The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim/Tropes 0-G: Difference between revisions

* [[Damn You, Muscle Memory!]]: On PC, when placing items into a container, the hotkey to place the currently selected item into the container is R. But if you're taking items ''out'' of the container, the hotkey to take the currently selected item is E, and R becomes "Take All." It's not uncommon to forget this and accidentally take everything inside a container - and if it was the container you use as your main storage, this will probably mean enough weight to make you overencumbered several times over and enough items that it will take you a long time to get them all put back. In most cases you're better off reloading an autosave. The same thing can happen in the console versions of the game, too. For some reason that god only knows, the Equip, Take, Take All and Give buttons never seem to stay in the same place between different sorts of containers.

** And while simply selecting an item takes it out of containers, selecting an item while a container is open will use it (unlike Oblivion, where it put it away). This can range from a minor annoyance (wearing the armour you were giving your companion) to a major one (accidentally eating the daedra hearts you wanted to save for armour, without even noticing). This does not apply to the trade interface, even if you might want it to (e.g. you bought some spell tomes and want to use them, but also want to sell off some of the moderately-expensive skill books you've acquired, and you bought the tomes first so the merchant would have enough money for this). In general, Skyrim's interface is at its most inconsistent since at least Morrowind.

** A minor but annoying case if you've played ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution|Deus Ex Human Revolution]]'' on the 360. The default sprint buttons are reversed. If going from ''Human Revolution'' to ''Skyrim'', you may try to sprint but instead launch someone over a wall with a '''FUS RO DAH''', and in ''Human Revolution'' you may try to sprint but instead toss a grenade into innocent bystanders. Whoops.

** On PC again: The default controls may not suit everyone's tastes, but you better hope you haven't remapped the controls to anything dangerous and then forgotten about it. This troper tried to make Shift the Shout button for a while, but after accidentally murdering [[NPCs]] with flame breath on several different occasions, it was changed back to default.

* [[Darker and Edgier]]: The atmosphere of this game compared to ''Oblivion''. To make a short list; the overall world design is much more [[Dung Ages]] than the high fantasy style of ''Oblivion'', two large towns are [[Wretched Hive|Wretched Hives]], there is much more [[Fantastic Racism]] going on, more [[Gray and Grey Morality]], and more bloody/gory bits in dungeons.

** {{spoiler|Malyn Varen}} has his soul destroyed by the Dragonborn to purify {{spoiler|Azura's Star (Or corrupt it to turn it into the Black Star.)}}.

** What happens to the dragons you kill ... {{spoiler|except Alduin.}}

* [[Deadly Decadent Court]]: Apparently High Rock's aristocracy is like this, from what Hadvar has to say if you choose Breton as your race.

'''Corpulus''': They were smaller back then. }}

{{quote|'''Belethor''': Oh for this [[Grim Up North|wonderful weather]], and all the [[Fantastic Racism|hospitable people]]. And I just love being surrounded by [[Everything Trying to Kill You|dragons]] and [[Great Offscreen War|petty power struggles]]. Ah, but the greatest joy is having to deal with the people who ask such questions."}}

'''Nazir''': Congratulations. You killed an emaciated beggar in cold blood. You are truly an opponent to be feared. }}

** If you listen to what Lucien Lachance's ghost says, apparently the Dark Brotherhood gets a claim on your soul when you die, too. Come to think of it, it's possible to sell your soul to all of these factions at the same time... By the end of the game, you can owe your soul to [[Serial Escalation|Nocturnal, the embodiment of nothingness (Sithis), the 9 divines, Shor, Hircine, and possibly a few other Daedric Princes, depending on what you take "Champion" to mean]]. All in all, you have to wonder who's going to decide who gets your characters soul when something DOES manage to kill them. Although the 9 Divines and Shor are much nicer about it, they're just sort of the "Default Afterlife" for dead people and Skyrim's Heroes. Explore gloriously in this [http://skyrimkinkmeme.livejournal.com/1639.html?thread=77159 fill of the Skyrim Kink Meme], (Don't worry, it's Safe For Work). Given that Sithis is infinitely older (the interaction between it and another universal concept are essentially what created the Aedra and Daedra in the first place) and presumably much more powerful than anyone else on the list, it probably has the best chance at winning. Assuming it's [[Blue and Orange Morality|even capable]] of caring enough to make a claim.

* [[Deathbringer the Adorable]]: {{spoiler|Paarthurnax}}. His name means "Ambition Overlord Cruelty", but he serves as your mentor for a sizable chunk of the game.

* [[Death by Genre Savviness]]: {{spoiler|Alduin}} is actually smart enough to try to kill the Dovakhiin at the start of the game. Ironically, this actually ends up ''saving'' the Dovakhiin; if he'd just let the Empire do their thing, he'd have won (and the game would've been very short).

* [[Defeat Means Friendship]]: Most people you can beat in tavern brawls become considerably more friendly to you afterwards. [[Slap Slap Kiss|You can even marry one!]]

** The Spellbreaker is a physical shield that projects a [[Deflector Shields]] when defending. While blocking, Spellbreaker creates a ward that protects against spells for up to 50 points. At first it may seem weak compared to other more powerful ward spells like Greater Ward which can negate up to 80 points of spell damage. However, it stacks with the Elemental Protection perk which reduces incoming fire, frost, and shock damage by 50% while blocking, and any left over damage will be absorbed by the shield's ward effect. The best part is it costs no Magicka. This makes the Spellbreaker one of the best shields to be used against mages and dragons.

* [[Degraded Boss]]: Dragons. At the beginning of the game every time you encounter a dragon it feels like an adequately epic battle, especially with the music that accompanies it. By the end of the game(or some levels into it, considering that this game doesn't actually "end") you will be able to force dragons to the ground and kill them with a few hits in under 10 seconds before the music even has a chance to kick in. They become more of a nuisance than an epic battle. At least until you start meeting the [[Demonic Spiders|Elder and Ancient Dragons]].

** Skeleton Dragons too. Encountered in some dungeons, or if {{spoiler|You interrupt Alduin's resurrection of a Dragon at any of the Dragon burials}}.

