Difference between revisions of "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim"

Several characters are depicted as drunkards, and the Dragonborn can give them alcoholic drinks if they have any in their inventory when speaking to the drunk.

During the Daedric quest “A Night to Remember,” the Dragonborn engages in a drinking contest and wakes up the next morning in a strange place with no memory of the previous wild night they had. The rest of the quest involves figuring out what happened while they were drunk. The quest is avoidable, though the Dragonborn will not receive the Daedric artifact, the Sanguine Rose; to avoid it, simply don’t speak to Sam Guevenne when he appears in any inn you enter after reaching level 14.

Wolf-fighting cage-matches appear in two locations: Faldar’s Tooth, a bandit fortress with no quests specific to it (though some quests with random locations will send the Dragonborn there), and Cragslane Cavern which is a location the Dragonborn must visit during a quest if they would like to receive a title in the province of The Rift and purchase a house in the city of Riften. In both cases, the Dragonborn puts a stop to the wolf-fighting operations by killing the outlaws responsible but must either ignore or kill most of the wolves, as they attack when their handlers are attacked or if they are freed from their cages.

Pet dogs kept by NPCs exist throughout the game. These dogs can run out of health in the same way the Dragonborn’s pet dog can. Other non-hostile animals which can be killed include domesticated cows, chickens, goats, and wild foxes, rabbits, elk, and deer. Dragon attacks are likely the most common cause of accidental death for these animals, though the Dragonborn can kill them just as easily.

During the quest “A Night to Remember,” the Dragonborn must rescue a goat named Gleda, whom they had abducted and sold to a giant during a night of drunken escapades. The giant does not threaten the goat and seems content to simply keep it. The goat can die if attacked by the Dragonborn, dragons, or any other source of damage. If the player would rather not risk the goat’s death, this part of the quest can be skipped by ignoring the quest’s hint to visit the town of Rorikstead and instead traveling to the city of Whiterun and talking to Ysolda who can be found near the marketplace during the day.

Other enemies can chase the Dragonborn into bodies of water and will occasionally swim in after them, though these enemies cannot attack the Dragonborn while swimming, just as the Dragonborn cannot attack them while swimming. Enemies with ranged attacks, such as bandits with bows, mages with ranged spells, or dragons’ shouts can harm the Dragonborn while they are swimming.

Hagravens are hostile woman-bird hybrids. They have avian feet and clawed hands, though the rest of their bodies draw more from their human side.

The Dawnguard and Dragonborn DLCs add non-hostile Bone Hawks and Felsaad Terns, respectively. These birds fly high above the ground like the hawks from the base game and do not attack the player. They can be shot down to yield crafting and alchemy ingredients unique to them, though none of these are necessary toward making meaningful progress through the game.

During combat enemies will often verbally taunt the player, including using racial slurs, especially if the player is a member of certain races shunned by the Nords' society, notably the Khajiit, Argonians, and elvish races.

Depictions of decapitations and beheadings include blood coming from the killed character’s severed neck.

Certain skeletons, especially those which appear in the dens of vampires, bears, trolls, or anything else that is liable to consume a human, are often covered in blood, and the bloody skulls still contain eyes.

Blood spatter is sometimes used as a trail for the Dragonborn to follow or as a background texture in places where someone or something was beaten or killed.

Blood is collected in a basin for rituals during the questlines for the Companions faction and during the quest “Evil in Waiting,” and another bloodfilled basin is located in Shriekwind Bastion, a Nordic ruin.

In the Dawnguard DLC, Castle Volkihar, the headquarters of the vampire faction, features several rooms which are spattered heavily with blood, including a banquet hall which features bloody tables, bones, glasses, and pitchers as well as humans labeled as Vampire Cattle who are laid out on the tables for the vampires to feed fupon. Blood is also stored in kegs and is on tap for the castle's resident vampires. A shrine to Molag Bal in the castle also features a blood fountain.

In the Dawnguard DLC vampire-faction quest The Bloodstone Chalice, the Dragonborn must take a special goblet to a spring which produces a blood-like fluid. After it is filled, the goblet is placed in the banquet hall at Castle Volkihar for the remainder of the questline.

When slain, the joints of the Falmer enemies will often bend at unnatural angles which causes their corpses to appear rather grotesque.

