"There once was a hardy young lad of the sea... A Redguard of courage and honor was he... Sail on, my Cyrus, sail on..."
"It is late in the second era, a time of war as the Empire of Tiber Septim sweeps through the kingdoms of Tamriel in a glorious bid for conquest. Septim is opposed on all sides, but never more fiercely than by Hammerfell the ancestral home of the Redguards. The High King of Hammerfell, Thassad II resists the Imperial invasions even as he sees other kingdoms crumble until, at last, without warning and surprisingly devoid of court treachery, death takes its full measure. With its High King dead, Hammerfell is crippled plunging into a bloody civil war between the Crowns, fighting for their homeland's continued sovereignty, and the Forebears, who have finally accepted the Emperor's rule. The Crowns, led by the heir to Thassad, Prince A'Tor, are continually victorious, spilling the blood of the Forebears across Hammerfell's sands."
The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard is a stand-alone Gaiden Game set in The Elder Scrolls universe. Developed by Bethesda, it was released for PCnote in 1998. Unlike the games in the numbered "core" series, Redguard is an Action-Adventure game with very few of the series' signature Western RPG or Wide-Open Sandbox elements.
Redguard is a prequel to the main series set roughly 400 years before the events of Arena following Tiber Septim's conquest of the Redguard homeland of Hammerfell. You play as Cyrus, a Redguard pirate who arrives on the island of Stros M'Kai in order to find his missing sister, Iszara, and subsequently finds himself in the middle of political intrigue between the Imperial forces and a Redguard resistance movement called the Restless League.
Redguard was well received by critics and fans, but due to the cost of production and being built on outdated technology, it was a financial flop. It was intended to be the first in a series of The Elder Scrolls Adventures games, with The Eye of Argonia planned as a sequel. Redguard's lack of commercial success caused Bethesda to scrap those plans and return to its roots, culminating a few years later with the company's Breakthrough Hit: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.
Perhaps the most lasting impact Redguard had on the series was the inclusion of The Pocket Guide to the Empire which shipped with the game. The Pocket Guide gave one of the first comprehensive looks at the series' background lore, which would be greatly expanded on in future games.
Tropes Present in Redguard
- Action-Adventure: The game is in an action-adventure style quite different to the main series' Wide-Open Sandbox Western RPG elements.
- And the Adventure Continues: Cyrus leaves for further adventures at the end. Sadly, the game's poor sales meant the sequels were cancelled.
- Attack Reflector: Along with Anti-Magic, Cyrus must acquire the Flask of Lillandril in order to defeat the infamous Sload Necromancer, N'Gasta. The Flask can block N'Gasta's magical attacks and even send them back at him.
- Badass Normal: Cyrus is a simple Redguard pirate/swordsman. Despite this, during the course of the game, he slays a dragon, defeats a Sload Necromancer, and matches wits with a Daedric Prince. Later games and stories indicate that Cyrus was an incarnation of the HoonDing, the Redguard "Make Way" god who manifests whenever the Redguard people need a place to live. If true, Cyrus is a divinely Empowered Badass Normal instead.
- Beast Man: N'Gasta is one of the "slug-men" Sload native to Thras.
- Big Bad: Admiral Richton, the corrupt Imperial governor of Stros M'Kai.
- City Guards: Found in the eponymous port of Stros M'Kai, and patrolling the rest of the island. They become hostile for the duration of the game after escaping the Catacombs, as Cyrus will have a bounty on his head.
- Cool Sword: The Soul Sword, a sentient longsword housing the soul of the Crown Prince of Hammerfell, Prince A'tor. It is able to move on its own accord (which proves very useful in the game's climax) and A'tor is able to telepathically speak with the wielder of the blade.
- Downer Beginning: In the prologue comic Cyrus killed his sister's groom, forcing himself to flee and ruining his country's last chance to avoid a civil war. The game starts with Hammerfell conquered by The Empire, who aided the enemy faction and then disposed of them too. The royal family is missing, presumed dead, and so is the hero's sister.
