Awesome / The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

"But there is one they fear. In their tongue, he is Dovahkiin - Dragonborn!"

Let's be honest—the world of Skyrim is a dangerous one, which makes it all the more satisfying for you to climb to the top of the food chain.

Main Game

• While most players who do "The Taste of Death" may complete it, there’s an option to save the priest of Arkay by killing every cannibal in Markarth gathered there and robbing Namira of a follower. Did You Just Scam Cthulhu??
  • For bonus points, if you've done a few small quests for Lisbet and Banning, killing them and Eola with the Ebony Blade will count as charges for it. Who says betrayal and murder has to leave you feeling guilty?
• Fus Ro Dah!
  • The revised version is even better.
  • The trailer would be nothing without Jeremy Soule's unbelievably epic soundtrack.
    • Admit it - you got goosebumps when that barbarian choir started singing the Elder Scrolls Recurring Riff.
• The live action trailer. Everyone is running and screaming to get away from the dragon attack, only to cut to the Dragonborn, standing in the middle of the chaos with a look of utter calm on his face, slowly walking forward and drawing his sword. Then the Dragon lands straight in front of him, as if accepting his challenge.
• In the Gametrailers short demo at E3, Todd chooses to mess with some normally peaceful Mammoths and their Giant masters, who normally would not attack the player. While he's facing off with one of the Giants, there's a roar and suddenly a massive dragon swoops down, grabs the Giant in its talons and drops it from the sky to its death before turning its eye to the player for its next victim.
  • In another E3 demo, Todd slows down time and uses a two-handed lightning blast to Kamehame Hadouken a Draugr into the ceiling, receiving a round of applause for his efforts.
• Storm Call is a weaponized Empathic Environment on demand. Watching as the dragon desperately tries to keep flying as it's hit by lightning, knowing that abandoning its tactical advantage and meeting you on the ground is death...and not choosing in time and plowing into the ground as it dies. Cue soul absorption.
• The anonymous soldier in the initial demonstration video gets one: after being set on fire by the dragon, he draws his sword and challenges the dragon. Then he is bitten in half.
• Animation of Skyrim Video. How do you kill a lizard with a toothpick? Let Dovahkiin show you.
• The first time you kill a dragon. Especially if you're high enough level (around 10) to fight it with little trouble. Regardless of how easy or hard the fight is, once you strike the final blow, Mirmulnir realizes just who and what you are and yells: "Dovakhiin?! No!"
• Occasionally, when fighting a high-level enemy (such as a dragon), "The One They Fear," a triumphant remix of "Dragonborn," begins playing. Whatever's happening onscreen is instantly transmuted into pure win, because the song's title is exactly what you are. Having this happen when a dragon is attacking a town just compounds the awesome. Imagine the Dragonborn saying, "Oh, you just picked the wrong town..."
• Eventually, the Dragonborn will become a walking embodiment of badass, as they get stronger and threats grow less threatening. It reaches the point that dragons become more of a nuisance than a dangerous enemy after a while.
• The Dark Brotherhood gets one in their introduction. In Oblivion, you awaken to find a Speaker of the Black Hand offering an initiation contract. In Skyrim, you still have to sleep, but the local leader kidnaps and places you in the middle of a remote cabin, along with three similarly kidnapped individuals, one of whom is a contract target. When you awaken, she tells you to kill one of them. No matter who you pick, you are accepted because you followed orders to kill. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Dark Brotherhood. They're in one of their low points. And if you're good, you can instead kill Astrid herself, and then go on to have the Imperial Army commission you to assault the Sanctuary and wipe the Brotherhood out. Payback for all the deaths in Oblivion has never been sweeter.
• Speaking of the Dark Brotherhood, the final mission has you assassinating the Emperor.
  • The whole final confrontation is almost more of a Crowning Moment for HIM than for you. He greets you calmly, explaining that he knew nothing as simple as a fake would stop the Brotherhood. He then willingly accepts his death, leaving you with one final request: kill the man who ordered his assassination, as a final act of justice. The tranquility and authority that he holds throughout this exchange proves that, were he a Nord, he would be worthy of Sovngarde.
    • And if what the Ebony Warrior says about his own fate is true, it's still quite possible that Titus Mede was given the chance to enter the Hall of Valor, after all.
• Also with the Dark Brotherhood, we have the return of Shadowmere; a nearby pond turns into pitch-black bubbling tar, and the demonic steed rises up from its depths with fire in her eyes. The subquest is even called "Behold! Shadowmere!"
• The Companions quest line has you avenging the death of the previous leader, and then storming an ancient tomb to save his soul from the hellish afterlife that awaited him. All while carrying an ancient battleaxe into the fight, which you get to keep afterwards.
• Another one for the Dark Brotherhood: you gain the ability to summon Lucien Lachance to fight for you, and if you encounter Shadowmere with him summoned, he will greet her as an old friend.
• The first time you kill a dragon outside of the main quest. Especially if it attacks you while you're in a village and you manage to keep anyone from dying. Picture it: You're just harvesting cabbage, and see two people walk by, maybe give you a nod. Suddenly, there's an unholy sound and a nightmarish monster swoops in, torching everything in its path. The two people don't run from it like all the rest. They actually shoot arrows at the thing! Then lead the creature outside down, and actually defeat it, one with just the power of their own voice — just before the monster burns up and all of its power flows into the one using their voice! "I've never seen anything like that!" is an understatement.
• The final main storyline mission. Wow. After finding a lost Elder Scroll and using it to look back in time, you bring Alduin down to your level and nearly kill him. But then he flees to Sovngarde to eat the souls of dead warriors to recharge himself. But how are you going to get there? Well, you simply catch a live dragon after negotiating a cease-fire between two hated enemies, have him tell you how to get there, then ride on his back there. Have fun storming the ruin, filled with high-level Draugr and two dragons at the gate, then when you reach the top and fight a lich, you literally are transported to Sovngarde, where you team up with three legendary heroes, combine your forces, and defeat Alduin for good.
  • And once you're finished and return to Skyrim, (assuming you didn't kill Paarthurnax) you will find yourself surrounded by dozens of dragons who are roaring and thundering into the air, loud enough to shake the snow and deafen an unwary player, as they all acknowledge Paarthurnax as their new leader. There's something deeply moving about that entire sequence.
