Video Game / Legacy of the Dragonborn

The Mod's Logo for Special Edition

Legacy of the Dragonborn is a The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim mod created by a team led by icecreamassassin, adding a way of displaying the various weapons, items, and armor that players will obtain throughout their playthrough - not just from the vanilla game, but also stuff added by the mod, as well as other supported mods^note the total capacity of the Museum is nearly 3400 items. On top of adding new items^note both created for the mod, as well as ones present in previous games, but absent from Skyrim for one reason or another and a way to show them off, the mod also adds a variety of new quests, a new faction, and several new dungeons.

The story of this mod's creation begins with the release of the Creation Kit. icecreamassassin, already having experience from modding The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, was inspired to come back to Skyrim, and one day stumbled upon the mod Elysium Estate. After spending several hours setting up displays, he decided to try and tinker in an attempt to add more display cases, which led to him screwing up his download of the mod. However, this inspired him to reuse an idea he had for an Oblivion mod - a museum similar to the Mournehold Museum from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, with more player interaction - and thus Legacy was born.

The base version of the mod incorporates several smaller mods; however, larger mods are supported with a patch that enables displays for new items added for those mods, or, in the case of items that are present in both mods, removes/replaces the item in the base mod. It's worth noting that the only major mod not currently supported by the team is the Beyond Skyrim project^note earlier versions did feature displays for Beyond, but as of V5, support for Beyond was dropped; there is an unofficial synergy patch that adds displays, but that's merely because Legacy has plans for quests in select areas of certain regions of Tamriel in the future, and while the original plan was for those Odyssey quests to be set in the Beyond Skyrim worldspace, due to the two mods having drastically different release paces^note Legacy began in 2014; it wasn't until 2017 that Beyond Skyrim would put out its first pre-release, and there are currently no other major releases since these plans were scrapped in favor of having separate worldspaces made for those quests^note the mods don't conflict, so there's nothing to stop you from running both at the same time... but you will have two different locations called Fort Pale Pass on the map, both looking vastly different. Additionally, while several mods that Legacy offers support for have since been discontinued by their authors, Legacy does still offer support for them, but will not be updating those patches. Legacy itself has no requirements aside from a copy of Skyrim, as well as either Vortex^note Nexus's official mod manager, replacing Nexus Mod Manager or Mod Organizer 2^note a different, more complex mod organizer, although the mod also has additional configuration options if one has SKSE and Sky UI installed.

While the dev team has included built-in support for certain mods, there is also a developer's kit that allows modders to create displays for their own content, using a spot assigned by the dev team. Additionally, while the dev team doesn't support creation club content, patches that allow the creation club versions of items to be displayed do exist - although even though a few were given to everyone for free, the patches for those mods are not being moved into the main game.

The main Legacy mod is currently on its 20th version - the 5th for SE - and the team has begun development on a sequel mod, Odyssey of the Dragonborn. The mod can be found here (LE) and here (SE). The mod is available for the Xbox One, but not on the Playstation 4 or 5 (due to Sony banning mods) or the Nintendo Switch (due to no support for mods). As for patches that add compatibility with other mods, they can be found here (LE) and here (SE). The author of the mod has stated that the current LE version is the last one that will be released, and it's confirmed Odyssey will not receive the same treatment^note the reason for this is, in addition to the Creation Kit's limits for LE not allowing Odyssey, the author dislikes taking care of more than one version of a mod. Similar to how previous updates between versions of Legacy would require an entirely new save file^note it was okay to change between, oh say, version 4.5 to 4.51 on the same save; however, changing from version 4 to version 5 would require a completely new save, Odyssey will also require a new game, although the devs are attempting to make it so that players will not have to start over every time a new installment of Odyssey is released^note the way they intend to do this is to use Dummy Plugins that will be present, and can be replaced with the actual plugin for each installment when it's released.

If you wish to read about the mod's development, icecreamassassin has a blog that can be found here.

The museum currently consists of the following halls:

• The Hall of Heroes, the main hall; a two-story hall dedicated to showing off various weapons and unique sets of armor, as well as staffs, necklaces, amulets and rings. The very first hall the player will enter.
• The East Exhibit Halls, initially consisting of the following three halls, and later adding a fourth:
  • The Daedric Hall, dedicated to showing off Daedric Artifacts.
  • The Hall of Oddities, dedicated to showing off items that don't fit in any of the other halls.
  • The Hall of Lost Empires, dedicated to showing off items related to the Dwemer and Falmer empires.
  • The Planetarium, the only hall in the East Wing not initially available, requiring the player to first find a certain schematic, then build the room. Unlike its 3 counterparts, it instead allows the player to display projections.
• The Library, where various books are stored.
• The Gallery of Natural Science, showing off various aspects of Skyrim's wildlife.
• The Armory, which is dedicated to showing off the various normal armors, as well as thane weapons and guard hold armors and shields. Additionally, contains two wings which have general purpose weapon and armor displays.
• The Dragonborn Hall, which showcases displays related to questline completion.
  • The Hall of Secrets: A Hall dedicated to showing items related to more questionable exploits (read: Dark Brotherhood/Thieves Guild/Vampire/Werewolf items). Available after discovering the trap door to said hall.
• The Hall of Wonders, home to items added through the Creation Club (or the new items that are added to replace the "official" recreations).
• The Hall of Legends, which, while not currently in the game, will feature content from Odyssey of the Dragonborn.
• The Museum Storeroom, which holds a display of vintage alcohol.
• The Safehouse, player housing.
• The Explorer's Guild, home to the new Explorer's Guild faction. Unless the player uses alternate starts, the guild will need to be built by the player, and its members will need to be recruited.

And while not attached to the museum, there's also:

• Deepholme, a safe storage facility for the real items. The player is meant to put replicas of the items in the museum before taking them to Deepholme. Only available after completing a quest, which is given to the player upon discovery of the location after Shadows of One's Past.
• The Dev Aveza, an airship the player obtains after completion of It Belongs in a Museum.
• Karagas's Tower, a Dwarven themed player home obtained after completion of The Excavation of the Ruins of Rkund.

