The Elder Scrolls may predict anything… But not, apparently, the best course of action.
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim:
- A lone thief down on his luck spots an individual killing a dragon in the distance. No mean feat for sure, likely accomplished by shooting it out of the sky with a well placed arrow, reducing it to a pile of ashes with magic, or even by jumping on its head and driving a sword into its skull. A few moments after seemingly absorbing its soul, said individual resumes their casual stroll down the road in the thief's direction.
You'd expect The thief recognizes that clearly this is a dangerous person, and either ignores them or promptly leaves the immediate area.
Instead The thief decides its a good idea to try to rob the dragon slayer instead, only to quickly find out why they should have stuck to chopping firewood. - A rogue bandit woman wants to kidnap someone and use them for ransom.
You'd expect: That this woman would literally kidnap anyone but the Dovahkiin's family. Like, literally, anyone else.
Instead: The bandit woman kidnaps the Dovahkiin's family, resulting in a Curb-Stomp Battle and Roaring Rampage of Revenge for the Dovahkiin Papa Wolf or Mama Bear. - A bandit named Arvel the Swift has stolen the Golden Claw from the Riverwood general store and gone to Bleak Falls Barrow in order to use it to get past the Nordic puzzle door. While in the barrow, he gets into a fight with a giant frostbite spider, which has encased him in a web cocoon. Eventually, the Dovahkiin walks in and releases Arvel from the web, killing the spider in the process.
You'd expect: Arvel to recognize that dungeon delving is more dangerous than it seems, but this person is his ticket to go further in, waiting for the Dragonborn to get through the barrow (killing all the enemies and turning back after getting stuck at the puzzle door or getting killed in the process; either way, Arvel would have fewer enemies to deal with) whereupon he can use the claw to gain access to whatever's locked in the cave.
You'd also expect: Arvel to just sell the claw to someone for decent profit and call it quits.
Instead: After being rescued by the Dovahkiin, Arvel immediately runs further into the cave, either running into a spike wall trap or getting killed by draugr in the process, if the Dovahkiin themself doesn't kill him for being an Ungrateful Bastard. - Another unfortunate bandit had been captured and imprisoned by hagravens. To his good fortune, a random stranger breaks into the hagravens' hideout and slaughters them with little effort. This stranger is very likely using higher-grade armor and/or weapons than most bandits at that level, some of them also exclusive to some of Skyrim's most badass and feared/respected factions. The stranger is also using Shouts, further identifying them as the Dragonborn of Nord legend. After killing the hagravens, this person takes pity on the bandit and lets him out of his cage.
You'd Expect: The bandit to thank his rescuer with a reward and dismiss himself from the area.
Instead: He draws a dagger and tries to mug the Dragonborn on the spot. The same spot on which his would-have-been rescuer kills him for his effort, and with less effort than it took to kill the hagravens. - Ancano, the Thalmor agent of the College of Winterhold has just managed to absorb the Eye of Magnus in order to use it to conquer Skyrim and eventually all of Tamriel. However, knowing that that its counterpart, the Staff of Magnus is capable of sealing such magic with the Dragonborn having just acquired it, he has another Thalmor agent Estormo kill the Dragonborn to prevent them from returning with the staff.
You'd Expect: That Estormo would hide in the shadows, set up traps with his magic and wait till they went into a cramped space before ambushing them with either a dagger or magic and destroy the Staff to ensure that nothing will be able to stop him.
Instead: He flat-out introduces himself in front of the Dragonborn and outright voices his declaration to eliminate him despite the fact that said person has just traversed through the dungeons, killing all the Draugrs and defeated a very powerful Dragon Priest. No sooner after he announce his presence, the Dragonborn ended up swatting him aside in an effort that only takes 1/10 the amount needed to stop a Dragon Priest. - Commander Maro and the Penitus Oculatus knows where the Dark Brotherhood is hiding and has the password needed to enter their chamber. Said Dark Brotherhood were widely known for their successful assassination of their Emperor
You'd Expect: They would immediately pursue their hideout as soon as the Commander knows their location and kill everyone there, leaving no potential survivors alive.
