143 Fun Facts About Skyrim

Bethesda marketed Skyrim's worldwide launch date with which run of repeated numbers?

11-11-11 stood for 11 November 2011, the date shown on the first trailer; a leaked Xbox 360 copy still reached torrent sites days early, playable on modded consoles.

Which studio developed Skyrim?

Bethesda Game Studios developed Skyrim with a team of roughly 100 people under director Todd Howard; its parent Bethesda Softworks published it.

Which technology, forked from the Fallout 3 codebase, powers Skyrim?

Creation Engine grew out of the Fallout 3 code so Skyrim could draw distant mountains in detail; its snow is placed by a system that works out where flakes would really settle.

Skyrim is set how many years after the events of Oblivion?

Skyrim is set in 4E 201, 201 years after the Oblivion Crisis of 3E 433; in between, the Empire lost the Great War and signed the White-Gold Concordat.

What is the name of the World-Eater, the dragon prophesied to destroy the world?

His name breaks into Al-Du-In, 'Destroyer-Devour-Master' in the dragon tongue, and he calls himself the First-Born of Akatosh.

How many playable races does Skyrim offer at character creation?

Skyrim offers 10 playable races: Altmer, Argonian, Bosmer, Breton, Dunmer, Imperial, Khajiit, Nord, Orc and Redguard; race sets starting skills and a racial power but never locks out quests.

Skyrim's 18 skills are divided evenly among which three schools?

Skyrim's 18 skills fall evenly into combat, magic and stealth, six each; characters level by raising skills, and the class system of earlier Elder Scrolls games was dropped.

Dawnstar, a mining port on Skyrim's northern coast, is the capital of which hold?

The Pale is ruled from Dawnstar, whose people are losing sleep to shared nightmares; the priest Erandur asks the Dragonborn to help end them at a ruined temple above the town.

Which deified human general do the Nords worship as a ninth god, in defiance of the White-Gold Concordat?

Talos, the deified Tiber Septim, is the Nords' ninth divine; the Thalmor forced the ban on his worship into the White-Gold Concordat, and it helped ignite Ulfric's rebellion.

Who is the last known dragon, secretly protected by the Greybeards atop the Throat of the World?

Paarthurnax once served the dragons' tyranny, then turned and helped mortals overthrow it; the Blades still demand that the Dragonborn kill him for his old crimes.

What is the name of the pacifist discipline practised by the Greybeards, founded by Jurgen Windcaller?

The Way of the Voice, founded by Jurgen Windcaller, holds that the Thu'um should serve worship rather than war; Ulfric Stormcloak trained in it with the Greybeards, which is why he can Shout.

How many words of power make up a complete dragon shout?

A complete shout has three words of power; each is unlocked by spending an absorbed dragon soul, and holding the shout button longer releases more of the three.

Which shout, forcing a dragon to land by making it comprehend mortality, must the Dragonborn learn to fight Alduin?

Dragonrend is unknown even to the Greybeards, so Arngeir cannot teach it; the Dragonborn reads an Elder Scroll at the Time-Wound and learns it by watching the ancient Nord heroes use it.

Which captured dragon buys his freedom by carrying the Dragonborn to the portal to the Nord afterlife?

Odahviing is lured into a trap in Whiterun's palace and bargains his way out; once the main quest ends, he comes whenever the Dragonborn shouts his name.

Which composer wrote Skyrim's score, having also scored Morrowind and Oblivion?

Jeremy Soule had already scored Morrowind and Oblivion; for Skyrim he rebuilt the series' main theme around a chanting male choir, after Todd Howard asked for it sung by barbarians.

Which Academy Award nominee voiced Esbern, the Blades loremaster?

Max von Sydow voiced Esbern and also narrated the game's first trailer in character, warning that the Elder Scrolls had foretold the dragons' return.

Which actor voiced Arngeir, the spokesman of the Greybeards?

Christopher Plummer voiced Arngeir, the only Greybeard who can speak safely: the others' voices are so powerful that he does all the talking for them.

Which Japanese magazine gave Skyrim a perfect 40/40, the first Western-developed game to earn it?