    • Another possible interpretation of that last scene: The dragons are acknowledging you as their new leader, as you have just proven that your Voice is stronger than Alduin's, and strongest of all. Which adds a sweet detail for the ongoing Civil War plot: you, a major figure in either the Empire or a newly independent Skyrim, command an army of dragons. They will no doubt be very helpful in the coming war against the elves.
  • The heroes of Sovngarde — who are the biggest badasses in Nordic history — acknowledging you as their superior, and Tsun himself promising you a place in Sovngarde upon your death, no matter your race.
  • On top of it all: the translated version of the song in the background makes it clear that the Nords in Sovngarde aren't just singing any song. they're singing a song about you, coming to save them all from Alduin. All of Sovngarde is singing for your victory. All of Shor's realm has your back, Dovahkiin. Kick that lizard's ass. To prove the point, Every. Single. Soul. In the Hall of Valor was begging Shor to let them be your backup for the fight. Imagine having Tamriel's greatest Badass Army at your back, a numberless legion of warrior ghosts including the founder of the Graybeards, a king who once locked up a dragon in his palace for kicks, and the original leader of the Companions who butchered the Falmer so hard, they decided being a blind slave-race to the Dwemer was preferable to extinction.
  • A side note: Tsun, the guard of the Whalebone Bridge? That's the old Nordic name for Zenithar. In order to access the Hall of Heroes, you just had to take on and beat an avatar of one of the Divines.
• The battle to save Winterhold College. The Eye of Magnus, the atmosphere, the special effects and everything else- a really fitting ending to the quest line of what is basically Skyrim's Mage's Guild.
• The fight against Queen Potema. There aren't many fights this flashy and cinematic in games running with this sort of engine.
  • This deserves some elboration: Potema Septim, the Wolf Queen is built up as being an apocalyptic threat in her own right, so dangerous that she nearly destroyed the empire by herself, and one of the most powerful necromancers and mages to ever live. Everyone involved in the quest paints the picture of someone who'd easily join the game's Big Bad Ensemble if allowed to fully resurrect...and while she doesn't have an entire long quest line devoted to her, the game still sells just how big of a deal she is even in a grealy weakened state by giving her an epic, multistage boss fight. Special mention to the first phase, which despite mainly being Potema sending her undead minions after the Dragonborn, has Potema as a swirling tornado of destructive magic. The fight is comparable to many of the actual long questline and story bosses in terms of scope and presentation.
• Roaming near a village en-route to a town on the other side of some mountains, Alduin is flying around and lands by a burial site to resurrect another dragon. Doesn't seem like much, right? The encounter is done by chance alone. This encounter isn't scripted, it just catches your curiosity enough for you to check it out. You'll never feel more powerless no matter how much you've leveled up in the middle of the game knowing the big guy's doing as he pleases. This is a pure moment of awesome for the developers alone for thinking outside the box and showing us the main antagonist is doing more than just sitting around waiting for you.
• The prisoner beheaded before you at the start of the game. Verbally flipping off your executioner as you're about to be killed takes some serious courage.
  • Hell, everything he said was made of awesome! He defended Talos by telling the priestess to shut up, yelled at the Imperial Captain to hurry it up all without fear in his voice. And he does all in this annoyed voice as if his own execution is making him late for work.
    "Hurry up! I don't have all morning!"
  • To quote Ralof, "As fearless in death as he was in life".
  • Although sadly, if he pleaded or resisted or just did anything to buy himself a few more moments, Alduin would have showed up while his head was on the block and he would've lived.
  • Better yet, choose to escape and ally with the Stormcloaks and the Imperial Captain who forced you to execution, even after a dragon attack, still wants some. Karmic Death was never sweeter.
• Ulfric's Rousing Speech right before you tear into Solitude.
  • Listen to it in Japanese here starting at 0:28; his soldiers already cheering while he spoke, then they all cheer together right after just when they begin the siege. And even Ulfric's ending speech is just as good, and he knows it (after asking Galmar how he did, Galmar replies, "Not bad", and Ulfric remarks, "I thought so").
• Whether you think he's heroic or misguided, there's no denying that much of Ulfric's dialogue is pure 24k awesome (and Vladimir Kulich's voice doesn't hurt). Please refer to this video for proof.
• Tullius giving one hell of a prep-talk to his men before they storm Windhelm. After finishing off Ulfric and ending the war once and for all, he gives a second Rousing Speech, like Ulfric - which he finishes with a deadpan "I hate giving speeches".
• Galmar Stone-Fist, of all people, also has his moments. The speech he gives before the Battle of Whiterun is actually very moving.
  Galmar: This is it, men! They say that our cause is false and that we are nothing more than thieves, thugs, and murderers! But no! We are farmers! We are craftsmen! We are sons and daughters of shopkeepers, maid servants and soldiers! We are the sons and daughters of Skyrim! And we have come this far because our cause is true. Because we fight as one. And because our hearts are bursting with anger!
• Sadly it was Dummied Out along with most of the Civil War plot to save time, but originally if the Stormcloaks took Markarth, Galmar was to be the one to execute Ondolemar and he even got a little cutscene for it, one that would make even pro-Imperial players smile.
  Galmar: Someone get that thing out of here and burn it.
• Encountering a dragon near certain important NPCs, such as the Mages of Winterhold — Dragon lands down in the courtyard, Dragonborn starts up... And the dragon proceeds to get utterly destroyed as Mirabelle and Saros Aven pummel it with fireballs before you've even drawn your blade.
  • Also related to encountering dragons at the College of Winterhold is something of a Self-Imposed Challenge. Instead of fighting the dragon in the courtyard, you can choose to make your way to the top of the main building and fight it up there. It sounds pretty basic, but given the heightened arena-like design of the building's roof, the blizzard thundering at you non-stop and the aforementioned music playing continuously, it's a really good opportunity to impress yourself with your character's skills with fitting imagery to boot.
• The way that the Greybeards summon you once you find out that you're the Dragonborn. You're walking back to Whiterun after slaying the dragon and suddenly there's a bellow of "DOV-AH-KIIN!" that's loud enough to make the heavens and earth tremble.
  • It's implied that everyone in Skyrim heard the summons.
  • Made somewhat more awesome, as you later learn that one can summon Dragons by speaking their name via the Thu'um, who will almost then certainly seek out the one who called them either out of curiosity or to accept the implied challenge. The Greybeards just summoned the Dragonborn to High Hrothgar in the exact same way.
