Starfield fan discovers obscure Lord of the Rings Easter egg

An extremely attentive Starfield fan discovered a rather obscure reference to the Lord of the Rings franchise in Bethesda's latest game. Their discovery adds to the already extensive list of Starfield Easter eggs that the community has uncovered since the early access on September 1st.

Pop culture references are nothing new for Bethesda games; many of the best Easter eggs in Fallout 4 referenced classic movies like Alien, Titanic, and Jaws, as well as in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Fallout 76, and the company's other RPGs.

Starfield proudly continues this tradition with a variety of new film Easter eggs, some of which are more obscure than others. One such reference, which can easily be overlooked, was recently discovered by Reddit user turntrout101. They realized that the description of a potato in the game is actually a nod to a famous line from "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers." The remark, spoken by Samwise Gamgee, played by Sean Astin, during a conversation with Gollum, played by Andy Serkis, showcases the hobbit expressing his love for potatoes by listing some of the many ways to prepare "taters."

While the 2002 film took this line verbatim from Tolkien's eponymous book from 1954, the quote didn't achieve meme status within the fandom until after the release of Peter Jackson's film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers." Its popularity peaked around 2008 when YouTuber AlbinoBlackSheep released a viral EDM song titled "Mashed Taters," which essentially remixed the dialogue between Serkis and Astin from the film. Bethesda's current potato description is further evidence of the enduring impact of the meme and adds to the already extensive list of Starfield Easter eggs, which include references from Skyrim to Blade Runner.

Starfield is by no means the first Bethesda game to contain a reference to "The Lord of the Rings." That title belongs to the company's very first RPG, "The Elder Scrolls: Arena"; the groundbreaking 1994 title included several nods to Tolkien's classic fantasy novels. The game's "random" name generator often suggested names that essentially mirrored the names of famous LOTR characters, with hyphens inserted between syllable stress shifts: Ara-gorn, Lego-las, Gan-dalf, Sau-ron, and so on. Many names associated with Greek and Roman myths received the same treatment in TES: Arena.

Even though even some Lord of the Rings fans might overlook the inspiration behind the potato description in Starfield, this newly discovered reference is hardly the most obscure Easter egg in the game. In fact, some of the references in the RPG are so subtle that the community can't even definitively determine whether they are indeed references or mere coincidences. This is highlighted by a recent discussion that emerged regarding a structure in New Atlantis, with some Starfield players suspecting it to be an homage to Dead Space.

Starfield launches on September 6th for PC and Xbox Series X/S.