During the second side-quest called "Experimental Subject" in the Dragonborn DLC, the wizard Neloth will ask the Dragonborn to participate in an experiment. If the Dragonborn agrees to be a test subject, the wizard will cast a spell on them, which will cause the screen to go black and the wizard and his apprentice to comment on the strange, unexpected mutations which appear on the Dragonborn's face: tentacles where their eyes used to be and something unspecified happening to their tongue. The Dragonborn apparently becomes grotesque enough that their appearance causes Neloth's apprentice to vomit. These mutations are not depicted and fade fairly quickly. This quest is avoidable, as the Dragonborn can simply refuse to participate.

During the quest “The Break of Dawn,” the Dragonborn must investigate ruins which are being controlled by a necromancer. Throughout, the dungeon, the player encounters failed necromantic experiments which appear as charred, desiccated corpses which flop about in unnatural ways when interacted with.

During the Dark-Brotherhood quest “Death Incarnate,” the Dragonborn will encounter a person suffering severe burns over their entire body and must have a brief conversation with them and ultimately kill them in order to advance complete the questline.

The transformations into Werewolf and Vampire Lord look painful as the Dragonborn or other character mutates into the altered form.

Lootable skeletons which function as containers, as well as loose bones and skulls, some of which appear with a coating of blood and gore, can be found throughout the game. Both troll and human skulls can be picked up and added to the Dragonborn's inventory, and deer skulls and the skulls and ribcages of mammoths can be found in the world, although they cannot be picked up and added to the Dragonborn's inventory.

In many dungeons, the Dragonborn will encounter bone chimes, strings of bones strung from the ceiling which rattle when bumped into and can alert enemies to their presence.

When dragons are killed, their flesh burns away to reveal their reptilian skeleton. From their corpses, the Dragonborn can loot dragonbone and fashion armor from it.

The armor worn by the Forsworn enemies incorporates bones.

Bone Hawks, added by the Dawnguard DLC, drop Bone Hawk Skulls which can be fashioned into amulets and worn by the player. These amulets can also be found in the vampire faction's base at Volkihar Keep.

The Dawnguard DLC adds dogs which resemble real-world huskies who are allied with the Dawnguard faction, as well as death hounds, black canids with skeletal faces who are allied with the vampire faction.

Werewolves appear in the game, and the Dragonborn can become one by doing the Companions questline.

Human flesh and human heart are both alchemy ingredients which which the player can use to create potions or can simply eat.

In the base game, if the player becomes a vampire, they must feed on sleeping humans, elves, or other sentient beings in order to maintain their human appearance and prevent villagers from being hostile to them. The Dawnguard DLC changes this so that villagers do not react any differently to either a sated or hungry vampire. Vampirism can be cured during the early stages in the same way that any other disease can be cured: with a cure disease potion or a visit to the shrine of a Divine. However, if allowed to progress until the Dragonborn is a full vampire, the Dragonborn must complete the quest "Rising at Dawn," in which they undergo a special ritual to cure their vampirism.

In their native home of Valenwood, the Bosmer people are cannibalistic and eat their dead, due to a pact they made in antiquity with the intelligent plants of the forest they inhabit. This Green Pact prohibits these elves from eating plants or harming them in any way. While the Bosmer of Skyrim do not necessarily adhere to this Pact, several books which discuss the Bosmer feature their cannibalistic ways. None of the books in the game are required reading, so these can easily be avoided: (This section is incomplete.)

• The seven-part book series, “A Dance in Fire” features the protagonist traveling in Valenwood, the homeland of the Bosmer. Volumes 3, 5, and 7 of the series feature instances of or references to cannibalism.

Several other books depict or reference cannibalism perpetrated by non-Bosmer people. None of the books in the game are required reading, so these can easily be avoided: (This section is incomplete.)

• The main conflict of the book series “Bone,” which is added by the Dragonborn add on, is that of a minor lord whose land is being attacked by barbaric cannibalistic warriors.

At two points in the Dark Brotherhood plotline, the Dragonborn must close themselves in the coffin of the Night Mother, the ancient leader of the assassin’s guild, whose mummified corpse is a conduit through which she can speak to her followers. The interior of the coffin is not visually made to seem like as small of a space as would be implied by the size of the coffin when viewed from the outside, and none of the characters involved makes reference to the tightness of the space, merely how strange closing one's self into a coffin is.