• A subtler one for the designers: if you've played Morrowind, taking a walk through the Grey Quarter, on a windy day, while The Jerall Mountains is playing, is an instant nostalgia trip.
• Most non-scripted dragon battles are awesome events. Picture this: You're talking to a guy. Maybe requesting entry to the College of Winterhold, maybe asking a bard for a request, maybe just selling some cabbages. All of a sudden, a dragon swoops in. You quit out of the conversation, kill the thing... then go back to the conversation and pick up from where you left off. The entire event of slaying a dragon oozes with epicness, no matter where you are, who you are or how you kill it.
• "JOOR ZAH FRUL!" Basically the shout which drives down a dragon. Not only can you get those nasty lizards down - them faceplanting being an option - but each time you use it, you're introducing them to the notion of their own mortality. Which kinda makes you the dragon equivalent of the Grim Reaper. Bonus points if you're using Volendrung and punctuating each of your blows with "JOOR!" (mortal) to keep the dragon from taking off or roasting you: here, you're not just introducing him to the notion of death, you're literally beating the sense of it into him, one bash at a time.
• Speaking of shouts, "TIID KLO UL!", also known as Slow Time. Think about it for a minute: it's a Shout that slows time. You are yelling at time itself to slow down. And it complies. Also becomes Fridge Brilliance when you remember that dragons are related to Akatosh, who is not only king of the Divines, he is the god of time. It makes perfect sense that his children would be able to command time, and for Alduin to survive being blasted into the future through a time wound without any loss of power.
• A dragon attacks Whiterun. The Stormcloak guards put up their defense as the citizenry flees, all the while, one screams out to the beast; "I'll rip your heart out!"
  • For ones that are inclined to do so, there is a mod (Heart Breaker, for those interested), that allows you to literally rip the hearts out of enemies when they're catching their breaths after you beat them to within an inch of their lives. Ever wanted to go Temple of Doom on somebody that gave you a 'heart' time? Now you can!
• While negotiating a peace treaty between the Stormcloaks and the Empire, you can kick Elenwen out of the negotiations.
  • Regardless of how you feel about Ulfric Stormcloak, hearing him refer to Elenwen as "that Thalmor bitch" just beforehand will probably make you want to cheer. If you do keep her at the negotiating table, he later delivers a Shut Up, Hannibal! that is arguably even more satisfying. The knowledge that she was the interrogator who tortured him past his breaking point during the Great War makes it that much sweeter.
  • The peace treaty itself. The Greybeards want nothing to do with the civil war and the political strife of Skyrim, Ulfric and Tullius are at war, Elisif is the widow of the High King that Ulfric murdered, the Blades are enemies of the Greybeards hunted by the Thalmor, and Elenwen, well, everyone hates the Thalmor. But, teeth-clenching though it may be, you manage to get all of them to sit down in a room together to discuss a temporary truce so you can deal with the larger threat of Alduin. And inevitably they each look to you for your opinion on how Ulfric and Tullius should handle the other's demands, and even if they don't like what you say they yield to your will.
  • A particularly good one is if you keep Elenwen in the treaty negotiations, either Ulfric or Tullius will tell her to shut up and she does so.
    Ulfric: SHUT UP!
    Tullius: That's enough out of you!
• A villainous one: You and Mercer Frey track down Karliah, who betrayed and killed the previous Thieves' Guildmaster Gallus. Gallus's death and the infighting that followed are responsible for the Guild's run of bad luck, and Mercer wants revenge. Except Mercer was the traitor, having killed Gallus in that very same spot then framing Karliah and devoting all the Guild's resources to hunting her down for her "betrayal." And then he stabs you and leaves you to die, with no one but the "traitor" the wiser. You go on to learn that he, Gallus, and Karliah were all Nightingales sworn to protect Nocturnal and her artifact, the Skeleton Key. Mercer took the oath to get rich, stole the Key, killed/framed the other two to cover it up, and used the Key to break into the Guild Vault. Then he bought a manor with a secret passage into the sewers, so he could take more at his leisure. Then he forged an alliance with the most powerful noble in Riften, to keep up a steady flow of riches that he could easily steal back. Then he used the Key in the most abstract and badass manner possible to unlock his own potential. Since he's now a perfect human being, he can hack through huge hordes of Draugr, open Nordic puzzle doors in seconds, and smash giant stone towers the size of dragons. After bleeding the Guild for all it's worth, he does a runner, stopping to steal the most valuable gems in Skyrim from a Dwemer ruin crawling with traps, mechanisms, and Falmer. So, to recap: Mercer Frey, already a highly skilled thief, steals a ridiculously powerful artifact from the Goddess of Darkness and Thieves, then gains incredible abilities with it that not even the Dovahkiin can use, swindles his own organization out of a crapton of cash, eliminates the only two witnesses (in a way that nobody else would ever suspect him), becomes insanely wealthy with a swank mansion to boot, then—after screwing everyone he can possibly screw—gets away scot-free and throws in one more badass heist. He even takes out the player, the one and only Spanner in the Works. And it would have worked perfectly if not for Karliah happening to shoot you with a poisoned arrow.
• In Winterhold, there's a skeleton clutching a tattered flag. No matter what you do to disturb it, the skeleton will not let go of the flag. Nearby, there's a book about the fall of the Knights of the Nine. The implications are astounding.
• The entire Argonian race got one during the Oblivion Crisis that comes to light in this game. While just about every other race in Tamriel was struggling to beat back the demonic invaders, the Argonians, that bizarre race of lizard men who go by funny names like Hides-His-Eyes and Grins-At-Cats, not only slaughtered the invading demons through judicious use of Vietcong-style guerrilla warfare, they actually sent counter-invading armies into Oblivion that forced the Daedra to close the gates. Fast forward to Skyrim and it is implied that the Argonians of Black Marsh are the only force in all Tamriel besides the Redguards of Hammerfell who have the military might to oppose the Aldmeri Dominion. That is why you Beware the Silly Ones.
• If you kill enough of the wandering Thalmor Justicars (or trick them into attacking you, then killing them), eventually the Justicars will start attacking you on sight. Loot their bodies to find out why; the Thalmor have put out an order for your execution. They consider you such a threat they've ordered their troops to kill you on sight. Not captured, not tortured, they want you dead. How does that feel? It feels pretty awesome.
