For me, number 1 is Laurent and Stibbons.

I was disappointed in that one quest where you had a choice, and even if you chose the 'bad' choice, it didn't matter. *grumbles*.

I don't care what their relationship is, I don't care if he is a nobleman and she just a lowly commoner, or if she is a highborn and the only way she can be with the love of her life is by treating him like dirt, I don't care if this is their consensual game they play.

Leave me out of it. Just tell me what I need to do and keep your relationship behind closed doors or at least behind my back.

Next would be the NPCs whose entire character can be summed up by 'gee, look at how popular I am with the ladIEs*! I have to flirt incessantly with everyone or tell you all about my past conquests just so you know how popular I am!' (* replace ladies with whatever the appropriate preference is here for the character in question)

I never understood how so many people fawned over Darien. It baffled me before I met him, then I met him and was even more baffled. I am getting the same issues with Tanlorin (though there are many more with that NPC). Flirting with the PC and 'hinting' about past conquests. No thanks.

I also agree with Ingel_Riday about the characters who have to basically use a sledgehammer to get their (the writer's) agenda down. It just cheapens the character to me.

As for Abnur Tharn, I didn't like him at first, but he slowly grew on me until I was saddened by the Elsweyr questline. He came across as one of those characters that is initially portrayed as a villain, but you slowly see that he truly DOES want to do good or help people, but he just doesn't suffer fools or things like that. Good ones are typically rare to actually find, but they do occasionally get written.

Pretty much everyone in the Kerbol's Hollow storyline in Bangkorai. Every tragedy in that storyline would have been completely avoidable if even just one person (the PC included) made reasonable decisions.

At least Stuga doesn't chase you around the map continuously to tell you, "There you are. I have been expecting you..." like Leramil does. Shamelessly desperate attempt to sell the storyline quest.

Still, I can't decide between her and Rigart. He's pretty annoying too. Also Lady Arabelle, not top of the list, but she's so self -absorbed, she gets an honorable mention.

It's hard to pinpoint a worst offender, but let me scrape my memory...

I remember strongly disliking Shalidor. He only seemed to care about the island he lost fair and square to Sheogorath, so he barely acknowledged how his Altmer assistant (sorry, forgot her name) was losing her mind.

Then there's High Kinlord Rilis the whatever, who won't shut up during Banished Cells 2. His only positive trait is he sounds like John Lithgow.

Empress Regent Clivia Tharn, who refused to tell me what an empress regent was.

I'm sure there was a detestable Altmer xenophobe (or a few dozen) in Summerset.

That Argonian from Vvardenfell. Yes, that one. Everyone who played that zone knows which one. Kudos to the devs for creating such a richly loathsome character.

Now, what I truly despise isn't a specific NPC, but a role given to certain characters: the stalkers. Never mind Stuga, she's such a meme I actually kind of like her. I'm talking about all those people who won't stop pestering you about their quests, including one who's bleeding out in Solitude and still manages to run towards you. Please devs, leave these people at a single spot and create an interface just for starting important quests.

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

JemadarofCaerSalis wrote: »

Djennku wrote: »

Tanlorin and Free. Really hated both those characters and their stories.

Just a quick question. Who is Free? I just can't remember, and sadly can't use search to find out (due to all the 'free eso' and similar things and some places insisting I mean 'from' instead of 'free'

I think @Djennku meant Frii? Annoying slow awkward speech pattern for most of the story, weird walk, otherwise extremely forgettable.

Ah, thanks, I remember that character and yeah, wasn't too fond of them.

I had thought maybe there was another character who had a longer name than 'Free' but I just couldn't remember.

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

Ingel_Riday wrote: »

There is a pirate captain in Grahtwood whose crew mutinied. She needs your help to get back her ship and rescue her wife. Fine. Cool plot idea, truth be told... but did you know she has a wife?!?! "My wife. They took my wife! The love of my life! My Wife! Please, help me rescue my wife. My wife, who they took! I have a wife, and I'm a woman!"

Did you know that the elf-lady by The Firepot delve has a wife? A wife! Tanlorin, her wife! Her wife needs help. You know, her wife. Did I mention she has a wife?!


Frii = they/them
The Druid King Artifacts = they/them
Mysterious Foe whose identity hasn't been revealed yet = they/them
Enemy forces in the story dungeon = they/them
FRIENDLY forces in the story dungeon = they/them

...What else should they call their wife if not their wife?

And those are perfectly normal, grammatically correct and suiting places to use they/them for, especially the bolded parts. So I ask again, what else should they use for them?

