Skyrim is a massive RPG that players can invest dozens of hours into as they explore its world and tackle hundreds of quests. Many fans of the Elder Scrolls series spend a lot of their time in Skyrim exploring its large open world. Skyrim's world is impressively large and filled with small details to find throughout. Not only does every town feature NPCs with routines and relationships, but the world outside those towns is also filled with scenes and details for players to experience.
The map is so big and detailed that many players still discover new areas or details even after playing Skyrim for the past seven years. There are hundreds of dungeons and locations for players to find, each with their own small stories and lore to give players who take the time to explore. This makes exploring Skyrim a very big part of the game, and one of the many things that make the game so special and has allowed it to still be popular almost a decade after its release. Of course, Skyrim is also very well known for using some of those hidden locations to hide some really great Easter eggs for players to find as well.
Skyrim's 300 Easter Egg
Just south of the Shrine to Peryite and west of Karthwasten, there is a large mountain that players can navigate their way up. About halfway up the mountain, players can come across an Easter egg referencing the popular 2007 movie 300. The scene is a recreation of one from the movie where Leonidas has to survive in the mountains and uses a narrow pass to trap a wolf and kill it by stabbing it through the mouth with a spear. In Skyrim, Leonidas apparently died soon after as his skeleton remains and he instead used a sword. Players may want to take the sword, as it is made of glass, which is one of the best common weapon types in Skyrim.
Skyrim's Castlevania Easter Egg
Another Easter egg can be found in the grand hall of Volkihar Keep, although many players may just think that it is a weird detail rather than an Easter egg. It comes in the form of a display case filled with a hagraven's claw, a sabre cat's eye, a daedra's heart, a dog's ribcage, and a simple gold ring. While this may look like little more than some random items thrown together, it is actually a reference to Castlevania 2 - where Simon Belmont must destroy Dracula's nail, eyeball, heart, ring, and ribcage to defeat him. While it is just a small nod to the classic series, it is a nice Easter egg for Castlevania players waiting for a new entry in the series.
Skyrim's Minecraft Easter Egg
Shortly before the release of Skyrim, Bethesda and Minecraft creator Markus Notch resolved a lawsuit over the name of Mojang's new game at the time, Scrolls. The lawsuit was eventually settled out of court through negotiations with Scrolls being able to keep its name, and the event was memorialized by Notch's pickaxe in Skyrim. The pickaxe is called the Notched Pickaxe and can be found by players at the very top of The Throat of the World. This is far from the only time that Minecraft and Skyrim have collided online, but it is a cool nod from Bethesda to Notch that there was no hard feelings.
Skyrim's Portal 2 Easter Egg
Skyrim also has a hidden reference to the popular puzzle game Portal 2. In Skuldafn, eagle-eyed players may notice that one of the fireplaces hides a potato with a boiled creme treat and three pieces of charcoal all carefully placed together in the far back. It can be difficult to see, but it definitely looks similar to the potato battery form of GLaDOS, the antagonist of Portal and one of the most iconic video game characters in the industry. It is a pretty small Easter egg, but the attention to detail and how difficult it is to find make it much more rewarding for any players who do happen to be digging around in fireplaces.
Skyrim's Best Lord of the Rings Easter Eggs
Skyrim holds multiple Easter eggs that reference the Lord of the Rings series. One of these is a chest in Angarvunde that holds a skeleton hand next to the handle of a broken steel sword. This is a pretty clear reference to the Lord of the Rings sword Narsil that broke after being used to cut the one ring off Sauron's hand. Another reference comes in the form of Whiterun's great tree Gildergreen that is slowly dying. The tree parallels the White Tree in Lord of the Rings' Minas Tirith that is similarly important to its people while facing the same fate. Many fans have also pointed towards Skyrim's iconic city of Whiterun being a reference to Lord of the Rings' Edoras because they both are built on a hill with a horse on their banner as well.
Skyrim also contains various lines of dialogue that reference Lord of the Rings as well. One of these comes during the quest Battle for Whiterun where the characters Hadvar and Ralof can be seen after the battle mimicking the conversation between Legolas and Gimli where the two debate who got the most kills during the battle of Helm's Deep. Another comes during the quest A Night to Remember, in which players have to get a wedding ring from a Hagraven named Moira who refers to the ring as "My Precious" as a clear reference to Gollum from Lord of the Rings.
Finally, when players join Skyrim's faction known as the Companions, the character Kodlak comments on the player's heart mattering the most while Vilkas says that their arm matters as well. This is in reference to Lord of the Rings' Eomer commenting that they are doubtful of the reach of Merry's arm when he wants to go into battle with the Rohirrim.
Skyrim is available now on PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.