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

*** Alain Dufont is a bandit leader who took advantage of a grief-stricken young woman named Muiri who lost a friend to a serial killer. He robbed the victim's family blind and fled for his life, pinning the blame on her and getting her ostracized by said family. He was so loathsome that Windhelm guards will commend you for ending his life after you've killed him.

*** The Gourmet himself doesn't qualify, but Anton Virane, who gives up his identity to you ''does''. He's an elitist [[Jerkass]] who treats the Reachmen working under him like trash, and idle dialogue has him threaten to cut off one's fingers for messing up a meal. [[Dirty Coward|He also gives up his best friend's identity the second he realizes his life is in danger.]]

*** And fittingly enough, the entire Brotherhood is this should you decide to wipe them all out. Yes, they are [[Affably Evil]] to a fault and have a lot of love for each other, but that doesn't change the fact that they are still a pack of gleefully evil assassins who will swap stories over the murders they've committed.

** Pretty much everyone in the Markarth questline. You can side with the Forsworn who are genocidally racist or the Silver-Bloods who are {{spoiler|using petty criminals and political opposition as slave labor in their mines}}. Or just [[Take a Third Option|burn them all, and let the flames sort it out]].

** Roggvir, the guard who opened Solitude's gates to help Ulfric escape and was beheaded for it, was this according to Sorex Vinius. Vinius claimed that as a child, Roggvir mocked him for liking a girl, and would humiliate him physically or verbally as much as possible, to the extent that Roggvir once put a beehive in his bed. As an adult, Vinius says, he never outgrew his immaturity, or his cruelty. That being said, others in Solitude, including the man who presided over his execution, consider him to be an honorable man.

** Sabjorn, the proprietor of the Honningbrew Meadery. A relatively early Thieves Guild mission revolves around framing him for attempted murder so that Maven Black-Briar can take control. If putting an innocent man behind bars for the rest of his life weighs heavily on your conscience, you can take some solace in the knowledge that the assistant who initiates the scheme had been forced to work as Sabjorn's slave after Sabjorn ''intentionally'' loaned him money he knew he'd never get back.

* [[Asskicking Equals Authority]]:

** Dragons ''strongly'' believe in this. {{spoiler|So much so, that when you defeat Alduin once and force him to run away, the other dragons question his leadership. One of them even answers your challenge, loses, and does a [[Heel Face Turn]] to pledge his [[Undying Loyalty]] to you, though he's unable to actually serve you until after dealing with Alduin... beyond taking you to Alduin's base of operations that can only be accessed by flying, anyway}}. Actually, after {{spoiler|Odahviing flies you to Skuldafn}}, he can be called upon to fight for you at any time, assuming you're outdoors.

* [[Back From the Brink]]: You can help the Dark Brotherhood, the Thieves' Guild, {{spoiler|and the Blades}} regain their former glory and more.

** Also {{spoiler|the Dragons. Until Alduin began reviving them, they were mostly extinct, or else living far away from civilization}}.

* [[Badass Beard]]: For the first time since ''Morrowind'', characters with facial hair appear. And you can bet the face fuzz is epic. A screenshot of a [http://i.imgur.com/9ayDs.jpg bearded Dark Elf] fits this trope perfectly. Bethesda boasts that you can give your character one of [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|fifty different beards]]. It's even lampshaded by M'aiq the Liar who notes that 'everyone in Skyrim is all about beards' and speculates that humans must be compensating for the lack of manes.

* [[Badass Bookworm]]: Urag gro-Shub, the Orc librarian at the College of Winterhold. Don't mess with the Arcanaeum: it's his [[Berserk Button]]. On the other hand, give him the {{spoiler|Elder Scroll}} from the main quest after finishing it, and you can hear an orc [[Squee]] for the first time in ''The Elder Scrolls'' history.

* [[Badass Preacher]]: A few examples are shown such as Erandur, though interestingly enough, the player can become one themselves by working for any of the Temples.

* [[Bad Guy Bar]]: The Ragged Flagon, although since the player can join the Thieves Guild, it's more of a [[Villain Protagonist]] Bar.

* [[Bar Brawl]]: You can "persuade" some NPC characters by brawling with them rather than intimidating or negotiating. You can have a legitimate tavern fight in Whiterun with a man who's pressing his unwanted affections on a shopkeeper. You can ''marry'' a woman in that same tavern after you brawl with her and win.

* [[Barrier Change Boss]]: The first boss you fight in the Mage College quest line is a powerful Draugr that keeps shifting between frosty, electrical and fiery forms, and he's pretty resistant to physical attacks, so you'd better make sure you know at least one damage spell of each type when you face him.

