The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Systems:

  • Windows PC
  • PlayStation3
  • Xbox360
  • Releases:
    • Original Release: 2011
    • Legendary Edition Release: 2013

ESRB Rating:

  • Mature (M)
  • Reasoning:
    • Blood and Gore
    • Intense Violence
    • Sexual Themes
    • Use of Alcohol

Graphic Style:

  • Realistic 3D

Gameplay:

  • Action RPG/FPS
  • Real-time combat
  • First person
  • Single-player

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, also known as just Skyrim, follows the story of the Dragonborn, the only person in the world of Tamriel who can defeat Alduin, the world-destroying dragon whose return threatens the lives (and afterlives) of the people of Skyrim. The game allows the player to explore the vastness Skyrim, providing quest lines relating to the fight against Alduin as well as the civil war threatening Skyrim's peace, both of which the Dragonborn can either follow or ignore completely to roam the open world at will.

General Comments

Any links in the text link to the relevant page on the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages wiki. The UESP wiki pages may depict or describe the potentially triggering material but are included to help the player navigate around the content within the game.

This review does not contain full reviews for the DLC of this game.

This review does not contain reviews for every readable book in the game.

Alcohol

Mead, ale, and various kinds of wines can be found throughout the world and can be consumed by the Dragonborn. They cannot get drunk by consuming these beverages however.

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.

Animal Abuse

Ingun Black-Briar of Riften is an apprentice alchemist who tests her concoctions on animals. This does not take place on-screen, but the wife of her trainer references the animals’ suffering.

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.

Animal Death

The Dragonborn can own horses and dogs as pets. With the Hearthfire DLC, children adopted by the Dragonborn may bring home wild animals to adopt as pets: a rat-like skeever, a rabbit, a red or white fox, or a large crab. Any of these animals can take damage and can run out of health, just as the Dragonborn can. Random combat encounters, such as bandits or giants attacking the player-built homes, can result in the death of any of the pets that get in the way of the combat. Away from home, both horses and dogs will follow the Dragonborn into combat where they are at high risk of death, as they are apt to run headlong into battle against powerful enemies or walk between the Dragonborn and their foe, putting them at risk of being accidentally struck. Horses also take damage from falling, so if the Dragonborn rides them over cliffs too high for the horse to survive, the horse, and often the Dragonborn as well, will be killed by the fall.

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.

Aquatic Violence

Slaughterfish can attack the Dragonborn in the water. While swimming, the Dragonborn is unable to attack anything.

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.

Avians

Chickens and hawks exist in the game, but neither are hostile or do anything more than walk around on the ground or fly high in the sky, respectively.

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.

Bigoted Language

The bigoted language featured in the game is all based on in-game lore, and none of the slurs used are real-world slurs, though they are used in similar tones and contexts as real-world slurs. Argonians are called “lizards” or “boots” fairly regularly, Khajiit are pejoratively called “cats,” and Dunmer are called “gray-skins” and are often called “pointy-eared bastards” which is a term also applied to members of the other elven races whom many of Skyrim’s Nords are prejudiced against.

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.

Blood

Attacking enemies will often cause spurts of blood to fly off from impacts.

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.

Body Horror

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.

Bones

Animate skeletons are recurring enemies.

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.

Brainwashing

The Falmer of the region Blackreach have enslaved surface dwellers, and these servants’ nigh-unflinching loyalty to their masters implies some degree of brainwashing.

Canines

Wolves, dogs, and foxes can be encountered throughout the game. Wolves are exclusively hostile, dogs can be both hostile and non-hostile, and foxes are passive unless under the control of Spriggans, tree spirit enemies which can control animals.

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.

Cannibalism

During the quest “The Taste of Death,” the Dragonborn can help a cabal of cannibals whose place of worship has been overrun by undead. To successfully complete the quest and receive the Daedric artifact, the Dragonborn must bring a priest to a “dinner party” for the cannibals and eat his flesh, after which the Dragonborn will receive the Ring of Namira, which will let them eat from any humanoid corpse they encounter for an increase in stamina and a boost in health and health regeneration while wearing the ring. The Dragonborn can, instead, kill the leader of the cannibals at several points during the quest, but the quest will fail, and the Dragonborn may potentially miss out on quests provided by any of the “dinner guests” if the leader is killed at a point where the guests are present, as they will turn hostile and attack the Dragonborn if their leader is slain.