Famitsu's four editors each gave Skyrim 10/10 for a 40/40, the first perfect score for a Western-developed game; reviewers elsewhere criticised the 'floaty' melee combat.

Roughly how many copies of Skyrim did Todd Howard say had been sold by June 2023?

60 million copies by June 2023 put Skyrim among the ten best-selling games ever at that point; Todd Howard put it down to people simply still playing it twelve years on.

Which of Skyrim's three add-ons revolves around a battle between vampire hunters and Clan Volkihar?

Dawnguard pits the vampire-hunting Dawnguard against Clan Volkihar; it adds the Soul Cairn and the Forgotten Vale, and PS3 performance problems delayed it there by eight months.

In Skyrim's Hearthfire add-on, which dug-up material joins quarried stone and sawn logs as a basic building supply?

Clay can be dug up or bought, like the lumber; once a house stands on one of the three plots, the Dragonborn's spouse and up to two adopted children can move in.

The Dragonborn add-on takes place on which island belonging to the province of Morrowind?

Solstheim once belonged to Skyrim: after Red Mountain erupted, the island was handed over as a new homeland for the Dark Elves, who settled at Raven Rock.

Which Daedric Prince taught Miraak, the First Dragonborn, to control dragons?

Hermaeus Mora, Daedric Prince of knowledge, taught Miraak to control dragons; Miraak slaughtered his winged overlords, the dragons razed his temple, and Mora spirited him away to his own realm.

Which city, built on a giant natural stone arch, is Skyrim's capital and the seat of its High King?

Solitude is where Jarl Elisif the Fair rules in place of her late husband, High King Torygg, and where the Imperial Legion keeps its headquarters for the war.

Which city is built inside an ancient Dwemer city, with much of it carved into the surrounding rock?

Markarth fills a ruined Dwemer city in the Reach; its Silver-Blood family owns Cidhna Mine, the prison where the Dragonborn is thrown after looking too closely into a market murder.

The Thieves Guild inhabits the sewers beneath which city?

Riften's sewers hide the Thieves Guild's own tavern, the Ragged Flagon, where its fence buys the stolen goods that honest shopkeepers refuse to touch.

Which family, headed by Maven, owns a meadery and has ties to the Dark Brotherhood?

The Black-Briar family, led by Maven, owns the meadery that carries its name; if the Imperials take control of her hold in the civil war, Maven replaces Laila Law-Giver as jarl.

Windhelm's Dark Elf refugees are confined to a cramped slum called what?

The Gray Quarter, formerly the Snow Quarter, filled with Dark Elves after Red Mountain erupted, because Windhelm was the first city they reached on the way out of Morrowind.

In Skyrim, which Whiterun citizen, who claims to advise the Jarl, famously asks whether you get to the Cloud District very often?

Nazeem owns Chillfurrow Farm and claims to advise the Jarl, but never sets foot in Dragonsreach and sleeps at The Drunken Huntsman.

Which mead hall in Whiterun serves as headquarters of the Companions?

Jorrvaskr is older than Whiterun itself: the mead hall was raised beside the Skyforge, and the city is said to have grown up around it.

Which Whiterun house, the first the Dragonborn can buy, is sold by steward Proventus Avenicci for 5,000 gold?

Breezehome is the cheapest house in the game, but it only goes on sale once the Dragonborn has cleared Bleak Falls Barrow for the jarl and earned the right to own property.

Which Daedric Prince hands you the Wabbajack, a staff that can turn enemies into chickens or sweet rolls?

Sheogorath, Prince of Madness, gives you the Wabbajack after you meet him on 'vacation' inside the mind of the mad Emperor Pelagius III, in the Blue Palace's Pelagius Wing.

The Ebony Blade grows stronger only when you use it to kill whom?

Your close friends are its fuel: Mephala's sword drains more life for every two people killed who trusted the Dragonborn, which turns betrayal itself into the upgrade.

What is the only place in Skyrim where crimson nirnroot grows?

Blackreach, a vast Dwemer cavern deep under Skyrim, is where the alchemist Sinderion died studying crimson nirnroot; reading his field journal sets the Dragonborn gathering thirty of the plants.

Which dragon priest mask is the reward for placing eight others on a Labyrinthian shrine?