For the Wife part, they could just use her name or use female pronouns. It doesn't constantly have to be 'my wife!' Or even use endearments such as 'my love' or similar.

JemadarofCaerSalis wrote: »

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

Ingel_Riday wrote: »

There is a pirate captain in Grahtwood whose crew mutinied. She needs your help to get back her ship and rescue her wife. Fine. Cool plot idea, truth be told... but did you know she has a wife?!?! "My wife. They took my wife! The love of my life! My Wife! Please, help me rescue my wife. My wife, who they took! I have a wife, and I'm a woman!"

Did you know that the elf-lady by The Firepot delve has a wife? A wife! Tanlorin, her wife! Her wife needs help. You know, her wife. Did I mention she has a wife?!


Frii = they/them
The Druid King Artifacts = they/them
Mysterious Foe whose identity hasn't been revealed yet = they/them
Enemy forces in the story dungeon = they/them
FRIENDLY forces in the story dungeon = they/them

...What else should they call their wife if not their wife?

And those are perfectly normal, grammatically correct and suiting places to use they/them for, especially the bolded parts. So I ask again, what else should they use for them?

For the Wife part, they could just use her name or use female pronouns. It doesn't constantly have to be 'my wife!' Or even use endearments such as 'my love' or similar.

I don't know about you but if I was talking to some adventurer I don't know about my wife who needed to be rescued, I wouldn't tell them to go rescue "her", because who is her? I definitely wouldn't say my love to them either. Endearments are for the partner, not part of the first sentences I say to a stranger I want help from.

Also, this is skipping over the part of they/them which also seemed to have been an issue. Shall they call the enemy forces her too?

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

JemadarofCaerSalis wrote: »

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

Ingel_Riday wrote: »

There is a pirate captain in Grahtwood whose crew mutinied. She needs your help to get back her ship and rescue her wife. Fine. Cool plot idea, truth be told... but did you know she has a wife?!?! "My wife. They took my wife! The love of my life! My Wife! Please, help me rescue my wife. My wife, who they took! I have a wife, and I'm a woman!"

Did you know that the elf-lady by The Firepot delve has a wife? A wife! Tanlorin, her wife! Her wife needs help. You know, her wife. Did I mention she has a wife?!


Frii = they/them
The Druid King Artifacts = they/them
Mysterious Foe whose identity hasn't been revealed yet = they/them
Enemy forces in the story dungeon = they/them
FRIENDLY forces in the story dungeon = they/them

...What else should they call their wife if not their wife?

And those are perfectly normal, grammatically correct and suiting places to use they/them for, especially the bolded parts. So I ask again, what else should they use for them?

For the Wife part, they could just use her name or use female pronouns. It doesn't constantly have to be 'my wife!' Or even use endearments such as 'my love' or similar.

I don't know about you but if I was talking to some adventurer I don't know about my wife who needed to be rescued, I wouldn't tell them to go rescue "her", because who is her? I definitely wouldn't say my love to them either. Endearments are for the partner, not part of the first sentences I say to a stranger I want help from.

Also, this is skipping over the part of they/them which also seemed to have been an issue. Shall they call the enemy forces her too?

I mean, using 'my wife' once is fine, but some of the quests, from my hazy memories, will have the character constantly refer to the NPC you have to rescue as 'my wife'. It isn't just a 'My wife needs rescuing!' and then the next sentences will use the name or pronouns or endearments. It will be 'My wife needs rescuing! My wife was walking along the river the other day, and pirates kidnapped my wife! They sent me a ransom note demanding I do X or they will kill my wife! Please rescue my wife!'.

As for the they/them, I wasn't the one who brought it up, but it depends. If they are talking about multiple or ones where they don't know the gender, sure, use 'they/them'. If talking about a singular NPC and the gender is known, use the appropriate pronoun.

Its a mmo, there are actual people in it. You can pretty much be completely blind and deaf to all the npcs and the game still plays fine.

These two...

redgreensunset wrote: »

Eifleber wrote: »

The kajit girl in Vvardenfel. When you help her she also asks of you to steal, kill for her to get promoted.

Very annoying.

Isn't that an Argonian? Or is theremore than one questline in Vvardenfell with this plot?

This is what I'm here to say, Sun-in-Shadow

Edit: Didn't realize this post was this old, I might have mentioned this already.

The Nord (I think - it's hard to tell through the armor) in Blessed Crucible who shouts about each of the beasts she's acquired before you have to kill them, in the big snowy courtyard area. "Incineration beetles!" That lady. Her accent is so extreme and overdone, it drives me nuts.

