[The Bear's Lair] The Elder Scrolls: Online meets HP Lovecraft

The seventeen appointment of the Bear's Lair returns to the themes of Providence Solitaire: this time we will go together in search of the conducting threads that bind The Elder Scrolls: Online e Lovecraft.

As always, we will start from the most obvious connections, and then delve into the maze of the hypothetical.

A few hints about The Elder Scrolls: Online

The MMO di The Elder Scrolls allows us to explore the centuries that precede the most popular single-player chapters of the saga.

The main The Elder Scrolls timeline, in fact, it can be summed up like this, with a nice rainbow:

• The Elder Scrolls: Online and expansions: Second Era, years 582 and later;
• The Elder Scrolls: Arena: Third Era, year 389;
• The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Tribunal and Bloodmoon: Third Era, year 427;
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles: Third Era, year 433;
• The Elder Scrolls: Legends (single-player campaign): Fourth Era, year 171;
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Dawnguard and Dragonborn: Fourth Age, year 201.

Okay, I'll never do that again. We were saying, essentially ESO is set for a thousand years before Skyrim, and about 800 years before Oblivion and Morrowind.

The relationship between The Elder Scrolls: Online and Lovecraft

At first glance some settings and part of the plot of The Elder Scrolls: Online they may seem distinctly Lovecraftian. But is it really so?

Some elements actually refer to the writings of the pioneer ofcosmic horror; others, on the other hand, contrast with them in an absolutely self-evident way. Let's see them together.

Hermaeus Mora, always lui

We have already talked about it ad satietatem and perhaps even beyond: a cosmic emptiness from which a cluster of tentacles greenish covered eyes, dominating over a aquatic kingdom in which all the secret and forbidden knowledge.

Yes, the old man Hermaeus Mora it has an aspect that remarkably recalls that of the Outer Gods, which are not to be confused with the Great Ancients.

In particular, it could be a kind of tribute to Yog-Sothoth, an entity incomprehensible to the human mind, which, however, in addition to being one with the Space-Time is also the being who sees everything and knows everything.

If you pass me the term, sort of god of Knowledge, if ever one should exist in a hypothetical Lovecraftian pantheon.

Moreover Yog-Sothoth looks like a cluster of tentacles and spheres, very similar to Herma Mora's keen tentacles.

Il Daedric Prince of Knowledge and Memory, in his infinite wisdom, assigns a series of quests to our character of The Elder Scrolls Online.

Sunken Knowledge

In addition to the name, Submerged Knowledge, even the plot of this quest can be tied quite easily to Lovecraftian themes.

We agree to help the cultists of an external god, the Primeval Seekers (translatable as Primeval Seekers), to hinder the plans of aancient entity (an Old One?) who intends to use a secret knowledge to subvert the natural order of things.

Or we can betray the cultists and ally with those who, in essence, are the cultists of this ancient entity who cares little about their devotees, who are used only as a sacrifice for the entity's exclusive welfare.

A sort of local version of a hypothetical friction between Outer Gods and Ancient Grandes, perhaps?

Aside from that, the story revolves around preserving an entire library full of arcane and secret knowledge, as ordered by an external god, or destroy it to follow the will of an ancient entity that is interested in keeping the territory under its own dominion.

The Seeker’s Archive

A journey into the ruins of a temple sealed by the undead followers of a ancient celestial warrior, in search ofSeeker's Archive which, during the quest, we discover to be an altar of Hermaeus Mora.

A clash between the spirits of an ancient and warlike race, who serve one of the celestial entities guarding the World, and the more or less involuntary agent of an external deity.

Efforts for stem corruption which, like poison, oozes from an ancient spirit and slowly and inexorably infects the other guardians who protect creation.

I must continue?

The Waking Dreamer

Il lucid dream and the exploration of dreams are one of the most intimate themes of Lovecraft's poetics.

During this mission we will come across some clues that paint a rather gloomy story: the events involving a sorcerer who exterminates an entire sylvan settlement, to safeguard a treasure buried beneath the village.

The spasmodic search in the subsoil of a Mysterious Tome, the discovery of the traces that will lead us toOghma Infinium, which we have already talked about previously and which, in essence, is the Necronomicon.

Underground lakes, mazes of dark caves, ancient underground ruins, arcane rituals and a indifferent god who uses us for his own purposes, only to then liquidate us - no, not in that sense - with a particular tome: not theOghma Infinium – Necronomicon, But the Discourse Amaranthine which probably refers toAmaranth, a topic that we have dealt with in the past.