Konahrik appears only when the other eight masks sit on the shrine, and the shrine itself can be reached only by putting on a plain wooden mask found in the ruins.

Which wandering Khajiit, also met in Morrowind and Oblivion, pokes fun at Skyrim's own design in his dialogue?

M'aiq the Liar turns up at random on Skyrim's roads with sly remarks that answer fan complaints about the game; after three of them he says he is tired and sends you away.

Kodlak Whitemane, Harbinger of the Companions, wants to be cured of lycanthropy so his soul can go where?

Sovngarde is the Nord afterlife, but a werewolf's soul is claimed for Hircine's Hunting Grounds; only by cleansing Kodlak's spirit of the wolf can the Dragonborn send him on to the hall of heroes.

Which Nightingale betrayed Nocturnal by taking the Skeleton Key and murdered his predecessor Gallus?

Mercer Frey, the Guildmaster, stole the Skeleton Key and framed Karliah for killing Gallus; when the thieves at last open their own vault, they find he has already emptied it.

Most of the city of Winterhold fell into the Sea of Ghosts in an event known as what?

The Great Collapse dropped most of Winterhold into the sea; the townsfolk blame the College's mages, whose home survived untouched, while the College flatly denies any part in it.

Which Thalmor 'advisor' at the College of Winterhold is behind the plot involving the Saarthal orb?

Ancano, the Thalmor 'advisor' to Arch-Mage Savos Aren, seizes the Eye of Magnus dug up at Saarthal; until then he spends his time eavesdropping in the Hall of the Elements.

Which Skyrim town is known for a huge cemetery that gives its inn and shops their morbid names?

Falkreath's graveyard holds generations of dead from all over Skyrim, so its people named the inn Dead Man's Drink and the apothecary Grave Concoctions.

In Skyrim, firing a Bloodcursed Elven Arrow at the sun from Auriel's Bow does what?

Blocks out the sun until morning, sparing vampires its harm; the bow's Sunhallowed arrows do the reverse and make the sun fire bursts of light at nearby enemies.

Serana, found sealed in Dimhollow Crypt, is the daughter of which pure-blood vampire?

Serana is the daughter of Lord Harkon, master of Clan Volkihar; she carries an Elder Scroll when you find her, and Harkon wants her blood for the prophecy called the Tyranny of the Sun.

Which mammoth-herding creatures in Skyrim can send a careless adventurer flying into the sky with one club blow?

Giants hit so hard that a killing blow launches the victim hundreds of feet into the air; left unprovoked, though, they are peaceful and simply tend their mammoths.

Skyrim: Very Special Edition, the E3 2018 joke, really ran on which platform?

Amazon Alexa got a genuine voice-driven version of the game; the Etch A Sketch, pager and smart fridge editions were Bethesda mocking its own habit of porting Skyrim to everything.

Which object falls from the sky in the crossover mod for Skyrim's workshop launch?

The Space Core from Portal 2 lands where the player can pick it up, chattering about space in Nolan North's voice, and can even be forged into a helmet called the Dovahcore.

Which Skyrim mod did 19-year-old Alexander Velicky build as a job application, adding a whole new land with dozens of quests?

Falskaar was Velicky's pitch for a job at Bethesda, with about 25 hours of play voiced by 29 actors; in the end it was Bungie, not Bethesda, that hired him.

Which 2015 Skyrim mod was later remade as a standalone game released on PC and consoles in 2021?

The Forgotten City won an Australian Writers' Guild award while still a mod; its standalone remake moved the mystery from a Dwemer ruin to a cursed city of the Roman Empire.

Which new top difficulty setting did Skyrim's Patch 1.9 add in 2013, along with resettable skills?

Legendary difficulty arrived with a way to reset any skill from 100 back to 15 and train it again, which in effect removed the cap on character level.

Skyrim's Collector's Edition shipped with a 12-inch figurine of which character?

It also came with a cloth map, a 200-page art book and a making-of DVD.

How many named dragon shouts can be learned in the base game before add-ons?

The base game has 20 named shouts; Dawnguard adds three and Dragonborn four, taking the total to 27.

