Headscratchers / The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim 3

• The Main Quest, Dragons and being Dovahkiin
• Major questlines: Companions, College of Winterhold, Thieves' Guild, Civil War
• Other side quests (you are here)
• The Aedra, Daedra, creatures and people encountered
• The Thu'um and Magic
• The DLCs: Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn
• Lore and History of the Elder Scrolls
• The meta: questions about gameplay mechanics

The Stones of Barenziah

• When you show your first stone of Barenziah to Vex, she mentions that she won't buy it because (paraphrased) "They're only of worth if one has the complete set." If people aren't buying them because they're not worth much on their own, then no-one's actively collecting the whole set which is known (at the very least by scholars) to be valuable. Vex's whole evaluation of the gems doesn't seem to make sense.
  • Well, they're glowing pink gems that hover in their own custom-made boxes, but otherwise have no obvious magical benefit or mineral value. Maybe they do fetch a decent-ish price, but some people just think they're cool paperweights while others have them just for the cred. No one has tried to collect them all because it would be really really really hard. Vex might be nudging you into finding the rest because she's a thief, you're a thief and it'd be a pretty awesome thing for the Thieves Guild to have. And it's not that unusual for a complete artifact to be worth a lot more than the sum of its component materials.
  • The Artifact at the end is special to the thieves Guild. Vex is egging you on to collect the gems instead of selling them so they can get the artifact.
    • All that still doesn't explain from a story standpoint why no one else is collecting the stones. Vex can't be the only person in Skyrim that knows what they are, and logically you should run into the other collectors whilst collecting them yourself. You don't. The only logical conclusion is that Vex is the only person in the world that knows about the stones of Barenziah.
  • Vex implies that very few people know what they are and fewer still know there's more than one out there. Perhaps it does fetch a high price to people other than the thieves guild, but most don't know more than one exists, hence no collectors. Vex herself will reveal that she wanted you to collect the stones, not sell them off at the first chance to some random peddler, which explains why she gives you such a low evaluation at first.
  • It would be nice if she at least offered to take them off your hands when you find them. I'm tired of all these stones clogging up my inventory.
  • As for why nobody's actively collecting them, well simple. Is there anyone besides the Dragonborn so obsessed with collecting literally every mythic item in all of Skyrim?

Madnadach's escape plan

• What the hell is wrong with Madanach, and for that matter, all the guards and Forsworn in Markarth? Madanach has a passage out of the prison literally ten feet from where he sits. It's not concealed. It's not defended by any guards. He has the key to open the gate. I don't know who's stupider; The guards for letting the passage exist, or the Forsworn for not using it until you come along.
  • Madanach's just been biding his time. By the time you come along, Thonar Silver-Blood is on the verge of having Madanach executed just to be safe because he knows the guy is testing the boundaries of his control, and Madanach's prepared for that eventuality. The escape tunnel's not concealed because it's a Dwemer ruin; those are all over the place in Markarth, no one looks at them, and it would be insane trying to explore and block off every single one, particularly because Dwemer ruins tend to be incredibly dangerous. It's possible Madanach or one of his pals broke through into it while mining for silver or he knew it was there from when the Forsworn still occupied the Reach and Markarth. (Also, it is guarded, just not with city guards; a couple of Dwarven Spheres try to murder you halfway down it.) Once you tell Madanach Thonar's on to him and you're loyal-ish to the Forsworn, Madanach figures it's worth gambling everything on an escape and taking out Thonar Silver-Blood, but not before then.

