The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim/Tropes H-M: Difference between revisions

** The Dwemer have developed technologies that have reality-bending powers (or outright reality-breaking powers in the case of [[The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall|Numidium]]), so much so that they can use magitek apparati to {{spoiler|divine information from Elder Scrolls, circumventing that pesky blindness problem that the scrolls cause}}. Just casting magic is a quaint thing to them, but they were extraordinary enchanters, and that's the part that makes the "magi" in their Magitek.

** It's actually implied by some writings that the soul gems are not involved in the basic operation of Dwemer animunculi. Those soul gems are linked to the shock attack of non-worker spiders, and may otherwise be involved in high-powered attacks, but whatever makes the animunculi ''move'' has never been unraveled by anyone since the Dwemer vanished.

* [[Make Me Wanna Shout]]: "Dragonshouts", the highlight of the game, and of your character, the Dragonborn. In the franchise's expansive lore, it's also known as the Thu'um, the power of the Voice. A variety of alternative magical effects invoked by [[Language of Magic|shouting words in the ancient Dragon language]]; to use a computing metaphor, you're using root-level commands to reality to achieve these effects. Here's a list of all the shouts.

** '''[[An Ice Person|IIZ SLEN NUS]]:''' Ice Form. A shout that flies through several foes, freezing all of them in the shout's path.

** Not a Thu'um Shout, but while you're a werewolf, hitting the "Shout" button causes you to let out a blood-curdling howl that makes enemies around you run away in fear. Useful for crowd control while a werewolf so you can better focus on savaging your foes one at a time.

* [[Malevolent Masked Men]]: Dragon Priests, evil sorcerers who worshipped the dragons that once oppressed mankind. Funnily enough, the [[Token Good Teammate]] of the named priests, Vahlok, doesn't have an associated mask [[Wild Mass Guessing (Unless you're of the belief that Konahriik was his).]]

* [[Master of None]]: Using only two words in Unrelenting Force is completely counterproductive. Fus staggers your enemies and has a quick recharge time. Fus Ro Dah sends your enemies flying and has a slow recharge time. Fus Ro makes them take one or two steps back and has a somewhat long recharge time.

* [[Meaningful Name]]: Vilkas and Farkas, two of the Companions, whose names mean {{spoiler|wolf in Lithuanian and Hungarian respectively. A case of [[Werewolf Theme Naming]]}}.

** The nature of Alduin. {{spoiler|While the previous lore suggested he was Akatosh, he is a physical aspect of time and the firstborn of Akatosh, who is... a physical aspect of Time. So he is his own son.}}

** Also, in-world, Dragonrend. Basically, you're telling the dragon that they're, "Mortal, Finite, Temporary", something that they don't have a word for or understand in their own minds since, before man, they've never had to deal with the concept of life ending for them. What it does is mindscrews the dragon so badly that they don't have the mental capacity to fly, or Shout, for a few seconds.

* [[Mondegreen]]: The lyrics in the trailer were initially thought by some to be English, but are actually in the language of dragons:

{{quote|Dovahkiin, Dovahkiin

Oh my God

[[Gratuitous Spanish|Me gusta]]}}

* [[Money for Nothing]]: It's quite easy to make a fortune, simply loot everything and every one you see and know how to exploit the crafting system to make items more expensive than the materials used to make them. However, ingredients can be found in the wild, crafting materials can be mined for, and every equipment piece in the game aside from a handful of unique items can be forged, and those unique items can have their effects duplicated on crafted weapons. All you'll really need to buy regularly are potions, soul gems and ingots for crafting, and they're dirt cheap, and if you want player housing it's pretty expensive to outfit your homes with all the extras, but those are one-time purchases. Eventually, the problem will come up that merchants just don't have enough gold to pay you for all the loot you want to unload on them, forcing you to travel from town to town selling off your stock.

** Going through the Herculean effort of [[That One Sidequest|finding all the Stones of Barenziah]] will kick this trope [[Up to 11]] thanks to the reward you get. Prowler's Profit is a passive buff that makes you more likely to find gemstones while looking through treasure chests and other related containers. And "more likely" means ''"every damned chest, urn, Apocrypha pod, and non-combatant Draugr you find."'' Just one trip into a Nordic ruin will load you with flawless and ordinary gems alike, and it won't take long before you have a fortune on par with Scrooge McDuck.

* [[Money Spider]]:

** Dragons drop valuable Bones and Scales, which are some of the most expensive loot in the game. In addition, they usually carry coins on them... as well as armor. Three guesses at how the dragon got them, and the first two don't count.

* [[Monologuing]]: It's common for an enemy to walk up and announce their intention to kill you. Sometimes you can end the conversation quickly and kill ''them'' before they actually initiate combat. Some of them don't even stop you in place while monologuing, meaning you can {{spoiler|slit Lord Harkon's throat in the middle of him dressing Serana down for her defiance}}, or use Unrelenting Force to blast Mogrul's thugs off of a mountain before they can finish threatening you.

* [[Monster Sob Story]]: The book ''The "Madmen" of the Reach'' is one for the Forsworn. Whether or not it justifies their ''long'' list of atrocities depends on the player.

* [[Moon Logic Puzzle]]: The dwemer machine holding {{spoiler|The Elder Scroll}}. Two buttons rotate a large globe on the ground with various rings and lenses on it, a third button rotates lenses hanging overhead, and a fourth button which can only be pressed when the alignment of the pieces are right and unveils the objective item in the machine. Attempting to understand what is actually happening as you press the buttons will likely just confuse you, you understand you have to align ''something'', but what and how? The game developers appear to have assumed you won't understand and will just be pressing buttons at random, because that's actually the way to do it <ref>Press the second button until the third button activates, then press the third button until the fourth one can be used.</ref>.

* [[Mugging the Monster]]: Unsurprisingly, the many thieves, robbers, bandits and brigands of ''Skyrim'' share the traditional RPG thug deficiency in being able to tell that the guy they're about to accost is in fact, walking on a road made of the bodies of everyone s/he has mangled, even if they are wearing armour ''made of dragon bones'' and carrying a bloodstained greatsword. One random encounter even includes a dialogue option that says "I just don't have time for this." in response to getting mugged. Yes, you can essentially tell the muggers that ''you're too busy to be robbed right now''. [[Too Dumb to Live|They attack anyway]].

* [[Mundane Utility]]:

** Dragon shouts are devastating against your enemies, but they can also be used to do things like freeze animals to make it easier to hunt them or knock objects off shelves and out of sight so you can steal them, or disarm traps by remotely triggering them. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ0oQBWXLK8 Or go fishing].