  • It's every bit as awesome if you're playing an Altmer yourself.
  • They have the same standing orders for Delphine, with the addendum that coming at her with anything less than a full legion of battlemages will basically have the same effect as tossing meat into a grinder.
• Simply learning a word - you hear echoes of chanting, then you approach the place where the word was written, then it fills your vision as you receive a Theme Music Power-Up.
• On occasion, you will find couriers running through Skyrim. Try to talk to them, and they will hurriedly state that they have no time to chat with you. But if a dragon happens to land nearby one? Out comes the dagger and he rushes in to meet it. No time to talk to you, but he will make time for some dragon slaying. Granted, he is almost surely to get swallowed whole, but still. Also worth mentioning that they do all their message delivering on foot, unlike those sissies at the Black Horse Courier.
  • And considering that along the road they might've had to kill various tough foes (such as high-level Bandits, Trolls, etc.) on the way to give you your mail, it'd be almost like they took lessons in this job from a certain other Courier from a certain other Bethesda Sandbox.
  • Their ability to find the player despite them almost constantly being on the move is pretty awesome in its own right. It even gets acknowledged during the quest "Repairing the Phial", which you start by finishing the prerequisite quest and then getting a letter from the questgiver asking you to see him again. Once you do, he'll remark that you're a very difficult person to track down, but fortunately "those couriers are persistent".
• Even some of the books that can be found in the game have their moments. For example, one book, The Marksmanship Lesson, tells the story of a Bosmer slave getting a boy to kill his father by telling him exactly where to aim his bow and shoot, then leading his father to be exactly where he needs to be when the arrow ends up getting there. And he does this all while being whipped by the man who ends up dead.
  • The Locked Room tells of a master thief who trains people to pick locks, but one student prefers to tinker and study the locks instead of break them, even when she has an obvious talent for it. Fed up with her wasting his time, the teacher locks her in a room with a crated vampire and tells her to hurry and get out before it wakes up. The student breaks the lock in seconds, but comes back the next day and asks the teacher if she can use the vampire room to test a lock she's been designing. She promptly locks the teacher in the room and triumphantly announces her lock is impossible to pick, but she was nice enough to leave the key in the room if he gives up. The teacher refuses to submit and tries again and again to pick her lock, and when he finally gives up he can't find the key she left. Eventually the vampire wakes up and descends on him, the teacher seeing the key around its neck as it rises.
  • The Black Arrow tells of a man living in the Bosmer province of Valenwood. He makes some friends in a nearby town. His wealthy employer decides she wants the space in that town. What does she do? Burns the village down, killing many people in it, including the main character's friend. Another friend of the main character who manages to survive ends up holding a grudge on the woman. So, every night, he fires a single ebony arrow through the keyhole of the door. Every night. Finally, the main character is assigned to keep watch for the shooter of the arrow. He happens to move his chair away from the spot the arrow hits. The lady hears something in the bushes, goes to the door, puts her eye to the keyhole, and - splat.
    • The character meets with the shooter, Missun Akin, later. "
      As we left one another that day, and he was waving goodbye, he said, "I am pleased to see you doing so well, my friend. I am happy you moved that chair."
  • The Last Scabbard of Akrash increases your Smithing Skill, but it could just as easily increase One-Handed, Stealth, or just about anything else. The story revolves around slavers being murdered by a mysterious vigilante known as "The Lopper," because he tends to lop his victims' heads clean off. Turns out "The Lopper" is a Khajiit slave, and the sword he uses is Akrash, which belongs to the patriarch of a slaver family. Who keeps getting The Lopper this majestic blade, and refinishing and polishing it so its owner never even knows it was missing? Why, the owner's daughter, who's in love with The Lopper. It all ends tragically, but the three main characters are all consummate Badasses... yes, even the villain.
• Simply seeing Blackreach, the huge underground area with glowing plants, Dwemer ruins, and red nirnroots. Plus the Dragon that shows up if you FUS RO DAH at the orange orb at the middle of the whole place.
• Any time you kill a new type of enemy is bound to be this for you.
• Ulfric Stormcloak: Let the Dragonborn be the one to do it. It would make for a better song.
  • Bonus points if you used Fus Ro Dah instead of the sword.
• After witnessing Ulfric curb-stomp Tullius to the ground, he starts giving us his summations, telling us we've pretty much given the Thalmor what they wanted. Ulfric replies that while the Empire may not be the villains in all of this, they are certainly no heroes either. Tullius agrees with him. It's moments like this that truly show how well-written the Civil War storyline truly is.
• "I faced him fearlessly - my fate inescapable, yet my honor is unstained - can Ulfric say the same?" This quote from High King Torygg sums up how his death went. He wasn't scared of Ulfric, even knowing he was going to die, but as a true Nord, he was honorable and fearless in battle. His only regret is leaving behind Elisif.
  • This seems to have been the mindset of the Emperor as well when you're about to kill him. Apparently being awesome is a requirement for the job.
• A simple one, but there is nothing so satisfying as calling Odahviing to rip another dragon's throat out. He's even nice enough to never poach souls from you after a kill.
  • With one possible exception: summoning Durnehviir to rip another dragon's throat out.
• The march on Windhelm was epic enough, but halfway through the fight, Legate Rikke and General Tullius were knocked down, whilst every other soldier died. It was a huge Crowning Moment of Awesome standing there, being swarmed by Stormcloaks, being the only one left to keep the battle going.
• After many games, the player finally gets to read one of the titular Elder Scrolls. And it turns out it's not so much "reading" them, but using it is as a viewport to scry events elsewhere/elsewhen in spacetime. And it turns out that's but a simple use of them: you can also use them to unbind entities from spacetime, and do many other things to screw around with the fabric of reality with them.
• Becoming a Nightingale toward the end of the Thieves' Guild questline. Getting to put on that badass gray armor and stand in front of a Daedric Prince with Karliah and Brynjolf is little more than ceremony padding out the quest, but the setting and armor make it look and feel like a massive accomplishment. The final battle against Mercer running around a massive statue and narrowly escaping the flooding chamber isn't too shabby, either.
  • The mission to Irkngthand is pretty awesome because of the context. The top three thieves in the guild, the player, Brynjolf and Karliah, who are essentially the stealthiest people in Skyrim are sneaking their way through a Dwemer ruin absolutely teeming with Falmer. It's possible to actually get through the quest unseen as well excluding scripted encounters.
