The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"They have taken you from the Imperial City's prison, first by carriage and now by boat, to the east; to Morrowind. Fear not, for I am watchful. [[The Chosen One|You have been chosen]]."''
|'''Azura''', from the introduction}}
''The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind'' is [[Never Trust a Title|the fifth videogame]] in ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' series by Bethesda Softworks, released in 2002. Like the other games in the "core" series (i.e. the ones with numbers in their names), it is a massive, [[Wide Open Sandbox|free-form]] [[RPG]].
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This was the first ''Elder Scrolls'' game to be released on a console (the [[Xbox]] and, later, the [[Xbox 360]]) as well as for the PC. As such, it also marked a major shift in gameplay and design philosophy. Gone were ''[[The Elder Scrolls: Arena|Arena]]'' and ''[[The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall|Daggerfall]]'''s nigh-infinite, [[Randomly Generated Levels|procedurally generated worlds]], replaced with carefully hand-crafted environments that, while smaller than their predecessors, were designed to invoke [[Scenery Porn|awe]] and still be far larger than most video games.
Also, the combat system is radically different from the rest of the series, being closer to more traditional [[RPG
However, this does not stop ''Morrowind'' from being a classic that a large fanbase still plays to this day. ''Morrowind'' marked the point where [[The Verse|Tamriel]] ceased to be a standard [[Medieval European Fantasy]] setting and became a truly unique [[Constructed World]] with highly memorable cultures, history, creatures, landscapes, mythopoea
Also, it puts a huge emphasis on the numerous [[Sidequest|side quests]], to the degree where they are pretty much the most important aspect of the game, and are neatly tied into the main story.
The plot is set some years after the events of ''Daggerfall'', on the far eastern frontier of the Tamrielic Empire. The player character is a convict and an [[Parental Abandonment|orphan]] in the Imperial City Dungeons. For unknown reasons, [[The Emperor]] Uriel Septim VII personally orders that you be released early on the condition that you be shipped to the backwater province of Morrowind (more specifically, the even more backwater district of Vvardenfell) and meet with an agent of his named [[The Spymaster|Caius Cosades]]. However, upon being released, you are perfectly free to say "screw that" and explore Vvardenfell at your own pace. If you choose to accept the mission given to you, however, you are launched into a labyrinthine plot involving an [[Ancient Conspiracy]], prophecies, lost prophecies, false prophecies, reincarnation, [[Physical God|gods]], backroom politics, gang wars, [[The Corruption]]
Two expansion packs were later released for PC: ''Tribunal'' has you visit Morrowind Province's capital city of Mournhold to investigate an assassination plot against you. It's a fair bit more challenging than the original game, and intended for mid-to-high level characters. Unfortunately, it is not a [[Wide Open Sandbox]] like the rest of the game, as you are restricted to only one part of the stated-to-be massive city and the sewers/ruins [[Underground Level|beneath it
The second expansion
{{tropelist}}
* [[100% Heroism Rating]]: After you complete the main quest, many people will stammer and ask you to forgive them because they don't know how to speak to such an important person. Others will thank you for your heroic deeds.
* [[Affably Evil]]: One of [[Big Bad|Dagoth Ur]]'s highest-ranking goons will exchange a pleasant conversation with you and offer you some fine vintage brandy before offering to let you strike first. Also, Dagoth Ur is rather polite right up until you try to kill him.
* [[Alien Geometries]]: Some Daedric shrines are designed in impossible ways. For example, look at the map of [https://web.archive.org/web/20130606012541/http://uesp.net/wiki/File:MW-Maps-Bal_Fell.jpg Bal Fell]. Notice anything odd?
* [[All Myths Are True]]: But there are many different variations of them, so good luck figuring out exactly ''what parts'' are true.
* [[Anti-Hero]]:
** Larrius Varro of the Imperial Legion used to be a straight up law abiding legionnaire. Unfortunately, since the long arm of the law doesn't seem to reach certain criminals, he spends his days praying for a little [[Vigilante Man|bloodbath]] to wash away the [[Asshole Victim|bad people]].
** In a more general sense, many missions given the player by certain guilds or extensions of joinable organization (like the Office of the Watch in Vivec) will hire the player to do a little vigilante justice, and in almost all cases, they admit they'd like to have the actual authorities do the job, but since that isn't working (usually because the target has friends in high places), you'll be serving as their [[Plausible Deniability|indirect extension of authority]].
* [[Anyone Can Die]]: Because you can kill them if you want to and are strong/clever enough. Okay, so [[Our Demons Are Different|Daedra]] can't die, but they can get the crap beaten out of them and be sent back to their plane of Oblivion.
* [[Artifact of Doom]]:
*
** A number of the special weapons you can garner though temple, imperial cult, imperial legion and daedric prince quests also count considering we're often talking weapons created by the hands of gods to sow destruction across the lands or something cliched like that.
* [[Artifact Title]]
* [[Artificial Atmospheric Actions]]:
** People appear to be programmed to say certain things depending on a couple conditions. If you're sick, they'll say "eeeew get away from me" or tell you to go to a healer. This sometimes is funny when the ''healer'' tells you this. But if you talk to them, they'll ignore that you happen to have some kind of ailment. Civilians don't stand in one place, thankfully, but instead, they just aimlessly wander around the towns 24/7, sometimes getting stuck trying to walk through each other. They also sometimes don't react to monsters... which can be quite funny when they just stand there as an Ash Zombie had crawled into your house.
