People of The Reach

The Reach is the westernmost province, and is dominated by craggy canyons of the Karth River and its tributaries, and by the soaring peaks of the Druadach Mountains. The rugged wilderness of the hold is home to the Forsworn, hostile Breton natives who seek to gain independence from both Skyrim and the Empire and thus attack all outsiders on sight. Its capital is Markarth, built into the ruins of an old Dwarven city. Markarth is one of the most fortified cities in all Skyrim and it is home to a lucrative silver mining and smithing industry. Its banner is a rack of ram horns. Its Jarl is the Imperial-aligned Igmund, a young man who inherited the position from his father Hrolfdir after he was murdered by the Forsworn.

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Anton Virane

Voiced by: Keith Silverstein (English)^note

The Breton chef in Understone Keep, he plays a small but significant role during the Dark Brotherhood storyline.

Asshole Victim: Considering his xenophobic attitude against the Reachmen and his abuse of his assistants, he is one of the targets late in the questline that the player won't feel so bad about offing.
Bad Boss: Mistreats his assistants; during a idle chat, he may threaten to cut off the fingers from one of them to teach her a lesson.
Fantastic Racism: Virane really dislikes the Reachmen, even the ones that are not Forsworn. He takes offense at being called one and insists that he is a Breton from High Rock.
French Jerk: The fantasy counterpart, at any rate, since he is a chef, a jerk, and a Breton.
He Knows Too Much: The Dragonborn will interrogate him about the Gourmet's location and he will quickly spill the beans. However, they are instructed to silence Virane so that their mission to assassinate the Emperor won't be tracked up to him.
Supreme Chef: The reason why he is tolerated, according to his assistant Rondach.
"Only reason the Jarl keeps Anton on is because he cooks up a storm."

Borkul the Beast

Voiced by: Noah Nelson (English)^note

An Orc bandit who serves as Madanach's bodyguard in Cidhna Mine.

Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In his own words, he was sentenced to life in prison for "Murder. Banditry. Assault. Theft. And lollygagging".
Blood Knight: If you decide to challenge him to a brawl in order to get the right to see Madanach, he won't hide his delight. It's also implied to be the reason he joined the Forsworn in the first place.
Brick Joke: Guards all over Skyrim tersely inform the player that there is to be no lollygagging. Borkul actually got arrested for it.
The Dragon: To Madanach.
Grievous Harm with a Body: One of the inmates claims that he once ripped off another prisoner's arm and beat him to death with it.
In Love with Your Carnage: It's implied the reason he joined the Forsworn was because he admires their violence and cruelty. He will also appreciate if you tell him you found your first murder exciting.
Token Minority: If you help Madanach and the Forsworn escape Cidhna Mine, Borkul goes with them to Druadach Redoubt, dons Forsworn gear, and proclaims that "The Reach will be ours again!" — despite not being a Reachman. It's mentioned in the Pocket Guide to the Empire that the Reachmen historically had strong ties with the Orcs, and learned hedge-magic from them, so it's possible the Forsworn consider Orcs fellow aboriginals.
Walking Shirtless Scene: In Cidhna Mine, he goes around wearing nothing but ragged trousers. If you help the Forsworn escape, he will then go for Forsworn armor, which leaves him shirtless as well.

Calcelmo

Voiced by: George Coe (English)^note

A somewhat eccentric Altmer scholar and archaeologist who serves as the court mage and also runs the Markarth Museum. Obsessed with the Dwemer, he invites anyone (via letter) to come to his museum and will pay handsomely for any Dwarven items they're willing to give him. He is also currently overseeing an excavation of one of the many Dwemer ruins dotting the Reach.

