Zenimax Trademarks The Word Starborn, Creating New Speculation For Starfield

Zenimax has filed an interesting new trademark that has the internet buzzing.

As shared by klobrille on Twitter, another Twitter user with the handle bogorad222 found the trademark application for the word “Starborn.” The trademark does not betray any intention for its use, as the application includes video games, but also clothing, paper products, toys, shows and movies, and more.

But, that would be expected for trademark applications. Obviously, Zenimax would not want to pay for trademark application fees once again if they were to use the word to sell t-shirts, for example.

The real question here is that it is a fairly recent application, dated to July 12, 2024. Would it be true that Zenimax / Bethesda came up with the word only recently? Or was this only a recent application because they only thought to use the name only now?

Of course, the speculation around this revolves around how the word Starborn evokes two things that Bethesda has already worked on on their games: the game Starfield, and the word Dragonborn.

The Dragonborn first make their appearance in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Dragonborn. These people are also known as Dovahkin, and seem to be blessed by the god Akatosh. For this DLC, you yourself play as the Dragonborn, making your character part of their insane lore.

Starfield itself saw critical and commercial success when it launched last year, but with the long wait between updates, many fans have stopped playing and simply moved on. We know that its Shattered Space DLC is set to arrive soon. And that’s probably what fuels a lot of speculation.

Indeed we can’t help wondering if Starborn will be somehow the Starfield equivalent of The Elder Scroll’s Dragonborn. Will it also turn out that you were a Starborn yourself? Is there a preordained destiny also waiting in the wings for Starfield players?

But it doesn’t really make sense for Zenimax to file such a trademark for DLC that’s already on the way. It would be something else if the application came months or even years ago. We think what probably happened here is that they did just came up with the word Starborn recently, and the application is well in advance of Bethesda coming up with a use for it.

So maybe Starborn won’t be related to any future DLC. Maybe Bethesda will use it for a Starfield 2, or – God forbid Bethesda confuse everyone – bring them as a new race and/or faction back in The Elder Scrolls.

In any case, it certainly looks like Bethesda isn’t done with Starfield after all.