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== H ==
* [[Hailfire Peaks]]:
** Eastmarch gives us a subtle example: the north half of it is as icy as it gets, while down south you've got geysers, hot springs, and lush forests a-plenty.
** A more video gamey example would be Solstheim. Thanks to the eruption of Vvardenfell, at least half the continent is an ashy, desolate wasteland where smoldering impact craters and fiery monsters lurk in the wilderness. The other half is [[Grim Up North]], and all it takes is several steps to immediately go from trudging across ash-choked hellscape wastes to roaming a winter wonderland.
* [[Hammerspace]]: The player and NPC's which can s/he can pickpocket. The player can carry dozens of broadswords and battle-axes and still sprint. Some NPC's can have their entire inventory removed via pickpocket save for one item. If caught, the NPC may draw a weapon which was never in their inventory.
* [[Handicapped Badass]]: Hakon One-Eye.
* [[Harmless Freezing]]: The Ice Form shout freezes opponents and does some frost damage, but they thaw relatively unharmed in about half a minute.
* [[Hate Sink]]:
** The Thalmor are basically this trope applied to an ''entire faction.'' There's a ton of [[Grey and Gray Morality]] surrounding both the Empire and the Stormcloaks, with each faction giving you compelling reasons to side with or oppose them during the Civil War. But between the anti-human bigotry, cracking down on religious freedom, torture and murder of innocents, and elitist [[Jerkass]] behavior, it won't take long for you to start slaughtering every single Thalmor member you see.
** Most Dragon Priests are superbosses that you fight for the sake of getting a cool mask and/or them being in your way, so you're not really given much of a reason to hate them {{spoiler|aside from Morokei, but at least he's cool in his horrific presentation}}. There ''is'' an exception among the bunch, however: Rahgot. You're given an uncomfortably intimate look at the atrocities he committed during his final days as a mortal man, which had him force his entire cult to commit ritual suicide when their temple was under seige. Many innocent children were among the people living in the temple, and when his alchemist had a problem with it, he had her brutally murdered for defying him. By the time you get to him, you'll absolutely ''want'' to squash him like a bug for all the horrible things he's done.
** {{spoiler|Mercer Frey}}, the true villain of the Thieves' Guild sidequest. He's a raging [[Jerkass|douche]] to begin with, but he's so much worse than that. {{spoiler|Siphoning funds from the Guild, murdering his best friend when he found out, and framing his lover for his murder}} puts him far over the line, and every bit of screentime he gets is dedicated to making sure you absolutely hate his guts.
** It's very clear that you're not supposed to like Maven Black-Briar. She's horribly rude to almost everyone she talks to, and even if you become {{spoiler|Guidmaster of the Thieves Guild}}, she'll hold you in open contempt for daring to talk to her. Her criminal enterprises and vast network of connections ensure that Riften is always a hotbed of crime and corruption, and to make things worse? She is ''annoyingly'' untouchable and never suffers any sort of punishment for the many evil things she does.
** Grelod the Kind, a hateful, child-abusing old hag who runs [[Orphanage of Fear|Honorhall Orphanage]], and exists purely to be a guilt-free murder victim to serve as your ticket into the Dark Brotherhood.
** Lord Harkon, the villain of the ''Dawnguard'' DLC. No matter if you side with the vampire-hunting Dawnguard or become a foul creature of the night yourself by siding with clan Volkihar, the main story is dedicated to taking down this monster of a vampire. And in between the horrific atrocities he's committed, his appalling treatment of his wife and daughter, his arrogance, and the short-sighted stupidity of his master plan, you're given plenty of reason to want this man dead.
** ''Dragonborn'' is a DLC very short on purely hateable villains. Miraak and his master {{spoiler|Hermaeus Mora}} are [[Evil Is Cool|awesome to a fault]], the local Rieklings are [[Laughably Evil]], and the main antagonists of several sidequests don't do all that much to earn the player's ire. But we still have a good and proper Hate Sink in Raven Rock's resident [[Loan Shark]] Mogrul, who spends his free time harassing and threatening his debtors to pay up and rudely blowing you off when you talk to him (at least, before you owe him money as a result of helping a debtor escape his grasp). Thankfully, he's nowhere near as untouchable as he thinks he is, so you can split his head open with an axe or snipe him from afar the second he starts trying to extort money from you.
* [[Headless Horseman]]: You may encounter a headless horseman's ghost riding along the roads at night; he's harmless though, and can't be interacted with. If you manage to follow him, he'll lead you to {{spoiler|Hamvir's Rest}} which is likely where his mortal body is buried. Going there on your own will often result in you finding him already there (occasionally, even during the daytime).
* [[Healing Factor]]:
** Argonians are partially immune to all disease and can recover to full health with their Histskin ability.
** Spriggans with their ability to recover all their health in an instant.
** Trolls will quickly (though not instantly) regenerate any damage done to them, unless you [[Kill It with Fire|Kill Them With Fire]].
** {{spoiler|Karstaag}} will constantly regenerate health while you fight him, which is one of the factors that make him [[That One Boss]].
* [[Here There Be Dragons]]: A mural shows a lot of dragons breathing fire on the humans down below.
* [[Here There Were Dragons]]: Fans that pay attention to the background lore raised some eyebrows when their presence was confirmed, as dragons were said to be an endangered species few in number, kept alive by the Empire only in return for helping them in war. The game eventually explains this and the fact that they're returning is mentioned from the start
* [[Heroic Mime]]: Normally you talk to people (albeit, through non-voiced dialogue options) but you can play completely silent throughout the Dark Brotherhood storyline.
* [[He Who Fights Monsters]]:
** A book on Oblivion has an introduction that is also a [[Shout-Out]] to the quote by [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], saying "He who enters Oblivion allows Oblivion to enter him."
** In the Laid to Rest quest in Morthal, the player discovers that a clan of vampires is planning to conquer the city. Their leader is {{spoiler|Movarth, who was first mentioned in ''Oblivion'' in the in-game book ''Immortal Blood'' as a vampire hunter who fell victim to the author who himself was secretly a vampire.}}
** The Silver Hand might have fallen prey to this trope, and gone from noble hunters of dangerous werewolves to thugs who hunt even friendly ones for fun. ''Maybe.'' The group's weak characterization makes it hard to tell.
* [[He Who Must Not Be Heard]]: Three of the four Greybeards cannot even whisper as their voice has enough power to cause earthquakes. Arngeir, thus, speaks for them.
* [[High Dive Hijinks]]: The "Bard's Leap", which consists of a bridge leading up to the edge of a waterfall. [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything|You do the math]].
* [[Hit Scan]]: There are three types of destruction spells: fire, frost and shock. Fire is the cheapest and most damaging, while frost has additional negative effects on the enemy. Shock, being the most expensive and least damaging, would look like a loser... except its attacks hit instantly, negating the need to [[Lead the Target]] and making it '''much''' easier to hit flying/fast targets.
* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: There are several dungeons where the local gang of enemies have someone trapped in a cage, or forcefully enthralled to carry out their bidding. Freeing the captives from their tortment will often lead to them chasing down their captors and killing them in revenge. Examples include a trio of vampires locked up by a bunch of evil mages, a friendly Spriggan imprisoned by Hagravens, and a legion of female ghosts enthralled by a necrophile necromancer.