Absent-Minded Professor: Most frequently exhibited by his parting phrase.
Calcelmo: What? Oh, goodbye.
Amazon Chaser: For Faleen.
Cannot Spit It Out: Has the hots for Faleen, Jarl Igmund's housecarl, but can't bring himself to make a move. You help things along during a quest in praise of Mara, the goddess of love and marriage.
Cool Uncle: He's assisted in his researches by his nephew Aicantar, who seems very fond of him.
Court Mage: For the Reach.
Interspecies Romance: With Faleen, a Redguard.
Mayfly–December Romance: Faleen can't possibly be more than 40, while Calcelmo has centuries behind him and centuries left to go.
Shoplift and Die: He takes the security of his museum very seriously, and has an entire unit of Markarth guardsmen and an entire, heavily armed bandit clan guarding its halls at all times. They'll let you explore the museum to your heart's content if Calcelmo gives you the key, provided you don't touch anything, but will attack on sight if you use the key to unlock his private laboratory.
Stalker without a Crush: He somehow knows exactly when you've purchased a Dwarven item, even if you purchased it from your spouse in the privacy of your own home. Possibly hand waved by the fact that he's a mage.
Twice Shy: It appears Faleen has felt the same for him all along, because when you approach her with the poem, it turns out she has a love letter for him on her person, and she finally musters the courage to have it sent to him by that point.
Ungrateful Bastard: Even after you kill Nimhe for him, collect the journals of the missing archaeological team, and help him with his love problems, he still refuses to let you use his Falmer translator to translate an important document in the Thieves' Guild questline, so you have no choice but to do it in an illegal way. However, this is justified, as his Falmer translator is his life's work (and being an elf, that is a very long time), and he can't risk somebody else stealing his research. Why there's no option for you to ask him to do it for you, however, remains a mystery.

Aicantar

Voiced by: Jon Curry (English)^note

Calcelmo's nephew and assistant, and an obstacle to you translating Gallus' journal for the Thieves' Guild.

Gadgeteer Genius: Manages to reassemble and control a broken Dwarven spider, which you can sic on some guards in one quest.
Hero Antagonist: Appears to be a decent guy, but will be hostile to you if he catches you in Calcelmo's lab.
Nice Guy: Outside of the Thieves' Guild questline, he's always polite and friendly to the Dragonborn whenever they stop in to see his uncle.
Video Game Caring Potential: He'll confront you in Calcelmo's lab while you're using the Falmer translator, and will be hostile on sight. Some players, however, find him so sweet that they choose to skip fighting by going immediately into the next room. After you finish the quest, he'll go back to his usual duties and won't remember you breaking in.

Degaine

Voiced by: William Salyers (English)^note

A Breton beggar and former smelter worker.

Career-Ending Injury: Suffered some sort of injury that left him unfit to work at the smelter. As for the details, Degaine seems to make up new stories on a regular basis.
Dirty Old Man: He was reportedly kicked out of the Temple of Dibella, with his tone when asked about the event suggesting that he wasn't there for the worship. He also gives you a miscellaneous quest to steal a statue of Dibella for the temple, again with the implications that he's going to be using it for less-than-savory purposes.
Entitled Bastard: Unlike every other beggar, who at least attempts to garner your pity, he basically tells you to throw money at him because he's a beggar that needs it more than you.
Jerkass: While most beggars thank you for your kindness if you give them money, Degaine basically takes your coin and tells you to piss off. He's also a habitual liar and a sleazebag to boot.
Pet the Dog: Stealing the statue of Dibella for him makes him a little bit nicer to you. Incidentally, this also makes him a prime candidate for feeding the Ebony Blade, especially since completing "No One Escapes Cidhna Mine" also erases your bounty in the Reach.

Eltrys

Voiced by: Jason Marsden (English)^note

A Breton living in Markath who recruits the Dragonborn's help to investigate a conspiracy involving the Forsworn.

Facial Markings: Not immediately apparent, due to him mostly staying in a dark area, but he has tattoos all over his face◊.
Disappeared Dad: He was only a boy when his father died. Tragically, Eltrys himself becomes this trope when he is killed by the city's guards; earlier in the quest chain, he off-handedly mentions that his wife is pregnant, meaning that his child will become Someone to Remember Him By.
Freudian Excuse: A discussion with him will reveal his father was killed in the conspiracy when he was a child. He has been haunted by this ever since, leading to his obsession with figuring out why his father died.
He Knows Too Much: Thonar's corrupt guards eventually find out about his investigation and kill him to cover up the conspiracy.
Video Game Caring Potential: Not that it helps him, sadly, but some players exhibit this toward his wife, Rhiada. She is in the same room as Betrid Silver-Blood when Betrid is attacked. Due to her pregnancy, quite a few players reverse-pickpocket a stronger weapon on her, to help her so she doesn't die.

Faleen

Voiced by: Claudia Christian (English)^note

Jarl Igmund's Redguard Housecarl, who previously served his father.

Cultured Badass: She's a skilled warrior who has a weak spot for poetry.
Hypercompetent Sidekick: To Igmund. She's probably half the reason why he is still in power by the time the game starts. The other half is probably his uncle and steward, Raerek.
Mayfly–December Romance: Calcelmo's hundreds of years older than she is and - being an elf - will almost certainly outlive her.

