These are all the named characters you are required to kill throughout various questlines. You could obviously avoid "killing" anyone if you have a follower do it, so by "required" I mean either their deaths are directly tied to quest objectives, a quest item only spawns on their corpse, or the story says you killed them.

Shivering Isles (3 kills): Ciirta, Thadon, and Syl.

The other named characters that die either are killed by NPCs as part of the story or sacrifice themselves.

Main Quest (4 kills): Astav Wirich, Jearl, Saveri Faram, and Mankar Camoran.

Killing Raven Camoran isn't necessary, since you could just sneak around and pickpocket the stuff you need from him. Neither is Ruma Camaron, since you can just run away. Even during the Paradise battle, you only have to kill Mankar Camoran to win the fight.

Mages Guild (7 kills): Caminalda, Kalthar, Camilla Lollia, Caranya, Falcar, Bolor Savel, and Mannimarco.

During "Ulterior Motives", you can just run around while Hassildor or the guards kill the enemies. You also don't have to kill Mariette Rielle in "Liberation or Apprehension?" since the quest only requires interacting with Mucianus Allias.

Fighters Guild (23 kills): Aenvir, Dranas Lerano, Storn the Burly, Cingaer, Dennilwen, Githriian, Idrolian, Nedhelfin, Niraegaer, Thiirchel, Thrangirfin, Azani Blackheart, Ashanta, Hlofgar, Dreet-Lai, Enrion, Biene Amelion, Marie Alouette, Eduard Retiene, Jolie Retiene, Ja'Fazir, Jeetum-Ze, and Ri'Zakar.

You can avoid killing Maglir and the other Blackwood Company members if you run outside to make the guards kill them.

Dark Brotherhood (31 kills): Rufio, Gaston Tussaud, Baenlin, Valen Dreth, Faelian, Roderick, Dovesi Dran, Matilde Petit, Nels the Naughty, Neville, Primo Antonius, Adamus Phillida, Gogron gro-Bolmog, Teinaava, Vicente, Ocheeva, Telaendril, Antoinetta Marie, M'raaj-Dar, Celedaen, Perennia Draconis, Matthias Draconis, Andreas Draconis, Sibylla Draconis, Caelia Draconis, J'Ghasta, Shaleez, Alval Uvani, Havilstein Hoar-Blood, Ungolim, and Mathieu Bellamont.

Of course, you have to kill a ton of people for the Dark Brotherhood. But at least you don't have to kill Schemer the rat!

For the various other questlines, you only have to kill a couple of named NPCs or fewer. The Arena only requires the death of Agronak gro-Malog. The Knights of the Nine only requires killing Umaril the Unfeathered. And the Thieves Guild doesn't require killing any named NPCs (you can just pickpocket Jakben instead of killing him).

After Martin becomes a martyr, he has this speech during a cinematic:

>"The amulet is shattered. Dagon is defeated. With the dragon's blood and the Amulet of Kings, we have sealed the Gates of Oblivion, forever. The last of the Septims passes now into history. I go gladly, for I know my sacrifice is not in vain. I take my place with my father, and my father's fathers. The Third Age has ended, and a new age dawns. When the next Elder Scroll is written, you shall be its scribe. The shape of the future, the fate of the Empire. These things, now, belong to you."

He's probably meant to be speaking directly to the player and not the Hero of Kvatch, since he's alluding to the next Elder Scrolls game. But if we do apply that speech to the HoK, it's hilariously inaccurate considering that the HoK never appears again (as the HoK at least) after this. But maybe Martin was right, and the HoK wanted the Empire to crumble... but incredibly slowly for some reason?

If you talk to Ocato after the ending, he'll say this:

>"We are now the stewards of the Empire. We can hold the Empire together in the short term. But to be honest, I don't know what will happen. The provinces have been restive for years, even before the latest crisis. With no legitimate claimant for the Dragon Throne... troubled times lie ahead."

It's also funny he's saying "we" like the HoK is going to help him instead of going through another oblivion portal to hang out with legions of tall and loyal women. And Blades definitely aren't going to protect him from any assassins, either.

So there's a bunch of vampires in the Thieves Guild questline... and no character ever comments on it?

In the Lost Histories quest, you have to save Amusei from a "Pale Lady" who has vampirism and bottles of human blood. And this takes place in Skingrad's castle, which is ruled by Count Janus Hassildor, who is a vampire! Is the count aware that there's some woman running a blood farm in his basement? Is this where he gets his own blood?! This is never addressed in the game.

