The Elder Scrolls is renowned for its deep immersive world. One element of the world that makes it so immersive for players is the variety of different factions that exist in The Elder Scrolls. While each Elder Scrolls game has its own factions that play a role in its story and world, such as Skyrim's Nords or Morrowind's Ashlanders, some of the factions have a presence in multiple games within the series. Elder Scrolls players are likely very familiar with factions such as the Blades, the Fighters Guild, the Mages Guild, and, perhaps most of all, the iconic Dark Brotherhood.
The Dark Brotherhood has always stood out from other factions in The Elder Scrolls. This is largely due to how unique the Dark Brotherhood is from the other guilds across the series. Not only does it feature some of the more inventive side quests, but it also has some of the crazier characters in the entire Elder Scrolls series. The Dark Brotherhood is also memorable to many players because the content that it offers players is drastically different from that of other guilds throughout the world. It lets the player not be the good hero that saves everyone but allows them to step into the shoes of a fantasy assassin instead.
What The Elder Scrolls' Dark Brotherhood Is
The Dark Brotherhood is very feared by commoners, and for very good reason. The Dark Brotherhood was born from an occult religious order known as the Morag Tong that worshipped the Daedric Prince of secrets, murder, and lies, Mephala. That was until the rise of the Night Mother, a mysterious figure who directed the cult to start undertaking assassinations in honor of Mephala. From there the Dark Brotherhood continued to grow in influence and power across the lands of The Elder Scrolls, and the order has an extremely detailed history for devoted Elder Scrolls fans to discover and learn throughout the games.
However, at the time of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, the Dark Brotherhood was at the height of its history. The order was infamous, well know, and, perhaps most importantly, feared. The order took on charges that were designated to them by the Night Mother herself after residents in Cyrodil performed rituals of worship to Mephala asking for the order's help. While there are some parts of the Dark Brotherhood that don't completely make sense in the Elder Scroll's lore, Oblivion sees the Dark Brotherhood at their height before the order suffered a recession and was severely less revered by the time players revisited the world in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.
How Oblivion Perfected The Dark Brotherhood
The Dark Brotherhood's power in Oblivion played a huge role in the game's successful representation of the guild. Players are able to join the guild in one of two equally intriguing ways. They can either stumble on a side quest that sees them finding a civilian performing the ritual to get in contact with the Dark Brotherhood, or they can commit a murder. If they murder an innocent, they are awoken in the middle of the night by an agent of the Dark Brotherhood who then recruits them. This sets up the Dark Brotherhood as a deeply mysterious and powerful guild that players naturally want to explore and learn more about and is a powerful setup that most first-time Oblivion players go on to remember.
However, Oblivion only strengthens its representation of the Dark Brotherhood as it goes on. After joining the group the player is tasked with taking on a number of assassination side quests that are some of the most varied and creative in the entire game. Each of the side quests is also very open, allowing players to approach them in their own way. On one quest players can kill their target by conventional ways like stabbing or magic, or can opt to poison them or make it appear to be an accident by loosening the ties on a taxidermied head above their chair. Another side quest sees players having to kill everyone at a house party like an Agatha Christie novel. The sheer variety and openness of the quests stand out not only from Oblivion's quests but Skyrim's as well and make the guild really stand out in the series.
How The Elder Scrolls 6 Can Learn From Oblivion's Dark Brotherhood
It is almost guaranteed that the Dark Brotherhood will return in The Elder Scrolls 6, and while the game is undoubtedly years away, there are some cues that it should take from Oblivion to ensure that it does the guild justice. Many fans think that Elder Scrolls 6 should add a big twist to the guild, but the main goal of the game's portrayal of the guild should be having its content stand out from the rest of the game. It is unlikely that the main questline in The Elder Scrolls 6 will see the player performing assassinations or generally being a bad character, and it should take advantage of the Dark Brotherhood to explore those ideas.
However, The Elder Scrolls 6 will also have to keep what makes the guild so unique present. The biggest aspect that Elder Scrolls 6 should take from Oblivion is the openness and the variety of Oblivion's Dark Brotherhood questline. Every quest should feel and play differently, and the developers should not be afraid to have some of them be more silly than others. But, each quest should also accommodate every type of player and give players more freedom and multiple ways to approach them. It makes sense that the Mages guild requires the player to use magic for its quest, but any type of player can perform assassinations, and the structure of the Dark Brotherhood's quests should reflect that.
There is also the potential for The Elder Scrolls 6 to really double down on the stranger side of Elder Scrolls' world and lore, which could also help it develop the larger-than-life Dark Brotherhood in some interesting ways. Fans likely have quite a while to wait until more news is shared about The Elder Scrolls 6, but hopefully, it doesn't take too long for Bethesda to have some more information to share. Fans have been waiting for a new Elder Scrolls title for quite some time, and hopefully, The Elder Scrolls 6 will be able to deliver in a way that satisfies all of the series' dedicated fans.