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.

Claustrophobia

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.

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.

Clowns

During the Dark Brotherhood questline, the Dragonborn encounters an NPC named Cicero, an insane assassin who is haunted by the memory of a jester he once killed. He wears a jester's outfit, laughs, dances, speaks in rhyme, and during one point of the quest, will attempt to kill the Dragonborn. Before starting the Dark Brotherhood questline, he can be encountered on the road near a farm north of the city of Whiterun for the quest "Delayed Burial," in which the Dragonborn must broker his dispute with a farmer who won't help him fix his broken wagon.

Darkness

Many locations throughout the game feature darkness which makes it difficult for the player to see and from which enemies may jump out at the Dragonborn. This includes most dungeons and caves, as well as the overworld at night. Ways to alleviate this include the Night Eye racial ability for the Khajiit race, which provides them with night vision which can be toggled on and off; light spells, which produce a small ball of light which either follows the Dragonborn or can be placed at range; or simply the use of torches.

Dead Bodies

Any killed enemy will leave some form of remains behind, a corpse in the place of any thing corporeal or a pile of ash or ooze in the case of anything etherial.

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.

Death of Family/Friends

Several plotlines include friends of the Dragonborn being killed, such as the culmination of the Companions, Mages’ College, and Dark Brotherhood plotlines.

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.

Dehumanization

The race of the Falmer are a result of an ancient example of dehumanization in to Elder Scrolls lore. The Falmer were once a variety of elf, called Snow Elves, who sought asylum from human invaders with their dwarven kin, the Dwemer. The Falmer were betrayed by the Dwemer and were forced to live underground in darkness and subsist on toxic fungi which, over the years, mutated them into the Falmer, a feral, blind, subterranean race of goblin-like creatures.

Depiction of Disaster

As the game largely involves the return of hostile dragons, several towns and settlements are destroyed by dragon attacks. The opening of the game features the destruction of the town of Helgen, and other towns and settlements are attacked both as part of the plot and as random dragon attacks.

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.

Depiction of War

One of the game's main plotlines features a large-scale civil war, which the Dragonborn must take part in to complete the game. The Dragonborn picks a side in the war by joining one army or the other and must help that army gain control of the province of Skyrim. Several quests involve taking key forts across the province, with two large battle scenes, regardless of which army the Dragonborn joins. For a Dragonborn who is teamed up with the Stormcloak faction, these battles are "Battle for Whiterun" and "Battle for Solitude". For a Dragonborn who is teamed up with the Imperial faction, these battles are Battle for Whiterun" and "Battle for Windhelm". Most gameplay relating to this conflict is avoidable, and the Dragonborn may still fully explore the province without taking a side or progressing that plotline. If the player wishes to complete the other main plotline, which involves the return of the dragons and the end of the world, they must, at the very least organize a truce between the two factions with a small string of quests in the middle of that plotline.

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.

Disease

The Dragonborn can contract diseases from various enemies which will reduce various skills and stats. These can easily be healed with a Cure Disease potion, by eating the alchemy ingredient Hawk Feathers, or by using the shrine of any deity, which can be found in most towns.

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.

Disruptive Home Life

Honorhall Orphanage in Riften is the home to four orphans who are being "cared for" by an abusive woman named Grelod. The first quest of the Dark Brotherhood plotline involves killing Grelod on behalf of a former orphanage resident who ran away due to the abusive treatment. If Grelod is killed, conditions improve for the children, when Grelod's assistant Constance takes over the orphanage. The Dragonborn can then adopt up to two children, who move into their home upon adoption.

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.

Dolls

The Hearthfire DLC adds a Child's Doll which can be given to female children. It appears in shopkeepers inventories as well as occasionally in lootable containers, and it has no function beyond its capacity to be given as a gift. An image of the doll can be found here.

Drowning

The Dragonborn can drown if they stay underwater for too long. This can be avoided by playing as the Argonian race, which has natural waterbreathing abilities or by finding a waterbreathing enchantment for equipment.

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.

Electrocution

The Dragonborn can wield electricity spells and staves, which can also be used by mage enemies. The Dragonborn can also encounter traps which shoot lightning.

