The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim contains many references and mentions of events, characters and items from previous Elder Scrolls games. One of the most prominent and best-remembered of these references comes in the form of a diary entry written by Cicero, a bizarre jester who serves as Keeper of the Night Mother's coffin within the Dark Brotherhood questline.
Cicero arrives at the Falkreath Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary with the Night Mother's coffin near the beginning of the guild's storyline, and his strange mannerisms and secretive nature lead the chapter's leader, Astrid, to suspect him of treason. The player is tasked with investigating Cicero, and they can read diaries kept within his room in the sanctuary that detail his mental decline.
One particular journal entry stands out. In it, Cicero recalls a contract he undertook while in Cyrodill, detailing how he completed his task of killing the Imperial Arena's Grand Champion by posing as a "starstruck fan" and following the Grand Champion around. While leading him through the Great Forest, he turned on his target and slashed his throat. This diary entry raised one major question for many players: was Cicero the Adoring Fan?
In Oblivion, players who complete each match in the Imperial Arena questline become Grand Champion of the Arena. After gaining this title, an irritating young man known as the Adoring Fan will approach the player and beg to be given permission to follow them. The fan will do so until instructed to leave, at which point he will remain at the Arena awaiting further instructions. The Adoring Fan can be killed, but will respawn back at the Arena several days later.
The theory that Cicero is actually Oblivion's Adoring Fan and was attempting to carry out a contract on either the Hero of Kvatch or another character related to the Arena has become incredibly popular since Skyrim's release in 2011. To this day, it is still routinely discussed, and some even consider it to be fact based on Cicero's journals.
Unfortunately, outside of these journals, the fan theory doesn't hold much water. For one, the events of Oblivion take place around 400 years before Skyrim, meaning that most characters from the fourth game would be long dead by the fifth. Fans may point out that Oblivion's Adoring Fan is a Bosmer, a race capable of living far longer than humans. But while this is true, as Bosmer are capable of living for hundreds of years, 400 years is a little too extreme even for this race.
However, the most damning fact that completely discredits this theory is that Cicero is not even a Bosmer -- he's an Imperial. The Cyrodill native race are humans through and through, easily observed through the Keeper's ears, which lack the elongated point inherent to the Wood Elves.
As enticing as the concept is of one of Oblivion's most annoying and memorable characters secretly being a Dark Brotherhood assassin who re-appears in Skyrim is, the reference to the Adoring Fan in Cicero's journal is just that -- a reference meant to appeal to fan who have played both games. Unless Bethesda decides to give the Adoring Fan his own Dishonored-style spin-off tasking him with assassinating residents of Cyrodill for some reason, the character will remain nothing more than an amusing and annoying follower that fans enjoy pushing off cliffs.
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