Coven of Namira

A coven of Namira worshippers who are all cannibals. Several are residents of Markarth, keeping their eating habits and worship a secret.

Dark Secret: They tend to want to keep their habits secret from the general populace, shushing the Dragonborn should they bring it up.
I'm a Humanitarian: They are all cannibals, eating human flesh willingly.
They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: A group of externally-civilized murderers. Members include Banning, a male Breton dog breeder outside the local stables; Lisbet, a female Nord food vendor; and Hogni Red-Arm, a male Nord food merchant, all found around Markarth.

The Forsworn

"The Reach will be ours again!"

A group that operate primarily in the Reach. They are mostly composed of Reachmen, the original inhabitants of the Reach descended from Nords and Bretons living on the border between Skyrim and High Rock. This has given rise to the claim the territory is theirs by right and they have a long history of bloody conflict with the local Nords over control of the Hold. Several years before the events of Skyrim, they actually managed to take control of Markarth, only to be brutally overthrown by Nord militia led by Ulfric Stormcloak in what became known as the infamous Markarth Incident. Despite this brutal loss, the Forsworn are still determined to take back what they believe is rightfully theirs, and have begun consorting with Hagravens to become powerful mage-warriors known as Briarhearts.

Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: It's not uncommon to see Forsworn running at you yelling battle cries, only to immediately turn tail and run when you loose an atronach or a zombie on them.
Axe-Crazy: They are perceived as this by most people due to their aggressive behaviour and Rape, Pillage, and Burn actions. One of the in-game books mentions that they sometimes attack people and slaughter them, without bothering to steal any goods from them.
Bad People Abuse Animals: It's not clear if they're doing it out of bloodlust or for some foul occult purpose, but their lairs are absolutely littered with butchered animals and tortured Spriggans.
Black-and-Grey Morality: Can be either this or Gray-and-Grey Morality depending on which of them you take in account. The Forsworn as a whole definitely are brutal, vicious, and cruel bandits and implied Daedra-worshipers who cause violence in the Reach, but it's mentioned that several of their members started out as innocents and ended up joining them in the first place because of the brutal and unfair Nord retribution after Ulfric took back Markarth. And that's excluding the corruption of the Silver-Blood family.
Boomerang Bigot: Their hatred of the Nords, as they are historically descended from both Bretons and Nords.
Deal with the Devil: The ritual used to turn a Forsworn into a Briarheart gives them greater combat skill, but robs them of their free will.
Dual Wielding: All Forsworn weapons are one-handed, and most of their warriors will use two at once.
Elite Mooks: The Briarhearts.
Failed a Spot Check: Many of their hideouts are in ancient Nordic ruins that have been around for thousands of years, yet they think that they have the stronger claim of being native.
Fantastic Racism: Particularly toward Nords, whom they see as oppressive invaders, though they really don't care for anyone who isn't pledged to their cause.
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Several NPCs (as well as, potentially, the Dragonborn) admonish them for using what the Nords did to them as their excuse to slaughter people indiscriminately.
Genuine Human Hide: The dialogues heavily imply their armors are at least partially made from the tanned skins of the people they have killed.
Glass Cannon: Their light armors made of skin, fur and bones offer very little resistance, since they favor Dual Wielding, most of them can't block, and their most powerful warriors have a Logical Weakness that makes them very easy to kill in certain circumstances. However, they move very fast, and that same Dual Wielding means that even their weaker units can inflict insane amount of damage. Many of them are powerful spellcasters besides. Speaking in terms of magic damage however this isn't always the case, as higher level types of Forsworn have innate magic resistance due to their Breton blood.
Hates Everyone Equally: If you're not Forsworn, then the Forsworn hate you.
Hypocrite: The Nords of the Reach in the past committed atrocities against them, and the Stormcloaks were apparently ruthless and indiscriminate in their reprisals when they finally took back the Reach from Forsworn control. But the Forsworn of the present attack and slaughter basically anybody unlucky enough to be caught on the roads by them, whether these people themselves are innocent or not.
I Am a Humanitarian: Although never outright stated, it is heavily implied that at least some of them are cannibals.
Literal Change of Heart: The Briarhearts, Forsworn chieftains who have had their hearts magically replaced with Briarheart seeds by Hagravens.
Logical Weakness: Since Briarhearts gain their enhanced powers through replacement of their heart by enchanted Briarheart, ripping the Briarheart from their chest (with Pickpocket) instantly kills them.
My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Directed at them. Many non-Forsworn Reachmen are as fed up with their antics as the Nords are.
Omnicidal Neutral: They are hostile to the empire, the Stormcloaks, the Blades, the Thalmor, the Orc strongholds, other Reachmen who don't support their cause, and random bystanders not affiliated with any of those factions.
Rape, Pillage, and Burn: It doesn't matter if a person is a Nord or not. To the Forsworn, if a person is not a "Reachman", they are trespassers who deserve utter destruction.
Stripperiffic: Their armors leave most males shirtless, and females with... a lot of skin visible.
Super-Senses: To offset their vulnerability to having the Briar Heart pickpocketed out of their chest, Forsworn Briarhearts tend to be exceptionally good at detecting sneaking players.
Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: In their eyes, they are fighting to take back their homeland. The fact that they have slaughtered hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent men, women, and children doesn't matter to them.
Written by the Victors: Played with. One of the books you can find dotted about Skyrim, The Bear Of Markarth, invokes this trope; it is a serious defense of the Forsworn, and attempts to justify their rightful historical claim to the Reach while presenting the Nords involved as brutal oppressors. The author in question, however, has a vested interested in demonizing the Stormcloaks, given his position as an Imperial scholar. This leaves most of the book's contents questionable at best; none of the claims it makes align with the Forsworn's behavior, nor with the cultural history outlined in books like The Legend Of Red Eagle.