Emotional Abuse

Svana Far-Shield of Riften tells the Dragoborn of emotional abuse she has received at the hands of her aunt Haelga, who took her in after her parents’ deaths. Svana is disgusted by her long-term abusive treatment by her aunt, her aunt’s customers, and her aunt’s passion for the goddess of beauty and sex, Dibella. Svana gives the Dragonborn the quest “Caught Red Handed” in order to shame Haelga for her sexuality in retaliation for Haelga’s treatment of Svana, with the hope that this show of power against Haelga will improve Svana’s treatment.

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.

Existential Despair

The Dragonborn must fight to cancel the apocalypse, which is said to be brought about by the dragon Alduin, who is the game's main antagonist. There is debate over whether this is a good idea, as the end of this world is said to bring about the birth of the next, and whether it is a right to deny the next world the chance to be born.

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.

Explosions

The Dragonborn and enemy mages can use fire-spells which cause explosions.

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 Horror/Eye Trauma

During character creation, the player can create a Dragonborn who has either one or both eyes which are covered in white cataracts or scars, which hints at previous damage.

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.

Felines

Sabre Cat enemies are a common form of wild animal which resemble sabre-toothed tigers. Their heads also appear alone, stuffed and mounted on walls as game trophies.

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.

Fire

The Dragonborn and enemy mages can use fire-spells.

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)

Ghosts

Ghosts appear in many places throughout the game, both friendly and hostile. They are usually depicted as transparent, glowing blue versions of normal NPCs.

Gore

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 still contain damaged eyes.

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.

Graphic Violence

The combat in the game is graphic enough to warrant its M rating: attacks produce visceral sound effects, blood stains weapons after combat, and humanoid enemies can be decapitated.

Guns

Dwarven sphere constructs have very powerful crossbow attacks which are vaguely gun-like. Large crossbow weapons which shoot explosive bolts are sometimes rigged up as traps within Dwemer ruins.

Heights

The player can climb cliffs, mountains, and buildings which can rise extremely high. They can fall from any of these and be damaged or die.

Incest

The seven book series “Poison Song”, added by the Dragonborn DLC, features an incestual relationship between adult siblings. The pair did not know they were related when they began their relationship but continued it after they discovered this information. The relationship is used to showcase the evil and unnatural nature of the couple and the family from which they descend. None of the books in the game are required reading, so this series can easily be avoided.

Insects

The chaurus are large insects which commonly appear in areas themed as dwellings for the subterranean Falmer enemies. When playing Skyrim on the PC, fan-made mods exist that turn the chaurus into rats. One can be found here. This mod also turns spider monsters into bears.

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.

Jump Scares

As the game is largely in first person and the camera stays very close to the player even in third person, it is very likely that enemies can appear and attack, seemingly out of nowhere, from behind the Dragonborn. This happens most commonly with wild animals like bears, wolves, and sabre cats.

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.

Kidnapping

Throughout the game, the Dragonborn rescues many kidnapping victims and is even, occasionally, kidnapped themself. The following list is not necessarily comprehensive:
  • 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 House of Horrors,” a servant of the Daedric prince, Boethiah, was captured, and the Dragonborn is charged to rescue him.
  • 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.

Mind Control

Vampires can create human thralls who are living humans who are merely bent to the vampire's will. One notable example is the vampiress Alva in Morthal, who, during the quest "Laid to Rest," has the villager Hroggar under thrall. When the Dragonborn encounters vampires in other areas, they will often have NPCs called Vampire Thralls who fight for them.

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."

Murder

The Dragonborn can kill nearly any character in-game, and many must be killed over the course of the game. Certain quest-required non-player characters, as well as all children, are unable to be killed.

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.

Mutilation

During the quest “Blood on the Ice,” the Dragonborn must track down a murderer in Windhelm who mutilates his victims to, as is later revealed, harvest parts of their bodies to perform a necromantic ritual. One such body is depicted, with large gashes in various places on the body.

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.

Needles

In Nordic ruins, certain traps shoot needle-like poisoned darts when triggered.

Nudity

The game does contain partial nudity. The Dragonborn can remove all of their clothes, leaving a female Dragonborn in a bra and underwear and a male Dragonborn in a loincloth. This applies to most other humanoid character including their corpses; when all of their armor or clothing is removed, whether via pickpocketing or looting of a corpse, they will wear the same pre-set underwear as the Dragonborn.

