A Narrative Critique of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 

The ultimatum Delphine gives you is so unanimously hated, one of the most popular mods for the game exists for the sole purpose of allowing you to tell Delphine to shove it. It was such an especially egregious choice to present, because up until that point Delphine goes on about the Blades serving the dragonborn, but then she's suddenly refusing to serve you unless you (dishonorably I might add) go slay Paarthurnax.

I genuinely think Skyrims greatest failure is that Bethesda never took the multiple re-releases to restore cut parts of the game. I understand they didn't want to ruin some people's saves....but imagine the hype of "the college of winterhold" update, or the "mystery of the bug jars" update. Either way, thank you for the vid!

The fact that there's no option to say "I am not of Skyrim nor the Empire, you will make peace or I will be the doom of you both" at the High Hrothgar moot, is such a missed opportunity. Imagine becoming the enemy of both factions.

Hadvars line “outta my way” has always stuck with me, there’s something about the delivery that really sells someone seeing someone who they see has betrayed them personally

I think the option to stay in sovengard after defeating Alduin would also play into many stories of a hero going on a journey and never returning, and that the people have to just believe that the Hero accomplished their goal.

From my POV, the civil war is the real "fighter's guild" questline, and the companions is the "werewolf" quest line. That makes the shallowness more plausible -- the only purpose of the civil war is to provide you the chance to improve your fighting skills and gain "guild rank" in your chosen side.

"As players, we know that we're gonna be fine" The mod to have Alduin show up late and the attack play out from the perspective of your decapitated head was fun.

8:28 I remember when i first heard this dialogue "For the love of Talos, shut up and lets get this over with" i was amazed at the time that a character organically interupted another character 😂😂 i was thinking of the oblivion days with one actor would abruptly stop, there was a delay, and then the interrupting actor would start speaking

Honestly, the final scene with Paarthurnax really does encapsulate everything you learn about Dragons in this game when looked from thag perspective. You know that he's a good person or at least he has strives to be, but he himself has admitted that Dragons naturally worship strength above all else, not unlike the Nords they enslaved. Obviously, lorewise, none of the remaining Dragons would dare challenge the Dragonborn with how powerfull they are at the end of the game, but it still forces you to wonder how much you *really* trust Paarthunax now that there is a power vacuum for him to fill. Odahviing sticking around was always weirdly wholesome too tbh. He could have just dipped, but he chose to stick around for whenever you need him in the future

When you got to the part about the dossiers, I was actually really happy. I was - and continue to be - so frustrated by the lack of care with that addition. In fact, you could even say that all of Skyrim's woes are foreshadowed by, of all things, a miscellaneous quest: the love triangle between Camilla, Faendal, and Sven. You're capable of talking to both men and getting both of their forged letters, but you're forced to chose one to give to Camilla, and can't share the knowledge that neither of them are who they appear to be when in her presence. The game gives you information, sets you up for the obvious big-brain play, and yet falls flat on its face when it comes time to execute. And when it comes to the kinds of games Bethesda makes, I've begun to have one big rule: don't give the player information that's hyper relevant to the main plot of the game if you don't want them to act on it.

one thing about the Paarthunax dilemma that I think is a big thing is that Delphine tells you really early that the blade's sole purpose was to serve the dragonborn. So when she's saying you are either with us or against she's going against what the blades were founded on.

One thing that some might want to consider as far as deciding Paarthurnax's fate is whether or not the Dragonborn or especially the Blades even have the right to do that. Delphine declares that Paarthurnax has committed crimes against man under Alduin's rule. Even putting aside the facts that Paarthurnax has not only turned away from that dark path, but had decided to help man and because of this man gained their freedom, there is the fact that Neither the Dragonborn nor Delphine really have the right to act as judge, jury and executioner. The ones who actually did have that right were the men of the past, the ones who Paarthurnax committed his crimes against. And they did judge him, and fount him to be redeemed. Even named him ally and friend. Neither the Dragonborn nor Delphine's oldest ancestors were even a thought at that time. So who the hell are Delphine and Esbern to declare the judgment of men in the past to be wrong and decide to execute Paarthurnax themselves? What sort of Pedestal does Delphine really put herself on? The hubris is thick enough to cut with a chainsaw. If I were the Dragonborn, I would have declared that not only would I not kill Paarthurnax, but I would protect him, and no one will even attempt to harm him under pain of death. Delphine got way too big for her britches. Which she may want to rethink, seeing as how she and her comrades were nowhere near powerful enough to prevent the Thalmor from thoroughly kicking their asses.

As someone who owns a "Hey you, you're finally awake" pillowcase, Skyrim has definitely solidified its legacy for decades to come

One thing that should be mentioned about Ragnarök as a concept is that while it IS the inevitable end of the world, it's not something that is to be accepted and taken lying down. According to the mythology, the Asa-gods are gathering the greatest warriors in Valhall and have them training in what is essentially actual battles every single day in preparation for Ragnarök, and when the day comes, the Gods and their armies of these elite warriors will take to the field and fight to the death to stop the end of the world from coming to pass. This is DESPITE Oden being the wisest of the Asa-gods and literally being able to see the future, he knows the end of the world is coming and still chooses to go out fighting instead of doing what the grey-beards and Parthurnax propose. Although, to be fair to Skyrim, when you get to Sovngarde, the heroes and Shor reflect that spirit a lot better.

15:08 fun fact, the torturer didn’t drop his hood originally, I killed him for it on my first play through and he didn’t drop it and I was so sad, glad they eventually fixed that

Regarding Ulfric's line about sending Tullius to oblivion, souls can generally go to aetherius, oblivion, the void, or the dreamsleeve. There is debate about whether the void is part of oblivion. Sovngarde is part of aetherius because Shor "was" an aedra. The divines presumably have planes in aetherius. Oblivion is a very general term for the space surrounding mundus and contains the planes of the daedric princes but also many other random planes and pocket dimensions. So Ulfric was kind of using oblivion to refer to hell, in that it implies Tullius is a bad man whose soul a daedric prince might claim or who might have other nefarious reasons for association with oblivion. Note that the priest in the opening sequence says "as we commend your souls to aetherius, blessings of the 8 divines upon you." So clearly aetherius is the default good afterlife in the Imperial cult. (Not just a Nord thing)

There’s nothing that embodies the spirit of Skyrim more than a rerelease of the original work. Love the video. And keep up the great work this is fastly growing to be one of my favorite video essay channels!

