Skyrim is a hit in the gaming industry, but what about Hollywood?
December 6, 2011
In a holiday season of countless AAA-level releases, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim still stands out as one of the biggest and best of the year. No doubt work is already progressing on expansions and follow-ups. But for now, we wondered about the possibility of a Hollywood film adaption of Skyrim and how that might work.
Past video game movies have almost always left plenty to be desired. But a Skyrim movie, given enough time and money, could finally break the trend. Here we examine the pros and cons of adapting the game, and what challenges the filmmakers might face along the way.
The Main Character
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One of the joys of the Elder Scrolls games is that players have total control over their characters. Is your character a fighter, a thief, or a mage? What race are they? Are they male or female? Good, evil, or somewhere in between? These are all questions the player answers for themselves during the course of play.
Unfortunately, that doesn't really work in the context of a film. A Skyrim adaptation requires the filmmakers to develop a more well-defined main character with a more tangible series of character traits. It isn't enough that the lead be a humble hero tasked with saving the realm from a mad god. It's a neat idea that the hero is the last of the Dragonborn and tasked with killing a horde of resurrected zombie dragons during their quest. Still, he or she needs personality, a past, and deeper motivations.
This could be a challenge, as there really isn't much to build from. It's the same challenge that faces a number of other potential video game adaptations. How do you make a proper Legend of Zelda movie when Link rarely speaks or does anything more than grunt in the games?
The lack of a defined main character is the biggest pitfall a Skyrim movie would face, and the most significant reason why a film would be a bad idea. It leaves room for storytelling freedom and interpretation, but also ample opportunity for error.
Story and Continuity
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The Elder Scrolls universe is a vast and complicated place. Counting Skyrim, there have been five core games in the series, plus numerous spin-offs and expansion packs. Various books, both in the games and in the real world, further flesh out the deep mythology of this universe. Skyrim is just one of nine provinces on the continent of Tamriel, which itself is just one landmass in the world of Nirn. Other games have taken place in provinces like Cyrodiil and Morrowind. Complicating the mythology even further is the fact that the games are often separated by decades or centuries, creating an extensive timeline for fans to pore over.
This dense mythology is far more than any one film could hope to cover. It would be better for the adaptation to follow the example of the Lord of the Rings books and film adaptations. J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth possesses an equally vast history, and those stories were only one small piece of the puzzle.
A Skyrim film needs to focus on the basics. After introducing the main character, the film should focus squarely on the hero's rise to prominence as a Dragonborn, his alliances with characters like Esbern, his battles with dragons and eventual defeat of Odahviing, and the final clash with Alduin.
The various Elder Scrolls games focus on specific provinces, but the focus of the film might need to be narrowed even further. The games pride themselves on their ability to keep players invested in side-quests and optional missions. The player can devote dozens of hours to exploring and building their character without ever once participating in the main storyline. Again, that won't really work in a film. The series' dense mythology shouldn't necessarily be seen as a barrier to a film adaptation. The plot of a Skyrim adaptation would simply need to be trimmed down and kept focused on the main beats and the fight against Alduin.
Star Power
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The last few installments of the Elder Scrolls games have boasted some impressive rosters of voice talent. Skyrim features everyone from Max von Sydow to Christopher Plummer to Joan Allen. Oblivion had Terence Stamp, Sean Bean, and Patrick Stewart (who voiced the king of Cyrodiil and about half the male NPCs in the game).
Acquiring a similar level of star power can only help the film adaptation. We don't expect the same voice actors to reprise their roles in live action. Max von Sydow has the voice to play a powerful knight of the Blades, but not necessarily the physique these days. However, we would like to see as many talented A-list celebrities as possible to bring legitimacy to the project.
In a larger sense, Skyrim is a project that would need a lot of care, devotion, and money to do properly. The Lord of the Rings showed that audiences are more than receptive to fantasy films, but only when they're done well and with convincing amounts of spectacle. Whether Skyrim is adapted as a live-action epic or a CG affair, it needs to be given the budget and star power to stand out from the rest of the fantasy pack.
Daedra and Dragons
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Lord of the Rings has been brought up several times, and to an extent the comparison is unavoidable. Just about every fantasy RPG owes a debt to that iconic series. However, the worst thing that could happen is for Skyrim to adhere too closely to the LotR formula. We don't want a rehash of those movies. We want to see Skyrim offer a fantasy epic with originality.
Luckily, there are certain qualities this series has n abundance that LotR doesn't. The Elder Scrolls games are host to a number of gods called Daedra. Some are benevolent, while others, like Skyrim's main villain Alduin, are more interested in enslaving and dominating mortals. The LotR films offered a hint of these types of godlike characters with Sauron, but that villain was largely a disembodied presence in the movies. A Skyrim film doesn't need to operate under any such limitations. It can offer up mad gods and magical warfare aplenty.
The Elder Scrolls universe also includes a number of races and creatures that aren't seen in the LotR films. In addition to humans, elves, and orcs, there are also the lizard-like Argonians and the cat-like Khajit. Characters can battle ghosts or be turned into vampires. And most importantly, there are dragons galore. Dragons roam the land in Skyrim, sometimes attacking towns or even serving as transportation. The Hobbit has one measly dragon, but Skyrim has an endless supply!
Qualities like these help give Skyrim extra character and ensure that it won't be a mere LotR clone. That is, assuming the filmmakers choose to make use of them.
Sequels and Spin-offs
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Skyrim is a small portion of a much larger and ongoing saga. The benefit to that is that one film immediately paves the way for plenty more. If a Hollywood studio can successfully adapt one game to film, then they've opened the door for an extensive franchise. Future sequels can follow up exactly where Skyrim leaves off and continue the stories of the surviving characters, or they can do what the games have often done and venture elsewhere in the timeline and introduce new characters and conflicts.
The Elder Scrolls needn't even stop at film. Game of Thrones showed us this year that epic, LotR-quality fantasy is possible on television. All that's needed is the budget and commitment to see it through. There's no reason an Elder Scrolls TV series couldn't work in a similar format.
Whatever direction the franchise moves in, there's endless potential for storytelling here, but the filmmakers would face the challenge of getting it right the first time. A successful Skyrim movie opens doors for sequel and spin-offs. A dud on the level of most video game adaptations will slam those doors shut forever.
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