You know, it actually tells you in the Official Guide, under "Postquest Activities" to inspect them, but there's no other hints.

The disappointing thing is that if it is a coded message... why isn't it in Draconic? They went to all the trouble to invent a language, give us a lexicon and an alphabet, and then decide to encode something in the game using a totally different system?

EDIT: Nobody "translated Word Walls". The complete translation of every Word Wall is printed in the Official Guide.

Yes, fine, but someone went to the trouble of typing it all out and printing it on here for those of us without the guide.

Meanwhile, the alphabet looks similar, so perhaps we can use the word walls as a stone of Rosetta to translate the jars.

I already checked that. I couldn't find any letters in the dragon toungue that resembled the script in the jars. As already pointed out, what is on the jars looks distinctly runic in nature, while Draconic is more similar to cuneiform than anything else.

While I work on a Translation... Isn't there a guy in the Thieves guild.. Named Ruin? If these are indeed ruins... maybe the two are connected

Next time I am in Riften I am going to look closely at my much treasured bee in a jar, because I hadn't noticed that at all!

Be careful, I hear the Illuminati were experimenting with genetically altered insects...and they all went missing.

Also there's a texture just for these runes. It's in /textures/effects/fxscratch.dds.

Ever heard about developers who add tiny things with no meaning to make fun of people?
Well, you did now.

...
But even on serious note... consider the possibility
My jars sadly fell trough floor when I loaded game in my house. Along with most of other items in my house.

Of course it's possible, but it's also a lot more fun trying to figure it out, haha. We may never know. /sigh.

Yea, the more I research this, the more it seems like random Jargen. if... if this is indeed Elder Futhark, some letters are backwards, infact this doesn't really fit into any runes used in Europe, atleast not in my books anyways, the only one that made any sense at all was moth, which turned out to be "Need Day" which could be taken as "Needing light" However the "Mt" lid is curious, Perhaps it's indicating a mountain of some sort, where some gluttonous lives as taken from the "pig" lid. Sadly or more immersive, is that "chisel marks" in the lid looks as if "someone" in skyrim did them in a hurry. The "Pig" lid is also the only lid not ending in "T" It's probably a smart graphics designer leaving their hidden signature. or a clue leading to treasure in a mountain somewhere

Alchemists shack is the butterfly. Near rorikstead

Oh, by all means, I would gladly see it resolved, it was just a friendly warning that there might not be any solution at all.
Or perhaps some DLC, similar to "Courier 6" signs in FNV right after release ... Even tho the solution came around just a while back.

So does anyone actually know what Nordic runes looked like? I've never seen them, and they're not on the wiki or anything, but it mentions that early Nords used runes. I can only assume they'd be similar to real world rune systems.

Maybe this is that secret quest hidden in the game that was a rumor lol

That'd be really neat if they did something like that. I'm going to just collect these jars and see where it takes me. If it turns out to be nothing at all, then I still have neat immortal bugs that don't breathe air in a jar on my shelf for a conversation piece, haha.

Ok...you know, that bugs me (no pun intended)... You put them on shelves? How? Anything I put on shelves just blows up, falls trough or disappers the fist time I load the game
That's how I lost the jars at the first place.

I think I found my Bee in a Jar when I was looking for the shattered pieces of Mehrunes Dagon's dagger. It was in the same town as the Mythic Dawn museum.

Well, I put them there, but I haven't reloaded the game, so I'll probably come back and find it just like you did, haha.

I wish a Dev. or at least someone within the know would say something to let us know what these mean, if anything. They were put there for a reason, if only to throw us off as jargon. Not that it took a lot of time to add them to the game, but they do exist, querulously so. I would think they are more than just paperweights or pressure plate substitutes, or simply decorative pieces, but I could be wrong.

In the guide it mentions to look for them, but it never explains why, or gives a reason they'd be useful.

Hmm i found a butterfly in a jar and put it into my home in Whiterun. So there are more jars with things?? maybe like the snow thingys in FO NV?

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b74/Desert-Rat/Skyrim/MeowSkyrim55.jpg

I [censored] loved It back when every RPG had that kind of secret stuff.

I noticed it as well, i saw an word i never heard about.. cant remember it excactly.
Maybe you can make an senctance with the jars and open an Oblivion gate

Does anyone have all the jars?

What happens if we find them all. o_O

Looked a tad at it, it looks like Nordic runes (we actualy still "use" some in specific schoolwork, since we have the Jellingstone here in Denmark)

Fear my paint skills :whistling: this is what I think it is so far [img]http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/7398/andenforsg.jpg[/img]

Ohh forgot, used this as a reference [img]http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/7848/runealfabet.jpg[/img]

EDIT; put up a new picture, having difficulties. Looked at year 500-700 Danish Runes and year 800 Norse.

to make it worse, F can allso be V. G can allso be J. A can allso be O. S can allso be C.

Perhaps it isnt even Runes It does look alot like it though.