History Skyrim / Tropes0ToC

** Goes UpToEleven if you do enough different sidequests. You will learn that no matter which group it is, or what the requirements are, your character is destined to be their new Chosen One. (Examples: [[spoiler:Harbinger of the Companions, Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold, Champion of every single Daedric Prince, Nightingale/Guild Master of the Thieves' Guild, Listener of the Dark Brotherhood.]]) You don't even have to be very good at their respective disciplines (like you did in ''Morrowind'') - just good enough to survive whatever quests they give you.

** Character names in general run the gamut from the mundane (Lydia the Housecarl, Adrienne Avenicci the blacksmith) to the odd, archaic, or very Scandinavian (Delphine, Ulfric) to the purely fantastical (Irileth, Belethor, Farengar). For some, it's justified, as each race has different naming conventions. Imperials are Latin/Italian, Bretons are French, elven races lean further towards fantasy etc.

** Character names in general run the gamut from the mundane (Lydia the Housecarl, Adrienne Avenicci the blacksmith) to the odd, archaic, or very Scandinavian (Delphine, Ulfric) to the purely fantastical (Irileth, Belethor, Farengar).

* AscendedGlitch: [[WordOfGod Producer Todd Howard said that they would leave in any bugs or glitches]] [[RuleOfFunny that were funny]] as long as they didn't [[GameBreakingBug break the game]].
** One bug found during development featured chickens reporting the player's crimes to guards. Sadly, it would have made the game unreasonably difficult for players who weren't aware of it, and so it was removed.
** Shortly after release, it was discovered that you could safely steal stuff as long as you placed a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt5aUdijAN8 bucket]] over the head of nearby [=NPC=]s so they couldn't see you do it.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=Oso_mmhvm-Y The Giants' national sport - adventurer-ball]].
** Various clipping and animation bugs can cause a leader to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVzPMXmaEGs&context=C298a8ADOEgsToPDskIweYq8ykyY-m_GYIxTeRaq begin dancing]] during an important speech.
** If you are on friendly terms with a faction like the Dark Brotherhood or the Companions, you can take quite a few free shots on them without them going hostile. This leads to some odd scenarios where you are happily greeted by someone with whom you [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnTJEHQr__E just shot with three arrows]].
** Fortify Skill enchantments on armor are classified as Restoration-type spells, and drinking a Potion of Restoration temporarily boosts their effects. By drinking a Potion of Restoration, equipping a piece of armor that boosts Alchemy, using that to brew a better Potion of Restoration, and repeating ad nauseam, one can create ludicrously powerful potions that heal millions of hit points, boost ItemCrafting skills by over ten thousand percent (thus allowing one to create ridiculously overpowered weapons, armor and enchantments) and basically break the game difficulty into little pieces - though repeating the loop too many times can cause an overflow and crash the game. It's an amusing, if unintentional, nod to ''Morrowind'', where something similar could be done.
** The thieves that randomly spawn in Riften sometimes do things that break their AI, and then they spend a few minutes just [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4dYekH0Aow keep taking their weapon out over and over]]
** One fairly regularly reported situation is that the player's in-game spouse seems to be cheating on them (suspicious people may be found in the player's house when they're left alone, etc.), which has at some point been acknowledged by the developers. In some cases, it's merely down to lingering scripts associated with a specific spouse, as is the case if you marry Camilla Valerius - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx9EI23Ztlg Faendal, a suitor of hers at the start of the game, will continue to stay close to her even if you move her out of Riverwood]].
** The Oghma Infinium book normally vanishes after choosing one path from it by reading it once for upgrading your stats (i.e. it's supposed to be one-time use only). But this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhDhPKF1lBY bug involving the use of a bookshelf]] prevents it from vanishing, letting you read the book repeatedly to LevelGrind as high as you want for free. Sadly, this one did get patched.
** The Hidden Chest glitch, which often has respawning (after a certain time period) loot (resulting in infinite gold and other supplies if you're patient). The most notable one being [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtEKEKcZ3jw this one in Dawnstar]], which is invisible, and can only be found if you sneak, and its contents refresh (though with random quantity) every 48 hours in-game. These hidden chests are actually Merchant chests, and their contents match up to a certain merchant's inventory. The one in Dawnstar, for example, belongs to the Kahjiit traders on the outskirts of the city.
** [=NPCs=] have been seen swimming through the air in the town of Morthal.
** In ''Dragonborn,'' once you have acquired Severin Manor in Raven Rock, you have access to everything inside the house - including the four mannequins in the basement. Equipping items onto these and then removing them will sometimes trigger a bug in which the mannequins spawn duplicates of the items in question, allowing you to farm a continuously replenishing supply of shields, tunics, and so forth.
** Likewise, you can collect infinite amount of arrows from guards who are practicing archery by picking them up from the target dummies. For better results, you can pickpocket the default arrows and replace them with a better one (like Daedric Arrow) and you can get infinite supplies of them.
** Using the setrace command will change your character's race but will not change their faces to the appropriate race. This can result in a human character with a Khajiit head. At least one person has used this opportunity to recreate King from ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}''.
** Using Aura Whisper may give your character semi-permanent glowing eyes, and the only downside is that they only come in light blue. Removing them requires you to spend 1000 gold for a facial resculpting, however.
** The fact that giants knock things really high into the sky, which is now part of a quest.

