Shirley Curry, better known on the internet as the famous YouTuber The Elder Scrolls since 2011 and has over 960k subscribers.
Since its surprise announcement in the form of a teaser trailer at E3 in 2018, Bethesda has been tight-lipped about the next iteration of The Elder Scrolls series. However, thanks to a petition by Curry’s fans, (a community named “Shirley’s Grandkids”) which received almost 50,000 signatures, Bethesda announced in 2019 that she would be officially appearing as an NPC in The Elder Scrolls 6.
As reported by GameSpot, the Shirley - A Skyrim Follower Mod allows Shirley to the player on their in-game adventures in Skyrim. The character is fully voiced by Curry herself, having collaborated with the creators of the mod, who have stated the Skyrim Grandma was “lovely to work with!” She has also been given an entirely new, lore-friendly character story, and will stay completely in character, thus for any players concerned her presence would be immersion breaking, rest easy, as her character will not reference anything that is outside of The Elder Scrolls universe.
The mod, ed by Thesparalius, is Xbox One. For fans with the classic edition of the game, a compatible version is currently in the making. After installing the mod, Shirley can be found near her cozy cottage (which is also a new player home) north-west of Whiterun, up in the mountains. Players will be required to complete a short quest titled “Goodness and Mercy'' in order to recruit Grandma Shirley as their in-game companion. Curry has already begun a new playthrough on her YouTube channel in order to recruit her in-game self as a companion, and interestingly, her player character for this playthrough is based on her granddaughter in real life.
While Shirley is due to appear as an NPC in the next game, the release of The Elder Scrolls 6 is still years away. The new mod will now allow fans of Grandma Shirley to accompany players on their adventures sooner rather than later. It is heart-warming to see a community band together to create something so wholesome, or as described by the mod creators “a great companion, and a friend. And a grandma!” Although Skyrim is a beloved game, the modding community behind it is also largely to thank for keeping the game interesting and new after all these years.
Sources: Thesparalius/NexusMods, Thesparalius/Bethesda.net (via GameSpot)