* [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything]]: Drop a bunch of weapons and armor on the ground in front of a guard. He'll tell you to stop doing it because someone could trip on them and get hurt. Not as in generic "don't do that" words, either; more to the effect of "I saw you throwing those weapons around, keep doing it and I'll arrest you." Alternatively, poorer characters (yes, the game tracks class and income) will notice what you just dropped, and ask if you mind whether they grab it for themselves. Also, using too many Thu'ums in a city will cause a guard to tell you it makes the citizens uneasy and asks you to stop.

** Similarly, doing something clumsy or wreckless like hitting a sign causing it to swing around. If a guard sees you do it, he'll call you out on it (eg. "Watch what you're doing!"). What's more, the sign can swing back ''and hit you in the face'' causing minor damage. If you have extremely high HP, this won't be noticable statistically, but you can see bloodstains on the screen as if you were hit.

** You can "pickpocket" the Briar Hearts out of the high-level Forsworn leaders, when normally you pull them off their corpses after a fight. In previous games of this sort, [http://www.gucomics.com/comic/?cdate=20050176 this is an unintended bit of functionality] caused by the way loot tables and pickpoceting work. In Skyrim, successfully "picking" a Briar Heart ''kills the Briarhearts instantly''. Unfortunately, the dev team didn't think it through fully, and you might getaccosted by hired thugs sent to "teach you a lesson", that were hired by the Briarheart.

** Much of the landmass of Cyrodiil, Hammerfell and Morrowind is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlbA2qiXsf0 rendered in Skyrim] at a very basic level of detail and can be accessed using console commands ([http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v225/SliVeROVeRloRD/Skyrim-landmass.jpg The green area] is the area of the map that is rendered in Skyrim). This has led to much speculation about future expansions venturing into neighbouring provinces, but it's likely that the landmass was put in for scale for development purposes, and because of the game's huge draw distances and fully rendered map screen - it's automatically generated using heightmaps that could be ported over from previous entries in the series.

** There are variations in dialogue between characters depending on if you spoke to them before other characters in the conversation got to them. For example, early in the game, if you get to Hadvar's uncle first and talk to him before Hadvar does the conversation goes a little differently; (i.e., "Yes, [[Player Character]] told me about the dragon too and I hardly believed it."). People will have comments for if you've already completed their quests before you ask it of them (like getting the Dragon Stone from Bleak Falls Barrow and/or the Golden Claw there before the two quest-givers asked for them, or unique pieces of stealable loot for Thieves Guild sidequests).

** Your final reward for the Thieves Guild quest is a choice between three powers given to Nightingales. Previously during the questline, you'll have seen {{spoiler|Karliah and Mercer, the two surviving Nightingales, use their Nightingale powers. Karliah uses Agent of Stealth to turn invisible and escape Mercer after he betrays you. Mercer uses Agent of Subterfuge to make Brynjolf attack Karliah during the boss battle.}}

** During the mission "Diplomatic Immunity", you can [[Dressing as the Enemy|disguise yourself as a Thalmor officer.]] The effectiveness of your disguise, however, is actually based on your race: Beast-races will be spotted instantly due to their vastly different anatomy, humans will be alright at a distance but will get caught if too close and non-Altmer elves can get a little closer. Altmer, of course, have it best, as not only can you walk freely all the way to the Solar, you can actually talk with the guards and order them away from their posts. At no point is this tactic ever suggested to you, leaving it purely up to your own initiative. The only catch is you need the Hooded variant to conceal your face from a distance if you're not Altmer.

** You can ''try'' to read [[spoiler:the Elder Scroll before you are supposed to at the designated point. There's a book called {{spoiler|"Effects of The Elder Scrolls"}}. If you read it, it says that if someone were to read {{spoiler|an Elder Scroll}} without training, they would not be affected by it at all, and if they have minor understanding of it then it may just blind them a bit. Attempting to read it temporarily reduces your field of vision and nothing else.

** Sit down in a tavern and the waitress will automatically approach you and ask what you want to drink.** When exploring a crypt with a warrior whose family was buried there, he protests if you start looting, but lets it slide since you're helping him clear out a necromancer living there.

** Occasionally if you use console commands to kill a character in some way, the guards will eventually ask you if you know anything about what happened.

** If you discard items, bystanders may remark that whatever you dropped is liable to be taken by someone else, if you're expecting to find it when you come back. Dropping weapons in the street gets you yelled at by guards as someone could get hurt with them laying around, and being a dick about the warning gets you a small fine as a bounty for disturbing the peace. An honest bystander might pick up the item, tell you 'be more careful with your stuff, next time someone might decide to keep it for themselves,' and try to give it back to you.

** Casting Calm or Courage on an NPC is a good way to grind your Illusion skill. However, try casting Calm on Colette at the College of Winterhold; her response will make you feel dirty. Likewise, casting Healing Hands on an NPC will have varied results. On friendly ones that don't react negatively to it (most Khajiis and Orcs will become hostile because they find it insulting), their responses vary from "A healing spell? Are you a priest or something?" to "Thank you" to custom responses. J'Zargo will reply "Ah! J'Zargo feels like he woke up from a nap!", while Farkas responds "Ah! That felt good!"

** You can just bypass Riverwood and Whiterun altogether and go to Windhelm or Solitude, ([[Beef Gate|though this isn't advisable early on]]) join the Stormcloaks or Legion before even initiating any part of the main quest, and completely take over Skyrim for one faction or another before ever drawing a weapon against a dragon. And yes, the game includes unique dialogue for this eventuality.

** Upon joining the Legion, General Tulius will recite an oath that the player makes his character repeat to confirm joining up. The pledge swears allegiance to the Emperor, Titus Mede II, however if {{spoiler|you completed the whole of the Dark Brotherhood Quest Line before starting the Civil War quests, the general just says "The Emperor" rather than his name}}

** Entering rooms through doors results in a Door Opening animation before actually loading the area. You can also close doors that are stuck open this way through the same method. If you click fast enough ''the door will open and close, and the area won't load''.

