Why The Arena Is Secretly Oblivion's Most Disturbing Quest

When you hear talk of sizeable bodycounts across Elder Scrolls, you'll likely think of either Skyrim and its narrative of Imperials versus the Nords, or between the public and when Bethesda tried charging money for horse armour.

However, while Skyrim is very quick to tell you of its ongoing battle for supremacy, Oblivion is where the real bloodshed is going on. Np, not the invasion of daedric enemies through some rather fancy portals, but the arena.

Existing as a place to unwind and decapitate with the best and worst of sorts, you can place bets and take heads yourself, should the mood strike. It’s basically an outlet for those with more than a little anger on their mind, and if you’re skilled, worthy and can spam cheap hits quick enough, you too could rise to the top of this very bloody pile.

Along the path to glory you’ll be faced with extreme odds, interesting twists on fights and of course, CASH MONEY PRIZES. 22 battles are all that separate you from chump to champ, so why not stick it to the other competitors and take your place as champion?

Well... because if you do end up in this position, you’ve inadvertently lead to the slaughter of literally thousands of people.

Confused? Let’s break this down.

So, while it might seem that you’re just killing 22 people to grab that championship loincloth, remember there's a ranking system in play based around tiers. In order to challenge someone of a higher tier, you need to beat a certain number of people in your own group.

The tiers are Pit Dog, Brawler, Bloodletter, Myrmidon, Warrior, Gladiator, Hero, Champion and Grand Champion, and it's here where things get interesting.

While we’re busy advancing through the ranks, each opponent we face must have, at the very minimum, killed the same number of combatants as we have, and that means that even by killing our first Brawler, we’ve ended the line of a fighter who has personally ended 3 lives on their own, minimum.

As you can tell, this adds up quickly, with each warrior being responsibly for a separate body count - which is then ended by your burly protagonist. By the time you reach The Gray Prince to take his crown, you’ll have ended the lives of 22 people, but ended the chain of over 16 thousand fighters, albeit inadvertently.

Now I’ve seen people try and put a more specific number on these deaths, but to be honest, the actual amount could vary quite a lot. The 16 thousand tally works on a basis that every fighter you face is a mirror copy of yourself; that if you are on rank 2 fight 2, your opponent is in the same situation.

However, this is likely not the case. Not everyone will have had a successful fight, and I'm not sure how many times before our entrance into the arena that people have been eligible to slay The Gray Prince and failed. Some fans have speculated this number to be over 4 million, which is astronomically insane.

As found on the wiki for the game, user Silence is Golden points out there are some matches that forgo the '3 fights and advance' rule, and some even pit you against members from different tiers. They state “the last fight is against a Pit Dog, A Bloodletter, and The Yellow Team Champion”, showing there might not be the rigidity in advancement that I’ve presented.

If my assumptions are correct though, then my god, how much blood have you got on your hands? This arena business was meant to be entertainment, but under this light? It's no wonder some of the world looks a bit sparse.

The next time you’re wandering through Oblivion, just think: It might not have been technical limitations of the game as to why there are only around 600 inhabitants milling about, but an arena that feasts on the living.

You’re welcome.