The Lighthouse quest

• When you do the quest to put out the Solitude Lighthouse fire to help the pirates, they invite you to the crashed ship to get your share of the loot. They tell you to go down to the bottom where the pirates 2nd in command attempts to kill you. Why did the pirates do this instead of just mass attacking you the moment you entered the ship? 10 vs 1 is a lot more favorable than 1 v 1
  • Aside from standard-issue Suicidal Overconfidence, the pirates had no reason to believe that you were anything but some random mercenary schmo that they could pin the whole thing on. The Argonians are confident that the sister can kill you and leave your corpse to the Imperial investigators. (yes, its entirely possible that you're waltzing around in daedric armor and wielding a flaming greatsword, followed by a companion with same, but that's standard dumbass for everyone in Skyrim)
  • Note that a thief on the road will still attempt to rob you even if you're named the champion of all 9 divines, 15 Daedric princes, Harbinger of the Companions, Guildmaster of the Thieves Guild, Listener for the Dark Brotherhood, Archmage of Winterhold, Thane of all Holds, wearing the armor of Dragons, known slayer of Alduin, named Dragonborn, leader of the Blades and liberated Skyrim for one of the two Civil War factions. Similarly Bandits will also attack you despite all that. Apparently only civil people read up on current events and everyone else is just Too Dumb to Live.

Eldergleam and Nettlebane

• The pilgrims in the Eldergleam Sanctuary don't want you to use Nettlebane on the Eldergleam, as the tree is sacred to Kynareth, right? So, why would a priestess of Kynareth ask you to go get the knife and use it on the tree? You obviously have to use it on the tree to get the sap. Even Maurice Jondrelle objects, and he was present when you were asked to do it by the priestess! It isn't like Clavicus Vile asked you to go carve an obscene drawing into it or something...and it isn't like getting some sap drawn or a small cut is going to seriously hurt a tree.
  • Maurice mentions he didn't catch the part about using nettlebane on the Eldergleam, and as he points out, an alternative without harming the Eldergleam was available (He probably figured you were going for something like that - if not exactly whe he decided to do). Maurice also points his way of doing things is closer to Kynareth's teaching. It's likely the priestess didn't fully think it through.
  • Present the alternative to the priestess and she will admit that she was more concerned with keeping Kynareth worshippers in the city happy than she was about actually following Kynareth's teachings. That's why she sent you to collect sap from a sacred tree with an evil blade like Nettlebane — she was desperate to restore the Gildergreen.

Elven blood

• Speaking of Septimus, another quest he sends you on has you collecting the blood of all known elven races so he can mix it together to create a loose equivalent of dwemer blood to fool a dwemer security system. So he sends you out to get some high elf, dark elf, wood elf, snow elf, and orc blood. All well and good, those are the only elves that appear in the game. However, there is another race of elves in TES lore that is still very much alive, just rather reclusive; maormer, or sea elves. Now I'm not saying they should have included maormer in the game just for this little quest, but if you're going to have it specifically say "a sample from each elven race" then include an item in an alchemy lab at the college of winterhold or something labeled "sea elf blood".

  • Maybe five different blood samples is all that's needed (Or the Maormer are extinct. Their existence was confirmed by ESO but that's the Second Era)

  • Or better yet, if you are an Orc, or a high/dark/wood elf yourself, why aren't you allowed to draw your own blood for the apparatus?
    • Easy. You're the Dragonborn. During the Main Quest, you have to cut your hand to open a door (only the Dragonborn's blood can open it). Therefore, your Dragonblood would not be the same as a normal orc/high/dark/wood elf's blood would be and the security system would 'see' it.
  • Perhaps the Dovakiin is afraid of needles? Also, judging by the size of the Extractor, it sucks up a lot of blood when it takes a "sample." It'd probably be a bad idea to just up and lose that amount of blood when there are other options available. Plus, Septimus pulls the thing out of his pants. Would YOU use such an unsanitary needle?
    • There are scenes where you literally get stabbed through the hand with a giant needle. No way they're afraid of them.
  • As to the sea elves, they aren't the only still living elven race that he misses.Several books confirm that a handful of Aleyds are still about, now known as wild elves and hiding away from everyone. However presumably what Septimus is doing is extracting whatever elements in those elves blood is similer to Dwarven blood. With five races of elven blood available he's probably got enough of those elements without needing Maormer or Aleyd blood as well.
  • Except that the seperation of the maormer is absolutely ancient, probably dating back to before the first elves even settled on summerset. If any elven race is distinct, it should be them.
    • Also, they're from another continent. It would make sense for them to be removed far enough from the other elves to not require their blood.
  • Septimus specifically said that it was a "close approximate". He likely didn't know there were other elves in existence and was just trying to get as close as possible with those that are nearby. It also kind of helped that he wasn't entirely in his gourd, so to speak.