The museum itself has a large number of mods that are supported by an additional patch, which adds displays for some, and also just ensures that there are no conflicts for others. A full list can be found here, and the patch can be downloaded here.

Supported mods with TV Tropes Pages

• Falskaar
• The Forgotten City
• Vigilant

Museum quests

The new faction, the Explorer's Guild, contains its own questline, consisting of excavations. Additionally, there are quests for the museum itself, as well as ones incorporated from other mods.

• An Interesting Proposal^note the default starting quest; started either by reading one of the museum flyers in a tavern, walking into the museum and talking to Auryen himself, or by selling an artifact and receiving a message from Auyren: After greeting the player, Auryen sends them after 3 artifacts, and upon the retrieval of all 3, makes the player his partner. However, if the player uses alternate start mods, they will instead start with...
• Dragonborn Gallery: The player is sent a letter by Auryen with a proposal about the museum, and is sent to retrieve 3 different artifacts. The player is sent to 2 locations they would visit throughout the main quest, kickstarting the game's main story.
• Akaviri Rising^note the quest the player gets if they choose the "I Am the Guild Master" Alternate Start; leads directly into Dragonborn Gallery once finished: The player wakes up, having hit their head, at an excavation of an Akaviri Outpost. They find a unique dagger and are told to take the item to Auryen. It's worth noting that the player can still obtain the dagger if they have the mod installed without choosing this start, provided that they visit the Akaviri outpost later on.
• It Belongs in a Museum^note unlocked after 70 items are displayed in the Museum and the player reaches level 18: Auryen is contacted by a Khajiit who aims to keep a rare staff out of the hands of the Thalmor, and the player must either find a caravan to travel to Elsweyr^note in the LE version by default, as well as the SE version if Moonpath to Elsweyr is installed or meet the Khajiit behind the museum^note if the player is playing the SE version of the mod and doesn't have Moonpath to Elsweyr installed
• A Room with a View^note unlocked after 150 items are displayed in the museum: Having added a fair number of artifacts to the museum, Auryen decides it's time to recruit other adventurers to help with the Museum, and tasks the player with building a guild house for the Explorer's Society. This leads into...
• Digging up Explorers: The player is sent to gather 5 individuals Auryen has identified as potential members. It, along with the aforementioned A Room with a View, are skipped if the player uses alternate starts.
• Night at the Museum^note unlocked after 200 items are displayed in the Museum: After a paranormal entity begins to haunt the Museum, Auryen closes the museum until the ghost is dealt with, and hires Brother Ikard to help the player to do so^note the most recent versions of Legacy have an option to skip this quest for those who don't like horror, but it comes at the cost of a display item.
• Shadows of One's Past^note unlocked after 300 items are displayed: The player returns to the museum only to find it has been robbed! Team up with one of the guards to track down the group of bandits, who have a connection to one of the staff...
• The Excavation of Windcaller Pass^note unlocked after completion of Shadows of One's Past and 400 items have been displayed: The Explorer's Society has finally decided on its first exploration, and chosen Windcaller Pass as the first location.
• The Excavation of the Ruins of Rkund^note unlocked 10 days after the previous excavation: As Windcaller Pass was the first site the Society had chosen to excavate, they now move on to excavating the other choice, the Dwemer Ruins of Rkund.
• Branching Out, Branching Out...Again, and Branching Out...Even More^note all 3 quests are identical, save for where they are; unlocked by completion of the main game College of Winterhold questline, and the main game quests No One Escapes Cidhna Mine and Lost Legends, respectively: Figuring it would be a good idea if the Society had field stations elsewhere in Skyrim where they could stop in between excavations, Professor Patero Marassi suggests locations in Winterhold, The Pale, and Windhelm for constructions of these stations. Becomes inaccessible if not completed before the Excavation of the Lost Ruins during the Trial of Trinimac.
• Shattered Legacy^note unlocked after 550 items have been displayed, the player has received the Sword of Ancient Tongues from Auryen, and the main quest The Way of the Voice has been completed: A man entrusts the player with a fragment of a red gem, before dying at the hands of the Morag Tong. According to Auryen, this gem is none other than a fragment of the Amulet of Kings! But it's going to take more than just the four fragments and the fitting to convince a representative of Akatosh to reforge it...
• Much Ado about Snow Elves^note unlocked after completion of the main game quest The Lost Expedition: Cacelmo has found information related to certain Falmer Artifacts, and gets in contact with the player to find them. Leads directly into...
• The Visage: During the events of Much Ado about Snow Elves, a strange spirit appeared before the player, and the sound of chimes now leads the player to a new set of ruins. This leads to...
• The Trial of Trinimac^note also requires completion of The Excavation of the Ruins of Rkund; the second half requires completion of the Dawnguard quest Touching the Sky: The new set of ruins turns out to be an ideal place for a new excavation, as . Surely there isn't anything more to this?
• Auryen's Notes^note no requirements, can be started by reading the notes Auryen leaves on his desk: Untargeted quests detailing various items Auryen would like to add to the museum, with hints as to where they are.

Also worth mentioning for the the LE edition of the mod is an add-on called the Lost Legacy of the Nine, which greatly expands on the Knights of the Nine from the Oblivion DLC of the same name (the armor from said DLC is available in vanilla Legacy). At the moment, the author of that mod has yet to port said addition to SE, but he has stated it will happen eventually^note although it's likely it will be in a different form, as it was decided that, rather than make a separate stand for the Breton Paladin armor mod required for the Lost Legacy mod, they opted to keep the existing armor display. There are also several unofficial mods that add displays as well and other mods that, while not adding displays, do have compatibility in regards to displaying items, will not be listed here due to not having the official seal of approval, as well as just how many of these that there are.

Warning: the examples contain unmarked spoilers to the game's vanilla content.

