Line #15 VideoGame/InterestingNPCs


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/NPClogo_7409.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Interesting [=NPCs=]]]]]
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4	''[[https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/8429 Interesting NPCs]]'' is an {{NPC}}-related [[GameMod mod]] for ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]''. It is authored by [[http://3dnpc.com/ Kris Takahashi]] with a sizable group of other users contributing in the form of [[TheQuest quests]], {{dialogue}} and voice acting.
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6	At present time the mod contains over 100 complete characters with extensive dialogue, over eighty of which have been fitted with voices by amateur [[VoiceActors voice actors]]. Approximately 300,000 words of dialogue are currently included in the mod, making the majority of the new characters more talkative than original ''Skyrim'' [=NPCs=], and the total amount about half that of the vanilla edition.
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8	Quite a few [[TheQuest quests]] are currently included as well, some of which further {{NPC}} interaction and other are extensive storylines with quite a bit of detailed backstory and a lot of combat.
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10	!!Provides examples of:
11	* AdaptationalBadass: A few [=NPCs=] in the base game got this treatment through anecdotes given by the new [=NPCs=]. The scary thing is that it's actually ''seamless''.
12	* AerithAndBob: Among the many fantastical and uncommon names are few more real-life sounding names like Jolene and Darcy.
13	* AffablyEvil:
14	** Jerulith is a former Thalmor Justiciar who has no problem murdering children who worship Talos; yet unlike most Thalmor, she somehow ''doesn't'' come off as a complete {{Jerkass}}.
15	** Nelos is unfailingly soft-spoken and polite despite being [[spoiler:the de facto leader of the morally-questionable [[TheSocialDarwinist Radiant]] [[ForScience Dark]].]]
16	** J'Sharr is very friendly with you even after drugging and forcing you to fight in pit fights, seemingly not even realizing that it is a bad thing.
17	** Korrilan is a pretty nice guy for someone who kills and body-snatches innocent people.
18	* AIIsACrapshoot: Relic, [[LostTechnology ancient robotic remnant]] of [[OurDwarvesAreDifferent Dwemer]] artificing may turn evil and [[ComedicSociopathy rather nutty]] when improperly repaired.
19	* AllThereInTheManual: The mod's website contains a map with the locations of all current NPC's as well as lists on which ones have voices and the rather arcane pre-requisites of some quests; none of this is available in-game.
20	* AntagonisticOffspring: Orenius Scilus is hunting down his daughter, a famous thief.
21	* AristocratsAreEvil: Gabania the villainous Imperial nobleman, and his daughter (who is even called TheBaroness, sharing some traits of this trope) play this straight. As the man whose home village Gabania razed (after hiding its existence from the outside world), puts it:
22	-->Kill every nobleman you see.
23	* AscendedExtra: Drelas and his cottage existed in the vanilla game, where he was just another "kill-or-be-killed" NPC that just happened to have a name. With the mod installed, he becomes much more fleshed out, and the player will have the option of sitting down and conversing with him. [[spoiler:He also turns out to be Nelos, the leader of the Radiant Dark, and plays a major role in the associated quest.]]
24	* AssholeVictim: The quest "Spell It Out For Me" has an Orc vampire instructing you to kill six people whose initials spell out U-L-F-R-I-C. The mod conveniently spawns six named bandits who fulfill the conditions for this very reason. [[spoiler:You may also notice that the quest giver himself has a name starting with "C", [[LaserGuidedKarma allowing you to pull this on]] ''[[LaserGuidedKarma him]]''.]]
25	* BloodKnight: Gorr relishes battle, especially against intelligent enemies. He admits that he left the Arena in the Imperial City because when he ran out of sapient enemies willing to fight him, they started bringing in beasts like sabrecats, bears, and minotaurs to face him. As far as he's concerned, he only wants to fight enemies who made the choice to enter the Arena, and animals and beasts couldn't make that choice.
26	* BrownNote: The last Ester Maroux painting, created with help from Clavicus Vile. It's an ending so conclusive you actually die just from looking at it.
27	* ConspiracyTheorist: Godrod the Hammer. This isn't helped by the fact he's both significantly misinformed and a tad insane.
28	* CannotTellAJoke: Iria, who is completely deadpan (and not in a good way) as she cracks jokes.
29	* CloseEnoughTimeline: The ending of the Blood of Kings quest. You still fought Gren, met the characters and did every side-activity between the time you started the quest and the time you finished. The difference is you prevented a lot of people from dying, including yourself.