** You can join the Companions early in game, which rewards you with a Skyforge Steel weapon of your choosing (and allows you to buy more as required). It is as powerful as an Elven weapon, and as a bonus is lighter and can be improved with Steel ingots rather than the rarer Moonstone. And to top that one off, after doing only three missions for them, you can become a werewolf, giving you a very nice combat ability, and a form that, when sprinting, is faster than any other form of travel in the game, short of riding a dragon or riding in a cart (and has greatly increased carrying capacity as well, so it can run/sprint even if you were fairly heavily encumbered in your normal form.) You get access to Wolf Armor, which is a special variant of steel that is as durable as plate but only as heavy as regular steel. It can also be upgraded with regular steel ingots. Once {{spoiler|Kodlak dies and Wuthraad is reforged}}, you can also forge Nordic Hero weapons using draugr weaponry; they look like modernized versions of ancient Nord weapons, but have daedric-tier damage.

** Bound Weapons. The spell to summon them can be bought in the first store that sells spells - and even then, almost all spell merchants sell them. They improve your conjuration skill by merely holding them while in the general vicinity of enemies. With a mere 4 perks (easily obtained due to the aforementioned easy leveling of your conjuration skill) they will soultrap on hit (for lots of souls to train enchanting with), do equivalent damage to Deadric level weapons, dispel summon creatures, turn raised ones and have an almost negligible cost in magicka to summon. On top of all that, they are weightless, allowing you to haul more loot. You can therefore enjoy their full benefits before reaching level 10. And they also gain full benefits of the perks that apply to their weapon types (One handed swords, two handed axes and bows). The bound bow, though acquirable later, even create its own ammunition! And the cherry on the sundae: bound weapons are unaffected by the disarm shout. It does not cause them to be unsummoned, and even if it did, you'd need to only summon them again, which is far less troublesome than running around during a fight looking for your precious custom-made sword.

** A basic conjuration spell, raise zombie, can allow you to reach 50+ conjuration skill before completing the first dungeon (the golden claw/dragonstone quests). Kill a basic enemy (normal bandits, skeevers, basic draugr), use the spell to raise your opponent, then kill him again (the basic flames spell works fastest for lowest cost). Once enough damage has been sustained, the zombie will turn hostile against you, granting you exp (raised and summoned creatures only grant exp when they enter combat against another creature. This includes the player). Since conjuration gives a large amount of exp per "legitimate" summons, it raises insanely fast, to the point that, if you are using to destruction to kill each enemy both times, your conjuration level will be twice what your destruction will be, or more. Also, if you have an enemy that is aware of your presence, but cannot reach you (locked door, raised bridge, etc), you can summon a familiar (basic, lowest cost summons), then use a bound blade with the necessary perks to unsummon the creature. Repeat over and over until either the creature that can't reach you ceases to be hostile, finds a path to you, or you master conjuration completely.

** Dagger + Assassin's Blade Perk + Shrouded Gloves = [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74RcsJfK_CE Backstabbing killing machine.] Combine it with the Shadowcloak of Nocturnal and you can rip through an entire group like this. In broad daylight.

** A very simple and quick quest in Riverwood, the very first town you visit, gets you Faendal as a follower. He's a trainer in Archery, so you can pay him to raise the skill, then enter trade and take back the money you paid him. Rinse and repeat and by the time you leave Riverwood for Whiterun you can have almost 50 Archery, allowing you to take three levels of the Overdraw perk for +60% bow damage, in addition to the high damage from your high skill level. Enter Sneak mode for double damage sneak attacks, and any enemy that doesn't see you coming will drop in one shot.

** If you're lucky enough to find the Flaming Familiar early on in your quest, and you're playing a mage or stealth character... say hello to your new best friend. All you need to do is invest a skill point into a low-level conjuration skill (which is easy to raise in this game) and suddenly, the range you can summon your Flaming Familiar with is extreme. It has a longer base range to begin with as well. All you need to do is stay a fair distance away, summon it near an enemy, and let it attack and blow up. Oh yeah, Flaming Familiars are basically wolf-shaped fire missiles. And it's an apprentice level spell that normally only costs 30 MP. Even if you're not a mage, it's not that tough to spam and be patient. If you're a stealth character, you need patience anyway.

** Mjoll the Lioness can be met and obtained at any point after you escape Helgen, provided you made it to Riften without getting killed. On top of being one of only two invincible followers (the other being Cicero, which you only get after serious progression in the Dark Brotherhood questline) her quest has you going through a Dwemer Ruin, which can give you the location of a source of Dwarven Ingots relatively early in the game. Mjoll herself benefits from Heavy Armors and uses both melee weapons and a bow, making her ideal for tanking Dragons early on.

** Transmute, an Adept-level Alteration spell that turns iron ore into silver, and silver ore into gold, can be found pretty early in the game if you know where to look<ref>Halted Stream Camp, northwest of Whiterun</ref>, and can be used to make absolute boatloads of money by transmuting iron into gold, then making jewelry and selling it.

** It also affords a bit of [[Loophole Abuse]] if for some reason you want to kill someone but can't find a way to do it stealthily. Just get them into a place where you can blast them off a high-enough ledge to kill them, their death as a result of the fall will ''not'' be held on you. Thus you can literally get away with murder as long as you don't mind paying a 40 gold bounty.

** People you steal from might send thugs after you (the thugs' contract says they don't have you kill you, but the hirer won't mind if they do. Which they try to). Even if you just stole an incredibly cheap book from them and paid off the bounty. {{spoiler|If the thugs fail, they may send the Dark Brotherhood after you.}}

** The Dragonborn can respond to the clerical error that nearly resulted in your execution by joining the Stormcloaks and driving the Empire out of Skyrim. {{spoiler|If you join the Dark Brotherhood you can take it a step further and kill the Emperor.}}

* [[Sequel Hook|DLC Hook]]: {{spoiler|Both Tsun's and Parthunaax's parting words after you slay Alduin basically say that the Dragonborn's end is yet to come and that he/she will be leaving more indelible marks in history.}}

* [[The Dog Bites Back]]: You can invoke this trope against Arondil, a necromancer who [[I Love the Dead|uses the undead spirits of women as sex slaves]]. {{spoiler|If you steal the soul gem from the pedestal behind him,}} you can rob him of control of his undead servants, which results in two of his slaves murdering him.

* [[Door to Before]]: A lot of dungeons have passages at the end of the dungeon that will lead back to the beginning of the dungeon. Helps on the backtracking. The most common means of doing this actually makes perfect sense - a door barred from the inside - but ledges too tall to jump/climb to are also common.

