Oblivion is the fourth, full-fledged part of the popular The Elder Scrolls series and at the same time the second most popular instalment of TES, right after Skyrim.

Although this game was released almost 20 years ago, it still reveals new secrets to players.

Would you like to discover 10 Oblivion secrets that you probably weren’t aware of before? Welcome to the reading!

A Few Words About Oblivion

First, let’s mention a bit about the game itself. TES IV: Oblivion is the fourth instalment of the RPG game series, developed and published by Bethesda Studios in 2006. This title was released on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Similar to previous and later instalments, the game offers players a vast, open world, countless quests, and deep lore. However, the greatest advantage of The Elder Scrolls series and Oblivion itself is the immense freedom of action, allowing for a different adventure with each approach.

In this game, players embody an unnamed Hero whose task is to find the illegitimate heir of Emperor Uriel Septim VII – Martin, deliver to him the Amulet of Kings, and halt the advancing Oblivion Crisis. The Septims are the only ones capable of maintaining the barrier between the world of the living and Oblivion (the hellish realm of demons). With the death of Uriel’s legitimate sons, this barrier weakened significantly, and the murder of the Emperor destroyed it.

As you can see, even the main storyline itself is full of intrigue and curiosities. However, the vast open world of TES IV: Oblivion has much more to offer!

Mysteries, Secret Locations, and Easter Eggs

1. Unicorn

Oblivion was the first game in the series where we could ride horses. Of course, horses could be bought, obtained during quests, or simply stolen. However, there is one exceptional steed, a beautiful white unicorn, which is incredibly dangerous and excels in combat. It cannot be scared off by approaching it with a drawn weapon.

The unicorn is located in Harcane Grove. It’s possible to tame it to ride. However, if you dismount, it will go its own way.

2. Very Powerful Weapons

Would you like to create an incredibly powerful weapon resembling Volendrung from Skyrim? Or perhaps you are interested in a bow that inflicts massive damage, paralyzing enemies? If so, you need to go to the Deadrealms, through the Oblivion gate that appeared near Chorrol. Now, just turn 45 degrees until you see the tipped-over tower, located beyond the lava river.

It’s worth jumping or swimming across the lava and entering the tower – one of the hidden locations in the game. There, you will find two great weapons, the strongest in the entire game.

3. Frodo Baggins

This is one of the more interesting Easter Eggs in Oblivion. It’s not a secret that in the whole The Elder Scrolls series, there are references and inspirations from Lord of the Rings (for example, Skyrim’s Whiterun city was inspired by LOTR’s Edoras). This is one of them!

During the “Unfriendly Competition” quest about an intrigue involving merchants in the Imperial City, you’ll meet a merchant named Thoronir, who gets his supplies from the mysterious Agarmir. It is among his things that you’ll find a notebook, containing an entry about Oford Gabings (Frodo Baggins anagram).

The mentioned Oford was killed, and his belongings sold. Among them were: a Travel Cloak with Silver and Green Leaf Fastener, an Enchanted Shortsword with Inlaid Writing, a Leather Bound Travel Journal, and a Gold Ring with Inscription, next to which there is a note “Cursed?”.

4. Painting Transporting to Another Reality

How to hide a place in plain sight? The simplest way is through a portal… Such a portal is a mysterious painting in the quest “A Brush With Death”, where we try to find a missing artist, longed for by his wife.

By touching one of the artist’s paintings, we will be transported to a mysterious, mystical location. After engaging in several fights with painted creatures, we will be able to find the missing man.

5. Don’t Mess with Sheogorath

Sheogorath also appears in other installments of TES as the Daedric Prince of Madness. One interesting fact about him is that he is the only character in Oblivion with a beard. Importantly, in the base version of the game, he only appears as the voice of his statue, but we can meet him personally in the Shivering Isles DLC.

Meeting him is mainly based on conversation, but if we decide to attack him, we will quickly regret it. Our character will be instantly teleported hundreds of meters above Punishment Point in the Jester’s Spine Mountains, where an inevitable death due to the fall awaits us.

6. Ghost Crab

Did you have the opportunity to play TES III: Morrowind? Then you probably remember a rather unusual merchant… a crab.

In Oblivion, we encounter an unusual crab again, but this time it’s the Spectral Mudcrab (simply a ghost crab). We’ll find it while performing one of the last tasks of the main quest line, in a location called Paradise (the realm of the Dremora Mankar Camoran).

Many people claim that the Ghost Crab is the soul of the crab merchant from the previous game, and its appearance in Oblivion is an interesting Easter Egg.

7. Fantastic Helmet, Hidden Underwater

Another Elder Scrolls Oblivion secret, hidden in plain sight. It is a super powerful glass helmet called Fin Gleam, which allows breathing underwater, seeing in the dark, and detecting life within 20 feet. Importantly, you can obtain it at the early stages of the game and thus add effects to your character that you wouldn’t be able to obtain for a long time.

This helmet is located near the city of Anvil, at the bottom of the lake located to the west. Simply take a potion allowing you to breathe underwater and dive into the water near the slope.

8. M’Aiq the Liar

If you had the opportunity to play Skyrim or Morrowind, you certainly had the chance to meet this character. He is a male Khajjit, dressed in long robes of a wizard or priest, and appears in random places. M’Aiq was deliberately added by the creators as an Easter Egg.

M’Aiq the Liar always entertains us with some joke or comment directly related to the Elder Scrolls series, but additionally often reveals a secret – for example, about a hidden location or interesting items. However, not everything he says is true… Well, his name speaks for itself!

9. First Store of the All Things Alchemical’s Owner

All Things Alchemical is an alchemy shop known to all Oblivion players. It is located in Skingrad and is run by the charming Dunmer woman named Falanu Hlaalu. However, as it turns out, All Things Alchemical is not the first business of the alchemist.

If we go near Memorial Cave, on the shores of Lake Rumare, southeast of the Imperial City, we will find Falanu’s first abandoned shop, where we will find plenty of elixirs and alchemical ingredients. It is not known why Hlaalu abandoned her first shop, but the state in which we find it and the number of items left behind suggests that something tragic must have happened, and the Dunmer merchant fled from it in haste.

10. Hidden Passages to Skyrim and Morrowind

Cyrodiil, the land where The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion’s story takes place, is located in the central part of Tamriel. It borders Skyrim to the north, Morrowind and the Black Marsh to the east, Elsweyr and Valenwood to the south, and Hammerfell to the west.

Although the game, like Skyrim released in 2011 and Morrowind from 2002, is set only in one province, not many know that from Cyrodiil, we can get to both Skyrim and Morrowind. To get to the land of the Nords, we must enter the Temple of the Ancestor Moths and find our way to its underground. The temple is located in the north of Cyrodiil. While we want to reach the land of the Dunmer, we have to pass through the Doomed Mine (in the northeast of the country).

Unfortunately, after crossing the borders, there is no adventure waiting for us in Skyrim or Morrowind, but the possibility of physically entering other lands is an interesting motif that ties the whole province together and proves it all happens in the same world.

Summary

How do you like the list of our Oblivion secrets? Did you know about any of them, or does the prospect of obtaining powerful weapons, armour, or visiting hidden locations motivate you to play the game again?

The 10 secrets and Easter Eggs mentioned by us are just a drop in the ocean of dozens of various mysteries waiting for you in TES IV. And that’s what makes The Elder Scrolls series exceptional! Even 20 years after the release of a game, players rediscover it, finding things they had no idea about despite completing several playthroughs!