Skyrim Grandma will appear in The Elder Scrolls 6 through photogrammetry

By Aaron Mamiit Updated March 31, 2019

Shirley Curry, the 82-year-old gamer who is affectionately known as the Skyrim Grandma, will appear as a non-playable character in The Elder Scrolls 6 with the help of photogrammetry technology.

Curry, who currently has more than 500,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel, earned her nickname through her videos of playing The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. She does quests in her sessions, but she mostly acts like a traveling merchant, as she traverses the game’s lands to sell treasure that she discovered while exploring.

A petition was created on Change.org to immortalize Curry in The Elder Scrolls 6, either as a character, item, or location, after she expressed concerns that she may no longer be around for the upcoming game. It appears that the signatures have worked, as Bethesda has agreed to add Skyrim Grandma to the next installment in the series.

To create Curry’s character, Bethesda will use photogrammetry technology, which the studio talked about at the Elder Scrolls 25th Anniversary Panel in PAX East. The technology scans real-world objects and creates highly detailed 3D models out of them.

“This means a lot to me,” Curry said in the video presentation. “Because I would be extremely happy to know that somebody else was playing with my character in a future Elder Scrolls game.”

Curry also tweeted her appreciation for being invited by Bethesda to appear in The Elder Scrolls 6, while taking home the souvenir of a photo with the studio’s director, Todd Howard.

https://twitter.com/ShirleyScurry/status/1111738133861797891

https://twitter.com/ShirleyScurry/status/1112105575599558656

It will likely be a long while before Curry’s fans see her character in action in The Elder Scrolls 6 though. Howard said at PAX East that the game, along with its other next big RPG Starfield, are “not something we’re going to be talking about” at this year’s E3.

The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced at E3 2018, though the game’s teaser trailer did not reveal a subtitle or gameplay details. Bethesda has reportedly decided on the region that the game will explore, as it was the first thing that was decided on in the early stages of planning. The studio will be keeping it a secret, giving fans lots of time to speculate on where the franchise is heading next.

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