Shivering:Easter Eggs

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[edit] Prior Elder Scrolls Game References

• For those who remember Sheogorath's quest in Morrowind, Big Head will be very familiar to you. Once again, he's misplaced the Fork of Horripilation. At least this time, you don't have to kill a netch to get the reward. If you choose to learn a secret of blade, though, he tells you that they poke out, not in and mentions killing grandfather netch. If you choose to learn a secret of alchemy, he tells you that poison is potion spelled wrong.
• The Cursed Red Mountain Shield is likely a Morrowind reference... It has an enchantment of "Fire Shield 12% on self" and "Weakness to Frost 10% on self."
• In the construction set, there is a ring with an id of Fargoth's Ring. In game, this ring shows up as heirloom ring. The ring has a constant effect of Fortify Health 5. Fargoth's ring was part of an early quest in Morrowind.
• After finishing the Sheogorath's questline, if you talk to Bhisha he will make a reference to the K'Sharra prophecy from the Sheogorath's Shrine quest in Oblivion.
• The smith's store in Mania is called "The Missing Pauldron" which is referring to the fact that the armor type called the pauldron that was combined with the cuirass in Oblivion instead of being its own armor like in previous games. This may also refer to the elusive second pauldron of the Daedric Set, which was left out of Morrowind and only found in the Bloodmoon expansion.
• The leader of the Golden Saints at Brellach is Staada. You might remember her from the Azura Shrine quest in Morrowind. She was one of the daedra Sheogorath sent to disturb Azura's priestess in the Sheogorad region.

[edit] References Unrelated to TES

• In the ruins of Xirethard there is a unique chest called 'Dark Chest Of Wonders'. The band called Nightwish has a song on their album Once, called Dark Chest of Wonders. To further confirm the relation, the chest contains a Ring of the Oceanborn, which has enchantments of Night-Eye and Water breathing. Oceanborn is an album released by Nightwish.
• If you go to the roof area of Crucible at night, you will find two citizens of Crucible fighting each other. Other citizens may be watching and cheering. Different members of this "Fight Club" fight on different nights. The orc bartender will mention that this is a private society, and that you should not interfere. The note inside the jewelry box on the bar (sneak behind the orc to unlock it) will have a little more information. If you have completed The Lady of Paranoia in the main quest, you will find a note labelled Liturgy of the Duelists on Muurine's corpse, which relates to the "Fight Club".
• Another musical reference is that of the Fringe being very similar to an old song by Red Rider entitled "Lunatic Fringe." This makes a lot of sense, considering it is the entrance to the lands of Mania and Dementia. Red Rider includes lyrics such as:
  

"We can hear you coming/

We know what you're after/

We're wise to you this time/

We won't let you kill the laughter"

This lyric references the coming of Jyggalag and the Greymarch.

• Gnarl Bark, which is found in Gnarl corpses, may be a reference to the pop group Gnarls Barkley. One of their songs is "Crazy", which fits in nicely with the Shivering Isles theme. Another possible reference is to Gnarly Bark, which is an item in Westwood's 1992 adventure game, "The Legend of Kyrandia II: Hand of Fate".
• If the quest The Great Divide is completed favoring Mania, talk to the Khajiit, J'zidzo. Picking the dialogue option of "Doubles" will lead him say: "So I said, 'Rectum? You killed him' Good work." This paraphrases the punchline to a very old joke.
• In the settlement of Highcross, there is an Argonian named Runs-in-Circles who will run around saying "Ni Ni Ni" if you refuse to give her the items she requests. This is a reference to "The Knights who say Ni!" in Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• Muurine in Crucible mentions her Uncle Leo, a zombie who lives in the upstairs of her house. This is a reference to the character in the television show Seinfeld.
• When talking to Relmyna during Rebuilding the Gatekeeper quest, she will reply to one of your comments by saying, "The ends justify the means." Niccolò Machiavelli wrote that line in his work, "The Prince," though it has become a popular phrase on its own, often with no direct Machiavelli allusion intended.
• When Sheogorath says "You wouldn't like me when I'm bored", it has nearly identical pacing and intonation to the famous "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry" from the Bill Bixby version of The Hulk.
• When you buy an Amber Sword from Dumag gro-Bonk he says "Momma always said you can tell a man by the sword he carries". This is similar to what Forrest Gump said about shoes.