* [[Hollywood History]]: You get to participate in creating a bit of this for Solitude. The copy of ''Olaf and the Dragon'' you find is too badly damaged to present to Elisif so you suggest to the bard that you can make up the missing parts. The Bard basically goes along with whatever you suggest if it sounds cool
* [[Home Run Hitter]]: It is in your best interest to make sure giants ''never'' get within melee range. At least not for more time than is needed for a quick swipe on your part, because all it takes is one solid hit to send you flying into the stratosphere.
* [[Honey Trap]]: In Morthal, there's a female vampire who seduced a man into being her guardian while she and her
* [[Honor Before Reason]]:
** Pretty standard fare for any traditional Nord. They fancy themselves a [[Proud Warrior Race]], with customs and laws that they won't bend for ''anybody''. In fact, this is pretty much what started the war, especially since there's proof that the Thalmor were manipulating things from the start.
**
* [[Horned Humanoid]]: [http://images.uesp.net/b/b9/SR-race-Orc.jpg Orcs] apparently have some of this going on.
* [[Horny Vikings]]: The hero can opt to be the classic "horned Viking".
* [[Hot Amazon]]: Most of the female companions, including Lydia, Aela (see below)
** Aela the Huntress. Seriously, she has both the looks and the attitude. And that armor she wears? Made of dragonskin, according to fluff in the game, so it's heavier and tougher than it looks by a large margin. Ancient Nord Armor, for those interested.
** The Dovahkiin, if you so chose.
* [[Hot Springs Episode]]: A watery area in Eastmarch near the border of Whiterun consists of naturally heated water, and at the south eastern tip of it is a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQiIeFzjDwI permanent camp set up by a few hunters who lounge in the hot water with all their armor taken off and set aside]. Subverted though in that there's no quest involved here, and it can be visited any time. It does, however, make for some [[Video Game Perversity Potential]].
* [[Hotter and Sexier]]: Nothing terribly explicit, but there's definitely a ''lot'' more blatant sexual references and suggestive dialogue than ''Oblivion'' and ''Morrowind''. However, aside from the Statues of Dibella, there isn't any of the blatant nudity seen in ''Arena'' and ''Daggerfall'', which had certain enemies and Azura herself go topless, complete with properly-rendered nipples.
* [[Huge Rider, Tiny Mount]]: A certain stable master outside of Riften did this when he was drunk one night. It didn't end well.
* [[Humanoid Abomination]]: From a Dragon's point of view, the Dragonborn is this. Being a mortal with the soul of a dragon means that you, in turn, absorb ''their'' souls when you kill them, and your eventual mastery of the Dragonrend Shout means that you can instantly snipe them out of the air with a [[Brown Note]] and force them onto the ground. [[Oh Crap|No wonder Mirmulnir is terrified once he realizes exactly what you are.]]
** For a more proper example of this trope, the [[Eldritch Abomination|Daedric Princes]] who bother to approach you in a humanoid guise are this, as usual. Sheogorath once again looks the part of a kindly old banker in garish clothing, Sanguine {{spoiler|looks like a normal dude until he reveals his [[Big Red Devil]] form to you}}, and Nocturnal presents herself as a beautiful woman wearing a ''very'' revealing set of robes.
** Malyn Varen, the villain of Azura's Daedric Quest, looks like an ordinary Dunmer sorcerer when you encounter him inside of Azura's Star. But his twisted soul gem experiments have turned him into something a lot more... ''wrong.'' Something with an insatiable appetite for souls, and worryingly similar to the [[Eldritch Abomination|Ideal Masters]] in some aspects.
* [[Hunting the Most Dangerous Game]]: Hircine has you hunt down a Werewolf that [[Did You Just Scam Cthulhu?|stole from him]].
* [[Hybrid Overkill Avoidance]]: Lycanthropy and vampirism are mutually exclusive, with vampirism being a disease and werewolves having total immunity to all diseases.
* [[Hyperactive Metabolism]]: Coming out second best in a fight? Just scoff down
* [[Hyperspace Arsenal]]: Like ''Oblivion'', the encumbrance/fatigue mechanic attempts to avert this, but the PC is still capable of carrying several armor pieces and weapons, as well as other items, all at once.
* [[Hypocrite]]:
*
** Paarthurnax calls the Dragonborn out on this, regardless of if you are playing as a heroic figure, by being of the same kith as the Dragons, you possess [[Not So Different|the same urge]] to destroy and conquer as they do.
** Suvaris Atheron, the Dark Elf woman you see Rolff Stone-Fist harassing when you first enter Windhelm, bemoans the local Nords (especially Rolff) for their racism and mentions that they're even crueler to the Argonians as well. She has absolutely no room to talk, because a look at her private logbook reveals that she's just as racist towards Argonians and views them all as useless and lazy idiots, with her outright abusing the Argonian dockworkers that she oversees on behalf of Clan Shatter-Shield's shipping business by withholding food if their work isn't up to standard.
== I ==
* [[If You're So Evil Eat This Kitten]]: To join the Dark Brotherhood, you have to figure out which one of three potential victims has a contract on their head, and murder them. After you've done the deed, {{spoiler|it's revealed that it doesn't matter which one you kill, Astrid just wanted to know that you'd follow an order to murder someone without question
** {{spoiler|She actually likes it best if you just say forget it and kill all
*** {{spoiler|Given which one of the three is actually guilty of doing something that would provoke someone to call the dark brotherhood, calling him a "kitten" is not so far from the truth
* [[I Gave My Word]]:
** Many Nords believe in this, particularly shown with Ulfric Stormcloak.
** {{spoiler|Odahviing, the dragon you capture at Dragonsreach, gives his word to be your ally if you set him free and is ''hurt'' if you ask how he can be trusted. Not only does he deliver, but he makes a [[Heel Face Turn]] from that point on}}.
*** Paarthunax comments that {{spoiler|the Blades are right to distrust dragons}} suggest this might be unusual, however.
* [[I Know Your True Name]]: Played with. Twice in the game dragons are summoned from anywhere in the world by speaking their names as a Shout, but not because it holds any power over them, it's because to speak a dragon's name as a Shout is considered a personal challenge, and humans being humans, they of course accept. Eventually, {{spoiler|the player learns a Shout that summons the dragon Odahviing into battle, but he only responds because he chooses to}}. This happens a third time in ''Dawnguard'', once you get the ability to summon [[Dracolich|Durnehviir]].
* [[I Love the Dead]]:
** There's more. Since these female ghosts are under his thrall, it means they're being held against their will. And you factor him having sex with them in such state, it amounts to rape. And considering being under thrall can also mean they are still [[And I Must Scream|conscious and aware of what's happening]] (like the [[Apologetic Attacker]] ghosts located at another tomb), it's no surprise that if the player breaks his hold on them by stealing a particular soul gem, they [[The Dog Bites Back|go berserk and kill him]].
* [[I'm a Humanitarian]]: Namira's followers have... exotic tastes.
