The Literary Achievement of Morrowind

The impending release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion fills me with panic of the kind that struck the brave Danaans, who must have exchanged wide-eyed glances and silent "WTFs" as their master Odysseus writhed in ecstasy at the sirens' song that only he could hear. On the one hand, it forces me to confront, yet again, my computer's inability to play the games that the cool kids play, and so more than ever I feel that they must not count me among their number. But more than this, I have reason to believe that we could all do with a healthy clump of wax in our ears. The song of Oblivion will otherwise lead us well astray from duties to which I feel we have yet to attend.

It comes down to this: In spite of my having devoted dozens of hours to conquering its expanse, I have only ever scratched the surface of Morrowind, the previous game in the Elder Scrolls series. I am frankly unprepared to move on to any further games in the series, knowing that there remains much to do in the previous installment. And with your permission, I would now like to inflict my piddling insecurities upon you, if only for a short time--after which, feel free to remove the wax.

It's not that I fear my unfamiliarity with the latter stages of Morrowind's plot will detract in any significant degree from the experience of Oblivion. Quite to the contrary, I felt that Morrowind's plot (and "plot" here should probably be plural), or what I could decipher of it from my roughly 50 hours of playing, was a bumbling expedition through a sloppy morass of inconsequential agents, bland characters, stilted behavior, and poor delivery; the tedious details of which have already largely slipped my mind. Much of Morrowind's shortcoming in this regard is attributable to an ineffective narrative, rather than a poor story per se--the former consisting of how the story is told. For Morrowind's story is told by robotic NPCs who display no greater sign of character or vitality than occasionally repeating the same vocal loop as their hundreds of look-alike counterparts. No, the excellence of Morrowind does not lie in its plot, but rather in its setting, which, while partly dependent upon the game's graphics, level design, and art direction, establishes itself in force through the many and voluminous tomes that fill the world of Vvardenfell.

To a new player these books may seem a confusing babble of names and dates, irrelevant stories and lengthy diversions from the actual game itself. But upon closer examination, the books begin to take on form, as cross-references and intriguing contradictions leap into view, as well as many passages that are worthy of much consideration in and of themselves. Take, for example, "Progress of Truth," a banned religious text written by an underground group of dissident priests. It has the form of a rigid manifesto, and declares with startling succinctness eight ways in which the authors disagree with established Temple doctrine. The first item on the list reads,

1. The divinity of the Tribunal

Temple doctrine claims their apotheosis was miraculously achieved through questing, virtue, knowledge, testing, and battling with Evil; Temple doctrine claims their divine powers and immortality are ultimately conferred as a communal judgement by the Dunmer ancestors [including, among others, the Good Daedra, the prophet Veloth, and Saint Nerevar]. Dissident Priests ask whether Dagoth Ur's powers and the Tribunal powers might ultimately derive from the same source -- Red Mountain. Sources in the Apographa suggest that the Tribunal relied on profanely enchanted tools to achieve godhead, and that those unholy devices were the ones originally created by the ungodly Dwemer sorceror Kagrenac to create the False Construct Numidium.

So, the Dissidents argue that the venerated Tribunal of the Temple derive their powers from the same source as the wicked Dagoth Ur. Moreover, they assert that the Tribunal spring not from divine sources, as the Temple teaches, but from base magic--the same magic known to the mortals of Vvardenfell, practiced even by common mages. These two claims by themselves are already more interesting than the full text of nearly every game on the market. They channel the terrible power of religious schism and strife, and recall Catholic condemnation of heresies, as well as Protestant revolts. But what's most impressive is that they achieve all this without feeling like a cheap transposition of historical cliche. This is no thin veneer of fantasy slapped upon a familiar core of real-world allegory, such as we usually see in the fantasy genre. "Progress of Truth" is a spirited and fascinating document, fully capable of standing on its own, and ample evidence of the remarkable creative minds employed at Bethesda Softworks.

Let's have a look at "Response to Bero's Speech," one wizard's public response to the arguments of another wizard, Bero. It begins,

On the 14th of Last Seed, an illusionist by the name of Berevar Bero gave a very ignorant speech at the Chantry of Julianos in the Imperial City. As ignorant speeches are hardly uncommon, there was no reason to respond to it. Unfortunately, he has since had the speech privately printed as "Bero's Speech to the Battlemages," and it's received some small, undeserved attention in academic circles. Let us put his misconceptions to rest.