Lootable skeletons which function as containers, as well as loose bones and skulls for humans and animals, can be found throughout the game.

Two varieties of lootable corpses exist that cannot be produced through actions of the Dragonborn. Desiccated corpses appear in spiders dens; they have a greenish hue, are wrapped in spider webs, and either hang from the ceiling or roll on the floor. Burnt corpses appear in many places, often to point out the existence of a fire-related trap or to give evidence of a past dragon attack or fire-related catastrophe.

Draugr are animate mummified zombies which are encountered in almost any Nordic ruin and will attack intruders. Some Draugr are merely containers for lootable items and will remain interred in their alcoves or coffins, rather than rising to attack.

Animate skeletons are a recurring enemy.

During the Dark Brotherhood plot-line, the Dragonborn encounters the Night Mother, the ancient leader of the assassin’s guild, whose mummified corpse is a conduit through which she can speak to her followers. At two points during the questline, the Dragonborn must close themselves into the coffin with the mummy where the screen is filled with the Night Mother’s visage and with no opportunity to turn the in-game camera away from her face for the duration of the necessary cut-scenes.

The Dragonborn can also marry during the course of the game, and if their spouse lives outside of a city where dragons can attack or if their spouse is a follower and is taken along on quests, the spouse can be killed.

The Hearthfire DLC adds orphaned children who can be adopted by the Dragonborn. Several children are added to the game and will tell you how their parents died; certain existing children can be orphaned during the course of the game and sent to the orphanage.

Many characters the Dragonborn encounters have had loved ones die, and the Dragonborn must, often, help them get revenge or bring them news. The following is not necessarily a comprehensive list of occasions where the Dragonborn encounters characters who are suffering the loss of a loved one:

• During the miscellaneous quest “No News is Good News,” the Dragonborn must help a woman get news of her soldier-daughter’s whereabouts, only to discover the girl had been killed in action.

• During the exploration of the Nordic ruin of Ansilvund, the Dragonborn encounters and must dispatch a necromancer who is raising an undead army which she plans to use to seek revenge for the death and subsequent cremation of her husband, a fallen soldier.

• During the location quest “Ancestral Worship,” the Dragonborn must accompany a cowardly warrior through his family tomb to defeat the necromancer who killed his aunt and is defiling the tomb.

• During the miscellaneous quest “Drowned Sorrows,” the Dragonborn must help a man fill in missing pieces of his past. He is under the impression that the love of his life ran off with a thief and abandoned him. Over the course of the quest, the Dragonborn discovers that the woman had been faithful to the man and had, in fact, died while hunting for treasure which she had hoped could secure the couple’s financial future. To complete the quest, the Dragonborn must inform the man of his love’s fate.

• On the road near the location Meeko’s Shack, the Dragonborn can encounter a dog named Meeko who barks at the Dragonborn and attempts to lead them off in the direction of the shack. If the Dragonborn follows, they will discover the body of a dead Nord beside a journal, chronicling his death by disease and his remorse over leaving his faithful dog, Meeko behind and alone. The dog will continue to protect the shack, sitting beside the Nord’s body, though it can be persuaded to follow the Dragonborn on their quest like a normal follower. If dismissed, the dog will go home to the shack to resume its vigil. With the Hearthfire DLC, the Dragonborn can adopt Meeko as a house pet, which will move the dog into the Dragonborn’s home of choice permanently.

The city of Winterhold is struggling along in the wake of a large-scale disaster which caused much of the cliff-side city to collapse into the sea. There is hostility and animosity among the villagers against the Mages College which was largely untouched by the disaster.

The island of Solstheim, added by the Dragonborn DLC, is suffering from the aftereffects of a large volcanic eruption on a nearby island. The southern half is blanketed in ash from the volcano, and the traditional flora and fauna of that part of the island are wiped out or modified to fit the new environment. The Dunmer who live in that part of the island are also facing attacks by creatures called ash spawn, which are formed from ashes and are hostile to anything or anyone near them.

A large number of in-game books include written depictions of medieval warfare. None of the books in the game are required reading, so these can easily be avoided.

