History Skyrim / TropesDToG

** Also in ''Dawnguard,'' Serana is a very powerful necromancer who will frequently raise the things you kill as her undead thralls. It's incredibly easy to mistake her thralls for actual enemies and kill them, unless you get close enough for the interface to identify them as "Serana's [whatever]."

** A rare bug adds two firewood logs for each ore when you work on an ore vein; once it starts, each ore vein is affected. It doesn't break the quests or render the game unplayable, but it quickly becomes annoying, since firewood is rather heavy and its uses are limited (either to build a few things in your homestead, to craft arrows, or to gain low amount of money by giving them to specific traders).

* FireIceLightning: Destruction magic has you covered for all three. Tactically, they have different uses: fire is cheapest and does after-burn damage, ice drains stamina and slows enemies, and lighting drains magic and is a HitScan projectile.

** Most prominent is racism between Men and [[OurElvesAreBetter Mer]]. The [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Thalmor]] view the human races of Tamriel as inferior upstart savages. [[ScrewYouElves And the men aren't exactly fond of the elves either]], especially the Thalmor, who have forced the Empire to ban the worship of their patron god.

** Sometimes, the guard which is supposed to unlock Whiterun's gate the first time you got there doesn't spawn, locking you out of the main quest early.

** The chaurus and chaurus hunters don't feel like they belong in Skyrim at all, yet wouldn't feel out of place in a Metroid game.

** Seems to be a bit of a running theme with the Daedric artifact quests. Some of them require you to do immoral things (usually murder) to earn the artifact, but you're allowed to rake a less horrible course of action if you want, depriving you of the unique piece of equipment in the process.

** After completing the Stormcloak quest chain up to right before the Battle for Solitude, Ulfric himself declares you the mightiest of the Stormcloaks and as close to him as kin. You are thus dubbed his personal champion: Stormblade.

** [[spoiler:Malyn Varen]] has his soul destroyed by the Dragonborn to purify [[spoiler:Azura's Star (or corrupt it to turn it into the Black Star.)]].
** What happens to the dragons you kill ... [[spoiler: except Alduin. This also extends to when a Dragonborn takes down another Dragonborn, as Miraak threatens to do to you.]]

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Apparently High Rock's aristocracy is like this, from what Hadvar has to say if you choose Breton as your race.
* DeadlyEnvironmentPrison: The Chill, a prison in the Winter Hold runs on this. They do not confiscate your swag, they do not guard your cage, but it is located in an icy cave on a small island in the middle of the local Arctic. If you beat the ice elementals on the island and swim through the frigid ocean to freedom, no one is going to object.

** ''You, during a Civil War action'': I've got a better idea. You wait here, I'll take care of it.

** ''Dragonborn'' follower Teldryn Sero from Raven Rock is a walking being of Deadpan Snark.

* DeathOfAChild: A few child deaths occur in the storyline. A man in Morthal has recently lost his child as well as his wife to a house fire; a man in Cidhna Mine was forced to watch his young daughter [[OffWithHisHead be executed]] before [[KickTheDog he was thrown in]]; and in Falkreath, a little girl was mauled to death by a werewolf. Modding in the PC version. All the child voice actors recorded death screams as part of the base game, and there are DummiedOut scripts in the code that are triggered by causing children to die, all implying that attacking children was a WhatCouldHaveBeen feature.
* DeathOfTheOldGods: The Nordic pantheon is utterly ancient and includes several gods that were [[CompositeCharacter merged]] with the Aldmeri pantheon to create the Eight Divines. The gods in this pantheon were Shor (a Nordic WarGod version of Lorkhan and the chief god), Kyne (Shor's warrior-widow and goddess of storms), Tsun (a shield-brother of Shor who died defending him from the Mer gods, possibly the precursor of Zenithar) and Stuhn (the Nordic precursor to Stendarr), as well as Mara, Dibella, Jhunal (a Nord precursor to Julianos who fell out of favour with the rest of the pantheon), Orkey (Arkay or "Old Knocker") and Alduin (a grim and frightening version of Akatosh). By the Fourth Era there are very, very few Nords who worship the old pantheon, and Froki Whetted-Blade the elderly hunter vehemently rejects the Eight, dismissing them as imposter gods.

* DeathByGenreSavviness: [[spoiler:Alduin]] is actually smart enough to try to kill the Dovakhiin at the start of the game. Ironically, this actually ends up ''saving'' the Dovakhiin; if he'd just let the Empire do their thing, he'd have won (and the game would've been very short).
* DeathSeeker: There's an Old Orc who wanders around Skyrim surrounded by corpses who will ask you for a good death.