- The Dragon: Dram, a Dunmeri assassin and Ricton's top enforcer.
- Dragon Hoard: Subverted by the dragon Nafaalilargus (a.k.a. Nahfahlaar). He is assigned to guard the treasury beneath the palace of Stros M'Kai, but it is an Imperial treasure hoard, not his own.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- Nafaalilargus is a dragon in the service of Tiber Septim and the Imperial Legions. In appearance, abilities, and even naming conventions, he doesn't fit what would be established for the series' dragons later in Skyrim.
- Skyrim did include a reference to him in the in-game book "Atlas of Dragons" as Nahfahlaar, which means "Fury For Water" in Dovahzul.
- The Imperials are finally considered a distinct race for the first time in the series...except they're not often called "Imperials" here. They are instead referred to as "Cyrodiils" (after their home province) or "Cyro-Nords". Any instance where they are called Imperials is in reference to their empire and not their race. It wouldn't be until Morrowind that "Imperial" would refer to their race as well.
- The Empire: The Cyrodiilic Empire and its corrupt governor of Stros M'Kai, Admiral Richton, serve as the villains for the game.
- Expy: Dram, Richton's Dark Elf assassin, is closely modeled after Boba Fett from Star Wars. Similarly, N'Gasta (and the Sload race in general) was created out of Michael Kirkbride's desire to draw Jabba the Hutt.
- False Reassurance: The Sload Necromancer N'Gasta doesn't exactly lie to Cyrus about the state of his sister, but at the end of their conversation, Cyrus leaves with no clue that Iszara made a Deal with the Devil with N'Gasta, that her body remains preserved in his tower, or that N'Gasta gave her soul to Clavicus Vile. If Cyrus doesn't initially take the delivery quest from Kotaro, though, N'Gasta's "solemn oath to reveal the full sum of his wisdoms" doesn't amount to much.
- The Ferryman: The ferryman is a large upper half of a skeleton attached to the ferry itself. Though silent, he will take you to the Isle of N'Gasta only when you pay three gold pieces.
- Forced Transformation: Cyrus is transformed into a Gremlin for a portion of the game.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the intro, the camera pans over a library. There is a set of five numbered books where, if you pause, you can see that the books have the following titles: The Elder Scrolls Arena, The Elder Scrolls Daggerfall, The Elder Scrolls Morrowind (which was in pre-production), The Elder Scrolls Oblivion, and The Elder Scrolls Romanelli (this is simply a meaningless placeholder name since Bethesda hadn't settled on Skyrim yet). The amazing thing is that Bethesda had already decided on "Oblivion" for a title as far back as 1998 (Oblivion being released eight years later) and they had decided on making a fifth game down the line.
- Gaiden Game: Redguard is an Action-Adventure prequel set some 400 years prior to the main ES series.
- The Ghost: Tiber Septim is the Emperor, and this is the only game in the Elder Scrolls universe to take place during his lifetime, but he does not make an appearance.
- God in Human Form: According to late lore sources, Cyrus is said to be an incarnation of the HoonDing, the Yokudan/Redguard spirit of perseverance and "Make Way God", who manifests itself using mortal avatars. According to some interpretations, these avatars aren't necessarily the HoonDing itself, but the HoonDing taking over and/or working through the avatar.
- Guile Hero: Cyrus, who is indeed a pirate and a skilled swordsman, but relies on his wits and being clever in order to defeat superior foes. These include a dragon, a Sload necromancer, and even matching wits with a Daedric Prince.
- It's Personal: As a pirate, Cyrus' primary modus operandi is the acquisition of wealth and treasures. Despite the rebellion going on in his homeland of Hammerfell, he only returns when his sister goes missing, making it personal. During his quest to rescue her, Cyrus unintentionally becomes the leader of the rebellion, leading them to great success. They would have named him King of the Redguards afterward, but he turned them down.