To sum up with the hatchet, theAmaranth is the step following the BIRD: while the latter consists in realizing that you are in the cosmic dream of an'alien entity, without losing awareness of oneself and one's individuality, theAmaranth it is sacrificing oneself to start dreaming a new dream - universe in which, however, you will have no power or role, just like the entity that the current universe is dreaming of The Elder Scrolls.

Reminds you Azathoth? Yes me too.

If you would like a more in-depth explanation, I refer you to the article on Skyrim and Lovecraft. If, on the other hand, you want to hurt yourself, a bit like I am doing while I am writing these lines at half past four in the morning, go and read some writings by Michael Kirkbride, the author of much of the TES lore, in the Imperial Library.

Sheogorath, the mad god

As well as being a peculiar insane god and a probable mention of the god Loki, the Norse trickster, Sheogorath he is also the protagonist of an interesting series of quests in ESO.

THEArch-Mage Shalidor he made a pact with this divinity; this obviously did not go as planned, and now we have to help the Arch-Wizard to recover all of his arcane books which, thanks to the intervention of old Sheo, can be read by everyone except Shalidor.

The Arch-Mage then asks his assistant to read them for him ... but again the Daedric Prince of Madness and the Wabbajack puts a hand in the cheese, and our character has to choose whether to go along with the mad god or try to save the assistant from the Daedric curse that now afflicts him.

If we choose not to go against it the will of Sheogorath, we will be rewarded with a fair amount of power (and skill points), and the poor assistant will be dragged, screaming and kicking, into the Daedric realm of Madness.

A gem: it Sheogorath that we meet in Skyrim (set in the Fourth Age) may be different from that of ESO (Second Era), since - according to some theories - our player character of Oblivion (Third Era) takes the place of Original shogorath.

In Skyrim, therefore, they would meet two playing characters: the protagonists of Oblivion e Skyrim, with two centuries to separate them temporally.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind

The previous expansion of the game offers us a setting that immediately struck me as something distinctly Lovecraftian: lunar landscapes, aliens, dotted with gigantic mushrooms and immense, slow and bubbling creatures.

Monstrous creatures waiting, lurking, that some unwary detective - adventurer get close enough to grab it and make every trace of it disappear forever.

A volcano that hides who knows what secrets (which we discovered in the original Morrowind), cultists, Daedric ruins, creepy coastal villages, dreamlike mists, mysterious killers and ainexplicable sore which annihilates the life force and will of even the most powerful being.

I could go on for hours.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Shadows of the Hist

In reality of thehist we have already talked about in a previous article: remember the multidimensional trees, probably aliens, who travel through space and don't care about the very concept of linear time?

Those strange and mysterious trees that they affect mentally and physically mortal beings who live nearby and / or who consume their lifeblood. Those same trees that are incomprehensible and alien even to those who have reached the divine state of full awareness within the cosmic dream (the BIRD).

Yes, that's right, those trees.

The expansion Shadows of the Hist enters ancient and impenetrable jungles, makes us meet tribes of indigenous people with animalistic features in a suspicious way, makes us accomplices of dark brotherhoods and catapult us into an adventure in the shadow of Hist trees.

Not to mention a dungeon filled with hideous looking creatures giant arachnids, moreover, hand in hand with an external god: Mephala, Daedric Prince of Assassination, Sex and Secrets.

I Watcher

Like the seeker and Lurker of the single-player chapters of the The Elder Scrolls saga, even the version MMORPG has its own creature lovecraftiane.

In this case it is the Watcher which, more than the others creature deadriche, have that je ne sais quoi that immediately projects our mind into the works of Solitaire of Providence.

Besides, it must be said, the Watchers are probably the little children or siblings of the dear, old, greenish one Hermaeus Mora we were talking about a moment ago.

Molag Bal's Planemeld

The invasion plan of the Daedric Prince Molag Bal, the god of Brutality, Dominion and Subjugation, consists in harpooning the world with Dark Anchors: inter-dimensional chains able to cross the barrier between the world and the plan of Chaos, in essence.

These Anchors are meant to tear away Nirn (the world) since material plane and transport it to that of Oblivion.
I mean, if the daedra don't go to Nirn, the Nirn goes to the daedra.

Coldharbour, the Upside Down

La mirror version of the material world, where the sky burns constantly, the cold air freezes the skin of the unfortunate, and the ground is impregnated with very strange looking waters.

Il Upside down by Stranger Things but more violent, definitely more populated by hostile creatures and a little less gloomy, actually.

The non-hostile indigenous population consists of slaves whose souls have been ripped off, who work tirelessly for their Daedric jailers and who, finally, regress more and more until they become feral and monstrous due to the torments to which they are subjected in the centuries.

La animal regression it is not one of the central themes of Lovecraft works?
Yes it is. Trust me.

