[Spoiler] Speculation on the Great War of Oblivion

[legoless]

So, spoiler alert for those of you who haven't completed Orsinium's main quest, but we got a teaser for ESO's longterm plot now that the game's original Planemeld storyline has concluded. Here's what we know so far.

• A great war between the forces of Oblivion is coming. It will likely not be another Daedric invasion of Tamriel since Bal made a pact with the other Princes, but it will threaten Tamriel.
• The Soulless One will be Meridia's Champion in this war. She has trained him CHIM-style to become a thrice-made undead hero, and his magical soul shriven powers seemingly haven't gone away just because he got his soul back.
• Molag Bal won't be a player since he got hardcore banished.
• The threat comes from three allied princes: "the great deceiver, the sewer of discord, and the patron of darkness plot a great deception". So Boethiah, Mephala, and Nocturnal/Namira?
• "The war shall begin when the gates of Sotha Sil's lost city are re-opened. So the scrolls portend. So shall it be." We can expect the storyline to kick off with the Clockwork City DLC, so not until Q3 2016 at the very least.
• First realm we'll visit will be Mephala's Spiral Skein, which we've "seen" twice now (Veteran Crypt of Hearts in 2014 and Maelstrom Arena in 2015). Will we be liberating it of its Prince, or just visiting?
• Will Meridia be the only one on the opposing team? I'm hoping for Dagon and Azura to jump onboard, since both have very vested interests in Tamriel and seem to be good thematic allies (Dark vs Light).
• Mephala won't have her Ebony Blade for the war, due to the events in Crypt of Hearts.

Pretty hyped for a new full-scale plotline. The "side stories" of Craglorn and Wrothgar were good, but nothing in the game has matched the epic Coldharbour invasion for me. Any thoughts on what to expect?

[Marisa Kirisame]

I'd be interested in that only if they have pairings and fluff.

[legoless]

Just to update this:

• The Soulless One will be Meridia's Champion in this war. She has trained him CHIM-style to become a thrice-made undead hero, and his magical soul shriven powers seemingly haven't gone away just because he got his soul back.

Seems the player character is "unshriven" now, and still pretty special according to the Dark Brotherhood DLC.

• "The war shall begin when the gates of Sotha Sil's lost city are re-opened. So the scrolls portend. So shall it be." We can expect the storyline to kick off with the Clockwork City DLC, so not until Q3 2016 at the very least.

So much for that date, although there's rumours that we might see Clockwork City in the Vvardenfell update, due Q2 2017 at the very earliest.

• First realm we'll visit will be Mephala's Spiral Skein, which we've "seen" twice now (Veteran Crypt of Hearts in 2014 and Maelstrom Arena in 2015). Will we be liberating it of its Prince, or just visiting?

And now a third time in the Shadows of the Hist DLC, this time seemingly in the flesh. The Cradle of Shadows quest ends with an ominous promise that the people of Tamriel will soon be getting to know Mephala very well, whatever that means.

[The SheoDovah]

Dagon will be involved. He wouldn't miss out on a chance to destroy stuff, kill his enemies and further his influence. Boethiah will be involved due to the sheer amount of opportuinites it presents for him to turn the followers of the others against their Prince. It would be rather odd that the Great War didn't feature him. Vile will be in it. Too many deals for him to make and he would love to use it as an excuse to trick people. Azura will side with the light. I'll be rather surprised and shocked if she isn't involved at all. Sheogorath will be a potential wildcard. He would turn everyone into cheese for fun or explode everyone just to ruin the war or curse everyone to sing etc.. He'll be involved because of his popularity. They need Wes Johnson back as his voice though. But he could easily be writen out due to Jygglag and should be ol' Greymarch time for him depending on how long ESO will span in lore.

It will be an interesting war though. Do hope if they do include the Shivering Isles if Sheogorath is involved, they go over the top with humour and at the same time, give us a lot of disturbing content to show the darker side of Sheogorath.

[legoless]

I can't see Vile being involved, he doesn't seem the type. Sheo already has a whole questline dedicated to him, although datamining from the most recent update suggests he'll be making a reappearance of some kind - possibly an event?

[The SheoDovah]

True but Vile would be involved as a quest at least. Just making deals that the player would regret. Sheogorath could be continuing his antics with the mage's guild or just a massive summoning event.

[legoless]

Sheo already has a whole questline dedicated to him, although datamining from the most recent update suggests he'll be making a reappearance of some kind - possibly an event?

Disregard, it seems to just be a new set of guild dailies.

[The SheoDovah]

Shame as Sheogorath being a wild card would be interesting. Granted, he needs to be Wesgorath not whatevertheygotashimgorath and fix his looks as he looks wrong.


I think we'll see a few Oblivion gates appear if Dagon picks a side or decides to destroy everything out of spite but I am a bit mixed on it. On one hand, it suits Dagon to use gates to the Deadlands for his Daedra but on the other, it'll be reusing the Oblivion Gates from Oblivion and that could be done a bit lazily. Copy and paste the maps in the ESO engine, minor changes and done. It also wouldn't help to address some claims that the Anchors are just glorifed Oblivion Gates. Mehrunes doesn't care for anyone but himself if i recall. My lore is a bit rusty and can't recall if he is the type to go by himself or not because he hates the rest.

I can see Mora attempting to play both sides because it benefits him the most if they weaken each other. He can invade them, steal their knowledge and retreat. I doubt there be any mantling of the Princes. It would be a bit crap and reduce them to nothing but titles.