I think the problem with the Stormcloaks was an over-correction based on a perceived favouritism internally. The writers likely wanted the conflict to be murky, unclear and not easily chosen between. This is why the previously squeaky-clean empire from Oblivion is first seen unjustly trying to execute you, like you said, to make them not the de-facto good guys. I feel that they wanted a way to not make the Stormcloaks easily the de-facto good guys either. If we look at facts, people often favour the under-dogs in stories more, regardless of morals, they had a charismatic and impassioned leader in Ulfric Stormcloak, so I think they worried that too many players would default to Stormcloaks being the de-facto good guys. So how did they think to counter-balance the now murderous and oppressive Empire? Racism. I don't think they realised how bad the racism would actually be perceived, especially since in the decade following Skyrim's release it would become a major focus of social and political discourse. This probably ended up in the over-correction that now, most people just assume the Empire to be the de-facto good guys because they're not racist, and, why wouldn't they? I have a sneaking suspicion that they themselves created the inverse of the problem they were trying to solve. Not to mention the Stormcloak's hatred of the dark elves doesn't make a lick of sense lorewise. The Dark Elves are descendant of the light elves that left the summerset isles thousands of years ago for primarily religious differences. The Dark Elves and the Nords should be *allies* by all accounts because they both hate the High Elves' restriction on and disgust of their respective religious practices. The argonian stuff makes even less sense since Black Marsh has never directly attacked skyrim, however it *would* make sense for them to be 2nd class citizens to the DARK ELVES because the Argonians, early in the 200 years inbetween Oblivion and Skyrim, invaded and destroyed massive swathes of Morrowind as revenge for Dark Elf slavery of argonians. Those two have far more legitimate historical basis for race-based hatred of one another, way more than anything either have to do with nords! All of these lore inconsistencies makes me heavily suspect that the racism aspect was just thrown in there as an ill-concieved attempt at making them morally grey.

Just so you know, if you choose certain diologue options, Arngeir will allow you to see Parthunaxx without being convinced by the other greybeard. IIRC, if you tell him that "At least the Blades arent keeping secrets from me" he'll need to be convinced, but if you say "The blades are helping me, but im not their puppet" he doesnt.

Just a small correction. The equivalent of hell is only available if you get sacrificed to a specific deadric prince or if you get soul trapped. You get sent to the soul cairn which is a place where souls slowly get consumed for all eternity. As for places that are similar to hell in TES it's stuff like the Deadlands, Coldharbour, the Scuttling Void and Quagmire and sanguine's realm is misleading as hell it seems like fun because everyone is just partying when you go into it in the quest. But Sanguine's sinister nature is more subtle than the other princes. He will encourage you to engage in fucked up shit so his orgies turning into disturbing shit isn't far fetched.

I actually really like the quest to kill the first dragon, its such a satisfying fight - and the setting of the tundra (instead of the city) doesn't subtract any of the danger or severity. If the fight was in Whiterun, the threat would've been too serious, too fast; too overwhelming for someone who's been in Skyrim for only about two days. As well as that - I personally always love the part where the guards gossip and chat after seeing you absorb the dragon soul. It makes me feel part of this small party, way more than Delphine and Esbern do. I always try to fight the dragon in pure daylight, because the spectacle of it flying around, roaring and burning the watchtower to the ground is always so surreal - something that ultimately would've been lost had it taken place in the narrow streets of Whiterun.

When Rikke spoke the "Talos be with you" over the corpse of Ulfric, that was the one and only moment in the game that I felt actual compassion for him. I wish there had been more dialogue between Rikke and Tullius, so he might implicit tension could have been resolved in either of their ways.

Sorry to folks seeing this twice-the first version was age-restricted so I wanted to reupload one with some new footage/blurred footage in spots that hopefully adheres to RU-vid guidelines. Also apologies for the discrepancies in narration volume, I was still working out the kinks on a new microphone setup. Thank you for watching!

A couple points about the punishments/afterlife (starts at around 1:53:00). Death penalty isn't meant to inflict suffering upon you. It's meant to rid the world of you. Tullius doesn't care if the Stormcloaks end up in Sovngarde as long as he doesn't need to deal with them here on Nirn. It's irrelevant to his goals. Ulfric telling Tullius that he'll send him to Oblivion is just a rude euphemism for killing him, I wouldn't read too much into it. Another reason for the Dragonborn not to kill Paarthurnax could be more personal and also related to LotR. He has to believe there is redemption for Paarthurnax because he has to believe there is redemption for himself. He is a dragon after all. As you pointed out in the beginning, the Dragonborn solves most problems with violence. Maybe that's because of his nature as a dragon, seeking struggle and seeing strength as the ultimate truth - might makes right. Maybe he doesn't have a past as dark as Paarthurnax but he is just as prone to violence and domination. Oh and Greybeards aren't your typical Nords anymore. Paarthuurnax's struggle against his demons is reflected in their restraint and pacifism. They lost the ideals of courage and valor in the martial, Nord-like sense.

To be honest, the civil war should have been more fleshed out at the thalmore should have had a bigger part and might be even joinable faction, like the silver hand.... Imagine an option to join the thalmor popping up in the embassy quest. Slay the blades, playing imerials and stormcloaks against each other, help ondolemar in markarth, help to get the eye of magnus under their control. So many options....

RU-vid's age restriction policy is just a joke at this point. Anyways, I don't mind rewatching this masterpiece of a video.

2:32:07 Something that's missing here, I think, is also something you bring up near the beginning of the essay: Beowulf. In medieval English literature from that period, the idea of the king who represents himself and his people on the battlefield is a romanticized and key idea. It's why Beowulf *has* to stand against the dragon, and similarly why when Tolkien was writing the texts that would help lay the foundations for modern fantasy literature he had figures like Aragorn and Theoden fight on the battle. The depiction of Theoden on the Pelennor fields in particular springs to mind. "Suddenly the king cried to Snowmane and the horse sprang away. Behind him his banner blew in the wind, white horse upon a field of green, but he outpaced it. After him thundered the knights of his house, but he was ever before them. Eomer rode there, the white horsetail on his helm floating in his speed, and the front of the first eored roared like a breaker foaming to the shore, but Theoden could not be overtaken. Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Orome the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young. His golden shield was uncovered, and lo! it shone like and image of the Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his steed. For morning came, morning a wind from the sea; and darkness was removed, and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their singing that was fair and terrible came even to the City." (The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, Book Five, Chapter V) I think, and I respect your views on the Stormcloaks and the Empire as they're well-reasoned and common enough that the sentiment from the playerbase can't be coming from nowhere even if I disagree, that what's missing here is the incorporation of the two ideas you brought forward. Ulfric believes he has the right to kingship over Torygg because that right is in part in some medieval European cultures literally conferred, at least in the fantastical settings of literature like Beowulf and similar texts, by bravery, by representing oneself and one's people on the battlefield. That deep cultural belief probably isn't something that a Persuade check with 100 Speech is going to challenge. Similarly, if you couch your critiques of the Stormcloaks in medieval literature, drawing comparisons about modern state apparatuses as opposed to the historical conditions of feudalism might be a limited framework. On that note, on the subject of the Stormcloaks being white supremacist at an allegorical level, it's completely acceptable, I think, to take that reading based on the combination of Norse aesthetics and nationalist racial animus. One of the difficulties of that parallel, however, is the fact that unlike white supremacists or neo-Nazis (or the historical Nazis, who used similar racial nationalism and appropriated aesthetics), the Nords and by extension Ulfric and the Stormcloaks are moreso the victims of a crime related to genocide, rather than its perpetrators. Granted, Rikke does seem to imply in her dialogue that Ulfric would remove non-Nords from Skyrim, and the segregation in Windhelm does lend itself to at best a kind of casual racial supremacism, but the Empire is at present partnering with the Thalmor to cleanse Skyrim of Talos worship. Cultural genocide, as real history has shown, is not a victimless crime easily reversed, nor is the hesitancy of the Empire on the basis of a burgeoning Second Great War really a strong moral excuse for the fact that the Empire is effectively aiding the Thalmor in perpetrating it. The Civil War questline in Skyrim isn't just a racist nationalist struggle for independence against a cosmopolitan empire, and it can't be fully seen in that limited way (in my opinion) because those racist nationalists are fronting their right to national liberation and that cosmopolitan empire is aiding in perpetrating a genocide. I think we can move towards an understanding of pro-Empire and pro-Stormcloak players equally these days if we try to contextualize these points of views in terms of their status as problematic natlib and complicit for-the-greater-good imperialist powers engaged in a very human struggle. There's a dozen things about the questline that could be improved, from how the player uses gameplay mechanics to interact (you aren't wrong to bring up dialogue options, this would be a good place for a different kind of Speech perk to have a real role) to how the Civil War is interwoven with the rest of the story (trading territories is good, and I think Markarth has a trade route to Stormcloak territory through Falkreath whereas Morthal and Dragon's Bridge stand between the Reach and Solitude, but more depth in negotiation would be nice), but I do think the two sides are well-matched on moral and political grounds. It's only a shame it doesn't all come through for the players. It could have been delivered better.

