History Skyrim / TropesHToM

** Comes back around to being played straight with the powerful arcane accessory spells being canonized in the Anniversary Edition. Builds are on YouTube of characters annihilating high level enemies, paralyzing mobs with a single spell and clearing entire dungeons by just taking a stroll through them while surrounded by raging storms.

* LanguageOfMagic: The Dragon language.

* MarathonLevel: The Forgotten Vale quest of the ''Dawnguard'' DLC. The region you must work through is easily one third the size of the original game map. The fact that there is gratuitous amounts of SceneryPorn there helps, however.

** Played straight with non-human races. You only see human children in the game, not [[OurElvesAreDifferent Elven]] or {{Beast|Man}}Race children. The game takes place in Skyrim, a human land several provinces removed from the homelands of most Elves and Beast Races, so it's justified for them. Additionally, the Elves have [[ImmortalProcreationClause a low birth rate]] and are LongLived, while the Beast Races have elements of BizarreAlienBiology going on.

** In the expansion ''Dragonborn'', once you've awoken the ArcVillain Miraak (also a Dragonborn), he will teleport in and absorb the soul of any dragon you kill. [[spoiler:You get them back when you defeat him at the end of the main questline.]]

* LevelCap: Prior to the addition of "Legendary Skills", your main character's level would max out at approximately level 81... not because your level ''actually'' caps there, but because getting there requires mastering all of your skills to the maximum value of 100. Making a skill Legendary resets the skill so that it can continue contributing to your character level again, meaning that you can level your skills indefinitely.[[note]]Skills which have been made Legendary are remastered that much faster, and retain some of the knowledge previously acquired. For example, if you max out Smithing and then make it Legendary, you will lose the ability to ''craft'' high-tier armor and weapons until you regain the required perks, but you will retain the ability to ''improve'' existing items made from the high-tier ingots.[[/note]]

** This is a staple of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragon]] culture, going hand in hand with their beliefs that AsskickingLeadsToLeadership and their tendency toward HonorBeforeReason. Dragons will only follow those who prove themselves to be the strongest. Odahviing, [[TheDragon the right-hand]] of [[BigBad Alduin]], aids the [[PlayerCharacter Dragonborn]] after the Dragonborn forces Alduin to run away at the Throat of the World and captures Odahviing themself. Odahviing explains that he is doing this because a) he wants to free himself and b) after Alduin fled like a DirtyCoward, Odahviing and the other Dragons are no longer certain that he is worthy to lead them. After the Dragonborn defeats Alduin, Odahviing will swear his loyalty, allowing the Dragonborn to summon him with the "Call Dragon" shout. An interesting variation comes from the backstory - Paarthurnax betrayed Alduin and sided with Mankind during the last Dragon War, teaching the Ancient Nords the [[MakeMeWannaShout Thu'um]], the draconic LanguageOfMagic, which allowed them to turn the tide and defeat Alduin and his followers once and for all. Essentially, Paarthurnax chose to follow the strongest side as all Dragons do... he just happened to ''make'' them the strongest side first.

* {{Kiai}}: The Shouts are generally this along with CallingYourAttacks and MakeMeWannaShout. Both the player character and NPC also do this when performing power attacks. Most notably, Dremoras always do it in [[LargeHam over the top]] manner. The subtitles even agree with it. Rrrraaaarrggghhh!

* Comes back around to being played straight with the powerful arcane accessory spells being canonized in the Anniversary Edition. Builds are on YouTube of characters annihilating high level enemies, paralyzing mobs with a single spell and clearing entire dungeons by just taking a stroll through them while surrounded by raging storms.

* MickeyMousing: The gameplay trailer matches cuts of action to music in a [[RatedMForManly dramatic, manly fashion.]]

* MagicMusic: Nirn's [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragons]] are capable of bending reality with their LanguageOfMagic, known to mortalkind as the "[[MakeMeWannaShout Thu'um]]". As seen most prominently in this game, the ancient [[HornyVikings Nords]] were taught this technique during their Merethic Era war against the dragons, who were seeking to be worshipped as gods. They not only defeated the dragons using the Thu'um, but expanded their empire across all of northern Tamriel. It took a coalition including the aforementioned Dwemer for their expansion to finally be halted. One of their leaders, Jurgen Windcaller, experienced a HeelFaithTurn and preached that the Thu'um should only be used to honor the gods, preaching pacifism and founding the [[OldMaster Greybeards]]. Use of the Thu'um as a weapon of war would drop drastically in the centuries to follow.