** {{spoiler|Odahviing post [[Heel Face Turn]] as another literal example}} for the Dragonborn. {{spoiler|Before this, he could be seen as one for Alduin.}}

** After completing the Stormcloak quest chain up to right before the Battle for Solitude, Ulfric himself dubs you as mightiest of the Stormcloaks and as close to him as kin, you are thus dubbed his personal champion; Stormblade.

* [[The Dreaded]]: The Dragonborn is this to Dragonkind, for a [[Your Soul Is Mine|very good reason.]]

* [[Dream Weaver]]: As noted in the in-game book ''[http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Dreamstride The Dreamstride]'', the potion Vaermina's Torpor allows people to enter others' dreams. {{spoiler|You get to use it in Vaermina's daedric quest.}}

** Both A False Front and To Kill an Empire gives you opportunities to dress as an enemy soldier or a cook respectively. However the only difference is dialogue options.

** {{spoiler|Astrid}}. She sells the player out to {{spoiler|Commander Maro}} in order to save {{spoiler|the sanctuary}}, but he sends his forces to attack anyway. Badly burned in the attack, she uses the last of her energy to {{spoiler|perform the Black Sacrament with her own body to [[Suicide by Cop|put a contract on herself]]}}, [[Heel Realization|acknowledging her failings]].

** Tova Shatter-shield if {{spoiler|you kill her remaining daughter.}}

** Not really characters, but between ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]]'' and this game, both lands from the previous two games have changed for the worse. Vvardenfell, the main setting of [[The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind|the third game]], has exploded, because it was a volcano and is hit by a huge floating rock (as a decades-later consequence of the game's events, no less). And Cyrodill, the setting of the fourth game is recuperating from being savaged by a war with Nazi elves. This can a bit harsh to longtime players of the series, who helped save both lands and spend countless of hours in them. Though it does well to prove that saving the world doesn't equate to saving the realm.

** Any one-handed weapon can be equipped in either hand, allowing for dual wielding or left-handed swordfighting - both firsts for the Elder Scrolls series (though ''Daggerfall'' had a rough version). It's partially offset, though, with the default mapping for PC - the right arm is mapped to the LEFT mousebutton, and vice versa. SO, you press the opposite mouse button for the action you want. Also note that weapons in your left hand have a more limited attack palette (i.e. swords will mainly use stabs instead of swings).

** This also extends to dual spellcasting as well: a spell in each hand. You can also use the same spell in each hand for a more powerful version of that spell, at the cost of a substantially higher cost in magicka - if you're worried about running out, using separate casts to machinegun the spells, without actually dual-casting, is [[Boring but Practical|more magicka-efficient]], in some cases greatly so.

** You could be Thane of Whiterun, a high-ranking member in the Legion or Stormcloaks, Archmage of the College Of Winterhold and a full-fledged member of the Companions, and there'll still be the occasional dick guard taunting you about reporting a stolen sweetroll, never mind the fact that if you ''did'' steal a sweetroll and someone reported it, that same guard would be on your ass in a second. Don't expect any parades in your honor after the main quest, either. Oddly enough you ''do'' get recognition for finishing the civil war quest.

** Don't try assaulting Thalmor soldiers near any Imperial strongholds, they won't appreciate you attacking them purely out of spite due to an uneasy treaty declaration between them. ([[Loophole Abuse|If you provoke them into attacking you first, though, the Imperial troops won't raise a finger, and if you're allied with the Empire they'll jump to your defense.]]) On the other hand, Stormcloaks will happily help you kill any Thalmor you come across if they are nearby; being allied with the Stormcloaks just makes them all the more enthusiastic to bash elven skulls.

** Also when joining the Companions, Vilkas always says to Kodlak that he's never even heard of you, despite the fact you could be Thane of Whiterun after having {{spoiler|killed the dragon threatening the city, be Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold, have destroyed the Dark Brotherhood, be a high ranking member of the Stormcloaks/Legion, revived Whiterun's Gildergreen... and so much more.}}

** The Thieves Guild - {{spoiler|you can be the ''Guild Master''}} and there will still be those who treat you like a brand new recruit, and a completely unpromising one at that. The roadside muggings are an exception -- if you are a guild member [[Honor Among Thieves|they'll actually apologize for threatening you.]]

** Averted in the theft/friendship mechanic. The NPCs might not be much friendlier but if you do something for them, you'll find you're allowed to take things from their house/store that would have previously been considered theft.

** Also with Esbern. {{spoiler|So you saved his life from the Thalmor. Used your blood to open a secret base of operation for him and Delphine. Recruited 20 new members for The Blades (who previously numbered at 2). But he won't lift a finger to help you, or allow the Blades to help you, unless you go and kill one of your allies because he asked you to.}}

** Blackreach and its upper level, Alftand, are a little more than "elaborate". "''Absolutely goddamn huge''" might be a better way of putting it. Traversing them can take the better part of four hours even if you're trying to pass as quickly as possible, and you have to fight your way through a small army of Falmer, Automatons, and other nasties on the way. Easily five times as big as any of the regular barrows you'll see, they're positively packed with items, and have THREE different access elevators plus three more through various Dwemer ruins. There's a reason why {{spoiler|Blackreach might be the Dwemer capital.}}

* [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors]]: Subverted in Sheogorath's daedra quest. At first it looks like you're supposed to win such a battle with the help of an atronach (Fire Atronach beats Ice Atronach, who beats Storm Atronach, who beats Fire Atronach) but then it turns out that the battle will actually go on infinitely until you {{spoiler|turn Wabbajack on Pelagius's guards}}.