Then, in the Boots of Springheel Jak you discover that not only is Springheel Jak a vampire, he has a diary detailing his plans to pretend to be his own descendent and now rules the night of the Imperial City?! And Springheel Jak isn't even the only vampire in the Imperial City. In the Order of the Virtuous Blood quest, you find that Seridur, the head of said order, is also a vampire and has his own group of vampires in a cave outside the city. And Seridur is a "respected member of the Imperial City" just like Jak and kills a woman in public at night. Just how far have vampires spread their influence in the city?!

And finally, in the The Ultimate Heist quest, you sneak into the sewers under the Imperial Palace on your way to the Elder Scroll. And the palace sewers are full of vampires. Why are there vampires under the Imperial Palace? Is this just where they live permanently?!

And there's this fun bit of dialogue from the Gray Fox when you ask him where he got the key to the Imperial Sewers from.

> Here is the key for the gate to that section of the sewers. I picked the pocket of Ocato himself to get it.

...Why does High Chancellor Ocato have a key to the vampire den in the sewers? Is Ocato aware of the vampires everywhere in the Imperial City? Is he being controlled by vampires?! Do vampires control the entire city!? Do they control the entirety of Cyrodiil?!

Anyway, I just thought this was an interesting plot thread in the game that was never really resolved.

Okay, so you know how in the ending of Arena, Uriel Septim VII has a full head of hair and a full beard? And how in the opening of Daggerfall, Uriel Septim VII is bald with no beard? And in Oblivion, Uriel Septim VII has a full head of hair again but no beard?

Why does this guy's design change so much? Here is my 100% correct fan theory:

Returning to being emperor after spending a decade in oblivion stressed Uriel Septim VII out so much that all his hair fell out. However, he claimed it was a fashion statement and made his friends shave their head as well. (This also explains why Ocato was bald in Daggerfall. This also means that the Agent was bald)

Uriel Septim VII spent all the empire's money on hair restoration potions and while he got what he wanted, Oblivion. This explains why Uriel Septim VII has such a full head of hair for an octogenarian, he's chugging hair restoration potions whenever the player looks away.

As we all know, the only NPCs you can't kill in Oblivion are the ones flagged as "essential". Most of these NPCs lose their essential status once their respective questline is completed. So, hypothetically, if the Hero of Kvatch went around killing everyone they possibly could, the only certain surviving NPCs would be the permanently essential ones. There's actually a lot more of these than you would expect.

So, a couple of rules first: I'm only going to be counting named NPCs (sorry Adoring Fan fans) and non-respawning NPCs (sorry Garrus Darelliun fans?). Also, NPCs who die as part of the storyline don't count, even if technically they're never killed in the game (sorry Menien Goneld fans). And NPCs who are already dead don't count (sorry Night Mother fans). And I'm only going to count NPCs that physically appear in the game, so no Daedra.

Also, I'm getting my info from the UESP list on essential NPCs in Oblivion. Let's divide the NPCs into categories based on why they are essential (yes I am putting too much effort into this post).

Quest-essential

These NPCs are involved in multiple questlines and would lock the player out of a bunch of content if they died. They could have been unflagged as essential after their questlines were completed, but it's probably easier to leave them as essential. These NPCs are:

• Most city rulers (Count Indarys, Countess Valga, Count Hassildor (and Hal-Liurz the steward), Count Marius Caro, Countess Carvain)
• Savlian Matius (guard of piles of rubble)
• Ocato (Elder Council seat warmer)
• Jensine (Imperial City merchant)
• Phintias the bookseller
• the (de-facto) heads of most chapters of the Mages Guild (Adrienne Berene, Agata, Dagail, Carahil, Deetsan, Teekeeus)
• Raminus Polus, Mages Guild council member
• Julienne Fanis, who is involved in both the Mages Guild and Tears of the Savior
• Tar-Meena (involved in Mages Guild and main story)
• Azzan, Burz gro-Khash, and Vilena Donton, who are leaders in the Fighters Guild
• Hundolin and Owyn for the Arena
• Malene the innkeeper who wants you to kill a necromancer and also has a secret admirer
• The Prophet from the Knights of the Nine DLC

Reward-essential

When you complete various questlines and become the head of that faction, you get an ongoing reward. You wouldn't be able to collect this reward if the reward-giver was dead, so they just can't die.

