I doubt any of the programmers write the lore for the games...maybe not even Todd Howard.

who are the writers? the ones who wrote tamriel history, thought out the various religions/gods... the ones who write the in game books?

they seem to get no credit.. but im interested to know who they are.

Much of the stuff the universe revolves around was created by Michael Kirkbride. He has left Bethesda during the creation of Morrowind, but returned for for additional writing in Oblivion and KOTN.

Oh, and he's the master of lore in this sub-forum. And no doubt will watch this thread. Hi MK! ^_^


But there's probably no real definite "who" when many different people contribute, and it's centrally managed. Really don't know who's officially in charge now to make sure nobody betrays the lore.

We should also give credit to Ted Peterson, who wrote the Pocket Guides to Empire and a lot more. I hope MK and Ted Peterson were hired to write for "Skyrim" also, but I haven't heard anything.

Ah yes, of course. How could one forget the Madgod, being one of the parents of this series...

Well, it might be more accurate to say that all the setting's 'weird stuff' is derived from MK. Anything in-game that deals with metaphysics, or simply makes you go "WTF did I just read?" is probably MK's . The rest has a broader author list.

Did Tedders do the first PGE? I was always under the impression that was MK for some reason. I suppose I'm basing that on absolutely no evidence, though.


Anyway, as far as the series goes, I think it was Ted Pererson and Julian LeFay who created the initial TES world up through Daggerfall. The intial locations and what not were from a DnD campaign they ran in their spare time between making bowling games. Tedders was probably the driving force behind Daggerfall and a lot of the lore that comes from that era. MK came on board during Redguard and was enormously influential in the direction the series took for Morrowind. MK is best known for (and best at) the "weird stuff" but I'm pretty sure he's done some shockingly normal books as well. I was a lore expert back in the Daggerfall days, but haven't been able to keep up as much I would like. There are certainly people in these forums who can tell you who wrote what book, when, why, and what was on the radio when they wrote it, so I imagine they will chime in eventually.

who ever they are i think the only thing you can say is :goodjob: GOODJOB :goodjob:

Who wrote one of the Pocket Guides. Not the other two.

The greatest writer is Michael Kirkbride, but the group which worked alongside him on Redguard and then Morrowind is also important: Ken Rolston, Kurt Kuhlmann, and even, yes, Todd Howard. Douglas Goodall too, to a certain extent.

1st PGE was MK and Kurt, who is still with Bethesda. Virtually the only major lore writer who is, if I'm not mistaken. Everyone else on Quimper's list is gone, although I think there a guy in the animation department who has some obscure texts online.

A certain writer who I dislike, and for whatever reason seems oblivious to the glaring plot holes he creates, seemed to have quite an involvement in the development of the dragon language for Skyrim.

I'm not naming any names, but rest assured Elder Scrolls lore isn't all bunnies and sunshine.

Here we name names. Has Emil Pagliarulo had any input on Elder Scrolls plots, or are you just complaining about the Fallout 3 MQ? And luckily dragon language can survive plot holes because you can put it all down to irregular grammar.

Of course it's not all bunnies and sunshine.
We have [censored] and all kinda off stuff to enjoy us in here...

Fallout 3's main quest is definitely my biggest gripe, beyond that he didn't have a huge influence in the Elder Scrolls, beyond the Dark Brotherhood.

I mean, don't get me wrong, Emil's at his best when he goes dark- the Dark Brotherhood was interesting enough, and Tranquility Lane was the best quest in Fallout 3. But when he doesn't have the opportunity to inject a little nightmare fuel into his work... it ends up kind of dull, and with the aforementioned glaring plot holes.

Oh, right. The Dark Brotherhood. *shivers*

Best questline in the game in terms of fun, but for the love of god leave out the My Chemical Romance.

No kidding, Haromir. More "The Knights gave us this contract to kill this knight who slept with a women he shouldn't have. Ah, love. Now get to it!" and less "I GIVE MY BLUUD TO SITHISSSSSSSS!!!!"

All the quest guys write some lore and books, though most of it does come from the people already listed.

That's why I had it phrased so exactly. The stuff the universe revolves around, the core of the lore. Oh, and that one very subjective series of accounts by a certain floating fellow in Morrowind.

Actually, the Cult of the Ancestor Moth have directed the course of lore, for centuries:

Who controls the Septim crown?
Who keeps the Allesian Heresy down?
We do, we do

Who knocked Yokuda off the maps?
Who keeps the Dwemer under wraps?
We do, we do

Who dances a little dance and does not tell?
Who breaks time and thinks it's swell?
We do, we do

Who spills coffee on the Chaos Staff?
Who makes the Truth Monkeys laugh?
We do, we do

The authors are oblivious to the cabal's suggestions. They think what they're writing belongs to them.

That was worthy of the Stone of Triumph.

You do.

I hope Ted Peterson is working on some books for Skyrim. I long for another adventure with Decumus Scotti.