The Sloads and the Deep Ones

We have already talked about these amphibious creatures too. The Sload, in addition to being able to compete without too much trouble for Tamriel's Most Hated Race award, they are creatures halfway between the giant snail and the toad, and have an exceptional command of necromantic arts.

The Sloads are related to the Deep Ones Bible which we find in Oblivion, and - according to some widely held theories - are also involved in the quest A shadow over Hackdirt, also by Oblivion, which quite clearly recalls the famous Lovecraft's tale entitled The shadow over Innsmouth.

In The Elder Scrolls Online, in the area ofSummerset expansion, we find a version of the Sload even more linked to the sea and, probably, to the Deep ones, the inhabitants of the deep sea.

L’Erstwhile Sanctuary

In March 2018, some lucky - and spendthrift - players were able to purchase an exclusivity with real currency dwelling in ESO. Yes, because in the game there are various houses that can be purchased, furnished and customized; one of these is theErstwhile Sanctuary, of which I propose a rather eloquent image.

In addition to being disturbing in its entirety, doesn't it seem to you that some elements of this house have something strange?

The more I stare at those shapes enclosed in the rock, the more I observe those alien-looking stalagmites, the more it seems to me that something looks back.

I would say stop here at this point. But first we have to address a fundamental question.

Are the hints of ESO really Lovecraftian?

We have seen how the creatures we have somehow related to Great Ancients, and even to the Outer Gods in some cases, they interact regularly with the protagonist.

Of course, without this relationship we would not be here talking about it and the game would probably be much less interesting, but this type of interaction clashes considerably with the HP Lovecraft design.

This relationship, moreover, is not one-way like what a cultist might have towards the worshiped entity, but it is actually a do ut des, one exchange of favors with living entities outside of Space and Time reserved for mortals.

There is no longer a existential horror, therefore, and the terror of the unknown: while Lovecraft does not even describe most of the creatures he writes about, and limits himself to letting them paint from our ancestral fears, in ESO monsters are seen, fought and looted or, at the very least, you can huddle with them some kind of agreement.

The importance of mortals

Mortals are not insignificant beings scurrying around a fourth-rate planet, in a reality that is nothing more than the dream of a blind and idiotic divinity, but they are actors - not even so secondary - of intrigues and clashes between powers who recognize the value of their little agents armed to the teeth.

Many of the mortal beings of The Elder Scrolls descend from divine entities and, even, in some cases - not even so rare - they can go back to divine status.

THEignorance of cosmic realityBesides, it is not a blessing that protects our frail minds from one incomprehensible reality which would drive us mad: it is only an obstacle to the path of Power.

Some mortals may even realize that they are in Azathoth's dream Godhead di The Elder Scrolls, and even have the opportunity to dream of their own universe, becoming Azathoth Godhead themselves!

Sure, many creatures of The Elder Scrolls Online -and the rest of the saga- are remarkably Lovecraftian in appearance, and even some themes are well rendered, but the fundamental substrate is lacking.

Some metaphysical themes can be similar to those of the pioneer ofcosmic horror, but to obtain a true correspondence it would be necessary to considerably reduce not only the mortals, but also some entities of the saga.

Obviously I'm not hoping that will happen: we already have the very best of videogames much more adherent to Weltanschauung lovecraftiana, his conception of the cosmos and its functioning: I am talking, just to name one, of the recent Call of Cthulhu.

Lord Vivec, the anti-Lovecraft

Speaking of mortals ascending to divine status: Lord Vivec, so we do several quests over the narrative arc of The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind, is the nemesis of Lovecraftian themes within the game.

Not only is he a mortal who has obtained divine powers, but he is also one of those he managed to achieve the CHIM: in a sense broke the fourth wall, and thus a mortal has become more powerful than Aedra, Daedra, and the like.

But there's more: over the course of the expansion Morrowind, Vivec is weakened by the talking dog of the Daedric Prince of Desires and the Lust for Power, and is saved by a mortal, that is, by our player character!

Lord Vivec represents theanti-Lovecraft par excellence, and it makes me quite grumpy. Even more than usual, of course. On the other hand, this column is not called Bear's Lair for no reason, right?

Speaking of columns and dens: if you missed the previous articles on The Elder Scrolls saga, I remind you that we have already analyzed TES III: Morrowind, but also Daggerfall and Oblivion together, and then Skyrim and DLC Dragonborn.

Having said that, all that remains is to say goodbye the TES saga, at least for the moment, and give us an appointment next Wednesday, as always.

Bonus: Just as I was writing this article, and that's not an understatement, the expansion was announced The Elder Scrolls: Elsweyr. It was fate that today we talked about The Elder Scrolls!