History NightmareFuel / TheElderScrollsVSkyrim

* [[TheMorlocks The Falmer]]. They look creepy enough, but add to that the fact that they blend in with the shadows, and that odd chattering noise they make, and you've got yourself some Grade-A horror. Worse, they often appear with Chaurus, utterly nasty insectile horrors which are tough to kill, deal ugly damage with their bites, and use health draining poison that will often kill in seconds, especially if you're foolish enough to get into melee with them.

* ''Dawnguard'' further adds Darkfall Cave. A completely pitch black cave full of trolls, the aforementioned Chaurus Hunters, and Frostbite Spiders. [[spoiler: Early on in the cave, you come across a thin, rickety bridge spanning a ravine with a rushing water current at the bottom. The bridge creaks rather ominously as you pass over, but nothing more. On the other side, you find very little and proceed back across... [[JumpScare only for the bridge to collapse and plunge you into the dark abyss.]] You're left at the mercy of the current as it sweeps you through narrow fissures and out into a large cave with just enough light to see several massive Frostbite Spiders falling from the ceiling.]]

** The Stones themselves before being cleansed can be pretty ominous, with a group of people working on some kind of structure while reciting a strange mantra. And if you touch the uncleansed stone or sleep [[spoiler: you wake up to find yourself working on the stone, while Miraak ominously calls out to you]].

** Note that Hermaeus Mora isn't necessarily in control of the Dragonborn by the end. Although you end up helping him/it in some ways, the Daedric Prince isn't as all-powerful as he'd like people to think, and is fully capable of misleading people. For one thing, in his Daedric quest in the main game, Mora implies that the Heart of Lorkhan is inside of the locked Dwemer room that Septimus wants to enter, but it really contains Mora's book of knowledge (the Oghma Infinium). On top of that, we have a supposedly all-knowing being needing your help to get knowledge from the Skaal, something that an omniscient entity should not have to do. Next, we have the fact that the Master Telvanni Wizard Neloth says that there's none of the documented signs of Daedric control present in the Dragonborn, such as black spots in the whites of one's eyes. Finally, the ''Elder Scrolls'' games as a whole have been mostly oriented against fate as being absolute and unavoidable. Examples of the series' emphasis on free will include the time the Hero of Kvatch was able to break the Greymarch (which was said to be preordained and repeating once every era); when the dragon Paarthurnax explained that prophecy was only what may be, not what must be; and the fact that Elder Scrolls themselves only become fixed in their writing after the event written on them has come to pass. The only two major sources that speak out in favor of fate as being absolute and preordained are Hermaeus Mora (who is misleading at best), and Azura (technically, a priestess of hers says this). So basically, while Mora might have been helped by the Dragonborn, it isn't clear that he's really pulling the strings.

* This one is very easy to miss unless you do a lot of poking around in the southernmost mountains near Falkreath. You find an extremely out-of-the-way castle called Bloodlet Throne - why, it's just begging to be explored with a name like that, isn't it? Sure enough, it's populated with vampires. If you're a higher level, they're not too hard to dispatch, though all the bloodied bones scattered everywhere don't make you feel exactly comfortable, and periodically the silence is broken by wolf howls. Eventually you make your way to the penultimate confrontation. You emerge into an underground ''arena'', where dead bandits lie in pools of their own blood and a ''Volkihar vampire lord'' sits on a throne overlooking the scene. He opens the gates, and you're instantly swarmed by a pack of wolves. The vampires have been capturing victims and throwing them into the pit to fight for their lives - as a spectator sport. Also, the fact that the dungeon's FinalBoss is a Volkihar vampire can be a little unsettling if you don't have ''Dawnguard'' installed and aren't expecting to meet one of those.

** [[spoiler: The nightmare fuel gets doubled or even tripled if you're a Khajiit or Argonian with this psycho out for your potential pelt. It also become NauseaFuel for the former.]]

** There's a place just northeast of Markarth called Harmugstah; in said place, a mage has been enchanting the spiders.

* The Black Star, both the item and the related quest. In Azura's quest, you can get the Azura's Star we all know and love... or an utterly corrupted version, that works on Black Souls as well as white. Having this sheer unholy power is a bit on the creepy side... but the quest for it is much worse. You actually get to see INSIDE AZURA'S STAR, and meet a demented mage who's been cannibalising souls. And yes - it COMPLETELY confirms that yes -- people are still aware of what's going on in there.

