Summary
- Many RPGs leave unanswered questions for fans to explore in future games or theories.
- The lore of RPGs like The Elder Scrolls, Witcher, and Dragon Age is rich with mysteries.
- Games like Undertale, Elden Ring, and Dark Souls have significant unresolved story elements.
RPGs tend to have massive stories full of quests and brimming with plotlines. Naturally, it's hard for every single idea to be wrapped up properly, and many game devs specifically leave open threads to explore in later games, or just to torture their poor fans.
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Whether it's mysterious undiscovered lands or the identity and motivations of key unseen characters, RPGs have loads of unanswered questions worth investigating. This list is ranked by just how important the answers to the questions are.
8 What Is Akavir? - The Elder Scrolls
A Land Of Serpents?
Every single The Elder Scrolls game takes place in the land of Tamriel, whether in the idyllic plains of Cyrodiil or the blasted tundras of Skyrim. It's a well defined land full of in-depth lore, explored throughout the series, and particularly in The Elder Scrolls: Online.
However, Akavir has remained one of the series' biggest mysteries. This mysterious land far to the East is theorized to be The Elder Scrolls equivalent of East Asia, but what little documents survive conflict with each other and provide little detail. It is a land of snake-people martial arts masters? Hopefully one day fans will find out.
7 What Happened To The Other Witcher Schools? - The Witcher
A Lone Wolf
As a dark fantasy game, The Witcher games try to be as realistic as possible and generally follow a world in decline rather than at peak prosperity. That means for the titular Witcher Geralt, his people have been decimated. In the old days, there would have been hundreds of witchers, but at the time of the games, it's easy enough to count the living witchers on two hands.
However, there's lots of evidence of other Witcher schools that prospered in times past, yet it's never explained exactly what happened to many of them, only leaving behind their badass gear. This feels like an area ripe for exploration in the upcoming Witcher 4, and one fans are eager to explore.
6 How Was The Blight Born? - Dragon Age
The Darkspawn's Origin
From the very beginning of Dragon Age: Origins, the Darkspawn have been one of the biggest enemies every protagonist faces on their adventures. These zombie-like blighted creatures arrive in cycles and wreak utter devastation before being beaten back, but no one really knows why or how this process works.
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Even now, many games deep into the franchise, lore theorists still don't exactly know how the Darkspawn first came to be. Does it have something to do with the Maker and Andraste? Perhaps it's a punishment from demons beyond the Veil? No matter what happens next for the Dragon Age franchise, this remains one of the big questions for the theorists.
5 What Happened To W.D. Gaster? - Undertale
The Mastermind
Undertale
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 93 /100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- September 15, 2015
- ESRB
- E10+ for Everyone 10+: Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Simulated Gambling, Use of Tobacco
- Developer(s)
- Toby Fox
- Publisher(s)
- Toby Fox, 8-4
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- RPG
On its surface, Undertale seems like a harmless little game, but any fan knows that the lore of Undertale's world isn't just extensive, but riddled with mysteries that remain unanswered to this day, popularising a lot of wild fan theories.
The biggest unanswered mystery is who exactly W.D. Gaster, the royal scientist, was, and what happened to him? He's an incredibly important figure in the lore, and players are only able to interact with a strange ghostly sprite that many think is him. Did he die in an experiment? How does that relate to the world of Undertale players find? Hopefully, theorists will get answers one day.
4 What Exactly Are The Outer Gods—And How Many Are There? - Elden Ring
The Greater Will
Elden Ring
- Released
- February 25, 2022
WHERE TO PLAY
Every FromSoftware game deals in obscurity and vagueness with its lore as an intentional choice. Every game allows a variety of interpretations because FromSoftware refuses to be definitive about anything, leading to entire YouTube channels dedicated to unraveling the mysteries.
In Elden Ring, the most mysterious entities are the Outer Gods, of which the Greater Will, the current God in favor in The Lands Between, is part of. What role do these Gods play, do they combat with each other, why do they need champions, and why are they bound to the Elden Ring? Players are unlikely to get answers to these questions, which is a shame considering how influential they are over the game's lore.
3 What Caused The Great War? - Fallout
Dropping The Nukes
Fallout is defined by its post-apocalyptic world, but for a game so concerned with what happens to society after the end and the effect of radiation in the world, The Great War itself, the event that led to the dropping of the nukes, is surprisingly vague in detail.
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Most crucial of all, theorists constantly debate whether the Americans or the Chinese dropped the bomb first, and what might have caused that final doomsday button to be pressed. There are clues throughout the games, but the truth is no one really knows.
2 What Happened To The Dwemer? - The Elder Scrolls
The Missing Dwarves
The world of Tamriel is rich with different species with different cultures, all contributing something magical to the world, but there are also fallen races, too, ancient peoples whose legacy dots the landscape, but mystery abounds about their true intent and demise.
In The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, the Dwemer are the big mystery and the subject of a lot of lore. These genius subterranean Elves (who some think are the game's version of Dwarves) built incredible machines and underground brass cities, yet completely disappeared for unknown reasons. It's a tantalising thread that remains unpulled.
1 Who Is Gwyn's Firstborn? - Dark Souls
The Prodigal Son
Though Dark Souls wasn't the first Souls game (Demon's Souls has that honor), it set the template for a lot of what was to come, including the deeply entrenched mysteries that wouldn't be discovered for years after release. In the original Dark Souls, that comes in the form of Gwyn's Firstborn Son, the so-called God of War.
Answers aren't provided for who this is, and most players only have a destroyed statue to work from to determine the identity. Many players think it might be The Nameless King from Dark Souls 3, while others think the beloved Solaire might be the wayward son. It's unlikely players will ever know for certain.
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