The strange journey of The Vestige. *spoilers for the whole game!*

JD2013

I was talking with a friend about Elder Scrolls Online a couple of days ago, and they asked me what the journey is with the hero that we play. The Vestige. The Soulless One. And this got me to thinking what a strange journey our hero has had if you've played it in order from the very beginning.

The Vestige starts off as a prisoner in Coldharbour, a nameless person who escapes the shackles of Molag Bal.

He or she escapes to Tamriel, and starts their mega quest to stop Molag Bal's planemeld and save all of Tamriel.

Along the way, they (if they so choose) become heroes of both the Fighters Guild and the Mage's Guild, help The Prophet et al to stop Mannimarco, help collect the Amulet of Kings, and eventually The Vestige beats Molag Bal himself and destroys the great shackle, thus preventing any more Anchors. They are the saviour of Nirn.

Then they travel to the Imperial City, do several quests there to end the Planemeld once and for all. They are a hero. Molag Bal is done for.

Then the Vestige gets called to Orsinium. They are used in a plot by Kurog, but eventually they come out victorious. They are the hero of Wrothgar. Then immediately afterwards, a ghostly figure of The Prophet appears and warns you that Oblivion is stirring. Something awful is coming. Be prepared.

And then . . . ? What's next for the hero of Tamriel? He becomes a thief and then a cold blooded murderer. Yes, you save the Thieves Guild. But is that heroic? Heroic enough for the saviour of Nirn? And then along comes the Dark Brotherhood who have been watching The Vestige for some time and recruit him to commit murders.

Does anyone else think this is a strange journey for our hero? What do you think is next for our hero, our saviour of Nirn?

sadownik

JD2013 wrote: »

I was talking with a friend about Elder Scrolls Online a couple of days ago, and they asked me what the journey is with the hero that we play. The Vestige. The Soulless One. And this got me to thinking what a strange journey our hero has had if you've played it in order from the very beginning.

The Vestige starts off as a prisoner in Coldharbour, a nameless person who escapes the shackles of Molag Bal.

He or she escapes to Tamriel, and starts their mega quest to stop Molag Bal's planemeld and save all of Tamriel.

Along the way, they (if they so choose) become heroes of both the Fighters Guild and the Mage's Guild, help The Prophet et al to stop Mannimarco, help collect the Amulet of Kings, and eventually The Vestige beats Molag Bal himself and destroys the great shackle, thus preventing any more Anchors. They are the saviour of Nirn.

Then they travel to the Imperial City, do several quests there to end the Planemeld once and for all. They are a hero. Molag Bal is done for.

Then the Vestige gets called to Orsinium. They are used in a plot by Kurog, but eventually they come out victorious. They are the hero of Wrothgar. Then immediately afterwards, a ghostly figure of The Prophet appears and warns you that Oblivion is stirring. Something awful is coming. Be prepared.

And then . . . ? What's next for the hero of Tamriel? He becomes a thief and then a cold blooded murderer. Yes, you save the Thieves Guild. But is that heroic? Heroic enough for the saviour of Nirn? And then along comes the Dark Brotherhood who have been watching The Vestige for some time and recruit him to commit murders.

Does anyone else think this is a strange journey for our hero? What do you think is next for our hero, our saviour of Nirn?

Agree the flow of the story is rather... strange. For a themepark MMOs (and ESO is one) its wrong, it would be great if this was sandboxy MMO so that you can choose - hero or not-so-much?

JD2013

sadownik wrote: »

JD2013 wrote: »

I was talking with a friend about Elder Scrolls Online a couple of days ago, and they asked me what the journey is with the hero that we play. The Vestige. The Soulless One. And this got me to thinking what a strange journey our hero has had if you've played it in order from the very beginning.

The Vestige starts off as a prisoner in Coldharbour, a nameless person who escapes the shackles of Molag Bal.

He or she escapes to Tamriel, and starts their mega quest to stop Molag Bal's planemeld and save all of Tamriel.

Along the way, they (if they so choose) become heroes of both the Fighters Guild and the Mage's Guild, help The Prophet et al to stop Mannimarco, help collect the Amulet of Kings, and eventually The Vestige beats Molag Bal himself and destroys the great shackle, thus preventing any more Anchors. They are the saviour of Nirn.

Then they travel to the Imperial City, do several quests there to end the Planemeld once and for all. They are a hero. Molag Bal is done for.

Then the Vestige gets called to Orsinium. They are used in a plot by Kurog, but eventually they come out victorious. They are the hero of Wrothgar. Then immediately afterwards, a ghostly figure of The Prophet appears and warns you that Oblivion is stirring. Something awful is coming. Be prepared.

And then . . . ? What's next for the hero of Tamriel? He becomes a thief and then a cold blooded murderer. Yes, you save the Thieves Guild. But is that heroic? Heroic enough for the saviour of Nirn? And then along comes the Dark Brotherhood who have been watching The Vestige for some time and recruit him to commit murders.

Does anyone else think this is a strange journey for our hero? What do you think is next for our hero, our saviour of Nirn?

Agree the flow of the story is rather... strange. For a themepark MMOs (and ESO is one) its wrong, it would be great if this was sandboxy MMO so that you can choose - hero or not-so-much?

Yeah, I mean if I'd joined the game today I could just do TG and DB in any order, but canonically they are in that order. It's definitely not sandbox but it's a strange story progression for sure.