* MakeMeWannaShout: "Dragon Shouts" are the highlight of both the game and of your character, the Dragonborn. In the franchise's expansive lore, it's also known as the Thu'um, the power of the Voice. A variety of alternative magical effects are invoked by [[LanguageOfMagic shouting words in the ancient Dragon language]]; to use a computing metaphor, you're using root-level commands to reality to achieve these effects. Only the first word is needed to get the basic effect of a Shout, but each successive word increases its potency. Here's a list of all the shouts:
** '''[[FreezeRay IIZ SLEN NUS]]:''' Ice Form. A shout that flies through several foes, freezing all of them in the shout's path.
** '''[[KillItWithIce FO KRAH DIIN]]''': Or the regular variety of frost breath, sans freezing them where they stand, more akin to Fire Breath below, making it one of the Shouts you will face when fighting Dragons.
** '''[[TheBeastmaster RAAN MIR TAH]]:''' Animal Allegiance. Gets nearby animals to fight as your allies.
** '''KAAN DREM OV''': Kyne's Peace. Calms animals so they don't fight at all. Useful for dealing with angry {{bears|AreBadNews}} or wolves.
** '''[[BlownAcrossTheRoom FUS RO DAH]]:''' Unrelenting Force. A basic shout, its effect simply staggers or completely bowls over whoever you shout it at. Already has reached meme status since it was the first shout whose words were revealed to us. The [[EliteMooks highest level of Draugr]] can use this to ragdoll you any time they want. Cover becomes extremely important when fighting these guys. One {{Superboss}} capable of '''FUS RO DAH''' will use it from a distance. Expect to spend half the fight airborne. This is exaggerated in ''Dragonborn'', where you can disintegrate the target with the proper bonus. Y'know, like what every guard in Skyrim claims Ulfric did to Torygg.
** '''[[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands ZUN HAAL VIIK]]:''' Disarm. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin; strips enemies of their weapons and staggers them briefly. Be very careful; like '''FUS RO DAH''', high level Draugr such as Deathlords can use this shout on ''you'', which can potentially knock [[PermanentlyMissableContent a unique weapon out of your hands forever]].
** '''[[BulletTime TIID KLO UL]]:''' Slow Time. Allows you to go to town with a melee weapon, easily dodge deathtraps, or [[MundaneUtility make potions last longer while crafting things]].
** '''[-[[EnemyDetectingRadar Laas Yah Nir]]-]:''' Aura Whisper. A "quiet" shout[[note]]i.e. has a significantly quieter [[StealthBasedGame sound detection event]][[/note]] that allows you to see the energy of other beings, even through walls, and detects any form of mobile creature, alive or dead (unlike the Alteration spells of the same effect, which only work for either one or the other). Surprisingly long range and short cooldown (though not short enough to maintain constantly). ''Very'' handy for sneaky types, and also useful at determining if there's an ambush in the next room. Indispensable in draugr ruins for figuring out whether those sarcophagi have active draugr waiting to hop out or are really empty.
** '''[[FlashStep WULD NAH KEST]]:''' Whirlwind Sprint, which allows for a [[FlashStep sudden yet brief burst of speed]]. Useful for bum-rushing a SquishyWizard, dashing through a pendulum blade gauntlet, or crossing over drops too long to simply jump over (with careful aim). Also useful for simple speed bursts when doing casual business, or if you're overloaded with loot from a dungeon and unable to run, though sometimes guards in cities may approach you and ask you to stop "shouting", thus making your task take longer overall.
** '''[-[[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy Zul Mey Gut]]-]:''' Throw Voice. Another "quiet" shout that throws a projected voice that utters off a [[IShallTauntYou quick infantile insult]], creating a [[StealthBasedGame loud sound detection event]] at the point of impact and distracting guards to where the sound came from (and presumably away from where you want to sneak to/through).
** '''[[KillItWithFire YOL TOOR SHUL]]:''' Fire Breath, creating a burst of flame across a wide swath that does a ''ton'' of damage and staggers most enemies. Even just the first word has the range and width of '''FUS RO DAH''' at full power, with a staggering effect, and hits with enough whammy to make most bosses sit up and take notice. This and Frost Breath are the shouts that Dragons most commonly use.
** '''[[BladeSpam SU GRAH DUN]]:''' Elemental Fury. Increases the rate as which you swing your weapons to truly ludicrous speeds. [[AwesomeYetImpractical Doesn't work with enchanted weapons, though.]] [[MundaneUtility Also useful for mining quickly.]]
** '''[[BrownNote JOOR ZAH FRUL]]:''' Dragonrend. Since Dragons have no concept of transience (much like we have a difficult time truly grasping the concept of infinity), the three words that make the shout (Mortal, Finite, Temporary) are like [[KryptoniteFactor Kryptonite]] to them when used in Thu'um. Utterly confused by the words they hear, dragons promptly [[CaptainCrash faceplant into the ground]]. Also useful for interrupting dragon breath attacks - even moreso than Unrelenting Force, due to its quick cooldown especially with one Word of Power and even with all three Words; so fast that they're essentially [[CycleOfHurting stunlocked]]. This is also [[spoiler: the first Thu'um ever created by humans, using words that dragons are literally unable to use as part of a shout; while they can speak the words normally, they can never truly comprehend them and thus cannot use them as part of a Thu'um, and only mortals can use the shout. It's also why a Dragonborn is required to defeat Alduin: Dragon soul, mortal body, and the mind is a confluence. Their mortal nature makes them naturally able to understand the meaning of the Words of Power upon hearing them, and the Shout hits with the force of a Dragon's when they use it. It's the only way to render [[BigBad Alduin]] vulnerable to harm.]]
** '''[[{{Intangibility}} FEIM ZII GRON]]:''' Become Ethereal. Renders you completely immune to all harm, but you can't hit enemies either. Deathtraps, foes... not even [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou Fall Damage]] will hurt you. Attacking will end the effect prematurely; you will never feel the "can't hit enemies" restriction beyond that.
** '''[[SummonBiggerFish ODAHVIING]]:''' [[spoiler: Summons a friendly dragon to your aid after you convince him to swear loyalty to you.]]
** '''[[WeatherManipulation STRUN BAH QO]]:'''[[note]]The "Q" in "Qo" is misspelled as an "A" in the Shout menu; it is written as a "Q" on the Word Wall and pronounced as such.[[/note]] Storm Call. Is that dragon flying too high for you to score a hit? No problem; this shout turns the weather to your advantage and strikes the dragon down with lightning. ([[KillSat And anything else nearby, for that matter; use responsibly]].)
** '''LOK VAH KOOR''': Clear Skies. An inversion of the above, clearing away clouds, fog, rain, snow, or anything else so you can see clearly. Do it at night and odds are you'll also [[TheWorldIsJustAwesome summon an aurora]] as well. Can also be used as a DefogOfWar implement, clearing out fog or even meteorically inclement weather. Can also stagger enemies slightly if used on them, and on a shorter cooldown than Unrelenting Force.
** '''[[DamageIncreasingDebuff KRII LUN AUS]]''': Marked For Death. Weakens armour and life force periodically.
** '''[[ScrewThisImOuttaHere FAAS RU MAAR]]''': Dismay. Causes enemies to flee.
** [[spoiler:'''HUUN KAL ZOOR''': Summons the [[LongDeadBadass three First Tongues]] (Gormlaith, Felldir, Hakon) from Sovngarde to aid you. Available after completing the main quest. The number of words used determines which you summon.]]
** There are a handful of Shouts which exist in the game, but which the player can ''never'' use:
*** '''[[BackFromTheDead SLEN TIID VO]]''': Alduin uses this one to resurrect the dragons. [[UnusableEnemyEquipment Only Alduin can use it]]... At least, for now. Not a typical resurrection spell; from the words' translation, "Flesh Time Undo", it apparently works by being a literal "undo" function.
*** '''[[OminousFog VEN MUL RIIK]]''': Conjures a thick fog around the landscape. Again, only Alduin uses it. [[spoiler:More precisely, he uses it during the final battle in Sovngarde to regenerate the Soul-Snaring Fog, and probably used this Shout to create it in the first place.]]
*** '''[[DoppelgangerAttack FIIK LO SAH]]''': What could have been used as a sort of decoy attack to get pressure off of you ends up being just an unplayable shout used by the Greybeards to produce target practice dummies for your Thu'um lessons from them. Oddly, there are still player voice files for the shout in the game's content archives.
*** '''[[BackFromTheDead NAHL DAL VUS]]''': Used by [[spoiler:Tsun]] at the end of the main questline [[spoiler:to return you from Sovngarde to Skyrim.]] Once again, this cannot be learned by the player.
*** '''BEX''': [[MundaneUtility Temporarily opens a gate]] (and literally means "open"). Only used by Master Borri of the Greybeards, while teaching the player how to use Wuld to pass time-sensitive obstacles.
*** While there are no associated words, Alduin can use the Thu'um to rain {{Flaming Meteor}}s on the surrounding area, as the unfortunate folks of Helgen found out.
*** Fire Breath and Frost Breath are shouts the player ''can'' use, but dragons use it in a different way; while the player's breath is more like a projectile, the dragons' breath is a concentrated stream that deals continuous damage to anyone touching it. They can still use the projectile version for attacking at range, however.
** The ''Dawnguard'' DLC introduces four new shouts:
*** '''DURNEHVIIR''' lets you [[spoiler: summon another dragon, a {{Dracolich}} in fact, from the Soul Cairn. Since he counts as one of your summoned minions, you can summon both him and Odahviing at the same time, if you're willing to wait that long for the shouts to recharge.]]
*** '''[[YourSoulIsMine RII VAAZ ZOL]]''': "Soul Tear." A shout that lets you tear out the soul of a target (if they're weak or injured enough), filling a soul gem, and revive them as an undead thrall all in one fell swoop. Unlike most of the other shouts, Durnehviir teaches the player said word, giving them 1 word for every time he's summoned the first 3 times the player summons him; additionally, it has no effect except with all three words.
*** '''[[LifeDrain GAAN LAH HAAS]]''': "Drain Vitality", which drains the target's life and magicka and restores your own. Revered and Legendary Dragons, also introduced by ''Dawnguard'', are particularly fond of this one.
*** '''[[NightOfTheLivingMooks DIIL QOTH ZAAM]]''': Summon various DemBones from the Soul Cairn. Cannot be used directly by the player, but is used by [[spoiler: Durnehviir]], who can be summoned.
** The ''Dragonborn'' DLC introduces four more shouts:
*** '''[[SuperMode MUL QAH DIIV]]''': Dragon Aspect. Boosts your armor and melee damage, and grants you a boost to shout power and cooldown rate at full power. Also gives you a nice dragon-themed BattleAura. The "dragon aspect" of it also hearkens back to lore about Tiber Septim, a previous Dragonborn, and how the Nords looked upon him and beheld a dragon.
*** '''[[BlowYouAway VEN GAAR NOS]]''': Cyclone. Summons a cyclone to toss objects and enemies into the air.
*** '''[[RousingSpeech MID VUR SHAAN]]''': Battle Fury. Enchants the weapons of your allies, letting them attack faster (much like Elemental Fury).
*** '''[[CompellingVoice GOL HAH DOV]]''': Bend Will. [[spoiler:A legendary shout that Hermaeus Mora taught Miraak as part of a DealWithTheDevil. With one word, it only allows you to purge the All-Maker Stones of Miraak's corruption; however, once Hermaeus Mora unlocks its full potential for you, you can use two words to subjugate mortals and three words to control even dragons, allowing you to [[DragonRider ride the beast]].]]
** Not a Thu'um Shout, but while you're a werewolf, hitting the "Shout" button causes you to let out a blood-curdling howl that makes enemies around you run away in fear. Useful for crowd control while a werewolf so you can better focus on savaging your foes one at a time. Acquiring special totems and praying to them can change the effects of the howl. The Hunt totem turns the howl into a powerful Detect Life spell, and the Brotherhood totem allows a werewolf to summon a pair of wolves with a howl. In ''Dawnguard'', the new Werewolf perks increase the effectiveness of all three howls. The default howl can affect higher level enemies, the Hunt howl indicates the status of all enemies as well as their location, and the brotherhood howl at full strength summons a pair of spirit werewolves that are as powerful as their summoner.
** Nords have an innate "Battle Cry" power which terrifies everyone in proximity - including your allies. Imperials, conversely, have the "Voice of the Emperor" power which lets them calm hostile opponents temporarily.