** The Bannered Mare, The Winking Skeever, The Sleeping Giant, and The Stumbling Sabrecat (a tiny one in Fort Dunstad) in the main game proper.

** It's not a tavern, but the [[AlliterativeName Pawned Prawn pawnshop]] in Riften follows this same naming convention. Like the Skeever and the Netch, you can ask the proprietor where the name came from.[[note]]He used to own a fishing boat called ''The Prawn'', but pawned it to buy the shop.[[/note]]

** It's not a tavern, but the [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal Pawned Prawn pawnshop]] in Riften follows this same naming convention. Like the Skeever and the Netch, you can ask the proprietor where the name came from.[[note]]He used to own a fishing boat called ''The Prawn'', but pawned it to buy the shop.[[/note]]

* AbnormalAmmo: Hilariously played with in the ''Dragonborn'' DLC. You can use live spiders as thrown weapons; some of them even explode!

* CainAndAbel: Alduin, Firstborn of Akatosh and the game’s BigBad and his younger brother Paarthurnax, one of the Dragonborn’s allies and leader of the Greybeards.

* CainAndAbel: Alduin, Firstborn of Akatosh and the game’s BigBad and his brother Paarthurnax, one of the Dragonborn’s allies and leader of the Greybeards.

* CainAndAbel: Alduin, Firstborn of Akatosh and the game’s BigBad and his younger brother Paarthurnax, one of the Dragonborn’s allies and leader of the Greybeards.

* CainAndAbel: Alduin, Firstborn of Akatosh and the game’s BigBad and Paarthurnax, one of the Dragonborn’s allies and leader of the Greybeards.

* CainAndAbel: Alduin, Firstborn of Akatosh and the games BigBad/BeastOfTheApocalypse and Paarthurnax, one of the Dragonborn’s allies and leader of the Greybeards.

* CainAndAbel: Alduin who is the game BigBad and the BeastOfTheApocalypse and Paarthurnax who is one of the Dragonborn’s allies and leader of the Greybeards.

* CainAndAbel: The game’s BigBad Alduin and one of the Dragonborn’s allies and leader of the Greybeards, Paarthurnax.

* CainAndAbel: The game’s BigBad Alduin and he of the Dragonborn’s allies and leader of the Greybeards, Paarthurnax.

* CainAndAbel: The game’s BigBad Alduin and one of the Dragonborn’s allies Paarthurnax.

* CainAndAbel: The game’s BigBad Alduin and the Dragonborn’s ally Paarthurnax.

* BadassBeard: For the first time since ''Morrowind'', [[note]] unless you count Sheogorath from ''Oblivion'' [[/note]] characters with facial hair appear. There are at least fifty different beards to choose from. It's lampshaded by M'aiq the Liar, who notes that 'everyone in Skyrim is all about beards' and speculates that humans must be compensating for the lack of manes.