Offensive Language

There are many instances of offensive language in the game. Below is an alphabetical lists of the ones that appear. This list is not exhaustive.
  • 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.”

Parental Abandonment

The orphans Francis Beaufort and Samuel of Riften’s Honorhall Orphanage were both abandoned there by their parents, who, as far as they both tell the Dragonborn, are still living. The Dragonborn has the option to adopt the children with the addition of the Hearthfire DLC.

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

Physical Abuse

In the book “Mystery of Talara, Part 4,” a patron of a brothel is depicted as regularly abusing the prostitutes he hires. He is brutal enough to them that the text describes his regular favorite prostitute as “still healing from [his] appointment with her last week.” None of the books in the game are required reading, so this can easily be avoided.

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.

Psychological Horror

Many of the game’s locations could be considered unsettling. Many dungeons are dark, silent ruins full of undead and various other enemies, often of a frightening nature. A few notable potentially frightening locations include:
  • 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.

Psychological Trauma

Farkas of the Companions accompanies the Dragonborn on two different quests. During the first, the pair of adventurers encounter large spiders, and during the second Farkas has to bow out of the exploration of a crypt, thanks to the phobia of spiders he developed thanks to their first delve together.

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.”

Racism

The racism featured in the game is all based on in-game lore and the series's fictional races rather than real-world races. The racism however contains very similar tones and manifests in ways similar to real-world racism.

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.)

Rats/Rodents

Skeevers are rat-like enemies.

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.

Reptiles

The Argonian race consists of reptilian humanoids.

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.

Self Harm

During the main quest line, the Dragonborn must draw blood to open a door. To do this, they use a knife to make a cut on their hand.

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.

Sex Shaming

Haelga of Riften, owner of The Bunkhouse, is a devout follower of Dibella, the goddess of beauty and sex, and she practices her Dibellan arts (what we would commonly term kinky sex) with many of the men in town, at least one of whom is married. Haelga implies that she will be run out of town if word gets out that she is practicing her Dibellan arts.

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

During the quest “Caught Red Handed,” Bolli of Riften implies that, when he slept with Haelga, it was likely because she drugged him.

Sapphire of the Thieves Guild tells the Dragonborn of her backstory, in which her family was all killed she was captured and raped by bandits.

In the mythology of the Elder Scrolls series, the Daedric lord, Molag Bal, also called the "Lord of Rape," created the vampire race via the rape a young woman who became the first vampire. This bit of lore is brought up in dialogue in the Dawnguard DLC and is told explicitly in the book "Opusculus Lamae Bal." It is implied that Serana and her mother Valerica went through a special ritual to become vampires which may have involved a degrading or dubiously consensual sexual component.

In the book “Mystery of Talara, Part 4,” a patron of a brothel is depicted as regularly abusing the prostitutes he hires. He is brutal enough to them that the text describes his regularly hired prostitute as “still healing from [his] appointment with her last week.” None of the books in the game are required reading, so this can easily be avoided.

Sexual Harassment

During the main-plot quest “Diplomatic Immunity,” the Dragonborn must create a distraction during a party so that they can slip out to steal intelligence files. Several options for creating this distraction are presented, depending on which potential guests appear and one’s friendship with them. One possible distraction involves the NPC Erikur, a lecherous Nord who can be seen making passes at Brelas, a Wood Elf servant. After the Dragonborn witnesses one such exchange, they can talk with Erikur who will ask them to see if Brelas is sexually available. Talking with Brelas reveals that she is disgusted by Erikur, and she will politely ask if you will tell him to leave her alone. Returning to Erikur presents the options of either lying to him by saying that the pair can go to a more private area or telling him the truth about Brelas’s disgust with him. Either option will produce a sufficient distraction to the Dragonborn to leave the party, but Brelas will be carted away to the dungeons for causing the distractions with no repercussions for Erikur.

During the Thieves Guild side-quest “Toying with the Dead,” the Dragonborn must explore a Nordic ruin called Yngvild in order to collect the four journals of the ruin’s sole living inhabitant, a necromancer named Arondil. Among other things, the journals document Arondil’s unwanted advances toward the young women of a nearby town.