  • Bonus points if you finish Mercer off with Chillrend. Killing a traitorous thief with a sword stolen from the home of said traitor? Oh, the delicious irony of it all.
  • This fight is all the more awesome by the fact that Mercer's possession of the Skeleton Key unlocks his full potential, yet you, the Dragonborn, don't even have to reach or surpass the level cap in order to defeat him, so basically, the game is telling you that it's virtually impossible for Mercer to compete with the Dragonborn, because they have no need to unlock his full potential to be way more than capable of kicking his ass.
  • And the icing on top? Nocturnal thanks you for returning the Skeleton Key. In person.
  • It gets even better if you take the time to do enough side jobs with Delvin and Vex to get Thieves' Guild influence in all of the major cities in Skyrim, which is more than enough to earn your place as the new Guildmaster, complete with armor, Amulet of Articulation, four new merchants at the Flagon, the ability to bribe guards at every major hold, access to the Tribute Chest, and the pure satisfaction that comes with restoring the Guild to glory and prominence again.
• One of the random "finishing move" cutscenes when you're fighting a dragon involves you climbing right onto the dragon's head.
  • Almost all finishing moves can be considered this. With a battleaxe or warhammer, you can trap your opponent's neck and headbutt them to death. With two swords, you can force your opponent to kneel, then scissor-decapitate them. And if you're unarmed, you can finish them off with various wrestling moves. Or just chokeslam the poor bastard to the floor and then stomp his head in. Killing Grelod the Kind with this particular finisher is DEEPLY satisfying.
  • Cinematic archery kills. There is no more satisfying way to end an archer duel than seeing your arrow spring off the bowstring, hurtle across a hundred or so yards of terrain, and pierce your target through the chest/head/eye, sending them flying backwards. Bonus points if you were sneaking and your target was unaware, or if they're standing on a bridge.
    • Destructionists can get in on the fun too, watching a fireball careen towards its victim.
• The first time, as a Stealth-oriented character, that you take down multiple enemies in one room without being spotted will make you feel badass.
• Once you reinstate the Blades at Sky Haven Temple and recruit some more members for them, there is a chance of them all hanging out in front of the entrance practicing and training their fighting style. A completely random event can have a dragon (bonus points if it is an elder or ancient dragon) swoop down and land right next to them. You can just hang back and laugh as they proceed to utterly curb-stomp it in the most awesome way possible, usually within less than ten seconds. Whatever you may think of Delphine and Esbern, you can't deny that they still kick ass.
• The first time a new, stronger breed of dragons shows up after you just have proven yourself capable of overcoming their much weaker cousins. If your level isn't high enough, your first Elder Dragon may very well prove to you that you are still far from being the most dangerous creature in Skyrim.
  • And once you manage to kill it, it proves that you are the most dangerous creature in Skyrim.
• Odahviing's entrance when you first summon him. After you use the shout, a few seconds pass... then out of nowhere, Odahviing swoops down and flings the guard to his death.
• The Festival of the Burning of King Olaf. You've convinced Jarl Elisif to reinstate it, based on a verse you made up (and it can be as hilariously unrealistic as claiming that Olaf was a dragon), it takes place at nighttime with a big bonfire, and everyone comes around to celebrate it. There's music playing, free food, and you're officially inducted as a bard.
• Those rare occasions where the Kill Cam kicks in for both the Dragonborn and their follower. Nothing screams overkill than watching your enemy get your arrow through the face while simultaneously being impaled with a Ice Spike to the gut from your follower.
• The Mind Rape they conducted on Ulfric Stormcloak is a CMOA for the Thalmor, albeit a particularly nasty and evil brand of awesome. By convincing him he was responsible for the fall of the Imperial City and then preying on his guilt, they laid the foundations for a civil war that would weaken the Empire without any direct military action on their part. Manipulative bastardy at its finest.
• As a random encounter, you can find the Old Orc, a warrior who wishes for a good death. While speaking to him, a dragon can attack both of you. The Old Orc can kill the dragon. Not even death by dragon is good enough for him.
  • His death by honourable combat at your hands becomes even more epic if you completed Malacath's quest before meeting him. You are a legendary supernatural dragonslayer who is also, unbeknownst to the Orc, the chosen champion of his patron deity, and he is just an ordinary Orc warrior with his favourite axe, and he will put up a decent fight against you. Given that Malacath is simultaneously the patron deity of the underdog and a War God, you can bet this Old Orc's spirit will be warmly welcomed.
• As an Archer-focused character, nothing is quite so satisfying as looting the body of an enemy and noticing that all of your shots were dead-center into their face and chest. It's even more awesome at higher levels, when you can start casually one-shotting your foes with a single arrow through the skull.
• The Ebony Warrior: this guy will come up to you once your level is high enough, and he claims that he has done everything in Skyrim. And he has the gear to prove it. He challenges you to a fight at his encampment. When you face him, you'll find that his boast of having done everything in Skyrim is no idle boast. He can even shout, which can result in you being shouted off the top of a mountain. He has a set of what can be considered some of the best gear in the game. While he may not have any game-breakingly powerful gear like you might, for a normal character, short of Miraak or Alduin himself, there is no foe more challenging.
• Another moment can potentially arise whenever an NPC that knows Dragon Shouts uses Disarm. Whether it be a companion picking up your weapon and killing the threat with it, or you punching them out after having your weapon knocked out of your hand.
• Two simple words that show up in the final quest of the main storyline - "Defeat Alduin".
• The Thalmor Dossier on Delphine reveals that she had managed to evade three different attempts on her life, in one case killing an entire assassination team.
• Storming through the Thalmor embassy on your own feels incredibly satisfying, particularly as you may not be a high level, but in any case you're not only holding your own against the Thalmor, you're utterly handing their arses to them. Then, after you've recovered the military intelligence, you and Malborn both flee via the dungeons, with any of the hostages you've rescued- and bump straight into a Frost Troll. If you have a follower, he'll show up to save you all, meaning it's about five people versus one Frost Troll. Talk about an epic escape.
  • Early on in your infiltration of the Embassy you can pilfer some Thalmor robes and dress as the enemy. Of course this is not an option for Khajiit and Argonians as they get caught out immediately ("Hey wait a minute, is that a tail!?"), but humans can get through quite easily as long as they are careful not to give the guards a close look, and if you are an Altmer you can literally just stroll past the totally unsuspecting guards and grab everything you need and you can even order the guards around.
