Skyrim: 5 Spooky Theories Crazy Enough to be True - The Elder Scrolls 5 Lore (Part 4) 

I like to justify Lydia's stupidity with the theory that she is in fact a very odd looking mudcrab, rejected by her own kind and recruited by Balgruuf whilst on a fishing trip.

Spookiest intro thus far "hey guys Nathaniel here"

"That candle simply never went out" ....like literally every candle ever in Skyrim??

"She is given to us by the jarl as a thank you" well it just sounds weird when you put it like that.

I always just figured Lydia was in the city guard but got dismissed because of one too many "friendly fire" incidents, then just hung out in Dragonsreach munching all the bread till Balgruff could find a way to get rid of her. I think that she's so ridiculously loyal because she's glad to have a friend.

"Part 3 if I remember correctly" *He did not remember correctly*

When u off to kill Cicero if u summon Lucien ghost he would say: " i feel disturbance in the darkness, Sitis doesnt wish cicero dead". It means sithis has conscious in a certain way

"It's Nathaniel here." Sounds like Nate's in trouble with himself.

Candle never went out you say? You mean like every other lit candle in skyrim? Incredible.

theory: Nazeem is actually molag bal in disguise

There’s no famine because food never goes bad in Skyrim.

For the lurker theory, why didn't you address the load screen comment "sometimes people get lost in Apocrypha, never to return?" and connect it with Neloth's comment on finding out you've been in the black books: "yes, I can see it in your eyes." then later, after slaying Mirrak he says he's "looking for black spots in the eye's, ***signs of Mora's influence.***" (paraphrase) they could be people trapped for so long in Apocrypha that they get mutated and twisted.

When you brought up the Falmer, Nate, I thought you were gonna talk about that theory about how the Falmer were turned into FUEL by the Dwemer. 'Fuel?' I hear you ask, if you don't know what I speak of. Yes, fuel. Falmer, in Skyrim, have WHITE souls, or they can fit in the various regular soul gems, but not BLACK souls like other sentient races have. And what do the many automatons in the various dwemer ruins run on? Soul gems filled with white souls.

Maybe the dwarves blinded the falmer to prevent them from seeing what the dwarves were working on? The dwarves did disappear and were never heard from again. Maybe the dwarves wanted to prevent the snow elves from finding out the secret which would eventually lead to the disappearance of the dwarves? I think it's all connected somehow.

The theory regarding the night mother doesn't quite add up because there are direct quotes which imply Sithis has some form of conscious. Some quotes from the Spectral Assassin: "I will kill this jester if you so desire, but there is a disturbance in the Void. Our Dread Father does not wish this" "The Dread Father works through me. And his work has just begun." "One day, you shall serve our Dread Father, as I do now."

"Psss! I know who you are! Hail Sithis!"

Okay, so to find the origin of the Lurker it might be prudent to look at the creatures that served as their inspiration: The Deep Ones The Deep Ones are a race of mutated, fish-like humans that worship a creature known as Dagon. The Deep Ones procreate through humans, creating children that are born human but slowly grow up to become the fish-like Deep Ones. Many depictions of Deep Ones are very similar to the appearance of the Lurker, and the fact that the Lurkers serve a Deadric Prince who is inspired by the stories of H.P. Lovecraft (who is the author who came up with the idea of Deep Ones) may lead one to conclude that Lurkers are not just thematically similar to Deep Ones, but practically so as well. It's always been unknown as to what exactly happens to the people who get lost in the winding halls of Apocrypha. Perhaps those who continue to seek knowledge evolve into the Seekers, and those who were driven mad by their findings within Apocrypha change into the massive and unintelligent Lurkers? It would be a very thematically sound and interesting origin for Hermaus Mora's faithful Daedra!

My theory is that Bethesda leaves a bunch of opened-ended random bits/half-baked plots in their games(like the bugs in jars), leaving it up to the fan base to extend their lore with elaborate theories, filling in the holes for them. While they kick back in Tahiti, sipping their mojitos and living the dream!

Lydia is a....malfunctioning synth?

i wish prices would remain so consistent in the real world :(

Nathaniel. Being proper I see

Lucien's ghost warns you not to kill Cicero, risking to anger Sithis, so to would seem je has some kind of will and plans of his own.

Lydia could be Nelkir's birth-mother. I mean... Yeah, I can see Balgruuf wanting to tap that. And wanting to keep it quiet later.

Here's a theory about Lydia. Maybe Lydia was Balgruuf's secret lover, mother of Nelkir. Brainwashed by order of Balgruuf 's wife. Balgruuf finds out and he killed his wife but the damage was irreversible. Her skeleton was hid under the bridge.