** The Aldmeri Dominion; they've taken over territories and have their eye on the rest of the world.

* [[Empty Levels]]: The removal of stats actually makes this much ''less'' of a problem, as the leveling-up system in previous Elder Scrolls games made these in combination with the [[Level Scaling]], easily resulting in characters with a couple ridiculously high stats and others that [[Can't Catch Up]]. It still happens with the [[Level Scaling]] (making stronger opponents appear when you may not have the gear to face them) and is entirely possible to [[Unwinnable by Insanity|make yourself unable to stand up to any of the enemies by using all your perks for stuff that's not useful in a fight]], but nobody would actually ''do'' that. Not to mention, when you level up, the game actually doesn't block you from continuing until you pick everything at the level up menu when you decide to do so. Accidentally read a bunch of skill books and gained a level in skills you don't use, and don't have enough invested into the trees you ''do'' use? no problem - just level up, pick the health/stamina/magicka boost, then get back to the game and pick that perk when it's available. Perks and skills that don't directly help in combat are still very useful in supporting you in preperation for combat. A character who never puts anything into weapon skills or magic can still be a beast simply because they've got so much money and such advanced ability in support skills that they have extremely powerful equipment with advanced enchantments and an endless supply of potent potions and poisons. It doesn't matter if you haven't put any perks into one-handed weapons when your sword is two-shotting bosses even without using infinite smithing/alchemy/enchanting loops.

* [[The End of the World as We Know It]]: Considering the main villain is also known as 'the world eater,' many people have made the obvious assumption.

* [[Enemy Chatter]]: It seems the bandits of Skyrim mostly share a common tragic backstory in which their Da told them to go to a college but they were too dumb to figure out which college, and now they need [[Fantastic Drug|skooma]]--the imported stuff--just one last time. Occasionally one comes across more unique chatter, such as a disgruntled mage in the Ilinalta's Deep dungeon complaining about having to work a forge.

** In Blind Cliff Bastion you are able to team up with a hagraven to take back her tower from another hagraven.

* [[Equal Opportunity Evil]]: Just like ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion|Oblivion]]'', the Dark Brotherhood is by far the most evil organization you can join in the game, and also the most diverse. Its members include a Nord, a Dunmer, an old man, a child vampire, a former Shadowscale Argonian, a Redguard, and a werewolf.

* [[Eternal English]]: {{spoiler|When you read the Elder Scroll at the Time-Wound, you see a vision of a couple thousand years back, only to find that everyone speaks the same sort of English they speak in the fourth era. Of course, it's possible this is an effect of the Elder Scroll, and you should be glad that reading the thing at a place called ''Time-Wound'' didn't do worse to you.}}

** One resident of Riften, when asked about the Thieves Guild, denounces them soundly as a bunch of lawless crooks, while noting that even the Dark Brotherhood has rules that they abide by. {{spoiler|If you've actually been ''through'' the DB storyarc, however, you'll know that this is BS.}}

** You can revive anything killable as a zombie with the various Undead Raising spells. However they look exactly the same as how they died, the only difference is how their corpses dissolve into dust upon death (one version of the spell prevents this, effectively giving you a second, immortal follower).

* [[Evil Is Deathly Cold]]: Vampires in Skyrim usually make their home in icy caverns and/or ice-covered fort ruins, and are fond of using frost magic. Draugr are also known for hitting you with a frostbite blast from their hands. Of course, the native Nords are all highly resistant to cold damage; they're used to dealing with this crap, apparently.

** {{spoiler|While the reward money for choosing to destroy the Dark Brotherhood rather than joining it ''is'' impressive, it just can't match up to a unique mount, dagger and summon.}} Though, in the former rout, it is possible to take the dagger in any case. So that may offset it somewhat.

** For a certain perspective of evil, The Black Star quest requires you to find Azura's Star, an artifact belonging to one of the few benevolent Daedric gods that is a reusable soul gem, but can't hold Black (humanoid) souls (which are always "Grand" souls, the strongest type of souls available for enchanting or weapon recharging.) The reward for returning the star to Azura's worshipper gets her as a follower and lets you keep the star. On the other hand, you can complete the work of an insane necromancer by taking the gem to his student and turning it into the Black Star, which holds humanoid souls but gets you no follower. Black Soul Gems to hold humanoid souls are rare, so this item is also far more useful. You can also recharge your weapon any time by killing any humanoid enemy while soul trap is active, making all lower types of soul gem after Grand and Black Soul obsolete. The "necromancer" only went insane and all necromancy after Azura reacted to experimentation on her artifact with a curse of insanity, however, and the Student considers that to be the evil act.

** When you're meeting up with {{spoiler|Delphine for the first time in her room under the inn,}} you can say, "I was expecting someone...taller."

* [[Extreme Omnivore]]: One way you can discover one of an ingredient's uses in Alchemy (more with a Perk) is to eat it. Fair enough when its plants and berries. Bug parts, weird-but-technicaly-edible animal parts and potentially poisonous mushrooms, ok, weird and a bit risky, but the effects wear off and don't really hurt you in the amount you use. Teeth and horns of various animals, the toe of a dead giant, or the oil that lubricated ancient Dewmer machinery? Falls squarely here and requires considerable application of [[Fridge Logic]] to suspend disbelief for (i.e. you would have to grind up horns and teeth to be able to ingest them without choking).

** Also at the beginning of the game, Ralof says this almost verbatim to the luckless horse-thief, Rokir of Rorikstead. Rokir disregards this advice, and gets a few arrows in the back for it. If he'd just gone along, he might well have survived after all...

** At the end of the civil war quest chain, if the player supports the Empire, {{spoiler|Jarl Ulfric will initially go down swinging, but once beaten he will calmly accept his defeat and ask for the Dragonborn to finish him off, because it would "be a better song."}}

** Topping them all though, is {{spoiler|The Emperor himself,}} whom you must kill at the end of the Dark Brotherhood chain, if you choose to join them. After welcoming you warmly and saying that this is just how things work, he would then calmly turn his back towards you, ready for his fate. He did ask for a final request, which you can fulfill or not: to kill whoever it is who commissioned his death. Even then, he does not expect it of you; he asks it as a favor, nothing more.

* [[Fake Crossover]]: An official mod places [[Portal 2|the Space Core]] into the game as an item. When you put it into the game, the poor guy falls from the sky({{spoiler|Guess where he was before}}), which makes one wonder if this really is a [[Fake Crossover]]...

* [[Fantastic Drug]]: Skooma is still around, though it doesn't have negative effects like it did in Morrowind and Oblivion; it's not even really illegal! One quest also features the more potent "Balmora Blue", which ''is'' illegal--and is supposedly priceless, what with there not being a Balmora anymore.