During the quest “The Only Cure,” the Dragonborn must defeat the renegade leader of the Afflicted, a group of people with a special disease which had been given to them by the Daedric Prince Peryite, who are holed up in an old ruin with the eventual intent that they be sent out into the world to spread their disease.

The Knahaten Flu was a massive plague in Elder Scrolls lore. While it does not feature in this game, it may be mentioned in some of the books or may appear while investigating the lore through outside sources.

Sissel of Rorikstead is a young girl raised by her single father, Lemkil, after her mother died giving birth to her and her twin sister Britte. When walking past the sisters, Britte can often be heard threatening Sissel for not doing chores which were assigned to Britte and otherwise verbally abusing her sister. Sissel also reports being beaten by both her father and sister and takes her only solace in learning magic from a friendly local mage, telling the Dragonborn that she hopes that what she's learning will help her flee her abusive home one day.

In the Dawnguard DLC, the Dragonborn encounters the Volkihar vampire clan and must help Serana, the daughter of the clan's warring leaders, deal with her manipulative parents, whose conflicting plans lead them both to try to manipulate Serana to their own ends.

Drowned characters can be found in many places in the game.

• During the exploration of the ruin Rannveig’s Fast, the Dragonborn falls down a chute into a cage filled with waist-high water, in which float several corpses. Once the Dragonborn escapes the cage, they can read the journal of the necromancer who set the trap, which describes two different drowning deaths of other adventurers who had fallen into the trap.
• Outside the exit to a cave system called Darkwater Pass, the Dragonborn can find the submerged skeleton of an adventurer who appears to have been tied to a stone and thrown down a waterfall where they subsequently died.

The book “The Argonian Account, Book 4” opens with the protagonist paralyzed and being carried along in a river. He loses consciousness temporarily but wakes up more-or-less unscathed after his ordeal. None of the books in the game are required reading, so this can easily be avoided.

The residents of Honorhall Orphanage are emotionally abused by their caretaker who tells them that they are rejects and that no one will ever want to adopt them. These children can be adopted with the Hearthfire DLC, and the caretaker can be killed as part of the quest "Innocence Lost," which will cause her to be replaced as caretaker by her kindlier assistant.

The way the idea of the soul is handled in the Elder Scrolls universe is potentially troubling. The idea of an afterlife is very present, and there is, in fact, proof of the existence of several afterlives, including the Nordic heaven of Sovngarde, the Hunting Grounds of the Daedra Hircine, and the Daedra Nocturnal’s realm of Evergloam. The Dragonborn can also capture the souls of practically any being or animal they kill with the use of soul gems and the soul-trap enchantment or spell and can use these to create and power enchantments for weapons and armor. When these souls are used, they are damned to live out eternity the Soul Cairn, a hellish realm of Oblivion. The Dragonborn also absorbs the souls of slain dragons and applies their knowledge to understanding the Words of Power for their unique Shouting power.

The final enemy of the dragon portion of the plotline, the great dragon Alduin, invades the Nordic afterlife of Sovngarde and consumes the souls of the Nords’ heroic dead in order to become more powerful. When the Dragonborn visits Sovngarde for the final battle, Alduin is in the process of feeding, and the Dragonborn meets several dead souls who are eaten by Alduin shortly after the Dragonborn interacts with them. This is especially disconcerting because the souls are lost in a fog Alduin created to confuse them and prevent them from reaching safety. Also, depending on what quests have been undertaken prior to entering Sovngarde, the Dragonborn can encounter the souls of certain people they have met along their journey and with whom they may have developed personal connections. Despite the potential for worry over the loss of these characters, none of them can be consumed by Alduin, and Alduin’s feeding concludes at the end of the plotline.

The werewolves featured during the Companions questline are committed to serving their afterlife with the Daedric prince of the hunt, Hircine. Several of the Companions struggle with the fact that, as werewolves, they will not be able to go to Sovngarde, the Nordic afterlife, and a large part of the Companions plotline involves finding a way to break the werewolf curse for those who want to go to Sovngarde.

Large crossbow weapons which shoot explosive bolts are sometimes rigged up as traps within Dwemer ruins.