A later section, concerned with Bero's attacks on the magical School of Destruction, reads,

Bero's argument, built on this shaky ground, is that the School of Destruction is not a true school. He calls it "narrow and shallow" as an avenue of study, and its students impatient, with megalomaniac tendencies. How can one respond to this? Someone who knows nothing about casting a spell of Destruction criticizing the School for being too simple? Summarizing the School of Destruction as learning how to do the "maximum amount of damage in the minimum amount of time" is clearly absurd, and he expounds on his ignorance by listing all the complicated factors studied in his own School of Illusion.

The subject matter here is very different than that of "Progress of Truth," but both works employ the same literary technique of suggesting to the reader that there is a hidden vastness to the world of Morrowind, even considering the game's already huge size. We readers involuntarily imagine what sorts of cities these wizards inhabit; we wonder whether they work out of quaint shops or shut-up university towers; we picture the community of brassy aristocrats who eagerly follow the trends among leading intellectuals. The books of Morrowind represent a world far more lively than the actual game-space that the player experiences.

And yet, there is a third world in Morrowind, other than the worlds of graphics and of text. It is a world of synthesis; a fusion in the player's mind of the world they experience directly, and the world they experience through mediation, i.e., through reading and imagining. The books refer to and shed light upon the "physical" game world, and the act of exploring that game world, in turn, lends both romance and tangibility to the books. The player joins these two worlds in their mind, into something which is greater than the sum of its parts. The books, pamphlets, codices, notes, recipes, histories, screeds, gibberings, poems, and fables of Morrowind are therefore not merely incidental to the game's success; they are essential to it.

(For a full list of all the books in the game, along with the entire text of each, visit The Imperial Library.)

Morrowind and the other games of the Elder Scrolls series reject the increasingly common notion that playing games and reading text are mutually exclusive activities. The books in Morrowind would not be so grand on their own, and neither would the game divorced of its books. Together, though, they ensure Morrowind's status as one of the most important games ever made. It reaches out to its players in a way that few games do, and in ways that non-games media cannot, since they cannot produce in their audiences anything at all like the senses of exploration and arborescence that permeate Morrowind. What Planescape: Torment did for the status of plot in games, Morrowind accomplished for setting.

I'm uncomfortable about the imminent transition of focus from Morrowind to Oblivion. Legions of fans are frothing at the mouth, eager to move on to fresher pastures. But how can we move on, when, as I said earlier (albeit with a different meaning in mind), we have only just scratched the surface? For although Morrowind has received nearly every manner of praise since its release in 2002, it seems that virtually nobody has paid attention to Morrowind qua literature, which is its most original and lasting contribution to the history of games. I would not deign to describe the present piece of writing as anything but the barest beginning for such an effort. I hope simply to have shown that Morrowind deserves more attention, and of a different kind, than it has received.

But once Oblivion comes along, what are the chances of that? It is not healthy to our hobby that we totally replace the old games with the new. Remove your wax if you so choose; I'm leaving mine in place.

Comments

Ahh a fellow Tamerilic book lover.

Two years ago this month I completed one of my proudest achievements in Morrowind. A complete collection of every book which: belonged to a series, gave a stats bonus, amused me or was unique or rare (the disappearence of the Dwemer books and texts on Numidium were especially sought after).

Thanks to some terrific house mods I had a whole room dedicated to these quality tomes, worth 10,000s of Septim. Some on shelves and some on lecturns.

One of Morrowinds most compelling aspects, quite apart from the setting (which you are dead right about) was the extreme compulsive collectability of the items you came across. I know I'm not the only player who had his own artifact reliquary or parade of mannequins displaying every complete set of armor in the game. Bethesda themselves foresaw this debilitating condition and lampooned it with their aristocratic junk collector NPC who's lodgings were jam packed with pillows, candles and forks (yes I also collected coloured candles. I am a sad wretched gamer.).

This was years ago however, and in the interim I have found little to satiate my eccentric collector's thirst for quality used books and militaria. I AM about ready for Oblivion.

But once Oblivion comes along, what are the chances of that? It is not healthy to our hobby that we totally replace the old games with the new. Remove your wax if you so choose; I'm leaving mine in place.

/vigorously bores into his ears with a q-tip

Now that I can hear clearly again, let me assure you, it is healthy indeed. I may represent the masses and perhaps will generate some somber replies with this remark, but I could care less about the books of Morrowind. I found them boring and mindless. Why read a book about a long-dead mage and how he can shave his balls with a wave of his wand when I can be out fighting and exploring and seeing the world.

You can have the books, I'll take the glory. Bring on Oblivion.