  • Even better? If you go back to the Embassy later with a horse, you can jump over the fence which leads to the back, and murder Elenwen in her Solar. Vengeance has never been sweeter.
• One that's easily ignored, but impressive when you think about it. In past Elder Scrolls titles, the PC would become stuck upon being overencumbered, being unable to take even a single step. However, being overencumbered only manages to slow the Dragonborn down. It's entirely possible to walk around with enough junk in your inventory to make a small mountain, and you'll only be reduced to being unable to run.
• Lydia gains several new Badass Boasts when fighting the creatures on Solstheim.
  "For Whiterun!"
  "I don't have to know what you are to kill you!"
  "I don't plan on being killed by the likes of you!"
  "I've come a long way to kill you!"
• After the Great War, the Aldmeri Dominion forced the Emperor to sign the White Gold Concordat, banning Talos Worship. The natives of Hammerfell were in such an uproar that Titus Mede had no choice but to declare that Hammerfell was no longer a part of the empire, leaving them as fair game for the Dominion to invade and wipe out. The Redguards drove them back.
• How awesome was Skyrim in impacting the Japanese video game market? Not only did it score 40/40 in Weekly Famitsu (the first Western video game to do so), but Square Enix's bosses declared that they instructed their devs to "beat" Skyrim in designing one of their Final Fantasy games!
• Have you ever fought a dragon except for Alduin that flies away at low health rather than to fight to the bitter end? Depending on your view on honour vs. pragmatism, it can either be awesome seeing a dragon too scared to fight you, or it can be refreshing finally to see a dragon smart enough not to face impending oblivion due to an over-the-top sense of honor. (Or it can be annoying when you need a dragon soul).
• Clavicus Vile is the Daedric Prince of wishes. You're warned before you see him not to make a wish, because he willfully corrupts wishes. It doesn't exactly matter, because he doesn't have access to half of his power, pointing out that the Dragonborn is about as strong as he is at that very moment. You can encounter this quest as early as level 10. It's empowering to know that the Dragonborn, in the early game, is around half as strong as the demons that most mortals are powerless to defy, that very nearly destroyed the world in the previous game.
  • With that in mind, think about when the Dragonborn is level 81 or higher.
  • There is a line in the Dovahkiin song that translates to "with power to rival the sun"...^note Even more badass when you consider TES lore. The Sun is actually the hole that the et'Ada called Magnus tore through Oblivion during his Screw This, I'm Outta Here reaction to the creation of the mortal plane. It's speculated that this event is the reason for all magic on Nirn. This line compares Dovahkiin to the very source of all magic, if not the very Physical God that created magic in the first place!
• Meeting Sheogorath again, and realizing that he's YOU. To be more specific, he's the Hero of Kvatch, who's fully grown into his mantle and is now apparently enjoying his new role quite a whole lot. YMMV on whether this is a moment of awesome, a tearjerker, or outright nightmare fuel, but the fact that the Hero still remembers his days as an adventurer and fondly states that you remind him of himself at a young age give the impression less that they have been subsumed by Sheogorath's personality and more that they have melded with it to become something new.
• Meridia's quest starts off in an awesome manner when you find her beacon and suddenly a booming voice commands you to take it back to her shrine. Do so and Meridia transports you way up into the sky and tells you to rid her shrine of the foul undead infesting it and retrieve Dawnbreaker. The barely contained fury in her voice over the desecration of her shrine can be rather intimidating. The best part is when she reveals that the necromancer had barred the doors to keep people from entering. Here's one Daedric Prince who is not to be trifled with:
  Meridia: Malkoran has forced the doors shut. But this is MY temple, and it responds to MY decree.
  • Once you get your hands on the Dawnbreaker, every time its enchantment goes off counts as its own mini-CMoA: when killing undead, the sword has the chance of generating a massive explosion of fire that disintegrates pretty much any non-boss undead creature that gets caught in it. It gets even better: the Draugr (or vampires) who aren't immediately disintegrated by the explosion will run for the hills, refusing to engage you for a while afterward. That's right, you are Meridia's Champion, and the walking dead fear you.
  • There are a pair of glitches involving the quest, which can be triggered with a simple, even unintentional Fus, that will both freeze Malkoran's shade, making him unable to attack or be damaged except by DoT effects, and dislodge the Dawnbreaker on the pedestal, allowing you to pick it up. Not only can you obliterate the necromancer with the very sword he was trying to defile, it having a basic fire enchantment on top of the unique one, but once you finish the quest, you'll have two of them - the one from the pedestal you aren't supposed to get, and a separate one automatically added to your inventory when you activate it.
  • Try using Dawnbreaker in conjunction with the Slow Time shout (and for a better perspective, use the third person camera). Watching the undead explode in slow motion is metal.
• If you manage to point the finger at the real culprit in "Blood on the Ice", you have a chance to stop the next murder. If you book it to the marketplace, you'll get there Just in Time to give the killer a taste of his own medicine and keep him from claiming any more lives.
• Similar to the above, the first thing you'll see when walking into Markarth is a man sneaking up on a woman, preparing to stab her from behind. If you're quick enough, you can stop him, saving her life and making a later quest slightly easier.
• One of the most satisfying and karmic ways to kill Arondil, the perverted necromancer who lives in Yngvild? Sneak into his quarters and remove the grand soul gem sitting on the pedestal next to his throne, and then watch as his own undead harem tear him to shreds.
• It's relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, but the climax of the vampire quest in Morthal becomes one if you do it at night. You emerge from the Jarl's longhouse to find the entire population of the town gathered out front holding Torches and Pitchforks and ordering you to take them to Movarth's lair. You can meet them there later... or you can pull out your own torch and lead the charge. Admit it, who hasn't wanted to be at the head of an angry mob at some point?
  • Unfortunately, the awesomeness is diminished when the mob reaches the vampire lair and most of them chicken out. Which, in turn, gives major badass points to the one guy that volunteers to go in with you, against a bunch of vampires that can theoretically rip him several new ones.
• One that you need to think about to notice, but there's a fair chance that an arrow you've been shot with will find its way into your inventory. Yes, you can still use it normally. This gives rise to situations where the Dragonborn gets shot, casually pulls the arrow out of their flesh, and then proceeds to return it to sender. Bonus points if this ends up a cinematic kill.