These NPCs are:

• Modryn Oreyn for the Fighters Guild
• Arquen for the Dark Brotherhood
• Fathis Ules, the final fence for the Thieves Guild
• Battle Matron Ysabel Andronicus for the Arena
• Haskill for the Shivering Isles

Shivering Isles

Because of the nature of the place, many NPCs who are always essential there may also be literally immortal story-wise. These are:

• Sheogorath
• Dyus the librarian
• Kiliban Nyrandil the dungeon caretaker
• Nanette Don the sorceress
• Anya Herrick and Kithlan, the palace servants
• Herdir the torturer
• Gundlar the greenmote cook
• Arctus and Dervenin the priests
• Cutter, Earil, Sickly Bernice, and Dumag gro-Bonk the merchants

DLC-essential

There's a bunch of DLC content that isn't really a questline, but is only accessible through NPCs, so there's no reason to make them killable. They aren't that important and a lot of them don't even have any unique voice lines. These NPCs are:

• Shivering Isles: Gaius Prentus
• Wizard's Tower: Aurelinwae
• Orrery: Bothiel
• Thieves Den: Dahlia Rackham, Jak Silver, Khafiz, Kovan Kren, Melliwin, Scurvy John Hoff, Tahm Blackwell, Yinz'r, Zedrick Green
• Fighters Stronghold: Melisi Daren, Nilphas Omellian, Plautis Rusonius, Rona Benanius, Shagrol gro-Uzug, Talan, Plautis Rusonius
• Horse Armor: Snak gra-Bura
• Remastered Deluxe: Mehrunes' Harbinger

Appears again in Skyrim

Since Skyrim takes place after Oblivion, we can conclude that any character we see in that game survived the events of Oblivion.

Sinderion is not essential, but since the Last Dragonborn finds his skeleton in Skyrim, we know that Sinderion wasn't killed by the Hero of Kvatch.

There's a bunch of Golden Saint / Dark Seducer characters that can (temporarily) die depending on whether the player kills Syl or Thadon, but the only one who appears again is Staada the Golden Saint commander. Interestingly enough, the UESP claims that she is tied with Uriel Septim VII for the most recurring appearances outside of Daedric Princes.

Probably just a mistake

There are some NPCs that aren't particularly notable but are still always essential. They're probably just oversights, but you never know with this series 🤔

These NPCs are:

• Denel and Skaleel, who live in the Ayleid ruin of Vahtacen for the Mages Guild questline
• Dubok gro-Shagk, Rellian, and Vantus Prelius (the Fighters Guild troublemakers you have to find work for)
• Marcel Amelion, the guy who's really upset you killed his whole family when high on Argonian juice in the Fighters Guild questline
• Lord and Lady Drad, who enslave and get enslaved by Ogres
• Nordinor the Skooma dealer (a Dark Brotherhood target supposedly gets his Skooma from Nordinor)
• Erina Jeranus, the Skingrad innkeeper who was part of a scrapped questline
• Mach-Na, the Cheydinhal bookseller who had a scrapped role in the main story
• Rosentia Gallenus and Alves Uvenim, who are involved with the Staff of the Everscamp quest
• Jollring, the butler for that rich guy who really likes Ayleid artifacts
• Nerussa, who you sell Shadowbanish wine to
• Newheim the Portly, who sends you on a fetch quest for a cup
• Olav the Bruma tavern owner
• Pinarus Inventius, the mountain lion hunter
• Tandilwe, speechcraft master trainer
• Kellen, that sick guy you can "lay hands" on for the Knights of the Nine DLC
• Dylora, who was scripted to die like other Dark Seducers / Golden Saints but just didn't

Other

Fafnir meets you at Summitmist Manor for the Dark Brotherhood. He is never seen again after this quest, so there's no reason to remove his essential status. Nelrene the Dark Seducer also works similarly.

M'aiq the Liar.

So what happened to all these people?

Nearly all of these NPCs never appear again in a different game. So we don't know what eventually happened to them, but I like to think they all lived long lives, doing what they loved best: standing in one spot for 16 hours straight, clipping into walls, and giving their life savings to the Hero of Kvatch. Except for Ocato, who got killed by the Thalmor.