Nate when ES6 comes out, I think you will get to the 1 mil mark. And when you do, remember me, and the rest of us who have been here since a time before "murdered to death" was a thing.

*M'aiq murdered the dragon born to death by killing him! He told me himself!*

Someone wrote a backstory for Lydia that I liked. She was an orphan who was adopted by the steward of whiterun, hence why she would hold a position in the court once she was an adult. She was likely a hold guard who got promoted thanks to battle prowess (seeing as she stronger than the current hold guards) and her adoptive father's position.

To add to the Lydia theory, Jarl Balgruuf's son Nelkir in the Daedric quest "The Whispering Door" (which is coincidentally the Mephala quest) says that his mother is not the same one as his siblings'. Speculation arises on what this means. But if Lydia could be anyone before her mindwipe, then why not the mother of Nelkir? They might have conceived him out of wedlock and to avoid scandal they removed her memories and altered her personality. I don't believe this is true, but it's an idea. Personally, I think Lydia might just get a lot of head injuries in battle since she doesn't wear a helmet (and not a whole lot of followers wear them either, hmm), so has amnesia on top of some other limitations to her faculties. Although all the Housecarls don't tell you their backstories, even the ones who might have interesting ones like Rayya. Anyway, that's just my three cents.

>Nathaniel >400 years before Skyrim Nate, you're home, go drunk.

Feel like I saw somewhere that the Snow Elves fully knew the substances they were taking would damage their vision: initially it allowed for their body to adjust to life fully underground and the Snow Elves worked alongside the Dwemer willingly. Obviously as the Dwemer vanished, unforeseen effects of the substances given and taken (willingly) by the Snow Elves transformed their biological structure and without any guidance or society existing without the Dwemer, they devolved. But the main point is that they weren't enslaved or forced to become blind: again, fairly certain this is just another theory.

"Anyway, its been a while since we've made one of these videos and even longer since we've made one worth watching." 11/10 for brutal honesty. I respect that.

Sithis does have a will. If you summon Lucien Lachance's ghost during the mission to kill Cicero, he'll tell you that Sithis still has a plan for him or something similar

Ah, Lydia. I've married her, I've sacrificed her, I've killed her because I like to be alone and don't need a fucking housecarl. She's been through a lot.

to your theory of lurkers, I may have an addition to that, so we all know the orcs were high elves and followers of trinimac before boethiah devoured him and he transformed to Malacath and they changed with him, with the dark elves also changing by pissing off azura, what if the lurkers were Sea Elves(Maomer) that got corrupted by hermaeous mora

Or They just relight the candle when your not looking

I need a theory on why Hermaeus Mora and Sanguine get pronounced incorrectly every damn time

I always thiught that Lydia was a Whiterun guard who just was assigned to you.

isnt Skyrim 200 years after Oblivion not 400? since the 4th era begun when Martin septim sacrificed himself and Said the 4th era started and Skyrim is in the year 4E 201??

Lurkers could be the end result of the transformation into a "Deep one" Which you learn about in Cyrodill a few hundred years prior in TES 4 Oblivion. Living in the village of Hackdirt, where they worship the "Great old ones" Which lets be honest, Hermaus Mora is a pretty accurate representation of Azathoth or Nyarlathotep, and could very well be referred to as one of the great old ones by a bunch of backwater villagers who don't know any better.

Lydia may have been the mother of Nelkir but Mephala poisoned her mind so Farengar had to wipe her memory and made sure that no one but he and the jarl knew who she was but could not tell her about her past out of fear that Mephala would regain control of Lydia's mind

The no.4 theory the lurkers being a corrupted fish makes a bit of sense since mora is based on yogg sithoth from the cathullu mythos and the lurkers are based on the deep ones

0:24 Let's just pretend Lydia has an arrow drawn. Let's just pretend.

the Alduin we fought wasn't really the Alduin of legend The strength of dragons comes from words, and since Al-Du-In, mean destroy, devour and master respectively, so Alduin is meant to master stuff by destroying and devouring them, but by refusing to destroy the world and instead trying to dominate it, he is no longer Alduin, not really, he is more Paar-Thur-Nax Ambitious, overlord cruelty. The reason that Alduin was meant to be able to eat the world but was so easy to defeat is that Alduin had lost all of his legendary power because he wasn't in line with his name/purpose

I think that the night mother is Lydia who traveled through time, after looking at an elder scroll and brought a slaughter fish to past hermeous more then with her past magic and lit a candle because the elder scrolls made her not see well making her randomly walk into things and miss alot. Then she was trapped in the dwemmer's caves and they experimented her and took her past magic and memory and she somehow ended up in whiterun without her memory and was found by jarl balgruff

Maybe Lydia found the ebony blade and that’s why she had to be brain washed

I can't get over how legendary this game is. I always get the best feeling every time i play it. Its just such a deep game with never ending adventures. No matter how many elder scroll games that come out Skyrim will always have a special place in my heart

They make a big deal about their dumb candle that doesn't go out, but I've been in tombs that haven't been opened for thousands of years and they still have fresh candles and torches everywhere. Big whoop.