* [[Big Friendly Dog]]:

** Being the external representation of a Daedric Prince's conscience, the talking dog Barbas is naturally this.

* [[Bigger Bad]]: In the Civil War story arc, the Aldmeri Dominion is this. While Ulfric Stormcloak or General Tallius are the military leaders of both sides of the war, the Aldmeri are behind everything, and no matter which side you choose in the war, they stand to profit in some way. Either the Empire wins and continues to promote Aldmeri interests within Skyrim's borders, or the Stormcloaks succeed and the Empire is further weakened. However, the Aldmeri also don't want the war to end quite yet, meaning that putting a decisive end to it isn't ''quite'' as ideal for them as you'd think.

** Both the ''Dawnguard'' and ''Dragonborn'' DLC's have a Daedric Prince at the root of their respective conflicts, but for [[Eldritch Abomination|understandable reasons]], you won't be taking the fight directly to them.

** Early on, Chaurus and especially Chaurus Reapers. Until your level is at least in the thirties and you've invested enough perk points into armor, they'll two, ''maybe'' three shot you with their nasty-looking pincers, and will still do a crap-ton of damage even then. The poison they spit at you will also drain your health fast, and just in case you hoped they were [[Glass Cannon|Glass Cannons]]? [[Lightning Bruiser|Think again, because they just won't. Go. Down!]]

* [[Bragging Theme Tune]]: The Skyrim theme song, towards the Dragonborn.

* [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick]]: Olava the Feeble, Whiterun's local fortune teller, says she might tell your fortune by several standard methods (horoscopes, card readings) and then chuckles and mentions [[Back-Alley Doctor|Trepanning]].

* [[Breast Plate]]: Full suits of armor have masculine and feminine models. Note that the full armor does fully protect and cover the character, it just has boob-curves. The Forsworn armor is perhaps the most true to the trope, becoming a [[Fur Bikini]] for female characters.

* [[Death Trap]]: You gotta watch your step in pretty much every dungeon if you don't want a spiky grate embedded in your face. There is a perk that prevents pressure plates from triggering, but it does not stop trip wires or trapped chests and doors, nor does it apply to [[Artificial Stupidity|your followers]].

* [[Decapitated Army]]: Justified. Alduin is more than just the leader of the dragons, he's summoning them, as shown in the pre-Sahlokniir scene.

* [[Deflector Shields]]:

** The ward spells from the Restoration school block magic spells directed at you. It even forms a [[Power Glows|glowy hemisphere of light]] in front of you. It also disrupts a '''{{smallcaps|Fus Ro Dah}}''' shout by directing the force around the caster, so if you see a mage throw up a shield like that, don't bother with Unrelenting Force until s/he drops it.

** Oh, and the physics are a lot less forgiving than they were in the previous games. Remember how in previous games an enemy you knocked over a railing would suddenly teleport back up, or fall 3-5 stories and take only a sliver of damage? Not here. Now even a gently sloping path can mean certain death.

* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]:

** 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.

* [[Double Standard]]: Called-out by a secessionist at the emperor's relative's wedding. He asks a loyalist what the difference between the Empire's dealings with the Thalmor compared to Skyrim. She claims they had to fight back because the Thalmor were foreign invaders who threatened their way of life. His response? "My point exactly."

* [[Downloadable Content]]: A high-res texture pack was released in February 2012. And now Bethesda has announced a DLC called [http://www.bethblog.com/2012/05/01/dawnguard "Dawnguard"], though we don't have much in the way of detail yet.

* [[The Dragon]]:

** The player character could also be seen as this to Legate Rikke, if they join the Legion. And Rikke is a Dragon herself to General Tullius.

** 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.

** Giants will attempt this trope on occasion. With less than stellar results.

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

* [[Dropped a Bridge on Him]]:

** 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.

* [[Dual-Wielding]]:

** Any one-handed weapon can be equipped in either hand, allowing for dual wielding or left-handed sword-fighting: 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).

 

== E ==

** 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 Empire]]:

* [[Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas]]: One tribe of bandits has the leader's uncle as a guard at the entrance to their cave, even thought he's blind and not that bright. One of the bandits outside has a note on him from the leader lecturing his men about playing tricks on his uncle and threatening them with imprisonment if they don't leave him alone.

** Another bandit leader sends money and letters to her father even though he always sends the money back while urging her to leave banditry before it gets her killed.

** 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}}.

* [[Everyone Is Bi]]: All eligible marriage candidates can be wed regardless of sex and/or race, though this could easily be a case of [[Even the Guys Want Him]] or [[Even the Girls Want Her]] as most NPC couples are hetero. Maybe the Dragonborn is just that appealing.