One of the defining qualities of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is the impressive amount of user agency. Players can approach Skyrim through a variety of means, from melee attacks to magic abilities, there are many fleshed-out gameplay options for players to choose from. Although, one player, in an attempt to beat the game as a pacifist, recreated one of the most iconic Skyrim NPCs.
Thanks to the success of games like Undertale, pacifist runs have started to become much more prominent within the gaming community. In many ways, it challenges players to approach games in ways that ordinarily would not offer that kind of progression option due to various game design characteristics and limitations. As one player decides to do a pacifist run of Skyrim, the user managed to model the player character after what is easily the most pacifistic NPC in the game.
A Reddit user named Uebbo modeled their in-game character to look like the Courier NPC. Oftentimes, players will encounter a Courier who will deliver various letters and packages from other NPCs all around Skyrim, many of which can start side quests. Given that the Courier is never involved in any combat encounters or is seen carrying any weapons, he makes the perfect candidate for a pacifist run.
Many players may be surprised to learn that a near-perfect pacifist run can occur within Skyrim. The goal of the run is to keep the number of enemies the player kills via the stats menu at 0. Kills made due to gravity, dungeon traps, and frenzy/fury abilities, to name a few examples, don't count towards the player's kill count. The only creature the player is forced to kill in the game is Alduin, seeing as he is a protected NPC, which means the final hit has to come from the player.
It's astounding that players have found the means to beat Skyrim in such creative and unexpected ways. In fact, one player managed to beat the Skyrim: Anniversary Edition using nothing but a fishing rod.
It will be interesting to see what the future holds for The Elder Scrolls series going forward. While The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced back in 2018, there has been little to no additional news regarding the game's development. With any luck, more substantial details surrounding The Elder Scrolls 6 will release at some point in the future.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Anniversary Editon is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.