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Tropes:

• Adventurer Archaeologist: While the Dragonborn is arguably one in the vanilla game, this mod gives them both the goal and ability to document and display Skyrim's history by smashing, outwitting, and outrunning everything that's kept it buried for so long.
  • When the Explorer's Society is founded, the guild charter practically lists Adventure Archeology as the mission statement.
• All Your Powers Combined: The Visage of the Dragonborn, a unique set of armor^note it's up to the player if it's light armor, robes, or heavy armor given to the player after the completion of the quest "Shattered Legacy". It combines items representing 7 heroes^note the SE version distinguishes them as 3 heroes representing the breath of the Mother, St Alessia - Saint Alessia herself, Reman Cyrodiil, and Tiber Septim - and 3 heroes representing the breath of the Father, Shor - Morihaus, Zurin Arctus, and King Wulfharth - with the Last Dragonborn being the most recent; the LE version, on the other hand, uses a rather loose definition of "Dragonborn", having the Nerevarine (who was referred to as Dragon-born in Morrowind, but in a context where the suggested meaning is something else entirely) and Miraak in place of Zurin Arctus and Morihaus from the History of Tamriel. Both the LE and SE versions feature The Amulet of Kings^note an amulet representing Saint Alessia, last wielded by Martin Septim; it starts off in fragments, but it's reforged as part of one of the mod's quests, The Treads of Wulfharth^note boots representing King Wulfharth, the Gauntlets of the Last Dragonborn^note the Gauntlets are relatively the same in both LE and SE; however, in LE, they're made from the Underking's Gloves; in SE, they're merely made from an Ingot made from a Dragon Soul and the Shield of Reman Cyrodiil^note a shield representing Reman Cyrodiil, as well as the Canon Foreigner Sword of Ancient Tongues^note unlike the other 7, Auryen doesn't send you after it, instead giving it to you. However, the other 3 items that make up the armor differ depending on which version of Skyrim you're playing:
  • In LE, the other 3 items are The Moon and Star, the Armor of Tiber Septim, and the Mask Of Miraak^note despite the name, it's not made from the mask bearing Miraak's name; instead, it's made from a new mask belonging to the Dragon Priest Vehlok, as well as a soul gem containing Miraak's soul.
  • In SE, on the other hand, Miraak and the Nerevarine are not represented, with the Moon and Star being replaced with the Ring of Zurin Arctus, and Tiber Septim now being represented by his helm; the the Lord's Mail, representing Morihaus, is added to act as the Armor.
• Ambiguously Gay: As noted by the lead developer, Madras unintentionally wound up with the female walking animation. Because of this, as well as the fact that during the homage to The Wizard of Oz, he winds up in the role of Dorothy, it's implied he's gay. However, he's never shown having any attraction to any other male characters, suggesting either he's not as open about it, or he isn't interested in romance at the moment.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • A significant number of the items displayed are ones you either have to give to an NPC as part of a quest, or are powerful weapons/armor you might want to use^note it's probably easier to name weapons/armor in the base game or other mods that don't have displays for them, so you can craft replicas of those items that the displays will accept^note replicas of unique weapons and armor can be used as weapons/armor, but won't have any enchantments.
  • The Curator's Guide is a very handy book - on top of displaying how many total items you have on display, it can also help you find Auryen, as well as let you warp to other rooms of the museum (as well as the Safehouse and Explorer's Guild).
  • One does not actually have to currently have a displayable item in order to create a replica of it - as long as they had it in their inventory at one point^note and it's a unique item, they can create a replica^note this is likely to account for cases such as the Rueful Axe and Ring of Hircine, where the player is in possession of those items for part of the quest, but could not obtain the other items - the Mask of Clavicus Vile and Sinding's Hide - without forfeiting them.
  • If you can't find where an item is displayed, you can't activate the display for some reason, you're over-encumbered, or you're just lazy and don't want to walk to the display you can use the Display Prep Station, which will automatically place items for you. There's even a chest you can use if you only want to display specific items.
  • Auryen has a radiant quest where he'll just straight-out tell you where a displayable artifact can be found. If the artifact is in a location you can't get at for whatever reason, you can simply tell him "I'm having trouble finding the artifact" and he'll give you a different one to find with no kind of penalty. And of course, the first artifact is still there, so you might be able to get to it later on.
  • The Ruins of Rkund expedition has a portion where the player has to engage in a complicated Platform Game-style antics...inside a silo full of magma. Because players had trouble with this, the mod's makers added a hidden button near the entrace to the silo that lets you skip the puzzle entirely, with no penalty.
  • The optional plug-in Legacy of the Dragonborn - The Curator's Companion adds symbols to immediately tell if an item can be displayed or already is when looking at them (both in and out of the inventory).
• Arc Villain: There isn't an overarching villain in this mod^note at least for Legacy; whether or not that's also the case for Odyssey has yet to be seen; when there is a villain for one of the museum/Explorers Guild quests, it's usually restricted to said questline.
  • Night At the Museum: Lord Macnarian, although he only qualifies as such because he's haunting the museum; his motivations make him an Anti-Villain.
  • Shadows of Ones Past: Jelal.
  • Shattered Legacy: The Morag Tong are the most immediate threat, although Erza and Argus turn out to be devils in plain sight.
  • Trial of Trinimac: Turlin Deathweaver
  • It Belongs in a Museum: The Thalmor, regardless of if the player is tackling the standalone version or the version that incorporates "Moonpath to Elsweyr".
• The Atoner: Avram Shazir, the museum guard, was a member of a gang of cutthroat bandits for much of his life. He eventually realized that he was shaming his late father by being a common thief, and tried to set his life back on the straight and narrow. During Shadows of One's Past his brother Jelal, who's still with the bandits, robs the museum and Avram will (if the player lets him) do everything in his power to get it all back.
• Awesome, but Impractical: The unique warhammer Stendarr's Hammer (automatically obtained once the Museum displays at least 350 items) is this if you don't own the Stendarr's Hammer Creation Club content. The Legacy version of the weapon inflicts almost twice more damage than a Dragonbone Warhammer^note the most powerful non-unique warhammer in the unmodded game and weight 1000 lbs. This is way higher than the starting carry weight capacity (300), and increasing it enough to be eventually able to carry the weapon is still highly unlikely, even with min-maxing enchanted crafting^note To compair, Stendarr's Hammer replica's stats inflicts as much damage as a Glass Warhammer (higher range mid-tier quality gear) while weighting as much as an Iron Warhammer (lowest tier weapon). The CC variant of the weapon (supported by the mod) is this to a lesser extent, as it has as much damage as the aforementioned Dragonbone Warhammer and weights 100 lbs, which is still much heavier than any other weapon but definitively more manageable.