[edit] Miscellaneous

• If you attack Sheogorath he will say "You really shouldn't have done that. Enjoy the view," then cast a spell on you that will immediately transport you thousands of feet above the Shivering Isles. You will fall to your death at Execution Point, which appears to be Sheogorath's favourite place of punishment. There is no known way to live through the ordeal, as it is a scripted death. Even resurrecting yourself using the console will not work. If you cast a paralyze spell on Sheogorath or knock him down, he will still say the same things, but he will not send you to Execution Point; instead, your controls will lock up and you will have to reload a save.
• Near the top of the mountain above Knifepoint Hollow, there is a small altar with several dead bodies in various states of decay. The most recent, still dressed in a white outfit, is carrying a decree explaining that he was executed for growing a beard, an offense against Sheogorath. Note: This is a dig at one of the Oblivion dev team members, Robert Wisnewski. If you look at the credits from the main menu, Wisnewski is credited as one of the Dungeon art team; apparently he tried a new look that didn't work out so well. This is where you land when performing the above 'Attacking Sheogorath' easter egg.
• There is a book that can be found at Inlet Camp, amongst other possible places, that is a transcription of the writings and poems of a former Isles prisoner. The author, Fenroy, wrote them on the floor and sheets of the cell in his own body fluids and they were later "transcribed" for the book, The Ravings of Fenroy. In it, one of the poems goes:

Just You wait and see

Good Gods come and go, but

All Lords eventually fall

A God can wake up mortal.

Taking all of the letters that are capitalized, in order they spell JYGGALAG.

• The Hill of Suicides is inhabited by ghosts who cannot be attacked. There is a non-journal quest that can be completed to free the ghosts' souls.
• Throughout New Sheoth, there are busts of Sheogorath. Beneath or beside most of these busts are lettuce and yarn, which are two of the offerings needed for Sheogorath's Daedric Quest. At some of the busts there are also lesser soulgems, the final of the offerings.
• Throughout the Shivering Isles you may find smaller bones, which, according to Una Armina of the Museum of Oddities, used to belong to a group of ethnic pygmys. Some may be found on top of a house of Crucible. You can collect the bones and put them together somewhere to form a little skeleton body. A full pygmy skeleton appears cradled in the hands of a statue within Vitharn Keep.
• One of the most dynamic "easter eggs" in the entire expansion is the New Sheoth Graveyard, barely southwest of New Sheoth. Each tombstone is for an individual NPC and contains entirely different epitaphs for each. When entering the Isles for the first time there will already be some tombstones with quite comical words of endearment chiseled in them, but as the player spends more time in the Isles and more New Sheoth NPCs are killed from varying circumstances, they will get their own custom tombstone raised in the Graveyard. See Tombstones for a list of epitaphs that appear for each NPC.
• In Crucible there are all sorts of strange items on the roofs of the buildings. In addition to the local Fight Club, you will find various articles of clothing and a particularly amusing "murder" scene that is made up of a few small bones and some blood, a rusty knife, a lot of bird feathers, and the result, a Potion of Feather. You can also find a Ring of Light beside a pair of fur gauntlets and two bones. There is also a similar scene but with a fish on Bernice's Taphouse's highest roof. There are a few scales, some bones, and a knife. On one of the highest roofs, you will find a note on a stool beside some bottles of Roofwater wine and a key. Both are part of a small unmarked quest involving the final belongings of a paranoid roof dwelling citizen. Also, in Bliss there is a flawless pearl on the roof of Common Treasures.
• During the Shivering Isles main quest, different artifacts from your adventures (each respective quest) will accumulate around Sheogorath’s Throne Room. It starts with a replica of the original Gatekeeper's head, when you first break free of The Fringe, and continues to fill special pedestals with items based around the choices you have made in the different quest progressions. A full list of the items and other rewards for completing the different steps of the main quest can be found on the Court of Madness faction page.
• In Earil's Mysteries, there is a collection of various sized skulls on a display table to the right when you walk in. One skull is the size of a normal skull, one is about the size of the pygmy skull in the Museum of Oddities, and the other is about the size of the giant easter egg skull.