Ghost of Old Hroldan

Voiced by: Craig Sechler (English)^note

The ghost of a warrior that haunts the Old Hroldan Inn, and seems to have been a companion to Tiber Septim in his early days.

Ghostly Goals: His ghost is restless due to "Hjalti" (aka Tiber Septim) apparently promising to grant him his sword after a battle as a sign that they were sworn brothers. For some unstated reason - though it's strongly implied that the warrior died before or during the battle in question - this never happened. After mistaking the Dragonborn for Hjalti (due to both being Dragonborn), he begs them to find the sword and fulfill this oath.
Ghost: Even after the enemies' arrows dug into my chest and their hammers crushed my bones. I've waited.
Go into the Light: After centuries of waiting, receiving Hjalti's sword finally releases his soul to do this.
Haunted House: His presence technically makes the Old Hroldan Inn this. However, the way the inn's owner reacts to seeing him seems to indicate that it's the presence of the Dragonborn which causes him to appear.
Mistaken Identity: Perhaps because the Player Character and "Hjalti" were both Dragonborn, the Ghost believes the Last Dragonborn is Hjalti.

Lash gra-Dushnikh

Voiced by: Diane Salinger (English)^note

An Orc miner from the Dushnikh-Yal stronghold that works in Sanuarach Mine in Karthwasten.

An Arm and a Leg: She threatens Belchimac with this when he complains about Orc cleanliness in her presence.
Belchimac: I don't like bunking with Orcs. It's not... clean.
Lash: If you want me to leave, you could challenge me to a fight. I promise to stop once you've lost an arm.
Belchimac: What I meant to say was... I love having an Orc here in the barracks. They're so... pleasant.
Cultural Rebel: She left her stronghold for unspecified reasons, and this causes her mother to disown her.
I Have No Son!: Her mother Gharol sends her a sword, to show Lash that she's no longer welcome back at Dushnikh-Yal.
Interspecies Romance: She seems to have a crush on fellow miner Ragnar, a Nord, and he seemingly returns it, judging by their conversations.
You Are a Credit to Your Race: Amusingly, she and Ragnar both compliment each other in this fashion.

Madanach

Voiced by: Stephen Russell (English)^note

The King in Rags, leader of the Forsworn.