• Big Good: Auryen.
• Badass Bookworm: Auryen spends the majority of his time in the library (which is the addition he's the most proud of), and also is shown to know a lot about various aspects of Tamriel's history.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: The "Jar Hunt" addon by Badgremlin (who also made the below-mentioned "Trophy Heads" addon), one of the jars you can collect contains the Elder Scrolls franchise logo.
• The Bus Came Back: Thanks to items added by this mod, as well as ones added by supporting mods, odds are if you can think of a named unique item from a previous Elder Scrolls game that didn't already come back in vanilla Skyrim, it's present in this mod.
  • Mithril (last seen in Oblivion) and Adamantium (last seen in Morrowind) have both been confirmed to return in Act 1 of Odyssey, with weapons made of both having been completed, and armor made from said metals is currently being designed and modeled.
• Canon Discontinuity: The "Bad Ending" of Act 3 of Vigilant is treated as such, given that said ending has the player "die" in a fire - while the player's game isn't ended, they are technically a different character from then on out^note specifically, the player is given the choice of accepting Molag Bal's help to escape or dying as a martyr in the burning mansion; neither option will impact how much karma you have, but choosing the former will allow you to go to Coldharbor as your current character, while the latter will have your character "die", and you'll pick up as a new character - vanilla Skyrim doesn't notice, but Vigilant will take this into account. Regardless of which outcome they pursue, the museum will display the good ending of the act.
• Cash Gate: Deepholme requires 10,000 septims to complete, and since it's supposed to be kept off the books, the player has to provide it themselves. And of course, there's also the fact that in order to display the Thane weapons, the player needs to purchase the houses in four^note Solitude, Windhelm, Markarth, and Riften of the nine holds^note Dawnstar, Falkreath, Morthal, and Winterhold only require the player to do a favor for the Jarl of each hold, then help some of the citizens; and the player becomes Thane of Whiterun throughout the game's story regardless of if they purchase Breezehome - and if the player has the mod that adds displays for the player homes (which also includes the Hearthfire homesteads), they need to buy the houses as well.
• Contest Winner Cameo: In a way; Fafnir the raccoon is named for FafnirEterion, who won a contest on the Nexus Mod forums to choose the Explorers' Society's mascot and suggested a raccoon that steals an important artifact during a quest.
• Continuity Cavalcade: To the point where this mod's name might as well be "Continuity Cavalcade: The Mod" - it contains relics not just from the previous four games (both using recurring ones found in the vanilla game and adding its own takes on ones that were absent), but also adding new ones with roots in canon.
• Cool Old Guy: Again, Auryen — in terms of age, he's in the Altmer equivalent of his 50s, and he's shown to be very knowledgeable, and mentions he was an adventurer early in his lifetime, as well as having lived through the events of the first four main games^note going by the below-mentioned age, which puts Auryen's age at 500 at a minimum, that would mean he was born in the year 134 of the 3rd Era at the youngest — Online and Redguard both take place before then.
• Cool Sword: The base game already had a fair number of these, but the mod takes this trope up to eleven, not only bringing back swords from previous entries, but also adding new weapons. A few notable examples are the aforementioned Sword of Ancient Tongues, as well as Auyren's own sword (currently unobtainable), Aedrastorn.
• Creator Cameo: There are a number of useful archaeologist's tools scattered around Skyrim named after members of the mod's development team, usually associated with their member's role in the team (ex. Sir Jesto's Patchwork Cloak, named after Sir Jesto who manages the mod's patch hub). For the most part these items can be obtained from their previous owners' corpses.
• Cutting Off the Branches: Possibly inverted — the vanilla Skyrim game seems to suggest that the Hero of Kvatch chose to destroy either Goldbrand or the Ring of Khajiit as part of the quest "Blood of the Daedra"^note said quest specifically requires unique Daedric artifacts, and you could only use ones present in the vanilla game; however, Legends suggests it was the latter, since Goldbrand is mentioned to have been wielded at the Battle of Red Ring, given the absence of both items. However, both come back in this mod^note however, it's entirely possible that the artifact was merely recreated by its corresponding Daedric Prince, and it's possible Goldbrand would've been given to the player by Boethiah after they completed the Dummied Out "Boethiah's Bidding". Played straight for the Vigilant display, however, as the ending for Act 3 that has the player choosing to become a martyr will not be displayed, and only the Good ending for said chapter will get a display.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The Hand of Glory grants the user insane stealth-related powers^note better than the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal from the mod of the same name, but doing so curses the player and drains their hitpoints. Fortunately, it only works if you have the item equipped; if you only have it in your inventory, or you put it on the display, you don't have to worry about it draining your health.
• Decapitation Presentation: Averted by the "Trophy Heads" addon for the mod - you'd think a mod with that name would involve this, but instead, you're collecting heads that were already decapitated and preserved^note not all races are represented - Bretons, Imperials, Falmer, Dwemer, and non-Thalmor Altmer don't have heads. Somewhat played straight in the base game with the Dark Brotherhood questline, since the 15 targets Nazir gives the player (and Victoria Vici) all have skulls the player can collect and display^note you're not required to decapitate them; you only have to kill them and loot it off their body, although there is a mod that will remove their head if you take it from their inventory.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • A few of the items that can be displayed have untargeted quests that can be triggered by reading notes Auryen has written on them^note the reason for them not being targeted is that the items can also be added by other mods or creations; in cases where a creation or mod has a different version of an item, the item in Legacy is either replaced or locked off entirely. However, it's possible for the player to find the items before reading said notes, so if they do so, the player's Journal will automatically mark the quest as complete with a different note.
