Patrick Stewart, Oblivion’s Emperor Uriel Septim, Dies at 86

Sir Patrick Stewart, the voice of Emperor Uriel Septim VII in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and of Zobek in Konami’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow games, has died at 86. His family announced on his official X account on October 29 that he died the day before, Wednesday, October 28, at his home in Los Angeles, “in the loving care of his beloved wife Sunny.” Bethesda Game Studios paid tribute to him a little over an hour later.

Stewart was best known as Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, in a career the family’s statement traces from the Royal Shakespeare Company to Broadway, film and television over six decades. “His sonorous voice and singular talent will forever be synonymous with indelible performances in every genre,” the family’s statement reads. For a generation of RPG players, that voice is also the first one they heard in Cyrodiil.

Patrick Stewart in Oblivion: Emperor Uriel Septim VII

Oblivion opens with Stewart. As the camera travels toward the player’s prison cell, Uriel Septim VII narrates the game’s opening, and minutes later the emperor himself walks through that cell, fleeing assassins through a secret passage under the Imperial City. He hands the player the Amulet of Kings and asks them to find his illegitimate son before he is killed in the sewers, which sets the whole main quest in motion.

The part is brief, but Kotaku calls it perhaps his best-known video game role. The fan wiki UESP notes that several of the emperor’s lines quote or closely paraphrase Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, a play about the assassination of a ruler, which fits both the scene and the actor delivering it.

Emperor Uriel Septim VII, from the image Bethesda Game Studios shared with its tribute on October 29. Image: Bethesda Game Studios

Oblivion Remastered kept his performance

When Bethesda and Virtuos released The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered on April 22, 2025, Stewart’s original recordings came with it. As Kotaku notes, his archived performance as the emperor was used in the remaster, so the opening of the 2025 version still carries the voice players first heard in 2006.

Zobek in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 1 and 2

Stewart’s other major game role was Zobek, the veteran of the Brotherhood of Light who sets Robert Carlyle’s Gabriel Belmont on his quest in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. Konami’s own store page for the Ultimate Edition still credits “Sir Patrick Stewart” as “the mysterious Zobek.” He returned for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 in 2014, in which Zobek warns Dracula of Satan’s return; Insider Gaming lists both games in its look back at his career. Konami’s series has since moved on to 2D with Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, released this month.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (2014), in which Stewart returned as Zobek. Image: Konami

Patrick Stewart’s main video game roles

Bethesda pays tribute

Bethesda Game Studios posted its tribute on X at 21:02 UTC on October 29, with an image of Uriel Septim: “Rest in peace to Sir Patrick Stewart — an emperor, a captain, and an inspiration to us all. Our thoughts are with his loved ones.” The post nods to both the throne in Cyrodiil and the captain’s chair on the Enterprise.

It lands in a busy week for the series, with fresh reports about the next Elder Scrolls game (see our explainer on The Elder Scrolls 6 ‘Sentinel’ report).

What’s next

Kotaku reports that Stewart’s final performance as Charles Xavier is in Avengers: Doomsday, due in cinemas on December 18. More tributes from studios and colleagues are expected over the coming days; we will follow them on our gaming news live page.

Sources: family statement on Patrick Stewart’s official X account (Oct 29, 19:39 UTC); Bethesda Game Studios on X (Oct 29, 21:02 UTC); Kotaku; Polygon; Insider Gaming; Konami and Bethesda store pages on Steam; UESP.

Live: Follow today’s gaming news as it happens

Featured image: Bethesda Softworks