* [[Impossible Thief]]: With the proper perks, you can pickpocket the armor people are ''currently wearing'' as well as the weapon they are ''currently holding''. With the Shadow Warrior perk, you can even do this ''while they are engaged in combat with you'', causing enemies to become naked and unarmed as they are taking a swing at you. You can also pickpocket the briar hearts from Forsworn Briarhearts, and they ''die''. Meaning you actually ''stole the (magical replacement) heart out of their chest
* [[Improbable Aiming Skills]]: The Falmer don't have much better or worse aiming with their bows than any other enemy, which is pretty damn impressive considering they're all ''blind''. This may be [[Justified]], given that the game states right out that the Falmer have adapted to their loss of sight, but the degree to which it has been done is not given. They may benefit from heavy use of this trope, or may have honed their non-sight senses over the millennia to the point where they can ''[[Super Senses|smell your breath and hear your heartbeat]]''. Actually, the extent of Falmer senses zigzags a bit. If they don't know you're there, you can sneak up on them just like any other opponent (muffled footwear helps a lot), with the main difference in stealth mechanics being that you can backstab them from the front since they can't see you. If they ''do'' know you're there, then they act much like any other enemy in terms of knowing where you are. However, the level of [[Super Senses]] required to fire an arrow at a muffled moving target from long range would make it impossible to even come close to backstabbing them, so this may come under [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality]].
* [[Improbable Species Compatibility]]:
{{quote|'''Havdar''': "Dragonborn" huh? Was it your ma or your pa that was the dragon?}}
** Of course, [[Friendship Is Witchcraft|dragonness is recessive]], so it's a logical conclusion.
* [[Indo-European Alien Language|Indo European Fantasy Language]]: The Tongue of Dragons. Seeing as how the series usually averts this, it was probably done because it needed to double as a Cipher. It also has nearly no case-marking at all. Although it seems to be almost entirely monosyllabic, and that it doesn't differentiate or past, present and future tense (although considering the nature of Alduin and the dragons, that makes a fair amount of sense). It has the excuse of apparently being created by a composer, rather than a linguist. Overlaps with [[Fictionary]].
* [[Infant Immortality]]: Though rarely, child deaths occur in the storyline
* [[Infinity+1 Sword]]: The Dragonbane, potentially. It changes attributes depending on your level when you find it, and at maximum strength, it has the same base power as a Daedric weapon, does 40 extra damage to dragons, and 10 shock damage to everything else.
** Valdr's Lucky Dagger. It has a 25% critical hit chance, but doesn't count as an enchanted weapon for purposes of spells and the like. Combine it with Elemental Fury, which at level 3 fully doubles attack speed, and you'll quickly slice apart most anything in seconds. And for stealth characters, sneak attacks and critical hits are separate multipliers, so with Assassin's Blade it does 30x normal damage, on top of whatever other damage-boosting perks you have.
* [[Informed Attractiveness]]: Carlotta Valentia in Whiterun, who claims to get "a lot of attention from men." She's not unattractive but far from being someone men would be falling over themselves to get to.
** [[Wild Mass Guessing|Maybe her late husband bragged about how amazing she was in bed]].
** If you come across the book ''A Gentleman's Guide to Whiterun'' by Mikael (the bard in the Bannered Mare, and one of the men who's after Carlotta), he states in it that she is a "magnificent beauty".
* [[Informed Attribute]]: Balimund in Riften says he feeds his forge fire salts so the flames burn hotter, and it's common knowledge among Whiterun and the Companions that something about the Skyforge makes the steel it turns out stronger. Forging weapons in these two forges offers the same weapons with the same stats as any other forge, though the Skyforge let's you create unique weapons from it.
* [[Informed Flaw]]: Walk up to a guard, any guard at all. Some time you're bound to hear them say "[[Memetic Mutation|I used to be an adventurer like you... then I took an arrow in the knee]]." In no way, shape or form, does this inconvenience their patrolling or even fighting skills. Presumably, it just made them more averse to taking risks rather than being a permanent injury. This line was included in the game as a reference to the lack of any armor covering the knees.
* [[Insistent Terminology]]: The description of High-King Torryg's death. Pro-Stormcloak characters are quick to point out that Torygg was killed in a duel that met the requirements of Nord tradition while pro-Imperial characters consider it to be murder and argue that Ulfric's use of the Thu'um prevented it from being a fair fight.
* [[Instant Plastic Surgery]]: Galathil offers this service for an affordable price down in The Ragged Flagon.
* [[Insurmountable Waist High Fence]]: There aren't many of these, but ''Skyrim'' is a little bit more forceful than its predecessor in keeping you from going where you shouldn't; no more jumping over city walls, for example.
** Most of the offenders in this trope have been avoided, though. Especially fences can be gleefully jumped over.
** If you use cheat codes, you'll find that some walls have an invisible barrier that extends some distance above the actual wall (the Thalmor Embassy for example, which you're supposed to infiltrate as a party guest), but if you jump high enough, you can get in and break the quest.
* [[Interface Spoiler]]: Dragon [[Words Can Break My Bones|Shouts]] are captioned for players with subtitles on in the same way that any other utterance is, with the name of the dragon shown as well. Which can rather spoil the main questline if one happens to catch the name of
**
** Quest objectives are always indicated on the map, even if there's no way the player character could know where the next objective is. However, this falls under [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality]], as many quests otherwise would be [[Guide Dang It]] quests due to how obscure their objectives would be.
* [[Internal Retcon]]: The Thalmor have arranged it so that they look like the ones who stopped the Oblivion crisis, not the Champion of Cyrodiil, at least within the Aldmeri Dominion. It's unknown how well this has taken. According to various books written outside the Dominion, Martin is mainly credited with stopping the invasion, and the Champion has all but faded from memory.
* [[Interspecies Romance]]: Play as a Bosmer or Khajiit, and get married, as there are no available spouse of either of those species. This will almost inevitably be the result. Whether human/elf relations count is up for debate.
** In story, Faendal, a Bosmer, is in love with Camilla Valerius, an Imperial. Also, Karliah (Dunmer) and Gallus (Imperial).
** There's also Bolli, a Nord in Riften who owns the fishery there, and his wife Nivenor, a bosmer who married him for his money and will proposition any male Dragonborn who speaks to her, regardless of race.
** Vantus Loreius, an imperial, and Curwe, a high elf, two minor NPCs in a farm near the Whiterun/Pale border. They're involved in the minor sidequest where you may encounter Cicero transporting his "Mother" in a carriage that busted its axle right in front of their farm.
** You can come across a couple near some mountains.
* [[In the Hood]]: Most of the hoods in the game seem designed to invoke this, obscuring the wearer's face and [[Hidden Eyes|hiding their eyes]].
* [[Intoxication Ensues]]: {{spoiler|Following a certain drinking contest with a certain Daedric Prince}}.
* [[Invulnerable Civilians]]: Averted, like all Bethesda [[
* [[I Own This Town]]: Maven Black-Briar basically controls Riften, the Silver-Bloods by and large own Markarth, and Kjeld may as well run Kynesgrove. The latter two hold their sway by virtue of owning the mines their respective cities depend on for their prosperity, and the former because of her close contact with the Thieves' Guild, the Jarl of Riften
* [[Irony]]: There's a [[Game Breaker]] bug involving Hermaeous Mora's Daedric quest. Upon completing it and gaining the Oghma Infinium, the player is allowed to gain five levels in any one skill tree of their choosing (Thief, Mage, Warrior). However, by opening a bookshelf, reading it in the menu, picking a class, and placing it on the shelf, the player can pick it back up from the shelf, not choose a class, return it to their inventory, and repeat this ad infinitum until they're maxed out in all stats. Bethesda has tried to patch this bug out a few times, with little success. So that's right
* [[I Surrender, Suckers]]:
** Nearly dead opponents will frequently plead "I yield! ''I yield''!", but don't fall for it. They're only hoping for a breather so they can murder you as soon as relent in your attack.
** Spriggans in particular can restore themselves to full health, though they don't bother pleading in any comprehensible language. Also, see [[Reviving Enemy]] below.