So Shadowmere is that horse Lucien Lachance gives you after you murder all your murder-friends. There's also a Shadowmere in Skyrim that Astrid gives to you. The Oblivion Shadowmere is referred to as female, but the Skyrim Shadowmere is referred to as male. The ghost of Lucien Lachance in Skyrim believes that the Shadowmere in Skyrim is the same as the one 200 years ago in Oblivion. How does this work? I have a few theories:

1. Lucien is wrong about it being the same horse from 200 years ago. He never learned that horses aren't immortal and no one else in the Dark Brotherhood wanted to tell him otherwise.
2. At least one person is wrong about Shadowmere's sex. This is because the Dark Brotherhood training curriculum only teaches stabbing and not horse sexing.
3. Shadowmere Skyrim is a descendent and/or reincarnation of Shadowmere Oblivion.
4. Transgender horse.

Personally I prefer all four theories being true at the same time.

Art Fight isn't really about the points. It's about gifting art to other artists, which is great! This is just a satirical exercise in "min-maxing" points. I want to theorize a character and an attack for it that will get the most amount of points for the least amount of effort. Obviously, don't actually do this in the event.

So, the Attack Guide, which tells participants how to score their attacks, has several different criteria for judging the artwork. First, the size of the artwork: I should give it enough details to get max points, but also small enough to minimize effort. Regarding details, the guide states:

>Characters that can be drawn in very few strokes, such as a featureless circle or an uncharacterized blob of color, will be removed.

So, the character will have a fractal pattern on it. Since fractal patterns have virtually unlimited detail, I'll get fullbody points as long as I draw the entire character. And with a symmetrical fractal, I can use the symmetry tool! And regarding size:

>Minimalist pixel works (less than 100 individual pixels or a 10x10px canvas) may also land in the simple shaped category.

Pixel art is a valid form of art to submit to Art Fight. So, the character will be a 12x12 square and the fractal pattern it has on it will be the Sierpiński carpet. This should be large enough to avoid being counted as "simple".

The next criteria (for Drawn/Painted art) is "Finish". The character is small enough that a sketch is not needed, so it easily qualifies for the "Lineless" point value instead of "Rough Sketch".

After that is "Color". Color theory is hard, so our character will only have shades of gray from a default palette in Aseprite. This still qualifies for the "Clean Color/Painted" score (instead of "Uncolored") because the attack being in grayscale is a result of the character design.

Now, for "Shading": it will be easy to have a consistent source of light throughout the entire piece. The light source will be right above the character, in the center of the image (so I can keep using the symmetry tool).

The final criteria is "Background". I will get the most amount of points if the background matches the quality of the character. So, the background is a beautiful sunny day at the oceanside (which is very gray because of pollution). It's a bunch of rectangles, but that also means it has the same Finish, Color, and Shading as the character.

For the bonus "polish", the rules state "Polish can be used if you have spent extra time or effort on a piece". Since I've spent so much time analyzing the rules, this definitely counts as polish!

So, here's the "finished" piece.

This should definitely be the new mascot

Anyway, the points are in fact "pointless". This wouldn't work at all in the actual event and I wouldn't want it to work either. It's way better to have a ton of varied attacks from all kinds of people, and min-maxing for points goes against the spirit of Art Fight.

Congrats YCG! Anyway, this should make it easier for people to get the game sprites without having to mess with modding tools and stuff.

Spent a couple hours so far! Really like rolling around lol.

But... surely there was a better way of saying a bone-themed level up than "Bone Up"? Like I understand why bones from a story and theme perspective. It's just that it's hard to take the game seriously when I'm wandering around Ossex trying to bone up.

Maybe it's on me for having the maturity of an 8 year old lol

conquered planetary launch terminal, then built an interplanetary accelerator and launched it to sunken pier. then I abandoned the sunken pier sector because it didn't let me choose a core schematic when launching (so the only thing that landed was the core). Then I tried entering the planetary launch terminal map again and it said that the save was corrupted and it started the sector over again 💀🫠

I don't really want to spend another hour defeating the sector again, is there a way to fix this?

So the Elder Scrolls: Blades is a mobile game that's shutting down forever on June 30th. I've stumbled across a fan preservation project that seems to have the goal of making a private server for the game once it shuts down. This seems really cool to me but also the whole thing seems kinda sus?

I mean that you have to download an app that sends your game traffic to a VPN hosted by the project. The project says that they only send data related to Blades to their VPN, but I'm not tech literate enough to verify that.

Also the whole site kinda seems like it was vibe coded? The text is super repetitive and sometimes links don't work.

Is this project legit? It would be great if it was.