Lore is fun. I am just starting with the TES lore and it has been a interesting read so far.
I hope that they don't skimp on the lore too much in OB

I am an ES virgin, having never played Morrowwind. The hype surrounding OB has definitely piqued my interest. Funny thing about Morrowwind, you hear a lot of people describe it as the second coming, and you hear a lot of people describe it as overlong, ponderous, and dull. So I'd be curious to hear more on both sides of the argument. Personally, as a WoW addict, I have trouble picturing staying interesed in a static, single player world for that long.

A lot of people don't "get" the appeal of having readable books in a game--but I'm certainly not one of them. I loved the books in Morrowind, for exactly the reason you've stated so clearly, that it makes the world seem deeper and richer. This is also one of the things I love about EQ2; I can fill my home up with books I've collected, and while they aren't of the same high quality as those in Morrowind, they are a testament to the game's enormous amount of detail. I don't spend a lot of my gaming time in EQ2 with such mundane activities as reading, cooking, or decorating my house, but I absolutely love the fact that I could do those things if I wanted to. It's why I prefer that game over WoW (does WoW even have books?). One of the first things I thought about when Oblivion was announced was all the new lore that will be introduced.

I was a rabid book reader and collector in Morrowind as well! I downloaded one of the house mods specifically because it gave a nice remote scenic home in the southeast of the continent (or was Vvardenfell an island? I'm not certain...) replete with a nice variety of bookshelves.

I'm almost embarassed to think of the time I spent stacking and ordering my virtual books on those bookshelves almost as well as any librarian would...

The worst part is that I lost that game save to a corrupt hard drive about a year and a half ago.

As long as Oblivion has a fairly deep setting with lore, books, notes, pamphlets, and the like again, I shall be a VERY happy gamer indeed.

Yon Rabbit wrote:

It's why I prefer that game over WoW (does WoW even have books?).

Yes there are books in WoW, but they are probably handled differently. Typically you can read a book that you find laying on a table, or you may get books as part of quests. In some cases you need to get books from the library and read them to discover what you need to do for your quest. But they aren't treated as collectible objects, as it sounds like they are in these other games.

Farscry wrote:

I'm almost embarassed to think of the time I spent stacking and ordering my virtual books on those bookshelves almost as well as any librarian would...

Please, I spent probably more time than you lighting every home I lived in with candles and lanterns from the world. Reds and Blues and Oranges, just to get the right ambience in a house I'll spend all of 10 minutes in. Sometimes it's the act rather than the result.

To comment on the article, this made me think more of Daggerfall than Morrowind. For any Daggerfall verterans I ask you to think back to a time when you wanted to fight elusive Deadric lords and the only way to do that was to travel to an unmarked location on your map to a sabbath of witches that would summon him on a certain day at a certain time, and the only way to know that was to find a book with the location and time in it's pages.

The books have been a pretty significant addition to at least 2 of the ES games (I have never really played Arena) so I would be pretty confident in saying that Oblivion will have many leather bound books to explore.

Excellent article and valid points. More than valid, insightful.

Do I get to remove the wax if I've read most of Morrowind's books? It doesn't really matter as my computer is also too cool for school.

I'm curious if anyone had the same reaction when meeting Barenziah. The Barenziah!

Lobo, if you haven't already you may need to cheat the main quest to go see Numidium. Though I normally wouldn't advise a FAQ for Morrowind and I'd never advise doing the entire main quest, I know there's a legitimate way to bypass 95% of the boring bits so you can get into the Red Mountain and see the man-made god.

I did the same thing as Farscry, Ilium and the rest...
Collected books till it became almost a psychological dependency. I can't count how many times I had to leave behind a decent armor drop because my inventory was filled with knowledge.

But I side with the rest of the forum in my opposition, Lobo. The time for Oblivion is now. If nothing else, the release of Oblivion means more books!

In my opinion, the true glory of the setting in every ES game is the continuity. Each ES game provides the gamer an opportunity to delve into another region's untapped Tamriellic lore. It is very like a separate academic field, with specializations (A broad, recurring example being the presence of Dwemer lore in each game) and an enormous, expanding body of literature. Except that, as you unfurl each new chapter of the Elder Scrolls, there is the opportunity to not only study the subject of your books, but to experience it.

Imagine how much more it will all 'click', if you stumble across a reference to Bero's treastise in a book in an enchanter's study in Cyrodil. Or an Imperial economist's off-hand references to effects of the Blight on agricultural production in Tamriel?
I would argue that it means so much more if you've seen devastation caused by the Blight, fought a Blighted Nyxhound, and vanquished its cause from the depths of the Red Mountain.

So, my argument would be that, study and delve in the vast expanse of Tamriellic literature as long as you see fit, but don't turn a blind eye to the next chapter of the Elder Scrolls literature (and experience) that will deepen your experience of the literature of Morrowind.