** In one particular Dwemer ruin, you may stumble upon leftovers of an expedition that tried to explore it (not long) before you. Outside the actual ruin, the remains of a campsite contain the expedition leader's log, detailing those involved[[note]]The leader, eager scientist-explorer; a warrior tasked with defending the group; a mage; a sorcerer; a female orc overseer, two Khajiit brothers as manual labour and a few others not detailed further[[/note]] and the events of their first few days, including a snowstorm that forced the group to retreat into the ruins. As you wander in yourself, their grueling story unfolds: The ongoing storm traps them inside, supplies run low, they happen upon their first Dwemer machines. A drug addiction he was attempting to hide drives one of the Khajiit mad; you find him standing over the body of his brother, and he attacks you on sight. Apparently he also slaughtered various members of the team beforehand. The sorcerer and overseer were captured by Falmer deeper down; they managed to escape, but the sorcerer was killed by Dwemer mechs and the overseer fell to the pursuing Falmer. The mage is found dead, strapped to one of their torture racks. After you've combed through the entire place and defeated the Centurion at its end, the leader and warrior emerge and will, if left undisturbed, get into an argument over whether to keep exploring or leave this forsaken place forever, eventually starting to fight to the death. This alone would be enough for a decent horror movie...

* In the second Dark Brotherhood quest, "With Friends Like These...", you are abducted in your sleep and taken to an unknown location. You are then forced to kill one of three people (or all three) in order to be initiated into the Brotherhood. Exiting the shack, you find that it's a run-down, abandoned rat hole of a building that's literally in the middle of nowhere. For some reason the prospect of those people being kidnapped and dragged to a place like this where nobody can hear you scream or call for help is extremely unsettling.
** The ''Hearthfire'' DLC adds additional fuel, because this shack is located just a stone's throw away from one of the three locations where you can build one of the custom homes. That's right - the Dark Brotherhood is active right near the house where your loving spouse, two children, and loyal canine companion Meeko could be living. Your daughter tells you that she's scared, that she thinks there are monsters in the swamp; you kiss her forehead and tell her not to be afraid because you'd fight every dragon in the world and win to keep her safe. But she's right - there are monsters in the swamp. Monsters that can sneak into your home, abduct you right out of your bed without alerting your family... monsters that could have easily killed your family as you slept and let you live because it would be crueler that way.

** Even scarier is that [[spoiler:you are forced to kill an priest of a rival Daedric Prince in Molag Bal's name (if you want all the Daedric Artifacts). The Priest's soul is then sent to Molag Bal, presumably for eternal torture. Remember the Wizard and Vaermina mentioned in ''Oblivion'' above? This is probably even worse, because not only is an innocent priest doomed for a similar fate, but you're the one who carried it out.]] College Humour said it best: "RPG heroes are jerks"
*** [[spoiler:However, the priest is not exactly innocent. Boethiah makes you '''sacrifice one of your followers''' for her artifact, so Molag Bal commanding you to kill her priest falls firmly into EvilVersusEvil. Besides, his dialogue seems to imply that he had intentionally sought Molag Bal`s shrine and defiled it by using it to worship Boethiah instead. With that in mind, Molag Bal`s enraged reaction is quite understandable - he does not want priest`s death, per se. He wants his submission - which is entirely par for the course for the King of Rape.]]

** A couple of quests make it very clear [[ColdBloodedTorture exactly what]] the Thalmor do to Talos-worshipping citizens (and more or less anyone else they don't like). However, the really nightmarish bit comes during "Diplomatic Immunity," when you get to witness it firsthand. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyvK9KTr-s8 See for yourself]] (though beware of spoilers).

* The quest "[[ImAHumanitarian The Taste of Death]]." It starts out innocently enough; the local priest of Arkay (read: undertaker priest) had to close down the Hall of the Dead in Markarth because it seems something has been eating the bodies. He hires you to go look into it. Once you go in, you find the culprit, a woman named Eola. She believes you to be a fellow cannibal (it's open to the player whether or not she's right), and she hires you to clear out a shrine to Namira. You do so. Somewhat disturbing, but nothing ''scary'', right? Well, [[spoiler: she then tells you to go get the priest who hired you before and bring him back to "sanctify" the shrine. You get him to follow you back and it seems a bunch of other people have shown up, and they seem to be HALF THE POPULATION OF MARKARTH. Some of them you may have even helped out! The shopkeeper who took over her husband's shop? The local butcher? Yep. Cannibals. Then the woman hypnotizes the priest and has you kill him and take the first bite. So, let's see, you killed a priest, became a cannibal, ate the priest, and found out some of the friendly citizens you've been doing quests for are cannibals as well.]] Markarth just got a lot darker, all of a sudden.