** Also
* [[It Amused Me]]: Pretty much the only reason behind the mess you find yourself in during Sanguine's Daedric quest. In fact, that quest is so strange and crazy one would think Sheogorath was involved, rather than Sanguine.
* [[It's Up to You]]: Averted, in the Civil War storyline, anyway. If you delay, your side can and will take control of cities without you, although confusingly they will act as if you were there.
== J ==
* [[Jackass Genie]]: Clavicus Vile takes an unholy glee in twisting whatever somebody wishes for to the greatest possibility of homicide [[Department of Redundancy Department|possible]]. Somebody asks for a cure for [[Our Werewolves Are Different|their daughter's Lycanthropy]]? Give 'em an axe. A group of vampires want an end to their undead misery? Have [[Player Character|somebody]] appear and slaughter them all. [[Player Character|Somebody]] wants an end to the [[Civil War]] plaguing Skyrim? Do absolutely nothing and let the dragons kill both sides of the fight. The only thing that keeps him honoring a deal at all and not just killing everybody is [[Big Friendly Dog|Barbas]], the manifestation of his conscience.
* [[Jerkass]]: A fair number of characters qualify, what with [[Fantastic Racism]] abound. Rolff Stone-Fist certainly does
* [[Jerkass Gods]]: The Daedric Princes again.
** While still presented as one of the "good" Daedra, Azura drove Malyn Varen homicidally insane when he experimented with her artifact in hopes of prolonguing his life after becoming terminally ill.
** Boethiah is, as usual, a real nasty piece of work. To get her to talk to you at all, you have to sacrifice a follower at her shrine and shortly after that, kill all present worshippers in a bloody and chaotic brawl. And as if she wasn't enough of a bitch, she has you kill her champion for the crime of "displeasing" her (aka boring her). She openly revels in her love of betrayal, chaos, murder... [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|oh, and she's pretty rude to you too.]]
** Clavicus Vile wants you to literally [[Kick the Dog]] by killing Barbas with the Rueful Axe, but thankfully, you can ignore his orders and let his faithful pup join his master's side again. He's still a prick to the coven of vampires you had to slaughter to get to him though, and Barbas covers his [[Jackass Genie]] tendencies in full detail.
** Hermaeus Mora {{spoiler|completely obliterates Septimus}} at the end of his Daedric quest with the justification that he had [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|Outlived His Usefulness]]. {{spoiler|He [[Took a Level in Jerkass|takes a big level in Jerkass]] in ''Dragonborn'', where it's revealed that he's behind all the weird phenomena caused by Miraak, and is willing to let him brainwash and enslave the people of Solstheim and even endanger the world so long as he can get the long-coveted secrets of the Skaal. In order to get the knowledge needed to take down his champion, you'll have to let him painfully, cruelly kill the local shaman so he can get those secrets, first.}}
** As punishment for stealing his ring, Hircine cursed it, and caused the werewolf who stole it to uncontrollably transform and maul a little girl. When said werewolf escapes from prison, he sends you and several other hunters to track him down and kill him. To be fair though, Sinding ''did'' steal it, and he's still happy if you side with him and kill the hunters. Not that it's any comfort to the parents of the girl who got caught in the crossfire of Hircine's wrath, however.
** Malacath is a ''bit'' meaner than usual, though still one of the "nicer" Daedra overall. While the villain of his quest is once again someone who has it coming to him, said villain, the deceitful and cowardly Yamarz, has his entire stronghold attacked by Giants as punishment for his un-Orclike behavior.
** Mehrunes Dagon won't let you accept his Razor unless you kill Silus, the man who offered it up to his shrine. Defy him, and he'll sic a couple of Dremoras on you. Obey him, [[For the Evulz|he'll sic a couple of Dremoras on you anyway just for the hell of it.]] But hey, at least he isn't looking to destroy the world this time.
** Mephala has been {{spoiler|whispering sensitive secrets and possible lies into the ears of Nelkir, Jarl Balgruuf's young son, and has turned him into a mean and hateful little brat. You can actually get her weapon, the Ebony Blade, without doing anything evil, but if you want to ''use'' it, it will be weak until you've used it to kill enough NPC's that consider you a friend.}}
** Meridia is more of an outright [[Jerkass]] than evil this time around. While killing a necromancer creating dangerous [[Humanoid Abomination|Humanoid Abominations]] is an unambiguously good thing to do, she's very bossy and rude about it. Oh, and thanks to buggy programming, she has a good chance of dropping you to your death since her preferred method of communication is lifting you high into the sky and demanding you to follow her orders.
** As usual, calling Molag Bal a [[Jerkass]] is a ''big'' understatement. His Daedric Quest is the most viscerally horrifying, with him forcing you and a Vigilant of Stendarr to fight to the death before tasking you with luring a priest of Boethiah to his shrine so he can punish him for profaning it. And his idea of punishment? Having you slowly beat him to death with his mace, resurrecting him, and having you do it all over again, all the while taking sadistic joy out of his terror and pain until he finally submits to him. It gets worse in ''Dawnguard'' where {{spoiler|Serana reveals that the ritual that gave her and her mother their powerful strain of vampirism involved him raping them nearly to death as he had to Lamae Bal, the first vampire, eons ago.}}
** To get Namira's artifact, you have to {{spoiler|kill and eat a priest of Arkay to kick off a big cannibalistic feast held by her followers.}}
** Nocturnal doesn't have a Daedric Quest ''per se'', but {{spoiler|she's the [[Big Good|Big "Good"]] of the Thieves Guild questline, and is responsible for all the bad luck that's put the Guild on the brink of collapse. While the Guild is led by Nightingales, agents of Nocturnal who are empowered by her in exchange for their direct servitude, the murder of Gallus, Mercer Frey's betrayal and theft of her Skeleton Key, and Karliah's inadequacy have left her feeling very, ''very'' angry to the point that she's withdrawn all support until they (with some help from you) make things right.}}
** Following with the trends established in ''Daggerfall'' and ''Oblivion'', Peryite's Daedric Quest is another of the more morally okay ones since you're simply killing Orchendor, a dangerous follower of his that displeased him. However, he gets real pissy if you ask ''why'' Orchendor has to die and makes it clear that you better obey him unconditionally, or else.
** While one of the most outright friendly Daedric Princes, Sanguine still {{spoiler|gets you roped into all kinds of trouble during the drunken night of debauchery you shared with him. Said trouble includes throwing trash around Markarth's Temple of Dibella and molesting her statues, stealing a man's goat and selling it to a Giant, and [[Squick|marrying a Hagraven who is hellbent on consumating her marriage with you]]}}.
** [[Averted Trope|Sheogorath... doesn't do anything evil, actually.]] In fact, his quest is downright benevolent, with you {{spoiler|mending the broken mind of the homicidally insane, long-dead Pelagius the Mad and helping him face his inner demons}}! Whether or not {{spoiler|this has anything to do with the Champion of Cyrodiil becoming him in the last game}} is up in the air.
** Vaermina is as malevolent as ever, this time plaguing the residents of Dawnstar with vivid and horrifying nightmares. When you help a priest of Mara destroy her artifact, the Staff of Corruption, she'll urge you to kill him because he supposedly wants to betray you. {{spoiler|It's a lie, of course. But thankfully, you can ignore her and spare him if you don't mind missing out on the staff.}}
* [[Journey to the Center of the Mind]]: {{spoiler|Sheogorath's quest has you going into the mind of the deceased, homicidally insane Emperor Pelagius III. Sheogorath apparently finds it a lovely vacation spot, since he's been hanging out in there for about a decade}}.
