Sir Patrick Stewart, a veteran of many Shakespeare productions, works lines from Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" into his character in the role of Emperor Uriel Septim.
On a stone platform at the top of a mountain in the Shivering Isles lies a fresh corpse named "Sheogorath's Punished." The "Death Warrant" on it is addressed to one of the game's developers, and the corpse resembles that developer.
As a running joke carried over from Morrowind, the character M'Aiq the Liar returns. The mysterious Khajiit is famous for telling countless lies about the game; in Morrowind he told a single truth, but in this game even that is gone.
The Collector's Edition, which includes the Pocket Guide to the Empire, the "Making of Oblivion" documentary and a Septim gold coin, became the best-selling collector's/special edition of all time even though it cost only ten dollars more than the standard edition.
There are countless connections among The Elder Scrolls games, including forward-looking references; the Imperial Arena salutes the concept and box design of the original Arena game. Characters and items such as the sword "Umbra" also reappear across the games with different owners.
At the climax of the main quest, Mehrunes Dagon appears as the forces of Oblivion attack the Imperial City. Although he cannot be killed with normal weapons, when he is killed on the PC version with a console command he comically melts and falls apart.
The main theme of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind can be heard in the background music of various regions of Oblivion.
The playable character in this game, the Hero of Kvatch, becomes a Daedric god in Skyrim, and the heroes of the two games meet face to face for the first time. The Sheogorath you encounter in the quest "The Mind of Madness" is in fact the Hero of Kvatch himself.
The only game in The Elder Scrolls series to span two eras: it begins at the end of the Third Era and ends in the first year of the Fourth Era.
In the Shivering Isles, the walking tree creatures called Gnarls drop the alchemy ingredient "Gnarl Bark" when killed. Fittingly for Sheogorath, the god of madness, this may be a reference to Gnarls Barkley and the song "Crazy."
In Greenmead Cave northeast of Skingrad lives a giant mudcrab three times the size of a normal crab.
The Gray Fox, voiced by Wes Johnson, often shouts "Excellent!" when he is pleased with the player's success. This may be a nod to Johnson's work as arena announcer for the NHL team the Washington Capitals; he is also the Imperial Arena announcer.
Sean Bean's tradition of his characters driving the story forward with striking deaths continues in this game. His co-star says he is either always typecast in the same kind of roles or simply loves dramatic scenes.
The ESRB initially rated the game T, but nudity found in the game files drew a backlash. Although this content is accessible only through mods on PC, the rating was raised to M because the dismembered corpses in the game were too graphic for a T rating.