** And sometimes, the "greetings" will cause them to break character. Such as the stuck-up-holier-than-thou Mage's Guild leader not talking down to you. Or Caius saying "Pleasure to meet you" after he's given you at least four quests.
** This can even be ''useful'': there are a couple of situations where you want to kill someone, but their standard greeting drops you out of the conversation with a goodbye, keeping you from taunting them to attack you first. The thing is, the 'naked-greeting' usually supercedes that greeting...
** Really, it tends to be just funny moreso. Especially when guards get stuck trying to walk over unconscious bodies, tell you to move along when a dark elf is trying to punch your lights out, but then shout "YOU N'WAH!" if you fight back (and sometimes they just watch the ensuing brawl).
* [[Artificial Stupidity]]:
** Companion AI is really bad, with spellcasters firing at enemies even if you happen to be in the way. They also tend to get stuck on rocks quite a bit.
** Enemies can be really dense too. Spellcasters will attempt to get in front of you, but if something like a post is nearby, you can dart in and out from it so long as the spell caster isn't too far away and get them to waste their spells on a fake target. Ranged/throwing weapon using enemies can be made fairly easy to dispatch if you manage to run up right in front of them, which clips you past the effective hitbox they have for hitting you with an arrow or throwing star.
* [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence]]:
** This is apparently what most of the dwarven race tried to do. It's never revealed if they were successful because if they were, they are all on said higher plane of existence, and if not, they're all dead. Whatever happened, it even affected Dwemer colonies on the other side of Tamriel with absolutely no connection to the project, {{spoiler|though it did leave ''one'' dwarf alive and in a position to return to Nirn}}.
*** Careful reading of the various in-game sources on the matter, and conversing with the experts in the field (including {{spoiler|Vivec, one of the three deities of the Tribunal}}), will likely lead to the hypothesis that they tried to unmake themselves down to basic elements and then become reforged into new, ascended beings. Unfortunately, they didn't get the reforging process right, and so they were instead deleted from existence. Of course, whether even this theory is true or not is entirely unknown...
*** Later in ''[[Skyrim]]'', one mage tries to reproduce the Dwarven experiment in a smaller scale, substituting a modified soul gem for the Heart of Lorkhan and using the original, but severely depowered Keening. He vanishes, but can be summoned from ''somewhere'' as a ghost. Can this count as ascension to a higher plane? Your mileage may vary, but many people would think it's a pretty rotten existence.
* [[Awesome but Impractical]]:
** The Hammer of Stendarr in the ''Tribunal'' expansion is a MASSIVE warhammer that does insanely high damage, but breaks on the first swing and weighs half a ton, rendering it nigh-unusable.
** Vampirism. It gives you some extra powers and some massive stat boosts that can break the stat caps... but sunlight will kill you, you can no longer use any shops or services in Vvardenfell, and you can only complete quests for House Telvanni, the Mages' Guild, and one of three [[Guide Dang It|well-hidden]] vampire clans.
** Lycanthropy. You turn into a werewolf and get massive boosts to your killing power, and can murder anyone without acquiring a bounty. Unfortunately, you can't use any equipment, cast any spells or pick up any items while you're a beast. And if an NPC sees you transform, then you're marked as "kill on sight" by ''everyone''.
* [[Axe Crazy]]:
** {{spoiler|Almalexia}}. Holy ''shit'', {{spoiler|Almalexia}}.
** [[Evil Sorcerer|Mistress Therana]] too. House Telvanni seems to encourage Axe Craziness.
* [[Backstory]]: Lots. And lots. Of backstory.
* [[Badass Army]]:
** The Imperial Legion is legitimately tough. Do note, however, the Imperial Legion (collectively) says in-game House Redoran is this for their emphasis on being able to fight and defend Morrowind.
** Buoyant Armiger: elite stealth fighters, half of them decked in the ludicrously expensive glass armor, operating deep within [[Mordor|red mountain]] and [[Lethal Lava Land|Molag Amur]].
** Nobody's brought up the Ordinators yet? The most well equipped, powerful guards in the game. Did I mention they hate you? [[Mad Libs Catchphrase|They're watching you, scum]].
* [[Beneficial Disease]]: The Corpus disease grants the victims immunity to all other diseases and even prevents them from aging. Too bad it also comes with a big serving of [[Body Horror]] and a bad case of crazy, and is completely incurable unless you are the Nerevarine.
* [[BFS]]
* [[Big Bad]]
* [[Bizarrchitecture]]:
** Daedric shrines look ''really'' weird.
** The House Redoran seat in Ald'Ruhn is situated in Under-Skar, the hollowed-out exoskeleton of a humongous sentient crab known as Skar.
** The wizards of House Telvanni don't care much for actually building structures. Instead, they grow them out of giant mushrooms whose growth is facilitated by the trapped souls of powerful Daedra.
** The Ministry of Truth, which is literally a hollowed-out giant rock that a Daedric prince threw down from Oblivion onto the city of Vivec, stopped in its tracks several hundred feet over the largest and holiest temple in Vvardenfell.
* [[Black and Grey Morality]]: ''Tribunal''. Helseth's the (dark) grey and {{spoiler|Almalexia's}} the black.
