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One of my favourite Oblivion-isms is when your opponent gets interrupted or dies partway through yelling and it's just "I'VE FOUGHT MUDCRABS". Yeah man, we all have.
It works in Morrowind because the raw power displayed by enemies and magic in the lore/setting makes it totally possible for a sentient mudcrab to exist and not feel silly. If I found an identical character in The Outer Worlds, for instance, I'd just roll my eyes and sell him stuff. Morrowind keeps you guessing and it feels like nothing is impossible after that first NPC plummets to death in front of you with insane boots. There's a dangerous realism to Morrowind's magic, with enough consequences to make it believable.
You’ve got two NPCs mixed up, Tarhiel (parody of the UNC Tar Heels hence the jumps), and the scammer on the way to Balmora. Tarhiel drops the scrolls of Icarian flight, whereas the scammer gives you boots of blinding speed.
This guy always reminds me of the pet crabs I had as a kid. Joe and Josephine, who cleverly escaped their confinement, pinched the cat, and hid behind a dresser, only to be recaptured and placed back where they belonged. RIP to those friendos.
Hey, this is (to my knowledge) your first sponsored vid. I know you used to take much pride in not having any sponsors, but really I’m glad you’ve decided to do it. I hope this channel can grant you a more stable livelihood and that you can put out even more content ❤
Oh man, hearing Dagoth Ur saying just the most common things like "Hey man, i just wanna talk." never gets old. This is why AI is great. But i'm going off into the wrong direction with this topic, just wanted to share these thoughts.
On of my favorite mudcrab merchant memories is using command creature + water walking to bring him to my house in solsthiem. It was a long trip but it was worth it to have live in the raven rock house with M'Aiq, Fargoth, the Mudcrab Mercant, and that one Nord erotic dancer from Suran.
Ghostcharm really the embodiment of that SpongeBob meme where you have other youtubers pumping out sub-par content then you've got Ghosttaking his time and slappin down those perfect little patties.
after i heard about the merchant - and before i knew where he was - i quit hunting mudcrabs for sport and waited to see if they were hostile or not you hit the nail on the head w/ the y2k more analog vibe. subscribed
bethesda should have put him in every game as a merchant and expanded more on what he says each game to continue his legend and show him getting a shop and then a bigger and better shop next game etc., giant missed opportunity.
Everything you just said is entirely stupid and im glad the devs didnt do any stupid thing like that. This is OBVIOUSLY a throw away funny character made on a whim. This is just a poor simple easter egg character and you want to turn it into a recurring meme? You sick bastard!
Obligatory mention of the Mithail Monster series of mods and their recreation of the Mudcrab Merchant for Solstiem in Skyrim. They even gave him his own little tent to chill in, how sweet of em.
I also think he's so special because the game doesn't point him out. It's so easy to kill him and miss him forever until possibly learning about it decades later in a RU-vid video. Games now want you to see all the content, they don't want to risk having you missing out on anything. It makes them lose a bit of their magic.
I love the fact that you cover TES lore for us fellow loyal TESsies even in the now near 12 year interum... or uh *interegnum* between mainline games. Thanks for sticking with us
During my main playthrough, as soon as I found this guy I marked his location for the recall spell and made my playwr home his island. All my loot, collectables, and junk were left either in his inventory or on the ground around him including most of the 36 lessons and daedric artifacts
I like to think that the mud crab merchant was a travelling trader who complained to whichever god was listening how hard it was to traverse the wet and rocky terrain. I also like to think it was Sheogorath who answered
I really like your channel man. All videos, even this little ones, always have an amazing production quality, it's an awesome thing for a lover of games like me to see and even discover things i didn't know. Keep up the good work, you surely deserves a lot more subscribers. And i now want to play Morrowind.
The opening dialogue of the Mudcrab Merchant, "How dry I am, how dry I am. Nobody knows how dry I am." is actually lyrics from an old song called "The Near Future" by Irving Berlin. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Near_Future and the lyrics took on a life of their own as they spread out across the culture of the early 1900s. The song is also very notably featured on The Twilight Zone in the episode titled "Mr.Denton on Doomsday" (it's a fantastic episode, but be prepared for being sad as hell if you watch the clip) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Uf85LWrmsj4.html
NO FUCKING WAY... I have been playing Morrowind since I was just a little Scrib, and I never thought of taking The Cash-God to my Scrib-Crib, let alone to safety...
Maaaaaan every time this guy got killed by a scrib/scamp/kagouti and I had to reload! Also when I killed old salty in Skyrim and saw that he dropped a tankard I actually got upset and lost an hour reloading a save because I thought this guy had retired to Skyrim and I’d killed him!
W video brother, I always can't wait for your newest video to drop, love the topic and editing, keep that shit up bro, we all love it 🙏🏼🙏🏼 also I might buy Morrowind just to see this guy now 😂😂☠
HE UPLOADED. IT ISN'T EVEN MY BIRTHDAY. HELL YESSSSSSSSS By the way I do notice the change in your editing styles. Little feedback: I do like the touch of hyper-activeness but your signature calm and monotone voice walking through mountains of lore is just the best and the reason I watch you so much. But still love the video though, keep up the good work!