* KilledMidSentence: The visiting princess can be killed while giving speech on a parapet, either by falling stone gargoyle, arrow, spell, or... SuplexFinisher.
* KilledOffscreen:
** An unfortunate possibility with ''Hearthfire.'' Depending on which followers you recruit to serve as stewards of your custom-built houses, you may return to the property following a lengthy absence and find your steward was killed while you were gone by someone/something that attacked your home. This is particularly possible at Windstad Manor, situated on the edge of Morthal's swamp. You can avert this by making your steward one of the followers who are flagged as protected, meaning they will not die normally unless a deathblow hits them while they're down. (Only certain followers are eligible to become stewards, which can make it tricky to pick one who will survive, but the wikis can help with this.)
** If you're playing through the Dark Brotherhood questline, then this happens to [[spoiler: most of the Brotherhood, with only Nazir, Babette, and Cicero surviving, and you witness the last moments of Arnbjorn and Astrid before they die too.]]
** During the Companions questline, both [[spoiler: Skjor]] and [[spoiler: Kodlak]] are killed offscreen - the former after he chases after the Silver Hand, and the latter when the Silver Hand [[spoiler: enter Whiterun and attack Jorrvaskr]]. The latter will explicitly happen while you are away, to ensure that it happens offscreen.
** During the College of Winterhold questline, [[spoiler: Savos Aren and Mirabelle]] are killed while trying to contain [[spoiler: the power of the Eye of Magnus]].

* KillSat: The ''Dawnguard'' expansion features Auriel's bow, a weapon forged by a God. Whenever this weapon is used to fire Sun-Hallowed Elven Arrows directly at the Sun, cue the magical equivalent of a powerful Kill Sat being unleashed onto nearby enemies.

* KingOfThieves: Mercer Frey in his position as leader of the Skyrim ThievesGuild. [[spoiler: It turns out he murdered the previous Guildmaster Gallus and took over the position, and determined to wipe out the only witness before leaving the rest of the Guild to rot while he makes off with all their treasure. Should you manage to confront and kill him, you will become the new Guildmaster, provided you have completed all Fence quests for the Thieves Guild.]]

** A variation with the Thalmor: Since their ruling class is composed of scholars and mages, the basic soldier gets zero respect. At the Thalmor Embassy, you can hear two guards talking about their mages' arrival and they hope that a dragon will eat them.

** The Silver Hand: werewolves ''can'' be a menace, but they wish to exterminate every single one, and are not above torturing and skinning captured ones. In practice, they're more like glorified bandits with a hatred of werewolves. They also turn this disgust against ''regular'' wolves.

* KnockbackEvasion: Some very high-level opponents can use the "Unrelenting Force" Shout to send you flying, just as you can do it to them. However, any of the "Ward" spells can block the Shout. So can the shield "Spellbreaker" that you get as a reward for one of the daedric quests. You just need a few seconds to prepare...

--->'''Lymdrenn Telvanni:''' ''"The irony of our demise glows brighter than Masser on the summer solstice. We brought this upon ourselves; the Argonians simply answering a rallying cry incited by a millennia of suffrage imposed by my kind."''

** The ''Dawnguard'' DLC introduces Knight-Paladin Gelebor, who is one of the last, if not ''the'' last, of the Snow Elves - which is what the Falmer were before they became the monsters you encounter frequently in Dwemer ruins and caves. He was guarding a sacred place along with a few other surviving Snow Elves, and since they were rather isolated, it took some time for them to hear about the Snow Elf/Nord conflict that drove the former underground. [[spoiler:He then tells you the Falmer, whom he calls "the Betrayed," attacked the temple and overwhelmed them with their sheer numbers. His brother later states that he brought on the attack, rather than being turned by them.]] Gelebor says that the Falmer are getting smarter, and one day they may become like the Snow Elves again. Being immortal, he might even see it happen.
** By the events of the game Delphine and Esbern are the last surviving members of the Blades, however three new members can be recruited in the questline ''Rebuilding the Blades''.

* LethalLavaLand: The ''Dawnguard'' DLC has the Aetherium Forge, which is one of these in miniature. It's a single cave whose far side is flooded with magma. You can swim in it by either using the Become Etherial shout or by increasing your fire resistance as high as you can and mainlining healing potions the whole way. There's an island with a chest against the far wall. There are also two side passages nearer to the forge that you need to open gates while swimming in the lava to access, leaving you open for some ''very'' rapid DamageOverTime if you're just relying on the shout.

* LevelOfTediousEnemies: Lake Ilinalta in Falkreath Hold has the game's highest population of [[FiendishFish slaughterfish.]] Being fish, they live in the water. But in Skyrim, you cannot attack or cast spells, or otherwise do anything to harm them while swimming. You have to lure them to knee-deep water to kill them. And if you want to just ignore them, you can't fast-travel away while one's nearby.

** There are some in the game0s opening theme—"Alduin, bane of kings, ancient shadow unbound." Every dragon's name is a three word epithet; "Alduin" means "destroy-consume-lord". Alduin was made by [[TopGod Akatosh]] (or may even be an aspect of Akatosh) to [[BeastOfTheApocalypse destroy the world at the end of time]], hence his other major title, the "World-Eater".