Kiyakotari wrote: »

The Nord (I think - it's hard to tell through the armor) in Blessed Crucible who shouts about each of the beasts she's acquired before you have to kill them, in the big snowy courtyard area. "Incineration beetles!" That lady. Her accent is so extreme and overdone, it drives me nuts.

I actually love her BECAUSE of her crazy over-the-top accent. Either the director told the voice actress to go completely nuts, or she did the lines as a joke or warm-up, and everyone thought it was a hoot and decided to use that version. (One of my friends will spontaneously burst out with "EENCINERASHIOONNN BEEEHTLES!" while we're on voice chat just to crack me up.)

Velsa and Vanus Galerion... I should be allowed to assassinate both of them in the game. Oh and that annoying wood elf... I forgot her name, Evelie, is it? I would so like to see the shadow of my my assassin falling over her dead body.

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

Ingel_Riday wrote: »

There is a pirate captain in Grahtwood whose crew mutinied. She needs your help to get back her ship and rescue her wife. Fine. Cool plot idea, truth be told... but did you know she has a wife?!?! "My wife. They took my wife! The love of my life! My Wife! Please, help me rescue my wife. My wife, who they took! I have a wife, and I'm a woman!"

Did you know that the elf-lady by The Firepot delve has a wife? A wife! Tanlorin, her wife! Her wife needs help. You know, her wife. Did I mention she has a wife?!


Frii = they/them
The Druid King Artifacts = they/them
Mysterious Foe whose identity hasn't been revealed yet = they/them
Enemy forces in the story dungeon = they/them
FRIENDLY forces in the story dungeon = they/them

...What else should they call their wife if not their wife?

It's not that the character is calling her wife "my wife." That's all fine and dandy. It's the sheer mind-numbing, sledgehammer repetition. Pure excess. It'd be like if I introduced my wife to someone and said: "I'd like you to meet my wife. My wife is a college instructor. My wife has a Doctorate in Economics. One second, I am going to get MY WIFE a beverage. Please feel free to talk to MY WIFE and get to know MY WIFE better. I'm so glad I got to bring MY WIFE to the party. My wife. Did I establish that this woman is my wife? I'm married... to a woman."

It's too much, and it makes me dislike the character. "I got it, NPC #125. We're good. You can switch to pronouns and drop the specific noun. Please. I get it. You like LADIES."

Also, it's often the writer harping on what he or she thinks is the most interesting thing about the character (gender / sexual identity), when in truth... that's usually the LEAST interesting thing about the character.

"You're a pirate captain in Grahtwood, smuggling contraband right under the Aldmeri Dominion's nose!? How do you pull it off? Who do you bribe? Why would you decide to smuggle goods into a land of cannibal jungle elves who eat a diet consisting almost entirely of meat? Is this job super lucrative or something? Are these elves secretly very mundane clients who beg you to covertly import vegetables and wood so that they can bypass the Green Pact? OOOO, I bet it's that, isn't it? Hm, what's that? You're a lesbian? Bully for you, I guess. My sister is literally a bisexual on-and-off fur-fan. My boss for ten years was a lesbian. My best friend in my old office was a bear with a heart of gold. Least interesting aspect of all three was who they fancied physically. I don't care. So, do you smuggle any Daedric Artifacts or eldritch tomes? Oh, you're making sure that I know that you're a lesbian? It's very important that I know you're a lesbian? You have a wife? A wife? Your wife? The love of your life? You really like having a wife? .... ugh. I see the priority here. Great. :-/"

And those are perfectly normal, grammatically correct and suiting places to use they/them for, especially the bolded parts. So I ask again, what else should they use for them?

Most are grammatically fine (gonna politely disagree with you on the "singular they/them" stuff). Again, the problem is EXCESS. If you want to do "modern audience" grammar, fine. I can't stop you... but CLARITY matters. Again, HIgh Isle had sentences like this:

"Quickly, we have to get to them before they reach them. If they get there first, they will take the power from them and then use their power to destroy them in order to prevent them from stopping them. Hurry, let's all get to them before it's too late!"

What are we talking about? Who are we talking about? I eventually realized that it didn't matter and just ignored the dialogue, which makes for a riveting story, let me tell you.

I ended up loathing Druid Laurel because she was aggravating to listen to. English is a low-context language. You need to be clear about what you're talking about. Nothing about the sentence above is clear, because there are too many "theys" about the place without any clear indicator as to which noun each is referring to. At all. You have to guess and try to infer meaning... and that's not how English grammar is supposed to work. It aggravated the heck out of me, haha. I was sadly relieved I could move on to other characters who didn't make me actively parse their sentences for basic meaning.