30	* CuteAndPsycho: Felena, a vampire with about the sweetest, most girlish voice you can imagine and a borderline unhealthy obsession with death, who keeps a zombie Orc called Sweetroll as a pet and is strongly implied to be a [[ILoveTheDead necrophile]].
31	* DeadpanSnarker: Nearly all of Rumarin's dialogue options lead to some kind of sarcastic one-liner.
32	** [[DemBones Skjel the Gray]], who's pretty much a walking TakeThat towards the [[WelcomeToCorneria limited speech options]] of the vanilla game [=NPCs=]. His accent just underlines the snarkiness.
33	* DrivenToSuicide: Dar'Rakki will lose all faith in the world if [[spoiler: you tell him that the Seven Thousand Steps are really only seven hundred]], due to his already massive, crippling trust issues, and then poison himself. In this case, telling him [[spoiler: that either you can't tell how many there are or lie and say that there are exactly seven thousand steps]] will reassure him and give him enough faith to move on and try to continue living.
34	* EmbarrassingFirstName: Hagravi Gray-wave, picked on for the similarity of his name to Hagraven, a harpy-like species of creatures.
35	* EnemyMine: In the questline starting with "The Aldmeri Prisoner", Daenlyn Oakhollow and [[spoiler: Jerulith, who shares the Thalmor ideology Daenlyn hates]] need to work together to kill a common enemy. Some rather tense HilarityEnsues.
36	* EntertaininglyWrong: Gorod the Hammer doesn't have his facts about the politics of Skyrim quite straight.
37	-->'''Gorod:''' I follow the one true king of Skyrim. Not that harlot widow, what's-her-face, General Tullius. What kind of name is that for a Jarl? Or a woman? "General." Sounds like something I'd name a store, or the assortment of crap that collects under my foot.
38	* EruditeStoner: Beatrice, a skooma addict and former Forsworn who has a magical amulet that makes her extremely smart and eloquent.
39	* EvenEvilHasStandards: At least one Thalmor officer is stated to have been disgusted by Jerulith's brutality when she was a Justiciar.
40	* EveryoneHasStandards: Griffith, a dark brotherhood assassin, left the brotherhood after one contract took it too far; A pedophile hired him to kill a child because she rejected his advances.
41	* EvilSoundsDeep: Dagri'Lon.
42	* FakeUltimateMook: [[spoiler:Tusky the horker]] is about the size of a dragon, and even gets the dragon fight music. But it too slow and clumsy to be an especially dangerous foe, even if it [[DamageSpongeBoss takes some slicing]].
43	* FauxAffablyEvil: Gren, one of Ysgramor's descendants in the "Blood of Kings" questline. He acts friendly at first, but will threaten to horribly injure you or your loved ones the second you annoy him.
44	* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire: Dunmer vampire Rinori Imaryn, contrary to the blood-sucking fiends you typically encounter, is a harmless ShrinkingViolet who would just like to be left alone to fight the urges caused by her condition.
45	* FurAgainstFang: Largely PlayedForLaughs with the rivalry of two pompous bard-poets, Skjarn and Edwayne; the former is a werewolf, while the latter is a vampire.
46	* GameplayAndStorySegregation: It doesn't matter how much poison resistance or armor you have; when you get that poisonous pat on the back during the [[spoiler:"Pit Dogs"]] quest, you go down.
47	* GuideDangIt: Some of the quests in this mod are not easy to find. In order to start the two main questlines, you have to fulfill several prerequisites including having the right followers, completing certain quests in both the vanilla game and the mod, and speaking to certain [=NPCs=] found around the map.
48	** For example, starting the "Radiant Dark" questline requires you to have not only completed an earlier mod quest, "Forgotten Lore," but also to have completed "Dragon Rising" and "The Black Star" from the vanilla game.
49	* HateSink: Marigoth the Witch in Zora's personal quest "The Children Fair". She's a wicked-tongued old hag who seems to be one step away from being a Hagraven, and she does nothing but insult Zora during the whole quest.
50	* HellholePrison: Dragonsreach. Both Larkspur and Gorr were imprisoned there. Larkspur was tortured and healed to survive more torture while he was imprisoned.
51	* HeroicComedicSociopath: Dagri'Lon's BlueAndOrangeMorality typically results in "evil", because he believes anything that decays ought to be destroyed (so it will be evermore remembered as beautiful) before the decay can overtake it. His dialogue is thus a mixture of snark and bluntly proposing the destruction of the impermanent (i.e. pretty much everything). For instance, he suggests dealing with the Riverwood LoveTriangle by ''killing Camilla'' just to teach her suitors a lesson about hesitation. Still, he doesn't personally carry out any of his brutal suggestions and gets [[DeadpanSnarker some great lines]].