During the quest “Rise in the East,” the Dragonborn must track down a group of pirates and get information out of their leader, in order to track down the pirates’ base of operations. When they enter the inn where these pirates are staying, the men are harassing the resident bard, the daughter of the inkeeper. She attempts to call them out for their behavior, but, when told to leave her alone and “shut [their] filthy mouths,” they respond with “Oh we’ve got other things in mind for our mouths, sweetie.”

Muiri of Markarth exasperatedly queries the Dragonborn, “Why can’t the men in this city leave me alone?”

Svana Far-Shield of Riften reports being groped by the male patrons of her aunt’s Bunkhouse establishment.

In a note called “A Warning” which is found in Riften’s Ragged Flagon, Vex of the Thieves Guild warns fellow thief Delvin to stop trying to peek at her while she bathes.

During the quest “A Few Words with You” for Carlotta Valentia of Whiterun, the Dragonborn must persuade a bard who keeps harassing Carlotta to stop.

Sexualization/Objectification

During the main-plot quest “Diplomatic Immunity,” the Dragonborn must create a distraction during a party so that they can slip out to steal intelligence files. Several options for creating this distraction are presented, depending on which potential guests appear and one’s friendship with them. One possible distraction involves the NPC Erikur, a lecherous Nord who can be seen making passes at Brelas, a Wood Elf servant. He comments on her appearance and race, calling her a “likely-looking filly” and comments about elf women being “insatiable.” Brelas is noticeably disgusted by the unwanted advances but has to maintain politeness toward Erikur, as she is working while this happens. To read more about the "Diplomatic Immunity" quest, click here.

During the Thieves Guild side-quest “Toying with the Dead”, the Dragonborn must explore a Nordic ruin called Yngvild in order to collect the four journals of the ruin’s sole living inhabitant, a necromancer named Arondil. The journals document the necromancer’s experiments with reanimating corpses, his frequent fantasizing about the women of the nearby town of Dawnstar, and his eventual discovery of his necrophilic attraction to his test subjects. He acts out these attractions upon the bodies of dead women whom he reanimates to “a state of total complacency, bending to [his] every task and whim.” One such woman was someone he had met while living in Dawnstar, and, despite not even being able to recall her name, still feels and acts upon a sexual attraction to her. To read more about the "Toying with the Dead" quest, click here.

Several books contain instances of men’s objectification of women. None of the books in the game are required reading, so these can easily be avoided: (This section is incomplete.)

  • The book “Mystery of Talara v1” features a procession of prostitutes and describes the objectifying reactions of the men watching them dance through the city. To read more about "Mystery of Talara v1" click here.
  • The skill book “Jornibret’s Last Dance” features the lyrics of a ballad about a womanizing lord who spends the first dance of a ball eyeing the bosom of the woman he initially plans to love and leave that night before his plans change. To read more about "Jornibret's Last Dance" click here.

Sex Slavery

During the Thieves Guild side-quest “Toying with the Dead”, the Dragonborn must explore a Nordic ruin called Yngvild in order to collect the four journals of the ruin’s sole living inhabitant, a necromancer named Arondil. The journals document his experiments with raising the dead Draugr in the ruins and reveal that he has necrophilic relations with his subjects. The journals also document Arondil killing a woman who had wandered too far from the nearby town of Dawnstar which was the necromancer’s former home. The woman remembered Arondil from his time there, most notably for his creepy behavior toward the women of town. Arondil subsequently raises her body from the dead and carries out a sexual relationship with her body and those of other women. To read more about the "Toying with the Dead" quest, click here.

Slavery

The Falmer were once enslaved by their Dwemer kin and were forced to live underground in darkness and subsist on toxic fungi which, over the years, mutated them into the Falmer, a feral, blind, subterranean race of goblin-like creatures. References to this exist in locations like the Dwemer ruin of Irkngthand, which feature a zone called “Irkingthand Slave Pens.” To read more about "Irkingthand", click here.

In turn, the Falmer of the region Blackreach have enslaved surface dwellers. To read more about "Blackreach", click here.

While not depicted in this game, several elements of the Elder Scrolls lore feature slave trade, some examples of which are mentioned in in-game books or could be encountered when searching for more information on the series. Notably, the Dunmer race once enslaved the Argonian and Khajiit races.

Several books depict slavery. None of the books in the game are required reading, so these can easily be avoided: (This section is incomplete.)

