There’s a pretty great easter egg hidden in Fallout 4, and it has some juicy implications about two of Bethesda’s biggest series.
Some of you have probably found this already, especially if you’ve allied with a certain faction in Fallout 4. For the rest of you, here’s something pretty cool that you can see aboard the Prydwen, the airship commanded by the Brotherhood of Steel.
Over at the research station, where senior scribe Neriah is located, you can view a variety of of different animals, vegetables, and plants. Most of these are things you’ve encountered out in the wasteland, with the notable exception of this:
What the heck is this? Well, if you pick one of these ‘experimental plants,’ you can take a closer look. Turns out, it can heal you!
The funny thing about this plant is, it looks a hell of a lot like something else in a different Bethesda game. As Elder Scrolls veterans know, those RPG games have something called “Nirnroot,” and it looks like this:
[Source: Nirnroot.com]
Now, on its own, the resemblance doesn’t say much. You could rationalize it as Bethesda reusing assets perhaps, or maybe it’s just a totally different plant that happens to look a little like an already-known plant. What really solidifies the Skyrim connection for me is what you’ll find next to the experimental plant. A computer happens to log the discovery of the experimental plant, and how it came to be used by the Brotherhood.
Not only are the entries labelled under “NRT” (which could be read as a shorthand for “Nirnroot”), the plant is described in a very similar way to Nirnroot in Skyrim. For example: one NRT log says that the experimental plant in Fallout is found “at the mouth of a river,” and in The Elder Scrolls, the lore says that Nirnroot “grows only by the water.”
There are other similarities too, such as the fact that both plants glow, and both plants have survived a somewhat catastrophic event. Here are the logs, if you’d like to read them. Click to enlarge.
What a cool discovery for this botanist to have uncovered, huh? Unfortunately…
What makes this Easter egg particularly fun isn’t just that it suggests that Fallout and Skyrim are a part of the same world. It also implies that, despite being the more technologically advanced society, Fallout is set in the past, whereas The Elder Scrolls is the future. Heh. Well, I guess that explains why The Elder Scrolls has lizard and cat people: it’s obviously radiation, guys.
While I doubt that Bethesda is planning an official crossover anytime soon, it’s pretty fun to discover easter eggs that fuel ridiculous fan theories. Remember when people found Skyrim connections in Wolfenstein? That was awesome. Just you wait, someone will draft an official timeline that will explain how all Bethesda games are connected. It will be great.
Comments
25 responses to “Fallout 4 And Skyrim Might Be In The Same Universe”
I guess it’s admirable that the article was more than just a “look at this cool Easter egg, guys”, but really: it’s just an Easter egg. I seriously doubt you can read anything else into it.
More like “why remake plant if it looks ok?” 😛
But does it hum..?
Also, easter egg is easter egg… doesn’t need to mean more then just a fun thing the devs threw in for fans.
Plant species do get lost along with any botanical evidence of its existence. id still say that skyrim then fallout is the most logical order. this is a really cool easter egg. i might have to go find some for myself tonight.
Fallout 4 is actually in our universe because in our universe we have a city called Boston and so does Fallout 4!
Coincidence? I think not!
ILLUMINATI CONFIRMED.
Even more amusing than the easter egg itself will probably be the frothing fan-rage of lore nuts from both franchises, deeply offended by the idea that their precious universes could be tied together.
Not really man, I love the FO lore, but it ain’t really tied to TES. I wouldn’t actually OBJECT to it being? Why? Imagine an ES game where you could end up digging up strange metal armour, over a few million years old… that had “T-60” written on it :O
There are lightsabers in my headcanon so I’m not the best person to ask to imagine things. 🙂
lmao I’m all things scifi. Hell, I constantly wonder who would win in a fight, Vader or Spock 😛 lmao
Vader. Duh.
Depends… if Spock managed to………..
No you’re right. lol
They should totally put some Dwemer power armour in the next ES game as an Easter Egg
Mods ahoy! Daedric too?
Wait, wasn’t the Elder Scrolls on a totally different planet? I guess I haven’t seen the clear skies of Fallout 4 yet. Does the red planet rise over the wasteland at night?
It’s a fun easter egg but honestly, it’s just an easter egg. This is obviously going to get hardcore fans of both franchises trying to come up with theories to connect the two worlds together.
Remember Bioware did something similar with Dragon Age and Mass Effect, by including the head of a Krogan on a wall in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Sometimes what is just a fun little easter egg CAN morph into something more. Alien v Predator comes to mind.
Having said that, I’m not expecting some expansion in Elder Scrolls Online to start exploring strange metallic caves any time soon.
Pretty sure Nirnroot was first found in Oblivion and then also used in Skyrim. Thanks for listening.
There was a similar connection to Mass Effect and Dragon Age, pretty funny.
Fallout 2 had Cheezy Poofs.
I bet that means South Park & Fallout take place in the same universe!
Which by extension means The Elder Scrolls is in the same universe as South Park too!
WOW.
Something like 75% of American serial dramas are all connected by Richard Belziers Munch and St Elsewheres ending so why not?
The psionic link between the first earthlings and humanity might be the key
Skyrim: Tsun: Legendary spirit axe guy with armor girdle
Fallout: Grognak: Legendary story axe guy with armor girdle
It could be a existential duality paradox channeled between the scrolls of nirn and the dreams of earth… yeah
A similar state to photonic particles existing in two places at once but it’s the same particle.
Oblivion and Fallout 3 shared the same glowing mushroom things.
It’s what we call an Easter Egg, like the TARDIS on the Red Dwarf.
Yeah, I’m sure when Brian Fargo developed the Fallout world after he was unable to continue using the Wasteland licence that he decided it was tied to The Elder Scrolls…
Is just an easter egg.
When my Vault dweller can “fus roh dah” some Mole rats then we’re talking.