ItsGlaive

JD2013 wrote: »

I was talking with a friend about Elder Scrolls Online a couple of days ago, and they asked me what the journey is with the hero that we play. The Vestige. The Soulless One. And this got me to thinking what a strange journey our hero has had if you've played it in order from the very beginning.

The Vestige starts off as a prisoner in Coldharbour, a nameless person who escapes the shackles of Molag Bal.

He or she escapes to Tamriel, and starts their mega quest to stop Molag Bal's planemeld and save all of Tamriel.

Along the way, they (if they so choose) become heroes of both the Fighters Guild and the Mage's Guild, help The Prophet et al to stop Mannimarco, help collect the Amulet of Kings, and eventually The Vestige beats Molag Bal himself and destroys the great shackle, thus preventing any more Anchors. They are the saviour of Nirn.

Then they travel to the Imperial City, do several quests there to end the Planemeld once and for all. They are a hero. Molag Bal is done for.

Then the Vestige gets called to Orsinium. They are used in a plot by Kurog, but eventually they come out victorious. They are the hero of Wrothgar. Then immediately afterwards, a ghostly figure of The Prophet appears and warns you that Oblivion is stirring. Something awful is coming. Be prepared.

And then . . . ? What's next for the hero of Tamriel? He becomes a thief and then a cold blooded murderer. Yes, you save the Thieves Guild. But is that heroic? Heroic enough for the saviour of Nirn? And then along comes the Dark Brotherhood who have been watching The Vestige for some time and recruit him to commit murders.

Does anyone else think this is a strange journey for our hero? What do you think is next for our hero, our saviour of Nirn?

You forgot that the hero also travels to far off enemy lands, helps them save their own kingdoms thereby effectively becoming a traitor to their own faction

You're right though, taken in that order, it's a strange journey. I prefer to think of it like this: while TG and DB might be the newest kids on the block, chronologically they slot into the existing story in places rather than continuing it post-victory. Ideally for a new player, they'll be progressing along with TG and DB at the same time as progressing with MG and FG - during the larger overarching journey. Still makes them a morally dubious character, but fits a lot better.

As for Wrothgar, chronologically that definitely comes after the main quest - and hopefully will lead to another 'big bad' further down the road.

The only question that remains is - how far forwards can the story take us timeline-wise if Cyrodiil and the Imperial City will forever be trapped in that one time period - right in the middle of a looming planemeld?

Leandor

After all that work of saving the world, the hero is honing her skills to be prepared for whatever Varen hinted at. She has been fighting straight ahead against those forces that used trickery, deceit and murder to further their goals.

She knew she had to reach out to the other side, learn the dark ways, otherwise she would sooner or later be overwhelmed by them - even the lessest daedra by now knew her name. They would not underestimate her anymore...

What better way than to follow the rumors of the shady guilds resurfacing? Sometimes, to be a hero, you have to embrace the dark side.

Vrienda

I think the main point of the vestige and why they take so many odd non-heroic jobs is because they're an adventurer at heart. They'll take any quest to get their fix and keep the adventuring juices flowing, even if said adventure involves murder and thievery. Same as every other hero prophesied by the elder scrolls.

Besides, what do you expect the vestige to do between now and the clockwork city? They're not exactly one to sit on their ass all day.

Anhedonie

Play previous installments. MH is always a prisoner.

Bonzodog01

I prefer to think of it as the "Vestige" (which was merely a title given to them by Varen) is more of a Mercenary. We help Varen and his pals, but everything else we do is because its paid work, and we go where the coin is. The choices we make in those stories are only limited by our own morals. Loyalties are fleeting, which is why we can switch for the promise of rewards to the other alliances.

Tryxus

I guess the Vestige got corrupted by the "dark side"

That or, the way I see it, the Vestige is being prepped for the Oblivion Wars. After all: Malacath (Wrothgar questline) is the enemy of Boethiah and the DB are enemies of the Morag Tong (Mephala). Throw in the TG (Nocturnal) and you got the main hero trained to fight the 3 main Daedric Princes

Kalifas

I think this was just one of those cases where even if the story was weird. The wanted a new type of guild and style of gameplay taken from the Elder Scrolls Universe.

I enjoy my story too, but the day it starts preventing fun ideas or features to the game is when I think story should take a knee.

ArchMikem

The Vestige is an Errand Boy to the Mortals and a Pawn/Plaything to the Daedric Princes.

There's literally a side quest where you act as that mutual friend in class two people ask to give notes back and forth asking if they like each other and want to go out.

LadyNalcarya

Well, in Skyrim for example, your protagonist is a Dragonborn whose fate is to prevent the end of the world. All heroic and fancy, but you can also become a thief and murderer at any point of the game, you can consort with daedra (rememberr Molag Bal's and Namira's quests?), and on top of that you can become a bloodthirsty monster... Quite literally, in Dawnguard dlc.
In any TES game, if you want to say "in character", you'd need to skip or ignore some quests.
Edit: and also, you character doesnt have to be "good" to save the world from Planemeld. Even a former assassin or thief, or cultist of any daedra except Molag Bal could have serious reasons for that.

Daraugh

The feel of the DB in this incarnation feels much more evil as well. In Skyrim, it had this aloof, remote coldness to it. It was so removed from the everyday that finding the Sacrament the first time was really disturbing. Here it feels more like wheeee! yaaay! let's go murder innocents in the name of who? the night mother? ok sure!! Three cheers for death, you were meant to kill, whoohoo!

I miss that tinge of fear that came with the "other" feeling. That the DB was "them" the "other" the dark things