One thing I think that Skyrim does is really undersell the true power of the Dragonborn. The Dragonborn's iconic ability is to speak, but in the true language of domination or the voice of the dragons. I think by not allowing to make more choices, or even having more ability to change things through speech really neuters the Dragonborn. The power the game gives you is the true language of domination and the blade while not allowing you to speak in the language of domination in the common tongue. All of the cruelty and violence of Skyrim is the language of violence and domination, but as the Dragonborn the player charecter should be able to understand that more then almost any other because they can speak directly in the language of domination. We should be able to speak to these evils and see how they come from the same evil at the core of what makes dragons dragons. By not allowing this we cant decide to speak in the way of the voice, using our innate understanding of the language of domination to free, protect and save the people of Skyrim from all of the speech in the languages of domination, dragon or mortal. We also cant choose to embrace our dragon nature and speak in the language of domination as domination, and making skyrim our own through our understanding of the language of domination. We lack this central struggle at the core of the Dragonborn, to know fully the language of domination, while being mortal. Both the Empire and the Stormcloaks ultimately want and demand domination. Both will eventually fight the Thalmor for domination. Even if the Empire is more multicultural, they still rule and speak the language of domination, as they assert their right to continue the domination of the past iterations of the Empire that, iirc, was founded by a Dragonborn, a speaker in the langauge of domination. The Stormcloaks are also about domination, both in the racist way but also in their assertion that Ulfric is the rightful dominator of Skyrim. We also oddly lack the potential for a third and fourth choice. We can't take control of Skyrim on our own, as either our own faction or coming to dominate one of the factions through our language of domination in both tongues. We also can't choose to fight the languages of domination that Alduin uses by using our innate understanding of it to subvert it and end the civil war fully. It is just a great let down of what the Dragonborn could have represented in so many ways. A mortal with an innate and divinely gifted understanding of the language of domination and the ability to speak it in it's truest form.

Welp, time to rewatch

20:42 not only is this the only scripted time birds fly out. I had a game load where the bird sound kept looping but it got faster and more high pitched. The closer to the tree, the louder it was and the low poly bird models were stuck in the tree lol

The last time I completed Skyrim’s main quest I was 14 years old and the “Legendary Edition” had just come out a week prior. Watching your video inspired me to go back and play the main quest again. I’m writing this immediately after finishing the Horn of Jürgen Windcaller, and I just can’t bring myself to step into Delphine’s secret basement. I think you hit the nail on the head with your analysis. I felt the feeling of momentum you described, despite the cracks already forming and despite knowing what was to come. Luckily, Delphine gives us the horn before summoning us through that false panel in the wall. With my objective in hand, I’m going to return to high hrothgar, complete my unrelenting force training, and maybe wander the world for a little bit. It’s been almost nine years since I’ve explored Skyrim with active dragon attacks, and the ability to use shouts. It almost feels like a different game! 👋

When we talk about the Stormcloaks and whether the Empire could have softened persecution of Talos worship, a line from Alvor early on in the game is very instructive in my opinion. If you ask him about the war he'll bring up the Thalmor being allowed to arrest Talos worshipers, and if you then ask why they have the right to do that, he says, in part: "We didn't pay much attention to it when I was a boy - everyone still had their little shrine to Talos. But then Ulfric and his "Sons of Skyrim" started agitating about it, and sure enough the Emperor had to crack down." So it seems that the Empire didn't really enforce the ban unless it was too obvious and in-the-open. The only reason they're being so thorough about the ban now is precisely because Ulfric started being louder about the injustice. I'm not saying that banning Talos worship was a good thing to begin with (it wasn't, even if the Empire didn't have much of a choice...and given where the Dominion was at the end of the war that actually is something of an "if"), but they clearly weren't trying too hard to enforce it.

I hate Delphine with a burning passion. In my opinion she needs to be cast out of the Blades. If I’m not mistaken she herself tells you, the Dragonborn that the Blades are meant to follow the Dragonborn. That tells me that as the Dragonborn, you are supposed to be the leader of the Blades and she is supposed to take orders from you, but she goes against her role by giving you the ultimatum.

While reflecting on this video, I wondered if there isn't a thematic connection between Arngeir and Paarthurnax's bits about the virtue of letting the old world die and the civil war. The Empire is familiar and ever-present in Elder Scrolls games. Every previous game has centered it's main plot around the defense of the empire as the main plot: defeating the usurper Jagar Tharn, shoring up unrest in Daggerfall, vanquishing Dagoth Ur's challenge to rule of Morrowind, and restoring the boundaries of reality by restoring the lost prince. For a longtime player, the Empire IS the world that they save. Skyrim, though, marks the first time that the player is not an agent of the Emperor as the story begins, giving us a more removed view through which to see a declining empire. As the Greybeards ask of the world, the civil war asks if the Empire is fated to fall, if it would be better to embrace that ending to welcome something new to come. In that context, the stormcloaks are aligned with apocalypse -- appropriate enough, given their thematic resemblance to germanic fascism. We get the same rebuttal to the Stormcloak cause that we do to the Greybeards' fatalism: just because something is weak and maybe even doomed is not cause alone to celebrate its death. If what promises to follow is worse, it falls to us to slow that doom by any means, even if the cause is fruitless.

Enjoying the video. Alvor is Hadvar's uncle, and Ranmir is arguing with his sister, not wife. The stuff about Beowulf was really interesting and makes me want to look into it more. I heard a Muslim scholar once call it a Poem of Tawhid.

