I too found the note to Shelly, and I can remember thinking about how it seemed to be an usually sad addition. However, I think the overall effect of these things is to improve the level of immersion. After all, skyrim is a tough place to live in...

They're just staying true to the overall thread of the title, to appeal to discouraged suicidal youth emo-goths.

Im just kidding. The fact the "world" is so harsh and unforgiving is one of the things I like most about the game. Oblivion was like disney land with a bit of Doom sprinkled on top every now and then, but nothing coming close to dark or tragic. This is a true fantasy epic, in line with Lord of the Rings and the like I suppose when it comes to the story and environment. Oblivion was a more contemporary take on it with the Hollywood vibe and the happy endings and all. High fantasy originally was supposed to have the overtones of struggling against odds that seem insurmountable in a harsh world, but good winning in the end through sheer perseverence. Cant say if the main story holds true to this as I havent finished it, but we'll see.

I was wandering somewhere in one of the tall pine forests and came across a camp with a bear standing in it. I killed the bear and looked around the camp. There was a dead Breton woman and a dead Dark elf man, I picked up the woman's nearby diary and it said how she and the Dark Elf had fallen in love, and how her father didn't want them together so they secretly saved up enough money to run away and be together. Her diary proved they were very much in love and looking forward to a happy life together, yet they lay dead about 30 feet from eachother. I moved them both under a tent side by side, set some flowers and jewels, and Fus Ro Dah'd the bear's corpse off the cliff.


It was the saddest thing I had seen in the game so far, it made me think though, this stuff can happen in real life, how unexpected things can be. It made me think, what if this was me and my girlfriend? Tops Bethesda, you make your players contemplate life. :foodndrink:

Did anyone do the Markarth's prison chain quests yet?

That Forsworn's story, Braig I think, was really powerful.


That made me want to kill the whole of Markarth's guardsmen.

There are a LOT of depressing and sad things in the game, but I find they make Skyrim a lot more emotionally powerful than Oblivion ever hoped to be. It seems to me that Bethesda took a page from Fallout's playbook to evoke emotions in the player by encouraging small moments of empathy.

I've found a suicide that left a blood-stained note you could hardly read, talked to child ghosts (shudder inducing when you play hide-and-seek with the child and find where the ghost is hiding), discovered a mass grave of children's corpses, found a victorious(?) explorer at the top of the world, attended a funeral, cremated and spread the ashes of an NPC not as part of quest or request but out of common decency and been rewarded, spoken to a child murderer, watched a woman break down in tears after being forced to kill her mother, etc.

That's just things off the top of my head. There are a ton more. So yeah, Skyrim is a dark and dreary place indeed . . . . :violin:

EDIT: Yeah, Braig's story in the Forsworn Conspiracy quest actually choked me up.

All journals and notes on corpses seem to be sad. I'm going to guess because they're on corpses. So.... ya'know..... They're dead.

I like it. It's like real life. It's hard and depressing and sometimes, you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAQwawRhFRA

I think it is a fun place. Enjoyed a beer with some party people on a bridge.

After I killed an old orc "who wanted a good death" I felt really sad, so I went and picked some mountain flowers and I put them on his corpse.

I suppose this could fall under sad or absolutely hilarious




...also, I just witnessed two bandits kill a woman and her dogs in the distance. I checked the corpse for items and then caught up with the bandits at their camp for some pay back.

The one thing I found most sad so far was on my return to that small village near Helgen where you start, Im bad with names so forgive me. Theres that blacksmith there that gives you a couple of crafting quests to introduce you to the forge. I was walking through the town early in the morning and that blacksmith is there talking to his daughter, telling her to watch what he's doing so that she can learn his craft one day. It was kind of touching in a way to see him instruct his daughter on the job that he loves. Well sure enough, a dragon decides just a moment later to swoop down from the mountain to attack the town. I have trouble manuvering through the the buildings to get to a good spot to hit it with anything with force, so it manages to do some damage before I can kill it good. After Im finished I take a look around at the resulting carnage to find a couple of dead guards, and sure enough theres the blacksmith dead in the river. And obviously this wasnt even a scripted event or a story, but the eery almost prophetic conversation the man had with his kid before meeting his end is more tragic knowing it wasnt meant to happen.

it might be cause im stoned, but damn that is a powerful picture.