* [[Black Comedy Rape]]: Used to a degree when you taunt a Dremora into attacking you during one quest.
{{quote|'''Dremora''': After I kill you I'm going to rape your corpse. Don't worry, I'll be gentle.}}
* [[Blood Knight]]
* [[Body Horror]]
* [[Cain and Abel]]
* [[Care Bear Stare]]
* [[Challenging the Chief]]
* [[The Chessmaster]]: Azura might be this. If she is, the fact that we are not sure of it is surely testament to her skill.
* [[Chivalrous Pervert]]: Oh, Crassius. {{spoiler|In ''Skyrim'', it's later learned he was so chivalrous, he made a special first folio edition of his work for a noble family that showed him their hospitality when he least expected it}}.
* [[The Chosen One]]: {{spoiler|The Nerevarine (you) is the chosen one by nature of being the reincarnation of Nerevar}}. {{spoiler|There is strong evidence that the player is not Lord Nerevar reborn, but merely a convenient pawn Azura is using in her revenge plot; even Vivec admits such is possible. When Dagoth Ur asks whether you're the Nerevarine, you have the options, among others, of saying "Yes" or "I don't know". He accepts either and praises you for saying "[[Self-Made Man|no, but I'm still going to kick your ass]]." There is also evidence that in Tamriel, one can become a god by believing they are, and acting like they would. From a forum conversation with the developers: "Mantling and incarnation are separate roads; do not mistake this. The latter is built from the cobbles of drawn-bone destiny. The former: walk like them until they must walk like you.", see also the plot of ''The Elder Scrolls IV: The Shivering Isles''}}. In fact, the latter is probably true in this case {{spoiler|since everyone and their uncle says "You are not the Nerevarine, but you might become the Nerevarine." showing that our concept of reincarnation does not apply here}}. On the other hand, {{spoiler|Azura saying that you specifically have been chosen does blur the line between whether you're mantling Nerevar or are indeed the reincarnation of him, since it is arguable that in the end, the player character will eventually fight Dagoth Ur if they want to get everything done no matter how long you dither about avoiding the issue}}.
* [[City of Adventure]]: Mournhold, city of light, city of magic! Vivec applies as well, to a lesser extent.
* [[Corrupt Church]]: The Tribunal Temple despite its dubious origins used to be an undeniable force for good. These days? Not so much. Curiously, in the early days when the Tribunal gods consistently lived and worked among their people, it was much better. Since they retreated into their own seclusion {{spoiler|thanks to no longer being able to replenish their divine power with the Heart of Lorkhan and instead having to conserve their power (by the time of the player's arrival, Vivec has been maintaining the entire Ghostfence on his own for centuries) to protect Tamriel from Dagoth Ur}}. It was only after mortals took over the running of things that everything started to go to hell.
* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: Several members of House Hlaalu in the main game, and Carnius Magius of the East Empire Company in ''Bloodmoon''.
* [[The Corruption]]: The Blight and Corprus Disease.
* [[Critical Existence Failure]]
* [[Cultural Posturing]]
* [[Dead All Along]]: {{spoiler|Sotha Sil}} in the ''Tribunal'' expansion.
* [[Dead Character Walking]]: There is a glitch where if you execute it correctly, the opponent, 99% of the time, will become immortal. That is, they have only ''one Hit Point left'' no matter what you do. This is done by going up to the person, then drawing your weapon. Hold down the right trigger, and DO NOT RELEASE IT. Open your menu, without attacking. Unequip your weapon and equip something like a lockpick or a torch. Then close the menu and release the trigger. Your character will attack with the lockpick, and your opponent will be nigh-immortal! Oh, and in case you were wondering..... that other 1% of the time, they will die instantly.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: In ''The Horror of Castle Xyr'', which you actually have a chance to perform in the ''Tribunal'' expansion:
{{quote|'''Anara:''' ''Please, serjo, go wherever you want. We got nothing to hide. We're loyal Imperial subjects.''
'''Clavides:''' ''As, I hear, are all [[Evil Sorcerer|Telvanni]].''
''(Note from the playwright: this line should be delivered without sarcasm
* [[Death Mountain]]
* [[Death Seeker]]: Umbra. May double with [[Blood Knight]]. To say nothing of how [[Badass]] he proves himself to be in a close-up fight.
* {{spoiler|[[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: Counting the expansions, the player ends up killing three or four gods. Demi-gods, really. Also, averted with Hircine, as he tells you, you only fight his avatar because "To face me at my full glory would be less than sporting."}}
* [[Disc One Nuke]]: Not a "nuke", exactly, but the ''Tribunal'' expansion adds Dark Brotherhood assassins, who may show up and try to kill you any time you sleep. If you defeat one (just barely possible for a starting character), you can loot the corpse for a set of the second-best light armor in the game. With only a couple of levels and a good Security skill, it takes only a minute or so of lockpick brute-forcing to open up a Level 80 door in a certain Fighter's Guild building, with a half-full set of glass armor in an unlocked chest on the other side. This armor is excellent for light armor centered characters, but the real Nuke property is its value. The entire set is worth about 25000 gold. It was a design decision to let buyers of the expansion set start the new content immediately, even with a new character despite the expansion being geared towards high-level characters. Also, even though many mods logically fix this to make the assassins come after when you are important enough {{spoiler|Helseth}} has had a chance to hear about you, it's implied he was privy to information that the Emperor sent a certain prisoner to Morrowind for a mysterious purpose, and being paranoid, figured it had something to do with him, so he hired some assassins to take out said prisoner just in case they were sent to do him harm, {{spoiler|like look into just how exactly the last king kicked the bucket}}.