Certain traps involve hanging jars full of flaming oil, which can be shot down with an arrow or triggered by a pressure plate or tripwire and explode on impact with the ground. Iridescent oil often coats the ground in areas featuring this kind of fire trap which can spread the flames along the ground.

In certain places within Stony Creek Cave, Knifepoint Mine, Gloombound Mine, Alftand, and, with the Dragonborn DLC, Raven Rock Mine, the air will seem to waver and is filled with an invisible flammable gas. This gas can explosively catch fire and spread when triggered by any source of fire, such as a torch or fire magic wielded by the Dragonborn.

Eye of Sabre Cat is an alchemy ingredient and can often be harvested from the creatures when they are defeated.

Certain prop skulls, especially those which appear in the dens of vampires, bears, trolls, or anything else that is liable to consume a human, appear bloody and still contain damaged eyes.

During the quest “Frostflow Abyss,” the Dragonborn explores an abandoned lighthouse whose former keepers met a grisly fate. At the end of the quest, the Dragonborn locates the remains of the lighthouse keeper, which appears as the bloody skull mentioned above. This particular skull must be looted from the boss monster; it appears as the first item in the enemy’s inventory, so when the Dragonborn goes to loot the enemy, a close-up of this skull appears, which could be unsettling.

The Khajiit race are feline humanoids and are available as a racial option for the Dragonborn. NPC Khajiit exist in the world and are almost exclusively found as members of trading caravans that travel between Skyrim's major cities. Hostile Khajiit can spawn as bandits or thieves in the world and will attack the Dragonborn.

Dragons and the Dragonborn both have fire breath attacks.

As the plot of the game heavily involves fire-breathing dragons returning after hundreds of years of slumber, dragon-attacks become a common occurrence, and the Dragonborn can often find ruined villages and homes which were burned as a result of dragon attacks.

In the ruins of Morvunskar, a mad-scientist mage killed several humanoid test subjects with fire.

Some traps shoot fire, while others involve hanging jars full of flaming oil, which can be shot down and explode on impact with the ground.

Flammable materials will often appear in dungeons. (See Explosion section for further details)

When beheaded or decapitated, both the head and neck of the slain character show the inner musculature of the neck.

The Dragonborn can also locate several varieties raw animal meat in the world, usually by looting it off of killed animals. The Dragonborn can also find the alchemy ingredients human heart, human flesh, giant's toe, Falmer ear, and sabre cat eye which are somewhat gory remains of the various beings and creatures and are used for alchemy.

Spriggan enemies produce a sound like buzzing bees, and, when defeated, release a swarm of glowing particles which attack the player and could be interpreted as insects.

Butterflies, moths, bees, and fireflies can be harvested for alchemy ingredients.

In some places, tiny ants can be spotted crawling on top of large tree stumps.

In Nordic ruins, Draugr will often be interred in coffins which will, when approached, pop open suddenly, and the Draugr will emerge. This isn’t usually startling if it is anticipated, but can be startling when not. Similarly, in Dwemer ruins, Dwarven Spiders and Spheres can be dispensed from pipes in walls suddenly when the player approaches, and in Falmer dens, the Falmer enemies can jump down from their nests which are often suspended high in tunnels.

Dragons can appear suddenly while traveling in the world, and encountering them triggers special battle music, which can be startling if unanticipated or if the audio is on too loudly.

Shalidor’s Maze near the location Labyrinthian features very tight spaces and potentially startling encounters. With a narrow path, high walls, and many blind corners around which occasionally hide skeever enemies who jump out and attack the Dragonborn, traversing the maze can be unnerving. The maze is entirely avoidable, and the reward for completing the Maze, the Diadem of the Savant, can be found at a different location via a bug.

In all of these situations, spells such as Detect Life/Detect Dead or the shout Aura Whisper, can be useful to prevent jump scares. These spells cause auras to appear around entities, and the auras are even visible through walls, which makes spotting a potential scare early, possible. Playing with the audio off can also prevent some of the sudden loud sounds which could be triggering.

In the Dawnguard DLC, gargoyle enemies are introduced which appear as stone versions of themselves until they detect the Dragonborn or are triggered by an action, like pulling a switch, at which point they burst to life suddenly and likely startlingly. In their stone state, they cannot be detected with Detect Life/Detect Dead or the Aura Whisper shout. Casting spells at them in their stone state can trigger them to awaken on the player's terms, however.