* DeathTrap: You gotta watch your step in pretty much every dungeon if you don't want a spiky grate embedded in your face, or a side full of poisoned darts. There is a perk that prevents pressure plates from triggering, but it does not stop trip wires or trapped chests and doors, nor does it apply to [[ArtificialStupidity your followers]].
* DeathWorld: The Soul Cairn is a dessicated, desolate place littered with ruins, piles of bones, dead trees, animated skeleton warriors, and ethereal remnants of lost souls. The realm's lords, the Ideal Masters, will even try to take the souls of any who enter, and the essence of the realm seeps into the souls of all in it, even if they leave.

** The Spellbreaker is a physical shield that projects a {{Deflector Shield|s}} when defending. While blocking, Spellbreaker creates a ward that protects against spells for up to 50 points. At first, it may seem weak compared to other more powerful ward spells like Greater Ward which can negate up to 80 points of spell damage. However, it stacks with the Elemental Protection perk, which reduces incoming fire, frost, and shock damage by 50% while blocking, and any leftover damage will be absorbed by the shield's ward effect. The best part is that it costs no Magicka. This makes the Spellbreaker one of the best shields to be used against mages and dragons.

** Skeleton Dragons too. Encountered in [[spoiler:Labyrinthian]], or if [[spoiler:you interrupt Alduin's resurrection of a Dragon at any of the dragon burial sites]].

* DestroyerDeity: Alduin, who has already eaten the world over and over. However, he isn't the BigBad because he's trying to do his job, but rather because he decided to ''shirk'' it and TakeOverTheWorld instead of waiting until the right time to destroy it. The series also has Mehrunes Dagon, the Daedric Prince of Destruction, the Big(ger) Bad of ''Oblivion;'' if the Mythic Dawn questline is followed in ''Skyrim'', he puts in an appearance at the end.

** It also affords a bit of LoopholeAbuse if for some reason you want to kill someone but can't find a way to do it stealthily. Just get them into a place where you can blast them off a high-enough ledge to kill them; their death as a result of the fall will ''not'' be held on you. Thus, you can literally get away with murder as long as you don't mind paying a 40 septim bounty for assault.

*** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] since people living in small farming villages probably do rely on their chickens and other livestock as a major source of income and/or food.

** If you're angry enough about [[spoiler: the deaths of your 'family' in the Dark Brotherhood questline,]] you can take it UpToEleven by not only [[spoiler: murdering the Emperor,]] but also joining up with the Stormcloaks and kicking the Empire and the [[spoiler: Penitus Oculatus]] out of Skyrim entirely.

* DistantSequel: ''Skyrim'' takes place several centuries after the events of ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'', following a number of wars, political upheavals and a massive eruption that devastated ''Oblivion''[='=]s setting.

* DoesNotLikeMagic: Distrust of mages is common among the Nords, for several reasons. Past wars fought against the magically-inclined Falmer and the current situation with the Aldmeri Dominion has led to magic being seen as the tool of cowardly and effete elves, whereas Nords [[ProudWarriorRace rely on their martial prowess and valour]]. After much of Winterhold was destroyed and the College was left miraculously unscathed, many people believed that the mages were at least partly responsible. Jarls will often keep a CourtMage handy to advise on matters magical, but these experts are still accorded little respect. One student at the College mentions how his family ''disowned'' him for wanting to attend. However Nords do usually show respect for healers (Skyrim being a place where EverythingIsTryingToKillYou means their skills are often called upon) and enchanters (Nords scoff at spellcasters but have little issue with using magical weapons and armour), as well as practitioners of the Thu'um. [[spoiler:Ancient Nords on the other hand recognised the importance of magic: their stories tell of "Clever Men", mighty {{Magic Knight}} heroes who supplemented their formidable swordplay with arcane arts, just as adept at hurling a shard of magic ice they were at summoning a magic blade into their hands and expertly carving through enemies. When you visit Sovngarde in the main questline, the heroic Nord afterlife is home to a fair few honoured dead wearing wizard robes, and one person even is clearly wearing the robes of the Archmage of the College of Winterhold!]]

** It has been speculated on the forums before that the reason they don't wear shoes is that they sense the player moving around not just by sound, but by feeling the vibrations of the floor with their feet.

** The Dwemer were almost impossibly technologically advanced, lived in isolation from the rest of the world, and quite possibly poked the boundaries of reality just a little too hard, causing the disappearance of their race from the whole of Skyrim (if not all of Tamriel). They left behind a gigantic settlement which has become little more than a rarely-heard legend. Blackreach and the Dwemer are basically the Tamrielic equivalent of the lost continent of Atlantis and its people.

* DoubleStandard: Invoked by a secessionist at the wedding of Vittoria Vici. He asks a loyalist what the difference is between the Empire's dealings with the Thalmor compared to Skyrim. She claims they had to fight back because the Thalmor were foreign invaders who threatened their way of life. His response? "My point exactly." He does gloss over the fact that Skyrim is still technically Empire territory though, but he most likely meant how the Empire's ban of Talos Worship is "invading" their way of life.