* Two words: "We know." [[spoiler:This, along with a black handprint, is the entirety of the letter you receive from the Dark Brotherhood after killing Grelod the Kind. Sleep tight!...or better yet, ''[[NeverSleepAgain don't]]''! [[ParanoiaFuel That's how they get you!]]]]

* Every step in the murder mystery of Morthal. Especially the part when you play hide-and-seek with a child's ghost. The moment you find her [[spoiler:at her grave]], she recoils in shock [[spoiler:because a freaking vampire lady shows up right behind you.]]
* One of the earliest Companion quests is to sort out a trouble-causing Falmer group in Shimmermist Cave. In the end, you find the leader. He's in the middle of the room, so you can back him up into a corner by using Fus Ro Dah. He slams into the dark wall... [[spoiler: only for the wall to walk forwards and reveal itself to be a ''huge Dwemer centurion''.]]

*** There's another thing that makes a Vampire Lord Dovahkiin all the more terrifying - nobody can recognize you while in Vampire Lord form, assuming they have not seen you transform, which means you can kill as many people as you want and not get any bounty on your head. This opens up a whole new array of possibilities for an [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential evil-inclined,]] [[AxCrazy murderous]] Dovahkiin, and a whole new source of ParanoiaFuel. One night a terrifying bat-beast can glide silently into your city, mercilessly slaughtering anyone in its way, draining them dry of blood, raising corpses to fight by its side, summoning nightmarish gargoyles. Eventually it mercifully escapes into the night. The next day, the legendary Dragonborn walks into town, receiving greetings fit for a hero. Sure, there is something ''off'' about him... a sort of paleness, an eerie light in his eyes... but this is the Dragonborn, savior of Skyrim, vanquisher of dragons! Surely someone so virtuous cannot have evil intentions deep within, right? '''Right?'''
** And all of this is just peaches compared to how the dragons themselves see the Dragonborn. This is a mortal with the ability to take the souls of any dragon he or she kills, using them to unlock dragon shouts and new ways to bring utter pain upon them, before stripping the very bones from their corpses and forging them into [[BadWithTheBone weapons]] and [[SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset armour]] to further mock their kind with.
** Mirmulnir's last words definitely sum up the horror a Dragon must feel when encountering the Dragonborn. For most of the entire battle he's incredibly confident, as with Alduin back, not even ''[[DeathIsCheap death]]'' could stop him for very long. But then you see that sense of smugness quickly dissolve into unbridled terror as he realised far too late just ''[[TheDreaded who]]'' the person standing in front of him was. Imagine spending your last few seconds feeling your skin begin to catch fire and your soul rip itself away from you. No wonder he screams.

** And ''[[EvilCounterpart Miraak]]'' of all people even lampshades this;

* One [[AnimateDead Conjuration Spell]], Dead Thrall, is a pure horror for NPC. Its function is resurrect any NPC for 60-days in-game with the equipment and weapon when the NPC died. Imagine you are bandit in the camp or soldier in a fort example above and you see Dragonborn, the housecarl, and his/her undead legion (Usually wizard and NPC wearing steel armor and above) march to your position, slaughter your band, and revive you as his/her [[ShapedLikeItself Dead Thrall]].
** The raise dead spells are unpleasant in general. If you listen, humanoid thralls periodically moan in pain when not in combat. When killed, they sometimes whisper "Free...again" before disintegrating. Seems those reanimation spells do just that. And only that. With no mention of healing the injuries that killed them in the first place. [[AFateWorseThanDeath And they're aware of it the whole time.]]

* [[GreaterScopeVillain Hermaeus Mora]] has always been really creepy, what with the way all of his artistic renditions have depicted him as a formless EldritchAbomination. But in ''Skyrim'', you don't even get that when you meet him face to face, as it were; what you get instead is this [[NothingIsScarier swirling black vortex]] ''that appears out of nowhere'' while you weren't looking, blocks your only exit, and speaks to you in [[AffablyEvil an affable and beguiling voice]]. [[ParanoiaFuel Mora's been watching you]], and he intends on making you His new emissary, whether you want it or not.

