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Developers in regards to their out-of-game texts ad their influence.

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Joined: 09/06/2015

Hey, I'd like to know if the developers', such as MK and others, Obscure Texts and comments are canon. I'm aware that Pete Hines, Vice President of Bethesda Softworks, said "it depends", but I'd like to know what it depends on and maybe some examples of some out of game texts which are considered canon. Any assistance would be appreciated. I apologize if I've posted this in the wrong area, I wasn't sure where to post it. 

Fiore1300's picture
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Joined: 07/24/2011

I interpret the "it depends" statement as "it depends on whether we find it useful for telling the story we want to tell." 

The development of new lore is always being undertaken and older lore is being contradicted or overwritten. If a dev says something out of the game, and from their design standpoint the statement is still complementary to their work, it is part of lore. If the devs, in the process of making a game, decide they want things to be another way, then that same statement may be considered retconned. Usually, though, instead of outright striking things from the record they'll implement it as an alternative viewpoint or contradiction within the universe itself. 

The reason why the devs are so open to this are, primarily, twofold:

1. Bethesda Softworks encourages all of its employees to contribute to the lore of a game. So lore creation within the studio itself is decentralized. This is part of a deliberate attempt to create for the Elder Scrolls games an unreliable narrative that will encourage players to interpret things for themselves.

2. Bethesda Softworks emphasizes the importance of choice and creating your own story through playing their games. This is why they're so tight-lipped about laying down any "canon" whatsoever regarding the various heroes you play as across the spectrum of Elder Scrolls titles. They don't want to tell you who you are. Its important to them that you get to create that story. In that sense, everyone who has ever played the Elder Scrolls games has been a lore creator. And as such, Bethesda doesn't want to step on your toes if they can help it. 

The general rule of thumb is that as long as out-of-game texts haven't been directly refuted (again, this rarely happens) or are not able to be smoothly interpreted as in-universe contradiction, it is safe to call it lore. There are a few good examples of this, but the two that comes to mind right now are the Seven Fights of the Aldudagga and the Many-Headed Talos written by ex-dev Michael Kirkbride. While usually involved in the planning stages of the Elder Scrolls games as a contract writer, he writes a lot of stuff outside the games for fans which never make it into the games as texts. They have their influence though. If you've heard Heimskr ranting on about Talos in Whiterun, he's actually quoting from MK's out-of-game text (though he's not quoting the entire thing, which leaves up to interpretation whether the devs consider it "canon"). The other is of course the Seven Fights, which you never find in Skyrim, but if you've read it you'll recognized the painted goat that the farmer is taking to the giants directly references this out-of-game text. 

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Joined: 09/06/2015

Thank you, that actually helped more than I expected. I appreciate your assistance and I'll probably hear from you again, as I'm hoping to become more active on TIL, if my time permits.