Last thing I wanna do is bash Skyrim, as it's without a doubt one of the best video games I've ever played / am playing, but I just have to disagree with this. When ever I experience scenarios similar to those posted on this thread, I'm either completely uncaring, or I'll laugh about it. While I do agree that the stories are sad, and I can easily say they'd hit home if I read them, but with hilarious voice acting and freaking lizard men / cat men walking about, I just can't take it seriously.

With all of the above said, some of these stories really do seem depressing, and if I read them in a book I'd probably shed a tear, or at least hold it significant to myself for a good while.

There was one time when I was wandering from Winterhold to Dawnstar. I had wandered up and down the mountains looking for dragons. Then I met one and after a long fight finally managed to slaughter it. I had run out of potions and was ready to go search for some civilicised people when I stumbled upon a cosy-looking lighthouse. I was anxious to find out who were living there and since there weren't any potential danger in going there I opened the door to the lighthouse and entered.

It was horrible.

First thing I saw was blood splatters on the floor and walls. Then I saw a woman murdered at the family living room. She had a sword impaled through her. I checked her belongings and found his husbands journal that stated that they were finally managed to get to their dream apartment at the lighthouse with their two children. But the children hadn’t liked it in there they had said that there was odd noise coming from the basemant and then stuff went missing and they thought it might be sceevers doing. Dad had gone to the town to buy traps and poison, but when he came back his whole family was slaughtered by daedric creatures. I found a lot of journals telling this horrible tale and one suicide letter from one of the daughters. She had killed herself before the creatures would do it.

I just got furious and sneak killed every single creature that I found at the basemant. Skyrim is truly a sad place to live.

Yeah sad place indeed, i came across a nice river place and on that river I found a smashed in house with a massive tree on it, under the tree was a body, GEEZUZ! brutal but... poor guy

I was just about to post this; I believe it was Chaurus and Falmer that killed them however. I was enraged and kill the "Boss" Chaurus at the end of the tunnel. You get a quest when you walk into the lighthouse as well, and the reward of vengeance was worth more than heaps of gold.

this forum is called "Skyrim hints, cheats, and spoilers", is it not. lmao

Just seeing how depressed the dunmer are makes me sad, they way they are treated is not right, their home was destroyed, give them a break



(i am even playing a nord)

Yes, that! Thanks for explaining it in better detail.


I remember that as well, and that's another perfect example. I remember seeing my first lighthouse and happily wondering what it was like.


This was originally in Skyrim General Discussion. Good that it's been moved now, as a lot of the posts are starting to become spoilers. I should've had the foresight to post it here in the first place.

This is exactly why I made a paladin-kind of type in my latest game. Its so much sad things that have happend, often coused by others.
I was in a cave with necromancers. It was a little house in that cave, so I walked in. First I found a redguard man, stripped of his cloths on the ground. And the I saw a breton women lying on the table, wearing a skirt with her legs bend out. Beetween the legs there was lots of tools, hammers and such.
Skyrim needs cleansing.

It's in the spoilers forum.

Get over yourself.

I've found a few random things a burning wagon with everyone slaughtered around it while a dragon appears after coming across the scene.

It's these little moments that make this game so much more momentous.

It wasn't in the spoiler forum when this post was posted.

So get over yourself.

I was sad for a little bit when I killed the same orc that wanted to die. But only for a little bit. Because after that I was consumed with thoughts like..

WHERE THE [censored] IS UMBRA?

Cold.

Dark.

Melancholic.

Sad.

Hostile.

Whats not to love?