52	-->'''Dagri'Lon''': Thane of Whiterun. You save an entire city from a dragon and your reward is a title that is emptier than this Jarl's skull.
53	* HonorBeforeReason: In the quest Honor's Calling, that's [[spoiler: Dalum-Ei's motivation for killing off former members of his company, as a punishment for an incident in which they inadvertently ended up killing innocents.]]
54	* IntrepidMerchant: Al'Hassan, a former Alik'r who left Kematu's squad to become a blacksmith in Morthal.
55	* InsultToRocks: Hjoromir in Riverwood at one point complains about how the town's rats are as bothersome as the Thalmor presence in Skyrim. Your character can then chide him for [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments thinking rats are worse than the Thalmor]].
56	* {{Jerkass}}: Quite a few, but Brelas in the Riften Watchtower stands out. Even Dravos, a ''Dremora'', thinks he needs to mellow out. Granted, Dravos is a minion of [[TheHedonist Sanguine]], not [[OmnicidalManiac Dagon]].
57	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Olivia Meronin, the Arcane University professor in the College Arcaneum. She's involved in the Radiant Dark, and is the morally "good" side of the quest's conflict.
58	* KnightInSourArmor: After Erevan [[spoiler: realizes, with the help of his old friend, that he can still behave in a truly knightly manner, even after he was framed for attempted murder]], he becomes halfway between this trope and straightforward KnightInShiningArmor.
59	** Anum-La also has shades of this trope.
60	* LampshadeHanging / LeaningOnTheFourthWall: More than a few characters will do this. Anum-La, for example, will point out how nice it is that bandits frequently trap themselves in enclosed spaces with no back exits, and Eldawyn mentions how she crafts, enchants, and sells tons of necklaces to Farengar for easy money.
61	-->'''Eldawyn:''' I don't know what he wants all those necklaces for.
62	* LaughablyEvil: Relic's initial and improperly repaired states have a disturbing fascination with the insides of organic beings.
63	* LiteralMinded: Ylgyne does ''not'' understand metaphors in the least; insulting him by saying he's "two loaves short of a sandwich" just results in a confused "what does bread have to do with this?"
64	* LostTechnology: Relic is a remnant of the [[{{Precursors}} Dwemer]].
65	* ManlyFacialHair: You can have a very thoughtful conversation with Frik on the greatness of a beard.
66	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: It's never revealed during the quest "The Teleportation Machine" if [[spoiler: Two-Tails disabled said machine with his "Machine Hand" or if Two-Tails just thinks he disabled it and the machine was already that way when he found it.]]
67	* MindScrew: Blood of Kings questline has a whiff of it, with a sorcerer sending you into an alternate immediate-future timeline in which two new pretenders for the title of High King appear in Skyrim. [[spoiler: It ends with your death. He then brings you back and you have to prevent this timeline from happening the same bad way it had happened in the alternate universe]]. The fact that during the questline you have a strange dream in which you [[TakeThat kill the Dragonborn from Bethesda trailer]] contributes to this even more.
68	** Two smaller examples are the quests "The Teleportation Machine" and "The House On the Hill". In the former you track down a machine that will supposedly take you to the location of the Dwemer [[spoiler: only for the whole thing to be hijacked by an Argonian of questionable sanity claiming to be the "Dwarvenborn"]]. And in the latter, you are tasked with finding two missing explorers who were last seen near a creepy old house [[spoiler: where it turns out they stole a possibly fake Elder Scroll from three strange men calling themselves Wolf, Horker, and Skeever]].
69	* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: Arilwaen, an Altmer who leads a secret group of Talos worshippers in order to prevent the Thalmor from reaching their apocaliptico-genocidal goals. Her brother also qualifies, though his motivation is more pragmatic then hers. Somewhat downplayed by vanilla game already including some Altmer who don't want anything to do with the Thalmor.
70	** The orc mercenary Duraz also qualifies. Although she does seem to fit into the ProudWarriorRaceGuy trope, she also has a very vocal dislike of the Orc Strongholds and their laws.
71	* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: At the end of the [[spoiler:Blood of Kings]] quest you are told that you saved the prisoners and pretty much fixed everything that went wrong in the previous timeline, but you don't get to play it.
72	* ObsessedWithFood: Gorr loves to talk about food, especially Horker stew.