"House of Horrors"

• During the "House of Horrors" quest, how come Tyranus was so unprepared for the situation that arose? Does the Vigil not train their members on what to do if you encounter a Daedric Lord?
  • I may be wrong, but I believe that Tyranus believed that he was dealing with a few Daedric worshipers. Against a full Daedric Prince especially Molag Bal, whose sphere is the domination and enslavement of mortals, there is not much that can be done.
    • He was expecting a few Daedric worshippers who might have summoned a few lesser Daedra. He didn't expect to meet one of the most powerful Daedra in existence.
  • As an aside, there really is no training on "what to do if you encounter a Daedric Lord." Either the Prince has some end in mind for you, in which case he'll let you live past the encounter, or you might as well just curl up in a ball and cry, because what do you do when something that powerful wants to kill you?
  • I'm not sure. Daedric lords are powerful, yes, but this wasn't a daedric lord. This was a daedric lord talking through a shrine. I'm going to assume that most daedra cults have a shrine (where else are they going to worship?). So, shouldn't the knights really have some degree of training? And it isn't like it was an overwhelming degree of force. It was flying pans and a locked door.
    • It was more than just a bit of poltergeist-style fun. Tyranus basically has his mind dominated and subsequently overthrown by Molag Bal. Even through shrines, Daedric Princes are extremely powerful.
    • It did not appear like Molag Bal was actually controlling his mind. Molag Bal still had to convince Tyranus, right?
    • He wasn't controlling his mind, per se. He was twisting it and contorting it to the point where Tyranus was convinced that the only solution was to kill the only other person with him, Molag Bal is the Daedric Lord of corruption, remember?

Going along with Molag Bal

• In the House of Horrors you are asked by a Vigilant of Stendarr to help investigate a potential daedra worshiper site. Things go bad fast, when it turns out that a daedric prince is directly manifesting his power in the house and corrupts the Vigilant into attacking you, then forces you to agree to help kill someone for him before setting you free. My problem - why do you have to go along with this? The Vigilantes of Stendarr have an HQ in Skyrim, you can visit it and chat with their leader. Why can't you warn them about the possessed house and wash your hands of the quest, or even recruit some Vigilantes as backup and go destroy the shrine? It just drives me nuts that the quest starts with what seems like a noble, good request and then railroads you into doing something evil. My good roleplayed character is stuck with this stupid quest in his journal and can't get rid of it.
  • One could call it complaining, but the headscratcher can be formulated thusly: why is House of Horrors the *only* Daedric quest to neither make clear that it is an evil Daedric quest (before moving from the Minor Quests tab) nor to have a good course of action beyond ignoring it? One can compare with Boethiah's and Mehrunes Dagon's quests: for Boethiah's quest, you have to actually go talk to the people at the Shrine of Boethiah to start it, while Mehrunes Dagon's quest allows you to tell Mehrunes Dagon off and spare the one he tells you to kill.
  • While this might be a stretch, perhaps this is the whole point. By doing nothing to further advance the quest, you're actually doing a greater insult to Molag Bal than could possibly be done via any other course of action. Molag Bal is the Daedric Prince of Domination and Slavery (and Rape, but that's neither here nor there) and what greater defiance is there than for a slave to ignore the edicts of its master? You are not being dominated by anyone, and in turn, you're not exerting your own dominating force over the Prince. By ignoring Bal's direct order and forging your own path, you're defying the very concept he embodies.
    • "I will inflict upon Molag Bal the greatest insult an enemy can suffer: to be ignored."
  • There are several game mods out there that allow you to refuse to go through with the final part of the quest, if it really bothers you that you're forced to finish it.

At the end of the Cidhna Mine quest...

• Why do I return to the mine via the ruins, to find that literally every prisoner is dead after I assassinate Madanach, even though the worst I inflicted to everyone else was superficial wounds?
  • Either the game assumes you killed them, or the guards came in afterward and made sure everything was taken care of.