* [[Justified Tutorial]]: Quite a lot of them in rapid succession, but broken up into logical portions. Shortly after the dragon interrupts your execution by roasting the garrison, you're ordered to run for it (movement tutorial), followed by jumping off a ruined tower into a nearby inn (jump tutorial). You run inside the keep with a companion who tells you to arm yourself (inventory tutorial), you fight off some hostile enemies in the basement of the keep (combat tutorial), you find a storeroom and search it for potions (looting tutorial), you see some goodies locked inside a cage in the torture chamber (lockpick tutorial), and near the end of the caves leading out there's a sleeping bear you can either sneak past or stealth-attack with a bow (sneaking and/or bow tutorial).
** After making good your escape, you can follow your cohort (either one of the two you can side with) to the village of Riverwood, where the local Blacksmith can offer to teach you some basic metalworking skills if you ask for work (Smithing tutorial). Failing that, the smith at Whiterun walks you through the process step-by-step.
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== K ==
* [[Kamehame Hadoken]]
** And this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmjfd-gtr7U sound mod] even adds a very [[Large Ham|hammy]] [[Calling Your Attacks|attack call]] that literally invokes the trope.
* [[Kangaroo Court]]: In the opening, the Imperial Captain orders your execution even though you aren't on the convicted list. This alone gives the player plenty of motive to side against the Empire. Note that in this case, there isn't even a "court" involved
** In the Empire's defense, they caught the player in an ambush meant for the leader of [[La Résistance|the Stormcloaks]], so it makes perfect sense that they would mistake you as one of them. Hadvar, holding the aforementioned list and telling the captain you aren't on it, also clearly dislikes the decision, says he's sorry to you, and assures you your remains will return to your homeland. Once {{spoiler|Alduin shows up to kill you and misses}}, Hadvar helps you through some stages of the initial tutorial, and is one of two options as guide through the majority of the tutorial that follows.
** Should you choose to follow Hadvar, during the journey back to Riverwood, he will state that he believes your aid in helping him escape Helgen alive is more than enough to earn you a pardon
* [[Karma Houdini]]: The Black-Briar family. Their head
** The rest of her family isn't as horrible but are still carrying out her will. Special note though goes to Sibbi, who is in prison for a measly eight months because he killed his fiancee's brother. Why? The siblings found out he was having an affair and confronted him about it. Then when you visit him in his nicely furnished jail cell he tries to hire you to find his fiancee and kill her too.
* [[Karmic Death]]:
** The Imperial guard captain mentioned below is the first NPC you get to fight and kill if you go with Ralof. It stands to be ironic as well that you're now the one sending her to her death.
** Ulfric Stormcloak used a Dragon Shout to kill High King Torygg in the backstory. If you side with the Imperial Legion, you are given an opportunity to kill him. While Tullius gives you his sword to do the deed, you are perfectly free to shout Ulfric to death if you wish.
* [[Katanas Are Just Better]]:
* [[Keystone Army]]: Mild case. Sometimes you'll find a Necromancer leading around a couple of bandits. If you kill the necromancer, the bandits all fall over, dead.
* [[Kick the Dog]]:
** A quick glance around the bases of the Silver Hand will clue you in that they don't just hunt werewolves, they capture and torture them, then display their remains as trophies. They also seem to have a hatred for normal wolves as well, as many can be found gruesomely slain in their bases.
** Dragons are hostile to ''everyone'', including neutral wildlife like elk, foxes and even rabbits, and will descend from on high breathing fire and ice to murder them if you stay out of their sight when they approach.
** {{spoiler|Delphine and Esbern eventually refuse to talk to you unless you kill Paarthurnax, even if you kill Alduin and revive the Blades for them}}.
* [[Kick the Son of a Bitch]]: Aventus Aretino says hello, [[Complete Monster|Grelod]]. Goodnight.
** When you first meet the other members of the Dark Brotherhood, Babette is a telling a story about luring a pedophile into a dark alleyway and feeding on him.
* [[Kill It with Fire]]: Still the most effective way to kill trolls. Shoot/hit with enchanted weapon, [[Looking for Group|fwoosh]] with destruction magic, heck, [[Make Me Wanna Shout|shout]] fire at them, and their [[Healing Factor]] gets negated. Keep the heat on them though...
** It's also, by far, the most damaging of the three types of magical damage (not least because enemies set on fire take not only damage over time, but additional damage from ''any source,'' most definitely including more fire), plus a whole lot of creatures are vulnerable to it, particularly draugr and vampires (and draugr are one of the most common enemies in the game, so...).
** Oil Slicks are abundant in early dungeons, so if you're clever enough to shoot them with fire, it can often kill several enemies at once. The slick burns for quite some time and deals moderate damage without you having to cast the spell, so you can just jump in and start slicing people. This can be a very effective way to clear a whole room of hostiles, even if they're not undead.
* [[Kill It with Ice]]: Ice destruction spells, doing damage, slowing foes
* [[Kleptomaniac Hero]]: You can steal but the game makes a distinction between stolen and taken goods. Stolen goods are harder to resell (you need a fence), and if you're caught by anybody, it will add to your bounty and often get you attacked. The friendlier you are with a particular character, the more goods you can take without it being considered stealing.
*
** If you side with the Rieklings during ''Dragonborn'''s Thirsk Mead Hall sidequest, you'll end up fighting and killing their chief, which causes them to recognize you as their new chief.
* [[Klingon Scientists Get No Respect]]: Nord mages. Onmund at the College and Farengar Secret-Fire in the Whiterun court have to put up with this attitude. {{spoiler|It wasn't always this way: if you declare yourself the Archmage to Tsun when you meet him in Sovngarde, Tsun laments that Nords have lost the respect their forefathers had for the "clever craft"}}. Conversely, Thalmor soldiers get this treatment from their mage ruling class too, never mind that even a grunt Thalmor in armor knows attack magic.
* [[Kneecapping]]: Try counting how many guards used to be adventurers like you, then took an arrow in the knee.
* [[Knight Templar]]:
** The Guard Captain in the opening orders your execution despite not being listed, purely on the basis that you were captured with the Stormcloaks (the other soldiers seem to think it's a bad idea, but can't do much about it).
** Arguably the Silver Hand, though that assumes they oppose werewolves for ''moral'' reasons as opposed to pure [[Fantastic Racism]].
** Definitely the Vigilant of Stendarr, who despite serving the god of ''mercy'', believe that [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|Vampires, Werewolves, and especially Daedra]] are inherently and irredeemably evil, and [[Completely Missing the Point|deserve nothing more than death]]. In their defense, they are generally correct on that. And they reconcile their faith with their methodology by arguing that as said creatures are merciless towards mortals on average, they are thus enemies of the God of Mercy.
** Meridia, while usually considered one of the least evil of the Daedric Princes (patronage of the monstrously cruel Ayleids aside), is apparently a [[He Who Fights Monsters|hardcore undead hater]]. She's also a harsh, demanding mistress who often issues orders to you by screaming into your ears and levitating you miles above the ground.