** If someone ever gives a reason for siding with the Imperials over the Stormcloaks in the civil war sidequest, this is often the main reason given. The Stormcloaks have very strong racist tendencies and they do ''not'' hide this fact. This darker side is easiest to see in [[Wretched Hive|Windhelm]]. Dunmer are forced to live in the filthiest, poorest part of the city, and abuse from the local Nords is an almost daily occurrence. The Argonian dock workers are paid a tiny fraction of what the Nord workers are paid, and are not permitted to live within the city walls, and are '''physically beaten''' if they try to. Ulfric Stormcloak will send guards to root out bandits if a Nord village is attacked, but won't lift a finger to help Khajiit caravans when they're harassed. On the other hand, they tend to make exceptions if it would be beneficial - non-Nord characters can ask when joining and be told that it's loyalty that matters rather than blood.

*** The Empire is heavily based on the [[Ancient Rome|Roman Empire]]; the Imperial Legion armors have even taken on a much more Roman-like appearance this time around to reflect this, comfortably familiar to players of Morrowind.

*** The Bretons are mixed. Those from High Rock are based on the French, especially in terms of names (Montiere, Mirabelle, etc...), while those from The Reach in particular are essentially based on the Celtic British, complete with a King Arthur figure in Red Eagle. Of course, Bretons is the french name for the people of Brittany: [[wikipedia:Brittany|as in the Celtic part of France]].

* [[A Father to His Men]]: General Tullius of the Imperial Legion. {{spoiler|If the player sides with the Legion and captures Windhelm, he compliments his soldiers, doubles their pay and the compensations to the widows of the dead soldiers.}} He seems to be based on Julius Caesar. Ulfric Stormcloak and Galmar Stonefist are this as well, as they love their men dearly. And in return are deeply respected by their men.

* [[Fauxshadow]]: Maurice from the Blessing of Kynareth quest practically screams sinister with his appearance, voice and mannerisms. {{spoiler|Not only is he a genuinely good guy, but keeping him alive actually makes the final part of the quest ''much'' easier.}}

* [[Fighter, Mage, Thief]]: The three archetypal builds are present even without classes, as each skill is one of six in each purview. In the astrological lore of the series, these three are the names of three "Guardian" constellations in the zodiac which "watch over" lesser constellations devoted to these three builds. The new skill tree system's visible appearance is a direct callback to this, with the three "Guardians" as huge nebulae over the warrior, mage and thief skill trees that appear as constellations in the sky. (The old constellations like "The Atronach" and "The Shadow" have been moved to the standing stones dotting Skyrim).

** Many of the Jarls have one of each archetype (though "thief" may be a bit of a stretch, that is the constellation that includes Speech) for advisors: The Housecarl for the more strength-at-arms-tinted advice, the Steward for the voice of discretion, and the Court Mage for advice on any arcane matters.

* [[Final Boss Preview]]: The {{spoiler|dragon that so handily interrupts your beheading at the start of the game}} is actually Alduin, [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain|trying to kill you.]]

** You actually get at least three encounters with him before the actual final battle. The third one {{spoiler|subverts the usual expectation of getting curb stomped. You actually have him on the run and news of his defeat at your hands shakes the confidence the other dragons have in Alduin's leadership.}}

* [[Finishing Move]]: Born from the popular Oblivion [[Game Mod]] "Deadly Reflexes", Finishers have become part of the game's source code. Every weapon in the game has at least two finisher animations for every enemy type in the game.

* [[Fire-Breathing Weapon]]: While its predecessor Oblivion only featured spells that fire a single bolt of elemental energy, Skyrim also features spells that fire a stream of energy. These tend to require less magicka than the other variety, but deal less damage.

*** There's a copy of "Nightingales: Fact or Fiction" right next to Mercer Frey. {{spoiler|If you follow the thieves guild quest line, you find out he is one. And you get the chance to become one yourself.}}

*** There's a copy of "Wabbajack" in the Blue Palace bedrooms. {{spoiler|Then you can recieve the same weapon yourself in a close wing of the very same palace.}}

** Near the beginning of the game, the Greybeards called out to you using the dragon word "Dovahkiin". {{spoiler|You use this shout in the same manner to call a dragon, Odahviing, to you in order to chase after Alduin near the climax.}}

** {{spoiler|The Circle of the Companions are Friendly Neighborhood Werewolves.}}

** Nice vampires are few and far between, being only {{spoiler|Babette and Sybille Stentor.}}

** The guests at {{spoiler|Namira's feast might count as Friendly Neighbourhood Cannibals if you choose to join them.}}

* [[Fungus Humongous]]: Blackreach has glowing mushrooms that reach all the way to the top of the cavern

** A patch that made the [[DRM]] for Skyrim actually require Steam to be running to play (as intended from release) also unleashed a host of stability problems and [http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/topic/1284930-new-tesvexe-less-stable/ fan rage].

** The 1.2 patch that was released broke all [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors|elemental resistances]], allowing, for example, [[Elemental Embodiment|Flame Atronachs]] to be killed by [[Kill It with Fire|fire attacks]]. This also applied to players, meaning those who relied on their resistances to [[Stone Wall|tank damage]] such as [[Fighter, Mage, Thief|melee warriors, mages or unsneaky thieves]]... are now magical [[Cannon Fodder]]. [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Disease resistance has been screwed too, so you'll get diseases even if you're a werewolf.]]

** The 1.2 patch made dragons [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xCjK3BD6u4 fly backwards.]

** For a race that was dying out, the dragons seem to have an awful lot of reinforcements. {{spoiler|And then [[Gameplay and Story Integration|subverted]].}}

** The player's race almost never affects [[NPC|NPCs]]' dialogue, even though racism against non-Nords is a major theme in the game. For example, the Khajiit traders are forbidden from so much as stepping inside city walls, but a player Khajiit can buy a house and get married without anyone so much as raising an eyebrow - and you can do this before you are even acknowledged as the Dragonborn.

** Characters that are wounded in gameplay-combat can be healed back to full in an instant with your "Healing Hands" spell. Characters that get wounded as part of the plot--not so much. Apparently you're just lucky none of those arrows you heal away so easily hit you in the knee...