*** It gets worse. Those series of voids with tentacles emerging from the depths and eyes phasing in and out of Nirn are rendered as two-dimensional objects, much like death sprites in ''Doom'', an effect that causes the image to shift its orientation whenever the camera moves about. [[spoiler: That's right. Hermaeus Mora isn't interested in the Dragonborn, he's interested in ''you''.]]
* [[spoiler: Astrid's body]] at the end of "Death Incarnate" in the Dark Brotherhood line. [[spoiler: She's burned all over and practically skeletal,]] and everyone, especially [[spoiler: she,]] knows that [[spoiler: she's]] committed an unforgivable sin (by Sithis's standards, at least) and [[spoiler: she has only seconds to live.]] AlasPoorVillain, indeed.

* ''Dawnguard'' also adds the [[HauntedCastle Castle Volkihar]] tower leading to the Soul Cairn, at which point the game essentially becomes ''VideoGame/DarkSouls''-lite. You're making your way up the dark tower, which only has about 3 healing potions in it, fighting very high level skeletons, in addition to a few death hounds. But the worst part is when [[NothingisScarier there are no skeletons]], and you're wandering around the shadows, wondering which of these gargoyles is going to [[JumpScare come to life]]...
* ''Dawnguard'' further adds Darkfall Cave. A completely pitch black cave full of trolls, the aforementioned Chaurus Hunters, and Frostbite Spiders. [[spoiler: Early on in the cave, you come across a thin, rickety bridge spanning a ravine with a rushing water current at the bottom. The bridge creaks rather ominously as you pass over, but nothing more. On the other side, you find very little and proceed back across... [[JumpScare Only for the bridge to collapse and plunge you into the dark abyss.]] You're left at the mercy of the current as it sweeps you through narrow fissures and out into a large cave with just enough light to see several massive Frostbite Spiders falling from the ceiling.]]

* ''Dawnguard'' is just a treasure trove of nightmare fuel. The first time you walk into Castle Volkihar deserves mention: the vampires are in the middle of a feast, with bones, gore, and spattered blood contrasting with the otherwise luxurious surrounding. There are even human corpses laid out on the tables, and a few of the vampires are chin-deep in their entrails like children in their first birthday cake. Imagine literally walking into the middle of that, completely surrounded, the only human present. Oh, wait. Those corpses on the tables? [[AndIMustScream THEY'RE]] ''[[AndIMustScream ALIVE]]''. On the plus side, science has proven that this makes it at least 100% more satisfying to storm the castle and have a whingdally of a slobberdocker on the vampires with a big ole' axe.
* Another one for ''Dawnguard'': if joining the Volkihar Vampires, you may be sent on a quest to recover a petrified ancient vampire's HEAD!
* In one quest where you help out a struggling shipping company against pirate raids, you must storm the pirate's fortress, Japhet's Folly. If you explore a bit, you find a locked room in which you find the corpse of Japhet himself, along with his journal. Reading it, you learn the history of this place. Japhet writes of leaving Dawnstar with a crew to build the tower, but his crew left one by one, convinced that the place was haunted. Soon, Japhet was left all alone. He eventually becomes convinced that the ghost stories were true, as he hears them speaking to him. A little creepy, but nothing too severe. What clinches it is that Japhet seems like a fairly normal, stable person, until you turn to the last page, which simply says... [[spoiler:OH GODS HELP ME]]
* The quest in Frostflow Lighthouse. [[spoiler: You enter the lighthouse to find furniture overturned, with blood everywhere and a dead body. Your quest message flashes across the screen: find the murderer. By reading the journals, you find that it was the couple's dream to retire to a lighthouse, even though their mostly-adult children didn't like the idea much. They've been hearing noises in the cellars, and assumed it was just skeevers. Then the husband comes home from a shopping trip to find his wife dead and children missing, and locks himself in the basement to either kill whatever did this or die trying. Turns out the cellar opened up into a large ice cave swarming with Falmer and Chaurus. Along the way, you find the rest of the family members' bodies - the son being the first body you find, the daughter having ''[[BetterToDieThanBeKilled killed herself]]'' to escape the horrible things the Falmer did to her father and others they dragged down there, and the father's remains being ''inside a Chaurus Reaper''.]]
* One of the earliest released screenshots for ''Dragonborn'' is... [[http://cdnstatic.bethsoft.com/akqacms/files/tes/screenshots/Seeker.jpg this.]] Ladies and gentlemen, the [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] have arrived.
** Oh yeah and you see those ''Morrowind'' examples above, about the ash creatures and the other horrific monsters in the game? Yeah, now they're back in full unholy HD.

