When Bethesda released theElder Scrolls 5: Skyrim back in 2011, the fandom was abuzz with conspiracy theories due to the abundance of unnamed locations, puzzles, and mysteries. These rumors have spread and grown across the internet, but finally, almost 10 years after its initial release, players are getting some answers.
Tamriel’s long and winding history is full of mysteries. Luckily for Skyrim, with multiple expansive DLCs and now Elder Scrolls: Online returning to the snowy tundra, many of the land’s lost puzzles have finally had some light shed upon them. Players have discovered a myriad of answers to some of Skyrim’s greatest questions.
10 A Max Level Challenge
Many fans longed for endgame content forSkyrim. What might happen when a dedicated player finally rose to the eightieth level, the max for any player character? Players who reach this enormous peak will discover a final boss fight against a warrior clad in enchanted ebony armor. Heading to the Last Vigil deep in the mountains behind Riften, players will be able to fight this challenger. But be warned — they hit incredibly hard and can shout just like the Dragonborn. This is a fight many players who reach the end won’t soon forget.
9 Time Travel
With the focus ofSkyrimbeing the dragons who suddenly reappear across the land, many players wondered how these creatures could be lost for so long before suddenly reappearing. The answer, of course, is time travel.
In the newElder Scrolls: Onlineexpansion, a quest in the underground Dwemer ruins of Blackreach explains how the Dwemer had been experimenting with time travel. This explains the secret boss in the Blackreach of a mysterious underground dragon and the return of Alduin.
8 The Dwemer Are Alive
Many Elder Scrolls fans have wondered if the Dwemer are actually alive, and a couple of NPCs inSkyrimseem to confirm this. If players speak with a certain mage in Markarth, he will discuss his journeys through the Planes of Oblivion, describing how he’s met “Daedra and Dwemer.”
This statement seems to imply that the Dwemer disappearance was actually a sudden teleportation of all Dwemer to the Planes of Oblivion. This is further supported by the existence of the Summon Dwarven Sphere conjuration spell, a school of magic that summons creatures and beings from the Planes of Oblivion. Clearly, this indicates that the Dwarves themselves were sent into Oblivion.
7 What Happened To The Falmer?
Fans theorized that the Falmer were once majestic Snow Elves who lived above the surface, but if that’s the case, what happened to them? The Dawnguard DLC and books within the world answer this question.
Long ago, before the events ofSkyrim, the Humans and Snow Elves fought in a mighty war that forced the Snow Elves to flee to the Dwemer for help. The Dwemer supposedly fed the Falmer mushrooms, blinding them. However, mushrooms can’t explain the animal nature of the “current” Falmer or the fact that they now contain lesser souls. When compared to Gelebor, the last remaining Snow Elf introduced in the Dawnguard DLC, who contains a Grand Soul (equal to humans and other elves), this indicates that somehow the Falmer lost their souls. It is heavily hinted that Dwemer experimentation on the Falmer is to blame, using their own technology to test theories of soul distortion on the Snow Elf refugees.
6 Playing As A Villain
Before every great fantasy game, rumors abound about whether or not players will finally be the villain in the great RPG stories andSkyrimwas no different. However, for many fans, it seemed like the only way to live this out was to complete the Dark Brotherhood or Thieves Guild quest lines, which still turn the Dragonborn into more of an antihero than a true villain.
Well, it turns out that stopping Alduin is really more of a villainous act than the Greybeards and Blades let on. Alduin’s role is to end the world so that the next world can begin. This is the cyclic nature of the world of Nirn. One world ends so that the next can be born, and so on. By stopping this cycle, players also stop the infinite possibilities of the next world coming to fruition.
5 Murder In Ivarstead
In the village of Ivarstead, players can meet a man named Narfi, the same man whom the Dark Brotherhood tasks the Dragonborn with killing. Narfi’s sister disappeared from Ivarstead and it won’t take long for many players to discover her skeleton dumped in a nearby river. But what happened to her?
In the Dawnguard DLC, players face off against the vampire Venarus Vulpin at the Blood Spring. In Vulpin’s journals, he chronicles his journey through Skyrim, searching for the Blood Spring. One passage describes Venarus staying at the Vilemyr Inn, the same inn located in Ivarstead. He writes that he was looking for something to eat. Well, to be more precise, Venarus was looking for someone to eat, and he fell upon Narfi’s sister, Reyda.
4 The Forsworn Worship Daedra
In the No One Escapes Cidhna Mine quest, players have the option of helping the Forsworn leader Madanach escape the mine. Doing so will reward players with the Armor of the Old Gods. But who are these gods?
In a book present inElder Scrolls: Onlinecalled “A Life Barbaric and Brutal” by Arthenice Belloq, she describes living as a prisoner to a tribe of Reachmen, the predecessors to the Forsworn. Belloq describes how the Reachmen were led by a Hagraven and worshipped the Daedric being, Namira.
3 The Forsworn’s Real Leader
Again in No One Escapes Cidhna Mine quest, players meet the prisoner Madanach, the supposed king of the Forsworn. Madanach claims to be the man behind the Forsworn rebellion, writing letters and commanding troops from the shackles of his tiny prison cell. However, freeing Madanach has no effect on the Forsworn.
Instead, players are able to find letters addressed from a figure known only as “the Matriarch.” In the Hag’s End location, players discover the largest Forsworn stronghold in the game with dozens of tents and Forsworn agents completing everyday village tasks. Within the dungeon of Hag’s End, the Dovhakiin fights a Hagraven who appears and disappears in three different locations. It would appear that not only is this Matriarch the true leader of the forsworn, she is also a Hagraven.
2 The College Of Winterhold Is Dedicated To A Daedra
The architecture ofSkyrim’s College of Winterhold is completely unique in the game, with a circular courtyard, enormous round spires, and a strange overall shape. However, for players who are dedicated to reading all the books in the game, they may discover something that bears a striking resemblance to the college’s layout.
The Oghma Infinium, the evil artifact of the Daedric Prince Hermaeus Mora, contains a page detailing only a sigil containing a large circle with three smaller circles connected and branching off.
1 The Immortal Khajiit
M’aiq the Liar has appeared inMorrowind,Oblivion,Skyrim, and evenElder Scrolls: Online. In every game, he is known for spouting nonsense and traveling to random places across Tamriel. If the M’aiq in each game is in fact the same M’aiq, that would make this cat-man over 1000 years old.
InSkyrim, however, M’aiq offers the Dragonborn some insight into his fascinating life. M’aiq claims his father was also named M’aiq, as was his father’s father, or so M’aiq was told. But can anyone with the moniker "the Liar" be trusted?