** A more specific version of destruction magic is it each element is designed to overwhelm a certain class, Archers can be easily dispatched by fire due to the fact they like to get into shooting matches and is thus ripe for being burned alive for additional damage. Warriors should be kept away with Frost Spells which reduces their movement and stamina while Shock spells excel at killing mages with mana burn and the off chance to hit nearby enemies in the rear.

* EmptyLevels: The removal of stats actually makes this much ''less'' of a problem, as the leveling-up system in previous Elder Scrolls games made these in combination with the LevelScaling, easily resulting in characters with a couple ridiculously high stats and others that CantCatchUp. It still happens with the LevelScaling (making stronger opponents appear when you may not have the gear to face them). This usually only becomes an issue if you level up several times by power-leveling non-combat abilities while your combat abilities are still below par when the stronger opponents start to appear. Take note however that this is still played straight with some enemies that actually level up with you and has no level limit, such as Forsworn Briarhearts.

** In Blind Cliff Bastion, you are able to team up with a hagraven to take back her tower from another hagraven.
** In some areas the player can find enemies holding other enemy types captive, such as hunters that have trapped a wolf, hagravens holding a spriggan captive, and pyromancers experimenting on vampires. Releasing the captives in such instances will often have them help you kill their captors, after which they will be non-hostile.
*** Showing that hagravens themselves aren't AlwaysChaoticEvil, one hagraven will ask you to help her kill another hagraven who took over her tower. All she wants is to reclaim her tower, and will reward you with a nice magical staff if you insist upon being rewarded.

** That the first major mission for the Thieves Guild has you performing a bit of [[InterrogationByVandalism Extortion By Vandalism]] upon a sympathetic shopkeeper who barely has any cash anyway helps establish right out of the gate that this iteration of the Thieves Guild is [[ContrastingSequelProtagonist a far darker, pettier, and more desperate beast]] than the Robin Hood-like Thieves Guild you worked for in ''Oblivion''.

** [[spoiler:When you read the Elder Scroll at the Time-Wound, you see a vision of a couple thousand years back, only to find that everyone speaks the same sort of English they speak in the fourth era (albeit much more poetically). Of course, it's possible this is an effect of the Elder Scroll, and you should be glad that reading the thing at a place called ''Time-Wound'' didn't do worse to you.]]

* EvenEvilCanBeLoved: Serana the FriendlyNeighbourhoodVampire does her best to humanize her father, the omnicidal vampire lord Harkon. Her tragedy is that even she realizes that the parent she once loved has long been consumed by his hunger for power, and there is ultimately no way of redeeming him.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Thrynn, one of the Thieves' Guild members, was once a bandit. He said it was good life until the day when he raided a caravan, his leader ordered him to kill the defenseless women and children ForTheEvulz, and he refused and killed the leader instead.
** Mjoll the Lioness, when asked about the Thieves' Guild, denounces them soundly as a bunch of lawless crooks, while noting that even the Dark Brotherhood has rules that they abide by. [[spoiler:If you've actually been ''through'' the DB story arc, however, you'll know that this isn't true - it's ''supposed'' to be, but the Skyrim branch has gone somewhat off the rails. You will also know this is complete BS if you've actually played the Thieves' Guild questline, as Brynjolf repeatedly impresses upon you that killing is not allowed. Of course, not being affiliated with either group, Mjoll only has common knowledge on which to base her opinions.]]

** You can revive anything killable as a zombie with the various Undead Raising spells. However they look exactly the same as how they died, the only difference is how their corpses dissolve into dust upon death (the Master version of the spell, Dead Thrall, prevents this, effectively giving you a second, immortal follower).

* EvilIsOneBigHappyFamily: Played straight by the Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild, who both know of each other and will contract with the other when they need something done.

** While the reward money for choosing to destroy the Dark Brotherhood rather than joining it is impressive, it just can't match up to a unique mount, dagger and summon, plus the ''huge'' amounts of gold you will acquire from completing the questline. For reference: destroying the Brotherhood nets you 3000 gold. If you join them instead, their final quest alone earns you ''20000''.

* EvilSorcerer: Arondil the Necromancer is a perverted creep who was exiled from Dawnstar because he became a StalkerWithACrush to the village's milkmaids. He went into hiding in some nearby ruins to perform his practices in secret, and when one of the adventurous girls went exploring in the ruins he killed her and raised her as a thrall to sleep with her. Now he sends undead draugr to capture Dawnstar's women and bring them back to Yngvild to ''create his own undead harem''. If you ever go into Yngvild, please do [[KickTheSonOfABitch waste him]].