** The fact that [[spoiler: everything you do in the main story of the DLC in some way helps Hermaeus Mora, which, depending on your character, can make you anywhere between an UnwittingPawn and an AntiHero. How he kills the leader of the Skaal and Miraak is also pretty horrifying, impaling them with tentacles while giving them a ReasonYouSuckSpeech, with a very guttural voice. It almost gives off the feeling that no matter how powerful the Dragonborn has become, (s)he is still no more than a pawn to the Daedra]].

** Note that Hermaeus Mora isn't necessarily in control of the Dragonborn by the end. Although you end up helping him/it in some ways, the Daedric Prince isn't as omniscient as it leads one to believe, and is fully capable of misleading people. For one thing, in his Daedric quest in the main game, Mora implies that the Heart of Lorkhan is inside of the locked Dwemer room that Septimus wants to enter, but it really contains Mora's book of knowledge (the Oghma Infinium). On top of that, we have a supposedly all-knowing being needing your help to get knowledge from the Skaal, something that an omniscient entity should not have to do. Next, we have the fact that the Master Telvanni Wizard Neloth says that there's none of the documented signs of Daedric control present in the Dragonborn, such as black spots in the whites of one's eyes. Finally, the Elder Scrolls games as a whole have been mostly oriented against fate as being absolute and unavoidable. Examples of the series' emphasis on free will include the time the Hero of Kvatch was able to break the Greymarch (which was said to be preordained and repeating once every era); when the dragon Paarthurnax explained that prophecy was only what may be, not what must be; and the fact that Elder Scrolls themselves only become fixed in their writing after the event written on them has come to pass. The only two major sources that speak out in favor of fate as being absolute and preordained are Hermaeus Mora (who is misleading at best), and Azura (technically, a priestess of hers says this). So basically, while Mora might have been helped by the Dragonborn, it isn't clear that he's really pulling the strings.
** A little and horrible (but very easily missed) detail: The Words for any other shout are almost always carved on rock, as the Word has to actually be seen by the Dragonborn in order to learn it. Well, the third Word for the Bend Will Shout is acquired immediately after [[spoiler: The Skaal Leader dies]] and there is no Word visible at the time...[[spoiler: or so would you think; the Word for it is carved ON THE DEAD LEADER'S CHEST, briefly giving off a faint green/orange/yellow aura, compared to the blue/white that normal words emanate]]

*** They did make [[CallOfCthulhuDarkCornersOfTheEarth the Call of Cthulhu video game]] (which is actually more based on Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth).
* Though after the first few times you can get desensitized to it, the first few times you raid a bandit camp/fort can be this when you see what they've done to the people they've captured. It's not uncommon to find bodies in locked cells, or in a few cases you can find bodies on tables where they were cut open and tortured. It just makes slaughtering said bandits all the more satisfying when you finally get to do it.

*** Though, going by her other dialogue, this isn't them forcing ''her'', but her forcing ''them'' to let her stay. She comes with the fort apparently, and bandits, vampires, orcs and anyone else is all cool with it and her. Basically, she plays grandma to all of them, which is just adorable. Imagine her serving up some warmed up cups of blood to tired vampires, or her being the human grandma to a bunch of orcs.

** You might be surprised [[VideoGame/DragonAgeII Knight-Commander Meredith]] has suddenly started demanding something of you in a totally different game and no one will blame you for freaking out.

** Occasionally there is a bug which causes some of the Mannequins to be [[UncannyValley animated and/or move around with basic NPC AI]]. Even worse, sometimes they will move off-screen and [[ParanoiaFuel freeze when their model is rendered]]. Sometimes they disappear, and when you turn back around, they're sort of wobbling back into place like they just sneaked away for a moment.

** [[spoiler: The nightmare fuel gets doubled or even tripled if you're a Khajiit or Argonian with this psycho out for your pontential pelt. It also become NauseaFuel for the former.]]

-->"I remember one morning long time ago, I woke up and the place was run by some Orcs. Went to bed that night, it was all vampires. Don't matter to me."