In Skyrim, when you first meet the Greybeards, which shout must you use on Arngeir to prove you are Dragonborn?

Unrelenting Force is the first shout the main quest hands the Dragonborn, deep in Bleak Falls Barrow; its three words, Fus Ro Dah, went on to become an internet meme.

How many people designed Skyrim's 150 dungeons, compared with a single designer for Oblivion's?

Eight designers built Skyrim's 150 dungeons, against a single designer for Oblivion's; the team also hand-crafted the whole landscape instead of generating it as Oblivion had.

At which televised ceremony did Todd Howard first unveil Skyrim in December 2010?

Spike Video Game Awards viewers saw Todd Howard walk on stage with the first trailer in December 2010; a year later Skyrim was named Game of the Year at the same show.

The chanting male choir on Skyrim's main theme sings its lyrics in which language?

Draconic, the dragon language invented for the game, carries the whole song; its writer had to make the verses rhyme both in the dragon tongue and in English translation.

Which Stormcloak soldier, riding in the player's cart, opens Skyrim by saying 'You're finally awake'?

Ralof speaks first in the prison cart, guessing the player was caught crossing the border; minutes later the player picks whether to escape the burning town with him or with the Imperial Hadvar.

Which magazine's February 2011 cover story gave the first details of Skyrim's story and gameplay?

Game Informer ran Matt Miller's fifteen-page cover story two months after the reveal; owner GameStop shut the magazine down in 2024, and it was revived under new owners in 2025.

Skyrim's rugged, snowbound open world is modelled on which real region?

Scandinavia shaped both the landscape and the Viking-like Nords; one early preview set that ruggedness against the 'Renaissance festival feel' of the previous game's setting.

Ulfric Stormcloak, who leads the rebellion against the Empire, is jarl of which city?

Ulfric rules Windhelm, the Nords' ancient capital in Eastmarch, from the Palace of the Kings; his revolt is driven partly by the Thalmor-imposed treaty clause banning worship of the Nords' ninth god.

Which jarl does the Dragonborn warn after escaping the dragon attack that opens Skyrim?

Jarl Balgruuf the Greater of Whiterun stays neutral in the civil war, which is why a truce has to be brokered before a dragon can be trapped in Dragonsreach.

Which general commands the Imperial Legion during Skyrim's civil war?

General Tullius is first seen at Ulfric Stormcloak's interrupted execution; he comes to believe the Thalmor stirred up the civil war to make the Empire waste its soldiers.

Which joinable faction asks the Dragonborn to recover King Olaf's lost work?

The Bards College needs King Olaf's Verse to save its festival, which Jarl Elisif means to cancel; the Dragonborn helps headmaster Viarmo patch the damaged poem before he performs it for her.

Which Daedric artifact does Meridia grant for cleansing Kilkreath Temple of the necromancer Malkoran?

Dawnbreaker's quest starts when the Dragonborn picks up a strange gem and Meridia's voice booms 'A new hand touches the beacon'; the sword sets off fiery blasts among the undead.

Which Daedric Prince's quest 'A Night to Remember' starts with a drinking contest in a tavern?

Sanguine, Prince of debauchery, poses as a drinker named Sam Guevenne; the Dragonborn wakes in a wrecked temple with no memory and must retrace a wild night to earn the Sanguine Rose staff.

Which province to the south of Skyrim was the setting of the previous game, Oblivion?

Cyrodiil is the Empire's heartland and borders Skyrim's southern holds; one early preview set its 'Renaissance festival feel' against the more rugged land to the north.

Skyrim is the northernmost province of which continent?

Tamriel holds every province in the series; Nord legend says their ancestors sailed to it from Atmora, one of several other continents its people now have almost no contact with.

Which ranged weapon did Skyrim's first add-on introduce for its vampire hunters?

Crossbow bolts stay loaded while the Dragonborn moves, so the first shot comes quicker than a bow's, at the price of a slow reload that also cuts walking speed.

Which of the Dragonborn's three core attributes in Skyrim is drained by casting spells?

Magicka is one of three pools, beside Health and Stamina; every time the character levels up, the player must choose just one of the three to raise.

Which Riverwood inn does Delphine run while hiding from the Thalmor?

The Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood is run by Delphine, a Blade in hiding; her secret cellar holds the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller she takes from Ustengrav before you arrive.

Which god gave the Dragonborn line its power to learn shouts by absorbing dragon souls?

Akatosh, the dragon god of time, gave the Dragonborn line the blood and soul of a dragon, letting them absorb dragon souls and learn shouts; prophecy holds a Last Dragonborn will defeat the World-Eater.

Which actress, TV's original Wonder Woman, is part of Skyrim's voice cast?

Lynda Carter, Wonder Woman on 1970s TV and wife of ZeniMax's Robert Altman, voices Gormlaith Golden-Hilt, one of the three ancient heroes who banished Alduin.

Which voice actor plays the dragon who teaches the Dragonborn atop the Throat of the World?

Charles Martinet is far better known as the voice of Nintendo's Mario since the 1990s; for Skyrim he swapped 'It's-a me!' for an ancient dragon who drops words of his own language into every speech.

Which store began selling a DRM-free version of Skyrim Special Edition in September 2022?

GOG's release runs entirely offline, so players no longer have to log in to the Creation Club to reach the extra content bundled with the Anniversary Edition.

Which new feature did Patch 1.6 bring to Skyrim in May 2012?

Mounted combat let riders swing melee weapons and fire bows from the saddle for the first time; until the patch, a player on horseback had to climb down before fighting.

Which characters in Skyrim claim they 'used to be an adventurer' until they took an arrow in the knee?

Town guards say it at random; writer Emil Pagliarulo pictured a semi-retired 'worn out fantasy beat cop' and insists the line simply came out of his own head.

Bethesda promised to put YouTuber Shirley Curry, 'Skyrim Grandma', into which game?

The Elder Scrolls VI is set to feature her as a character: fans petitioned for it, and Bethesda agreed during the series' 25th-anniversary stream, news she said meant a lot to her.

Which actress voices Serana, the vampire found sealed in a sarcophagus in Dimhollow Crypt?

Laura Bailey, later Abby in The Last of Us Part II, voices Serana, who asks to be escorted home to Castle Volkihar off the coast near Solitude.

Clan Volkihar's founder pledged his soul to which Daedric Prince to gain vampirism?

Molag Bal, the Prince of Domination and father of vampires, granted the clan's founder vampirism after the former mortal king sacrificed 'a thousand innocents' to him.

Which shout from the Dragonborn add-on lets the player subdue Miraak's dragons and ride them?

Bend Will forces even a dragon to land and carry a rider; its final word is granted only after a Daedric Prince takes the Skaal's secrets from their shaman Storn, killing him.

Reading a Black Book transports the player to which realm of Oblivion?

Apocrypha, the endless library-realm of the Daedric Prince of Fate, Knowledge and Memory, is guarded by Seekers and Lurkers; each Black Book returns you to a different corner of it.

The island setting of the Dragonborn add-on first appeared in which Morrowind expansion?

Bloodmoon, Morrowind's 2003 second expansion, introduced the island; by Skyrim's time half of it is glacial, while the other half lies buried in ash from the Red Mountain eruption.

Which housecarl is assigned to the Dragonborn on becoming Thane of Whiterun?

Lydia is appointed by the jarl once the first dragon is slain; ask her to carry your loot and she sighs, 'I am sworn to carry your burdens.'

Which Standing Stone gives 50% spell absorption but halves magicka regeneration?

The Atronach Stone grants 50 extra magicka and 50% spell absorption while cutting magicka regeneration in half; it stands in Eastmarch's volcanic tundra south of Windhelm.

In Skyrim, which ore is smelted together with iron ore to make a steel ingot?

Corundum plus iron makes steel in Skyrim's smelters; in the real world steel is iron with a little carbon, and corundum is the mineral that forms rubies and sapphires.

Which jester does the Dragonborn first meet stranded on a Skyrim road with a coffin and a broken cart wheel?

Cicero says the coffin holds his mother; it is really the Night Mother of the Dark Brotherhood, and the farmer he begs for help distrusts him enough to want the guards called.

The vampire hunters' fort sits in Dayspring Canyon, in which hold?

