Certain opinions are so widespread, and so oft-repeated, that I kind of get tired of hearing them even when I share them. For instance, the notion that the version of Cyrodiil we got in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion was a bland, Tolkien-ised thing compared to the descriptions of the province we got in earlier games. I agree, but also I’ve read variations of that take so much over the last nearly 20 years that I really struggle to care all that strongly about it anymore (and hey, I still like Oblivion a lot; more than I like Skyrim, even).
But I guess I can make an exception when the person saying it is former Bethesda loremaster and Skyrim co-lead designer Kurt Kuhlmann (via GamesRadar). Kuhlmann sat down with Kiwi Talkz recently for a big ol’ chat about his life and times at Bethesda, where he worked from 1996 to 1998, then again from 2003 to 2023. Long story short? Hey, Kuhlmann wanted to #KeepCyrodiilWeird too.
“I came back during the end of pre-production on Oblivion,” said Kuhlmann. “I wasn’t the lead on Oblivion… the worldbuilding on Oblivion was pretty much done when I started on it.
“I’m not, like, mad about it or anything,” he notes, but “If you look at [the pre-Oblivion in-game book] The Pocket Guide to the Empire… That was a much weirder place than what you see in Oblivion.”
Which is true, of course. If you’re not up on your Elder Scrolls, the version of Cyrodiil described in The Pocket Guide didn’t resemble the rolling green plains we got in Oblivion; it was a humid jungle defined by complex internal cultural divisions. You can see just how different the vibes were in this art from the Pocket Guide drawn by none other than former Bethesda writer Michael Kirkbride (who Kuhlmann namechecks in the interview as another standard-bearer of Elder Scrolls weirdness).
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Kuhlmann, who I really must emphasise clearly isn’t too bothered at the end of the day, says there are of course “reasons” for Oblivion’s relative normie-ness compared to its immediate predecessor: “I think in particular gravitates not towards the weird stuff. I do. Like, Morrowind… Michael and I had done a lot of brainstorming on that, and obviously, it’s got the Dune vibes, and the Dark Crystal vibes. I love that stuff. I would have definitely put more in [Oblivion] if I could have.”
Still, Kuhlmann notes that his more psychedelic vision of Oblivion probably wouldn’t have been quite as financially successful as the one we got. “I suspect in that sense, that was the right decision, when you’ve got Lord of the Rings—wildly popular—I think the movies may still have been coming out when Oblivion came out.”
As for TES 6? Well, Kuhlmann says your guess is as good as his: “I don’t know anything about what the game is. They’re not allowed to tell me that.” But still, “They’re making something different than what I would have done, and so I don’t know how I’m going to feel about that when I see it.”
Nevertheless, he doubts we’re gonna get something Morrowind-flavoured. “Especially now, you’ve got Microsoft, it’s got to be one of their big things. I would be skeptical that they could do a game in Elsweyr or Black Marsh,” since, hey, a game filled mostly with lizard-guys or cat-guys would be pretty weird.
Which, frankly, even as an ardent Morroboomer, I made peace with all that years ago, and with ongoing projects like Project Cyrodiil and Tamriel Rebuilt recapturing that old-Bethesda weirdness perfectly, I don’t even really feel like I’m missing out.
You’ve gotta wonder what a Kuhlmann-free TES looks like, though. Michael Kirkbride, who worked closely with Kuhlmann on crafting all of Morrowind’s (and Redguard’s) weird lore, still posts regularly on Reddit. His take from a couple years ago? “With Kurt gone, my faith in TES6 has cratered,” writing in a separate post that “Kurt was the best writer that TES ever had. He was a torchbearer of keeping Tamriel’s more unique qualities and ideas alive. (No surprise, as he came up with so many of them.) His leaving will be to the creative detriment of 6. Such a massive mistake letting him go.”
Well, damn. At least we’ll always have Morrowind.
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