73	* OneLastJob: Orenius Scilus is semi-retired, seeking to catch one last thief.
74	* OrgyOfEvidence: [[KnightInShiningArmor Hiram]] and the other Knights of the White Rose (formerly the Knights of The Thorn in Oblivion) don't believe the contrivance of evidence that was against their commander, [[TheParagon Erevan]], when he allegedly attempted to murder the Countess.
75	* PapaWolf: [[ProfessionalKiller Griffith]] is a former member of The Dark Brotherhood who goes rogue to protect a girl named Morrigan who is being targeted by the Brotherhood.
76	* ParentalIncest: Rongeir has a less than savoury relationship with his daughter, Shelur. Arguably worse, he genuinely seems to believe that she's not actually his daughter, but just the reincarnation of his wife (this is actually a real ancient Scandinavian belief that people can be reincarnated through their children). He does seem a bit shaken when you explain why his relationship with Shelur counts as incestuous.
77	-->'''You:''' There must be ''something'' about her that comes from you.\
78	'''Rongeir:''' Huh, maybe you're right. A few days a ago she stubbed her toe on a bucket, and then nearly took an axe to brook. Same thing I would do. I need some time to think about this; people don't break off a whole relationship just 'cause a stranger had something smart to say...
79	* PintSizePowerhouse: Zora Fair-child is a diminutive breton girl... who is a Barbarian-class fighter. She favors light armor and a twohander sword that's about as tall as she is.
80	* PutOnABus: [[spoiler:Virayana the Vigilant as of the ''Dawnguard'' update. Considering what happens to the Hall of the Vigilant in ''Dawnguard'', it's understandable.]]
81	** TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:Recent updates have her relocate to Stendarr's Beacon after the Hall is attacked.]]
82	* RaisedByOrcs: Bergrisar, raised by giants.
83	* ReallyGetsAround: One of the Dibellan priestesses in Markarth will hit on you. Man, woman, other races. Talking to her reveals that she has slept with everyone but her parents - even [[KavorkaMan the girl who had skin like mammoth cheese.]]
84	* RealMenEatMeat: Gorr really likes horker meat. (He also strongly dislikes vegetables.)
85	* RetiredMonster: Dravos the Dremora was once a loyal servant of Mehrunes Dagon, but now has devoted himself to [[FunPersonified Sanguine]].
86	* RichesToRags: Lady Veralene Ashwood, an aristocratic landowner whose large farm was destroyed by the dragon at Helgen. She still wears noble clothing, as befits an ImpoverishedPatrician, and desires to [[NobilityMarriesMoney marry someone rich in order to restore her wealth]], though her abrasive personality makes such a prospect unlikely.
87	* RobotBuddy: Relic, a Centurion Spider found in Blackreach's War Quarter. He initially starts out as a ThirdPersonPerson {{Jerkass}}, but depending on your actions he can become either a NiceGuy or an [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic HK-47]] {{Expy}}.
88	* SadClown: Rumarin, by the Nine, ''Rumarin''. Every word out of his mouth is a wry comment, a joke, or some other form of deflection, because he ''does not want'' to think about what's gone wrong with his life.
89	* SecretlyDying: [[spoiler:Nelos. However, he's not planning to just kick the bucket [[MilesToGoBeforeISleep until he's carried out the prophecy of the Long Night]].]]
90	* SelfProclaimedKnight: Anum-La the Swamp Knight, who first declared herself to be a knight just because she thought it sounded impressive. Nevertheless, she's a heroic version of this trope.
91	* ServileSnarker: Amsien, Khajiit who the player can potentially take on a servant, ends up being quite sarcastic towards you in almost every line of dialog.
92	* ShoutOut: It takes a while for it to become apparent, but the House On The Hill quest ends up being loosely based on [[spoiler: Film/ReservoirDogs. A few criminals, with themed aliases, carrying through a botched heist, and killing each other in the end.]]
93	* SomeOfMyBestFriendsAreX: Invoked by Sadrin Reloro, a Dunmer in Riften, who specifically points out that he has real friends of other races, as opposed to non-existent friends bigots invent to defend themselves from accusations.
94	* SoUnfunnyItsFunny: In universe: Larkspur mentions that only Gorr can laugh at the jokes he makes.
95	** Most of the jokes from the stoic mage girl in Whiterun are only found amusing ([[TheStoic as amused as she can]]) by herself.