The Rift hides the fort in a canyon in its south-east corner; it stood abandoned until Isran, a former Vigilant of Stendarr, began rebuilding the old order of hunters there.

Serana's estranged mother, who fled the castle with an Elder Scroll, is named what?

Valerica, Serana's mother, hides in the Soul Cairn with an Elder Scroll and warns that her husband plans to sacrifice their daughter to fulfil the Tyranny of the Sun prophecy.

Which ship carries the Dragonborn to the Dunmer settlement of Raven Rock?

The Northern Maiden's captain, Gjalund Salt-Sage, is the man who ferried over the masked cultists sent to kill the Dragonborn; for a fee he will sail back the way they came.

Which Daedric artifact works as a soul gem that never breaks, however often it is used?

Azura's Star had been corrupted by the dying mage Malyn Varen, who hid his own soul inside it to cheat death; the Dragonborn is sent into the Star itself to drive him out.

Which mage on an ice floe north of Winterhold reveals where the Elder Scroll lies?

Septimus Signus, a reclusive expert on the Elder Scrolls, hands over the tools to fetch one from a Dwemer ruin; in return he wants help opening the great Dwemer lockbox in his ice cave.

Which of Miraak's dragons does the player tame and fly to his tower?

Sahrotaar, the serpentine dragon you tame and ride to Miraak's tower, is later drained by Miraak along with Relonikiv and Kruziikrel to heal himself before the Daedric Prince intervenes.

Which middleware toolset handled Skyrim's character animation and real-time NPC chats?

Havok Behavior, Havok's animation middleware, let NPCs walk and gesture mid-conversation, replacing Oblivion's frozen-time, zoomed-in dialogue camera.

Which dragon guards the Soul Cairn and, once beaten, grants a shout to summon him?

Durnehviir bargained with the Soul Cairn's Ideal Masters for power over the undead, then learned his side of the deal could never end; he asks to be summoned so he can fly in the living world again.

Skyrim opens with the player carted to which town for execution, moments before a dragon attacks?

Helgen is also the end of the road for Lokir, the horse thief sharing your cart, who bolts when his name is called and is shot by an archer.

A 2013 fan mod for Skyrim replaces every dragon with which children's television character?

Thomas the Tank Engine took over from the dragons in one of the first popular mods of its kind, and has since been dropped into Grand Theft Auto V and Resident Evil 2.

In Skyrim, wearing which necklace signals to other characters that the player is open to marriage?

The Amulet of Mara can be bought for 200 gold from the priest Maramal, and it also makes Restoration spells 10 percent cheaper to cast.

Which playable Skyrim race from the swamps of Black Marsh can breathe underwater and resists disease?

Argonian characters can also call on a power named Histskin once a day, recovering health ten times faster for 60 seconds.

Which new pastime did Skyrim's Anniversary Edition introduce, ten years after the game first came out?

Fishing arrived with player-owned aquariums for showing off a catch, in a re-release that also bundled dozens of official add-on packs.

Developers of which Legend of Zelda game, released in 2017, have credited Skyrim as an influence?

Breath of the Wild sits beside Valheim and Avowed among later games whose makers cite Skyrim, which is credited with popularising huge fantasy open worlds.

In Skyrim, the Dragonborn learns parts of a dragon shout from which inscribed structures in dungeons?

Word walls teach only the vocabulary: each new term must then be unlocked by spending the soul of a slain dragon.

In Skyrim, which animals are herded by giants, who attack anyone that harms their stock?

Mammoths have dangerous minders: a killing blow from a giant's club sends the victim flying hundreds of feet into the air.

Which Skyrim dragon shout became an internet meme, spread through image macros and video parodies?

Fus Ro Dah is usually the first shout a player learns, with its opening syllable picked up deep inside Bleak Falls Barrow.

Which undead warriors, reanimated ancient Nords, rise from coffins to guard Skyrim's barrows?

Draugr mostly served dragon priests in life, and were sealed in beside them to wake now and then, worship their masters and feed them the energy that kept the priests undead.

In Skyrim, pilgrims climb the 7,000 steps from Ivarstead to reach which mountainside monastery?

High Hrothgar is home to the Greybeards, and reading every stone tablet on the way up stops animals attacking or fleeing from you for a day.