I started Morrowind probably ten times without paying too much attention to the books, and never got very far into the game, mostly because I was initially concerned with maxing my stats and not really enjoying the game...

...then I stopped being a stat whore, and really started enjoying the atmosphere. The books are awesome, and I can't imagine the amount of work that went into making them a coherent whole.

I remember Daggerfall, and Arena before it, and I've enjoyed visiting them all. If it'll run decently on my current box, I'll get Oblivion, and I promise not to be a stat whore and just enjoy the damn thing.

I believe I started Morrowind 3 or 4 times, but also never got much of anywhere with it. I didn't find much of anything that motivated me enough to keep going, I guess. I recall one time getting into a fight early on with some bandit or the like and after dying just not caring enough to restore back and try again.

Maybe there's something more interesting and motivating down the line--and the compulsive hoarding you've described isn't one for me. I've found both Gothics, the recent Bard game, and Fable all more than interesting enough to slog through the difficulties at their beginnings. (And, of course, I had to add my usual twist-the-barb whine about how Planescape: Torment didn't make it past the annoying initial portion for me. :evil:)

I am looking forward to Oblivion, and getting an upgraded PC to be able to appreciate it fully....but sometime down the road since I'm a cheap-ass gamer.

Just bit the bullet and buy a 360 already, Lobo.

I must admit that you have crafted one of the finest excuses I have ever read for not getting involved in a new game, but you must also desire the chance to explore and enjoy the grand expansion of that universe that will be Oblivion. Come, join us. Prance through the new beautifully rendered fields with us. Delve into the new fully realized dungeons with us. And sit with us in a whole new set of dimly lit libraries reading through a whole new collection of finely crafted Elder Scrolls lore.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are about to be opened, my man. Aren't you curious about what they have to say?

I think its only fear of leaving the comfortable setting of Morrowind (and fear of the bill for the computer to run Oblivion) that would keep someone from diving into the newest iteration. All the strengths of Morrowind appear to have been finely tuned while its weaknesses (a lot of character art, bland NPCs, a static feeling in the world... cliff racers) have also been addressed.

Talk about setting, the setting -appears- to have absolutely exploded. From what I've seen, it looks like I could almost be satisfied to 'claim' a cabin in the woods and go hunt deer for a few hours and be happy, at no point touching plots or NPCs, just enjoying the wet forest mist on my face while silently stalking a hopefully cunning deer that doesn't -want- to be prey.

And that's not to assume that there will be no great books to read. I hope the genius of their writers has translated better into the world this time, rather than seeming so seperate. We wont know for another 10(ish) days but I for one will be diving in without reservation

I've got a reservation.

A reservation with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Collector's Edition Box on March 21st!

My extra copies of Madden 2006:Uber Sucky edition and PGR3 are going towards a preodered (damn you EB!) Oblivion on the 360.

I fear the copy protection of Oblivion will probably make running it on my PC a moot point at best... which leads to a question.. is the PC version gold also and expected to be released on the 20th?

"A lot of people don't "get" the appeal of having readable books in a game--but I'm certainly not one of them."

As another ES virgin (an hour with Morrowind turned me off due to the controls on the Xbox) I get the appeal, I just don't get the appeal when it comes to this particular example. I tried reading the excerpts in the article above and every third word was some ridiculous unpronounceable name and that does it in for me. Can you tell I don't read fantasy lit? I don't know how you all keep track of these various nouns when they all sound the same. I think I would really like to sit down and read through a book in a game, and I know I would definitely enjoy the collecting aspects many of you mention, but if my only options are fantasy literature, then I'll have to pass. I'll be giving Oblivion a try and look forward to playing it on the PC, but I doubt I'll ever read the in-game texts if they're anything like what was quoted in this article.

TheGameguru wrote:

I fear the copy protection of Oblivion will probably make running it on my PC a moot point at best... which leads to a question.. is the PC version gold also and expected to be released on the 20th?

Yes, although it is still unclear what copy protection method they will be using, other than that it is not Starforce.

TheGameguru wrote:

My extra copies of Madden 2006:Uber Sucky edition and PGR3 are going towards a preodered (damn you EB!) Oblivion on the 360.

I fear the copy protection of Oblivion will probably make running it on my PC a moot point at best... which leads to a question.. is the PC version gold also and expected to be released on the 20th?

What copy protection does it have?

Back to books. yeah I love reading the lore behind games. Hence the reason that I wrote that long post here which no one read
I think that it would be nice if players could "insert" their own books, journals into their games too.