- Just One Man: Frequently said by Imperial guards, as Cyrus gleefully fences his way through dozens of them.
- Knights and Knaves: Clavicus Vile, essentially the Daedric Prince of Deals With The Devil, poses this riddle to Cyrus. Vile asks if Cyrus had a classical education first, knowing it wouldn't be much of a riddle if Cyrus had heard it before.
- Malevolent Masked Men: The lower half of Dram's face is always hidden under his mask.
- Night of the Living Mooks: The Isle of N'Gasta, due to being the home of a necromancer, is overrun with zombies and skeletons.
- No-Gear Level: Redguard has one when you are thrown into the catacombs.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Cyrus is an Only in It for the Money pirate. After a Duel to the Death goes awry, Cyrus was forced to flee Hammerfell, his homeland. He only returns later when his sister goes missing. During his quest to rescue her, Cyrus unintentionally becomes the leader of the Hammerfell Rebellion against the corrupt Imperial governor of Stros M'Kai, leading them to great success. They would have named him King of the Redguards afterward, but he turned them down.
- Oddball in the Series: Redguard is a spin-off Action-Adventure game. It was intended to be the first installment of an Elder Scrolls spin-off series. Though it had a decent critical response, Bethesda went back to their Wide-Open Sandbox Western RPG roots with Morrowind and has stayed that way in the main series ever since. Had the game been a success, two sequels were planned. The first, titled Eye of Argonia, was about Cyrus searching for the titular artifact, while the second, Paradise Sugar, would take place in Elsweyr.
- Only in It for the Money: The protagonist is the Redguard pirate Cyrus. Cyrus' primary modus operandi is acquiring wealth and treasure, which, as a pirate, makes a lot of sense. He only got involved in the events of the Stros M'Kai uprising because it was made personal when his sister went missing. During his quest to rescue her, Cyrus unintentionally becomes the leader of the Hammerfell Rebellion against the corrupt Imperial governor of Stros M'Kai, leading them to great success. They would have named him King of the Redguards afterward, but he turned them down.
- Orphaned Etymology: Clavicus Vile asks Cyrus if he has had a "classical education" before posing a Knights and Knaves type riddle to him. There is no "Classical Antiquity" in Tamriel to study.
- Pirate: Cyrus is of the Lovable Rogue variety.
- Roofhopping: Cyrus must do this after breaking out of the town's jail, fighting guards along the way.
- Rousing Speech: Cyrus gets a great one.note
- Simpleton Voice: Rollo speaks in this way.
- Teleport Spam: The Sload Necromancer N'Gasta uses this in combat with the protagonist. Defeating him requires reflecting his spells back at him, which is all the more challenging due to the teleporting.
- Theme Music Power-Up: This happens for an instance of glorious verbal butt-kicking by the protagonist Cyrus. Things are looking dark, the previous goal has failed, your allies are leaving... and then the game's theme music softly starts up and Cyrus turns around
for one hell of a Rousing Speech. - Third-Person Person: N'Gasta speaks in this fashion.
- Token Heroic Orc: Played with by Nafaalilargus (a.k.a. Nahfahlaar), at least from the perspective of the Empire. He is a dragon who managed to overcome his draconic nature and would ally with worthy mortals. For this reason, he was spared by the Blades in the 1st Era and would eventually find his way into the employ of Tiber Septim. However, because the Empire is the villain here, he is an antagonist who must be defeated.
- Walking the Earth: Cyrus would have been named King of the Redguards following the events of the game, but he turned them down, in large part because he wanted to get back to sailing the earth.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: N'Gasta practices the "Drained After Death" variation of the trope. He has set up a "soul snare" over the island of Stros M'Kai, which captures the souls of anyone who dies there. He uses the souls in his experiments and/or trades them to the Daedric Prince Clavicus Vile. As is the case for all Sload, he has an innate Lack of Empathy, which means he has no regard or pity for those he has captured, even comparing them to "coins in a pouch".
