A Skyrim player has happened upon a rather strange occurrence of one of the game's dragons seemingly being buried in the ground up to its neck. With Bethesda now working on The Elder Scrolls 6, one thing that many fans will be wondering is whether or not the next installment in the long-running RPG franchise will be just as riddled with glitches as the developer's previous work. After nearly 11 years, gamers are still finding some weird issues, which is a cause for concern, even if some of them are quite amusing.
Anyone who's played the 2011 epic will know that dragons form an integral part of Skyrim's main storyline, often seen majestically swooping overhead before moving in to attack a village or the Dragonborn themselves. However, given the bugs the game contains that have existed pretty much since day one, that essence of majesty can certainly be taken away when it transpires that one of these winged beasts has somehow managed to get itself stuck in the floor.
That's what Reddit user and Skyrim player mhb2 spotted, at least. In an image uploaded recently, a Revered Dragon can be seen along the coastline. Only it's not the whole creature, as it's just its head sticking up, presumably with the rest of the body underground. Further reading in the thread and given the "Search" prompt that can be seen in the screenshot, the dragon is clearly dead, with the user saying, possibly in a jocular manner, that the corpse had been following them around for days. One person suggested downloading a mod called "Dead NPC Body Cleaner Remover" to help get rid of the animal and thus fix this particular issue at least.
Things like this have been cataloged by many Skyrim fans for over a decade now, and even last year's Skyrim Anniversary Edition had game-breaking glitches. Many of the bugs are largely superficial, even funny at times, but when it interrupts gameplay, it can become a serious annoyance, especially given the developer has had more than enough time to patch out the worst offenders.
Having said that, Skyrim also has helpful bugs. The most famous example of this is when the Dragonborn places a basket or cauldron over a shopkeeper's head, allowing the player to steal items without any repercussions. However, as useful and mirth-making as some glitches can be, for a lot of fans it signifies a sloppy approach to finalizing a game's development, which is a reputation that has followed Bethesda for years.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is available now for PC, PS3, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.