This video has really quickly become one of my favourite videos to listen to while building big projects in sims and subnautica, and the entire video was super informative and interesting to listen to :] It gives me something to switch back to when I need a break, and really brought back a lot of the love I had for the actual main storyline of skyrim (which I haven't replayed in full in *ages*!). At the start of my playthroughs, I never paid much mind to the intro, and usually just did something else while I let it run, but hearing every little detail about foreshadowing, any subtext, etc. inspired me to pay much much much more attention next time I make a new character. Unfortunately, my game completely breaks if I have any save post civil war I can load (at least for the stormcloaks, since I haven't completed the imperial side because of the glitch :[ ), so it's been a while since I've completed the civil war questline, but the in-depth analysis of either side continues to inspire me to go through the quests again. Also, it never actually occurred to me how much better the game would be if the dragonborn could do more for the world without killing everything (especially about bringing the thalmor evidence to Ulfric!!), and even though I flesh out all my dragonborns on my own, if we could establish their personality more through dialouge and conversation, skyrim would go from an already incredible game, to something even greater. I rambled on for quite a bit - but I wanted to try and leave something nice under the video :] (also to increase the comment number (it's at 27 at the moment), it really sucks how weird youtube is with censorship!! :[ ) Anyways, this video is a solid 15/10, and I'm glad it showed up in my reccommendations a week or so ago :D

Imagine if the first dragon fight, maybe when Mirmulnir reaches 50% hp, beelines to Whiterun, then you enter the city, see all the residents fleeing, panicked voicelines to accompany it, etc.

One interesting angle regarding the civil war and a theme that goes through the entire game is the decay of soceity. In general but specificly Nordic society and its culture from what it was depicted and understood in the lore from previous games. The rugged nords, their society and their culture has been homogenized over the centuries under the Empire. Few nords in cities actually feel like nords, they behave domesticated with an entire Imperial culture. An experienced Elder Scrolls player coming into Skyrim will notice the lack of Nordic culture in the civilized parts of the province. It is almost only rag-tag bands of bandits who says and shouts as a traditional nord would referencing Ysmir, Shor and other Nordic deities. Besides Bandits, the Stormcloaks are the only civilized remnants of the more flavourful and unique nord culture. Galmar is a meat head but he wears the most traditional uniqely nord armour in the entire game. Even the entry quest to kill the Ice-Wraith is an ancient Nord initiation rite of manhood to prove bravery according to lore. My view on this is basicly that snuffing out the Stormcloaks which symbolize the last bastion of civilized traditional Nord culture and way of life despite their flaws, is to condemn the entirety of the unique, flavourful traditional Nordic culture to that of savage exiles in form of bandits. And perhaps that is something to think about; that the bandits and maybe some extent Stormcloaks you slaughter without thinking are infact outcasts and misfits in their own land not by their own choice, being disenfranshiched and pushed out of civilized society to commit to war or banditry in their spite for modern Imperial society which traditional Nords feel lost and disconnected from actively decaying Nordic society.

To think this channel has only a couple of videos is heartbreaking, you are so talented in this. Keep up the good work.

Temba Wide-Arm is the true evil puppetmaster of Skyrim

I’ll always had the belief that the Civil War and Blades vs Thalmor plots should have been tied up in an epilogue DLC (rather than Dawnguard) where you as “The Last Dragonborn, slayer of Alduin “ basically have to decide the future of Tamriel. Then we could have experienced Delphine grovelling back to us to help unravel a Thalmor plot of some descriptions… (set in Solstheim maybe, I’d span Dragonborn across both lands)

How many people still dont know about the trail to Ivarsted from behind Whiterun Stormcloak Camp and the Wispmother up there and the unmarked Troll Cave on the River Below Pinemoon Cave? Its the fastest way to the bridge with Klimick.

One of my ideas on how Skyrim's concept would have been much better was to lean entirely on the dragon tongue angle. Skyrim lore will tell you that speaking in the dragon tongue means wielding the pure concept of the words spoken, and that fights between dragons are essentially debates. But in practice, the Dragonborn doesn't understand a lick of dragon speech, so the dragons have to constantly speak to them in the common tongue. All they use the dragon tongue for is to just use shouts to attack enemies or give themselves an advantage, mostly in combat. What if instead the Dragonborn started out by not knowing any word in the Dragon Tongue, but could learn more of that vocabulary as they encounter Word Walls, speak with characters that know snippets of the tongue, like the elders at the College of Winterhold, the Greybeards, or even roaming dragons? What if when fighting dragons, they used shouts that try to hurt you by hitting you with a word of power, and you could counteract that by using a shout that contradicts that word? Like Monkey Island's insult swordfighting, but with a fast, real time pace. And again, what if eventually knowing enough of the Dragon Tongue unlocked interactions with NPCs? What if the Greybeards refused to give you aid or recognize you as the Dragonborn until you have enough mastery of the language to have a proper conversation with them? What if the subtitles of dragon's dialogue and taunts translated automatically from Dragon to the common language if you know the corresponding words? What if dragons praised you and conceded the fight if you manage to beat them solely through the use of the Voice, and offered to teach you more powerful or rarer words as a prize that you wouldn't get if you merely killed them? What if using dragon souls was optional, and instead let you unlock words of power in a quicker fashion? Wouldn't it be immersive to be given a choice between proving your superiority to dragons by using their traditional way of settling debates, or ignoring that entirely and going with the Blades way of just slaying them and only using the Voice to complement your slaughter? Perhaps if you've been following the Way of the Voice, Odahviing defects in your favor on his own accord, recognizing your authority and sparing you from having to trap him in a more violent and "dishonorable" way. And if you instead take the dragonslayer's way with the Blades, dragons don't engage with you voluntarily and only fight you in self-defense, as it's become common knowledge for them that you're a bloodthirsty Dragonborn out to butcher every dragon that stands in his way. I'm just a rando spitballing ideas on a comment section, and I can think of such things when an entire writing team couldn't?

Finally! Finally someone else sees the insanity of having such a small crate to catch heads in. Thank you.

The Civil War questline desperately needed a third option - one where you unite the Imperial and Stormcloaks against the real enemies, the Thalmor. Not only does the Dragonborn literally learn and obtain evidence of the Thalmor's interference in the Civil War, and them wanting it to continue so that the Empire would remain weak, they had plenty of ways to pull it off and some characters they could reveal to be working with the Thalmor. One that immediately comes to mind is Elisif, after all she's already the biggest villain in the game. Not only is it her lie about how Torygg died, with her framing it as though Ulfric murdered him in cold blood rather than in an honorable duel - which is what happens and Torygg himself confirms this in Sovangarde - Elisif also has the most to gain. She immediately became Jarl of Solitude with her husband's death, and from the dialogue of her steward you know that she's guaranteed to be High Queen. This thirst for power and manipulative nature would make her an easy choice for a Thalmor spy who is in charge of keeping the Civil War going.

There's a pretty big hole in your "death and POWs" section in that almost any living character in the elder scrolls doesn't know what happens after you die

The embassy mission is honestly the most nostalgic mission for me. Remember replaying and replaying saves trying to 100% sneak. Such a fun quest.

If you return to the throat of the world after you’ve spoken with parthurnaax and odaviing, you see a few dragons sitting on the mountain with parthurnaax. I always took them to be new disciples in his Way of the Voice teachings. I never considered that he might be giving in to his base nature. I still don’t think that he’s falling from the Way of the Voice, but it’s fun and fair to consider.