  • In the SSE version, should one have obtained the Lord's Mail prior to the point where it's needed in Shattered Legacy (either the one present in the mod, or the Creation Club version), Auryen will note that the player found it on a previous expedition; on the other hand, he'll send you after it if you don't have it.
  • While not implemented yet, the Devs have stated that, rather than requiring an entirely new game each time Odyssey releases a new chapter, dummy plug-ins will be installed alongside Odyssey so that the player can add them in when they are released without having to start over. However, the player will need a new game when they first install Odyssey.
  • If one puts the masks of the Dragon Priests on display in the Hall of Heroes and has Konahrik's Accountrements installed, doing so will also display the masks on their corresponding Accountrements display (and vice-versa).
  • The items that Auryen has the player look for in the quest "An Interesting Prospect"^note a Sixth House Bell Hammer, Denstagmer's Ring, and Jade Warrior 2 won't spawn until the player starts said quest. However, if the player uses one of the alternate starts, those items will start activated and Auryen will send the player off in search of different items^note the Bell Hammer and Jade Warrior 2 are replaced with a set of Urns in Helgen - which are ultimately not collected due to Helgen being destroyed - as well as the Dragon Stone, so the items will spawn automatically upon starting a new game. Likewise, if you have the Guild Master Alternate Start installed^note said start has you start as the leader of the excavation mentioned below in Early-Bird Cameo and for whatever reason does not choose said alternate start, the artifact that mod adds can still be collected later.
• Early-Bird Cameo: The characters at the excavation the player starts with if they choose the Guildmaster Alternate Start are reportedly going to return in Odyssey.
• Fan Sequel: On its own, the mod kind of acts as one to Oblivion, with the quest Shattered Legacy following up on what happened to the Amulet of Kings after the Oblivion Crisis. However, the patch also has support for other mods that follow up on the events of both Oblivion and Morrowind.
• Formula-Breaking Episode: Odyssey is stated to not only require the player to have completed all of the main Legacy quests, but also a level requirement of 50^note although the team has said that they plan on having patches that will lower the level for mods that make it harder to level up, and it will also take your choices in Skyrim quests into consideration.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Thanks to the patch, there are several displays for other notable mods, and existing displays will take the version of the items added by the other mod - with a few exceptions^note usually in cases where the player uses dialogue to choose an item, the patch goes out of its way to make sure that instead of having duplicate items, the Legacy item is replaced with an entirely new item^note i.e., if one has Tournament of the Ten Bloods mod installed, instead of either finding Goldbrand on the Katariah (if they join the Dark Brotherhood and kill the Emperor) or being given Eltonbrand by a messenger from the Emperor as thanks (if they destroy the Dark Brotherhood), Shadowrend is instead found/given to the player for both outcomes.
  • In the SE version of the mod^note if Moonpath to Elsweyr isn't installed, Rakis will show up after the player puts 70 items in the museum to give them the Staff of Indarys. If the player is unable to stop the Thalmor agent from killing him, Rakis leaves the airship to them after giving the staff. However, if the player stops the Thalmor agent, Rakis will give the player the airship as a reward for saving his life.
  • The planetarium, the Hall of Secrets^note for displaying items related to the Thieves Guild/Dark Brotherhood questlines, as well as some vampire/werewolf items, and certain quest displays are off limits until the player either completes said quests associated with them/gets to a point in their quests, or in the case of the Hall of Secrets, discovers said hall.
  • You can only build the Field Stations after completing certain quests^note Under Sarthaal (although as of V5, the entire College of Winterhold Questline must be completed), "No One Escapes Cidhna Mine", and "Forbidden Legend". Additionally, they become off limits after "The Trial of Trinimac", since the person who gives you the quest to build said stations dies as part of "Trinimac".
  • In the most recent versions, the items one would obtain from siding with the other faction during the Dawnguard questline will instead be found on the bodies of members of said faction during the attack on that faction's base - the exception being the Ancient Vampire parts for the Dawnguard, which the player still has to track down^note the parts are fixed though, but they instead destroy at Stendarr's Beacon.
  • In both versions of the mod, wearing the Moon and Star will automatically kill the player. In the LE version, however, the ring is instead cursed, and upon breaking the curse, it can be worn without any problems.
  • The player can discover Deepholme at any point in the game, but they can only bring it up to Auryen as a safe storage location after "Shadows of Ones Past" (when the museum is robbed). Also, because Deepholme is meant to be kept off the books, the player has to provide the gold necessary to fund it themselves.
  • In the case of the Dark Brotherhood and Civil War Questlines, the display in the Dragonborn Hall will be different depending on if you join or destroy the former, and if you sided with the Stormcloaks or Imperials in the latter^note the same goes for the Thieves Guild display in said hall if you use a mod that lets you destroy the Thieves Guild.
  • Several displays will be unavailable for use until the player has gotten to a certain point in whatever mod they're attached to; similarly, while there are some mod displays that will have the weapon cases/armor stands/item spots available, they won't have a unique background until after the player has completed their respective quest.
  • As of V5, "The Way of the Voice" must be completed in order for Shattered Legacy to start, since the former quest results in the player being named Dragonborn, and the latter revolves around their relation to other Dragonborn.
  • The Curator's guide will only work inside the museum; additionally, if you try and use its "Locate Auryen" feature while he's away from the museum, it will say he's not at the museum at the moment.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • While there's no hard requirement that one become Dragonborn in order to visit the museum, it's recommended that the player put off talking to Auyren^note having the museum marked on your map and being able to fast travel to it is fine until they've been named Dragonborn as part of the main quest ^note or at the very least, completed "Dragon Rising", where the player learns that they are Dragonborn, since Auryen will refer to you as Dragonborn regardless of if you've been named as such, but being named Dragonborn also opens up a fair number of the mod's quests. Similarly, the mod also recommends against using mods that allow you to play as a non-Dragonborn (i.e., Skyrim Unbound) for similar reasons. However, this is only really the case if one wishes to start the game normally - if one uses the "Guild Master" alternate start option, however, they'll be given a quest that will take them to the locations that one would visit through the game's main quest up until the start of Dragon Rising, which leads to them discovering that they are Dragonborn.