** Isran, leader of the Dawnguard and vampire-hunting [[Badass]], has this sort of reputation. To put things into perspective, the Vigil of Stendarr ''thought he was too hardcore for them'' and kicked him out. He has a bloody, recently-used torture chamber in Fort Dawnguard, and refers to Serana as "it" when he talks to and about her while making it clear that he wants nothing more than to kill her right then and there. He's motivated more by his hatred of vampires than the protection of innocents, though {{spoiler|he gets better once you've killed Harkon}} and proves to be surprisingly reasonable in his interactions with the player overall.
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** Dremora lords too. If you have the perk to summon two of them, you better be ready for a hamfest.
** Subverted by General Tullius. Complete the Imperial Legion quest and he will give a rousing speech to his troops celebrating their victory, followed by muttering "I hate giving speeches".
** Esbern in the trailer, particularly when he slips into [[Trailing Rs]]. ''"And when the truth finally dawns... it dawns in '''FIYAAAH!"'''''
** Like many modern representations, Dragons are [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUs0VCqc4ZE creatures of ham], prone to [[
** And just like he was in ''Oblivion
* [[Leave No Witnesses]]: One option you have. Commit a crime within sight of a law-abiding citizen and you get a bounty added to your head. Kill the people who saw you do it, and the bounty disappears.
* [[Left Hanging]]: The political plotline is considered by both leaders to be a mere distraction before the inevitable second Great War, but that story peters out after one side wins the civil war.
* [[Lethal Chef]]: Part of a Dark Brotherhood quest has the player become this {{spoiler|to kill the Emperor}}. However, you can actually take your job seriously and make a genuinely delicious dish and instead opt to just stab the man while he's eating instead. {{spoiler|It doesn't matter, since you ultimately kill a decoy as part of a trap set up by Commander Maro.}}
* [[Lethal Joke Item]]: {{spoiler|The Wabbajack. Most of it's effects are detrimental, and there's a chance of [[One-Hit Kill|changing the target into a sweetroll]]}}.
* [[Let's Fight Like Gentlemen]]: Fair hand-to-hand brawling is an actual ''mechanic'' in this game. Many towns contain someone looking to brawl with you if you put up a wager, always with the rules of no weapons or magic, just fists. Subverted if you specialize in heavy armor and have the Unarmed Combat Boost. Turns this into a [[Curb Stomp Battle]]. Also subverted in that you can use healing and other defensive magic, just not destruction spells or weapons.
* [[Let Us Never Speak of This Again]]: Said word for word in the Mage's college after an experiment with another student's spell turns the PC into a string of different animals... after turning them green the first round.
* [[Level Grinding]]: You can buff your Sneak by attacking Ralof/Hadvar in the bear cave at the beginning... he's a critical NPC, so he can't die. Be warned: this will take ''forever'' because the leveling is based on how much damage each attack does. A bit quicker: due to a glitch, you can get your Speech to 100 by repeatedly asking for the Black-Briar Meadery bartender's opinion of Maven (the Persuade option never goes away).
* [[Level Scaling]]: The scrappy mechanic from ''[[Oblivion]]'' is back, but it's done in the much better received manner of ''[[Fallout 3]]''. Essentially, each type of enemy has an average of somewhere between four or five types. Once you reach certain thresholds, the new higher level enemies appear as bosses, the old bosses become mid-bosses, the old mid-bosses become [[Mooks]], and so on. There are no enemies that scale past 50, so you are free to widen the gap after that mark. Still, there are some enemies with set levels, so be careful if you think you're going to go on any low-level challenges. One thing that makes it easier in ''Skyrim'' than it was in ''Oblivion'' is the elimination of stats beyond Health, Magicka and Stamina: you can no longer gimp yourself by failing to level up the right skills as you go, although perk selection can still leave you at something of a disadvantage if you opt for noncombat perks early on.
* [[Level Up Fill Up]]: But only when you go into the Skills screen and choose an attribute to increase. It can be to your advantage to ignore a level-up early in a fight, and process it later on when you're in rough shape.
* [[Light Is Good]]: A recurring theme in the ''Dawnguard'' DLC. The titular organization is named after the very thing that vampires fear, and several unique spells you can obtain while working with them weaponize sunlight in order to help combat vampires and other undead. Lord Harkon, the leader of Clan Volkihar, wants to put an end to "The Tyranny of the Sun" so his people can freely feast on and terrorize mortalkind without being weakened by daylight. To that end, he wants to use the Bow of Auri-el, a bow that can turn the sun into a powerful [[Kill Sat]] should you fire a special kind of arrow at it, and have it blot out the sun instead with ''corrupted'' arrows. And in order to track down the bow, {{spoiler|you help out one of the last two uncorrupted Snow Elves, who is pale-skinned, pale-haired, dressed in white armor, and worships an elven god associated with the sun}}.
* [[Light Is Not Good]]: Like the Daedric Princes, several of the Divines are portrayed in a darker light.
** The Vigilants of Stendarr, despite being knights of the god of ''mercy'',
{{quote|'''Stendarr Vigilant:''' Stendarr have mercy, for the vigil has none to spare.}}
** If your character is male, then a group of Dibella priestesses strong arm you into a quest by ''threatening you''.
** The most notable priest of Mara {{spoiler|is a former fanatic of Vaermina}}.
** Alduin, the [[Big Bad]] of the game, is
** {{spoiler|Arch-Curate Vyrthur}}, from ''Dawnguard'', {{spoiler|is a Snow Elf vampire (meaning that he's pale-skinned and pale-haired to begin with) who still wears his white armor from back when he was a devout worshipper of Auri-el. He also happens to be a murderous, manipulative vampire lord plotting to blot out the sun out of the belief that Auri-el abandoned him when he was turned.}}
* [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards]]: Inverted. Dedicated combat builds are far deadlier in terms of raw damage output than spellcasters, while the Destruction tree, supposedly dedicated to damage-dealing, does not scale at all with your skill level and its spells get progressively more [[Awesome but Impractical]] at higher expertise levels (especially the Master-level spells). Magic does give you a great deal of flexibility and utility, but by far the easiest way to beat the game is to dress up in heavy armor and swing a big stick.
** Conjuration scales much better
* [[Loads and Loads of Loading]]: Transitions can take a long time between the overworld and city locations, or when exiting buildings, and for some bizarre reason the length of the load screen seems to depend on which image is displayed while you wait. Further, all versions of the game experience longer loading times as you progress because the save file keeps track of objects, like dropped weapons, loose arrows, etc
* [[Loophole Abuse]]:
** If a guard ever tries to arrest you for crimes, often you have the option to bribe them or talk them out of it, or submit and pay off the bounty or go to jail. Alternatively, you can just press the Escape key to exit conversation, and most of the time, they'll just let you leave.
** If you somehow knock someone off a high ledge, and the fall kills them, guards and the bounty on your head only register it as assault on your part, you aren't blamed for the death. Provided you can get them in the right place to kill them by the fall, you can use Unrelenting Force (FUS RO DAH) to kill NPCs for a measly 40 coin bounty, then can loot them freely. As a bonus, this also means the loot items don't count as stolen and can be sold to normal merchants.
* [[Lost Forever]]: I hope you remember to grab the Stone of Barenziah while you were at the Thalmor Embassy cause you ain't going to be able to go back there again. To add insult to injury, if you collected 23 stones but miss that one, you're stuck with carrying a whole bunch of non-redeemable [[Plot Coupons]] with no option to remove them from your inventory, aside from cheating to clip your way back inside. If you identified them as Stones of Barenziah before picking up more than one, none of them stack.
** This was fixed in the 1.4 patch. The stone now appears in Reeking Cave, a short tunnel that you travel through during your escape, and you can reenter it.