* HasTwoMommies: Or two daddies, if your Dragonborn is so inclined. The ''Hearthfire'' DLC allows the Dragonborn and his/her spouse to adopt up to two children.

** Boethiah makes no secret that she has low opinions on mortals, even her own followers. Her quest has you sacrificing one of your followers to prove your worth to her. Then she has you kill the rest of her followers at her shrine in a free for all fight, before going out to retrieve her deadric artifact.

** In the ''Dawnguard'' expansion, you can ask Serana (pretty much the game's only sympathetic vampire) if she's considered getting cured. [[spoiler: If you ask too soon, she'll close the discussion on it permanently; but if you're nice to her and patient throughout the Dawnguard questline, you can ask after Harkon is killed and she'll go and get cured.]]

** Also seen in the ''Dragonborn'' expansion with the Rieklings, who have a tendency to hide inside barrels, crates, and other similar structures. They just suddenly burst out of them as you draw near, or even after you pass. Much like with the spiders, this is a lot more alarming when you're sneaking.
*** This becomes beneficial if you choose to kill the former occupants of Tirsk Hall and become the Riekling Chief: every now and then Rieklings will pop seemingly out of nowhere to attack your enemies.

* AHomeownerIsYou: You can own several houses, one in each of the five major holds. The ''Hearthfire'' DLC allows you to buy land in three of the other four holds, then construct a house with your own two hands, thus combining this trope with AnInteriorDesignerIsYou.
** The only hold where you can't own property is Winterhold, most likely because of how much land was lost in the collapse. However, the trope still applies in Winterhold, because [[spoiler:if you complete the College of Winterhold questline, you become Archmage, which entitles you to the finest residence inside the college buildings]].

** The ''Dawnguard'' DLC exaggerates this trope by giving the Dragonborn a ''castle'' - but only in certain circumstances. [[spoiler:Should you take the vampire path through the DLC, after you defeat Harkon, you are proclaimed the new lord/lady of Castle Volkihar. Serana's ancestral home and everything inside it is now yours, and all the vampires who live there are your devoted followers. If you take the Dawnguard path, you don't get the castle.]]

** Pretty standard fare for any traditional Nord. They fancy themselves a ProudWarriorRace, with customs and laws that they won't bend for ''anybody''. In fact, this is pretty much what started the war, especially since there's proof that the Thalmor were manipulating things from the start.

* HumanPackMule: The most common use of followers. Several of them are aware of this; depending on their personality, they may call you out on it.

*** Opponents who are ''not'' automatically hostile to you and are only fighting you for a non-faction related reason (say, someone who caught you pickpocketing, or is retaliating for being attacked, then received a beat-down from you) sometimes ''will'' stop fighting when they scream "I yield!" -- IF you sheath your weapons at that point. Otherwise, they will eventually stagger to their feet, see you still have a weapon drawn, and resume the attack at a sliver of health (often with heroic, agonized gasps like "No... Not... Like this!"). Amusingly, if they do stop fighting because you sheathed your weapons, they will frequently quip things like "Well, I guess you've had enough, then," as they walk off.

** Depending on your interpretation of events, this is pretty much what the Empire is trying - pretending to be a Vichy-esque nation for the Thalmor while building up strength so they can hopefully deliver them a more decisive defeat later. However it is deliberately left ambiguous as to the political situation in Cyrodiil and whether this theory is true.

** [[spoiler:She actually likes it best if you just say forget it and kill all three to be safe.]]
*** [[spoiler:Given which one of the three is actually guilty of doing something that would ([[DisproportionateRetribution justifiably]]) provoke someone to call the Dark Brotherhood, calling him a "kitten" is not so far from the truth.]]
*** For bonus evil points, [[spoiler:the official strategy guide reveals that ''none of them'' had contracts on them.]]

* ImAHumanitarian: Namira's followers have... exotic tastes. [[spoiler: The player character can also become this after obtaining Namira's Ring.]] Additionally, the Bosmer (Wood Elves) practice ritual cannibalism as part of their "Green Pact." [[note]]Maybe. There's plenty of references to them supposedly doing so in the [[Literature/TheElderScrollsInUniverseBooks books]], but the only explicit statement to that effect is in a book that suffers from a rather severe case of in-universe CulturalPosturing and was published (again, in-universe) several centuries before the events of the game.[[/note]]

* ImStandingRightHere: Due to the game's open design, it's entirely possible to get into a scripted conversation with an NPC regarding another character... who happens to be standing right next to them... and who doesn't react to the conversation at all. For example, during the quest "Missing In Action", if the player accepted Avulstein's offer to rescue Thorald as a group, Thorald will still talk about Avulstein in the same way as if the player rescued Thorald alone.

* ImprobableInfantSurvival: None of the DeathOfAChild moments happen onscreen, and children are invincible to any of your in-game attacks. Attacking a child will cause them to start running in fear, calling for help, and causing everyone within earshot to attack you.
** Interestingly, this also extends to Babette, despite the fact that she only ''[[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld looks]]'' like a little girl and is a cold-blooded killer to boot. She's the only member of the Dark Brotherhood to live [[spoiler: regardless of how you tackle the plotline: she's conspicuously absent when you storm the Sanctuary and kill everyone within during "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!", and she and Nazir are the only members of the Brotherhood guaranteed to be alive after "Death Incarnate".]]
* InTheHood: Most of the hoods in the game seem designed to invoke this, obscuring the wearer's face and [[HiddenEyes hiding their eyes]].
** The Dark Brotherhood cowl, interestingly, leaves the eyes exposed, even on the masked version.
* [[IndoEuropeanAlienLanguage Indo European Fantasy Language]]: Dovahzul, the Tongue of Dragons. Seeing as how the series usually averts this, it was probably done because it needed to double as a Cipher. It has nearly no case-marking at all, appears to be almost entirely monosyllabic, and does not differentiate between past, present, and future tense. (Given the nature of dragons, this makes quite a bit of sense.) It was apparently created by a composer, rather than a linguist. Overlaps with {{Fictionary}}.
** The written form is interesting, in that all its runes can be easily carved with claws of one dragon forepaw simultaneously. The official strategy guide includes the Dovahzul alphabet among its extras.
*** At least, that's what the guide and the in-game lore book regarding it say. However, dragons in Skyrim don't ''have'' forepaws. Their upper limbs are bat-like wings, and the 'claws' at the end of the wings aren't shaped like the marks. This leaves them making the marks with their ''feet'', either while hovering, or carefully standing on one foot.

* InformedAttribute

* InformedFlaw: Walk up to a guard, any guard at all. Some time you're bound to hear them say "[[MemeticMutation I used to be an adventurer like you... then I took an arrow in the knee.]]" In no way, shape, or form does this inconvenience their patrolling or even fighting skills. Presumably it just made them more averse to taking risks rather than being a permanent injury.

* InterfaceSpoiler: Dragon [[WordsCanBreakMyBones Shouts]] are captioned for players with subtitles on in the same way that any other utterance is, with the name of the dragon shown as well. This can rather spoil the main questline if one happens to catch the name of [[spoiler: the dragon that attacks Helgen]].