* ExactWords: After you kill Grelod the Kind, you will be kidnapped by Astrid and taken to a cabin out in the wilderness. Before you are three people: a cowardly Nord sellsword, a feisty Imperial housewife and a Khajiit murderer, thief and rapist (self-professed). Astrid tells you that for you to leave, "someone in this shack has to die". Refusing to play Astrid's game by killing ''her'' and pilfering the shack key from her body is a perfectly valid (and sweetly ironic) option.

** [[IronicNickname Grelod the Kind]] share a surprising number of similarities with [[ChildHater Miss Hannigan]] from ''Theatre/{{Annie}}''.

** From what we see of both her after her resurrection and how she's described in ''[[UnreliableNarrator The Wolf Queen]]'', [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Potema Septim]] was basically [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire Cersei]] [[Series/GameOfThrones Lannister]] with access to witchcraft.

** Topping them all though, is [[spoiler:the Emperor himself,]] whom you must kill at the end of the Dark Brotherhood chain, if you choose to join them. After welcoming you warmly and saying that this is just how things work, he then calmly turns his back towards you, ready for his fate. He does ask for a final request, which you can fulfill or not: to kill whoever it is who commissioned his death. Even then, he does not expect it of you; he asks it as a favor, nothing more.

* FaceHeelTurn: The High Elves, who not only seceded from the Empire, but also forcibly conscripted the Wood Elves into their new nation, manipulated the Khajiit into becoming vassals, and threatened to destroy the Empire unless they banned the worship of Talos because, partially due to their [[FantasticRacism believed superiority]], they don't like the idea of a human ascending to godhood, much less one that ran roughshod all over their last nation.

** During the Cursed Tribe quest, Chief Yamarz turns against you should you or he succeed in killing the Giants. If you happen to have the Calm spell from Illusion school and keep him alive, he follows you, and you can tell the rest of the tribe that Yamarz is dead... when he's still standing ''right next to you''.

* FakeUltimateHero: The eponymous "hero" of the ballad "Ragnar the Red". An oafish drunk and lying braggart of a man who continually boasted to everyone he met about his accomplishments and the gold he had made through battle. A [[ActionGirl plucky shieldmaiden named Matilda]] steps up to shut him up, and then Ragnar literally loses his head!

* FissionMailed: There's a minor example in the "Season Unending" quest. When attempting to write a temporary peace treaty between the Stormcloaks and the Empire, no matter what actions you take there will ''always'' be a moment where one or both of the factions will call the whole debate pointless and a waste of time and then threaten to storm out. This can make the player think they screwed up... until Esbern suddenly steps in and gives a scathing speech to both factions about the fact that ''Alduin will kill them all'' if they don't put aside their petty differences. The peace treaty negotiations then proceed from where they left off.
** Another example happens at the end of the ThievesGuild quest "Speaking with Silence" when Karliah shoots the Dragonborn in a scripted cutscene. You're lying on the floor, vision blurring and darkening, unable to do anything, and then [[spoiler:Mercer]] tops it off by stabbing you - all of that from a lovely first person POV. When the screen goes black, you could be forgiven for thinking the Dragonborn just got KilledOffForReal. Nothing of the sort happens, of course, and the quest line proceeds one loading screen later.

** Near the beginning of the game, the Greybeards call out to you using the dragon word "Dovahkiin." [[spoiler: You shout in the same manner to call a dragon, Odahviing, to you in order to chase after Alduin near the climax.]]
** When you have your first fight with [[spoiler:Alduin]], he decides ThatBattleDidntCount and flees, sending shockwaves across the dragons and causing many of them to openly question his ability to lead them: being firm believers that AsskickingEqualsAuthority, dragons believe that you should either be DefiantToTheEnd or submit to the winner. [[spoiler:Later on, you capture a dragon named Odahviing and he swears loyalty to you.]]

* ForTheEvulz: The ghost of [[spoiler:Lucien [=LaChance=]]] acts like this, often advocating murder for petty reasons.

** Any player character that becomes a vampire and remains a nice person.

** Quicksaving during combat is a game of Russian Roulette in that it doesn't always save right away. Sometimes it takes several seconds, long enough for the game to sneak in a cheaky death blow. Even in an advantageous position when you save, die before another save (but not right away,) then load and five times out of six you will be lucky for the game not to change the script and stick you in an endless death loop you cannot escape from. When it does happen your only recourse is to load an earlier save.

** The player's race very rarely affects an {{NPC}}'s dialogue, even though racism against non-Nords is a major theme in the game. For example, the Khajiit traders are forbidden from so much as stepping inside city walls, but a player Khajiit can buy a house and get married without anyone so much as raising an eyebrow - and you can do this before you are even acknowledged as the Dragonborn.
** Characters that are wounded in gameplay-combat can be healed back to full in an instant with your "Healing Hands" spell. Characters that get wounded as part of the plot... not so much. Apparently you're just lucky none of those arrows you heal away so easily hit you in the knee...