Affably Evil: The Forsworn aren't exactly paragons of virtue, but Madanach is personable enough.
Authority Equals Asskicking: The leader of the Forsworn proves himself quite the powerful mage if you help him escape the mine (or try to off him inside it).
Boxed Crook: Thonar keeps him alive in prison instead of executing him so he can use Madanach's Forsworn as his personal assassins. Thonar doesn't have nearly as much control over Madanach as he believes, though.
Dude, Where's My Respect?: Even if you help him escape, Forsworn will still attack you, with a few exceptions. Could be a bit of Reality Is Unrealistic; Forsworn are under orders to attack everyone on the roads on sight. Even if Madanach were to make an exception for you, he likely wouldn't have a way to communicate it quickly to his scattered people or provide them with an effective means of determining your identity' Madanach tells the Dragonborn to amscray from the Reach before he and his Forsworn attack specifically to avoid this. The one camp where they don't attack you after his release is the one where he is personally staying.
Fighting for a Homeland: High Rock and Skyrim have fought over the Reach in the past, but Madanach wants to see it independent.
Good Old Ways: From his point of view, anyway. Like all Forsworn, he worships the unidentified "old gods" (which are implied in various NPC dialogue to be the Daedric Princes) rather than the Nine Divines.
Impoverished Patrician: There's a reason he's called "the King in Rags".
Killed Off for Real: One way to resolve the quest. Instead of killing the prisoner he wants killed and helping everyone escape, you can kill him - you have no weapons, but you have your Shouts and magic spells as well as fists - and then loot the key from his body and escape on your own.
Knight Templar: Madanach talks a lot about the "injustice" of The Reach, but he's hardly a saint himself.
Luxury Prison Suite: By the standards of Cidhna Mine, at least. He not only has his own private cave with a personal bodyguard, it includes a bed and desk, drawers filled with books and paper and ink; he also apparently does not have to do any labor in the mine. By contrast, everyone else has to sleep on the ground and mine silver all day long.
Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: Despite being a prisoner of Cidhna Mine, Madanach is still capable of coordinating the Forsworn, a fact which Thonar exploits for his own ends.
"Not So Different" Remark: Argues this when you've been unjustly arrested in Markarth. It's more poignant when you're a Nord.
Rebel Leader: For the Forsworn. While he's imprisoned in Cidhna Mine and ostensibly under the thumb of the Silver-Bloods, should the Dragonborn free him, Madanach will stage a break-out from prison, kill Thonar and announce he's about to whip up a major Forsworn rebellion against the Nords.
Red Baron: The King in Rags.
The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: While he claims that his ultimate goal is peace once the Reach gains independence, he's not overly concerned about who has to die to accomplish that, and he hates the Nords. He does make an exception for a Nord Dragonborn, though, if only because he needs help getting out of Cidhna Mine. Granted, that won't protect you from all future attacks, but that's true regardless of race.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
- Says this about Grisvar the Unlucky, whom he tells the player to kill as a test of loyalty.
- He also essentially says this to you, if you help him and his men escape. He and the Forsworn stationed at his camp won't be hostile to you, but Madanach does pretty much tell you before he runs off that his allegiance with you is basically done.
Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: The Dragonborn can hear the Forsworn's side of the story of the Reach from him.

Margret

Voiced by: Colleen Delany (English)

A Nord woman who claims she is visiting Markarth to buy jewelry for her sister. She plays a role in “The Forsworn Conspiracy” quest.

And Your Reward Is Clothes: If you rescue her, she will thank you by giving you a necklace.
In the Back: If successful, Weylin kills her by stabbing her in the back.
Plot-Triggering Death: Potentially. When the Dragonborn first enters Markarth, Weylin attempts to kill Margret. Her death can trigger “The Forsworn Conspiracy” quest, but you can save her and the quest will still start.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If you rescue her, after you talk to her in the Silver-Blood Inn and discover she is a spy, she talks about leaving Markarth even though she did not successfully complete her assignment. She does disappear from the inn after a while, apparently making good on this.
Video Game Caring Potential: The ability to save her from Weylin’s attack certainly qualifies as this.
Walking Spoiler: She is actually a spy sent by General Tullius to investigate the treasury house and the Silver-Blood family.

Melka

One of two Hagravens residing in Blind Cliff Cave, she was betrayed by the other one, named Petra, and locked away. She recruits the Dragonborn to free her and help reclaim her tower, and rewards them with her unique staff afterward.

Affably Evil: Granted, she is a Hagraven and likely has done some nasty things, but she at least tries to be friendly and make small talk while you help her out and actually keeps her word to reward you instead of betraying you like you might expect.
Cain and Abel: The Abel (for a certain definition of "good") to Petra's Cain, as she calls Petra her sister after she's killed.
Collector of the Strange: Mentions that she collects eyeballs in post-quest dialogue.
Failed a Spot Check: She does not have a great track record when it comes to discerning the player's race: if the Dragonborn is a Khajiit or Argonian, she thinks they're an Orc; any other race, and she thinks they're a Breton.
Technicolor Toxin: Discussed. She describes poisons as "pretty".
Trap Master: Justified. It's her tower, so of course she knows exactly how all the traps function and are overcome, which she will share with the Dragonborn as they traverse it.