Instead: It took the Dragonborn killing their leader or their attempt to assassinate the Emperor for them to even attempt to pursue them. Said idiocy can potentially led to the Emperor's death even after he did the above long after he knew their location. - Feeling threatened by the Listener's authority to their Night Mother Astrid makes a deal with Commander Maro to hand the Listener to the guards in return for leaving her and the Dark Brotherhood alone.
You'd Expect: Astrid would anticipate that either the Commander wouldn't uphold his end of the bargain or the Listener would inevitably enter their Sanctuary and confront them for selling them out, thus she would order everyone to evacuate from the sanctuary in order to ensure that nobody would be able to find them
Instead: She honestly expected Maro to uphold his end of the deal despite the fact that they just murdered his son and framed him for the attempted murder of the Emperor, not to mention the fact that the Listener is sent to murder assassinate their leader in the first place.
Result: Unsurprisingly, Commander Maro does not keep his promise and not only tried to murder the Listener but also have his guards infiltrate their hideout that caused the rest of the Dark Brotherhood to be killed with only Nazir and Babette as the survivors of the onslaught. - Mercer Frey takes the Dovahkiin along with him to confront Karliah, the member of the Thieves Guild Frey framed for the murder of Gallus, the previous Guild Master, and he lucks out when the Dovahkiin enters the chamber of Snow Fall Sanctum that Karliah was waiting in, as Karliah shoots the Dovahkiin with an arrow that had it's tip dipped in a paralysis poison. After confronting Karliah and her leaving, he turns to deal with the Dovahkiin.
You'd Expect: Considering the lengths Frey was willing to go to this far, for him to go the extra mile in ensuring that the Dovahkiin was dead - maybe decapitating them, or at least slicing them enough so they'll bleed out rather quickly.
Instead: Frey only stabs the player once, and doesn't make sure that they die.
Result: Not only does the player survive and help Karliah expose Frey's treachery, but the player eventually kills Frey and takes his old job. - Captain Valmir is a Thalmor agent who is attempting to get the mask at Forelhost, and disguises himself when he gives the mission to the player (he averts this for an Imperial-aligned player, since the Empire allows Altmer to serve; but for a Stormcloak, he plays this straight, given the faction's Fantastic Racism to any -Mer that isn't the player).
You'd Expect: Rather than pretend to be a Stormcloak, for Valmir to pretend to be part of a faction not involved with the Civil War - it wouldn't be that unusual for the Synod to have an interest in Dragon Priest Masks; hell, given that the Thalmor have an advisor at the College of Winterhold, it would be easy to ask Ancano to send some college robes and claim to be working for the College.
Instead: He poses as a Stormcloak officer, tipping off the Dragonborn that he isn't what he claims to be. - Alduin attacks Helgen, a town full of soldiers, during the intro because he knows the Dragonborn is there somewhere and hopes to kill them before they're a problem. Dragonborn gets away, and later observes Alduin resurrecting another dragon. No matter how well you sneak, Alduin knows the Dragonborn is there. The Dragonborn is with one other character (and maybe a follower), and while they have defeated at least one dragon and been partially trained by the Greybeards by that point, they still have no way to actually harm Alduin, and are probably not capable of fighting two normal dragons, let alone Alduin with backup.
You'd Expect: Alduin would just kill the Dragonborn and be done with it.
Instead: He taunts the Dragonborn then flies off, leaving the much weaker Sahloknir to deal with them.
- A lone thief down on his luck spots an individual killing a dragon in the distance. No mean feat for sure, likely accomplished by shooting it out of the sky with a well placed arrow, reducing it to a pile of ashes with magic, or even by jumping on its head and driving a sword into its skull. A few moments after seemingly absorbing its soul, said individual resumes their casual stroll down the road in the thief's direction.