Which palace crowns Whiterun's Cloud District in Skyrim, with a Great Porch once used as a prison?

Dragonsreach was built around a dragon supposedly captured by Olaf One-Eye, and the two great mechanisms on its porch turn out to be a working trap.

Which illegal narcotic in Skyrim is refined from moon sugar and sold by the Khajiit trade caravans?

Skooma is worth less in Skyrim than the raw moon sugar it is made from, and drinking it has no ill effects: it simply restores stamina.

Which Xbox 360 accessory gained Skyrim support in 2012, adding more than 200 voice commands?

Kinect let players bark their shouts at the television in English or in the dragon tongue, once each one had been unlocked.

Which horse, lent by Astrid in Skyrim's Dark Brotherhood quests, has more health than any other?

Shadowmere is hard to lose for good: if he dies in a river or lake, he reappears ten days later in the black pool outside the assassins' sanctuary.

In Skyrim, which items, graded from petty up to grand, power and recharge enchanted weapons?

Soul gems are filled by trapping the spirit of a dying creature, while holding the soul of a person takes a special black gem.

Which role-playing staple of earlier Elder Scrolls games did Skyrim drop, to praise from most reviewers?

Character classes went so that players could try any skill without locking in a role at the start, leaving perks to shape each build instead.

Which three-time Oscar nominee, star of The Contender, voiced the Blades agent Delphine in Skyrim?

Joan Allen was one of three Academy Award nominees in a cast of more than 70 actors, who recorded over 60,000 lines of dialogue between them.

In Skyrim's dragon language, which word for Dragonborn is built from the terms for dragon and born?

Dovahkiin belongs to a lexicon the developers grew as they went: new words were coined every time the studio wanted its dragons to say something.

Which console's version of Skyrim slowed and crashed at launch once save files grew past six megabytes?

PlayStation 3 owners also waited longest for the add-ons: performance problems held the first one back until February 2013, eight months after Xbox players got it.

Which ornament stolen from the Riverwood Trader opens the puzzle door in Skyrim's Bleak Falls Barrow?

The golden claw carries the door's combination on its palm, a clue spelled out in the journal of the thief who stole it.

Bound weapons and the Twin Souls perk belong to which of Skyrim's five schools of magic?

Conjuration covers raising the dead and summoning Daedra, and Twin Souls lets a caster keep two such servants at once instead of one.

Which playable race in Skyrim is automatically Blood-Kin, with full access to every tribal stronghold?

Orc characters can also trigger Berserker Rage once a day, taking half damage and dealing double for 60 seconds.

Which blind creatures in Skyrim descend from elves who took shelter long ago with the Dwemer?

Falmer lost their sight to a toxic fungus the Dwemer made them eat as the price of shelter, and were then kept as slaves.

Skyrim's Dark Brotherhood questline ends with killing which emperor aboard his ship, the Katariah?

Titus Mede II first sends a double to die in his place, so the real target has to be tracked to his ship moored offshore.

In Skyrim, which 24 'unusual gems' does Vex of the Thieves Guild want found to restore a crown?

Stones of Barenziah were pried from the crown by a thief covering his tracks, and once the crown is restored, gems turn up far more often in containers.

Which site, begun in 2001 as a Morrowind fan page, hosts tens of thousands of Skyrim modifications?

Nexus Mods holds more than 70,000 submissions for this one title, which ranks among the most modified games of all time.

Which Steam feature, launched with Skyrim in 2015, was scrapped within days after a mass petition?

Paid mods drew a petition of more than 130,000 signatures and protest creations such as Beth the Beggar, a character who pestered the player for money.

Which actor, the warrior leader Buliwyf in The 13th Warrior, voiced Ulfric Stormcloak in Skyrim?

Vladimir Kulich kept returning to Norse roles, later playing Erik in the television series Vikings.

In Skyrim, Dunmer who fled Morrowind built a gigantic mountaintop statue of which Daedric Prince?

Azura asks the player to recover her broken Star, though an exiled mage named Nelacar offers to turn the relic into the Black Star instead.

Which shout do Skyrim's Greybeards teach the Dragonborn for the path to the Throat of the World's summit?