  • During Shattered Legacy, the player will be required to retrieve the fitting of the Amulet of Kings, currently in possession of the Morag Tong, and they will have to wipe out the group of Tong sent to Skyrim...even if the player has Moon and Star^note a mod that acts as a semi-Fan Sequel to Morrowind that is supported via the patch installed and chose the outcome that led to them being named part of the Morag Tong. Justified in that the Tong are competing with Argus and Ezra, who send you after the fitting.
  • Despite Madras's total obsession with Dwemer artifacts, he'll be completely indifferent towards the Steadfast Dwarven Spider or Sphere from the Dragonborn DLC if you have them as followers, treating them as an Unusually Uninteresting Sight.
  • Opting to store the real version of an artifact at the museum instead of Deepholme once that location is unlocked won't have any impact on gameplay.
  • If one has the Tools of Kagrenac Mod installed and gets one of the Sixth House Bell Hammers, Auryen will still require the player to obtain the one at the specific location^note the reason for this is that the dev team intends for the player to start the mod as early as possible].
  • A Night at the Museum:
    • If you have a follower during the quest, they'll somehow follow the Dragonborn inside the nightmare sequence.
    • In the quest's second stage, the armor mannequins from the armory come to life and some of them leave the armory. They always wear the same armors, regardless of what is actually displayed in the armory. It even happens if the Dragonborn didn't display a single armor piece.
    • Progressing through the quest requires several time to sleep a bit in the guards' dormitory, which each times displays a notification you slept for two hours. According to the actual ingame internal clock, no time skip happens at all.
  • In Shadows of One's Past, the assets for the chests of stolen relics look like open chest with actual relics from the mod apparent inside them, and this appearance is static regardless of what was actually exposed in the museum when the burglary happened.
  • Auryen tells he'll let you manage the Hall of Secrets as you want, doesn't want to know what you'll do with, and will never enter it. In the actual game, the events when he seeks you through the whole museum to starts conversation and give a new artifact also trigger when the Dragonborn is in said room he's supposed to consider off-limit.
• God Was My Co-Pilot: The mod's lore implies that Auryen has some connection to Auriel, the Elven version of Akatosh; he might even be an aspect of Auriel trying to help the Dragonborn in their quest to defeat Alduin.
  • Akatosh indirectly does this in Shattered Legacy, guiding the player to reforge the Amulet of Kings - however, the messenger he sends makes it clear that the pact that created the amulet is no longer valid, and this will be the last time he'll help.
  • Odyssey plans to have the player require help from a Daedric prince at one point in the questline; which prince in question can depend on what choices the player made outside of the mod.
• Greater-Scope Villain: "O" in Shattered Legacy - the only thing we know about them is that they were after the Amulet of Kings and also knew about the Shield of Reman Cyrodiil.
• Guide Dang It!: Finding Ice's Stalhrim Spoon of Assassination falls into this in V5, given that unlike in the previous versions, there's a puzzle you have to complete. The mod's wiki (which normally explains how to find the various collectibles) tells to not spoil how to get this one.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: Auryen amusingly notes that whereas most of the other notable artifacts (i.e., the Tools of Kagrenac, Cyrus's Saber) he makes notes on are hidden in far off places, the Fists of Randagulf are practically right next door in the Blue Palace, and the only reason they aren't on display yet is Falk Firebeard hasn't been convinced to let him display them.
• I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: How Shattered Legacy starts.
• Infinity +1 Sword: The aforementioned Visage of the Dragonborn - on its own, the individual parts are relatively good pieces of armor, but they have passive bonuses that multiply when worn with other parts - however, the most benefits are obtained from using one-handed weapons and the Shield of Reman Cyrodiil; using one of the twohanded weapons (Greatsword, Battle Axe, Bow^note there aren't any arrows to go with the set) will only count as having 7 items equipped. Additionally, since the enchantments are hidden, the player is free to enchant each weapon/piece of armor however they want.
• Jumpscare: Can happen during the "Night at the Museum" quest when the player has a nightmare.
  • In the original version of the quest, attempting to open the door to the Daedric Hall will trigger a piercing scream.
  • In the V5 version, trying to leave the museum through the front door will reveal a dark void, and a giant flaming skull that rushes towards the player while growling.
• Killed Off for Real: Unless the player intervenes, Rakis will get offed by a Thalmor assassin when he shows up to give the Staff of Indarys. However, this is only if the player is playing SE and doesn't have "Moonpath to Elsweyr" installed^note in the LE game and an SE version with Moonpath installed, he gives the Staff to you after completing the main quest of Moonpath, and shows up to give you the airship later.
• Living Museum Exhibit: During "Night at the Museum", the armor mannequins will come to life and harmlessly amble around the main hall. The Hall of Natural Sciences exhibits are also alive, but they're far from harmless...and you have to go into the hall as part of the quest, meaning you have to dodge bear attacks and Hagraven fireballs.
• Museum of the Strange and Unusual: Downplayed, as the museum has several things that are not particularly "unusual" along with several things that ARE. It actually has a special section for odd stuff: the "Hall of Oddities".
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Much like most of the other non-Thalmor Altmer, Aureyn shows none of the prejudices said organization has...although he's more indifferent towards the Thalmor^note at the very least, if he does dislike the Thalmor, he keeps his opinion to himself. However, he does refer to Talos as a Patron God of the Nords^note although he doesn't indicate if he considers Talos one of the Divines, or if he only considers Talos part of the Nordic Pantheon in the same vein as Xarxes and Jephre are considered part of the Altmeri Pantheon, indicating he at least does not share their stance of denying Talos's status as a god.
• Mythology Gag: The Daedric Armor from Morrowind returns as a new unique set of Daedric Armor, the Ancient Daedric Lord Armor. Like in Morrowind, it can't be crafted, although in this case, it's largely because Skyrim already has its own craftable Daedric Armor.
• Non-Action Girl: Eriana, at least in comparison to the other members of the guild.