Snakes

Snakes appear in the Nordic art which appears in Nordic ruins across Skyrim. The most prevalent appearance of these snakes is as one setting on the various puzzles which open doors in Nordic ruins.

Spiders

Frostbite spider enemies are giant spiders. There are also several spider enemies in caves and other underground areas. For the Windows version, there are several "No Spiders" mods that can be applied to turn the spiders into bears. One can be found here. Note that this also turns insect monsters into rats.

Dwarven Spider enemies are golden constructs which vaguely resemble spiders.

Stalking

During the Thieves Guild quest “Scoundrel’s Folly,” the Dragonborn must tail a former guild asset who is part of covert operation to subvert and destroy the guild. To read more about the "Scoundrel's Folly" quest, click here.

Substance Abuse

Skooma is a narcotic drug in the Elder Scrolls series, and a few different characters seem to have problems with it.
  • Wujeeta of Riften asks for the Dragonborn to help her get clean by giving her a healing potion. Once the Dragonborn does this, she seems to improve.
  • Stands-In-Shallows of Windhelm is addicted to skooma and requests that the Dragonborn steal some special skooma for him from a tavern in town. This can be avoided by turning down his request or simply by never talking to him.
  • When exploring the Dwemer ruin of Alftand, the Dragonborn encounters the remnants of an expedition which had become trapped. The only survivor is a Khajiit named J’darr who went mad while suffering withdrawal symptoms from his skooma addiction. Alftand is avoidable, though a main-plot quest does point the Dragonborn there. To avoid it during this quest, delve into either Mzinchaleft or Raldbthar, as both have a passage way to Blackreach, the region where the quest is actually sending the Dragonborn. Raldbthar is probably the best choice, as it is closest to the quest's location within Blackreach.
  • In the Dawnguard DLC, Redwater Den is the site of a skooma den, a place where addicts can come to buy and use their drugs. Four addicts are present in private booths along a central hallway when the Dragonborn arrives. The addicts are depicted in various states based on their use of the drug, including one who is dead from a supposed overdose and another who is curled in the fetal position in obvious pain. If the Dragonborn sides with the vampires during the Dawnguard plotline, this location is unavoidable. However, the player can simply walk past the rooms with the addicts, as the addicts won't jump up to fight the Dragonborn; the player will likely still hear the addicts' groaning and coughing however. This dungeon is also a possible location for Onmund's Request, an avoidable radiant quest for a member of the College of Winterhold, though out of the many options, it is possible that the quest will select another location.

Suicide

As a random encounter, the Dragonborn may encounter an old Orc warrior on the road, usually surrounded by dead sabre cats which he has presumably killed. If spoken to, he will ask the player to duel him in single combat in the hopes of dying an honorable death, fighting against the Dragonborn. To avoid fighting him, either do not enter conversation with the Orc when he is encountered, or simply tell him that you are unwilling to aid in his suicide, and he will let the Dragonborn leave.

During the Dark Brotherhood quest “Mourning Never Comes,” the Dragonborn is contracted to kill a woman’s ex-lover after he turned out to be a bandit and shamed her in front of long-time friends who ran her out of town. For a bonus, the Dragonborn is also presented with the option to kill that family’s only surviving daughter, as the elder daughter had been previously murdered. If that option is carried out, the grieving mother will kill herself, citing her grief over her two daughters’ murders as the reason for her suicide. To read more about the "Mourning Never Comes" quest, click here.

During the miscellaneous quest “Frostflow Abyss,” the Dragonborn investigates a cave system infested with Falmer beneath a lighthouse to discover what became of the lighthousekeeper and his family. The keeper’s daughter is found dead, having cut her wrists after being captured with no hope of rescue. To read more about the "Frostflow Abyss" quest, click here.

The book “Pirate King of the Abecean,” features the lyrics of a sea chanty, one stanza of which implies that, should one be at sea and encounter the ship of Velehk Sain, the titular Pirate King, it would be advisable to “do yourself in, [and] don’t try at crossing swords” due to the merciless nature of the pirate crew. None of the books in the game are required reading, so this can easily be avoided. To read more about "Pirate King of the Abecean", click here.

Supernatural Evil

Daedra fit into this category. They are the opposites of the Aedra, who are considered divine deities, and they inhabit the twisted planes of Oblivion. Some of the Daedra are benevolent, like Azura or Meridia, while others like Molag Bal and Mehrunes Dagon are definitively evil.