*** Another example is in the Civil War questline - Hadvar acts as if you escaped with them at Helgen if you join the Empire in the Civil War...even though it's possible to escape with Ralof and then immediately turn around and join the Empire (and vice-versa).

** The Skeleton Key. When [[spoiler: Mercer Frey]] uses it, it can open anything, including the sliding puzzle doors you need claws for, the [[spoiler: Thieves' Guild treasure vault]], which [[TwoKeyedLock requires two keys to open]], and [[spoiler:[[FullPotentialUpgrade his own inner potential]], allowing him to become [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower inhumanly strong]], fast and clever]]. When you use it, it's just an unbreakable lockpick. Of course, he's had the key for years and has learned how to use it.

** Speaking of vampires - Meridia, Daedric Lord of Life, is a very powerful godlike entity with a burning hatred for the undead. Her Daedric quest revolves around press-ganging the Dragonborn into cleansing her temple from a necromancer who's set up shop inside. The segregation occurs when she doesn't give a flying f*** about the Dragonborn's own position in the lineup. You can be a fully leveled Vampire Lord riding a skeletal horse you summoned from a graveyard dimension, with a gaggle of undead thralls shuffling after you, an undead dragon watching your back, and a whole friggin' castle full of ancient vampires at your beck and call - Meridia couldn't care less in her interactions with you. It's not just her, for that matter, but practically every supernatural entity (such as Molag Bal, Alduin, Hermaeus Mora, and others) refers to you as a "mortal" too, ignoring your status as a vampire completely.

* GangstaStyle: A sneaking archer will hold, draw and fire their bow sideways.

* GenderIsNoObject: You might occasionally hear otherwise, but gender makes very little difference (with the sole exception of the Imperial Legion, who has an oddly small number of female [=NPCs=] in it) when it comes to profession in this setting, both for the player character and for the non-player characters. The Companions, the manliest men in the game, have some womanly women with them; the Stormcloaks have both ranking-officer and grunt-level women; Jarls can be either men or women; and so on. There are plenty of ''other,'' more important things to be bigoted about in this setting (usually FantasticRacism).

* GiantSpiders: And we mean "GIANT". As in "bigger than freaking [[BearsAreBadNews grizzly bears]]".

* GlowingFlora: Glowing mushrooms can be found growing in some caves. There is also the nirnroot, a plant which glows and makes a sound. Alson caverns the the Valley of the Falmer are lit by glowing flowers that can retract themselves to their shells.
* GoMadFromTheIsolation: The Dragon Numinex slowly went insane after being defeated and imprisoned by King Olaf. Eventually forgetting his own name.

** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by the Greybeards in conversation. Whilst they are constrained by the Way of the Voice to use their Shouts only for divine purposes, the Dragonborn is under no such constraints. Since your power is directly granted by a gift of Akatosh himself, ''any'' use you choose to put it to must therefore be divinely ordained. No matter how depraved your actions, in the end you're on a MissionFromGod.
** Paarthurnax likewise helps the Dragonborn learn the [[BrownNote Dragonrend]] shout to help defeat Alduin, despite the fact that it could be used to kill ''him'' instead, especially since the Dragonborn is known to be allied with the Blades who want to kill him. Paarthurnax trusts the Dragonborn, and for the most part his trust is justified, as most players will immediately tell the Blades to shove it and remain friendly to Paarthurnax rather than give him a YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness moment.

** Near Dayspring Canyon around the edge of the game map is a small cabin which apparently exploded and is still burning. Nearby is a burnt circle of candles, and a burnt corpse holding a "Summon Flame Atronach" scroll. One can safely assume he tried to use it, but couldn't control the Atronach, which either exploded or burned his house down and fled. Of course, the Dragonborn will never know why this person was doing so in the first place.

** Balgruuf the Greater, Jarl of Whiterun. He’s well loved and respected by his people and is always courteous and grateful to the [[PlayerCharacter Dragonborn]], regardless of their race. He’s also the only Jarl to remain neutral during the Civil War, not wanting the war to destroy his hold or his people. [[spoiler: When Whiterun is attacked by the Stormcloaks during the Civil War quest line, regardless of which side you've joined, Balgruuf himself leads the defense of the city. [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking He won't go down without a fight.]]]]

** And to top it all off, there is a unique unarmed damage-boosting apparel enchant effect out there that you can disenchant and apply to your own armor. Combine with the Khajiit unarmed bonus and the Fists of Steel perk...

** Combine the ''Fortify Unarmed'' enchantment with the ''Fortify Restoration'' glitch mentioned above, and you can [[MegatonPunch sucker punch]] ''[[TheDreaded Alduin]]'' into submission with ease.

