Julian LeFay Papers reveal 29-year-old Battlespire Easter egg

A long-standing mystery within the video game An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire has been solved after nearly three decades. An Easter egg, which included a development team image and specific text strings, remained inactive for 29 years because the activation method was unknown to players and researchers.

The solution was discovered within the Julian LeFay Papers, an archive of documents belonging to the late game creator, which was donated to the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. Andrew Borman, the museum’s Director of Digital Preservation, coordinated the research that identified the trigger: players must hold the number 1 key and type the word “Spire” during a game to display the hidden content.

The donation was facilitated by Bethesda Softworks founder Christopher Weaver, who contacted the LeFay family on behalf of the museum. The archive contains significant historical material, including LeFay’s work on subsequent projects and his Dungeons & Dragons campaign notes, which helped shape the Elder Scrolls series.