Are Battlegrounds game-only or do they actually exist in Elder Scrolls lore

Dusk_Coven · August 2019

Daynes and Runaki in Vivec talk about getting ready for the battlegrounds. Runaki says she "can't wait to see which team" she end up on.
So either Battlegrounds are not "to the death" or she can resurrect (does anyone other than the Vestige do that?) or she's the most uber gladiator ever who survives every bout.

Do Battlegrounds matches actually exist in Tamriel or are all references just conveniences interaction points for the player to access the queue and quests and rewards?

VaranisArano · August 2019

Battlegrounds are an addition for ESO, but the idea of gladitorial arenas is very much present in the lore, beginning with the design of the very first TES game Arena. It was greatly expanded, but the original concept was basically a series of arena matches.

Oblivion has the Imperial City Arena, where you do kill your opponents on the Blue or Yellow team on the way to the top. Kvatch was supppsed to have an arena, something that got brought back in ESO. Likewise, Windhelm was supposed to have an arena in Skyrim that was left out of development.

This article deals with the disturbing implications of Oblivion's rank system in the arena, namely, that the death toll from you and all your opponents is extremely high: https://www.cracked.com/article_20673_5-video-games-with-disturbing-implications-you-didnt-notice.html

So while I don't know what Runaki is up to, the prospect that Battlegrounds might a real event killing off NPCs for real has quite a bit of precedent in Oblivion. Then again, Battlegrounds might be less bloodthirsty than the 3rd era Imperial City Arena and reserve the deadly games for soul-shriven. We don't actually know.

As for resurrection, yes, other player soul-shriven resurrect all the time, yet only YOU are the Vestige. Lore wise, Molag Bal was beaten by one Vestige, not a million queuing up to defeat him one at a time. However, NPCs don't generally resurrect themselves outside of gameplay mechanics like respawning.

pdblake · August 2019

There is an arena in ES3 Morrowind in Vivec too, you get to fight a couple of bouts to the death in that iirc. House Redoran during the main quest and the last mages guild quest.

ETA: According to UESP you also get to fight the grandmaster of the imperial legion to the death too.

Dusk_Coven · August 2019

I was thinking maybe they are really more like team sports and the "death" is a PvP construct and not how things are perceived by Tamriel residents (Team Deathmtch mode included). Which would make sense for Daynes and Runaki.
But Battlegrounds seem different overall, especially with the different types of games. It sounds so out of place with the different options (other than Deathmatch).

Korah_Eaglecry · August 2019

Id say the mechanics of Battlegrounds are definitely a game thing but the premise around Battlegrounds, individuals involved and the idea of gladiators and arenas are very much something that can be included in the lore.

ArchMikem · August 2019

NPC characters cant res like the Vestige. Battlegrounds are very much to the death, and the winners survive to fight again. If she's talking like she's been in a match before, then she's a former victor.

Korah_Eaglecry · August 2019

ArchMikem wrote: »

NPC characters cant res like the Vestige. Battlegrounds are very much to the death, and the winners survive to fight again. If she's talking like she's been in a match before, then she's a former victor.

The funny thing is that real roman arenas were not always fights to the death and were actually more often exhibitions. There were times when criminals would be thrown in with wild animals but gladiators were costly to train and house. So it would be expensive to constantly buy new slaves, train them, house them and then feed them through the grinder that Hollywood portrays arenas as. So its possible that while we "fight to the death" as a mechanic of having a definitive end to combat. These NPCs are not experiencing this.

Granted, this is ESO and the concept of how arenas work in Tamriel certainly could be quite different. But theres things about Battlegrounds that are definitely missing from the equation, like an audience, that would give us a better picture of what this is really like in that universe. Audiences means revenue and revenue means theres a cost involved. Otherwise Battlegrounds could be some very strange death cult like fight club where members are more interested in personal accomplishment without the renowned associated with being a gladiator and having a following.

Dusk_Coven · August 2019

Korah_Eaglecry wrote: »

theres things about Battlegrounds that are definitely missing from the equation, like an audience

The introductory PvP quest is "For Glory". Not sure how they expect a fighter to get glory when no one's watching.