Muiri

Voiced by: Corri English (English)^note

A young Breton girl working for the Markarth apothecary. Despite her innocent demeanor, she experienced a tragic past, causing her to become obsessed with revenge. She's obsessed to the point of summoning the Dark Brotherhood to carry it out.

All Girls Want Bad Boys: If the Dragonborn kills both Alain and Nilsine, her dialogue indicates she falls for them, and she becomes a marriage option.
Break the Cutie: She lived in Windhelm and was good friends with the well-known Clan Shatter-Shield. When one of said family's daughters was killed by The Butcher, Muiri was comforted by a man called Alain Dufont. It turns out that Alain only used Muiri to get to the Shatter-Shields and rob them. The Shatter-Shields blamed Muiri for this robbery and effectively banished her from Windhelm, taking away the life she built there.
Broken Bird: She presumably used to be a nicer person, until Alain Dufont happened and Clan Shatter-Shield wanted nothing more to do with her. Now she's broken enough to put out a hit on one of the people in the family she was once friends with.
Dude Magnet: She notes the men in the city won’t leave her alone.
Miscarriage of Justice: The victim of a frameup that ruined her relationship with Clan Shatter-Shield.
She Who Fights Monsters: Also puts the innocent Nilsine Shatter-Shield on the murder contract, just to make the family matron Tova feel rotten. This results in Tova's suicide, and the Shatter-Shield patriarch to fall into a deep depression.

Nepos the Nose

Voiced by: George Coe (English)^note

An old and rich Reachman living in Markath. Secretly a Forsworn escapee from the Nord purge and an agent of Madanach while he is in Cidhna Mine.

Affably Evil: When you track back to him, he congratulates you for your success, answers every question you ask, then politely informs you he can't let you get out alive.
He Knows Too Much: Tries to pull this on you, and is implied to have done it many times before.
Ignored Epiphany: His journal reveals that he genuinely feels guilt for sending so many young men to their deaths in the terrorist acts he accomplishes under Madanach's orders, but he apparently thinks he has gone too far to stop now.
Just Following Orders: His reasoning for handing out Madanach's orders and sending people to their deaths.
Nepos: I don't know how, but he lives. I get his messages, and I hand out his orders without question.
Sunk Cost Fallacy: He knows he's wasted time, money, and lives on Madanach's rebellion, but he says that that isn't a reason to stop. He tries to explain that to stop now would be a bigger waste; see the above Ignored Epiphany. The Dragonborn will almost certainly kill him for it.
Underestimating Badassery: He clearly underestimates the Dragonborn.
Undying Loyalty: He hasn't seen Madanach in decades, but he still calls him his king and carries out all his orders without question. It is rather disconcerting hearing him talk about his master and gives you an idea just how fanatical the Forsworn are. He even lampshades it himself.

Raerek

Voiced by: George Coe (English)^note

Jarl Igmund's steward is also his uncle.

Blackmail: He is secretly a Talos worshiper. If you join the Stormcloak war effort, you will be sent to blackmail him with this information and obtain some valuable intel.
Cool Old Guy
Hypercompetent Sidekick: Far more competent than Igmund himself. His concerns regarding the Silver-Blood family in particular are completely justified.

Thonar Silver-Blood

Voiced by: Christian Svensson (English)^note

A member of the corrupt Silver-Blood family who runs Markarth's Treasury House.