• Following the quest “Innocence Lost,” the Dragonborn will receive a mysterious letter. The first time they sleep after receiving this letter, they will awaken in a strange location and be given the quest “With Friends Like These...” which will give them the option of either being inducted into the assassin’s guild (to do so they must kill at least one of a set of three people who were kidnapped along with the Dragonborn), the Dark Brotherhood or of wiping out the assassins. This can be avoided by not completing "Innocence Lost."

• During the Companions job quest “Rescue Mission,” the Dragonborn must rescue and subsequently escort home a random, named villager who had been kidnapped by bandits, Falmer, Hagravens, vampires, or wizards.

• During the quest “The Heart of Dibella,” a young girl was kidnapped, and the Dragonborn must rescue her.

• During the quest “The House of Horrors,” a servant of the Daedric prince, Boethiah, was captured, and the Dragonborn is charged to rescue him.

• During the miscellaneous quest “Extracting an Argonian,” Derkeethus was captured and imprisoned and must be rescued by the Dragonborn.

• The Hearthfire DLC adds "Bandit Attack," a quest in which the Dragonborn's spouse can be kidnapped from any player-built home and must be either rescued or ransomed back. This can be avoided by marrying specific spouses who cannot be kidnapped (see the "Bandit Attack" link for the list) or by moving your spouse into one of the pre-built homes.

The ghostly denizens of the dungeon Rannveig's Fast will tell you how sorry they are for attacking you. The necromancer controlling them has stripped them of their will, forcing them to attack you, but they have enough sense of self and of morality to feel remorseful over it and will tell the Dragonborn "I'm sorry," and "This isn't what I want."

The Dark Brotherhood is a guild of assassins which the Dragonborn can join. The quest-line for the guild features the Dragonborn committing several murders.

The city of Windhelm is plagued by a string of murders perpetrated by someone known only as the Butcher.

When the Dragonborn first enters the marketplace in the city of Markarth, they have the opportunity to prevent a murder, though quick reflexes are necessary to kill the murderer Weylin before he can assassinate his target.

During the quest “The Break of Dawn,” the Dragonborn must investigate ruins which are being controlled by a necromancer. Throughout, the dungeon, the player encounters failed necromantic experiments which appear as burned, desiccated corpses which flop about in unnatural ways when interacted with.

The book “16 Accords of Madness, v. XII” features the unintentional mutilation of a young woman by a warrior wielding a cursed blade. None of the books in the game are required reading, so this can easily be avoided.

• Ass:
  • Vex of the Thieves Guild asks that the Dragonborn “not make her look like an ass in front of the Guild” by messing up any of the jobs she offers.
  • Maul of Riften will tell the Dragonborn to “watch [their] ass around” the city, if they fail a Persuade check against him when they first arrive.
  • Galmar Stone-Fist of Windhelm will taunt enemy Imperial soldiers in battle with the phrase, “The Emperor can kiss my ass!”

• Bastard:
  • “Bastard” is used in several places as the actual term for an illegitimate child; these uses will not be listed here.
  • During the introduction cinematic, when one of the captured rebel soldiers is beheaded, one of his compatriots calls the Imperial solders who have captured them “Imperial bastards.”
  • In the “Smuggler’s Journal,” which is found in a cellar at Mara’s Eye Pond, the smuggler who penned the book calls his employer “that bastard” after discovering the contents of his cargo: human bodies, which, some time after the journal was written, turn out to be sleeping vampires. None of the books in the game are required reading, so this can easily be avoided.

• Bitch:
  • Vex of the Thieves Guild uses the phrase “son of a bitch” in reference to a guild traitor.
  • Vipir the Fleet of the Thieves Guild, while under the impression that a particular character is a traitor to the Guild, calls her “that Dunmer bitch.”
  • Jarl Idgrod of Morthal uses the phrase “traitorous bitch” to describe a female vampire who had persuaded people to kill a woman and the woman’s young daughter.
  • Mjoll the Lioness of Riften may call Maven Black-Briar a “cold, unfeeling bitch,” when they walk past each other in town.
  • Galmar Stone-Fist of Windhelm describes the Stormcloaks as “the meanest, toughest sons of bitches Skyrim has to offer.”
  • During the quest “The Lover’s Requital,” Sibbi Black-Briar will call his estranged former fiancee a “bitch” and threatens violence against her.