• You know those annoying moments when a dragon drops in and attacks out of nowhere and disrupts whatever business you're trying to mind right at that moment? Well, Dragontooth Crater gives the Dragonborn the rare opportunity to pay a dragon back for it. Approach from the south, and you can climb up the summit overlooking the lair, with the dragon curled up directly under you. Ready your weapon of choice, Become Ethereal, and jump off to ambush the big lizard from above.
• Kill animations can be done by anybody that has the ability. If a dragon is at low enough health, you can be treated to a guard, follower, or even a random citizen armed with a dagger hopping on the dragon's head and stabbing the dragon to death.
• If a dragon attacks a camp of giants, there's a chance that a giant will attempt to ride the dragon after it lands. The dragon will respond by taking off and bucking erratically to knock the giant off; the giant usually dies from the fall. (Todd Howard mentions that they spent an ungodly amount of time on the Dragon AI, to such an extent that they realized they had to stop since they were dealing with progressively unlikely scenarios, and the rest of the game was suffering from the amount of time they had put into it. So there are probably all kinds of dragon interactions like this in the game that are still just waiting to be discovered!)
• "The Dragonborn Comes" will always be awesome, especially when you consider that the song is about you. Every time you hear a bard sing of the Dragonborn, they are singing your praises.
  • "Tale of the Tongues" is even better. "The Dragonborn Comes" is about the Dragonborn, but it was not written with you in mind, just the Dragonborn in general. "Tale" is about you, specifically.
    But then came the Tongues on that terrible day.
    Steadfast as winter, they entered the fray
    And all heard the music of Alduin's doom.
    The sweet song of Skyrim, sky-shattering Thu'um
    
    And so the Tongues freed us from Alduin's rage
    Gave the gift of the Voice, ushered in a new age
    If Alduin is eternal, then eternity's done
    For his story is over, and the dragons are gone.
• If you're able to pacify the Champion of Boethia with magic, you can actually speak to him and if you ask him if he's really satisfied with giving up his position as Boethia's Champion to become a blacksmith, he'll give a rather badass "The Reason You Suck" Speech for the Prince of Plots.

  Champion of Boethia: Mind my words or I'll mind them for you: I'm slave to no man, no god, and no Daedra. Boethiah talks about leaving your mark, a sign of your passing.... Well, you can make a mark on the world without treachery and murder. Whenever a man's life is saved by armor made with these hands, these hands have changed that man's destiny and his family's. So you can tell that heartless Daedra bitch I'm done doing her dirty work.

DLC

• During the Dawnguard quest "Touching the Sky," you come across an icy lake with a Word of Power sitting on a small island in the middle of it. Take a few steps onto the lake and two dragons emerge from the ice. The ensuing fight is nothing short of awesome.
• Dawnguard allows you to meet the spirit of Saint Jiub in the Soul Cairn, which is awesome. The fact that he has the same voice Dunmer had in Morrowind is even more awesome. To top it off, Jiub also reveals he'd moved to Cyrodiil to write his memoirs in peace and quiet... and settled in Kvatch, which is why he's where he is.
  • Further to this in Dawnguard is the Dawnguard's questline ending. Lord Harkon's Vampire Lord form final fight is absolutely drop-dead amazing with atmosphere. Bonus points? You can practically spit in his face about your most likely companion at this point. Actually, let's be honest. Serana may well be the most well-developed character in the Elder Scrolls, and while the attraction is obvious... so is the fact that it goes into CMOH territory as well in the aftermath. However, the biggest, best thing about Dawnguard has to be the storyline's final boss. Nothing beats a boss that uses his abilities even better than a player potentially can, but not seem too overly powerful during the fight.
    • Be a Companion, fight him in Beast Form. Live out your Fur Against Fang fantasies, and show him just what the "filth" in your blood is capable of doing.
  • And possibly the most awesome thing about Dawnguard is the final reward, Auriel's Bow, which can turn off the sun.
    • Even better is the other effect; you can turn the frickin' sun into a Kill Sat.
  • When you find out just who created the prophecy, Serana is not pleased with him. The only thing that could make the scene more badass is Serana chomping on his neck after delivering the following dialogue, but that would have deprived us of the finale to an epic Climax Boss.
    *Neck Lift* "You've waited all this time, just to get my blood!? Well, too bad, I plan on keeping it. Let's see if yours has any power in it!"
• Dawnguard introduced the Revered and Legendary Dragons, the latter being so powerful they don't even appear until the player character is level 78 (just three levels below the former level cap of 81). Defeating a Legendary Dragon is such an awesome feat that it even warrants an achievement.
• Dragonborn's release trailer is made of awesome. Just to give one example- you can ride dragons. And there's another Dragonborn - one strong enough to devour the souls of three dragons at once. This 'new' Dragonborn is powerful enough to command a dragon to land and hand over its soul just to heal himself. That's awesome no matter which way you slice it. Even if he is the bad guy.
  • Miraak's reveal in the trailer also references the official trailer for Skyrim. The Last Dragonborn is slowly revealed to be absorbing a dragon's soul, but Miraak is shown to be absorbing three at once. The two scenes are very similar, and it foreshadows Miraak's similarities to the Last Dragonborn and his superiority during their first encounter.
• While out for a stroll in the Forgotten Vale, you'll pass over a frozen lake. Normal fare, yeah? Then Serana says she thinks the ice looks pretty thin. Ha, just a simple program trick to increase immersi— then two Revered Dragons, Voslaarum and Naaslaarum, burst out of the ice, scaring you and roaring off into the sky. Nothing you can't handle, right? Wait, they can dive? Yes, they dive in and out of the ice, leaving gaping holes for you to fall in. By the end of the fight, there might not be much ice left.
  • Just the Forgotten Vale in general, one of the most breathtaking visual feasts in all of Skyrim in general.
• A vampire player on the Bethesda forums once gave the epic story of a single determined town guard. After the player committed a crime in a hold, half the town guard came after him. The player ran, all the way from the hold to the vampire's lair, dodging animals, guards, and dragons along the way. When he finally reached the vampire's castle, and thought he was safe, he entered, and a few seconds later, he hears a noise behind him. He turns to see a guard slowly advancing on him. Said guard demands the player turn himself in. Picture this: said guard just walked into a vampire lair, where humans are being eaten like a buffet. He had dodged wild animals, angry dragons, and was now in the middle of a place that can be considered certain death for any human intruder. And he just demanded that the character give up without a fight, despite the fact that he is outnumbered and outgunned, and that the character in question was a vampire lord. The player surrendered to the guard without a fight. As one commenter put it, the guard was channeling the spirit of Sam Vimes.