Arc Villain: Of the short Forsworn questline consisting of the "Forsworn Conspiracy" and "No One Escapes Cidhna Mine" quests.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: He mentions that he used Madanach to get rid of "competitors, agents, idiots".
Asshole Victim: He loses his wife in a Forsworn attack on his own treasury. Even if you choose the sympathetic "I'm sorry" response, he's savvy enough to know he's an asshole and doesn't believe you. Additionally, if you side with the Forsworn during "No One Escapes Cidhna Mine," he'll show up personally with a contingent of guards to confront the escapees. Given that the Forsworn and the guards at his back are all much more durable than he is and that he stands right at the front, he'll almost certainly be the first to die, with no sympathy spared.
Big Bad Duumvirate: With his brother, Thongvor. Thonar runs the family business and Thongvar concentrates on politics.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: As far as he's concerned, hiring mercenaries to hound his competitors and forcing criminals to mine for him for the rest of their lives is perfectly fine if he gets more silver out of it.
Jerkass: He doesn't try to put on any pretense of being likable or caring about anything other than money.
Karma Houdini: A possible outcome of the Forsworn questline. The player can kill Madanach, after which Thonar will thank and pardon you, but still continue with his corrupt activities. Still, not a complete Houdini with the Kick The Son Of A Bitch aspect taken into account. That being said, he immediately loses his essential status at the end of the mission and he greets you in a place with no guards. You can immediately go into sneak mode and kill him with a handful of arrows before the guards notice.
Karmic Death: A possible outcome of the Forsworn questline. The player can ally with Madanach and help him escape, after which they and the other prisoners attack and (probably) kill Thonar. He gets slain by the people he tried to seal away.
Laser-Guided Karma: Of course, there's nothing stopping you from murdering him after the quest is done, since he's no longer tagged as essential. A particularly delicious way is to enter stealth and shoot him in the back with a Forsworn arrow, making it appear as if he was yet another victim in the string of assassinations carried out by the "Forsworn".
- You can also cast Frenzy on him, having the corrupt guards that do his bidding kill him, instead.
- If you take his route out of Cidhna Mine (killing the Forsworn present and escaping), then he conveniently becomes a connection to you. A connection you can sacrifice to empower the Ebony Blade. Possibly one of the few times a player will feel glee at hearing "Excellent work, my child~".
Meal Ticket: To his wife, Betrid, who proudly boasts of being a Gold Digger.
Smug Snake: Much like Maven Black-Briar, and admittedly it's not entirely unreasonable as he's been keeping up a rather impressive operation with only a very few key players knowing (unlike Maven, who is rather open and direct about who's really in charge of Riften) for twenty years now. It's entirely probable that even his brother doesn't know what he's been doing. Thonar believes he has fully cowed Madanach and has the Forsworn completely under his thumb: even Madanach admits it wasn't until around the time of "The Forsworn Conspiracy" that the Forsworn had finally built up the resources to finally make their move against him. Thonar is later brutally proven wrong when Forsworn agents in his own house murder his wife and try to kill him too.
Trophy Wife: Probably Betrid; she looks to be younger than him by a fair bit. Despite this, he seems genuinely grief-stricken by her death.

Red Eagle

A famous Reachman hero from back when the Reach wasn't controlled by the Nords. He led the Reachmen's resistance against the Empire when they invaded Tamriel, and was the first Briarheart.

Cool Sword: Red Eagle's Fury (or Red Eagle's Bane in its true form), his weapon, also serves as the key to his tomb.
Deal with the Devil: He made one with a Hagraven; in exchange for sacrificing his heart, his will, and his humanity, he gained incredible powers and became a pitiless spirit of vengeance. It was this deal that inspired the Briarheart.
Flaming Sword: Regardless of which version of the sword you have on you, it has a fire damage enchantment on it. When you fight him, he's packing a fire-enchanted BFS.
Full-Frontal Assault: It was said that he made his Last Stand "robed in nothing but his righteous fury".
Gameplay and Story Segregation: He appears as a regular Draugr boss in-game - complete with dragon Shouts - despite his backstory having nothing to do with the Dragon Cult. At high levels, he may even spawn as a Dragon Priest, which is even worse.
Meaningful Name: His birth name, Faolan, is a mix of this and Line-of-Sight Name. It translates as 'red eagle,' and according to The Legend of Red Eagle, he was named for the cry of an eagle that was heard when he was born and the fact that it was autumn and the trees were covered in red leaves.
Last Stand: As mentioned above, he confronted the Imperial Legion on his own with nothing but his sword in the final battle, and managed to slaughter a thousand of them before dying.
One-Man Army: While alive, he managed to kick the Imperial Legion out of the Reach, and even though they came back and eventually defeated him, he managed to slaughter a thousand enemies before dying.
The Paragon: Seen as this by the Forsworn.
Thread of Prophecy, Severed: He was supposed to be The Chosen One of a prophecy which stated he would unite the ten kings ruling the Reach. However, the Empire arrived and invaded the Reach, killing or bribing the ten kings and ruining all his chances to fulfill the prophecy.

Characters / Skyrim: The Reach

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