The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon

The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon
Developer(s)	Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher(s)	Bethesda Softworks
Series	The Elder Scrolls
Engine	Gamebryo
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows Xbox (GOTY Edition)
Release date(s)	Microsoft Windows NA: June 3, 2003 UK: June 27, 2003 Xbox (GOTY Edition) NA: October 31, 2003 EU: February 20, 2004
Genre(s)	Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon is the second expansion pack for Bethesda Game Studios' The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. It was originally released as an expansion set for Microsoft Windows and is included within the Morrowind: Game of the Year edition for Xbox.

Unlike the first expansion Tribunal, which added a city separate from the world map consisting of interior cells, Bloodmoon adds a large new island to the original world map, a cold northern territory named Solstheim. Rather than the Dunmer (dark elves) that are the indigenous race in the nearby Vvardenfell, Solstheim is populated largely by the Nord race. This is largely because the island sits more or less astride the border between Morrowind and the Nord homeland of Skyrim.

This expansion adds new enemies, the East Empire Company as a joinable guild, and the possibility to become a werewolf, akin to the inclusion of vampires seen in Morrowind. Bloodmoon also uses larger and more detailed environments, including snowfall, thus raising the computer hardware requirements, though the ash storms of the original game are much more graphically demanding than the snow of Bloodmoon.

As with Morrowind and Tribunal, Bloodmoon has many side-quests to finish and many caves to explore aside from its main quest. Unlike Tribunal, which is intended to be played after the completion of Morrowind's main quest, Bloodmoon's main-quest is self-contained within the expansion.

Plot

Setting

Bloodmoon takes place on the island of Solstheim, northwest of Morrowind, the main landmass of its eponymous game, and north-east of Skyrim. It is disputed territory, with both provinces claiming the island.

Story

In the Bloodmoon main quest, the player starts by doing odd jobs for the Imperials' Fort Frostmoth on Solstheim. When the fort is attacked by werewolves, the player must travel to the Nord village of the Skaal at the north of the island. The player must then perform several rituals to be accepted into the village. The player is informed of the Bloodmoon Prophecy, a ritualistic hunt led by the Daedra Lord Hircine. The Daedric Prince takes the four greatest champions on Solstheim, including the player, to his glacier home. He tells them that they must fight until only one is still living; if the player survives, they must fight one of Hircine's aspects - strength (a bear), speed (an elk), or guile (his own form). If the player wins, they must then escape from the crumbling glacier, thereby completing the main quest.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is also set in the land of Skyrim, another Nordic territory. The Dragonborn DLC also takes places on the island of Solstheim, 200 years after the events of Bloodmoon.

External links

• Archived developer diaries.
• The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon at DMOZ
• The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon at MobyGames