* InterspeciesAdoption: As of ''Hearthfire'', there are several children available for adoption... all of them Nord, Imperial, Redguard, or Breton. This means if you want to have kids and are an elf, Khajiit or Argonian, you're stuck with this trope.

* InterspeciesRomance: What you get if you marry anyone from a race other than the one you select during character creation. In particular, there are no available Bosmer or Khajiit spouses, so if you play as either of those, this trope is your ''only'' marriage option.

* TheInspectorIsComing: One of the Thieves' Guild quests involves you putting rat poison into a meadery's still so they fail inspection, and a competitor (your client) can buy up the defunct business. [[note]]This doubles as a GeniusBonus: the real world [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinheitsgebot Reinheitsgebot]] ("purity orders") of the Bavarian region were some of the first formalized food regulations to reappear in Europe after the fall of Western Rome. Brewers had to be licensed and pass periodic inspections of their product and facilities, and a bad inspection could destroy a brewer both financially and in reputation.[[/note]]

** The one and only school of magic that even the most magic-averse Nord warrior respects--Restoration--happens to be the one discipline that just about everybody of note in the College of Winterhold treats with various degrees of contempt. No wonder the College's attempts at improving their image don't get off the ground, given how insanely useful healing magic is for people that live in a world as harsh and deadly as Skyrim.

* ItAmusedMe: Pretty much the only reason behind the mess you find yourself in during Sanguine's Daedric quest. "Your old Uncle Sanguine" invokes the trope practically by name when you talk to him at last.

* JediMindTrick: Technically speaking, this is how Invisibility magic works (hence the reason Illusion magic generally does not work against atronachs or automatons, as they have no "mind" to affect), but most people don't care about these semantics.

* JerkassGods: The Daedric Princes again. In fact, Molag Bal's quest, while named "The House of Horrors," is anything but scary (unless you are really that afraid of the Forsworn) and mainly serves to show you how much of an asshole Molag Bal is ([[AssholeVictim Logrolf]] is a jerk too). Mocking Molag Bal at the end is optional.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Although the Silver Hand is presented in a negative light throughout the game, as Sinding demonstrates, a werewolf who lacks control is a massive threat to the citizens of Skyrim. Odds are if they weren't so fanatic about destroying werewolves and left [[spoiler: the Companions]] alone, they'd likely be much more successful.

* JustifiedTutorial: You'll be given quite a few of them in rapid succession during the opening, but they ''are'' broken up into logical portions. Shortly after the dragon interrupts your execution by roasting the garrison, you're ordered to run for it (movement tutorial), followed by jumping off a ruined tower into a nearby inn (jump tutorial). You run inside the keep with a companion who tells you to arm yourself (inventory tutorial), you fight off some hostile enemies in the basement of the keep (combat tutorial), you find a storeroom and search it for potions (looting tutorial), you see some goodies locked inside a cage in the torture chamber (lockpick tutorial), and near the end of the caves leading out there's a sleeping bear you can either sneak past or stealth-attack with a bow (sneaking and/or bow tutorial).

* KamehameHadoken: Combining two of the same Destruction spells into one overcharged shot, right down to the pose. Lightning Storm and Incinerate especially invoke the {{Trope Namer}}s in performance.
** And this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmjfd-gtr7U sound mod]] even adds a very [[LargeHam hammy]] [[CallingYourAttacks attack call]] that literally invokes the trope.
* KangarooCourt: In the opening, the Imperial Captain orders your execution even though you aren't on the convicted list. This alone gives the player plenty of motive to side against the Empire. Note that in this case, there isn't even a "court" involved; the Empire is executing everyone involved (be they Stormcloak, random horse thieves caught in the cordon, or roaming [[TheChosenOne Dovahkiin]]) without bothering with a trial.

* KarmaHoudini: The Black-Briar family. Their head, Maven, is connected to the Thieves' Guild, the Dark Brotherhood and the Empire, and runs a powerful mead-brewing plant. She's so rich and powerful that she's untouchable by authorities, and the Thieves' Guild mentions that ''nothing'' happens in Riften without her express consent. If you side with the Empire, she gets named Jarl after they conquer the city, and she even says the title is a formality and that she's always been the one running the city. Riften is a WretchedHive, since even the city guard are in Maven's pocket. The Houdini part is that she's marked as essential, so you can't kill her, and there's no quest to bring her to justice. The worst thing you can do to her is steal a horse, and she genuinely doesn't care about that; if you choose to rat out the man who asked you steal it, she'll tell you to go on with the theft. Of course, destroying the Dark Brotherhood under her nose and becoming Thane will make her begrudgingly respect you as she hands you the title of Thane of Riften (which is seen as a FateWorseThanDeath).

** Maven is such a KarmaHoudini that many players are quick to install mods or use console commands that remove Maven and her family's protections.

* KeystoneArmy: Any minions that are summoned or reanimated with the Conjuration school die immediately upon their creator being killed.
** Mikrul Gauldurson, a named Draugr boss, is aided by a variety of non-boss draugr. Kill him before the others, and they all drop on the spot. If you're really fast with a powerful bow, you can actually kill him before he even gets the ''chance'' to summon them; this will result in several draugr falling out of their tombs, already dead.

* KillItWithFire: Justified. Of the FireIceLightning spells that make up the Destruction school of magic, fire is arguably the most useful of them. Fire damage is the cheapest of the three elements to cast, and can cause 10% afterburn damage after the initial hit. Being that Skyrim is a far northern land, many types of enemy (including trolls, vampires, and draugr) have no special resistance to or are weak to fire, and draugr are some of the most common enemy types found in pretty much every tomb. As well, many dungeons come with oil slicks that can be set alight with spells or by looking for and knocking down a lantern, and they burn for a while and do good damage. All in all, fire will probably be your most used type of elemental attack.
** The ''Dragonborn'' expansion offers an unpleasant surprise for fire-reliant players, as the majority of humanoid enemies are now Dark Elves, all of whom are 50% resistant to fire. Additionally, fire has no effect on Ash Spawn or the entirely flame-immune Burnt Spriggans.
* KillItWithIce: Ice destruction spells, doing damage, slowing foes, and depleting the target's stamina. Unfortunately, this can be a little AwesomeButImpractical as a mainstay offensive spell, since undead (a common enemy type) are resistant to cold, as are Nords (who are understandably over-represented in the region of Skyrim), leaving only a certain subset of enemies vulnerable to it. It will come in handy during ''Dragonborn'', though, against those creatures who can resist fire.
* KillSteal: The Dark Brotherhood contacts you after you take on a mission in their name. The contractor was performing a ritual to summon ''them'', but you got there first. Even if you just kill the intended victim without ever speaking with the contractor (and thus have no in-story knowledge of the Brotherhood's connection), they will still have a beef with you for stealing the contract; however, they will only act on that beef if you speak to the contractor after the fact, and tell him what you did.[[note]]This is only the case with that specific kill. If you kill anyone ''else'' for whom they've received a contract, such as Narfi or Alain Dufont, they don't bother you at all. Presumably this is either because you don't discuss the contracts with the people who ordered them, and thus the Brotherhood realizes that you didn't steal the kill intentionally, or else because you kill them before anyone does the Black Sacrament to have them killed, and thus the Brotherhood has no involvement.[[/note]]
** In the expansion ''Dragonborn'', once you've awoken the ArcVillain Miraak (also a Dragonborn), he will teleport in and absorb the soul of any dragon you kill. [[spoiler:You get them back when you defeat him at the end of the main questline.]]
* KillTheOnesYouLove: The Daedric Prince Mephala's artifact is the Ebony Blade, a two-handed katana with gold and red markings in it. In order for the Dragonborn to strengthen it 10 close friends must be sacrificed to it. At full strength, it will absorb health for 30 points each hit. Granted, [[AssholeVictim you don't have to kill "good" people with it]]; 3 cannibals, a Thalmor agent, and a few drunks can be substituted for any people you actually like. You just need to do a few favors for them and then you can kill them.

* KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect: Nord mages. Onmund at the College and Farengar Secret-Fire in the Whiterun court have to put up with this attitude. [[spoiler:It wasn't always this way; if you declare yourself the Archmage to Tsun when you meet him in Sovngarde, Tsun laments that Nords have lost the respect their forefathers had for the "clever craft".]] It is implied that Nords took a distrustful stance against magic after the Oblivion Crisis, which they blame on mages.

* LampshadeHanging: Of the SoftWater ever so common in games. The journal of Sild the Warlock notes that "Putting a foot or two of water [in a cage below a trapdoor] didn't help either. In fact, it may actually be making things worse." If the player manages to avoid the trap and sneak below, an unwary bandit falls through and dies on impact with the water. Sild's reaction is kind of hilarious:

** However, as long as it's deep enough, water in Skyrim still plays the SoftWater trope straight. It's even deliberately used in one location.

* LeeroyJenkins: Most [=NPCs=] - which is the primary reason that Vampire (if you've got ''Dawnguard'' installed) and Dragon attacks inside Hold cities are a ScrappyMechanic; anyone within range will drop what they're doing and run headlong into a level 81 enemy even when they themselves are capped significantly lower, including potential quest-givers and merchants. PC, Xbox One, and [=PS4=] gamers do at least have the option to install a mod that gets the townsfolk to run for cover rather than joining the fray.

** ''Skyrim'' more or less subverts this in the "Discerning the Transmundane" quest. There is a "challenge" in which you must orient a set of lenses to shine light on a massive dwarven sphere to gain access to an Elder Scroll, but in fact all you have to do is [[spoiler:press the leftmost button repeatedly until the next one to the left becomes usable]], and rinse and repeat until you are on the last button.
** Played straight in another Dwemer ruin where you need to focus multiple beams of light onto a central object. This is done by using the two most basic fire and frost spells to expand or contract the focusing crystals. You can also use the more advanced spells, but these will realign the beams to a much stronger degree, making the puzzle nearly impossible to figure out, and it can be quite a challenge even if approached the intended way.
* LightEmUp: The Candlelight and Magelight spells. The ''Dawnguard'' DLC adds the Vampire's Bane and Stendarr's Aura spells.
** ''Dawnguard'' also adds two weapons which have this effect. The Rune Shield of the Dawnguard creates an aura of sunlight that damages undead over time while one blocks, and shield bashes cause a spark of light that deals more damage to vampires. Auriel's Bow is a super-powerful bow which, when equipped with sunhallowed arrows, turns every shot into an explosion of light. It can also turn the sun into a KillSat if shot directly at it. Conversely, it can ''blot out the sun'' for a full day instead if used with a very different kind of special arrow.

** Alduin, the BigBad of the game, is [[spoiler: not only supposed to be the dragon god Akatosh's "son," but also]] an "aspect" of Akatosh. The explanation is fragmentary at best. One fan theory says that the dragons are "fragments" of Akatosh based on a line from a developer in-Universe text, and that he was the first to split, making "sons" of Akatosh just the way they explain it to humans.
*** As an extension of this, dragons as a whole are effectively angels from the in-universe religious viewpoint.

* LightningBruiser: Sabre cats and especially the dreaded bears; they hurt quite a bit, but also have leaping power attacks which are nigh-impossible to dodge, and can still hit the player even if you're sprinting away from them.

* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Played with. Warriors are perfectly able to finish the game just fine by sinking their levels into HP, Stamina and associated perks, equipping the best armor they can find and swinging a big weapon. Mages begin with the handicap of low magicka and few spells, and Destruction spells do not scale their damage with your level. But by the end of the game, Conjuration spells can reanimate the dead indefinitely, giving you extra followers of your choice from the huge line-up of [=NPCs=], Alteration spells give effective buffs and have spells like Candlelight and Waterbreathing to help with exploration, and with the right enchantments on your equipment, you can cast spells of a particular school of magic or two for zero magicka cost. So while warriors are BoringButPractical, mages grow to be far more versatile. Which is objectively ''better'' depends on your personal preference.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading: In the console versions. The PC version depends on a few different things, meaning it may qualify for some, but not for others.

*** The mechanics play with the first part, however. If your bounty is very low (as in for minor theft or accidental assault), guards will not even bother to apprehend you, but you can still choose to submit and pay your bounty. Higher bounty will cause guards to attempt to arrest you immediately, while excessive bounty will cause guards to attack on sight.

* LostTechnology: The secrets of the Dwemer have long been lost to the mists of time, but they accomplished things that absolutely baffle even the most proficient mainstream mages today - like being able to build a machine that can [[spoiler:discern knowledge from an Elder Scroll]] without any training on the part of the reader. The best the game's quests allow is the construction of a crossbow by stealing their schematics for the Dawnguard.

*** ''Dragonborn'' has the usage of Stalhrim, a super-hard mystical ice found on Solstheim. The secrets of forging it are only known to the Skaal, who have passed it down for centuries, and mining it requires an Ancient Nord Pickaxe; something about the construction of those pickaxes allows them to chip apart Stalhrim deposits when normal pickaxes break apart, and not even the Skaal can figure out why.

* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: The Block skill has a lot of surprising utility once you level up its perks. Among the most useful is one that grants you a resistance to elemental damage when blocking, so your shield-guy can stand up to dragonfire now. Another lets you charge opponents with your shield and [[FoeTossingCharge bash them out of the way.]] Still another slows time if an enemy starts a power attack (which will slam through a block if it lands) while your shield is up; see Bullet Time above.

* MadeOfIron: Only you (or poison, due to a glitch) can kill your spouse. Watch as they take a hit from a [[HomeRunHitter Giant]] and come running back for more.

* MakeMeWannaShout: "Dragon Shouts" are the highlight of both the game and of your character, the Dragonborn. In the franchise's expansive lore, it's also known as the Thu'um, the power of the Voice. A variety of alternative magical effects are invoked by [[LanguageOfMagic shouting words in the ancient Dragon language]]; to use a computing metaphor, you're using root-level commands to reality to achieve these effects. Only the first word is needed to get the basic effect of a Shout, but each successive word increases its potency. Here's a list of all the shouts.

*** '''[[KillItWithIce FO KRAH DIIN]]''': Or the regular variety of frost breath, sans freezing them where they stand, more akin to Fire Breath below, making it one of the Shouts you will face when fighting Dragons.