• Orphaned Etymology:
  • During the Vanilla Thieves Guild quest when the Dragonborn breaks in Cacelmo's office to find a Falmer's lexicon, the mod adds a museum display featuring the stele with Falmer script. The display notification says "Falmer Rosetta Stone", which refers a real life historical artifact (itself named after a real life Egyptian place) in a fictional fantasy setting.
  • The padparadscha (a gem added by the mod) is a real life gem (an orange-pinkish variant of sapphire) which name comes from the Sinhalese language. There's no Fantasy Counterpart Culture of Sri Lanka in The Elder Scrolls.
• Permanently Missable Content: While the mod is generally good about averting this, there's quite a few items that aren't available to you if you either don't obtain them when visiting the area they are found in, or choose a certain option for a certain quest. Examples include:
  • Windshear and Firiniel's End are offlimits if one opts to destroy the Dark Brotherhood instead of joining them and assassinating the Emperor, as the former only appears on his ship (which doesn't spawn if the Dark Brotherhood are destroyed, since he never visits Skyrim otherwise), and the latter is planted by one of the Dark Brotherhood on a balcony when you kill Victoria Vici. Also, the Ancient Shrounded Armor is lost if you don't do the optional objective for killing Gaius Maro, and obviously can't be obtained if you destroy the Brotherhood.
  • Unless you either use glitches or console commands to visit it later, anything in the Thalmor Embassy fits this trope if you don't grab them when you visit the Embassy during "Diplomatic Immunity".
  • In general, if a vanilla quest forces you to choose between outcomes, the other outcome's reward - i.e., side with Thornar in "No One Escapes Cidhna Mine", and you miss out on the Armor of the Old Gods^note however, it is possible to get both items - side with Madanach up until he gives you the armor, then kill him and escape; Thornar will act as if you escaped by yourself and give you his family ring. That being said, there are some cases where the mod does let you craft replicas of items you miss out on (for example, the player can create a replica of the Skull of Corruption after the quest it's part of is completed, regardless of the outcome), and there are also mods that let the player get both rewards.
  • Prior to V5.029, if you become Bloodkin in a way that doesn't involve finding the Forgemaster's Fingers^note helping certain orcs outside of Strongholds, completion of "A New Order" if one sides with the Dawnguard in their DLC, completion of the quest "The Cursed Tribe" if the player is at least level 10, completion of this mod's "The Vaults of Deepholme" quest; however, as long as you start the quest to find the fingers before doing any of those, you can still find it, you'll miss out on that item. Fortunately, as of that version, if you become Orc Friend in another way, a recipe to create a replica is given to you.
  • Certain unique thane weapons (as well as their necklaces if you have the right mod installed) or items tied to the starting Jarls become off-limits if one doesn't become Thane of their respective cities before the Civil War questline^note you can become Thane in 8 of the 9 cities regardless of who you side with - 7 of them are available regardless of civil war progress (you become Thane of Whiterun in the course of the main story, and the others can be earned), although the position of Thane of Eastmarch only becomes available after either capturing Falkreath (if siding with the Stormcloak) or the war is over (if one sides with the Imperials); however, if one sides with the Imperials, Maven won't give you the option to become Thane of Riften if you haven't completed "The Raid" before she became Jarl if you don't have enough favor with her; if you side with the Imperials, you won't be sent after the Helm of Winterhold if you become Thane after the Imperials take Winterhold, and Stormcloak players miss out on Hrolfdir's shield. The same is also true for Hold Guard masks and uniforms^note even worse if you have the "Guard's Armor Replacer" mod, given that said mod makes it so that each hold has 2 sets of armor.
  • Since the Helm of Winterhold can replace the Helm of Yngol, if you don't find the latter first, it's gone for good.
  • Averted with the items exclusive to each Dawnguard faction, since the game includes ways of getting the items from one faction if you side with the other.
  • The helm given to the player if they complete "Night at the Museum" the normal way becomes this if they use the way that lets them skip the quest^note said way was added because some people who played the mod didn't like horror.
  • Completing the first half of "The Trial of Trinimac" before building any of the Explorer Society Outposts will make them off-limits.
  • If you miss any of the Dragon Priest Masks on mainland Skyrim, you'll miss out on Konahriik^note granted, the only 2 you can really miss are Morokei and Nahkriin, and you'll also be locked out of obtaining the robes, boots, and gloves of Kohnariik if you have Kohnariik's Accountrements installed.
  • If you play without the Saints & Seducers DLC, the Sword of Jyggalag spawns in Pelagius Mind, a place which can only be accessed once (during Sheoggarath Daedric quest).
  • The Harbinger's Axe (requires the Royal Armory mod) lies in an unpickable display case in Kodlak Whitemane's bedroom in Jorrvaskr. The only way to obtain the key is to pickpocket him, which becomes impossible once he suffers from a story-related death once you progress far enough in the Vanilla Companions' questline (the game prevents Kodlak's corpse to be searched).
  • The signed books from Autographs (ok Skyrim) can't be obtained if the author dies before the Dragonborn could ask to sign their book.
• Previous Player-Character Cameo: In Moon and Star, the wanted fugitive you're after is eventually revealed to be the Nerevarine, who's returned to Tamriel to hunt down another Numidium. You can even kill him, although doing so will cause Azura to curse you and inflict a massive health debuff next time you go to sleep.
• Really 700 Years Old: As par for the course with the Mer, Auryen (a High Elf) and Professor Patero Marassi (a Wood Elf) both have extremely long lifespans - they first met 65 years prior to the events of Arena^note 300 years before the events of Skyrim; as of V5, one of the guards will mention that Auryen is at least 500 years old^note given that normal Altmer can live to at least 1000 - longer if they use magic - that's basically the elf equivalent of being in his 50s. Downplayed for Madras, since while his age is not stated, the devs have stated that he is in his mid-100s - older than most human characters, but relatively young for an elf.
• Retired Badass: Auryen will mention that he used to be an adventurer if you ask him about the sword in the display case in the Curator's Office, Aedrasorn, and he survived the events of the Oblivion Crisis. Presumably, said adventures are how he was able to afford the museum, since it's at least twice as large as Proudspire Manor, the most expensive house in the vanilla game.
• Running Gag: Madras constantly suggests throwing out Nordic artifacts in favor of Dwemer ones, not realizing the former are artifacts.