* [[Disposable Bandits]]: One of the first NPCs the player meets outright tells the player such criminals have no rights under Imperial law.
* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: Do ''not'' mention the Nerevarine Prophecy to the Ordinators or wear their armor if you value your life. Also, {{spoiler|Azura's motivation for putting the Nerevarine Prophecy in motion? The Tribunal insulted her. Centuries ago. Not just being insulted: She said, after Nerevarine defeated the Dwemer, that the heart of Lorkhan and Kagrenac's tools should never be used again. Guess what Vivec, Sotha Sil, Almalexia and Dagoth Ur did}}....
* [[Downer Ending]]: {{spoiler|As ''Oblivion'' and tie-in novels reveal, as a result of the players actions, the Tribunal are missing, as a result, the Ministry of Truth lost its power source and fell onto Vivec City, causing Red Mountain to erupt from the vibrations, destroying most of Vvardenfell. Then the Argonians came in and what few Dunmer couldn't flee were slain}}. Although given that {{spoiler|Vivec}} had achieved [[Story-Breaker Power|CHIM]], whether he is actually, permanently dead or not remains up for debate. [[Bittersweet Ending|But on the bright side]], the world isn't a Blighted landscape ruled by an insane [[Physical God]] riding a [[Humongous Mecha]] thanks to the Nerevarine's actions. {{spoiler|You may not have saved Morrowind}}, but you did save the rest of the world.
* [[The Dragon]]: Dagoth Gares to Dagoth Ur.
* [[Early-Bird Cameo]]: Solstheim in the ''Bloodmoon'' expansion is essentially a cameo for Skyrim two games in the future. It's snowy, full of Nords, werewolves, spriggans and mead, all things that show up in ''Skyrim'' prominently.
* [[Early Game Hell]]: Character progression is largely lopsided, with little middle ground between "shmuck" and "god". A fact Caius and the other Blades will very quickly lampshade.
* [[The Emperor]]: A benevolent one is described but [[He Who Must Not Be Seen|not shown]].
* [[Epic Fail]]: The mage who tried to create a flight spell (and falls from the sky right in front of you) comes to mind. To elaborate, he made scrolls of "Fortify Acrobatics 10000 points for 3 seconds" or something in that area. Means you can jump tens of thousands meters high, but unless you use another scroll before landing, you are pudding. He carries three scrolls when you find him. You have enough for two jumps and one landing....
* [[Everyone Is Bi]]: When using the Admire option in conversation, your part of the dialogue is never seen, but the NPC's responses are, and more often than not they seem to be a response to a pick-up line or a suggestion.
* [[Evil Counterpart]]
* [[Eviler Than Thou]]: The Dark Brotherhood versus the Morag Tong. Both are [[Murder, Inc.]], but the Morag Tong is government contracted and has a strict code of ethics, while the Dark Brotherhood is comprised of [[Ax Crazy]] criminals who practice a [[Religion of Evil]]. Ditto, to a lesser degree, for the Thieves Guild and the Camonna Tong: the former has a strict code of ethics as well and favors clean, stealthy burglary and smooth talking, while the latter is made of xenophobic thugs who just kill and plunder.
* [[Evil Plan]]: {{spoiler|Almalexia's}} plot.
* [[Evil Sorcerer]]: You don't have to be one to join House Telvanni, but Evil Sorcerers thrive there due to its [[Might Makes Right|lenient code]] [[Klingon Promotion|of conduct]].
* [[Exclusively Evil]]: Vampires. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in that it is easy to tell when you are becoming one and the condition is very easily cured within the first three days of the transformation. As such, the only people who ''allow'' themselves to become night-stalking parasites are people who are already [[Chaotic Evil]] (and, of course, player characters).
* [[Expospeak Gag]]: "Council of Mages without Digits within Bowels".
* [[Extreme Omnivore]]: The player can eat things such as leprous meat, diamonds, poisonous muchrooms, raw hearts, human flesh, ashes of burned vampires, skins and scrap metal, with varying effects. If you aren't going to carry it with you, you might as well, since imbibing this makes you better at alchemy on the premise experiencing their alchemical properties will increase your knowledge on their effects.
* [[Fallen Hero]]
* [[Fantastic Honorifics]]: A slight variation on the gender-neutral "ser" version: The Dunmer use "sera", "muthsera" and "serjo", in increasing order of politeness.
* [[Fantastic Racism]]
* [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]]
* [[Fictional Document]]
* [[Fighter, Mage, Thief]]
** Causes a degree of [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]], especially for magic-oriented characters: from a gameplay perspective, it makes sense to join the Guild/House/Clan that match your character's skills, but in-story, many of the factions are opposed to each other (House Telvanni and the Mages' Guild have something of a cold war situation going on, even though you can become head of both at the same time).