** The guy who trains dogs to sell and the Jarl, and gives you special 'spiced beef' for the Jarl's dogs, is also a member of the cult.... Makes you wonder just what kind of treat he had you deliver...

** That shopkeeper who took over when her husband died? She says this when you talk to her during the, eh, meal: [[spoiler:"One of my customers? Did you know I inherited the store from my late husband? Shame what happened to him. He had such good taste."]] Either she has a very [[BlackComedy dark sense of humor]], [[spoiler:or her husband was a cannibal as well, ''or she ate her husband'']]. Or perhaps all three are true. (She is a Bosmer, who are believed by some to practice ritual cannibalism; still, she's so ''casual'' about it!) It gets even worse if you've talked to her beforehand and done a quest for her; at the time she seemed genuinely sad that she lost her husband, which just makes the entire ordeal that much more disturbing.

** That shopkeeper who took over when her husband died? She says this when you talk to her during the, eh, meal: [[spoiler:"One of my customers? Did you know I inherited the store from my late husband? Shame what happened to him. He had such good taste."]] Either she has a very [[BlackComedy dark sense of humor]], [[spoiler:or her husband was a cannibal as well, ''or she ate her husband'']]. Or perhaps all three are true. (She is a Bosmer, who are believed by some to practice ritual cannibalism; still, she's so ''casual'' about it!)

* [[spoiler: The nightmare fuel gets doubled or even tripled if you're a Khajiit or Argonian with this psycho out for your pontential pelt. It also become NauseaFuel for the former.]]

* [[Tunnel Network The Ratway Warrens]]. Highlights include an insane deaf woman who sits in darkness [[MadnessMantra endlessly repeating a list]], a cannibal chef who wants to make a meal of you, and an ex-Imperial Officer suffering from PTSD, who mentions some horrors that the Thalmor did.

* The Forsworn. While they may have some legitimate grievances against the Nords of The Reach, they are still very much the brutal savages that the residents of Markarth make them out to be. They worship Hagravens, who return the favor by ripping out the hearts of chosen Forsworn to turn them into quasi-undead Briarhearts through a dark ritual. At one point, at one of their hideouts, a Forsworn can be seen at a sharpening table with the corpse of a Nord nearby, happily commenting that he's going to turn the Nord's skull into an axe head.

* The Falmer. They look creepy enough, but add to that the fact that they blend in with the shadows, and that odd chattering noise they make, and you've got yourself some Grade-A horror. Worse, they often appear with Chaurus, utterly nasty insectile horrors which are tough to kill, deal ugly damage with their bites, and use health draining poison that will often kill in seconds, especially if you're foolish enough to get into melee with them.

* The entire backstory of the Thalmor, from their Nazi parallels to the fact that these people were somehow able to hunt down and sadistically murder ''every single member of the Blades'' (a warrior guild made up of the best spies and assassins in Tamriel under employ of the Empire) in Valenwood and Alinor, before using their heads as a warning to the Empire, then proceeding to royally kick the Empire's ass in a devastating war.

* The Ratway Warrens. Highlights include an insane deaf woman who sits in darkness [[MadnessMantra endlessly repeating a list]], a cannibal chef who wants to make a meal of you, and an ex-Imperial Officer suffering from PTSD, who mentions some horrors that the Thalmor did.

* The Dovahkiin is, in his/her own way, a walking MookHorrorShow just waiting to happen. Just imagine that you're sitting in your camp, on watch for a caravan or some roaming monster or a military patrol that might fall upon the home you've carved out. It's the dead of night. Then, coming up the trail, you see a single person, alone. They're wearing nice armor and wielding a nice weapon, but they're by themselves. Easy prey for a dozen bandits, right? That armor and sword will make for a great haul! And even better, they're walking right toward your camp! You call your buddies, and they ready the ambush, and just as you leap out to strike, you hear '''"FUS RO DAH!"''' The next few minutes is a horrifying blur as you and your companions throw everything you have at this lone warrior, while lightning and fire and demonic beasts and even a freaking ''dragon'' comes swooping in and around you. You companions are being torn apart, blasted to ashes, or decapitated one by one, and this unstoppable warrior just keeps coming, periodically shouting out blast waves at the top of his/her lungs and moving impossibly fast, striking with terrifying precision, hurling armored warriors through the air like feathers, or just making people keel over and ''die''.