** [[invoked]] The Imperial Legion and the Stormcloaks, though the latter's FantasticRacism admittedly paints them as a darker shade of grey in comparison to the Legiion. The Legion's trying to hold the Empire together in the face of a great evil, but they're willing to kill unlucky bystanders (i.e. ''you''), oppress several Nord customs including their primary religion[[note]]which is given further weight in that according to WordOfGod, Talos worship is actually a CosmicKeystone and if Talos goes without worship for too long, ''[[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt reality will cease to exist]]''[[/note]] , justify their occupation of Skyrim with a range of controversial excuses including AppealToFear ("The Empire is the ''only'' thing keeping the Dominion out of Skyrim!") and straight-up CulturalPosturing ("Without the guiding light of the Empire, the people of Tamriel will fall into barbarism and anarchy, including Skyrim! ''Especially'' Skyrim!") and engage in war crimes according to more than one testimony. The Stormcloaks want to be independent and restore their native customs without fear of persecution, but their leader killed a young and innocent king to begin the war (although he claims this was a lawful challenge according to Nord custom, which not everyone agrees on), and have a disturbingly reactionary and exclusionary attitude against any non-Nord races, with the Stormcloak capital of Windhelm being by far the worst offender. This racism also spreads with them - if Whiterun is taken by the Stormcloaks, a Cyrodiilic blacksmith there bitterly notes that she'd probably be out of business if she wasn't already married to a Nord.

*** Both sides also have a relatively even amount of "corrupt Jarls" (Siddgeir and Maven Black-Briar for the Empire, Skald and Thongvor Silver-Blood for the Stormcloaks) and "good Jarls" (Brunwulf Free-Winter, Balgruuf the Elder, and Brina Merilis for the Empire, Dengeir of Stuhn for the Stormcloaks). Most of the Jarls for either side have their merits and flaws, however, driving this trope even further.

** The Blades and the Greybeards. The Blades want to defeat Alduin and the dragons, but they aren't very nice to the Dragonborn, while the Greybeards are kindly mentor figures but invoke YouAreNotReady to explain why they don't just teach the Dragonborn every Shout they know when the player first meets them. The two are also not fond of each other - the Blades order you to [[spoiler:kill Paarthurnax for being a dragon]], and Delphine says the Greybeards fear the Shout's misuse and so do not use its power for good, but ignore how all power risks being abused and their knowledge is worthless if it isn't being put to use. By contrast, the Greybeards consider the Blades meddlers in things they don't understand, and claim that their mission to serve the Dragonborn is a lie they use to hide the fact they want to ''control'' the Dragonborn[[note]][[JerkassHasAPoint which actually has some element of truth]]; you're basically forced to join the Blades as Delphine took the horn and you need to get it back, and throughout Delphine remains dismissive towards you. For instance, when you first meet her, you can ask ''"Why should I trust you?"'', a valid question since she stole the horn and is yammering about Thalmor conspiracies; she replies ''"If you don't trust me, you were a fool to come here."'' What exactly does she expect as a non-foolish response, then? Show up and murder everyone in the Inn to get it? Shrug and walk away from the main quest?[[/note]]. Ultimately, you can be loyal to only one of the two factions, depending on how you feel about [[spoiler:killing Paarthurnax]]. Overall, it's an argument [[RomanticismVersusEnlightenment of based practicality/caution versus idealism/loyalty:]] Despite being a generous and helpful ally who has done ''nothing'' to slight you, [[spoiler:Paarthurnax still ''is'' a dragon, and even though he tells you that he's reformed, he also makes it clear that he fights to retain control of his aggression ''every single day,'' it's wise not to trust him, and he almost certainly deserves death for the numerous atrocities he had committed against mortals in the distant past.]]
** The Dark Brotherhood will come off as an antagonistic force and none of the quests you do for them are anything close to good, but some players can't help but feel sorry for Astrid, who seems to just want to hold together and provide for her surrogate family (the implication being that their primary means of income is death) and is initially horrified by the Night Mother's decree to go [[spoiler:assassinate the Emperor]].

* DeathWorld: The Soul Cairn is a dessicated, desolate place littered with ruins, piles of bones, dead trees, animated skeleton warriors, and ethereal remnants of lost souls.