• Saved for the Sequel: As of V5, Umbra has become this - originally, it was found in an unmarked location in The Reach, but it's since been removed, and set aside for Act 2 of Odyssey^note the Creation Club version of Umbra is separate, although it can be displayed if one uses a patch. Relatedly, the distinct versions of Umbra added by Immersive Weapons and The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal SE^note Two unrelated third-party mods supported by Legacy of the Dragonborn are respectively renamed "Umbra (Forgery)" and "False Umbra" to keep consistency (and avoid making them redundant with each other).
• Sequel Goes Foreign: Although the player did visit Cyrodiil in Legacy^note as well as Elsweyr if they had Moonpath installed, Odyssey is stated to take the player to other worldspaces outside of Skyrim. The first act of Odyssey is confirmed to feature the Isle of Balfiera, an island in the Illiac Bay^note the player could visit it in Daggerfall, but it was procedurally generated; it's yet to be depicted in a pre-rendered form. Additionally, the Ayleid Waystone the player is given in "Shattered Legacy" later gets an upgrade that allows the player to access a central hub that currently only connects to Sancre Tor, suggesting that there will be warp points to these new regions that use this hub.
• Sequel Hook:
  • "O", the person who hired Argus and Ezra is still a mystery after the events of "Shattered Legacy".
  • In the most recent versions of the game, if the player uses the console commands, they can access a room called "The Hall of Legends"^note since this room wasn't present in prior versions and cut out, it's not Dummied Out, which is similar to the Daedric Hall, save for 9 glass windows...with one of them being draped over with a Thalmor Curtain^note presumably, said hall will be related to the Divines, given that there's no hall for them yet.
• Set Bonus: How the Visage of the Dragonborn items work — each constituent item (except for the Ring of Zurin Arctus, whose ability does nothing until you wield the full set) has a hidden enchantment that grants a bonus scaling to how many of them you use. Unfortunately, while both the armour pieces and the associated weapon exist in multiple forms to account for most playstyles, using any of the three two-handed versions of the weapon mean that the full power of the set isn't available, as another of the set items is a shield.
• Shout-Out:
  • At one point, the Gallery will become haunted, with the mannequins coming to life, and the player will have to join a Priest of Arkay overnight to attempt to get rid of the ghost. Take a wild guess what movie the quest shares a name with.
  • The Explorers' Society itself gets its name from the 7th Sea CCG, where it was Icecreamassassin's favorite faction.
  • A more subtle one is the quest that grants the player access to the Hall of Secrets, "Auryen Morellus and the Hall of Secrets". Guess what it's referencing.
  • There's also "It Belongs in a Museum", the primary component of the Moonpath to Elsweyr questline.
  • The Fairy Cage collection by Badgremlin quite obviously features Tinker Bell and a fairy bearing a resemblance to Din named "Zelda's Fairy".
  • One of the Jars in Badgremlin's Jar Hunt contains the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
  • The second excavation contains an extremely blatant shout-out to The Wizard of Oz - in fact, Latoria, Kyre, Marassi and Madras respectively fill the roles of the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and Dorothy^note although strangely, neither the Dragonborn or Auryen are given roles, and no one fills the role of Toto in the scene it's obviously referencing.
  • Two to The Shawshank Redemption: In a hidden tunnel in Deepholme Prison, you can find a sack that contains a set of prison clothes, a bar of soap, and the Worn Out Rock Hammer^note A Pickaxe downscaled to six inches long "damned near worn down to the nub"; these are the items Andy left behind when he escaped Shawshank Prison. Additionally, Erianna will occasionally quote Red and say "I've been known to locate some things from time to time."
  • Jelal, Avram's brother, is named for the character from Fairy Tail.
  • The mod "Skyrim Unique Treasures" adds an "Ichigo Kurosaki Sword".
  • In a more meta sense, the explorer artifacts which go on display in the Guildhouse are named after the real people who help icecreamassassin make Legacy. For example, Sir Jesto's Patchwork Cloak is named for SirJesto, who manages the mod's compatibility patches with other mods. The cinnaspice cookies are likewise named after a member of the Nexus Mods forums who made a good suggestion, so Icecreamassassin gave them a metaphorical "internet cookie".
• Take That!: In the Wine Cellar, the player will come across a broken stone with the letters "NMM" carved into it, a reference to the rather out of date (and now discontinued) Nexus Mod Manager^note if the letters alone don't give things away, reading it will give some text that will make it pretty clear.
• Team Pet: There are 2, Fafnir the Raccoon, and Eggelman the Dwemer toy.
• Token Good Teammate: Byron, given that Argus and Ezra turn out to be villains, and we never meet Ulgarg.
• Too Dumb to Live: Argus and Ezra. As noted under You Have Outlived Your Usefulness, once you obtain the four fragments of the Amulet of Kings as well as its fitting, they attempt to kill you to tie up loose ends. This is in spite of the fact that a), in order to obtain said fitting, you had to kill a significant number of Morag Tong assassins who had also been hired to track down the fragments, and b), you are the Dragonborn by this point^note prior to V5, it was possible to start this quest without becoming Dragonborn, since originally, the only requirement was having obtained the Sword of Ancient Tongues, which Auryen gave you after you had put 550 items on display but after V5, completion of "Way of the Voice" became a hard requirement.
• Version-Exclusive Content: The LE version of the mod has the famous "Moonpath to Elsweyr" integrated by default; the SE version, on the other hand, does not, but does incorporate items found in the mod via a different quest, and if one does install the SE version of "Moonpath", then the mod itself will incorporate it without need of the patch^note the reason the SE version doesn't have Moonpath installed by default, in case you're curious, is that the SE version has several changes from the LE version, rather than just being a direct port. Tthe LE version ended production years ago with all new content and revisions limited to the SE version. The staff have blatantly said they will no longer work on the LE version to keep it up to date with SE's content.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: During the Quest "Shattered Legacy", the player will meet Argus and Erza, two people who claim to be guardians of the fragments of the Amulet of Kings, but upon returning the four fragments and the fitting for the Amulet, Argus reveals that they were actually hired to track down the amulet, and attempts to kill you in an attempt to tie up loose ends. However, it's possible to invert this trope on Argus and Erza by killing him and Erza before obtaining the four fragments and fitting, and then reading Argus's journal for the next step of your quest.^note if you plan on doing this, it's recommended to kill Erza first, after she finds the Shield of Reman Cyrodiil, and then kill Argus.