My current character is named Prisoner. I know that because it's what they called him at the beginning of the game. He is a Mage as are all my favorite characters except for Severus Snape who was a custom class; Alchemist.
In the past, I played dead-is-dead and only played one character at a time. Severus had over 700 hours when his cynical nature and the apparent cowardice of city guards lead to a sense of being betrayed. It struck a chord with his long standing feelings of isolation and longing for acceptance. He concluded that mankind did not deserve saving. In the midst of the epic final battle in the streets of the Imperial City, he lowered his shield, sheathed his sword and began his final rites to the Nine. I grieved for days.
Sarrah was the girl next door seeking romance and domestic bliss. What she found was a violent world. After nearly losing her life in a attempt to seduce an ogre, she suffered a total mental breakdown which involved weeks of recovery. Out of that time came her transformation to steel. She closed thirty-eight Oblivion gates by first seeking out and killing every living thing that dwelt there. In the thirty-ninth gate she was driven off a bridge into a deadly lava flow. In those final moments, with over 500 hours of gameplay I thought I caught a glimpse of the girl next door.
Prisoner started out as a bit of a coward. At first, he only traveled when there was a Legionnaire nearby and entering dungeons never even occurred to him. Still, over time, with the aid of companions, he has gained experience. The loot from roadside encounters allowed him to establish a home in Anvil. By this time, the lack of focus in his life lead him to take up the cause of the Prophet after the destruction of the Dibella chapel in Anvil. It lead to a knighthood and leadership of the Knights of the Nine. He still does not consider himself the heroic type and tends to drift a bit but he no longer fears facing the world.
I've dropped the dead-is-dead philosophy but since Prisoner has never been killed it's a moot point. These days, I tend to play the game more like a tourist than a hero.