• Until Dawnguard's perks helped fix the impractical part of the Awesome, but Impractical werewolves, they were rather weak after a while, but the transformation is still incredibly badass. With the perk tree, werewolves are terrifyingly epic, able to summon other werewolves from the Hunting Grounds with a howl, devour the heart of anything that isn't a Dwemer automaton to heal and extend the transformation, and fling scores of human opponents around like ragdolls. Oh, and getting a finisher with the two-handed power attack makes you grab your victim by their head with both paws, and then pop their skull like a grape.
  • They can also be strong enough to maul a dragon and a Dragon Priest (at Shearpoint) to death in about 10 seconds.
  • Plus those Giants that can boot you into the atmosphere if you get too close? A werewolf can just bitch-slap the thing to the ground and claw it to death like it were nothing.
• The final battle of Dragonborn: you're fighting Miraak at the summit of Apocryphha, a daedric realm, while three dragons do battle overhead - Sahrotaar for you, the other two (Relonikiv and Kruziikrel) for Miraak. Each time you think you have him on the ropes, he whirlwind sprints away, summons one of the dragons, then drains their life away. He does this three times, and each time he does, he comes back with full health and more power. He swings an eldritch blade that drains your stamina, uses a staff that causes venomous combat tentacles sprout from the ground, and his armor has a chance of making a field of the same tentacles sprout around him. Oh, and his gear allows him to absorb 25% of any spell or dragon shout used against him. Oh, and he uses the Dragon Aspect shout to make himself even more powerful during the fight. With the possible exception of the final battle with Alduin, this is the most epic battle in the game.
  • And it only gets better if "The One They Fear" starts playing in the background. Though, of course, that probably goes without saying...
  • This fight is one of the most incredible for one very good reason: Miraak is the first foe to have an answer to everything that you can do to him: His melee attacks can weaken melee users, preventing power attacks. His armor takes away the normal advantages magic users would have against him. His staff allows him to weaken ranged users while he closes the distance. Regardless of what your character may do, he's ready for you.
    • And he can Shout at you. Finally, and while this has minimal impact on actual gameplay, if he beats you, he's gonna consume your soul.
    • This makes it triply awesome when you have a counter for his counters, showing how evenly matched you are, and making it that much more of an accomplishment when you defeat him.
    • There's also a good chance that both the Last Dragonborn and Miraak have fully activated their Dragon Aspect shouts, making them basically the Elder Scrolls equivalent of Super Saiyans.
  • Hermaeus Mora's line when he intervenes in the fight. He finally breaks his calm monotone, and it's a sign of how furious he is.
    "Did you think to escape me, Miraak?!? You can hide NOTHING from me here!"
• Both Storn Crag-Strider and Miraak being Defiant to the End when they get impaled by Hermaeus Mora's tentacles. The latter even hopes that you'll be rewarded with the same fate he was.
• Longtime fans of the series should get one on Solstheim when you can look off the east coast and see Vvardenfell with Red Mountain belching smoke in the distance. You can't go there, but it's just nice to be able to see it again after all this time.
• In the DLC Dragonborn, Ahzidal's boots give you the ability to walk on water like Jesus.
• At the end of the Dragonborn quest "Deathbrand", you enter a tomb that contains a treasure room. Not just a chest, not just a bunch of coins on the floor. This one contains piles of coins (which give you 100+ at a time), weapons, gems, poisons and potions, and two chests full of goods.
• Also in the Dragonborn DLC, near the end of the "Old Friends" Quest, you fight Neloth's previous apprentice Ildari Sarothril, who's been plotting revenge on her former mentor for an experiment gone wrong. When The Dragonborn takes out most of her health, Ildari simply falls to her knees like most essential NPCs do, but tells you the Heart Stone within her keeps her alive, so what does your Dragonborn do? They walk up to Ildari, grab her, and rip the Heart Stone right out of her chest. It's possibly the most brutal killcam move in the game.
• Dawnguard adds an enemy type called the Chaurus Hunter, which is basically a surprise-attacking wasp-thing that spits poison at you. It has a specific killcam, too: you raise your foot and stomp its head flat.
• The Hearthfire DLC allows the Last Dragonborn to be a Self-Made Man, as they can now buy plots of land and build up to three mansions and all the furniture with their own two hands! Turns out they're just as good at making new things as they are at destroying them.
• Hearthfire and Dawnguard both have a side-quest added where your spouse gets kidnapped and it's up to you to save them. It is oh so satisfying to bash Rochelle the Red's face in with your bare hands. Don't threaten the Dragonborn's family.
  • If your spouse is a follower, you can just walk up, activate their "sidekick" mode, then laugh as Rochelle gets murdered by her own hostage.
  • Equal parts funny and awesome in its implications is a bug that causes the quest to sometimes complete itself, leading to your spouse walking through the front door like nothing happened. Basically, your spouse managed to slip out of captivity by themselves and possibly handed Rochelle her ass offscreen.
• How Hermaeus Mora one shots Miraak easily and only had you fight him for his amusement is awesome in a dark way. The guy it took the Dragonborn hours to try to take down, Mora killed in seconds by just showing up.
• When confronting Vythur in Dawnguard, Serana becomes so angry she walks up to him and lifts him up by the throat to chew him out for his role in all of this- made more impressive by the fact Vythur is at least a foot taller than Serana and, with his armor, probably weights more than twice what she does. It's a very casual reminder that despite her adorable visage, Serana is still a super strong vampire lady.
• A Fridge Awesome Moment in Dawnguard: Using your Storm Call Shout in the Soul Cairn causes it to start raining and striking enemies with lightning. Pretty trivial, until you realize that the Soul Cairn is controlled entirely by the Ideal Masters; everything from the fabric to it's appearance is subject to their ruling. But the Dragonborn's Thu'um is so powerful, they can force the Soul Cairn's weather to do their bidding instead. More than that, even after the Shout's effect has worn off, it's still raining. While this is likly an oversight on Bethesda's part or a bug, it can interpreted as the Soul Cairn itself recognizing the Dragonborn's power.

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