• Piss:
  • Delvin Mallory of the Thieves Guild uses the phrase “piss-drunk mad” in one of the early dialogues with him.
  • If the Dragonborn is not a member of the Thieves Guild, Molgrom Twice-Killed, an imprisoned member of the Guild, will tell them to “piss off” when they speak to him.
  • Malus Maccius of the Honningbrew Meadery will tell the Dragonborn to “piss off” if they don’t want to buy anything from the meadery.
  • The Dragonborn expansion adds the book “The Poison Song, Book 1,” in which a character, discussing whether someone’s cursed, uses the phrase “Piss on the faerie and they piss right back on you.” None of the books in the game are required reading, so this can easily be avoided.
  • Ungrien of Riften has a conversation with the beggar Sniff when asked for money, telling him, “If I even had a pot to piss in, I’d gladly share. Sorry.”
  • The book “The Argonian Account, Book 2” includes the use of the phrase “Hist piss” to describe a foul-rain that falls in the province of Black Marsh. None of the books in the game are required reading, so this can easily be avoided.
  • Maul of Riften will tell the Dragonborn to “piss off” after the conversation he will begin with the Dragonborn when they first enter the city.
  • Jarl Siddgier of Falkreath will send the Dragonborn on a quest to get quality mead, specifying that he wants “none of that local piss.”
  • General Tullius of Solitude will, during the main quest “Season Unending” complain during the negotiations about being metaphorically handed “a mug of sheep’s piss.” This quest can be avoided by completing the civil-war main plotline before working on the return-of-the-dragons main plotline.

• Multiple Uses of Offensive Language:
  • During the main-plot quest “A Blade in the Dark,” the Dragonborn’s companion, Delphine uses a number of swears during a fight with the dragon Sahloknir. She calls him “that bastard,” “you son of a bitch,” and “the damn dragon.”

The vampire Serana, though an adult, deals with her absent and abusive parents.

The residents of Riften’s Honorhall Orphanage are beaten by their caretaker, whom the Dragonborn has the option to kill as part of the quest “Innocence Lost.”

Sissel of Rorikstead is a young girl raised by her single father, Lemkil, after her mother died giving birth to her and her twin sister Britte. Sissel reports that Britte and her father both beat and abuse her regularly.

• Shalidor’s Maze near the location Labyrinthian features very tight spaces and potentially startling encounters. With a narrow path, high walls, and many blind corners around which occasionally hide skeever enemies who jump out and attack the Dragonborn, traversing the maze can be unnerving. The maze is entirely avoidable, and the reward for completing the Maze, the Diadem of the Savant, can be found at a different location via a bug.

• During the quest “The Break of Dawn,” the Dragonborn must investigate ruins which are being controlled by a necromancer. Throughout, the dungeon, the player encounters failed necromantic experiments which appear as burned, desiccated corpses which flop about in unnatural ways when jostled.

• The cavern of Blackreach which must be entered during the main plot can be unsettling. It is a dark, subterranean cave filled with desolate ruins, skulking Falmer enemies, and, at nearly 4 square miles in size, is very easy to get lost in.

Cicero of the Dark Brotherhood is an assassin who went mad following his assassination of a jester. The jester’s laugh haunted Cicero for the rest of his life, especially so when he was faced with not receiving an honor he deemed himself worthy of: the position of Listener, the sole person able to communicate the wishes of the Night Mother, the assassin guild’s leader.

The Daedric prince of madness, Sheogorath, is in charge of the mentally ill and even works to make people insane, often leading them to commit many atrocities. For example, during Sheogorath’s Daedric quest “The Mind of Madness,” the Dragonborn must enter the mind of a long-dead mad emperor and help purge his mind of the traumas that drove him to insanity.

