A new video released by Bethesda details the plot of The Elder Scrolls Online, including the motivation for the user-created hero and the villain of the game, the God of Schemes, Molag Bal.
The video is narrated by Lawrence Schick, the lead loremaster for the series, and Wynne McLaughlin, the lead writer of the game, as they detail the the overarching plot of the game. The player's soul is stolen by Molag Bal, for reasons entirely unknown to the player. However, this may be a fatal mistake for Molag Bal, as an ancient prophecy in the Elder Scrolls predicts that this exact type of hero is what will cause his defeat. As McLaughlin says in the video:
"Using daedric machines called Dark Anchors, he plans to merge the world Tamriel with world of Coldharbour in Oblivion, which is the realm he rules...There is an ancient prophecy in The Elder Scrolls that says the soulless one will thwart Molag Bal's plans; and in fact the player is the soulless one."
Though it is unknown why Molag Bal would take someone's soul and then guard it so fiercely, as the God of Schemes will most likely have some sort of plan, or, dare I say, scheme, against a single hero undoing his plan for the realms merging.
The Elder Scrolls Online does not have a release date yet for the PC and Mac, though Bethesda has said that the game will be available sometime in 2013. The game will allow players to explore many different areas of Tamriel from various games in the series, such as Skyrim, Cyrodiil, and Morrowind. Fans can still sign up for the game's beta on the game's website, as Bethesda slowly expands the beta's parameters and allows more and more players to explore more and more of the game.