Torture

Several locations in the game have torture rooms, which feature torture devices such as stretching racks and wall shackles. Some places feature the clutter item “Torture Tools” which have two variant appearances (only one if the Dawnguard DLC is not installed). In other areas, clutter items are arranged to give the impression of certain tortures, such as the “clothes iron” item sitting atop a kettle of burning coals or the “salt pile” item sitting near a knife, in close proximity to a stretching rack. Locations necessary for the larger plot arcs which contain torture rooms include the Imperial fort at Helgen, the Thalmor Embassy, and the Dwemer ruins of Alftand and Irkingthand, though this list may be incomplete, and torture rooms exist in other dungeons as well.

Upon completion of the Dark Brotherhood quest line, the Dragonborn can purchase an expansion for the Sanctuary which creates a torture room with four prisoners. There is no opportunity to release them, but the Dragonborn can attack and hurt each of them to get the location of a cache of loot and potentially kill them.

During the main-plot quest “Diplomatic Immunity,” the Dragonborn must infiltrate into an enemy embassy and steal intelligence files. While inside, the Dragonborn must visit the dungeons for the final file and can free prisoners who had been beaten and interrogated. To read more about the "Diplomatic Immunity" quest, click here.

Undead/Zombies

Draugr are animate mummified zombies which are encountered in their burial chambers and will attack intruders.

Animate skeletons are recurring enemies.

Vampires appear throughout the game and can turn the Dragonborn into a 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, a special ritual must be undergone with Falion of Morthal to cure the Dragonborn of their vampirism. To read more about the special ritual, click here.

The Dragonborn can use magic to resurrect dead bodies to be temporary servants and followers, though this is completely optional.

Verbal Abuse

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.

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 in town, Britte can often be heard threatening Sissel for not doing chores which were assigned to Britte and telling Sissel that she smells bad, despite no evidence of this.

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.

Violence Against Children

The Dragonborn can attack and harm children, as can dragons when they attack a town. However, in the game, all children are unable to be killed.

Babette of the Dark Brotherhood is a vampire who looks like a child. She is, in fact, hundreds of years old, but was bitten by a vampire when she was ten.

The residents of Riften’s Honorhall Orphanage are abused by their caretaker, whom the Dragonborn has the option to kill as part of the quest “Innocence Lost.” To read more about the "Innocence Lost" quest, click here.

During the quest “Ill Met by Moonlight,” the Dragonborn enters the town of Falkreath in the aftermath of the murder of a little girl by a werewolf. To read more about the "Met By Moonlight" quest, click here.

During the quest “Laid to Rest,” the Dragonborn must investigate the death of a woman and her daughter, who were both killed when their family house burned down under mysterious circumstances. To read more about the "Laid to Rest" quest, click here.

During the quest “Siege on the Dragon Cult,” the Dragonborn delves into Forelhost, an ancient Nordic ruin which had been besieged hundreds of years previously. As the quest progresses, the Dragonborn uncovers the lengths to which the ruin’s residents went to avoid being taken alive, even to the point of killing and burying their children, whose mummified bodies the Dragonborn encounters part-way through the dungeon, though they merely look like scaled-down versions of larger mummified Draugr. To read more about the "Siege on the Dragon Cult" quest, click here.

The book “Mystery of Talara, v5” features the testimony of a young woman who had been the victim of a failed assassination attempt when she was a child. In order to protect her young friend from an assassin, she had leapt through a window and fallen into a river, where she struck her head and lost her memory of the event. She was presumed dead until she regained her memories in her late twenties. None of the books in the game are required reading, so this can easily be avoided. To read more about the "Mystery of Talara, v5" book, click here.

Vomiting

During the quest “The Only Cure,” the Afflicted enemies fight with a vomit attack. 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. Vomit is not depicted, though the apprentice does say "I'm going to be sick," followed by splashing noises which likely denote vomiting. This quest is avoidable, as the Dragonborn can simply refuse to participate.

Weapons

The protagonist can use swords, greatswords, daggers, maces, warhammers, war axes, battleaxes, and bows. Crossbows are added by the Dawnguard DLC. Most humanoid enemies will use one of these weapons as well. Dwemer ruins are filled with defensive automata which are left over from when the Dwarves still existed.

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