96	* SociopathicSoldier: Haakon Iron Fist, who was imprisoned in the Windhelm dungeons and more or less court martialled and dishonourably discharged by Ulfric Stormcloak himself. Interestingly enough, he actually straddles the line between this an WellIntentionedExtremist if you talk with him. So, type 4. Just wants to get things done in a way he sees as pragmatic. Emphasis on ''he'' sees as pragmatic.
97	* ThatMakesMeFeelAngry: Iria, who sounds like (and probably is) an EmoTeen, has to tell you, deadpan, that she is amused, or finds things funny.
98	* ThoseTwoGuys: Geel-Jah and Torveld, two treasure hunters who show up in a number of different locations arguing about their latest treasure hunt, but are never involved with a quest.
99	* TokenEvilTeammate: Jerulith during the Gabania quest-line. While [[LovableRogue Daenlyn]], [[VigilanteMan Raynes]], and [[ProfessionalKiller Griffith]] aren't ideal heroes, she's the only one who would advocate child murder.
100	* TokenGoodTeammate: Orondil, the Justiciar who shares the basic Thalmor goals, but believes that Nord customs should be respected, as long as they don't involve Talos. He is generally polite to the player and plays a helpful role in a quest.
101	* TongueTrauma: [[DefiedTrope Defied]] by Raynes. It's the one brutality he won't inflict. If they can't talk, they can't spread word of his deeds.
102	* TeethClenchedTeamwork: A few quests pair unlikely allies together.
103	** Daenlyn, a bard who hates the Thalmor with a passion, and Jerulith, a former Thalmor who still supports their ideals.
104	** Griffith, a former member of the Dark Brotherhood, and Raynes, a vigilante who despises all lawbreakers.
105	* UrbanLegendOfZelda: Invoked and discussed; Dar’Rakki is a Khajiit in Ivarstead who wants to know if there's ''really'' 7,000 steps to High Hrothgar. [[spoiler:You can either tell him the truth -- that it's roughly seven ''hundred'', though it's hard to say for certain given how many are broken and buried -- or tell him a white lie and say it is seven thousand to try and restore his faith in the world]].
106	* VideoGameCaringPotential: The quest "Spell It Out For Me" has [[spoiler:Cassock selecting Fironet [[KillTheCutie as his final target]]. Depending on your actions, you can derail the quest (and lose a potential follower) by killing him before he kills her; there's no real reward for doing this, aside from Fironet's thanks.]]
107	** Similarly, at the end of the quest "Stolen Property" [[spoiler: you can kill Vardath and save the slave he was contracted to kill. Although, you're given a reward from the slave for taking this path, you lose Vardath as a follower]].
108	* VigilanteMan: Raynes, a Dunmer who disposes of law-breakers in excessively brutal ways.
109	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Dalum-Ei, former leader of the Honorable Eight, began hunting and killing his former guild-mates after the loss of their honor in his eyes. Bodan and Anum-La, the two other members that you encounter, are conflicted on whether it was the right thing but they do but they still mourn their brother/father-figure.
110	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: During the "Darkened Steel" questline, [[spoiler: Gancielo]] disappears halfway through and never comes back. The disappearance is never elaborated on, either.
111	* WhatTheHellHero: Should the Imperials win the Civil War, a drunkard in Winterhold will bitterly remind you that you've changed nothing and that the Thalmor are still a threat.
112	* WideEyedIdealist: Cassius, who can be found in Fort Greymoor's dungeon, and believes that he can just teach bandits to not be bandits with books on math, farming, reading, etc, and that once they have some form of gainful employment then they'll stop being bandits. He gets a cold slap in the face when he finds that the bandits just [[spoiler: burned all of his books]]. Even if you tell him to not get discouraged, he'll admit that his ideals blinded him and he should try a "less controversial cause, like helping orphans"... only for the player to later meet a former bandit at Rorikstead who decided he might have been on to something after all with his ill-advised ideals, while Cassius himself remains oblivious.
113	* WolfpackBoss: The Akaviri ghosts in The Way of the Nine, whom you have to defeat in order to pass the test given you by Garett, the ghost of a Blade. Worse, Garett participates in a battle with you himself, but he is essential, and he will judge you worthy and end the battle only once you defeat all his ghost companions.
114	* WouldHurtAChild: Jerulith, a former Thalmor (who was formally expelled by Ondolemar due to tactical convenience, and who still believes in Thalmor ideology) proclaims to you that, [[EvenEvilHasStandards unlike another colleague of hers]], she advocates killing children who worship Talos.
115	* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Hiram and the Dragonborn (assuming you don't go for a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech) try to pull Erevan out of his funk with this. It works.

Context VideoGame / InterestingNPCs