** Conversely, if you found ''all'' of them before getting them identified, the quest won't properly progress, so you ''still'' can't turn them in. At least then they only occupy one line in your inventory.
** A Word Wall containing part of the Call Storms shout is located in the final dungeon of the main quest. If you didn't get it before
** The Nahkriin Mask can also become [[Lost Forever]] if you forget to loot it from Nahkriin's remains or if you
** If you summon the ghost of {{spoiler|Lucien Lachance}} after joining the Dark Brotherhood, be careful against enemies who can use the Disarm shout. If you drop a weapon which is better than the one {{spoiler|Lucian}} is using, he'll take it, and since he cannot be looted after death, there is no way to get it back.
** The second part of the quest
*** Fixed since Bethseda added the ability to infinitely level up.
* [[Louis Cypher]]: Keep a look out for one Sam Guevenne.
* [[Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me]]: The Block skill has a lot of surprising utility once you level up its perks. Among the most useful is one that grants you a resistance to magical damage when blocking, so your shield-guy can stand up to dragonfire now. Another lets you charge opponents with your shield and [[Foe-Tossing Charge|bash them out of the way
== M ==
* [[Magical Society]]: The College of Winterhold is the primary [[Magical Society]] and can be joined by the player, but the {{spoiler|Psijic Order}} also make a few appearances during quests that involve the College.
* [[Magitek]]: Dwemer technology is half "steam engine", half "magical Golems", evidently, as nearly all of their robots run off of soul gems rather than conventional power sources (and the steam appears to be generated magically).
** 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.
* [[Magic Pants]]: Played with as a werewolf: you wear no clothing when transformed, and when you change back into your normal form, you're unarmed and in nothing but your skivvies, but all your equipment is in your inventory and need only be re-equipped. So it's more like Magical Undies and Backpack, I guess? Fun fact: dead werewolves often seem to have "ruined trousers" in their inventory, when looted....
** This ultimately became a moot point come ''Dawnguard'', since werewolf mechanics were tweaked to where your clothes/armor would remain equipped after you transform back.
* [[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.
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** '''[[Blasting It Out of Their Hands|ZUN HAAL VIIK]]:''' Disarm. [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]].
** '''[[Bullet Time|TIID KLO UL]]:''' Slow Time. Allows you to go to town with a melee weapon, or to easily dodge deathtraps.
** '''[[Enemy
** '''[[Flash Step|WULD NAH KEST]]:''' Whirlwind Sprint, which allows for a [[Flash Step|sudden yet brief burst of speed]]. Useful for bum-rushing a [[Squishy Wizard]], dashing through a pendulum blade gauntlet, or crossing over drops too long to simply jump over (with careful aim).
** '''[[The Guards Must Be Crazy|ZUL MEY GUT]]:''' Throw Voice. Throws a projected voice that utters off a quick infantile insult, distracting guards to where it originated from.
** '''[[Kill It with Fire|YOL TOOR SHUL]]:''' Fire Breath, creating a burst of flame across a wide swath that does a ''ton'' of damage and staggers most enemies. Even just the first word has the range and width of '''FUS RO DAH''' at full power, with a staggering effect, and hits with enough whammy to make most bosses sit up and take notice.
** '''[[Lightning Bruiser|SU GRAH DUN]]:''' Elemental Fury. Increases the rate as which you swing your weapons to truly ludicrous speeds. [[Awesome Yet Impractical|Doesn't work with enchanted weapons
** '''[[Brown Note|JOOR ZAH FRUL]]:''' Dragonrend. Since Dragons have no concept of transience, the three words that make the shout (Mortal, Finite, Temporary) are like Kryptonite to them when used in Thu'um. Utterly confused by the words they hear, dragons promptly [[Captain Crash|faceplant into the ground]]. Also useful for interrupting dragon breath attacks even
** '''[[
** '''[[Summon Bigger Fish|ODAHVIING]]:'''
** '''[[Weather of War|STRUN BAH QO]]<ref>The "Q" in "Qo" is misspelled as an "A" in the Shout menu; it is written as a "Q" on the Word Wall and pronounced as such.</ref>:''' Is that dragon flying too high for you to score a hit? No problem, Storm Call turns the weather to your advantage and [[Awesome Yet Practical|strikes the dragon down with lightning
*** '''LOK VAH KOOR''': An inversion of the above, clearing away clouds, fog, rain, snow, or anything else so you can see clearly. Do it at night and odds are you'll also [[The World Is Just Awesome|summon an aurora]] as well
** '''[[Gradual Grinder|KRII LUN AUS]]''': "Marked For Death
** '''[[Screw This, I'm Outta Here|FAAS RU MAAR]]''': "Dismay". Causes enemies to flee.
** {{spoiler|'''[[Army of the Dead|HUUN KAL ZOOR]]''': Summons allies from Sovngarde to aid you. Available after completing the main quest.}}
** '''[[Back
** '''[[Ominous Fog|VEN MUL RIIK]]''': Conjures a thick fog around the landscape. Again, only Alduin uses it. {{spoiler|More precisely, he uses it during the final battle in Sovngarde
** It has no associated Words of Power, [[Death From Above|but there's a non-verbal Dragon Shout that summons a meteor storm.]] Again, only Alduin can use it.
** '''[[Doppelganger Attack|FIIK LO SAH]]''': What could have been used as a sort of decoy attack to get pressure off of you ends up being just an unplayable shout used by the Graybeards to produce target practice dummies for your Thu'um lessons from them. Oddly, there are still player voice files for the shout in the game's content archives.
** '''[[Life Drain|GAH LAH HAAS]]''': Drain Vitality. Fittingly for the DLC focused around vampires, ''Dawnguard'' introduces a Shout that lets you absorb your enemies' health and magicka. Interestingly, you can have up to three separate instances of this Shout in your arsenal thanks to a weird bug associated with unlocking the words for Marked for Death.
** '''[[Dracolich|DURNEHVIIR]]''': {{spoiler|Yet another Shout that lets you summon a dragon by calling his name. In this case, you summon a rotting zombie dragon straight from the Soul Cairn. One who, in keeping with his powers of a [[Dracolich]], can summon his own skeletal minions to help you out. And summoning him three times will lead to him teaching you all three words of...}}
** '''[[Your Soul Is Mine|RII VAAZ ZOL]]''': Soul Tear. You blast the enemy with a wave of purple energy that will quite literally rip the soul out of their body if they're close enough to death, and still rip a good chunk of health off if they aren't. It acts like a damaging Soul Trap spell, and will also reanimate your dead enemy's body like one of the Necromancy spells.
** '''[[Flunky Boss|DIIL QOTH ZAAM]]''': Summons the Soul Cairn's Bonemen, Mistmen, and Wrathmen. However, you never learn this Shout. It's used by {{spoiler|Durnehviir}} instead.
** '''[[Super Mode|MUL QAH DIIV]]''': Dragon Aspect. Gives you a spiffy set of spectral draconic armor that buffs your attack power, armor rating, and Shout strength while decreasing the cooldown period between Shouts. Use the full-powered Shout against Miraak for a truly epic clash between the First and Last Dragonborn.
** '''[[Blow You Away|VEN GAAR NOS]]''': Cyclone. Imagine Fus Ro Dah, but you're blasting your enemies upward instead of across the room.