* One Conjuration Spell, Dead Thrall, is a pure horror for NPC. Its function is resurrect any NPC for 60-days in-game with the equipment and weapon when the NPC died. Imagine you are bandit in the camp or soldier in a fort example above and you see Dragonborn, the housecarl, and his/her undead legion (Usually wizard and NPC wearing steel armor and above) march to your position, slaughter your band, and revive you as his/her [[ShapedLikeItself Dead Thrall]].

* Hermaeus Mora has always been really creepy, what with the way all of his artistic renditions have depicted him as a formless EldritchAbomination. But in ''Skyrim'', you don't even get that when you meet him face to face, as it were; what you get instead is this [[NothingIsScarier swirling black vortex]] ''that appears out of nowhere'' while you weren't looking, blocks your only exit, and speaks to you in [[AffablyEvil an affable and beguiling voice]]. [[ParanoiaFuel Mora's been watching you]], and he intends on making you His new emissary, whether you want it or not.

* With the addition of the ''Dawnguard'' DLC came the Soul Cairn, a plane of Oblivion to which human souls that have been captured in Black Soul Gems are sent after the soul gems are used up. The piles of bones everywhere are to be expected of what is essentially a graveyard dimension, but the true horror is the fact that all of these souls are in a permanent AndIMustScream state. If you talk to any of the unnamed souls, they will occasionally say that they feel like they are constantly being drawn and quartered...

* You know, as terrifying and icky and creepy as the chaurus are, you've at least got the reassurance that you can outmaneuver them and keep out of range of their horrifically-powerful bites. ''Noooooooooope.'' Not with ''Dawnguard''! Now you have to deal with ''Chaurus Hunters''. The Chaurus Reapers? Those were the ''larval form''. The Hunters are massive, winged, mantis-like creatures with stingers. It's basically a Chaurus Reaper except even tougher, and '''''it can fly'''''.

* ''Dawnguard'' also adds the Castle Volkihar tower leading to the Soul Cairn, at which point the game essentially becomes ''VideoGame/DarkSouls''-lite. You're making your way up the dark tower, which only has about 3 healing potions in it, fighting very high level skeletons, in addition to a few death hounds. But the worst part is when [[NothingisScarier there are no skeletons]], and you're wandering around the shadows, wondering which of these gargoyles is going to [[JumpScare come to life]]...

* "The House of Horrors" is a ''very'' aptly named quest. Let's just say that [[spoiler:Molag Bal has gone from being a {{Jerkass}} in ''Oblivion'' and '''[[TookALevelInJerkass really]]''' stepped up as "Lord of Domination"]].

[[caption-width-right:294:Look how happy he is to see you!]]

* One that's thankfully easy to miss is found in one of the Dragon Priests' tombs. Said priest was a crazy bastard even by the standards of insane dragon worshippers. He had his followers commit mass suicide so their ghosts could continue to defend the place. The truly disturbing part? [[spoiler:He apparently sacrificed ''children'' to make this work. You can find an open grave full of small wrapped bodies in the tomb.]] On the plus side, it makes killing this particular Dragon Priest that much more cathartic.

*** [[spoiler:And if you talk to him in the shrine, he exclaims "[[IronicEcho The bloodiest beef in the Reach!]]" followed by [[EvilLaugh an incredibly demented giggle, as if to confirm that suspicion.]]

*** [[spoiler:However, the priest is not exactly innocent. His dialogue seems to imply that he had intentionally sought Molag Bal`s shrine and defiled it by using it to worship Boethiah instead. With that in mind, Molag Bal`s enraged reaction is quite understandable - he does not want priest`s death, per se. He wants his submission - which is entirely par for the course for the King of Rape.]]

** In Raldbthar and possibly other Falmer areas, you may find tanning racks and tables with leather on them... the kicker is that you may find Human Flesh on those same tables. The implications are... [[FlayingAlive unpleasant]].

* The developers of ''Skyrim'' have been critically lauded for building one of the most beautiful, interactive, vast worlds ever seen in video gaming, and rightly so. On another level however, the world of ''Skyrim'' can truly be quite nightmarish and dangerous, whether it be on the lonely northern snowfields or in a supposedly abandoned shack by the river. In its environment the game regularly generates and contrasts NothingIsScarier, {{Jump Scare}}s, and many more tropes.

** Though if you have a HeyItsThatVoice moment and kinda freak out because [[VideoGame/DragonAgeII Knight-Commander Meredith]] has suddenly started demanding something of you in a totally different game, no one will blame you for freaking out.