"Forget the list." Main reason I forgot about the Legion 😕

I feel like a missed opportunity to actually make the conflict interesting is if they had it that Ulfric cared for the people, like Skyrim seems to want us to believe that he's charismatic and easily draws people in, but they missed the chance by having examples of him realising that there's a greater threat and pulling together. Like imagine the opening set piece when Alduin attacks, people are obviously panicking but Ulfric calls out orders to help get people out safety, with even Imperials listening. You would then at least see how he could pull people into his ideas and contrast with Tullius, who is more tactically minded, but isn't too attached to the people outside of the ones he fights with. But instead the first time he properly speaks it's just a pathetic rant to his second in command.

In Oblivion a there was obvious hint about empire crumbling, cohesion disappearing and Thalmor rise to power. You could overheard it on the streets and in taverns. "They say syndicates of wizards have led a boycott of Imperial goods in the land of the Altmer." I just love how back than Bethesda had great plans for the franchise, and was not afraid to show it.

25:00 This whole section about the difference in tone between The Last Dragonborn Vs. The Champion Of Cyrodil really explains a lot of narrative differences between the games. In Oblivion, you're a mortal hero who rose up when called, and if it hadn't been you it could have been someone else. In Skyrim you are a cleansing flame from the heavens sent to ensure that the end of the world can proceed as planned. Your entire reason for being in Skyrim is to destroy this incarnation of Alduin so he can be remade to destroy Nirn when it becomes necessary. The scope is so much larger than 'just' an invasion from a Sub-Prime Plane.

As both you and I have said, Skyrim is as wide as an ocean and as deep as a puddle. There are many benefits to that kind of narrative, but the flaws are always going to be outweigh them

You know Skyrim honestly influenced how I played Red Dead 2. I've played Skyrim since it was released. I try to play as the person everyone looks up to.

On my first playthrough I actually didn't know you could go with Hadvar for 3 reasons: Ralof talks first, about escape & runs to this big gate which is clearly the main entrance. I found out you can just join the Empire anyhow because of that.

Just watched this while looking for a similar kind of analysis on Starfield's intro. You mirrored so many of my thoughts about Skyrim's intro exactly. Great video!

Still would love to see narrative critique of Nehrim or Enderal. Maybe comparison between this games and Elder Scrolls

46:13 I've only done the no fast travel main quest playthrough once and I've climbed that mountain enough times to never want to climb it again.

Great video, though I'd disagree on the assessment of Ulfric's speech, it fits with your view of Galmar. Galmar wants to start attacking Imperial holds, which Ulfric doesnt want to do, saying it'd be better to take the cities without bloodshed, as he doesn't want anyone to die if it can be helped, and that the Stormcloaks have to prove they want the best. Galmar says "Then let them die with their false kings." Ulfric shoots that down immediately, and points out people have to think of their family. Galmar insists the Stormcloaks are their family, to which Ulfric then inquires why does Galmer fight for this family (This is why he asks his general this, it's testing Galmar's views). When Galmar says it's to stop the Dominion from ruling over them, Ulfric's characteristic passion shoots up and he begins with "I fight for the men I've held in my arms, dying on foreign soil!" This is the theme, and matches your view of Galmar, he fights because of his hatred of the Dominion (though has dialogue against this) while Ulfrics entire speech is about the people of his nation. The only time he mentions any foreign enemy is when he points out Skyrim is "impoverished to pay the debts of an Empire". The Nords rhetoric sounds like the majority of independence movements throughout history. Their desire to free themselves for a foreign empire, yet also targeting groups within their border, matches with multiple African, Asian, and American countries in the real world, and most people support those movements. I'm not sure what changed peoples minds with Nords, unless it's their appearance.

I had something pointed out to me about ulfric. Multiple characters in the blue palace mention that if ulfric had asked The high King probably would have seceded from the empire. This and the differences in how non-nor races are treated in solitude and windhilm suggest to me that it was more about grabbing power then serving the populace. I also don't think sovngarde is depicted as needing to be truly righteous only believing you were righteous. There is no judge exempt for your actions in life. So mentioning the stormcloaks going to sovngarde doesn't mean their actions were moral ( the devs putting them as equally flawed factions)

The thing about Dragonrend, though, is that it's profane for dragons, because they're immortal. The concept of being finite, fearing death, and being temporary is already a part of mortals. It's not useful against dragons because it's evil power, it's because the concept of mortality and finality is anathema to dragons. Their brains can't even contend with the concept, so it weakens them and brings them down. You basically give them concentrated super depression. As to why it was considered so evil in the past, you have to consider Skyrim, at the time the shout was created, was ruled by a dragon-worshipping cult and dragons themselves. As for why the Greybeards think it's evil, it's a shout that serves only one purpose. To kill dragons. It's a gun, and they're pacifists whose leader is the thing that shout was made to kill. On top of that, they see the voice as a gift from the gods, to be used responsibly, and only for good and meditation, not warfare.

Interesting how different we experienced the ending with Paarthanax. I always found it kind of beautiful, the dragons flying around seem majestic. Not long ago they were a dead race and now with Parth’s guidance they have a second chance. The Dragonborn has righted a historic wrong.

2:14:37 Rolf Stone-Fist isn't that bad. He's just a man who likes brawling. He resorts to racial insults because he thinks that's the easiest way to provoke a fist fight. The only tragedy here is the Dark Elves come from Morrowind where their laws are: "If you engage in physical violence because somebody taunted you, they are innocent and you are guilty." In Nord culture, if somebody is asking to be punched, it's legal so long as neither side uses a weapon or magic. So the Dunmer are terrified to punch his face in because in their culture they would have the Law come down on them. Meanwhile Rolf just wants to get punched.

No worries man, I'll listen to it again! Happy that someone else can identify the themes of Beowulf

You mentioning the illiad was awesome I've been listening to it at work I can't believe the detail some old stories have it's incredible

There's something tragic about the civil war as a conflict over cultural identity. The Nine Divines aren't the Nordic pantheon, it's Imperial, and that makes the banning of Talos even more insulting - a foreign culture has been forced upon the Nords as a people, they found a new figure to identify with, and now centuries later agents of a foreign secret police kidnap and torture smallfolk for holding onto this piece of resonance they feel. This isn't a stance on the civil war factions, it's just... sad.

Just leaving a little comment to mention that I randomly found your channel and watched all of your videos in quick succession; you have an intensely enchanting way with words and the moments where your personality shines through (as opposed to "just" your excellent literary analysis) are genuinely incredibly charming and endearing. Thank you for this channel and the videos you produce, I'm fascinated by your mind and am very excited for the next ones.

The literary connections in your essay are refreshing in a landscape (the gaming critique sphere) so filled to the brim with shallow analysis. Great video!

