Early on in the Mages Guild's existence they started a summer reading program aimed at children. It functioned not only to boost awareness of and membership to the guild, but also to encourage critical thinking and research to children, particularly on magical subjects, as well as boost childhood literacy rates.

They kept the program up for many years until it became a victim of bureaucratic nonsense and got cut for "budgetary reasons" during the guild's decline.

i know im not one too talk on the matter of developing/seeing great potential and/or depth in minor characters in TES games but i legit just. do not get ANYTHING involving cicero. like yeah, i dont get everyone swooning over his appearance, but any analysis is just. baffling to me. im sure one of his stans could fire back a single defining trope behind prince naemon to take me down but cicero is literally just.. a mad jester. that’s all he is. and like i get what they’re saying about people writing off any decisions he makes and any intelligence he displays off with “he’s insane, he doesn’t know what he’s doing” because that IS ableist but i just.

bethesda gave him a backstory. not really anything that develops him truly, at least to the extent that people interpret-- just. a backstory. some books in the DB sanctuary that you can find or read that give nothing more other than “this is why he’s like That”. maybe i’m just dense and in-comprehensive but there’s... not much more than that. and while, like i said, hating how his actions are written off with “he’s insane” is justified; it becomes just ridiculous when that’s literally how bethesda wrote his character. that’s all he is. they didn’t adapt him from a deeper portrayal. they didn’t seem to put a lot into him. they just made him, and all they made him IS a mad jester with some tragic backstory. not much more than that.

go under the readmore to see me rambling in-comprehensively about character writing and a stupid ass skyrim character for like 5+ paragraphs

if you’re on mobile i am Very Sorry not just for having to scroll through it but also the fact that you’re a witness to my stupidity i do not know what im talking about ever

and if bethesda really did intend to put more into his character and have the character depth that people claim him to have, that is where their recent tactic of “ok take a few characters and develop them a shitton so we have some memorable fan favorites to try and get to the level of martin septim + lucien lachance and we’re good” falls short. the DB in skyrim definitely has some endearing personalities but other than maybe astrid (in terms of character depth), cicero is really the one character that has such a backstory and probably has the most lines.

take it and compare it to ESO. MMOs are going to be drastically different than the major titles in terms of how much is included in quests and all because the format’s different and there’s less concern on pacing (i think) BUT... the writers clearly put a lot, or rather, ENOUGH, into the AD questline and it’s characters.

 im not going to go too into it and run the risk of seeming like im doing the very thing i’m criticizing (over-analyzing shit that isn’t there) and i think it’s a bit more lost with characters like razum-dar and all (fan-favorites tend to be... oversold at times esp. in an MMO where the content is constantly expanding) but queen ayrenn, prince naemon, pelidil, aranias (oh lovely babey. i can never play her quest without crying)... all developed, enough to make a lot of quest-players feel. you like these characters. sympathize. adore. zenimax has some damn issues with plot-writing but their characters, man. when put them aside the amount of endearing characters that bethesda has written it’s just glaring. 

and when you put all of that next to the level of over-hyped meta centered around characters like cicero, it’s even more glaring.

(although the scale to which bethesda characters are adored can’t really be ignored. the tribunal tend to be universally appreciated on either a purely “their lore is interesting” front or a straight-up “i love them” front, or both. but of course, major title characters are going to be more popular than characters in an MMO that was LOATHED by everyone like two years ago and the tribunal has particularly been here since the beginning (well. morrowind. around the beginning) and arguably has the most development out of many TES characters.)

point is, this is one of the many pitfalls of putting all the development towards one character that is not necessarily the sole character you’re going to be dealing with + NEEDS development, rather than balancing it out among all the others too with only some emphasis on those that truly matter. characters that attempt at a backstory, depth, stand out like a sore thumb when put up against those that don’t have any at all and don’t try to. you get people so desperate for good characters searching for more details, more depth, that isn’t there because bethesda didn’t TRULY develop him.

had naemon been the younger brother of a blander character, a character with nowhere near as much depth as ayrenn, he wouldn’t be as good. had they given random development to him or aranias or pelidil or estre or ANYONE to where they stand out on that front, it all wouldn’t be as good. as much of an experience. naemon is a good character, sure, but he doesn’t carry the “show” alone. cicero... aside from astrid, does.

(although i should note if ayrenn was alone in character depth i dont think it wouldn’t be as glaring as cicero-- as ayrenn IS kind of the “main character” (or the closest you’re going to get to one) in the AD questline other than the AD hero themselves and when you develop the leader/main character, the one you dedicate yourself to, as opposed to everyone else in an MMO questline... i wouldn’t suppose it to be that noticeable, at least as noticeable as a side character predominantly centered in the “mad jester” trope getting the most development in a questline. serana is an example of where it kind of works on part of bethesda and gives a similar effect to ayrenn, works in a way that she is developed and likable but all it gives you is “damn. i want more of this please” instead of “this... this seems a bit out of place”. because serana is the one character you deal with the most, talk to-- your companion. of course she’s developed. and that isn’t to say cicero isn’t a major character in the DB questline it’s just-- you get my point.) 

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TLDR; when you give a character more backstory and “depth” than all the others in a sea of bland, minimally developed other characters-- while it works on that “fans adore him and cherish him and over-analyze” front because it’s such a damn surprise to them they actually give two shits about a character in your damn game-- they stand out and the weak spots become more and more glaring, not just in that one character that you gave a half-assed backstory but in the rest of your damn character writing as well.

also. uh. that was not my original point, my point was i just find cicero analysis silly. yeah that’s all

i dont want to be an asshole and i know people are just having fun but meta, headcanons (”oh cassius but c0da--” shut up), etc. are one thing-- passing off all these in-depth character analysis and all as canon implication at the least is another and becomes a bit. grating at times

If you read through all of that and do not get a word i’m saying i am so sorry for putting you through that and you are 100% justified