The book “16 Accords of Madness, v. IX” features the Daedric princes of dreams and madness, Vaermina and Sheogorath, respectively, making a bargain regarding which of them can make a mortal man the most hated by other mortals. Their methods turn the man insane. Vaermina gives the man horrific nightmares for ten years, and he becomes a both loved and reviled writer of horror books. After this, Vaermina stops interacting with him as per the contract, and Sheogorath ignores the man for the next ten years, leaving him to steep in the traumas left over from the nightmares and the abandonment he feels when his patroness stops talking to him. The man then turns to writing sacrilegious materials and is eventually put to death for his writings.

The use of the Daedric artifact the Ebony Blade is described in the “Admonition Against Ebony” with which it is found to have the ultimate effect of giving its wielder “the crazed eyes of those wild men who roam the hills chattering with rabbits.”

Khajiiti caravans are migrant groups of traders from the feline race, the Khajiit. They report being met with fear and scorn by the locals, who associate them with crime and substance abuse, regardless of whether these accusations are founded or not.

In the city of Windhelm, the Dragonborn encounters rampant racism:

• The Dark Elves or Dunmer, who moved to the city as refugees after a natural disaster in their homeland, are forced to live in a slum and face racist abuse and threats against them.
• Trade caravans and other migrant groups are threatened by bandits, and the ruler of Windhelm refuses to offer aid.
• The Argonian dockworkers are not paid fairly for their labor.
• The Dragonborn can help with each these problems in different ways: by brawling with one of the Dunmers’ worst antagonists and gaining his respect which tones down the harassment somewhat, by taking out a group of bandits who threatened caravans and migrants, and by persuading the Argonians’ boss to pay them a fair wage.

The history of the Orcs is one of repeated harassment and ostracization by their human neighbors. Their homeland of Orsinium was burnt and rebuilt several times throughout history, and many Orcs live in strongholds in isolated parts of Skyrim, attempting to live out their ancient way of life, as far from the Nord’s negative impressions of them as possible.

The Forsworn are a group roughly analogous to Native Americans who had control of the part of Skyrim known as the Reach until Nordic settlers came in and claimed the land, kicking the Forsworn into the hills and out of power. They retaliate with guerrilla warfare against the Nords who have claimed the province.

Books which contain racist rhetoric or describe racism include “Scourge of the Gray Quarter,” “16 Accords of Madness, v. XII,” “The Alduin/Akatosh Dichotomy,” and others. None of the books in the game are required reading, so these can easily be avoided. (This section is incomplete.)

Non-hostile rabbits appear in the game. They can be killed by the Dragonborn but do not fight back and, in fact, run away from them. A count of killed bunnies goes in the Dragonborn's humorous "Bunnies Slaughtered" statistic.

Bats appear as an atmospheric element in certain areas, flying harmlessly out of caves or from under bridges.

In the Dawnguard DLC, the Vampire Lord form can morph into a cloud of bats as a short-range teleport or dash.

The dragon enemies are reptilian.

While not depicted in this game, several elements of the Elder Scrolls lore feature reptilian creatures, some of which are mentioned in in-game books and appear in other games in the Elder Scrolls series. They are not depicted visually in any of the sources in this game. Notably, the Tsaesci race is another race of reptilian humanoids, and the lesser daedra species of clannfear and daedroth are reptilian.

The Moth Priests are figures in the lore of the game and do not appear in game unless the Dawnguard DLC is installed. These priests train intensively to read the Elder Scrolls which, over time, cause them to lose their vision. The Dawnguard DLC adds a Moth Priest character who reads several Elder Scrolls to help the Dragonborn on their quest and eventually goes blind in the process.

The quest “Caught Red Handed” is given by Haelga’s niece Svana, who wants to shame Haelga for her sexuality in retaliation for Haelga’s treatment of Svana after the death of the girl’s parents. If the quest is undertaken, the Dragonborn must convince three of Haelga’s partners to give up the tokens they received after their rendezvous with Haelga. The Dragonborn must subsequently present the marks to Haelga to fluster and shame her. Each of the men reports very judgmentally about the strange things Haelga wanted to do with them, everything from sex in the stables to implications that Haelga drugged one of her partners.

Sexual Assault

Sexual Harassment

Sexualization/Objectification

Sex Slavery

Slavery

Snakes

Spiders

Stalking

Substance Abuse

Suicide

Supernatural Evil

Torture

Undead/Zombies

Verbal Abuse

Violence Against Children

Vomiting

Weapons