Your comments on the Empire being mostly unimpeachable in Oblivion are interesting to me because in Morrowind the Empire and it's institution was portrayed as being incredibly flawed, at best well meaning but patronising and at worst actively working with one of the most evil factions in the game out of petty graft and corruption. In many ways I think Skyrim is a much better sequel to Morrowind thematically than Oblivion - though it takes almost the opposite view of epic heroes to Morrowind where the point of the Main quest is that you are the Hero because you did hero stuff, not because you stepped off the boat a hero. A character straight up says "You are not the Nerevarine. You are one who may become the Nerevarine" roughly at the midpoint of the story and it's not clear if the destiny and prophesy angle is true or just convenient to the powerful while in Skyrim you just are the Dragonborn because you're the Dragonborn and that's true from the moment you wake in the cart.

It's been so long it's nice to be pushed to think about Skyrim critically again

Your vocal fry / editor's self awareness is beautiful, man. I highly respect for your work. I was unexpectedly and helplessly gripped by your review of "Firewatch"! Thanks for your work :) cheers

The moment I decided that I completely trust your narrative chops was the subtle background story telling of you bringing up the cannibal in the ratways, and then cut to your dragonborn wearing the chef's hat. Beautiful

Watched this video due to the algorithm when it first came out. It was so good, it made me sub and watch both your videos twice. Might as well put this in the background to watch a third/forth time to make sure your channel doesn't get tanked!

Absolute quality synopsis. Made me want the Duke to narrate my next playthrough so as to appreciate all the tangential possibilities. Top work 😊

You're quickly becoming my new favourite channel. Love the long-form analysis without the need for it to be a full-day endeavour to watch one of the videos. And the rate that you're getting these videos out is astonishing given the quality of them. Delighted to see how well these seem to be doing for you and I hope you're getting everything out of making these that you'd hoped ❤

Hey man, i just wanted to say I’m super into your work so far! I came across your work recently after playing Firewatch, and I’ve been looking through your whole catalogue now. It’s such a cool way to examine games, since it feels so rare to really see deep-dives into the stories of games. I’d love to see some more, specific titles, but I don’t want to be that guy. I’m just super happy to find your work, and hope you keep enjoying it!

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I'm going to come to the Stormcloaks' defense, at least of their estimation of the Dunmer in Windhelm specifically. A bit of backstory for necessary context: It is no secret that the Nords of Skyrim and the Dunmer of Morrowind (and the Chimer of Resdayn before them) have a very troubled, blood-soaked history. Eventually, with the power of the Tribunal waning, Vivec met with Tiber Septim and agreed to have Morrowind join his Empire, signing his Armistice to make it official. Finally, there was a little formal peace after millennia of back-and-forth hostilities and bloodshed. Five years after the Oblivion Crisis, Red Mountain erupted and caused the Red Year. After many other cataclysms around the continent, most being geopolitical in nature, in 4E 16 the High King of Skyrim formally ceded Solstheim to Morrowind and the Dunmer, since many had already been fleeing there for refuge from the devastation of Vvardenfell. Four years later, in 4E 20, the Jarls of Skyrim convened a moot and opened Skyrim to all Dunmer refugees from Morrowind. They declared that the Dunmer refugees would be, and this is essential, "Untithed to any thane or hold, and self-governed, with free worship, with no compensation to Skyrim or the Empire except as writ in the Armistice of old wheresoever those might still apply." ( _Decree of Monument_ at Refugees' Rest) Again, the Dunmer refugees welcomed into Skyrim were given full freedom and autonomy wherever they decided to settle. That means, when an entire section of an ancient Nord city was freely given to them to settle and make their new home, it came under their direct rule; it became their responsibility. Take notice, that was 181 years before the events of Skyrim, which take place in 4E 201. They were given an entire section of a city to call their new home and do with as they wished, and were also given full freedom and autonomy to rule themselves according to their own customs and practice their own religion. The Dunmer of the Gray Quarter have had nearly *_two centuries_* to get their crap together and do something about their situation, and you're telling me that all they've managed to do in all that time is lay around b**ching and whining "woe is me"?! And then they have the gall to be miffed with Ulfric-who, mind you, is leading a full-blown rebellion against the crumbling Mede Empire, while also remaining on alert for any Thalmor activities in his hold-when he doesn't sacrifice his precious time, men, and resources to solve issues that they have all legal authority to take care of themselves? Ulfric has no responsibility to deal with issues in the Gray Quarter. It has been theirs, under their autonomous rule, for 181 years. Why is it a slum? Crime has been rampant in the Gray Quarter for 181 years. Why haven't they developed a guard of their own, and a judicial system to hold perpetrators accountable? House Redoran has done relatively great building up their part of Solstheim and maintaining law and order there. And the Orc Strongholds long ago figured out this autonomy shtick in a Nord land well enough and are doing quite fine. But when the Dunmer refugees were given autonomy, why do they keep insisting it's Ulfric's and the Nords' responsibility to take care of them like they're children? It hasn't been the Nords' responsibility since 4E 20, and the year is now 4E 201. So, considering the others (House Redoran and the Orc Strongholds) who have figured it out and are doing relatively well, why am I supposed to feel sorry for the Dunmer of the Gray Quarter when they have refused, for nearly two centuries, to do anything for themselves? All they want, apparently, is for someone else to come in and do all the heavy lifting for them. They're expressing, in all actuality, a prideful sense of entitlement. Even Isran, with just a skeleton crew and scant resources, has managed almost single-handedly to resurrect an ancient order and renovate an abandoned, dilapidated fort well enough to be useable. And that, in just a handful of years at most. Of course, all of this also leaves out the fact that Windhelm's only stable is owned and operated by two Altmer, Ulundil and his wife Arivanya. The proprietor ofThe White Phial is also an Altmer, Nuerlion, who has an Imperial apprentice who takes over after he dies. And then there's Niranye, another Altmer, who owns and operates a storefront in the city without any issues from anyone. You can ask Niranye if she's ever had any trouble from the Nords, to which she responds, "It was difficult at first. The Nords of this city are, at best, suspicious of outsiders. But in time, I made the right friends and proved myself useful enough that they don't give me trouble anymore." She then adds that the root cause of the Dunmers' woes in the Gray Quarter is their own self-interested pride, which expresses itself in their refusal to put in the hard work of earning the Nords' trust and respect. She, Ulundil, Arivanya, and Nurelion are proof that her assessment is fairly accurate. And just so the point is clear, these are Altmer! The same race of the Aldmeri Dominion/Thalmor, the same race that imprisoned and tortured Ulfric! And yet here they are, freely living and owning and operating businesses in his capital city without harassment from anyone. The simple fact of the matter is this: The few outliers aside, neither Ulfric personally nor the Stormcloaks as a group are racist. They are, however, a very traditionalist, resourceful, and proud people, and they do not take kindly to belly aching. "Complain, sure! And loudly, if you must. But then do something about it or die trying!" That's practically the Nord spirit in a nutshell. So, anyone who is willing to put in the hard work and do something about their circumstances in life, the Nords can and will respect that. Galmar may not be giddy about a non-Nord coming to fight for the Stormcloaks (and why should he be?), but once you prove yourself, he welcomes you just the same as he does everyone else. If you're any race other than Nord, you can ask him the Stormcloaks only accept Nords, to which he responds, "You mistake me. I'm not saying no-just wondering about your intentions. We're not looking for sellswords. The Stormcloaks need dedicated men and women who're devoted to the cause and willing to die for it." So, he's looking for bravery and loyalty above all. They're running a rebellion against a cosmopolitan Empire, after all, and the last thing they need is a knife in the back by a double-agent. **Edited to fix spelling errors, add citations, and add a couple other examples that slipped my mind (e.g., I almost never do the White Phial quest and so I completely forgot about Nurelion).**

you have put all my abstract and bargled thoughts about this game into coherent words. thank you.

