Elder Scrolls novels announced

There was an eerie feeling in the morning mist on the day of April 27th, 2009. Something that disturbed the very core of the townspeople of Rockville, MD, causing them to quiver in fear, as they silently sipped at their morning coffees. It crept through the streets and lunged at the sidewalks, leaving nothing standing in its path, as it made its way to the printing press of the nearest gaming magazine. And as it leaped onto the paper, the innocent pimple faced clerk went white at the disturbing event that had transpired in front of him.

Bethesda announces Elder Scrolls novel. The horror! And the poor kid hadn’t even had lunch yet.

Okay, so now that I have that out of my system, let’s get onto the real story. So Bethesda Softworks, the guys behind the game of the year Oblivion and likewise multi-award winner Fallout 3, have now teamed up with ZeniMax Media and publishing company Del Rey (an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group) to announce that they will be publishing the first two novels in a series of books based upon Bethesda Softworks’ award-winning, high-fantasy video game series, The Elder Scrolls®. Okay, now we all know that the Elder Scrolls (especially Oblivion) got its clame to fame, by giving us (the player) the ability to choose how the story will play out and unfold through intriguing dialogue choice and also for the incredible amount of lore and depth found in its richly detailed game worlds.

So we have that…so what really are they thinking of doing? Copying and pasting the scripts for the game’s dialogue? Having a writer sit and play the game from beginning to end and take notes on what the characters are saying? I mean, it’s the same as somebody making a movie based on Uncharted (please don’t tell me this is already happening). Seriously, what could you have changed or adapted to make a better story? That was the pride of the game, it’s intriguing and detailed story (and of course it’s beautiful graphics, awesome fighting system and fast-paced cover system. Wow. I really have to play Uncharted again.) Anyway, the saving grace of this series (the Elder Scrolls. We’re over Uncharted now. Okay, maybe not. Um. Yeah, back to the article) of novels is however its author.

The series will be penned by the New York Times bestselling author Greg Keyes, and the novels will be all-new, original stories based in The Elder Scrolls universe. The first novel – The Infernal City – is set to be published in Fall 2009. Among Keyes’ prior works are the Age of Unreason tetrology (for which he won the prestigious “Le Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire” award), and three New York Times bestselling Star Wars novels in the New Jedi Order series.

Bethesda had this to say:

“We’ve been big fans of Greg’s work for a long time, and we’re thrilled he agreed to bring his talents to The Elder Scrolls,” said Pete Hines, vice president of public relations and marketing for Bethesda Softworks. “We see these books as a natural extension of the franchise and think fans will love the stories and characters Greg has created.”

O, will we now Pete? Mmmm? Gutsy move son…gutsy move…thinking you know our thoughts. How dare you! Well, as you can see, I’m overly excited for the books. If you didn’t realize by now, I hide my excitement through anger. Or ice cream. Whichever one comes with a spoon.

And this, my readers, is the mouse behind the cheese, or the story and plot of the novels. Whichever metaphor you prefer (I’d say go with the cheese thing):

The Infernal City is set after the events of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion®, the latest game in the video game series, and finds the citizens of Tamriel once again facing an uncertain future. Floating high above the land is a strange and mysterious city that is casting a horrifying shadow – wherever it falls, people die and rise again as undead. It is up to an unlikely duo – a seventeen-year-old girl named Annaig and the Emperor’s young son, Prince Attrebus – to rescue the kingdom from doom. Annaig and Attrebus’ quest will take them through the Elder Scrolls universe and their adventure is sure to add to the series’ already magnificent mythology.

See what I mean…me too! Well, the first novel (The Infernal City) will be hitting the shelves hopefully at the end of 2009. Whether it will be hitting our shelves however is yet to be confirmed and I get this suspicious feeling it might be restricted to collector’s shops and lairs for the surreally insane. Or you could just go to your nearest cave, slay the Orc Captain and take his copy. I know I am. What? It can be done. You just watch me! Now where did I put those Gauntlet’s of Orc Protection of mine now…

Last Updated: May 12, 2009