** Certain plot threads are handled separately, which leads to odd situations where doing quests in certain orders leads to facepalming dialogues. Like while doing Thieves Guild quests the player is told by Maven Black-Briar that she has Dark Brotherhood contacts and she'll sic them on you. Thing is, if you completed the Dark Brotherhood Questline BEFORE doing the Thieves Guild {{spoiler|You know exactly who her contact was, Astrid, through Delvin. And Astrid is dead. And YOU are the head of the Brotherhood}}.

** At a certain quest, the player gets stabbed and passes out. An NPC will tell them that a certain paralytic venom kept them from bleeding out. In combat, the player never "bleeds out" at all, and in fact he regenerates. In fact, the player may very well be immune to poisons to begin with!

** The Skeleton Key. When {{spoiler|Mercer Frey}} uses it, it can open anything, including the sliding puzzle doors you need claws for, and {{spoiler|the Thieves' Guild treasure vault}}, which requires two keys to open. When you use it, it's just an unbreakable lockpick.

{{quote|'''Heddic's Volunruud Notes:''' I should have hired those sellswords in the first place. Perhaps there's no need. This place is just a tomb, after all, and there are no obvious signs of habitation. [[Too Dumb to Live|It isn't as though the thousand-year dead will mind if I have a look around.]]}}

{{quote|'''Diary:''' I saw some kind of grey creature behind the old gate over there! Perhaps its a new automaton we haven't cataloged. Oh, this is so exciting! I'm moving my bedroll down here, see if I can get another glimpse. }}

*** The game rather brutally punishes her for her blindness by having her be the only member of the archaeological dig [[Fate Worse Than Death|taken alive by the Falmer.]]

* [[Genre Savvy]]: When you tell Fralia Gray-Mane her son is alive but he can't return home, she asks how she can be sure he didn't die and you're telling her what she wants to hear. Considering such a lie is possible in many quest-based RPGs including this one, good question. Fortunately you have a way to prove it.

** The first thing Alduin does after coming out of his exile? {{spoiler|go after the current Dragonborn, i.e: you.}}

* [[Get It Over With]]: Rather than wait for last rites, one of the Stormcloaks waiting with you to be executed interrupts and claims, "I haven't got all morning!" He is immediately executed. Literally a minute later, a dragon attacks and the rest of the prisoners flee. If he had just waited until the priest was done...

** Check out Haelga's bedroom some time. {{spoiler|She's got shackles over the bed, an aphrodisiac and the script to the pornographic play "The Lusty Argonian Maid" on her nightstand, some [[Mundane Utility|stamina potions]] on the shelves, a letter praising her skill in the "Dibellan arts" involving [[Noodle Implements|Daedric Armor boots and a trout]], and, ''under'' the bed, a ''horker tusk and leather strap''.}}

** Take a close look at the statues of Dibella you occasionally come across. [[Nippled and Dimed|They have faint nubs on their bare breasts.]] Despite this, even Azura, who has been depicted as a classical-style nude in the past three games, is covered up now.

** It is possible to come across a tent somewhere in the wilderness - inside are two bed rolls, many red mountain flowers scattered over the beds, two pairs of boots, two creme treats on a silver platter and a lot of empty wine bottles. Hmm, wonder what happened there...

** {{spoiler|And you can fight the ghost of said giant Mudcrab in a quest!}}

* [[Giant Spiders]]: And we mean "GIANT". As in "bigger than freaking [[Everything's Worse with Bears|grizzly bears]]".

* [[A God Am I]]: It's eventually revealed that Alduin is actually {{spoiler|Akatosh's firstborn}}, but he pretends to be an aspect of the Dragon of Time after he decided to exploit a misunderstanding. Well, maybe - given other available facts it is possible {{spoiler|firstborn}} doesn't exactly mean he ''isn't'' an aspect of the Dragon God of Time...

* [[God Save Us From the Queen]]: A quest you can get in Solitude has you {{spoiler|stopping the revival of The Wolf Queen}}.

* [[Godzilla Threshold]]: Relying on the Dragonborn to save the world can become this: your character can be the leader of the thieves guild, the Dark Brotherhood, have completed every Daedric quest that involves betrayal, torture, murder, and cannibalism, and have slain hundreds of innocent people before slaying even one dragon and being summoned by the Graybeards. And they'll still teach you to use the voice, despite the fact that you're evil enough to be be measured in [[The Order of the Stick|Kilonazis]] and will obviously abuse the power, because [[Evil Versus Oblivion|you are the only hope the world has]].

** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by the Greybeards in conversation. Whilst they are constrained by the Way of the Voice to use their Shouts only for divine purposes, the Dragonborn is under no such constraints. Since your power is directly granted by a gift of Akatosh himself, ''any'' use you choose to put it to must therefore be divinely ordained. No matter how depraved your actions, in the end you're on a [[Mission from God]].

* [[Gold Fever]]: Bandits can be fooled into killing one another if you drop a gemstone into the area they patrol; they squabble over it, then come to blows. Another case of [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything]].

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=Oso_mmhvm-Y The Giants' national sport - adventurer-ball].

** If you are on friendly terms with a faction like the Dark Brotherhood or the Companions, you can take quite a few free shots on them without them going hostile. This leads to some odd scenarios where you are happily greeted by someone you [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnTJEHQr__E just shot three arrows into]

** Turns out if you have the time and resources, you can perpetually enchant items to have ludicrous properties. All you need to do is jump between consuming fortify enchanting potions and foritfy alchemy equipment that you make yourself. In the end you can have things like 1101% reduced destruction magic cost, 265,400 health and/or weapons that deal 14410 fire and 14410 frost damage. [[Captain Obvious|You can also crash the game with a stack overflow doing this too much.]] It's a bit more complex than that. The alchemy/enchanting loop stops when you reach +29% to alchemy and +32% to enchanting. More extreme enchantments require the abuse of a bug in the restoration potions.

** The thieves that randomly spawn in Riften sometimes do things that break their AI, and then they spend a few minutes just [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4dYekH0Aow keep taking their weapon out over and over]

** One fairly regularly reported situation is that the player's in-game spouse seems to be cheating on them (suspicious people may be found in the player's house when they're left alone, etc.), which has at some point been acknowledged by the developers. In some cases, it's merely down to lingering scripts associated with a specific spouse, as is the case if you marry Camilla Valerius - [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx9EI23Ztlg Faendal, a suitor of hers at the start of the game, will continue to stay close to her even if you move her out of Riverwood].

