Summary
The Elder Scrollshas undergone many changes over the years and will probably go through more duringThe Elder Scrolls 6. For example, Orcs weren’t playable untilMorrowind, with Arena treating them as no better than monsters. The second game,Daggerfall, started to turn things around by depicting the Orcs as a complex society.The events ofDaggerfallalso led to the Empire granting Orcs citizenship, and by Morrowind, they were fully integrated into Imperial society.
If one ofThe Elder Scrolls' “monster” races turned out to have hidden depths, it’s not too surprising that others might as well. In fact,Elder Scrollslore has long indicated that the Minotaurs of Cyrodiil, Valenwood, and the Reach may be more men than beasts. Combine that with a tragic backstory, and Minotaurs seem like a great candidate to be fleshed out and humanized inThe Elder Scrolls 6.
RELATED:The Elder Scrolls 6 Will Need Its Own Version of Skyrim’s Ebony Warrior
History of The Elder Scrolls' Minotaurs
According to legend, Minotaurs trace their lineage to Empress Alessia and Morihaus the Man-Bull.Thousands of years beforeThe Elder Scrollstake place, Alessia led the ancestors of the Imperials in a rebellion against their elven overlords. Sympathetic to her struggle, the gods sent two champions in the form of the demigods Morihaus and Pelinal Whitestrake.
Morihaus was said to be the son of theElders Scrollsnature goddess Kynarethand was either a sentient winged bull, a winged Minotaur, or perhaps a shapeshifter with human and animal forms. Either way, he was known to be the greatest archer in the world and a master of the Thu’um, or Dragon Shouts.
While Pelinal preferred single combat, Morihaus helped lead the rebel armies, often withthe future first Empress Alessiaflying on his back. Alessia and Morihaus' friendship eventually became a romance, and she gave birth to a son named Belharza, the first true Minotaur. Belharza took the throne after Alessia’s death, and all Minotaurs are said to be his descendants. Minotaurs became increasingly common in the early years ofThe Elder Scrolls’ Empire. They possessed a culture and level of technology comparable to humans and were loyal citizens of the Empire.
Some Imperials deny that Morihaus and Belharza were anything other than human, claiming that Minotaurs were created by some magical or alchemical means and predate Alessia’s rebellion. That may be why the statue of Morihaus inOblivion’s Imperial City depicts him as a man with no beast-like characteristics.
However, that was not enough to protect them from the fear and suspicion of their human neighbors. When a radical religious sect called the Alessian Order took power in the Empire, it branded the Minotaurs as “monsters” and expelled them from civilized society. The Empire then undertook a deliberate campaign to destroy all traces of Minotaur culture and erase any evidence that they were ever anything but beasts. While the Order failed to eradicate the Minotaur species, modern humans inThe Elder Scrollssee them as no different from goblins and trolls.
However, Minotaurs still possess language and culture. This is most apparent inThe Elder Scrolls Online, where Minotaurs wear clothing, use tools, have musical instruments, and can even perform magic. The existence of Minotaur Shamans inESOalso implies that they have a religion. Minotaurs are also known to establish their settlements around ruins from the Alessian Empire, suggesting they have some cultural memory of their origins. All of this implies they are much smarter than the “rudimentary intelligence” described inThe Elder Scrolls: Arena.
RELATED:How Skyrim’s DLC Could Hint at the Return of Cyrodiil in The Elder Scrolls 6
How TES6 Could Do for Minotaurs What TES2 Did for Orcs
Minotaurs are already much more fleshed out than Orcs were beforeDaggerfall, so it wouldn’t be a massive leap forTES6to treat them similarly. Whilethe secondElder Scrollsgamestill included Orcs in the standard pool of hostile creatures, it also allowed players to have non-hostile interactions with them.
Daggerfallincluded an Orcish Language Skill, which had a chance to make Orcish enemies non-hostile. However, the most notable interactions were with the Orcish King Gortwog gro-Nagorm. Gortwog’s faction is one of the seven powersDaggerfallplayers can support.MorrowindultimatelymergedDaggerfall’s multiple endings into a single timeline, but Gortwog still got his wish of a rebuilt Orsinium and official recognition from the Empire.
A Minotaur Questline in The Elder Scrolls 6
Many expectThe Elder Scrolls 6to take place in Hammerfell, which borders Cyrodiil to the south and the Reach to the northeast. With both regions known to be inhabited by Minotaurs, it’s not impossible for them to appear in the next game. If that’s the case, Bethesda should consider the inclusion of a Minotaur-focused questline. Perhaps, as with the Orcs inDaggerfall, it could be a key part of the main story.
Like Orcs inDaggerfall, mostMinotaurs inThe Elder Scrolls 6could still be hostile. However, at some point, players could stumble across a quest that lets them make contact with a Minotaur chieftain. From there, players might be able to help the Minotaurs establish a foothold in some remote part of Hammerfell or High Rock. They would then need to contend with the political fallout of that decision.
The questline could even have something to do withthe Orcs of Fourth Orsinium, which sits in the mountains between Hammerfell and Skyrim. Perhaps the Orcish King is trying to ally with a Minotaur clan against their common enemies, the Bretons and Redguards. This would likely be a cause of concern for the nearby Redguard city-state of Elinhir, possibly even triggering an outright war. Players would then have the option of either choosing a side or trying to mediate between all three parties.
Alternatively,The Elder Scrolls 6could see the Thalmortry to use the Minotaurs against Hammerfell through promises or magical compulsion, leading to a chain of quests where players must free the Minotaurs from the Thalmor’s control. Regardless of how Bethesda approaches it,The Elder Scrolls 6has an opportunity to do something exciting with its Minotaurs.
