Todd Howard? Let me tell you about Todd Howard.
One time in mid 2012 I was so down in the dumps I was drinking myself into a liver killing stupor every day and if I wasn't drinking I was passed out in a ditch somewhere in the Bowery, NYC. Classes were going terribly, I was about to be evicted, the girl left me, it was all over. The bartender was hesitant to keep opening the bottles, but I insisted and even threatened becoming violent on multiple occasions. It was the nadir of my whole existence.
Then the door flew open with authority, such force in fact it crushed an old lady playing video poker right next to it. A tall shadow was cast but a short man was behind it. It was hard to see who it was at first with the city lights and all but from the gasp of the patrons and the sound of a pool ball accidentally being knocked over to the ground it was someone that was a big deal. There were many stools but he chose the one next to mine. I drunkenly lifted myself off the table and looked up and there he was... Todd Howard.
He took off his scarf, removed his travel cloak, and with a whistle his manservant scurried over to place a phonebook on the seat and offer his back as a human stepladder. Todd seated himself appropriately and sized me up. I never felt so small. He looked to the bartender and ordered, "Two Mike's Hard Lemonades. One for me, one for the sorry son of a bitch next to me." I was insulted so I slurred out, "ButthatsagirlsdrinkTodd." He laughed, took a sip, then coolly said, "Yeah, and the only bitch here is you." I was stricken, I was besmirched, I was verbally violated. I could only stumble out, "What do you know?" He stabbed back at me, "I know I made the best goddamn RPG of the year, of this decade and possibly of all time." I tried to mount a retort, "Youuu never worked on... [hic] Darklands..." but it was weak, it lacked conviction and Todd knew it. Based on how he kept sipping his fruity drink he let the embarrassment sink in for me before going on, "Look at you. Sitting here, reeking of urine, nowhere to go, nowhere to sleep, you lost it all. Just a year ago you had hopes and dreams and what? You let them get to you?"
Todd knew of my history, he knew why I hit rock bottom. I was defeated and shamed in the 1980s arcade game Joust only two days ago and it lead to all this. My high score was beaten, taken over by a balding Asian man who had the quickest fingers in the East Coast. Todd continued, "You know what I did when they told me Daggerfall was too big? That there was nowhere to go after Morrowind? How the radiant AI was too ambitious and would never work? Huh? Look at me you poor miserable bastard." He slapped me on the face, the entire bar looked on, it woke me out of my intoxicated daze and I was ready to throw hands. I stopped, Todd Howard already tensed and in a Greco-Roman stance that told me he was no ordinary developer. "I said, "who's the loser now." He dared me to try, I swung a left hook even Mr. Magoo could see coming. Todd smirked as though he was waiting his whole life for it and easily sidestepped and effortlessly performed a takedown that must have been of Sambo origin. Crashed and on my back, the deafening silence only broken by the distant groans of the old lady from earlier pleading for medical assistance. He stood over me, how could a man so short cast such a mighty shroud? Rather than gloat, he simply extended an open palm forward. "Get up." I accepted his invitation, being pulled back to my feet in one fluid motion.
"It's not about how we look when we win, but how we get up when we lose." He sounded like my high school soccer coach, was Todd Howard a shapeshifter? I didn't know, I couldn't dwell too much on it with the broken hip he had just given me. His manservant came over and wiped my face of dirt with a handkerchief before Todd Howard threw a wad of bottlecaps at the bartender for payment then looked me over. "I was like you once, kid." He reached into his pocket and produced a copy of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. "I don't do this very often... this was meant for some Make-A-Wish kid I was en route to meet but... what the hell. You got spirit." He thrust it out to me, I couldn't help but notice it was the PS3 version. I didn't even own a PS3 but I took it anyways. Satisfied, a smirk came to his face and he went to leave. At the door he stopped and looked back...
"You went down like a trash mob. Your name is Generic Giant Spider now."
He threw the door back open, killing the old lady who was at that point writhing on the ground, and off he went into the night. But holding that box, I felt power, I felt hope, I felt a new purpose forged for me. I am who I am thanks to Todd Howard. I owe him my life. I also owe him $20 because I pawned that consolized piece of shit game right after to buy cab fare.