Anyone else notice how there are bunch of nods towards Lord of the Rings in the game? For example, Whiterun looks similar to Rohan, and also bears the same symbol. Markarth on the other hand, looks a lot like Helms Deep. It's very nostalgic, and personally, I love it.


Have you guys found any other interesting easter eggs?

They also both take influence from Nordic mythology,
The steward in Falkreath is a reference to Galadriel.

Its funny how in video games we laud people for plagiarizing the work of others, whereas in other media people are railed against for it.


They also use some references to WoT series.

And now to be really hypocritical, yes I like it.

Though I recognize the structure of the town of Whiterun, namely that is is built on a hill, and has a similar layout, its architecture and culture is nothing like that of Rohan. In addition, Markarth look nothing like Helms Deep. Whatsoever.

Or than the fact that almost every fantasy video game/book/movie can give credit to TOLKIEN*, the Elder Scrolls is very different.

Paying homage isn't plagiarizing, and they haven't ripped anything off.

If you do the same thing in a book or a movie, then its plagiarizing. If you use the same chord progression in music its plagiarizing.

In video games we call it paying homage.

Interesting observation.

No, it isn't.

Hundreds of thousands of songs use the ssame chord progression, so unless you think Purple Rain is a rip off of With or without you you must realise it's what you add to it.
And films pay homage as well

I think every fantasy setting takes a lot of influence from Tolkien.

He was of course inspired by other mythologies, like Beowulf and King Arthur.

As my post above stated, By your logic, amost every book, video game and movie that is in the fantasy genre is plagiarizing Tolkien.

TES is veryveryveryveryveryvery different from Tolkien, or depending on what scale you are looking at it very similiar. I have read the series 11 times, the Silmarrillion 8 times, the hobbit, unfinished tales, etc, etc, and I can personaly say that almost nothing in Skyrim is a ripoff from LoTR

It's hard not to make references to Tolkien in any fantasy game. Since, Tolkien basically start the fantasy genre.

Ever read The Wheel of Time series? Read it, it's almost just like the world of Elder Scrolls.

This maybe one of the reasons why I'm playing Skyrim, there are so many things that simply remind me of Middle-Earth. But yeah, Tolkien himself also had his source of inspiration from someone / somewhere else. So it's not purely Tolkien (but he's still the greatest!).

LIGHT THE BEACONS!!!

Same chord progression plagiarizing? Woah, you must know little of music, a lot of famous, classic songs use similar chord progression (just for instance, "Let It be" chord progression was copied for "Don't look back in anger". There are lots of better examples though). Pretty much every fantasy stuff is subsidiary from Tolkien's work.

Giants stand on the shoulders of giants, and inspiration is a river running from the past to the future. But it is interesting how relaxed gamers are about the obvious use of classics, like LoTR. If Skyrim was a movie, the audience would cry "RIPOFF!!".

But Bethesda are not the only one guilty. Orcs and Halfings has been used in a lot of fantasygames and still do. I think it's part of the (fantasy)gamer culture: the more Tolkien, the better.

Raymond E. Feists books even more so

Ancient Dragon Overlords? check
Cat people? check
Strange Japanese inspired invaders? check
Illegitimate heir named Martin? check
The list goes on, and I'm sure anyone who's read E. Feists books agrees.

I can agree with this. I think the only similarity is that they both are fantasy epics. All the other "similarities" between TES and LOTR seem more like inevitable coincidences than intentional admiration to Tolkien. Although, I would love a large scale mod that makes Skyrim into Middle Earth. It is unfortunate that pretty much all LOTR games thus far have been pretty poor, mediocre at best. Anyways....

First of all, what halflings are there in TES? and second, if you want to cry rip off, which i personally don't think you have the right to do, then Tolkien ripped of several cultural mythologies.

This argument is kinda silly, everyone is inspired by things outside their own mind, there's no such thing as truly original thought.

on another note, I like how drastically different TES elves are from the norm. They're more likely to be evil in Tamriel than good, and I find it refreshing.

nothing is really original, everyone gets inspiration from other sources...that goes for almost everything...music, stories, movies, other types of ideas...i like it that the game has elements from lots of different things...mammoths, giants, witches and on and on...its like if you combined some disney movies, indiana jones. lord of the rings, and all the old fairy tale stories and put em all together in a game..thats kinda how the elder scrolls is to me...i love the way bethesda makes their game...lots of exploration, interesting stories and places to check out...lots of good combat and places to stalk enemies and battle it out...they're right up there with other good game companies like valve or id software...to me bethesda is right at the top of what they do...not all original ideas are good anyway...its smart to build on what you know works already.

Thanks for agreeing with me! And there was one, it was called MERP. It was in production for Oblivion for an insane amount of time, and they said they would continue making it for Skyrim, but I haven't heard any news recently

I love Skyrim and I LOVE the LOTR series. I am still wishing for my TES style LOTR game to come out in middle earth. I noticed alot of those details you mentioned as well.

That is being worked on, I'm one of the team leaders of the project that is rebuilding Middle Earth:

http://www.moddb.com/mods/merp-middle-earth-roleplaying-mod/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlDewpCfZQ

God please stop. Tolken is great and all but it has been done to death. I would much rather see a great RPG or MMO done on the Song of Ice and Fire.