* [[Five-Man Band]]
** [[The Hero]]: Nerevar.
** [[The Lancer]]: Vivec.
** [[The Smart Guy]]: Sotha Sil.
** [[The Chick]]: Almalexia.
** [[The Big Guy]]: Voryn Dagoth.
* [[Flat Character]]
* [[Flat Earth Atheist]]
* [[Follow the White Rabbit]]
* [[Foreshadowing]]
* [[Fungus Humongous]]
* [[
* [[Game Mod]]
* [[
** Not entirely played straight as they don't legally count themselves as the emperors, but the Dark Elves worship the Tribunal, a trio of living, flesh and blood gods. They exert great influence, but aren't officially the government: there's a separate King of Morrowind, who reports to the Emperor.
** Tiber Septim, founder of the current empire, is a more literal example. {{spoiler|The player even has the chance to meet an avatar of his}}.
* [[A God Am I]]: {{spoiler|Almalexia}}. Also, all three of the Almsivi in the backstory, plus {{spoiler|Dagoth Ur}} to some extent.
* [[God Is Dead]]
* [[Go Mad from the Revelation]]: {{spoiler|Almalexia does ''not'' take the loss of her godhood well}}.
* [[Great Wall]]: The [https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Ghostfence Great Ghostfence] (also known as ''the'' Ghostfence, since smaller ones existed in the setting's past), a forcefield wall powered by (willing) souls that's intended to keep Dagoth Ur, his minions, and the disease they carry inside its perimeter. There's a few ''slight'' problems with it. One: Some of Dagoth Ur's disease carriers can ''fly''. Two: {{spoiler|Dagoth Ur himself has no intention of leaving since the divine artifact he's experimenting with is inside the barrier}}. Three: {{spoiler|Dagoth Ur's forces have built tunnels under it}}. It's shut down after the end of the main quest once it is no longer needed.
* [[Grey and Grey Morality]]
* [[Grim Up North]]: Inverted. If you have the ''Bloodmoon'' expansion installed, nearly every single NPC in Vvardenfel will talk about the island of Solstheim with dread and loathing. Once you actually go there and talk with the non-Imperial natives, you find that the place isn't half bad, although it's lacking in the [[Warp Whistle|transportation]] department.
* [[Guide Dang It]]
* [[Heel Face Turn]]: {{spoiler|You can convince one of Hard-Heart's minions to defect by giving her a certain artifact. However, this minion will try to [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|kill]] you}} when you become master of the guild.
* [[Hide Your Children]]
* [[Hit Points]]:
** [[Call a Hit Point a Smeerp]]
* [[I Am Who?]]: {{spoiler|Lord Nerevar reborn, that's who}}.
* [[Impossibly Cool Clothes]]: M'aiq the Liar's Colovian Fur Helm. "[[Memetic Mutation|Practical, yet stylish!]]"
* [[Infinity+1 Sword]]: Eltonbrand. [[Easter Egg|"Go to hell, Carolina!"]]
* [[Interservice Rivalry]]: The Ordinators and Buoyant Armigers don't really get along.
* [[Jerkass]]: Most of both House Telvanni and the Tribunal Church.
* [[Klingon Promotion]]: ''Morrowind'' is rather tolerant of this. House Telvanni practice this as a rule, but many factions indulge in it. For bonus points, Tamrielic law even allows for it (within sanctioned limits), citing such matters as ''duels of honorable combat''.
* [[Knight Templar]]: ''The Ordinators''. So much.
* [[Last of His Kind]]: {{spoiler|There's only one dwarf left}}. And he's not all there anyway (physically or mentally).
* [[Lethal Joke Character]]: The [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Mudcrab Merchant]]. He is identical in appearance to other Mudcrabs, he's hidden on a specific island in the Azura's Coast region and is difficult to find, he speaks with a drunken dialect... and he has more available gold for bartering then any other merchant in the game.
* [[Lethal Lava Land]]: Molag Amur.
* [[Level Scaling]]: Limited to creatures outside of caves.
* [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards]]: Averted: wizards gain power at a linear rate like warriors, but the wizard's actual effectiveness depends on how [[Crazy Prepared]] he/she is. The warriors have the advantage of not running out of [[Mana|magicka]] every few minutes, but as long as the wizard remembers to bring enough restore magicka potions and has an appropriate spell for the situation, it won't be a problem.
* [[Loads and Loads of Loading]]: ''Boy howdy'', the [[Xbox]] release. Any time you want to start or continue a game, you have to wait at least three minutes for the overworld to load. And that's not even counting what happens when you run too fast... Of course, the PC version was the same too. Like in the xbox release, if you ran too fast, the game would grind to a halt to load. Unfortunately, your character moves so ''ridiculously'' slow (especially if you don't have a bunch of athletics skill!), you'll ''want'' to speed it up somehow. Meaning that yes, you ''will'' experience this. Averted with [[Technology Marches On|modern computers]].
* [[Lock and Key Puzzle]]: In the dungeons of Tel Fyr, there is a series of chests each with a key and some minor treasure in them. Each key unlocks the next chest in the series. Near the end, you can walk away with a few legendary ancient weapons.
* [[Lost Superweapon]]: {{spoiler|Akhulakhan, is being built from [[The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall|Numidium's]] blueprint}}.