I never really played Morrowind, partly because it ran so poorly on my old crappy PC, and partly because I was intimidated by its vastness. I've heard brief mention of Morrowind's books, but I had no idea of the depth and quality of their presence. I also had no idea that the game encouraged or allowed such collecting. I've been all excited about Oblivion because it looks so incredibly beautiful, but from Lobo's article and these responses, I'm now more interested in the game's content. A lot more. I hope that Bethesda's put the same amount of time and effort Oblivion's content that they did with Morrowind.

Thanks for a great article, Lobo. Very important and insightful points.

For those of you interested, Oblivion has over 400 books in the game. Some are re-used from older games, but there will be plenty of new stuff. I could swear they said about two novels worth, but I'm not positive.

The Fly wrote:

I hope that Bethesda's put the same amount of time and effort Oblivion's content that they did with Morrowind.

Word is that they have, at least as far as the books are concerned.

According to a FAQ compiled on the official Oblivion forums based upon developer comments, there will be 400+ books in Oblivion (about the same amount found in Morrowind). Also, they have retained much of the same writing talent for the books in Oblivion as for the books in Daggerfall and Morrowind.

Certis wrote:

For those of you interested, Oblivion has over 400 books in the game. Some are re-used from older games, but there will be plenty of new stuff. I could swear they said about two novels worth, but I'm not positive.

Wow.

zeroKFE wrote:

There will be 400+ books in Oblivion (about the same amount found in Morrowind). Also, they have retained much of the same writing talent for the books in Oblivion as for the books in Daggerfall and Morrowind.

Again I say, wow!

Certis wrote:

For those of you interested, Oblivion has over 400 books in the game. Some are re-used from older games, but there will be plenty of new stuff. I could swear they said about two novels worth, but I'm not positive.

I am glad that they are going to recycle some of the books. It is annoying to me that it is like a different world each game. I think it would be quite common for people in different cities ot have some of the same books. Lots of people in lots of cities have Dickens for example.

It makes the whole world seem more connected.

For me, spending hours reading those books, with their dark brown calligraphy fonts on light brown "parchment" paper, was the optical equivalent to a mountain lion scratching his nails all the way down a mountain made of chalkboard.

It's interesting that with all the fancy graphics and the huge world and the many classes, with the intertwining plotlines and good/evil/involved/indifferent decisions, that we still need to suspend disbelief. As you note, the books are a part of that process. Some people may be happy (as I was) simply learning to fly and adapting that particular skill to all their activities. Others work to complete every quest, others still try to steal at every opportunity, taking the house of a murdered faction member as a place to store and display loot.

The brilliance of Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series is not that they model a world to one degree or another. GTA does that, but the effect is totally different. Bethesda builds worlds by accretion, worlds that would function and allow you to understand them even without the quests. Within the limits of resolution of the game engine (conversation tools, items to read and manipulate and use, scenery, terrain, AI), they have included so many overtly *useless* objects that can be repurposed, that virtually any player can construct the essential elements of what they understand to be "their world" and thus begin to inhabit something that started out as a game.

It's a real reversal of the usual approach, that of building a world out of needful things and leaving the "dross" behind. Just as your life is not defined solely by your job, your car, your work tools and your wallet, so the Elder Scrolls allows you to collect candles, read novels, make your own magic...And that has made all the difference.

Robear wrote:

Within the limits of resolution of the game engine (conversation tools, items to read and manipulate and use, scenery, terrain, AI), they have included so many overtly *useless* objects that can be repurposed, that virtually any player can construct the essential elements of what they understand to be "their world" and thus begin to inhabit something that started out as a game.

I know that MY personal goal in Oblivion will be to constuct a full scale fortress out of pillows.

My only regret is that given that I will be playing on the 360 and don't have a video capture card, I will have to take screenshots using my digital camera.

Just to clarify: I'm as excited about the new books in Oblivion as anybody else--not to mention its other appealing features. But I do caution against what seems to me a common practice, that of consigning older games to irrelevance whenever the next iteration comes along. I think the above article, as much as it is concerned solely with Morrowind, also functions as a plea for longer memories in general when it comes to games. I think it's important that our hobby not abandon its history every four or five years when the new tech hits the streets. And, moreover, I think that intelligent and principled gamers, such as we who frequent GWJ, should do a better job of chronicling that history in the first place, and of explicitly pointing out to one another all the myriad ways that games have managed to validate themselves as objects deserving serious study.

I read you loud and clear, Lobo. I just want your eloquence involved in the myriad of discussions that will no doubt crop up regarding the game in about two weeks here.