Favourite Elder Scrolls characters?

[Jingles]

In-game and in lore.

My favourites are probably Vivec, Sotha Sil, Dagoth Ur and Tiber Septim because they're just cool. Also Ma'iq the liar, the mudcrab merchant and Sheogorath because they're hilarious, Count Hassildor of Skingrad for being one of the few NPCs in Oblivion to (rightly so) call the player an incomptent imbecile instead of worshipping the ground they walk on, Uriel Septim because he was voiced by Patrick Stewart, and the Orc from the dark brotherhood sanctuary in Cheydinhal.

Also all the Ordinators for their bloodthirsty one-liners.

[Makrell]

Crassius curi for his smartness even though he is posing ad a drunk
jiub
captain renault

[Corvis]

captain renault

That completely throw-away character in the beginning of Oblivion who gets killed 5 minutes into the game by the Mythic Dawn?

The Ordinators are an obvious choice. "Let's not make this official outlander." But Caius Cosades was a pretty cool character and wasn't exceedingly stupid for the amount of time you got to interact with him in the main quest. But like almost every character in Morrowind, NPC interaction left a lot to be desired.

I really enjoyed Almalexia's character. You couldn't help but hear from everyone in Tribunal how she's so kind and merciful and just plain awesome and gorgeous and oh gawd. But upon meeting her, and conspiracies slowly being revealed to the player's knowledge, and eventually having her command you to unleash an ash storm upon her own city, you begin to think, " is crazy, man." Mad god indeed.

And of course, Vivec. He pretty much personifies god-king. Ambiguous, superior (or arrogant), and speaks in little else but metaphors and vague references. And that's just when you talk to him in the game. And for all the awesome references the writers snuck in under the radar (for a game rated 'T'):

BARFOK, Maid of Planes, who appeared as a winged human with lick-encrusted spear, had the powers of Event Denouement. Battles fought against her would always end in victory for Barfok, because she could shape outcomes by singing. Four Chimeri villages and two more Dwemeri strongholds were destroyed by her decision enforcement. Vivec had to stuff her mouth with his milk finger to keep her from singing Veloth into ruin.

When you see it...

[Jingles]

When you see it...

I was expecting a complex metaphor all the way through. And then buh-blam.

[Kwisatz Haderach]

I have to say that from an in-game perspective, character development in the Elder Scrolls kinda sucks. I could list a bunch of characters from say KOTOR or even Fallout 3 that I really liked, but I'm hard pressed to say the same about anybody from an Elder Scrolls title. Each character seems really expendable and interchangeable and only exists to offer a quest or service and is otherwise expected to be ignored. Vivec and Dagoth Ur would be exceptions of course but almost all interaction seems locked in and more like you are just reading a book than actually interacting with them (hard to avoid in a text based format I know but still). Without the books even these characters would seem pretty lacking from what you are presented with in-game. The characters in Morrowind were more interesting to me on average but that is because they gave you much more information about themselves/the world around them.

Basically, if it is not a main character you can take it at face value that they aren't going to be interesting and even if they are a main character they are usually going to be boring and/or annoying to the player (I can't tell you how many times I wanted to put an arrow in Martin's skull, and Jauffre kept putting me to sleep). I liked Hassildor too but you only get to talk to him like 2 times with any unique dialogue. If you forced me to choose I guess Vicente Valtieri would be my favorite character in Oblivion, can't really decide for Morrowind (I liked the Ordinators as a group but I don't consider factions and characters to be synonymous), and Tiber Septim in the lore because he seems like the ultimate badass.

It would be nice if Skyrim didn't have this same problem.

[Kamos]

Yeah the characters have always been a bit weak in the Elder Scrolls games. Probably has something to do with the structure of quest lines, it's built around the formula of doing a certain amount of jobs for certain people then rank up. Then once you rank up you pretty much leave people in the dust never to bother them again. Because of this you don't really have much time to build up feelings for any character.

Almalexia and Vivec were great though but that's probably because you spend so much time reading or hearing about them so you do get that build up.

[Darth Ravenous]

In-game and in lore.

My favourites are probably Vivec, Sotha Sil, Dagoth Ur and Tiber Septim because they're just cool. Also Ma'iq the liar, the mudcrab merchant and Sheogorath because they're hilarious, Count Hassildor of Skingrad for being one of the few NPCs in Oblivion to (rightly so) call the player an incomptent imbecile instead of worshipping the ground they walk on, Uriel Septim because he was voiced by Patrick Stewart, and the Orc from the dark brotherhood sanctuary in Cheydinhal.

Also all the Ordinators for their bloodthirsty one-liners.

Pretty good list.

[G-Megas-Doux]

I liked the two East Empire Company members who were using you to fight their own battles against each other that was cool in Bloodmoon at Raven Rock.

Athyn Sarethi was a pretty cool open minded guy. Fast Eddie the Telvanni was cool. John Hawker had some good ambitions.

Caius Cossadas.

Antiochus Septim. He was over the top read the biography of the wolf queen. Sharp minded lazy underachiever who failed to spot the hidden danger.

Hannible Travern.

Zurin Archtus, the Underking that is one cool idea for a character.

Boethia one scarey Daedra.

Orves Dren the Kingpin

Skink-in-trees-Shade (Sadrith mora Mages Guild magister of the guild)

Dram Bero (I just like the sneaky so and so with a disinterested, pragmatic viewpoint. Tells you to just kill Yingling Half Troll)

Uriel Septim VII as a better charcter in elder scrolls during daggerfell and morrowind then Oblivion even though I like patric stewart I wonder how Uriel grew all the hair when he was so bald in Daggerfell.

[King of Belka]

My favorites are Brother Piner, Captain Carius, General Darius, just about ever Imperial Legion member, Caius Casodes, Baurus, and Creeper

[Jingles]

Ah, I forgot Crassius Curio and Carnius Magius. "Without me, it all falls to pieces..." lol.

[Inhuman One]

Its definatly a problem that all characters seem rather generic and lack personality. The walls of text in morrowind and the very limited amount of voice actors in Oblivion both are not really helping. Appearance wise some male morrowind characters looked better though due to face paint and beards being around to add a bit more character.

Most characters just seem rather dull, same goes for the main character by the way, unless mods are used. Hopefully Skyrim will greatly improve character creation. There just is not enough variety for the many NPC's around in the game, causing many to look the same. And am I the only one that think elves should not be balding? Bald by choice looks fine, and I can live with elven beards, but balding elves? Nope, that just doesnt seem to suit them. Wasnt an option in morrowind either.

I gues if I had to name some NPC's though, I'd say that guy that sets up matches at the arena. bland enough that I cant remember his name, but at least he had a personality.

[Ardruire Iacób]

This fellow was quite cool, however the sheer amount of rather creepy fanfiction can be very discouraging...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Jingles]

You don't know the meaning of creepy, dumpling.

[Darth Ravenous]

Found this,

[Corvis]

Sheogorath: Prince of Inanity.

[Darth Ravenous]

He just loves other peoples intestines.

[Jingles]

The blind shall see! The lame shall walk! The short shall tall! Forks for all!

[Darth Ravenous]

[Ardruire Iacób]

Back before he sold out. And stole cutlery.

[Corvis]

He had a pretty sweet hat. He should've kept it.