* [[Lost Technology]]
* [[Lovable Sex Maniac]]: Oooh, Crassius Curio is an example, dumpling, but it is soo nice to hear you say it. It is lovely when you list tropes like that, honey. Now give Uncle Curio a kiss. It should be noted that, in our world, much of what Curio does would be sexual harassment punishable by law. Requiring you to strip for him so he will promote you, anyone? Also, [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|how did ESRB not notice]]? Also note that Uncle Crassius does not [[Ho Yay|discriminate between genders]]. He has also written a play called ''The Lusty Argonian Maid''. "Polish my spear!" indeed. And between all this, he is one of the few "good" character in his House.
* [[Machinima]]: There are a couple out there, most notably [[Reynaldo the Assassin]].
* [[Magic Is Mental]]
* [[Mana]]: "Magicka" in the ''Elder Scrolls'' series.
* [[Meaningful Name]]
* [[Miles Gloriosus]] There is literally a character called this in Maar Gan. [[Subverted Trope|He doesn't seem to fit the trope
* [[The Mole]]:
** {{spoiler|Sjoring Hard-Heart, leader of the Fighters Guild, is actually a Camonna Tong agent, and two of the sub-leaders are his assistants}}.
** There's more than just {{spoiler|Sjoring}}. One Mages Guild quest requires you to root out a potential Telvanni spy: {{spoiler|it's Tiram Gadar, Archmage Trebonius's personal assistant}}. A quest for House Hlaalu has you delivering new orders to their spy watching the Redoran: {{spoiler|Bivale Teneran, the high-class tailor in Ald'ruhn}}. And even though one doesn't formally come up in the Thieves Guild questline, you can find a few Thieves Guild members deep undercover at the Camonna Tong HQ, the Dren Plantation.
* [[Mooks]]: The Sixth House cultists.
* [[Mordor]]: Central Vvardenfell Island. First, there's the Ashlands and Molag Amur, which are covered in cursed infertile ash all the time and populated by killer dinosaurs and [[Goddamn Bats|cliff racers]]. Even there though, the [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Ashlanders]] manage to get by thanks to their sheer badassitude. Then there's the Great Scathes within Molag Amur, which are full of cliff racers and nearly impassable thanks to the jagged terrain and [[Lethal Lava Land|open rivers of lava]]. But at the center of it all is the [[Mordor]] to end all Mordors, Red Mountain. It is covered in treacherous ruins populated by psychopathic mutants, cliff racers and demons. The air is constantly thickened by the Blight, a cloud of red dust that causes horrific diseases and impedes movement. Oh, and [[Lethal Lava Land|it is an active volcano]]. Naturally, this is where the [[Big Bad]] lives. It's such a nasty place that the Dark Elves had to put up a giant magical fence around it ([[Soylent Green|powered by burning the souls of their own dead]]) to keep all the evil from spilling out and ruining the whole world.
* [[Naked People Are Funny]]: There are several side quests in the game where you can chance upon a Nord wearing no clothing in the wilderness. All of them claim a witch was at fault. Lampshaded in ''Tribunal'', where a naked Nord denies any involvement with a witch and that he was "just hot". The ''player'' can strip, with varying reactions by NPCs (Dunmer are "not amused", Imperials will laugh and note how you are a first). The "PC is naked" dialogue doesn't differentiate between genders, however, and appears to have been recorded with males in mind. To wit, walking around naked as a female will eventually elicit the phrase "put that away!" from a disgusted NPC. The player will be fine though, as long as they wear at least one piece of clothing. That means if you wear nothing but a belt, people will treat you just normally (even more hilarious if you just wear a ''ring'' and run around naked).
* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: Dagoth Ur, and generally anyone else from the Sixth House. Specifically ones with "Dagoth" in the name.
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]:
** Since [[Anyone Can Die]] if you kill them, should you decide to slay an NPC that would in the future become important to the main quest, the game will give you a message telling you that you essentially fucked up the strings of destiny and now must either return to a previous savegame or carry out the remainder of your shameful existence in a doomed universe. A nice aversion of [[But Thou Must!]] there.
** {{spoiler|The straighter example of [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]] is played with: you're told that the power of Almsivi is what keeps the Ministry of Truth from crashing into Vivec, and you're also told that destroying the Heart of Lorkhan will drain Almsivi's power as well as Dagoth Ur's. But they never mention the logical conclusion to all of this until the next game}}... Considering that {{spoiler|if you go and see Vivec after destroying the Heart of Lorkhan (well, sending it "elsewhere" really, but six of one, half a dozen the other), he mentions that some of his power does remain and that he will direct it towards the betterment of the people of Morrowind, it's understandable that the player might believe he has, in fact, saved the world}}. Of course, {{spoiler|destroying the Heart of Lorkhan (one of the literal ''pillars holding up reality'') did thin the barriers between Mundus and Oblivion enough to kick-start the Oblivion Crisis in the next game}}. Vivec mentions that the faith of his people in the Tribunal is enough to keep the Ministry of Truth aloft. Among fans, this was referred to as "love Vehk or die".
* [[No Fourth Wall]]: {{spoiler|Although the language used to explain it is overflowing with metaphor, the player's character actually IS informed through the Sermons of Vivec and partially by the actions of Vivec himself that he/she is a video game character being controlled by a person outside the world they are acting in}}.
* [[Non-Indicative Name]]:
** The most obvious examples are Glass (a very strong mineral as opposed to a brittle substance made by melting quartz; it's a bit like obsidian but harder to shatter) and Ebony (another very strong mineral, as opposed to a tropical tree with black wood). That said, glass does ''look'' a fair bit glass-y, translucence and all (and ebony is rather dark in colour).
