We talked about all the events that took place at the end of an era in Tamriel so it seemed like a good time to talk about the changes that were taking place in the realms of Oblivion, specifically for Sheogorath. We had already gone and explored one plane of Oblivion for Mehrunes Dagon so it made sense to explore a different one in the expansion. So he’s been around and it was just really good timing and a good fit. You have to do these quests for him which make the people think that this prophecy is being fulfilled, then – as a joke – he rains flaming dogs down on the village and everybody freaks out. You hear his voice and he’s the guy who rains dogs down on a hapless village. He’s in Oblivion if you do the Daedric Shrine quest. PH: He’s been around for a while so his personality developed over time. Pro-G: Ah Sheogorath, now he’s a very interesting character.
But at the end of the day it’s easy to remember and it kind of fits with the whole Elder Scrolls and Sheogorath. PH: Yeah, we actually worried about that a little bit that people would think of cold. Pro-G: It’s very evocative of arctic landscapes, yet the Isles are actually quite autumnal. The Shivering Isles was the middle ground that we came up with. We messed with a lot of other names, some of which had trademark problems and some just didn’t work. So The Shivering Isles is the first two word name but we felt that it best encapsulated this magical, otherworldly place. It actually is the first game – and only the really hardcore Elder Scrolls fans notice this – that breaks the tradition of one name Elder Scrolls games: we’ve had Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Tribunal, Bloodmoon and Oblivion. We went back and forth and round and round.
Pete Hines: That was actually a really long debate in our office. Pro-G: How did you come up the title The Shivering Isles? It’s quite different from the others, isn’t it? At a recent press event to promote The Shivering Isles expansion pack, Pro-G caught up with Pete Hines, Vice President of Public Relations and Marketing at Bethesda, for a chat about Oblivion, Sheogorath and what the future holds for the franchise.