Clear Skies works on ordinary weather too, driving off fog, snow and rain anywhere in the province for up to a minute.

Which abandoned Akaviri fortress in the Reach do Delphine and Esbern reclaim as the Blades' Skyrim base?

Sky Haven Temple opens only with a blood seal: the Dragonborn must cut a hand and let it drip onto a carved circle before the entrance unlocks.

Which Skyrim clan, nicknamed the Madmen of the Reach, wages an insurgency against Nord rule?

Forsworn rebels have an astute grasp of insurgency warfare, and even keep agents living in secret among the townsfolk they oppose.

Which ancient hero led the Five Hundred Companions from Atmora to Skyrim, wielding the axe Wuuthrad?

Ysgramor is remembered as the first Harbinger, and the modern Companions still revere him as their only true leader.

In Skyrim, which talking dog met on the road leads the player to his estranged master, Clavicus Vile?

Barbas cannot be harmed by anything except the Rueful Axe, the very weapon his master later invites the player to kill him with.

A 2018 parody of Skyrim's many re-releases joked about a version for which classic toy?

Etch A Sketch shared the joke with Motorola pagers and Samsung smart refrigerators, in a spoof of the publisher's habit of porting the game everywhere.

Skyrim is the fifth main entry in a role-playing series that debuted in 1994 with which game?

Arena began as a gladiator game about travelling teams of fighters; the tournament fights were cut, but the title was already printed on the materials.

Which elven power fought Skyrim's Empire to a stalemate in the Great War, then imposed a harsh treaty?

The Aldmeri Dominion overreached in the west: the Redguards of Hammerfell refused to be handed over and fought on alone for five years until the elves withdrew.

Which Whiterun court wizard sends Skyrim's Dragonborn into Bleak Falls Barrow for the Dragonstone?

Farengar Secret-Fire has a hidden informant for his dragon research: Delphine, the innkeeper of Riverwood, who slips in to consult him.

At which Skyrim village do Delphine and the Dragonborn watch a dragon rise from its burial mound?

Kynesgrove was pinpointed by the Dragonstone, a map of dragon graves, and Delphine accepts the player as Dragonborn only once the risen beast is slain.

Which system built for Oblivion was updated so Skyrim's townsfolk could farm, mill and mine?

Radiant AI gives each character wishes of their own to pursue within set limits, so villagers work, wander and respond to one another unprompted.

Skyrim modder Elianora was hired in 2023 as a level artist on which space role-playing game?

Starfield gained the Finnish creator of a Breezehome overhaul that had drawn millions of downloads.

The fan project Beyond Skyrim issued a 2017 pre-release named after which Imperial Province city?

Bruma is one slice of a project that aims to add the whole continent to the game, one province at a time.

In Skyrim, which dragon did Olaf One-Eye haul to Whiterun, its skull still above the jarl's throne?

Numinex was beaten atop Mount Anthor where, by some accounts, the foul-tempered old dragon had gone to die in peace.

Which 2020 expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online took players to Skyrim for a story about vampires?

Greymoor opened the western half of the province, in a story set roughly a millennium before the Dragonborn's time.

Zen Studios adapted Skyrim into which kind of game while the original was ported to newer consoles?

Pinball suited the phone as well: the table also appeared as a standalone free-to-play app for iOS and Android.

At which annual gaming convention in 2011 did the developers unveil Skyrim's Collector's Edition?

QuakeCon saw the reveal of a package with a map of the game world, a 200-page concept art book and a making-of DVD.

Which Dark Brotherhood Speaker from Oblivion returns in Skyrim as a ghost the player can summon?

Lucien Lachance comments on each town the player visits, recalling his own travels in the province before the events of the earlier game.

Skyrim's continent lies on which fictional planet, orbited by the two visible moons Masser and Secunda?

Nirn means 'Gray Maybe' in the ancient Ehlnofex tongue, and lore surrounds it with eight further planets.

Which Thalmor ambassador hosts the lavish embassy party that Skyrim's Dragonborn infiltrates?

Elenwen turns up again at the Greybeards' peace council, where she recognises the player as the infiltrator from her own party.