** The "Ministry of Truth" is where the Temple suppresses dissent of any kind. Its resemblance to the Ministry of Truth in ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' probably isn't a coincidence, though its actual function resembles the Ministry of Love more closely. Orwell's Ministry of Truth was devoted to spreading lies and propaganda, not suppressing dissent.
** "Ash vampires" are not vampires. In fact, they are not even undead. {{spoiler|The name is still true, but in an inverted way. They serve as extensions of Dagoth Ur himself, and their deaths drain him of that additional lifeforce.}}
* [[Nostalgia Filter]]: For most of the current ''Elder Scrolls'' fanbase, this was their first game in the series, and as such, it tends to be held up as the gold standard of the entire franchise. Roughly more than half of the criticisms leveled at ''Oblivion'' and ''Skyrim'' boil down to "it's not like ''Morrowind''".
* [[Obvious Beta]]: It was later found out the game was rushed to completion, and certain features, like the ability to join the Sixth House, were left on the cutting room floor.
* [[Obvious Rule Patch]]: The "l_m_enchantitem_temple_rank8_1" list of random loot possibilities is not used in the base game and contains otherwise unobtainable finished fully functioning items. A merchant whose stock is taken from this list is added in the first expansion pack.
* [[Older Is Better]]: Ancient Dwemer gear is better than most modern armors. {{spoiler|Justified throughout the series, as you find out the Dwemer were fanatics about building stuff to last for a VERY long time}}.
* [[Pause Scumming]]: You can enter the game menu, which pauses the game, at any time. In this menu, you can drink an unlimited number of potions or change armor in the nick of time, even in the middle of combat.
* [[
* [[Portmanteau]]: "Almsivi" is one of the names for the Tribunal, which is made up of '''Alm'''alexia, Sotha '''Si'''l, and '''Vi'''vec.
* [[Pragmatic Villainy]]: Aryon is introduced as the factions [[Reasonable Authority Figure]] and the most open-minded of the Telvanni/least hostile to [[The Empire]], but a little code breaking makes it clear his position is because the stubbornness is allowing the other houses and [[The Empire]] to gain power.
* [[Propaganda Machine]]: The Ministry of Truth, naturally. It is notable for being headquartered in a floating rock which is also known as "Lie Rock".
* [[Psychic Dreams for Everyone]]: Dagoth Ur can manipulate and corrupt people in their dreams.
* [[Purely Aesthetic Gender]]
** It will also matter in a few quests, where one gender will have no problems finishing it, while the other has to go out of his/her way to get the desired item or answer. See [http://uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Gender here] for a complete list.
*** There is one sidequest that can only be done by males. See the list above.
* [[The Rashomon]]
** Especially worth noting that while some of these theories are discovered to be true to some extent, even beating the game will still never clear up some loose ends.
* [[Reasonable Authority Figure]]: Most of the guilds and Great Houses have at least one such leader. In factions where the majority of the leaders are corrupt (such as the Fighters' Guild and House Telvanni), they are that much more important. Subverted by the ultimate leader of any faction that requires or even allows [[Challenging the Chief]]; the Chief in question is never reasonable.
* [[Recurring Riff]]
* [[Running Gag]]: The various naked Nords scattered around the countryside. One that many fans find annoying: if Bloodmoon is installed, most (if not all) Vvardenfell NPCs will have a dialogue option of "Solstheim". If asked about it, they will all give the same response: "Solstheim? A terrible place, I've heard. There's a boat from Khuul, if you have any reason to go".
* [[Ruthless Foreign Gangsters]]: Inverted in the conflict between the native Camonna Tong and the foreign Thieves' Guild: the Camonna Tong is far more ruthless. Played straight with the Dark Brotherhood.
* [[Sanity Slippage]]: The Sleepers start out babbling about Dagoth Ur's return and the rise of the Sixth House. After a certain point in the main quest, they turn hostile and start rioting in the cities.
** It's pretty much impossible to be a follower of some Daedric princes without this as a requirement, given many expect mortals do acts others would consider mad just to prove their loyalty.
* [[Satan]]: The Tribunal Temple treats Dagoth Ur as this. The truth is a bit [[Hidden Depths|more complex]].
* [[Scary Impractical Armor]]: Pretty much all armor.
* [[Scenery Porn]]: Oh, wow...
* [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money]]: You can go on a murderous rampage, then just walk away by paying a fine. Then go on another murderous rampage, pay the fine, then take a nap in the streets, pay the fine....
* [[Self-Made Man]]: {{spoiler|One of the options to tell Dagoth Ur at the end of the main quest when he asks if you think you are really the Nerevarine, is no you aren't, but ''you'' will still kick his ass. Dagoth Ur reacts most positively to this option, complimenting you on your choice}}. As Vivec would say of gods and heroes of legends: "walk like them until they walk like you." Meaning it doesn't matter whether you really are the [[Chosen One]]. If you manage to do what the [[Chosen One]] was supposed to do, then you were it. {{spoiler|And if you behave like a god convincingly enough, you become that god. Though you have to wait until the expansion set for the next game of the series to try that one}}.
* [[Shining City]]: Mournhold. Expressly called "city of light" by its denizens. Doubles as [[Capital City]] of the province of Morrowind.