* DeathOfAchild: A few child deaths occur in the storyline. A man in Morthal has recently lost his child as well as his wife to a house fire; a man in Cidhna Mine was forced to watch his young daughter [[OffWithHisHead be executed]] before [[KickTheDog he was thrown in]]; and in Falkreath, a little girl was mauled to death by a werewolf. Modding in the PC version. All the child voice actors recorded death screams as part of the base game, and there are DummiedOut scripts in the code that are triggered by causing children to die, all implying that attacking children was a WhatCouldHaveBeen feature.
* DeathOfTheOldGods: The Nordic pantheon is utterly ancient and includes several gods that were [[CompositeCharacter merged]] with the Aldmeri pantheon to create the Eight Divines. The gods in this pantheon were Shor (a Nordic WarGod version of Lorkhan and the chief god), Kyne (Shor's warrior-widow and goddess of storms), Tsun (a shield-brother of Shor who died defending him from the Mer gods, possibly the precursor of Zenithar) and Stuhn (the Nordic precursor to Stendarr), as well as Mara, Dibella, Jhunal (a Nord precursor to Julianos who fell out of favour with the rest of the pantheon), Orkey (Arkay or "Old Knocker") and Alduin (a grim and frightening version of Akatosh). By the Fourth Era there are very, very few Nords who worship the old pantheon, and Froki Whetted-Blade the elderly hunter vehemently rejects the Eight, dismissing them as imposter gods.
** This is also essentially what the Thalmor are attempting to do with Talos, and what the Stormcloaks are desperately trying to prevent - the Thalmor do not accept the idea of a human becoming a god, and seek to "starve" Talos of worship as stage one of their grand plan to unmake Mundus and AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence.

* GreyAndGrayMorality: The Legion and the Stormcloaks. The Legion's trying to hold the Empire together in the face of a great evil, but they're willing to kill unlucky bystanders (i.e. ''you''), oppress several Nord customs including their primary religion, justify their occupation of Skyrim with a range of controversial excuses including AppealToFear ("The Empire is the ''only'' thing keeping the Dominion out of Skyrim!") and straight-up CulturalPosturing ("Without the guiding light of the Empire, the people of Tamriel will fall into barbarism and anarchy, including Skyrim! ''Especially'' Skyrim!") and engage in war crimes according to more than one testimony. The Stormcloaks want to be independent and restore the Nord customs, but their leader killed a young and innocent king to begin the war, although [[spoiler:he claims this was a lawful challenge according to Nord custom; and not everyone agrees]], and have a reactionary and exclusionary attitude against any non-Nord races, with the Stormcloak capital of Windhelm by far the worst offender. This racism spreads with them - if Whiterun is taken by the Stormcloaks, a Cyrodiilic blacksmith there notes that she'd probably be out of business if she wasn't married to a Nord.
** There's an added element of importance to the civil war that goes beyond simply whose beliefs dominate in Skyrim. If the Empire wins, the political situation stabilizes and the Empire can resume rebuilding to face the inevitable Thalmor aggression more effectively, and possibly repel a second assault and ultimately reestablish the old pantheon. But if the Stormcloaks win, free and open worship of Talos can resume immediately in Skyrim. The Stormcloaks ''may'' be able to reunite fractured elements of the Empire like Hammerfell and Morrowind, and reforge the Tamrielic Empire under Ulfric into a stronger force than the old Empire. Regardless, however, Ulfric does make it a point to take immediate steps to ensuring Skyrim is self-sufficient by increasing the power of its army.
** Both sides have a relatively even amount of "corrupt Jarls" (Siddgeir and Maven Black-Briar for the Empire, Skald and Thongvor Silver-Blood for the Stormcloaks) and "good Jarls" (Brunwulf Free-Winter, Balgruuf the Elder, and Brina Merilis for the Empire, Dengeir of Stuhn for the Stormcloaks). Most of the Jarls for either side have their merits and flaws, however, driving this trope even further.
** On another front, the Forsworn and everyone else in the Reach. The Forsworn are bloodthirsty Breton guerrillas who esteem hagravens and murder anyone unlucky enough to run into their patrols... and they've also been enslaved and persecuted by the rulers of Markarth and the Silver-Bloods. As one Forsworn says, there are no innocents, "just the guilty and the dead."
** If you eavesdrop on some of the random bandit tribes you find, it turns out some of them are normal, rational people. One cave is full of vampires leading to the shrine to one of the Daedric Princes, who laughs when you get there and explains that the vampires came to him seeking a ''cure'' for their condition, and he thinks it's poetic irony that you happened by to kill them. You will find yourself questioning the morality of your actions a ''lot'' the deeper you go.
** The Blades and the Greybeards. The Blades want to defeat Alduin and the dragons, but they aren't very nice to the Dragonborn, while the Greybeards are kindly mentor figures but invoke YouAreNotReady to explain why they don't just teach the Dragonborn every Shout they know when the player first meets them. The two are also not fond of each other - the Blades order you to [[spoiler:kill Paarthurnax for being a dragon]], and Delphine says the Greybeards fear the Shout's misuse and so do not use its power for good, but ignore how all power risks being abused and their knowledge is worthless if it isn't being put to use. By contrast, the Greybeards consider the Blades meddlers in things they don't understand, and claim that their mission to serve the Dragonborn is a lie they use to hide the fact they want to ''control'' the Dragonborn[[note]]which has some element of truth; you're basically forced to join the Blades as Delphine took the horn and you need to get it back, and throughout Delphine remains dismissive towards you. For instance, when you first meet her, you can ask ''"Why should I trust you?"'', a valid question since she stole the horn and is yammering about Thalmor conspiracies; she replies ''"If you don't trust me, you were a fool to come here."'' What exactly does she expect as a non-foolish response, then? Show up and murder everyone in the Inn to get it? Shrug and walk away from the main quest?[[/note]]. Ultimately, you can be loyal to only one of the two factions, depending on how you feel about [[spoiler:killing Paarthurnax]].

