City, and where every locked-up NPC is, aside from Valen Dreth and J'baana - for example, Claudius Arcadia is there throughout the game, and other NPCs can get put there as well based on the completion of various quests. It's possible that the Nerevarine was put into the jail side, in which case he never would have encountered Valen Dreth.

I think that it is common knowledge that every triple felony lands you the hero gig.

Examples:

Nerevarine deserved a whole prison transport with only one other person, and went on to stop a god, while becoming immortal.

Jiub also deserved a whole prison transport with only one other person, and went on to remove the Cliff Racers, and become a saint.

Champion was locked in a cell across from someone who had been jailed for years (implying a "high" security part of prison), and later nigh-singlehandedly stopped a Daedric Invasion of Tamriel, became a Shezarrine, and a Daedric Prince.

So maybe landing 18 to life in Tamriel essentially causes you to turn into a hero.

That, or go insane from the whole "trapped in a 8x8 prison cell for 11 years" thing.

Hell, could be both.

Don't forget the Eternal Champion. He saved the emperor.

Oh, yeah, completely forgot that he was in Imperial Prison as well.

So, I guess that the moral of The Elder Scrolls is that being a felon gets you the best job ever.

I think that with a record like that, someone would think to train the Legion by sending them to jail, instead of having them guard it.

Hey don't forget about the players. Without us, Tamriel would have been in ruin several times over!

Huh, I'd never thought about all of this. I dunno, I always imagined that the player character was in prison by mistake, or destiny had led him/her there. I never though he/she was an actual criminal.

Arena: Jagar Tharn sent the player to prison due to fearing him/her.

Morrowind: The emperor knew you would be the Nerevarine and it is very well possible that you may have been placed in jail by a higher authority or an immortal being, such as Azura.

Oblivion: The CoC doesn't seem to recall why he/she is in jail and isn't even supposed to be in that cell. Uriel Septim said "Perhaps the gods have placed you here so that we may meet."

Your thoughts on it work perfectly fine, but, of course, it's also easy to imagine whatever you want as being the origins, in the case of Morrowind and Oblivion. Arena and Daggerfall give you backgrounds. Arena has you being a member of the Imperial court that was imprisoned by Jagar Tharn and Daggerfall has various backgrounds based on one's class and race.

Maybe Champion murdered his relatives for their properties (Frostcrag Spire, etc), and that is what landed him in the slammer.

My Champion of Cyrodiil was never so barbaric. His family was murdered and he was wrongly sentenced for the foul deed.

Actually, the Arena intro is more that the PC is left in one cell dungeon hoping from the imposer Picard that the person is left for dead without no one noticing he/she is there. I would not really say that is a prison, just a hole where the PC is left to die.

Morrowind, is mention but not truly inclined the PC was even in the prison to begin with.

The only one that is truly the only intro with a prison is Oblivion, and well, I modded the the god dam hell out to make sure that isn't the case; poor starting point per se.

What do you mean by not truly inclined? Are you just saying that the game didn't actually start in the prison, but it's part of the story that they were in prison?

Ya basically start in ship, but the prison bit is a bit bull on that. There isn't any true indication that the PC did start in a prison in the first place, or solid proof or any "vide" of restraint of incarceration. Heck, easier to create a background toon as the following:

For one of my toon, its just a cover story to stay low under the radar to avoid attraction because he was an agent.

Or Picard decided to play a prank on Tribunals and one of my PC decided to play along with the gag.

Or some poor sap wanted to travel around and took a trip in a prison ship for being cheap, mistaken for someone important.

Maybe the Hero of Daggerfall is more of an outcast, being a sailor who got trapped in a cave-in, rather than a prisoner :rolleyes:

Sometimes he was, wasn't he?