Wow what a genuinely well put together retrospective brother. Great job

You made the perfect sleep video for me! Your voice is so calming and anything elder scrolls related is very comforting to me. Thanks for many nights of good sleep☺️

I have always disliked the particular mention from party snaxx that his nature is inherently evil. Nature cannot be evil or good. Nature isn't moral. Dragons are the children of Akatosh, parts of one of the nine, they are thinking beings. Alduin brought civilization to the dragons and made them rulers but each dragon while dominant by nature had individualistic personalities. Some cruel conquerors but others benevolent teachers and protectors. Dragons are taken as some sort of monolithic evil race but the way they should be taken is individuals, like people. I think this is a discrepancy in the writing and characterization of the dragons.

You must not get to the Cloud District very often.

Even with your mic quality and lack of visual mods i still found your script and dialog absolutely marvelous. You had me intrigued for what i thoughht was 30 mins only to find its been two hours. You have earned a sub traveler!

1. On my first playthough when i left Helgan i was so gung-ho to be a stormcloak it was ridiculous. Then i spent time going around skyrim and realized that they were not the hero's i thought they were. Talking to different npcs and reading books i realized that while the empire is flawed it is overall the better of the two imo. 2. I never kill party snacks.

Hey man, just wanted to say that you both extensively hit on things I felt were very much lacking from the writing in this game, as well as providing new and interesting perspectives on plotlines and questlines that simply needed improvement or tweaking. Your suggestions on the Hrothgar Moot and your focus on the Rikke/Galmar/Ulfirc interactions were particularly compelling. You've put a ton of work into providing a well-rounded, objective approach to the quest-writing in this game based both off academic study and an understanding that games are a unique medium. Well done brother, and I'm looking forward to your next videos. PS: No pressure whatsoever, but I'm dying for a narrative critique of Morrowind :)

Amazing video. Have listened to it twice so far driving at work 🙏🏼

This was a really fun video! Thanks for taking the time to take Skyrim's narrative seriously and approach it with a maturity that many lacked back when it first came out.

already watched this beauty in full previously, but commenting to make sure more eyes find it again. this is a fantastic analysis and I am excited for future content. :)

That dang crate has bugged me for twelve years, so it was nice to see I'm not alone. Great video, by the way. :) I also really agree with your perspective about the civil war and how it's handled (or not handled so well).

Okay, I absolutely loved your video man, absolutely stellar and made me rethink the whole point of skyrims (utterly messy) main story. However, I think you’ve massively misread the Stormcloaks. Are they bigoted? Yes absolutely, I will not defend that, however I feel it falls more to skyrims messy writing than anything else, as you yourslef noted we are not allowed to respond to that bigoted mess of a city called Windhelm, but the largest ally to Ulfric, Riften, has several Argonians within it that are respected members of its citizenry, hell, it has probably the most varied citizenry in Skyrim. If Ulfric and his movement truly was “white supremacist” in its desires for Skyrim, why would they not instead push OUT all of the Argonians and dark elves within Riften? Why let them live in the city that is their strongest ally ? Hell, why let them live in Windhelm at all? I don’t think the Stormcloaks are supremacist, I believe that they are Nationalists. Skyrim is the traditional homeland of the Nords, earned through hard fought battles against foes from all sides. When the empire faced near total collapse Skyrim came to its aid and helped keep it alive. Galmar, Rilke, Ulfric, their ALL veterans of the Great War. After that Great War, where skyrims people came to the empires aid instead of leaving them for dead, the empire stabbed Skyrim in the back. Their patron god, their Hero, disgraced by an empire that needed skyrims aid. I don’t believe the Stormcloaks to be unjustified in their civil war. The empire IS corrupt, even Balgruff, in this storyline, the civil war, has his steward mention “and the chests of gold didn’t hurt”. What’s that if not the empire BUYING their loyalty? Week ut and Maven, BOTH imperial supporters and one even ascends to the throne of Jarl in the imperials quest line, are invited to the Thalmor embassy; Speaking of which. If you want racial supremacists, go talk to the Thalmor. If an Irishman talks about Ireland being Irish and seeking its liberty from the British, as they did in a bloody civil conflict, no one calls the Irish racial supremacists, but when the Nords want their lands free of the empire, suddenly it’s racially motivated. Meanwhile the Thalmor are out here, marching lockstepC grabbing imperial citizens, SKYRIMS PEOPLE, and dragging them off for torture and execution. The civil war is an utter mess, as all civil wars are, I’m an Imperial supporter because against a foe like the Thalmor you need to stand United, or fall alone, but dismissing the Stormcloaks as JUST white supremacist coded warriors misses the reason and the cause for which they fight. Skyrim helped the empire, and it turned its back on usC and when we wanted to be free, instead we got Thalmor knocking on our door like the damn Gestapo! So why not rise up? It’s clear the empire doesn’t care about us, only itself, why not die on your feet than live in fear on your knees?

Probably my least favorite Delphine moment (I hate all of them) is when you tell her you don’t trust her and aren’t interested in helping her after she gives you the horn and she basically just says that you’ll have to come around to continue playing the game. She literally ends the sentence saying you’ll come back, “YOU HAVE TO.” It’s this almost fourth wall breaking reminder that yes, most of the story is centered around taking orders from this incredibly unlikable character. Why do we even need to break into the thalmor embassy for information? The only reason we do that is because Delphine hates them and is overly suspicious of them. Surprise surprise, they don’t know what the hell is happening with the dragons either. Why would they? Because “elves are evil.” Give me a break, Delphine can do her own espionage. The ONLY reason it progresses the story is you happen to stumble upon a document about Esbern. Realistically, the main story could not include Delphine or Esbern and still be possible, you’d simply have to do your own research into Alduin and the dragons returning. Is Esbern really the only person in Skyrim who knows about the history of the dragons? What about the Bard’s college? Or the college of Winterhold? Or Ulfric Stormcloak? Or the Graybeards? Or it’s simply contained within hard to find books you read to discover the existence of Alduin’s wall and Dragonrend.