* GoodBadBugs: [[WordOfGod Producer Todd Howard said]] [[InvokedTrope that they would leave in any bugs or glitches]] [[RuleOfFunny that were funny]] as long as they didn't [[GameBreakingBug break the game]].
** One bug found during development featured chickens reporting the player's crimes to guards. Sadly, it would have made the game unreasonably difficult to players who weren't aware of it, and so it was removed.
** Shortly after release, it was discovered that you could safely steal stuff as long as you placed a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt5aUdijAN8 bucket]] over the head of nearby [=NPC=]s so they couldn't see you do it.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=Oso_mmhvm-Y The Giants' national sport - adventurer-ball]].
** Various clipping and animation bugs can cause a leader to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVzPMXmaEGs&context=C298a8ADOEgsToPDskIweYq8ykyY-m_GYIxTeRaq begin dancing]] during an important speech.
** If you are on friendly terms with a faction like the Dark Brotherhood or the Companions, you can take quite a few free shots on them without them going hostile. This leads to some odd scenarios where you are happily greeted by someone with whom you [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnTJEHQr__E just shot with three arrows]].
** Fortify Skill enchantments on armor are classified as Restoration-type spells, and drinking a Potion of Restoration temporarily boosts their effects. By drinking a Potion of Restoration, equipping a piece of armor that boosts Alchemy, using that to brew a better Potion of Restoration, and repeating ad nauseam, one can create ludicrously powerful potions that heal millions of hit points, boost ItemCrafting skills by over ten thousand percent (thus allowing one to create ridiculously overpowered weapons, armor and enchantments) and basically break the game difficulty into little pieces - though repeating the loop too many times can cause an overflow and crash the game. It's an amusing, if unintentional, nod to ''Morrowind'', where something similar could be done.
** The thieves that randomly spawn in Riften sometimes do things that break their AI, and then they spend a few minutes just [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4dYekH0Aow keep taking their weapon out over and over]]
** One fairly regularly reported situation is that the player's in-game spouse seems to be cheating on them (suspicious people may be found in the player's house when they're left alone, etc.), which has at some point been acknowledged by the developers. In some cases, it's merely down to lingering scripts associated with a specific spouse, as is the case if you marry Camilla Valerius - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx9EI23Ztlg Faendal, a suitor of hers at the start of the game, will continue to stay close to her even if you move her out of Riverwood]].
** The Oghma Infinium book normally vanishes after choosing one path from it by reading it once for upgrading your stats (i.e. it's supposed to be one-time use only). But this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhDhPKF1lBY bug involving the use of a bookshelf]] prevents it from vanishing, letting you read the book repeatedly to LevelGrind as high as you want for free. Sadly, this one did get patched.
** The Hidden Chest glitch, which often has respawning (after a certain time period) loot (resulting in infinite gold and other supplies if you're patient). The most notable one being [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtEKEKcZ3jw this one in Dawnstar]], which is invisible, and can only be found if you sneak, and its contents refresh (though with random quantity) every 48 hours in-game. These hidden chests are actually Merchant chests, and their contents match up to a certain merchant's inventory. The one in Dawnstar, for example, belongs to the Kahjiit traders on the outskirts of the city.
** [=NPCs=] have been seen swimming through the air in the town of Morthal.
** In ''Dragonborn,'' once you have acquired Severin Manor in Raven Rock, you have access to everything inside the house - including the four mannequins in the basement. Equipping items onto these and then removing them will sometimes trigger a bug in which the mannequins spawn duplicates of the items in question, allowing you to farm a continuously replenishing supply of shields, tunics, and so forth.
** Likewise, you can collect infinite amount of arrows from guards who are practicing archery by picking them up from the target dummies. For better results, you can pickpocket the default arrows and replace them with a better one (like Daedric Arrow) and you can get infinite supplies of them.
** Using the setrace command will change your character's race but will not change their faces to the appropriate race. This can result in a human character with a Khajiit head. At least one person has used this opportunity to recreate King from ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}''.
** Using Aura Whisper may give your character semi-permanent glowing eyes, and the only downside is that they only come in light blue. Removing them requires you to spend a 1000 coin for a facial resculpting, however.
* [[TheGoodKing The Good Jarl]]: