10 Video Game Deaths You Were POWERLESS To Stop (But Kept Trying Anyway)

The instigating death in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is that of Uriel Septim, the Patrick Stewart-voiced Emperor who is assassinated in the game's opening moments, setting the rest of the story in motion.

Despite his demise being necessary for the whole narrative to unfold, that hasn't stopped players from trying to head his killer off at the pass and prevent his death.

Even accepting Bethesda's penchant for branching storylines with wildly varying outcomes, no, there's no official, canonical way to keep Uriel Septim alive.

But with players being players, of course some have discovered that you can "save" Uriel by glitching through a wall and sneaking up on the assassin before he gets the chance to grease the Emperor.

Though the Emperor will then follow you around the sewer area of the game like a doting puppy, unsurprisingly the game still acts like he's been murdered because, well, there wouldn't be much of a story otherwise, right?