You’re standing in a damp cell. The walls are gray, the air feels heavy, and some guy named Valen Dreth is heckling you from across the hall. It’s 2006. Or maybe it’s 2026 and you’re modding the life out of a classic. Either way, the main quest line Oblivion offers is one of the weirdest, most polarizing journeys in RPG history. Most people remember the memes. They remember the potato faces and the "Stop right there, criminal scum!" shouts. But if you actually sit down and play through the narrative arc of Martin Septim and the Mythic Dawn, you realize Bethesda did something incredibly ballsy. They made a game where you aren't actually the chosen one.
Think about it.
In Skyrim, you’re the Dragonborn. You shout at dragons and they fall out of the sky. In Morrowind, you’re the Nerevarine, the reincarnation of a god-hero. In the main quest line Oblivion puts you through, you’re basically the high-end glorified bodyguard for the actual hero. You’re the guy who does the chores so the last heir to the throne can save the world.
The Weird Pacing of Finding Martin Septim
The game starts with a literal bang—the Emperor, played by a very tired-sounding Patrick Stewart, dies in a sewer. It’s dramatic. It sets the stakes. But then the game just... lets you go. You have the Amulet of Kings, the most important artifact in the world, and you can just go pick flowers for forty hours. Honestly, that’s the charm. When you finally decide to head to Kvatch, the game slaps you across the face.
Kvatch is a nightmare. It’s the first time you see an Oblivion Gate, and for a 2006 audience, that sky turning blood-red was a genuine "oh crap" moment. You go in, you realize the Deadlands are just a series of vertical towers and fleshy bridges, and you grab a Sigil Stone. This is the core loop of the main quest line Oblivion relies on: see gate, enter gate, climb tower, grab stone, repeat. It’s repetitive. Some might even say it’s tedious. But it serves a narrative purpose. It makes the demonic invasion feel like an actual grind, an exhausting war of attrition against Mehrunes Dagon.
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You find Martin. He’s a priest. He’s voiced by Sean Bean, which, let’s be real, usually implies the character is going to have a rough time. Martin is skeptical, he’s scholarly, and he’s arguably the most well-developed NPC Bethesda has ever written for a main story. He doesn't want to be Emperor. He’s got a dark past with Daedra worship that he barely talks about. Bringing him to Weynon Priory and then to Cloud Ruler Temple feels like a genuine escort mission that actually matters.
Why the Mythic Dawn Are Better Villains Than We Give Them Credit For
Usually, RPG villains are just "evil because they like spikes and skulls." Mankar Camoran is different. When you finally get to the "Path of Dawn" segment of the main quest line Oblivion features, you start reading the Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes. These books are dense. They’re weird. They suggest that Tamriel is actually just another plane of Oblivion—Lorkhan’s plane—and that the Daedric Princes are trying to "reclaim" it rather than just invade it.
It’s a fascinating bit of lore that makes the cultists feel like they have a point. Following the guy in the green robes through the sewers or infiltrating their meeting in Lake Arrius Caverns is tense. If you mess up the initiation, the entire room turns on you. It’s one of the few times the main story feels like an immersive sim.
The Great Gate and the Final Push
The middle of the story is where most players drop off. You have to gather allies. This means traveling to every major city—Bruma, Cheydinhal, Skingrad, Leyawiin—and closing gates for them so they’ll send a few soldiers to help. It’s a bit of a slog. But it leads to the Battle of Bruma.
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This is the climax of the main quest line Oblivion fans always talk about. You’re outside the city walls. Martin is there in full armor. Gates are opening everywhere. You have to enter a Great Gate—a massive, timed version of the standard gate—to get a Great Sigil Stone. The pressure is real. If you take too long, the siege engine reaches the city and it’s game over. It’s chaotic. It’s buggy. It’s glorious.
The finale in the Imperial City is a total shift in scale. You aren't fighting goblins anymore. You’re watching a multi-story tall god of destruction stomp through the streets. Since you aren't the "chosen one," you can't kill Mehrunes Dagon. You literally can't. Your weapons do nothing. All you can do is protect Martin long enough for him to reach the Temple of the One.
When Martin smashes the Amulet of Kings, he turns into the Avatar of Akatosh. A giant gold dragon made of light. It’s a bittersweet ending. The hero dies to save the world, and you’re just the person who stood nearby and made sure no one stabbed him during the ceremony. It’s a humble conclusion to an epic story.
Combat, Leveling, and the "Oblivion Problem"
We have to be honest about the mechanics. The main quest line Oblivion offers is significantly impacted by the game's notorious leveling system. In Skyrim, if you level up, you feel stronger. In Oblivion, if you level up poorly, the enemies scale faster than you do.
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By the time you get to the end of the quest line, a common scamp might have the health pool of a boss if you spent all your time leveling non-combat skills like Acrobatics or Athletics. This creates a weird meta-game where the "optimal" way to play the main story is to stay at level 1 or 2 as long as possible. It’s a flaw, certainly, but it’s one that defines the experience.
- Magic is king. If you aren't using spellmaking to create "Weakness to Fire/Magic" stacks, you’re making life harder for yourself.
- Speed matters. Most Oblivion gates can be "speedrun" by simply ignoring enemies and jumping up the central tower.
- The NPCs are mortal. During the Battle of Bruma, named characters you like can and will die if you aren't fast enough.
The Actionable Way to Experience the Story Today
If you’re looking to revisit the main quest line Oblivion has waiting for you, don’t just rush the markers. The beauty is in the friction.
- Don't Fast Travel to Every Gate: The sense of a world under siege only works if you actually see the gates scarring the landscape as you ride your horse from city to city.
- Read the Books: Specifically, read Mankar Camoran's writings. It turns a generic "save the world" plot into a theological debate about the nature of reality in the Elder Scrolls universe.
- Use the Gray Fox: If you’ve done the Thieves Guild quest line, using the Cowl of Nocturnal during the main quest creates some hilarious and unique interactions with the guards and the Blades.
- Get the Sigil Stones Early: If you’re struggling with the difficulty spike, the stones you get from closing gates are the most powerful enchanting items in the game. Use them to buff your elemental resistances.
The main quest line Oblivion provides isn't perfect. It’s repetitive, the voice acting is shared between about six people, and the ending is a cutscene you have no control over. But it has a heart that modern, polished RPGs often lack. It’s a story about a loser in a prison cell helping a bastard priest become a god. It’s messy, it’s grand, and it’s exactly why we’re still talking about it two decades later.
To get the most out of your next run, focus on the "Roleplay" in RPG. Don't be the invincible god-slayer; be the weary soldier doing the dirty work in the trenches of the Deadlands so that a better man can save the world. It changes the entire vibe of the game.