After making a thread yesterday talking about how Whiterun seems to be the most popular city, I thought it might be fun to see just how many people went to Whiterun first. As many people like to explore, and others like to go to the city of their favourite guild before even thinking of doing anything else.

So think back to your first characters, what was the first city you stepped in and why?

Mine was Whiterun, I was so immeresed in the Main Quest that I just had to follow it to begin with.

Whiterun for the same reason as you.

I'm sure on their very first playthroughs right after release, when everyone was still discovering the world and the Wiki wasn't Spoiler Central yet, virtually everyone visited Whiterun first.

Windhelm. I was just exploring while following the "join the stormcloaks" quest marker.

I did my usually walk in a line in a random direction, and eventually saw Riften and entered. It's my fave city, mainly because of the Autumn atmosphere and the colours.

It took me quite a few days before I got to Whiterun. I had to ride all the carriages first.

Whiterun was the first city I went to for the first 4 - 5 months of playing, (1st 3 or 4 charactors). Then I started going to Falkreath or Riften first until Hearthfire came out. Now I usually head to Falkreath to do the quests for the house north of it.

Before my first "real" character I ran a couple minor tests and got tired of the opening intro. So my first major test was using the 'alternate starts' mod and it landed me in Dragonbridge. My first city was nearby Solitude.

My real playthrough characters so far have both hit Whiterun first because they were both directly pursuing the main quest.

In my very first playthrough, I let myself be handheld all the way from Riverwood to Whiterun. I managed to completely miss the road (is was in the middle of the night, m'kay?) and ended up by the windmill at Pelagius' farm. Despite this shortcut, I missed the fight with the giant, and was very confused when this woman ran up to me and started to taunt me because I hadn't helped in the fight. "What fight?" I thought.

Whiterun. First ES game so I was just following whatever there was.

Whiterun. But nowadays it's either Windhelm(Stenvar) or Riften for the guild.

I also did Solitude once.

I made a beeline from the Helgen exit straight to Riften in my first game. I'd seen Lake Honrich on maps before the game came out and it looked like an interesting place to visit. I'm glad I went there first because The Rift immediately became my favorite region in any Elder Scrolls game. The Rift was a wonderful introduction to Skyrim for me.

I played that first character for about 300 hours. I didn't see Whiterun, Solitude, Markarth or Winterhold until I played my second character.

The first time it was Whiterun. My happy-helperton wanted to save Riverwood from the dragon.

I obediently followed the main quest. It took me hours to get to Whiterun, I had to check everything around it first, but it still was the first city I entered. When I left Ivarstead after paying a visit to the Greybeards, I put the MQ on hold, went to Riften and joined the Thieves Guild. I didn't see half of the other cities until much, much later. Southern Skyrim was enough for me.

Whiterun, of course!

Skyrim, and Elder Scrolls games in general, are that types of games, in which you've already played dozens of hours, advanced many levels, gained fame and equipment, and when you look at your map, it strikes you that you still have the other half of the map, or more, to just see, not counting all the numerous quests and places that await there. Morrowind's fill-as-explore map greatly showed that.

Whiterun for most of mine, but just recently Morthal.

Whiterun, my very first character Tara ( my test character) found Whiterun in the middle of the night. She had kinda been "lost" for two days trying to find it, that's RL days.... you see I didn't know for two days that there was a HUD..... yep, didn't know. Saw a picture either on the forum or u-tube, that had a HUD in it and went ....Whhhhhaaaat? My TV hadn't been set up right for playing the 360 and the HUD was out of screen. I had been using the map to "pin-point" where she was, not the best way.

Windhelm for the Dark Brotherhood.

Whiterun of course for the obvious reasons but by a circuitous route. I went to Bleak Falls Barrow to get the claw and got lost coming down and exited near Secunda's Kiss. I then skirted the Eastern spur, wondering at the windmill in the dead of night and returned to Riverwood only to then be sent to Whiterun.

That was my very first and terrifying encounter with a giant and my first moon shot. Wonderful times.

I went straight to Whiterun on this character and am working with the Companions and blithefully for now ignoring the Dragon threat. I like Riften and Solitude but Whiterun is just my raving favorite, I can't help it. At some point maybe I'll make a thief and take him to Riften instead but for now it's Edoras Land for me.

When I first left Helgen, I did not know of ANY city in Skyrim. Gerdur Had just given me some food and then asked for a favor, so I complied

Who needs HUD when we have roadsigns? Every road in that area will take you somewhere; if not to Whiterun, then to Falkreath, Windhelm or back to Helgen and then Ivarstead through the mountains.

Though it would be easier if the map showed roads too...

Falkreath because as usual I went exactly opposite the direction of where the game and it's white pointy arrow was telling me to go.

Whiterun as it was right there once I left Riverwood.

When Ralof said it be best to go our separate ways, I took him literally and ran the opposite direction, which brought me back to Helgen. I crouched and moved behind the building, to see if anyone was following. That's when I saw the back road, then started running on it. It didn't take me long to find the Alchemist's Cabin and a few wolf pelts. I kept on the road, which eventually took me to Riften. The guards told me I had to use the other door.

Balimund was the first blacksmith I met in Skyrim. He was so nice, he gave me a hide helmet and iron dagger for free! Then he gave me one of my very first quests, to find fire salts.

As you can probably surmise, Whiterun only ended up on my map after the Thieves Guild sent me there to poison some mead.

Went from Helgen to Riverwood, traded, explored Embershard Mine. On return to Riverwood took the golden claw quest & then when through Bleak Falls Barrow. Leading to Whiterun.