** '''[[Status Buff|MID VUR SHAAN]]''': Battle Fury. Lets your allies attack faster via empowering their weapon.
** '''[[Compelling Voice|GOL HAH DOV]]''': Bend Will. {{spoiler|Miraak has been using this Shout to enslave people and dragons alike to do his bidding. You get to turn the tables on him by using this Shout to make his literal dragon Sahrotaar take you to him for your final showdown. Aside from that, this Shout also purges the Stones of Solstheim of Miraak's corruption, forces people to fight for you, and will make dragons subservient and fly you around the map.}}
** 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).]]
** If you have ''Dragonborn'' installed, are at least level 10, and have visited the Graybeards, a duo of these will come looking for you. They're cultists that worship Miraak, and are hellbent on killing "the false Dragonborn" so you won't get in the way of their idol's glorious return. Killing them while ignoring the ''Dragonborn'' questline will lead to trios of masked cultists ambushing you in the wilderness every now and then.
* [[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]]}}.
** Also, a mad skeever (rat) controlling mage you encounter is named [[The Pied Piper of Hamelin|"Hamelyn"]].
** The inn in the first town you encounter is named ''The Sleeping Giant Inn'', {{spoiler|the innkeeper turns out to be the leader and one of only two surviving members of the Blades and will be vital to the main quest}}.
* [[Mega Manning]]: A variation. You learn Words of Power simply from hearing someone speak it or reading it on Word Walls, but you can't "decode" them without using the knowledge in a dragon's soul. So it's a two-part deal: steal their voice weapon, then steal their ability to use it.
* [[Megaton Punch]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeWYN2xiyRo Giants.] Mainly because of the sheer amount of damage their clubs do to low level players. See the entry on [[Blown Across the Room]] above for more information.
* [[Melee a Trois]]: Dragons have a tendency to charge into the middle of existing battles and attacking everyone. The other two sides usually put aside their differences to deal with the massive fire-spewing immortal god-monster assaulting them, but not ''always''.
* [[Memetic Outfit]]: the horned helmet worn by the PC in the trailer.
* [[Mercy Kill]]: If you kill a bandit who has been raised from the dead by a necromancer, he will thank you as he disintegrates.
** This is one way to view {{spoiler|the Dark Brotherhood contract on Narfi}}.
* [[Mickey Mousing]]: The gameplay trailer matches cuts of action to music in a [[Rated "M" for Manly|dramatic, manly fashion
* [[Mighty Glacier]]: Dwarven centurions. You can outrun them without even having to sprint (unless you get caught in its steam cloud), and their only ranged attack is fairly easy to dodge from a distance, but they resist magic, arrows bounce off their armor (if not ''completely'' harmlessly), and that's not taking into account their huge HP pool. And if you try to fight it head-on, you'll have to dodge everything perfectly or be willing to down a ton of potions, since its hammer and axe hit quite hard and the steam blast hurts a LOT.
* [[Miles Gloriosus]]: The eponymous braggart in the song ''Ragnar the Red'', who meets an untimely end at the hands of an unimpressed shield maiden.
* [[Mind Rape]]: Dragonrend does this to dragons by forcing them to experience mortality, something their minds literally cannot comprehend.
* [[Mind Screw]]:
** 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
Naal ok zin los vahriin
Wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal
Ahrk fin norok paal graan
Fod nust hon zindro zaan
Dovahkiin, fah hin kogaan mu draal}}
** Which translates to:
{{quote|Dragonborn, Dragonborn
By his honor is sworn
To keep evil forever at bay
And the fiercest foes rout
When they hear triumph's shout
Dragonborn, for your blessing we pray}}
** Hilariously, as one Youtube commentator pointed out, it's also possible to mishear it as a spot-on Stormcloak anthem!
{{quote|For the king! For the king!
For the sons of Skyrim!
For our land! For our home! For the Empire's blood!
For the Nords! For the gods! For the sole single <ref>Or perhaps "prodigal".</ref> son!
Our king, our king who'll dawn with victory!}}
** Also, this bit of misheard lyrics, by many a YouTuber, from the trailer (starts just after the fus ro da), and they couldn't be more true:
{{quote|Says the Lord
Fucking cool
Oh my God
[[Gratuitous Spanish|Me gusta]]}}
** A minor, yet just as memetic mishearing would be Eorlund Gray-Mane's reaction to you wanting to browse his wares. He's saying "Gods be praised!", but it sounds an awful lot like "Goths be praised!"
* [[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]]:
** Rarely, animals will have jewelry and gold coins in their carcasses. Yes, this includes the Frostbite Spiders.
** 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>.
* [[More Than Meets the Eye]]: Many characters. Some are not human despite looking human, some have murderous tendencies while being seemingly innocent on the outside. Babette appears to be a young girl but is a vampire assassin centuries old who not only kills as a member of the Dark Brotherhood but sometimes kills in gruesome ways, then laugh about it when retelling the tale.
* [[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]].
** Even better? Thieves and muggers will run up to you and try to shake you down ''while you're tranformed into a werewolf or Vampire Lord!'' And yes, they still react like ''this'' to a failed intimidation speech check, even if the mark they're threatening is an 8-foot tall mass of muscle, fur, and fangs/the love child of Count Orlok and Satan:
{{quote|[[Fearless Fool|Nice try, but you don't scare me!]]}}
* [[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].
** Unlocking all doors is apparently only the most simple use of Nocturnal's Skeleton Key. In the right hands it could be used to unlock ''metaphorical'' locks such as the ones that limit human ability.
** The "Become Ethereal" shout lets you fall off of cliffs without taking fall damage.
*** Further evidence:
** You can use the "Slow Time" shout to catch arrows out of the air, skillfully dodge deadly attacks by dragons and giants... or you can just use it to make potions last longer instead (normally fortify skills potions last for 30s, only enough time to enchant/craft/enhance one or two items unless you're fast
** Unrelenting Force is a mighty tool to destroy enemies, but it serves an equally useful purpose in that it can be used to swat butterflies out of the air to collect their wings.
** Aura Whisper lets you locate your enemies to sneak around them or determine if the next room is filled with dozens of hostiles. It also lets you find people you're looking for in large buildings.
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* [[My Country, Right or Wrong]]: Some Nords still loyal to the Empire, or at least the idea of it, shade into this: they hate the policies forced on them by the treaty with the Thalmor, acknowledge the Empire is not what it used to be and that they've suffered for their loyalty, but "the Nords have never been fair-weather friends".
* [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much]]:
** {{spoiler|The Companions turn out to be Werewolves who have decided to help and protect others rather than devour them
** Even some high elves have an antipathetic attitude towards the Thalmor: a senior legion officer presiding over a camp near Riften is a high elf, and finds the Thalmor to be detestable.
** The player can be any of the elven races without gaining favor or alliance with the Thalmor, and he or she can just as easily be a Nord serving the Empire or a Stormcloak-aligned Imperial. In fact, most of the playable races lack their cultural baggage from pre-Skyrim lore so the player will often be the odd one out of his or her people. This is pointed out directly when some non-Nord races ask Ulfric about whether the Stormcloaks will accept them
* [[Mythology Gag]]: It is heavily implied by Sheogorath that {{spoiler|he is, in fact, the Champion of Cyrodiil, the player from Oblivion. Makes sense when you consider ''Oblivion'''s DLC
** There is also a book that gives help on thievery that has apparently been written by the player character of ''Oblivion'' (assuming that person completed the Thieves' Guild storyline).
** M'aiq the Liar shows up... [[Legacy Character|for about the third game in a row
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