Theory: Mudcrab starts with M He's a magic talking mudcrab Magic also starts with M Magnus is the god(?) Of magic in TES Magnus starts with M Magnus and the Magna Gi left tamriel by punching holes in the heavens and creating the stars Splay a mudcrab's legs out and they make a kind of star shape MAGNUS IS THE MUDCRAB MERCHANT CONFIRMED!!!!!!!!!!!!
I frfr did just stop eating my Gorton's fried fish squares and tartar sauce to clap for Matt. Just letting it be know. Thanks for being cool as fuq, Matt.
After 2 playthroughs, i still havnt found this guy. the creeper at suran is the real one. Atleast he stays at a place easily approachable, unlike this crustacean who god knows lives on which rock
If you ever do anymore Villainpedia episodes, I recommend doing "comparison" episodes in which you compare two villains with similar backstories. Here are two who I think give you a headstart. Those being Dr. Two Brains/Steven Boxleitner (WordGirl) and The Ice King/Simon Petrikov (Adventure Time). They're both crazy, goofy, and downright hilarious lunatics with an unhealthy obsession, (Cheese for Two Brains (because he's half mouse and cheese is the mouse's stereotypical favorite food) and Princesses for Ice King) but when you look at their backstories, you can't help but feel sad. Also, they're both voiced by Tom Kenny, so there's that.
God that 8-bit pokemon sounding elder scrolls tracks...you touched my inner nostalgia so deep my guy. that alone I applaud. Thanks for the videos. I really dig your style. Wanted to throw in that I think the Mudcrab merchant could be possibly a Mudcrab that was somehow able to retain a more sophisticated intelligence, rather than becoming a basic crab. Since Mudcrabs are said to exist in the last Kalpa, and after that time period devolved sotospeak into what we see ingame. But this guy...somehow he has retention of intelligence. And I think the alcoholism is due to the very struggle of being possibly the only member of its species to hold any significant intelligence. Just imagine...being the only human among thousands of primates around the world. All your brethren are simple, animalistic, devoid of any notable sentience. And then there is you. All the same at face value yet you are capable of high intelligence, complex thinking and in depth emotional understanding. The only one to understand anything beyond survival, watching your kin hunted as animals to feed the dominant races, while you drink your lonely sentience away, peddling wares as a low key circus attraction in a lonely desolate corner of a desolate land. The story has *so much* more potential to be had and I really hope they continue it with the next major release somehow. Elder Scrolls lore really is a one of a kind gem.
My theory is that the Mudcrab Merchant is a servant of Clavicus Vile, the Daedric God of power, trickery, wishes, serenity, and bargains. It would explain the Mudcrab Merchant's ability speak and his wealth. A different Clavicus Vile servant, Barbas, appears as a talking dog and in Oblivion suggests that he was also Creeper, the Scamp merchant with $5,000.
Headcanon: He wasn't always a mudcrab. Ran into Sheogorath, tried to haggle a bit too much or told an unfunny joke or Sheo woke up that day and Sheo decided he'd like him better as a mudcrab. But also made sure he'd stay insanely rich, even though he can't do anything with the money. Except buy alcohol. Mudcrab drinks to forget the pain. Hangs out on a rock to blend in with the mudcrabs, hide from Sheogorath. And obviously, can't go home to his wife. Maybe hopes someone will accidentally kill him instead of trying to buy his wares. Kinda tired of having to explain the whole "talking mudcrab merchant" thing, so he doesn't bother with his embarrassing sob story. There are holes, no doubt. But it's fun to make stuff up.
Just another piece of general mudcrab lore. One of the Morrowind books on necromancy (specifically Corpse Preparation Vol. 3: The Fresh Corpse) has a note on the usefulness of mud crabs to necromancers. As the anonymous author points out, such scavengers are useful when you have a fresh corpse and wants to make a skeletal servant: “Animals are the Necromancer's greatest allies when it comes to stripping the flesh from a corpse. The ravenous mudcrabs of Morrowind can strip a corpse down to its bones in a matter of days. Lesser crabs in other provinces can do the same in a matter of weeks.”
*CRABS RULE THE WORLD!* If you disagree you are just not in the know, a relic left behind by the times eventually to disappear or yet to see the belated light of carcinization. *\(-_-)/*
This like “pushing the strangeness envelope” is exactly how i feel about mothership zeta or maybe even old world blues. Different setting of course but the pushing of the suspension of disbelief just another notch to get a laugh is something i think beth rpgs basically always try to do
I feel like an appropriate lore explanation could be that the effects of alcohol cause Mudcrabs to gain sentience, but it's not known as nobody wants to share their booze with something like a Mudcrab.
I have a suggestion for you. Most young people have probably never heard of the Wumpus, and you'll find references to the Wumpus in everything from MULE (where you can hunt it in a sort of minigame if you know about it) to Cory Doctorow's fiction.
i only to into TES in Skyrim, so a lot of times i have no idea who the characters are in these series, but i really do appreciate how in thorough you are in these videos. you're doing such a good job on these videos!
