Many of the quests and NPCs inThe Elder Scrollsare references to pop culture or different mythologies from across the world. From the sword in the stone just outside Rorisktead to theAlice in Wonderland-style tea party being held by the Daedric Prince Sheogorath, the influences of different works on the series' storytellers are often hard to miss.
Some of the most interesting references made inThe Elder Scrollsgames are to the works of H.P. Lovecraft. The extent of the series' connection to Lovecraft, however, reaches deep beneath the surface level. Here’s how Lovecraft’s work influencedThe Elder Scrolls, and how his writing may be used to decode some of the strangest corners ofThe Elder Scrollslore.
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Lovecraft In Tamriel
There are plenty of surface-level references to Lovecraft inThe Elder Scrollsgames. The alien design of the creatures and people inThe Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowindlikely took influence from Lovecraft’s work to some degree. For more specific examples, fans of the franchise can look to locations like Hackdirt inOblivion.
Hackdirt is a small town inCyrodiiljust south of Chorrol. The quest “A Shadow Over Hackdirt” has the player travel to the area in search of Dar-Ma, the daughter of an Argonian merchant named Seed-Neeus.
Whenthe Hero of Kvatcharrives at the town they find its inhabitants strangely hostile. Eventually, the player will discover a series of caverns connected by trap doors in almost every home in the settlement. The player can eventually uncover that long ago, miners in Hackdirt discovered creatures known as the Deep Ones, and began worshipping them. This worship eventually spready to the entire town, causing them to abandon the Divines and re-dedicate their church to the Deep Ones.
All of this is a direct reference to the Lovecraft storyThe Shadow Over Innsmouth. In the story, the narrator eventually discovers that the small town of Innsmouth, MA, has also been taken over by beings known as the “Deep Ones.” While the narrator of the story ends up slowly turning into a fish person, theOblivionquest puts a twist on the tale by having the player rescue an aquatic human-hybrid in the form of Argonian Dar-Ma, instead of the fish people being the villains.
Hermaeus Mora
One of the other spots inThe Elder Scrollswhere fans can find a huge Lovecraft influence isSkyrim’sDragonbornDLC. By the Fourth Era, Solstheim has been transformed into the perfect Lovecraftian town. It’s isolated, built by mysterious ruins, and the villagers find themselves building obelisks in their sleep with only the faintest memory of having done so.
This is eventually revealed to be connected to the Daedric Prince Hermaeus Mora. The Daedric Prince appears as a constantly shifting mass of eyes and tentacles, influenced byLovecraftian beings like Cthulhu and Yog-Sothoth. Lovecraft’s description of Yog-Sothoth as a group of “malignant globes” also describes Hermaeus Mora surprisingly well inDragonbornfor such abstract imagery.
Hermaeus Mora is the Daedric Prince of knowledge and memory, whether that knowledge be useful, extremely dangerous, or both. His entire realm ofApocryphais packed full of Lovecraftian imagery, and his domain itself ties into the Lovecraftian idea of maddening esoteric knowledge.
The Elder Scrolls' Sloads, race of aquatic beings who practice necromancy, also bear some resemblance to the fish people from Lovecraft’s Innsmouth. The Sloads, Hackdirt, and Hermaeus Mora may show a the influence of Lovecraft on specific questlines and character designs, but the connection betweenThe Elder Scrollsand Lovecraft goes far deeper than that. Lovecraft might be the key to the entireElder Scrollsuniverse.
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The Godhead
The Godhead is the being that is said to be the mind that dreams all of Aurbis, the entire reality in whichThe Elder Scrollstakes palace. Also called the “Schizophrenic Dreamer,” the Godhead has been the subject of much debate in theElder Scrollsfan community, with some unsure whether or not such a metaphysical being has any actual effect on the lore in-game.
The in-game references to the Godhead, however, are often found in the same parts of the games that most reference Lovecraft. InDragonbornplayers can find one ofHermaeus Mora’s Black Books, titled “Waking Dreams of a Starless Sky.” The book describes “the consensus mantlings of an uncaring godhead,” though it doesn’t go into much more detail.
Morrowind’s “36 Lessons of Vivec” also reference CHIM. CHIM is the enlightenment-like state a being in Aurbis can reach once it truly understands and believes that it is a manifestation of the Godhead’s dreaming, but maintains its individuality in light of that revelation. Vivec is confirmed to have achieved CHIM, and it is said thatTiber Septimachieved CHIM before ascending to godhood as Talos.
All of this makes the Godhead sound very similar to Azathoth. Azathoth is Lovecraft’s “Blind Idiot God.” Like the Godhead, descriptions of Azathoth imply that the despite the being’s great power it ironically has little agency within the world itself. Like the Godhead, Azathoth is a being who exists outside of the universe. Azathoth is also an unconscious dreamer in a similar trance-like state to the Godhead. Also known as as the Sleeping Chaos, the being is described inLovecraft’sThe Haunter of the Darkas the “Lord of All Things” who is “lulled by the thin monotonous piping of a demoniac flute.”
Although some of the metaphysical lore surrounding CHIM and the Godhead is not official, it was written by former Bethesda writer Michael Kirkbride. Many of his ideas have been incorporated intoElder Scrolls games after his departure from the studio, like in theDragonbornDLC. The world ofThe Elder Scrollsmay occasionally have details plucked from a Lovecraft story, but the connection is so much more than that.
The very reality in whichevery singleElder Scrollsgametakes place draws upon the abstract cosmic horror behind Lovecraft’s reality. With fan speculation that CHIM and the Godhead could be behind oldElder Scrollsmysteries like the disappearance of the Dwemer, looking into Lovecraft may hold the key to understanding some of the strangest elements ofThe Elder Scrollslore.