You have a grand and intoxicating voice for video essays with some humor peppered in and some really good observations and analyses. Amazing work sir

This is a great analysis of the game. Ultimately, I feel Skyrim managed to provide a once-in-a-generation experience while simultaneously leaving out so many things which could have/should have been in the game that it fell short of its ultimate potential. The magic system is as wide as a large river, but about as deep as an almost dried up puddle on the sidewalk after a light drizzle. On the surface the magic system seems to have plenty of options. But, when you look closer, they're basically copy-paste with different elements or perk bonuses per node. There's very little actual depth to the magic. It's all surface changes. I would have liked to see the elements really shine and differentiate themselves from one another in beyond surface level ways. The basic frost skill is literally the same thing as the fire and lightning skills. A one/two handed spewing of said element. Frost drains health and stamina. Shock drains health and magicka. Fire just drains health. This is an arbitrary and false "difference" between them which is an attempt to make them feel more diverse than they really are. How about the fire spell sets cloth-based clothing on fire and burns for between 3-5 seconds rather than having a fixed 1-second HP drain after the spell stops, and the fire causes the enemy to panic while they try to put the fire out? How about the frost actually slows the enemy down and can also douse any torches they're holding? The shock spells could have a slight damage buff if the enemy is wearing metallic armor since it's a better conductor of electricity than cloth or bare skin. I think Bethesda was more than capable of diving deeper into the magic system than they ultimately ended up doing. It was fine an is still fun. But it's definitely filled with missed potential. The physical combat is past gen even for the PS3/XBox 360 era and feels distinctly Bethesda in that it's stiff and unnatural, not to mention un-enjoyable. Every time I play Skyrim, I deliberately avoid the physical combat by going the Magic route because of how wonky the physical combat system is. The movement, similarly, is past gen for the era Skyrim was released in. The movement animations are stiff and unnatural to how a real human body moves, and the crouch/sprint functions aren't much better. Jumping is also a chore. And along with being a chore, there's a reason the term "Skyrim Jumping" has become a meme in the gaming world. It's downright broken. The quests are all either "go kill this" or "fetch" quests. Even for the era it was released in you'd think Bethesda had more quest opportunities and creativity than this. No matter which quests you embark on it's either a kill or fetch quest. There's literally no diversity in the quests themselves. No matter how long or short it may be, the quests are all the same. The game's open world is probably its biggest success and failure all wrapped up in one. Much like the magic system, the world itself in between the towns/villages you stopped at felt empty and shallow. Similarly, there's almost no biological diversity. As you wander the world, you'll occasionally find a deer, a bear, a spriggan, a rabbit, or something like that. But always in the same places. And always with the same models. But what's the difference between a bear, cave bear, and snow bear? Color. That's literally it. They're pallet swaps of each other and have all the same movements, mechanics, sounds, etc. You would think a bear which lives in the forests would move differently than one who lives in the frozen tundra given the difference in terrain and environmental elements around them. But no. Pallet swaps. And the same is true for most other animals/beasts in the game. Pallet swaps with HP differences and maybe a difference in how much damage they deal per hit. But again, that's surface level diversity. Not actual diversity. Different environments should breed different enemies who, even if they occupy a similar species line, look and feel unique from their counterparts. Skyrim will always be a personal favorite game for me. But I'm going to call things as I see them. Bethesda gave us something awesome with plenty of missed potential. And, sadly, much of that missed potential comes from simply overlooking what should be simple or common-sense mechanics which the PS3/XBox 360 consoles were more than capable of delivering on. I don't want to say Bethesda was lazy in their efforts. But they definitely made questionable choices with their developmental process and were a bit too linear in their thinking. Having Fire drain health, Frost drain health and stamina, and Shock drain health and magicka is a perfect example. Linear. This does this, this does this, and this does this. A bit more "out of the box" thinking would have done wonders for Skyrim. Thankfully, we have mods. Many of which can help fix a lot of the issues or shortcomings of the original game. It's a good thing Bethesda has embraced the modding community as openly as the have or Skyrim may have become another one-hit-wonder which died in popularity after a few years as new games were released rather than maintaining a healthy and loyal following. Hopefully ES6 resolves a lot of these sorts of issues. And, please, for the love of all things holy, get a new game development engine, Bethesda. If ES6 looks like a really polished PS3/XBox 360 title like Starfield does, I'm going to be pissed.

Good work. You kept my attention for 2 hours and 43 minutes, and I enjoyed every word. Kudos! edit: Subscribed!

Amazing video. I'm noticing a trend of many youtubers returning to Skyrim to re-examine it once more and I am thoroughly enjoying this new wave of Skyrim analysis. I think your video is really comprehensive and the last 40 or so minutes of it are the best review of the civil war situation I've seen and I've seen many. Great job!

Duke this is a great video but I gotta tell you, your videos are SO relaxing, It so easy to fall asleep listening to your critique videos

Really really appreciate the highlighting of how, despite being mechanically empowering, Skyrim is rather disempowering when it comes to the narrative side of things. The fact that the Thalmor are obviously the greatest threat to Cyrodil but there's simply nothing to be done about it really did make things feel incomplete, those loose threads left hanging. (part of me wonders if it's vital to ES6 that they stay in power and unchallenged, but I'm not even totally convinced we didn't all hallucinate that announcement at this point) I think they could've done something interesting, if the game examined the difference between the types of conflict present in it--how the player character, an epic hero who is perfectly suited to staving off the dragon apocalypse, is ill-equipped to make positive change in the more complex political systems of the modern world--but it doesn't do that with any sort of intentionality. Sidenote: WOW the Stormcloaks are bad seeing it laid out like this. When I was younger I think I got so caught up in the issue of Talos (with my vague recollection of him as a good thing from Oblivion) that I overlooked everything else, not being attentive enough to notice the Imperials were leniant about that, or smart enough to notice the really quite overt supremacist mindset of the Stormcloaks. Looking back now though? Yikes.

The number of times I felt forced to make "decisions" through gritted teeth in Skyrim ruined so much potential RP and immersion for me. Want to be a good warrior and join the equivalent of the fighters guild? Must take on lycanthropy. Think that the Silverhand are the good guys? No they're bad because the story says so. Want to avoid being the dragonborn and join the legion? Get sent to Whiterun and be forced to do the dragonstone questline before Balgruuf will speak to you. Want to destroy the dark brotherhood? Great you get to destroy a den of PROFESSIONAL ASSASSINS all by yourself. Want to do the main questline? You MUST join the College of Winterhold. Want to restore the blades to the glory they had in Oblivion and Morrowind? Kill Parthurnaax. It just seems like Skyrim was riddled with lazy writing and faux-choices that facilitated very few styles of play. What's more, loot in Skyrim sucked and aesthetic diversity (or lack thereof) killed roleplayability. Advancing through the legion? Here's random dwarven armor. Finding the Red Eagle's Bane? Generic Draugr sword. The Pale Blade? Generic Draugr sword. Axe of Whiterun (and all other thane weapons)? Random leveled axe. I could go on. The vast majority of "unique" items were the daedric artifacts which, if you're playing a "good guy" locks you out of roleplayability. This is just the tip of the iceberg but essentially Bethesda made a "go do whatever you want" style game, then told us how to play when we got to where we were going.

Dude, you are such an underrated channel. You deserve so many more subs. I patiently but eagerly await a critique of the Dragonborn dlc. Love your content!!!!

meant to say this months ago but your analyses here & in the Dawnguard video we’re thoroughly incisive and convinced me to finally try the game for myself. there’s so much to pore over with regards to the sociopolitical stories the game lays out - purposefully and inadvertently - and the way they jaggedly intersect with the gameplay, and you’ve gone a considerable way in bearing that out in your vids. appreciate your channel & keep up the good work!