The Companions of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim are generally seen as one of the weaker factions in the game, at least conceptually. This is because the group’s associated questline isn’t as compelling as the likes of the Thieves Guild or the Dark Brotherhood. It also isn’t as lengthy of a campaign. Perhaps one of the faction’s few upsides is that it has some of the more memorable NPCs in the game, such as Farkas Vilkas and Aela the Huntress.
However, even with these characters, the Companions quests in Skyrim still fall short, largely because of the questline’s underdeveloped antagonist. The Silver Hand simply isn’t an interesting enemy faction, which is a shame as the group could have improved the Companion’s story.
The Lore Behind the Silver Hand Faction of Skyrim
The Silver Hand is a group of werewolf hunters intent on killing off the members of the Circle. The player encounters them early on during the Companions questline, when they journey out with Farkas to retrieve a fragment of the Wuuthrad battleaxe in Skyrim. During the quest, members of the Silver Hand appear and attack Farkas, forcing him to change into a werewolf and dispose of them. This is when the player first learns of the lycanthropy rituals occurring among the Companions’ higher-ranking members.
How the Silver Hand learned of the Companions’ Inner Circle is unknown. However, it’s immediately clear that they want to abolish the group. At some point in the questline, it’s revealed that the Silver Hand is hunting down the fragments of Wuuthrad, trying to get to them before the Companions can. Their motivations for doing this – apart from mocking the Companions – are unclear, but it suggests that the faction is specifically targeting the Circle.
The Silver Hand is led by a randomly generated NPC named Krev the Skinner, so they don’t have any unique dialogue in Skyrim. However, the generic Silver Hand NPCs tend to shout things like, “Ysgramor would be ashamed of you!” and, “I'll rip you apart, Companion!” when fighting the player. This points to a turbulent history between the two factions.
Some members of the community even theorize that the Silver Hand is a splinter group of the Companions and there’s reason to believe this. Books from the “Songs of Return” series can be looted off some Silver Hand enemy corpses, and these Skyrim books tell tales about Ysgramor and the Five Hundred Companions. It’s an oddly specific detail unique to the enemies under the Silver Hand faction, and while this theory cannot be confirmed, it would certainly explain how the faction knew of the Circle and why they want to reclaim the Wuuthrad.
Another thing worth noting is that some Silver Hand members have supposedly fought alongside Vigilants of Stendarr. This is revealed in a note from the Unholy Vigil quest (though it’s part of a Skyrim Creation Club add-on, so whether it’s truly canon is debatable). This may seem strange as the Silver Hand and the Vigilants of Stendarr are factions with very different methods. The Silver Hand comes off as nothing more than a group of bandits, while the Vigilants comprise holy yet militant vigilantes. However, they both seek to eradicate the dangerous creatures – primarily werewolves – of Skyrim, so their motivations do align somewhat.
Missed Opportunities in Skyrim’s Companions Questline
One of the most glaring issues with the Companions questline is its lack of focus on the Silver Hand and its motivations. Throughout the campaign, the player only gets to interact with members of the Companions in Skyrim, while all the Silver Hand NPCs are generic enemies. Thus, everything that the player learns about the Silver Hand, they learn from the Companions – meaning their perspective of the werewolf-hunting group is biased from the start.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s a great setup for a twist that reveals the true nature of a supposedly antagonistic group. However, the trend continues up until the end of the questline, so the Silver Hand never really gets enough backstory to explain why the members hate the Skyrim Companions and lycanthropy. This makes the faction appear as nothing more than a lowly bandit group that arbitrarily decided to target the werewolves of the Circle.
How the Silver Hand Faction Could Have Been Improved
Improving the Companions questline would take a lot of work. First and foremost, the campaign should delve into the Silver Hand faction more. This would entail creating more fleshed-out Skyrim NPCs for the group – ones that actually have unique dialogue pertaining to the Silver Hand’s history and motivations. All signs point to the Silver Hand being a splinter faction, so the player should be able to learn about that straight from its members. Perhaps have Krev or some other unique NPC lament how the Companions in Whiterun have sullied their honor with the beast blood.
Explaining the backstory of the Silver Hand then leads to the next way to improve the Companions questline of Skyrim – letting the player choose which faction to join. Now that the player can learn both sides, they can choose which faction to support. This allows for branching possibilities and multiple conclusions to the campaign. One ending could be similar to the game’s canon ending, where the Companions and the Circle are left intact. Another ending could have the Silver Hand rightfully taking over the Companions guild. Meanwhile, a third ending could have both factions reaching a compromise.
This third ending would put Kodlak Whitemane in the spotlight, as he’s one of the members of the Circle who wishes to be rid of the beast blood. With his help, the player could facilitate dialogue between the two groups, eventually culminating with the Companions finding a cure to lycanthropy, thus reuniting the two groups. It could even prompt a confrontation with Skyrim’s Aela the Huntress, who’s adamant about remaining a lycanthrope.
Overall, a little lore behind each faction goes a long way, and emphasizing player choice goes much further. The Silver Hand faction could have been a compelling group, challenging the supposedly honorable Companions. Unfortunately, the game didn’t do it justice, resulting in a generic and shallow questline. Hopefully The Elder Scrolls 6 does better with its faction questlines.
The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.