Adoring Fan

UPDATE IN PROGRESS

Origin

The Adoring Fan is an adolescent non-player character in the 2006 role-playing game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The player first encounters him after becoming Grand Champion in the Arena, and thereafter the Adoring Fan becomes the only member of the player's fanclub.

About

He is known for being wildly enthusiastic about the Grand Champion – that is, the player – and is easily recognizable for his bright yellow pointed hair, slightly unnerving smile and irritating voice. As a companion, he is considered to be completely useless (bar the occasional torch-bearing job) due to his tendency to run from battle.

The following lines of dialogue are unique to the Adoring Fan:

Upon seeing the player: "By Azura! By Azura! By Azura! It's the Grand Champion! I can't believe it's you! Standing here, next to me!"

When the player initiates conversation: "Yes, oh great and mighty Grand Champion? Is there something you need? Can I carry your weapon? Shine your boots? Backrub, perhaps?"

If the player asks him to follow: "Golly, you're the best! I'm going to follow you and watch you and worship the ground you walk on! Let's go!"

If the player asks him to stay put: "Here? Right here? What about, say… over there? No? Right here? All right then, you're the Grand Champion! Whatever you say!"

If the player tells him to stop following: "Aw, gee! You sure? Okay, well, I'll be hanging around the Arena grounds if you need someone to worship the ground you walk on. Bye!"

Players have come up with various creative methods of killing him – these range from throwing him off the in-game location Dive Rock (the highest point in the game) to having monsters chase him down.

In Oblivion's sequel The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a journal entry written by Cicero, an eccentric member of the Dark Brotherhood, mentions "posing as a starstruck fan" of the Grand Champion before slitting his throat. While it does not refer to the player's character in Oblivion (the events of Skyrim take place 200 years after those of Oblivion) or mean that Cicero is the Adoring Fan (the Adoring Fan is an elf, whereas Cicero is a human), it is nevertheless a reference to Oblivion's Adoring Fan.

Starfield

On June 11th, 2023, a 45-minute-long Starfield Direct presentation took place as a part of the Xbox Games Showcase.^[1] The presentation revealed that upon taking the "Hero Worshipped" trait, the character will earn the attention of an annoying "Adoring Fan" who will show up randomly to talk to the player and give them gifts. The name and the general design of the character are identical to that of the Adoring Fan in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (video shown below; 15:00 mark).

The appearance of the character in the game became a subject of viral posts on Twitter and other social media. For example, on June 11th, 2023, Twitter^[2] user @JunePetrichor tweeted "Todd Howard you did it LMFAO I never expected to see him again." The tweet (shown below) received over 1,300 retweets and 15,200 likes in one day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References