** All potions in the game weigh half a unit, no matter the weight of the ingredients.

** A more pronounced example would be [[spoiler:Sovngarde]]. The sky there looks like a giant Boom Tube with nebula walls and unearthly lighting.
** ''Dawnguard'' gives us the [[spoiler: Soul Cairn]], whose sky is dominated by an enormous whirlpool-like void.

** In ''Dragonborn,'' there's also [[spoiler: Apocrypha]], whose sky is a sickly green with masses of floating tentacles... which are nothing less than good 'ol [[spoiler:Hermaeus Mora himself]].

** [[spoiler: In ''Dawnguard'' you meet up with a Snow Elf named Gelebor. While his brother is explicitly a vampire, Gelebor is a normal Snow Elf. Considering the events and situation, this would make Gelebor older than Serana (who is already implied to be older than the current Empire). He still looks to be in his prime. Divine protection is implied to be responsible.]]

** [[spoiler: Astrid,]] at the end of the Dark Brotherhood quest. She just wanted her family to be happy. [[spoiler: Too bad that family didn't include you.]]

** [[spoiler: Miraak]] in the ''Dragonborn'' DLC, due to how horrifying his death is.

* AnAdventurerIsYou: By and large, this trope never comes into play, but most of the schools of magic have the qualities of one of the archetypes.
** Destruction is the Nuker.
** Conjuration is the Summoner.
** Illusion is the Mezzer.
** Restoration is, of course, the Healer.
** Alteration and Enchanting are different types of utility magic.
** Apart from magic, the player could be the Tank when using a ranged-oriented follower, or The Archer or a Melee DPS if using a heavy-armored melee-oriented follower.

** Calling most of them evil is a stretch, but all of the Khajiit you meet are some degree of amoral self-serving crooks. There's Vasha, heavily involved in organized crime; J'zargo, who is willing to steal relics from the College to further his experiments; and the caravan merchants, who become fences for the Thieves' Guild transporting their goods across Skyrim. At the same time, all of them are soft-spoken, polite and friendly.

** All currency, even that found in ancient Dwemer or Nordic ruins, is represented by septims to avoid inventory and exchange hassles. Similarly, any lockpick-like item (bobby pins, smith tools, etc.) is just represented by the same lockpick item. For that matter, all locks - whether they're on wooden doors or Chaurus Chitin chests - have the same metal-in-wood interface.
** Individual septims[[note]]they DO have weight but you have to carry tens of thousands to really notice their presence on your total carry weight[[/note]], lockpicks, and arrows have no weight, leading to scenarios where you're potentially carrying around with you a million gold pieces, thousands of lockpicks, and a small army's worth of arrows. There's an achievement earned if you are able to carry 100,000 gold pieces on your person.
** All potions in the game weigh half a unit, no matter the weight of the ingredients. Possibly {{justified|Trope}} in that it may be only a small part of an ingredient's whole which is used in brewing the concoction. We don't see the mixing process in any actual detail, which is another case of AcceptableBreaksFromReality in itself.

** All tombs and caves, even those that have been sealed for centuries or longer, have candles and torches burning to light the way. While players can still use torches and spells to light the way, the innate lighting saves them from being unable to see in battle if they want to wield a shield or an off-hand weapon, and the light-producing spells make it next to impossible to Sneak.
*** This one may actually be [[AllThereInTheManual explained]] for draugr tombs by the in-game book ''[[http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Amongst_the_Draugr Amongst the Draugr]],'' which says they get up and clean the tombs occasionally. This would presumably include changing the lighting.
** The way food consumption occurs is one of the most egregious examples. Your character can consume any amount of food, of any kind, in a single instant, leading to absurd scenarios where the Dragonborn downs literally pounds upon pounds of meat, cheese, apples, and assorted soups to recover all of their health during combat. The "acceptable breaks" part comes in the fact that if it were handled realistically, food items would just be worthless junk (a lot of them are anyway, but still), and consuming them would just be a novelty action that the player takes once or twice and then never again.

* AmazonianBeauty: A female Dovahkiin/Dragonborn with the weight slider set to the maximum will most likely be this. Bonus points for being a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Nord or Redguard]].