* [[Shoplift and Die]]
* [[Shout-Out]]: Too many to list here. There are shout-outs to ''[[Pokémon]]'', ''[[Indiana Jones]]'', [[Big Name Fan|big name fans]], ''[[Star Wars]]'' and beyond.
** Special mention goes to the fact that at least one of the developers seems to have '''really''' liked ''[[Pokémon]]''. Weepingbell Hall, Marowak's Spine, Peke Utchoo, et cetera.
** North Carolina universities: the sword Eltonbrand (named after Duke University basketball star Elton Brand), and a character named "Tarhiel" (University of North Carolina mascot, "the Tarheels").
** The very name "Morrowind" could be a reference to ''[[The Elf Queen of Shannara]]'', which featured the island of Morrowindl, which also had an active volcano being held in check by magic.
* [[The Singularity]]
* [[Smug Snake]]: Orvas Dren.
* [[Sole Entertainment Option]]: There is one strip club in all of Vvardenfall. Other forms of entertainment seem to be nonexistent, aside from the Arena in Vivec.
** An official mod lets YOU be the entertainment in the Eight Plates, where you can sing, dance, tell jokes, or juggle plates, just to name a few things.
* [[Steampunk]]: Kind of. The Dwarves were a [[Steampunk]] society, but they are extinct and all that is [[Lost Technology]] now.
* [[Stupidity Is the Only Option]]: Pretty much the entire main quest of ''Tribunal'', particularly the part where you must {{spoiler|create ashstorms in Mournhold for Almalexia}}.
* [[The Syndicate]]: The Camonna Tong.
* [[Teleport Interdiction]]: The [[Big Bad]] uses teleport jamming to stop you from teleporting away from his hall.
* [[Tentative Light]]
* [[Timmy in a Well]]: In ''Bloodmoon'', Lassnr will give you a quest to rescue Tymvaul, who fell down a well.
* [[Treasure Chest Cavity]]: "Rabinna's Inner Beauty", with Rabinna carrying Moon Sugar inside of her.
* [[Unusual Euphemism]]: "Filthy s'wit!" "Die, fetcher!" "You n'wah!"
* [[Unwinnable by Mistake]]: If you kill certain people, the game warns you to reload or you've doomed the main quest to failure.
** Worth noting this trope is TECHNICALLY true if you planned to beat the game the way it was intended if you strictly followed the usual method. The developers purposely left an alternative way to beat the main quest if this happens, but it's not as ideal as doing it the "proper" way.
*** [[Unwinnable by Insanity]]: However, you can also screw up this "backpath" method if you like, and then you are indeed truly screwed out of beating the main quest.
* [[Unwitting Pawn]]: {{spoiler|Dagoth Ur. You too, depending on your interpretation of Azura's intentions. You again in ''Tribunal'', but the king is asking for you to go along with it}}.
* [[Useless Useful Spell]]: Spells that cure paralysis on self. Sounds like it might come in handy, right? Too bad you can't cast spells when you're paralyzed. However, buying any spell allows you to use it an enchant effect, thus allowing you to create clothing that cures paralysis on equip.
* [[Video Game 3D Leap]]: [[Third Is 3D|Well, it IS the third game of the main series]]. Technically, they're all 3D: they just don't use 3D objects until the third generation. They certainly use a 3D ''perspective''.
* [[The Virus]]: Corprus Disease (which will either turn you into an [[Eldritch Abomination]] or a zombie depending on your personality), the Blight (which kills plants, drives animals insane, causes health problems in humanoids and can carry corprus), as well as some more mundane illnesses ("Swamp Fever", "Jitters", et cetera).
* [[Wardrobe Malfunction]]: As with weapons, [[Zig-Zagging Trope|armor (but not clothing) has durability]], which is reduced for every attack received. When it reaches 0, you automatically unequip it and must bring it to an armourer or fix it yourself.
* [[Was Once a Man]]: The Dagoth/Ash creatures.
* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: Dagoth Ur just wants to make Morrowind independent from the Empire. The fact that his method of achieving that independence involves spreading a disease that either drives the victim to homicidal madness or [[Body Horror|horrifically mutates them]] throughout the ''entire world'' is acceptable in his mind. Although if he had succeeded with his ''ultimate'' goal, {{spoiler|he would have turned the entirety of the universe/multiverse into nothing more than an extension of his own mind}}. The collective inhabitants of reality dodged a bullet there.
* [[Whispering Ghosts]]: These can be heard around the ash pits in Tribunal temples and ancestral tombs.
* [[With This Herring]]: Sheogarath's Quest. If you manage to find the shrine of the slightly-mad demigod, he gives you a quest to kill a giant bull-netch (a stingless flying jellyfish the natives use for livestock) with "The Fork Of Horripilation
* [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]]: Possible interpretation of {{spoiler|Dagoth Ur. If you believe that the Tribunal cast him away to do exactly what their friend and King had told them explicitly not to do and convincing him said King had betrayed him in the process}}.
* [[World Domination]]: Dagoth Ur seeks it.{{spoiler|Almalexia seeks merely Nation Domination, at least for the moment}}.
* {{spoiler|[[You Are the Translated Foreign Word]]: You're the Nerevarine}}!
* [[Your Mom]]: One of the NPC reactions to a failed taunt is, "No, I believe that was your mother."
* [[Zip Mode]]:
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