Even though The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim originally launched back in 2011, the action RPG and its community is still going strong. This can be, in part, attributed to its various ports, its post-launch support, its prominence as an RPG, and the various mods, such as the recent Destructible Skyrim mod, the game has received. Now, the game has taken social media by storm with its recent trending hashtag, #SkyrimCanada.
It began with a simple question and escalated from there, with the responses as equally funny as the question's premise. Simply put, the question was what if Skyrim took place in Canada? The implication here relies on the age-old reputation of Canada being a rather passive nation, and Skyrim being the exact opposite of that. Between the Civil War, the Dragon attacks, and the hardened attitudes of many of its denizens, many saw it as a fun opportunity.
Some remarks and replies to the trending Skyrim hashtag include a few necessary crossovers with South Park, how the main character could have been freed at the beginning of the game, how even the mods would be vanilla, the possibility of an apology shout, and the various factions — the Empire, the Nords, the Thalmor, and even Alduin — apologizing for their various crimes against Skyrim and her people.
As it stands, the #SkyrimCanada hashtag has nearly 4,000 tweets on Twitter and growing. This isn't the first time the game has been connected with a viral trend as of late, either. During the short-lived days of the 30-50 feral hogs meme, a Skyrim mod added 30-50 hogs to the game that differed from the boars typically found in the wild.
If nothing else, these viral sensations always seemingly connecting to Skyrim speaks to its standing in the gaming world. Many, including Metacritic, consider it to be one of the 10 best RPGs ever made, so while the exact idea of Skyrim in Canada is about as random as it gets, it's not surprising to see the 8-year game trending.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is available now on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.