It must have been surreal for Pratchett meeting Emma in person at the Snuff launch party. Since she voices the character herself, it must have been like meeting two separate friends at once - his writing correspondent and research partner, Emma, and his virtual guide/friend in Vilja.

That feels like a scene with the sort of bizarre, semi-irrational emotional undertones that Terry himself would often write about. I wish he was still around to ask how it felt.

Wow I haven’t heard of either mr. Pratchett or Emma before, but what a wonderful and touching story indeed! Thank you for sharing!

they dont make humans like they used to

rip terry pratchet

That was great. I can see the appeal of a character who helps you get unstuck and relieves decision fatigue, all in a diegetic way that keeps you immersed.

I was deeply touched by the details in this wonderful article. I miss Terry Pratchett and I’m so very grateful to him, the mod authors, and to the Oblivion game.

Wow, I’m a huge fan of Terry Pratchett. What a lovely story - I didn’t realise he was a such a big fan of oblivion. Also the makers of that mod are very kind to have adapted the mod in ways that would help him enjoy the game despite his Alzheimer’s.

Huh, that’s why Vilja has the peculiar “I’m lost” dialogue option. Really cute story!

Never played Oblivion with companion mods, but I liked Vilja a lot in Skyrim. One of the few female companions that wasn’t designed to be the player’s projection canvas for juvenile fantasies.

This is a great story about how mods can add accessibility options.

GNU Sir Terry. He lives on in the Clacks.

I remember downloading Vilja and being blown away by how many lines she had and how she would react to different situations. You can tell a lot of love went into making her. She made the game feel more alive, that’s for sure.

Oh look at that! I was never into companion mods so I never got Vilja, but I remember she was super popular back then. I had no idea Pratchett had involvement with it or I would have tried it. This working behind the scenes makes him even more awesome to me now

GNU Sir Terry, he really was a through and through great soul. I fell in love with the disc world around 12 and rereading his books is always a pleasure.

I liked Companion Vilga because when you would crouch and be sneaky so too would she, so you could sneak up on those goblins and do a sneaky sneak attack for critical damage. She also wouldn’t just run into the lava when you’re doing an oblivion gate and that was nice. Didn’t know she had a storyline though, let alone that it was done by Mr Discworld himself!

Well now that settles it. i need to meet vilja

Thank you for posting this.

Thanks for sharing this! I was literally just listening to Snuff again last week at work I had no idea he was inspired by the elder scrolls!