*** '''KAAN DREM OV''': Kyne's Peace. Calms animals so they don't fight at all. Useful for dealing with angry {{bears|AreBadNews}} or wolves.
** '''[[BlownAcrossTheRoom FUS RO DAH]]:''' Unrelenting Force. A basic shout, its effect simply staggers or completely bowls over whoever you shout it at. Already has reached meme status since it was the first shout whose words were revealed to us.
*** The [[EliteMooks highest level of Draugr]] can use this to ragdoll you any time they want. Cover becomes extremely important when fighting these guys.
*** One BonusBoss capable of '''FUS RO DAH''' will use it from a distance. Expect to spend half the fight airborne.
*** Exaggerated in ''Dragonborn'', where you can disintegrate the target with the proper bonus. Y'know, like what every guard in Skyrim claims Ulfric did to Torygg.
** '''[[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands ZUN HAAL VIIK]]:''' Disarm. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin; strips enemies of their weapons and staggers them briefly.
*** Be very careful; like '''FUS RO DAH''', high level Draugr such as Deathlords can use this shout on ''you'', which can potentially knock [[PermanentlyMissableContent a unique weapon out of your hands forever]].

*** '''LOK VAH KOOR''': Clear Skies. An inversion of the above, clearing away clouds, fog, rain, snow, or anything else so you can see clearly. Do it at night and odds are you'll also [[TheWorldIsJustAwesome summon an aurora]] as well. Can also be used as a DefogOfWar implement, clearing out fog or even meteorically inclement weather. Can also stagger enemies slightly if used on them, and on a shorter cooldown than Unrelenting Force.

** Dragons have a tendency to charge into the middle of existing battles and attack everyone. The other two sides usually put aside their differences to deal with the massive fire-spewing immortal god-monster assaulting them, but not ''always''.
*** Of particular not is during the quest "Alduin's Wall," when you have to go with Delphine and Esbern to Karthspire, a major Forsworn camp. At high levels, there are numerous Forsworn Ravager mages to be fought; additionally, there is frequently a dragon attack at the same time, and the dragon can be a Revered or even Legendary dragon and everybody is fighting each other. Be prepared for a long, difficult battle. Thank goodness Delphine and Esbern are both essential.

* MentorOccupationalHazard: The Dovahkiin has a severe case of this. [[spoiler: Nearly every single person who serves as a mentor to you in Skyrim ends up dead. Kodlak Whitemane, Astrid, Lord Harkon, Savos Aren - the list goes on. Only Arngeir, Delphine, Esbern, Tolfdir, and the members of the Dawnguard escape this fate; even Paarthurnax can fall victim to it, should you choose to kill him.]] In some cases the trope is [[ZigZaggingTrope zigzagged]], [[spoiler:such as Astrid and Harkon's deaths being largely for you to gain more power,]] but otherwise, mostly played straight.
** Averted, however, for nearly all the DLC mentor-figures. Isran, Neloth, Frea, and Mora all live through them, as do Serana and the Knight of the Snow [[spoiler:though his brother bites it]]. The only DLC mentors who don't survive are [[spoiler:Storn Crag-Strider and, once again, Lord Harkon (if you go vampire)]].

* MercyKill: If you kill a bandit who has been raised from the dead by a necromancer, he will thank you as he disintegrates. [=NPCs=] who are thralls to vampires may also utter things like "At last!" when you kill them, as you have freed them from their mental enslavement.
** This is one way to view [[spoiler:the Dark Brotherhood contract on Narfi. Narfi is a totally destitute and mentally challenged beggar who lives in the ruins of his family's farm on the outskirts of a sleepy wayside village, waiting for the return of his missing, commonly believed to be dead (and later confirmed to be dead by the Dragonborn) sister Reyda. He has no clear enemies and reportedly keeps to himself, so it is likely that he was contracted for death because somebody who knows of him actually thinks killing him is doing him a favour.]]
** [[spoiler: Astrid asks you to do this in a late Dark Brotherhood quest. Seeing how badly burnt she is due to the Imperials setting fire to their hideout, as well as their having killed almost all of her "family", it's not hard to understand why she would rather die at this point.]]

** The Elder Scrolls themselves do a form of this to anyone who reads them. Unless you are a being somewhat outside the bounds of reality like the Scrolls themselves (such as the Dovahkiin with a draconic, Aedric soul), you will either be driven mad or will eventually go blind. Septimus Signus, one of Skyrim's foremost experts on the Scrolls, is quite clearly not operating on all cylinders when you meet him - and he hasn't even read one. They're just {{Mind Screw}}y enough that even reading too much ''about'' them can drive you insane!
*** Their very existence is a cross between MindScrew and RealityIsOutToLunch. If you ask [[spoiler:Paarthurnax]] to explain them, he simply replies, "They do not exist. But they have always existed." Well, ''that'' clears things up...

* MiscarriageOfJustice: The game actually opens on this note. You wake up under arrest [[OnceAnEpisode (in proud ''Elder Scrolls'' tradition)]] being carted to a public execution because they think you're with the rebels they captured. Notably, one of the Imperial soldiers has his doubts about you but the other, his captain, says to get on with the beheading. It's entirely up to you, as you create your character's backstory, whether or not the arrest was justified.
** You can accidentally get [[spoiler: the court wizard of Windhelm]] arrested, if the player doesn't catch the subtle clues and goes straight to the authorities [[spoiler: instead of confronting him directly.]]

* MoneyForNothing: Money is terribly easy to obtain once you've gotten on your feet. In fact, the real problem late in the game is that merchants are ''too poor''; even with perks to increase the gold they keep for trading, they only keep between 1000-3000 septims on hand at a time, when you'll have tens of thousands of septims in loot you could sell them. This trope is so prominent that numerous fan mods for the game exist that serve no purpose but to try and rebalance the world's economy in various ways. The Investor perk on the Speech tree helps some, as it lets you provide several merchants with additional funds, but as the game continues it's ''still'' not enough.
** Slightly downplayed compared to earlier Elder Scrolls games, with the increased cost of high-level skill training and the fact that merchant inventories are now levelled, meaning high-end weapons are no longer exclusively found as loot. That said, training should still be a relative pittance for a successful adventurer and by the time shops start stocking good weapons, they can be found for free in levelled dungeon loot too.

** Every dungeon is crawling with random coins, precious gemstones, and minor enchanted apparel. You'll probably leave any given dungeon with several thousand septims of ShopFodder.
*** Part of the reason is a GoodBadBug causing ''all'' races to get the Imperial Luck perk, rather than just Imperials, which has a high chance to add an extra 2-10 gold in every container.

*** Upgrading the houses will require you to manufacture hinges, iron fittings, locks, and nails - you'll be searching every blacksmith for sufficient iron to make all these things, but as a bonus, making them is an easy and quick way to improve your Smithing skill.

* {{Monologuing}}: It's common for an enemy to walk up and announce their intention to kill you. Sometimes, you can end the conversation quickly and kill ''them'' before they're even done speaking.
** Can be done with hilarious results against [[spoiler: Lord Harkon from ''Dawnguard'' before the final battle while he argues with Serana.]] Because the player isn't "conversation frozen" as is usual for boss battles in Bethesda games, while they're talking you're free to walk up behind [[spoiler: Harkon]] with your Assassin character, bring up Mehrunes' Razor or the Blade of Woe, and backstab him for massive damage. [[spoiler: Harkon will immediately teleport to his "boss battle" starting position and just as immediately turn into red ash.]]

*** Special mention should go to a female "men" Dovahkiin who recruits [[DumbMuscle Farkas]] or his twin brother [[TheCynic Vilkas]]. While both of them appear to be normal Nords, the [[PrivateMilitaryContractor Companions]] faction storyline reveals that [[spoiler:the brothers are actually werewolves, like all high-ranking members of the guild.]]

* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: Ralis Sedarys in the ''Dragonborn'' DLC says he never tires of hearing the sound of gold being exchanged for services (despite how many workers end up killed on his ill-fated dig of Kjolborn Barrow). [[invoked]]
* MuggingTheMonster: Unsurprisingly, the many thieves, robbers, bandits, and brigands of Skyrim share that traditional RPG thug deficiency of not being able to tell that the guy they're about to accost is in fact, walking on a road made of the bodies of everyone s/he has mangled, even if they are wearing armour ''made of dragon bones'' and carrying a bloodstained greatsword. One random encounter even includes a dialogue option that says "I don't have time for this" in response to getting mugged -- yes, you can actually tell the muggers that ''you're too busy to get robbed right now'' (not that it'll stop them from attacking anyway).

** [[MemeticBadass Ysgramor]] could eat soup with a fork.
** Dual-wield pickaxes. Mine like a boss!

*** Similarly, Arvak, the [[CoolHorse jet-black skeleton horse wreathed in purple flames that you summon from the Soul Cairn]], can be used as a makeshift cushion to avoid FallDamage. If the fall is long enough to kill him, all you need to do is cast his summoning spell again and he'll be right back, good as new.

** Whirlwind Sprint is probably the most abused shout. Other than for running away or closing the distance to hostile spellcasters, it is also useful for crossing chasms and rivers, or just for walking around quickly, or perhaps to 'cheat' in a game of Tag.
*** You can also use it when you're carrying too much to run, and would otherwise be forced to walk at a snail's pace until you unload your inventory. Perhaps not coincidentally, the fully leveled Shout covers almost exactly the distance between Whiterun's main gates and the local player house.

** Lycanthropy nets you a powerful beast form and associated perk tree which can match a lot of the threats in the game. It also has a far more mundane use: disease immunity. Even if you never use the beast form, having this trait does away with a number of very annoying status effects that come from skeever bites and Nordic tomb traps, not to mention completely protecting you from Sanguinare Vampiris, the precursor to Vampirism.
*** The beast form itself also has mundane utility, though, in the sense that it has no carry weight and runs quickly with a huge stamina pool and regeneration rate. This lets you load up on all the loot you want to carry out of a dungeon, transform, sprint to the nearest city, and use the wait function to de-transform right outside of it (or, if you own a home in the town, you can just make a beeline to your home where you can safely wait it out, then unload).

** You can only have one blessing from Standing Stones or temple shrines at a time. Guardian Stone blessings remain in effect indefinitely (until changed), while shrine blessings wear off after a few hours.
*** ''Dawnguard'' adds a chance to get the [[http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Aetherial_Crown Aetherial Crown]], a circlet which allows you to have two Standing Stone blessings at the same time. The biggest issue is that you can't wear a helmet while you have it equipped. However, there are two helmets (the Penitus Oculatus helmet and the Falmer helmet) which are bugged in such a way that they will let you have a circlet and the helmet at the same time.

* MyGodYouAreSerious: The guards' reaction when you ask them to whom you should report that you killed the leader of the Dark Brotherhood.

* MythologyGag: It is heavily implied by Sheogorath that [[spoiler:he is, in fact, the Champion of Cyrodiil, the player from ''Oblivion''. Makes sense when you consider ''Oblivion'''s DLC.]]
** There is also a book that gives help on thievery which has apparently been written by the player character of ''Oblivion'' (assuming that person completed the Thieves' Guild storyline), although WordOfGod states the author is an impostor.

** '''[[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands ZUN HAAL VIIK]]:''' Disarm. ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.

** '''[[AC:[[EnemyDetectingRadar Laas Yah Nir]]]]:''' Aura Whisper. A "quiet" shout[[note]]i.e. has a significantly quieter [[StealthBasedGame sound detection event]][[/note]] that allows you to see the energy of other beings, even through walls, and detects any form of mobile creature, alive or dead (unlike the Alteration spells of the same effect, which only work for either one or the other). Surprisingly long range and short cooldown (though not short enough to maintain constantly). ''Very'' handy for sneaky types, and also useful at determining if there's an ambush in the next room. Indispensable in draugr ruins for figuring out whether those sarcophagi have active draugr waiting to hop out or are really empty.

** '''[[AC:[[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy Zul Mey Gut]]]]:''' Throw Voice. Another "quiet" shout that throws a projected voice that utters off a [[IShallTauntYou quick infantile insult]], creating a [[StealthBasedGame loud sound detection event]] at the point of impact and distracting guards to where the sound came from (and presumably away from where you want to sneak to/through)

** '''[[NoSell FEIM ZII GRON]]:''' Become Ethereal. Renders you completely immune to all harm, but you can't hit enemies either. Deathtraps, foes... not even [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou Fall Damage]] will hurt you. Attacking will end the effect prematurely; you will never feel the "can't hit enemies" restriction beyond that.

*** Fire Breath and Frost Breath are shouts the player ''can'' use, but dragons use it in a different way; while the player's breath is more like a projectile, the dragons' breath is a concentrated stream that deals continuous damage to anyone touching it.

*** '''[[YourSoulIsMine RII VAAZ ZOL]]''': "Soul Tear." A shout that lets you tear out the soul of a target (if they're weak or injured enough), filling a soul gem, and revive them as an undead thrall all in one fell swoop. Unlike most of the other shouts, Durnehviir teaches the player said word, giving them 1 word for every time he's summoned the first 3 times the player summons him.

* MoraleMechanic: When a humanoid enemy (usually bandits or civilians) reach a certain health threshold, they drop to the ground while crying out for mercy or declaring their surrender. Sometimes subverted when they run away, only to heal and attack again.

* MurderInc: The Dark Brotherhood, per series tradition. The [[{{VideoGame/Morrowind}} Morag Tong]] also make an appearance on Solstheim, though they are always hostile and can't be interacted with.

* MurderInc: The Dark Brotherhood.

*** '''BEX''': [MundaneUtility Temporarily opens a gate]] (and literally means "open"). Only used by Master Borri of the Greybeards, while teaching the player how to use Wuld to pass time-sensitive obstacles.

* ICallHerVera: When enchanting an item, you have the option to rename it as you see fit.

** The Wabbajack, obtained from Sheogorath, casts a RandomEffectSpell on targets. Sure, it might heal an almost-dead enemy or turn a harmless Mudcrab into an angry Dremora, but most of its effects are detrimental to the target, ranging from powerful Destruction spells to [[ForcefulTransformation turning them into harmless critters]]. There's also a chance of [[OneHitKill changing the target into a sweetroll or a shower of coins, or just making them drop dead on the spot]]. Finally, the Wabbajack is surprisingly reliable against Dragons as it will only cast Destruction spells against them, which also happen to ignore all kinds of resistances.

** The Wabbajack, obtained from Sheogorath, casts a RandomEffectSpell on targets. Sure, it might heal an almost-dead enemy or turn a harmless Mudcrab into an angry Dremora, but most of its effects are detrimental to the target, ranging from powerful Destruction spells to [[BalefulPolymorph turning them into harmless critters]]. There's also a chance of [[OneHitKill changing the target into a sweetroll or a shower of coins, or just making them drop dead on the spot]]. Finally, the Wabbajack is surprisingly reliable against Dragons as it will only cast Destruction spells against them, which also happen to ignore all kinds of resistances.