Even nearly 10 years after the original release of Bethesda’s award-winning RPG The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, people are still making discoveries about the game. Almost weekly, a player makes a post on Reddit sharing something new they have noticed, such as a screenshot of child-sized mummies in Skyrim’s Nordic tomb Forelhost or an image of a mammoth frozen in ice by Dawnstar in the north.
It’s not really surprising that new revelations are still being made within the vast open-world game. It is, after all, one of the top 20 bestselling video games in history. Over the years, several editions of Skyrim have been released, including the 2016 Special Edition that came with all three expansions and a graphical upgrade, a Nintendo Switch port a year later, and a VR version for the PS4 in 2018. While some players are long-time fans who revisit the game multiple times, there are undoubtedly many making their first foray into Skyrim.
This time, a Skyrim player has noticed that Sybille Stentor, the court wizard at the Blue Palace in Solitude, is a vampire. While casting the Detect Life spell, the player realized that sneaky Sybille doesn’t light up like the other NPCs around her. From some of the comments on the Reddit thread, a number of people never noticed the wizard’s undead status.
While this may not be news to many players who have the Dawnguard DLC, those who haven’t yet installed the add-on won’t see the glowing red eyes that distinguish vampires in the game. In the original version of Skyrim, nothing sets Sybille apart from other humans. However, her secret can also be uncovered by using the Detect Dead spell, and she can be killed without consequences using the Sun Damage spell introduced in Dawnguard.
Skyrim supplies some other clues that Sybille is a vampire as well. She provides training in Destruction magic and sells tomes and robes, but mysteriously never seems to be around for business during the day. Also, when speaking to Ahtar, the head jailor in Solitude, he will share the unsettling information that Sybille sometimes takes “volunteers” from the dungeon. And Housecarl Melaran makes note that it’s a good idea to avoid being thrown into the dungeon when Sybille is having a bad day because the headman’s axe isn’t the worst way for a prisoner to die.
Sybille herself never makes reference to her status as a vampire in Skyrim. She offers helpful dialog when questioned about different goings-on in the kingdom but, if the Dragonborn mentions that she looks young, Sybille simply replies that she has aged well. It is remarkable, though, that some of the inhabitants of Solitude seem to know Sybille’s secret and are fine with it.
Skyrim is available on PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.