** The Hidden Chest glitch, which often has respawning (after a certain time period) loot (resulting in infinite gold and other supplies if you're patient). The most notable one being [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtEKEKcZ3jw this one in Dawnstar], which is invisible, and can only be found if you sneak, and its contents refresh (though with random quantity) every 48 hours ingame. These hidden chests are actually Merchant chests, their contents match up to a certain merchant's inventory. The one in Dawnstar for example, belongs to the Kahjiit traders on the outskirts of the city.

** Balgruuf the Greater, Jarl of Whiterun. He’s well loved and respected by his people and is always courteous and grateful to the [[Player Character|Dragonborn]], regardless of their race. He’s also the only Jarl to remain neutral during the Civil War, not wanting the war to destroy his hold or his people. {{spoiler|When Whiterun is attacked by the Stormcloaks during the Civil War quest line Balgruuf himself leads the defense of the city. [[Authority Equals Asskicking|He won't go down without a fight.]]}}

** Khajiit are the only species that get a +15 boost to unarmed combat, because they're cat people and have claws. Argonians get a much lesser boost - they have a higher base unarmed damage, as do Khajiit, but not the additional damage boost from the Claws passive.

* [[Green Hill Zone]]: The game appears to begin in Falkreath Hold, a relatively peaceful region home to a vibrant boreal forest, as opposed to the harsher tundra, swamps, and glaciers of northern Skyrim.

* [[Grey and Grey Morality]]: The Legion and the Stormcloaks. The Legion's trying to hold the Empire together, but they're willing to kill unlucky bystanders (i.e. ''you''), are believed by the Stormcloaks to be intimidated by the threat of another war with the Dominion, and to maintain the peace sacrifice Nord customs including their primary religion. The Stormcloaks want to be independent and restore the Nord customs, but their leader killed a young and innocent king to begin the war, although {{spoiler|he claims this was a lawful challenge according to Nord custom}}, and some engage in [[Fantastic Racism]] against any non-Nord races, with the Stormcloak capital of Windhelm by far the worst offender. This racism spreads with them - if Whiterun is taken by the Stormcloaks, a Cyrodilic blacksmith there notes that she'd probably be out of business if she wasn't married to a Nord.

** There's an added element of importance to the civil war that goes beyond simply whose beliefs dominate in Skyrim. If the Empire wins, the political situation stabilizes and the Empire can resume rebuilding to face inevitable Thalmor aggression more effectively, and possibly repel a second assault and ultimately reestablish the old pantheon. But if the Stormcloaks win, free and open worship of Talos can resume immediately in Skyrim. {{spoiler|Since Talos is holding the world together, free worship can only strengthen him and help prevent the [[End of the World As We Know It]].}} The Stormcloaks ''may'' be able to reunite fractured elements of the Empire like Hammerfell and Morrowind and reforge the Tamrielic Empire under Ulfric into a stronger force than the old Empire. Regardless however, Ulfric does make it a point to take immediate steps to ensuring Skyrim is self-sufficient by increasing the power of its army.

** The Blades and the Greybeards. The Blades want to defeat Alduin and the dragons but they aren't very nice to the Dragonborn, while the Greybeards are mentor figures but invoke [[You Are Not Ready]] to explain why they don't just teach the Dragonborn every Shout they know when the player first meets them. The two are also not fond of each other - the Blades hire you to kill Paarthurnax for being a dragon, and Delphine says the Greybeards fear the Shout's misuse and so do not use its power for good, but all power risks being abused and their knowledge is worthless if it isn't being put to use. By contrast the Greybeards consider the Blades meddlers in things they don't understand and that their mission to serve the Dragonborn is a lie they use to hide the fact they want to control the Dragonborn.

* [[The Guards Must Be Crazy]]: Pick any humanoid opponent, not even necessarily a guard. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHbF9ynGZV0 From stealth, shoot them with an arrow, then avoid being detected when they come looking for you.]

** In the quest Blood On the Ice, the quest arrow and journal only points you to one person so you can accuse who you think is a murderer. {{spoiler|The only way to get the good end for the quest is to, perhaps without knowing he exists, confront the suspect - whom the clues you collect will strongly suggest ''is the murderer'' - before reporting him as a suspect. Unless you talk to another NPC, who points you towards a shopkeeper - whose shop contains displays of the murder weapon. Along with Ysgrammor's spoon, which is a fork.}}

** Unlike Oblivion, Skyrim states your Armor Points instead of your damage absorption. The thing is, it's still using the Oblivion system where you can only ignore a max of 80% damage, which equates to 567 armor points. You can literally craft ''steel'' armor that's strong enough to reach it with a buffed max Smithing skill.

** In one quest, you're framed and confronted by corrupt guardsmen and given the choice to either go to jail or fight. The only way to complete the quest and get the best loot is to [[Violation of Common Sense|go to prison]]; all fighting does is get you a nasty criminal fee.

** To clarify on the Oblivion Walker achievement, you only get it for having 15 daedric artifacts, not just completing the quests. Which means if you chose alternate endings to some of them, have fun making an entirely new character or reloading a very old save. Clavicus Vile's quest is the worst offender, because unlike the other Daedra whose quests offer multiple artifacts, only one of them (the Masque) counts towards the achievement, meaning you absolutely ''must'' finish the quest in that way to get the achievement.

** The No Stone Unturned quest, which involves [[Gotta Catch Em All|collecting 24 "unusual gems"]] (aka the Stones of Barenziah) which are scattered all over Skyrim. There are no clues ingame as to where each one is, and chances are you'll find at least one by accident. Their locations are fixed, but vary from caves and tombs to people's homes {{spoiler|(one is located inside Proudspire Manor, which you can only enter after buying it)}} to places of high restrictions like a Jarl's quarters (which require you to sneak in really well unless the said Jarl made you a Thane). One is even located inside the {{spoiler|Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary, which can only be entered after starting the Dark Brotherhood questline, either to join them or destroy them.}} {{spoiler|And prior to patch 1.4, one of these gems was inside the Thalmor Embassy, which could only be visited during the Diplomatic Immunity quest; thankfully after the patch it was relocated to a cave underneath, which is accessible anytime.}}