"Part 3, if I recall correctly." *Mission failed, we'll get 'em next time.*

Oblivion takes place 200 years before Skyrim. Not 400 years.

Why would the Dwemer want to blind the Falmer? Easy. To prevent them from ever using an Elder Scroll.

I know this is an old video but oblivion took place 200 years before skyrim

I'm a little late to the party, but ill take a gander and say that the lurkers are likely corrupted sea elves. note the pale blue/purple skin, the human build, and the fact that they are aware enough to wear chitinous armor.

I used to be an adventurer like you, then i got murdered to death

the Lydia one doesn't feel right I think the lack of backstory is because she is only a soldier who was good enough to climb up the ranks

*me, sneaking, draw my bow back, zoom in, take careful aim, prepare to loose the arrow...* Lydia-*"WHATCHA DOING THERE BUDDY!!!!!"*

I always figured the falmer just evolved into blindness due to living underground.

What if Mephala is the "wife" of Sithis, Sithis being the force in which Mephala directs and chooses, leading by a marriage of concepts and interference of the mortal realm. True Daedra princes tend not to often share the spotlight, but Sithis isnt a daedra and rather an overvoid like concept that can be used rather than communed with. Mephala is the night mother, but not what we consider. Perhaps the night mother we see is a symbolic totem of that union of the weaving of darker forces joining together in a conspiracy beyond our ken?

I must disagree with the info about Sithis in this video. If Sithis is unable to care about literally anything, why would Lucien Lachance say "I will kill this jester if you so desire, but there is a disturbance in the Void. Our Dread Father does not wish this"? This implies *heavily* that Sithis cares in some manner.

The reason why they've had no inflation is because they're on a gold and silver standard obviously

I always assumed Lurkers are the creatures who Live Below... in A Shadow over Hackdirt.

Don't all housecarls have no backstory ??

love the vids Nate!! I love seeing them pop up on my feed

I’ll bet the reason the Dwemer made the Snow Elves blind was so thier technology could never be coppied. They’re very protective of their technology. This explains all of the traps and robot esque guards within the dwemer structures

Is anyone else getting lovecraft vibes frome the lurkers,seekers and hermaus moira

So I've been working on a theory for about a year now and it would be really cool if you made a video about. The theory is that Alduin encompasses both the sphere of Akatosh and the sphere of Molag Bal. First off, how is this possible? Well to explain that just look at another god from the Nordic Pantheon, Orkey, who in many ways embodies both Arkay and Malacath. To truly get a grasp on how this is possible I divert you to the lorebook "Azura and the Box" where a Dwemer challenges Azura to tell him the contents of a box, but to everyone's surprise Azusa's prophesy was wrong and she disappeared, but as it turns out it wasn't. One possible reason for her disappearance (with which I agree) is that Azura was not fooled, rather everyone in the room was fooled into believing Azura was wrong and thus she ceased to exist within that room. Proving that at least some of the "Gods" are actually created by the mortals who worship them. Now onto the evidence of this theory in particular. Akatosh is simple enough to explain and is widely accepted. Dragon Gods of Time, pretty easy connection to make. As for Molag, well he's the Lord of Domination, and it is in the very nature of the Dovah to dominate. "Dov wahlaan fah rel." Now look at what makes Molag Bal unique above all others. He can truly return a person from death, no matter who they are. Now look at Alduin and how he rebuilt his dragon army. He raised them from the dead, returning their souls to their bodies. Molag Bal is one of the patrons of Necromancers. The ancient servants of the dragons still rise from their graves, as draugr, to attend the needs of their masters. One thing that speaks against this is Durnehviir's reference to "'Alok-Dilon,' the ancient forbidden art that you call necromancy." However this could be because Traditional Necromancy would divert power away from him, since necromancy involves worship and deals with other deities (like the Ideal Masters). Also it could be that Alduin seeks to limit the power of the other Dragons so he can truly dominate them. There's some more little stuff that supports it but I'll just leave it with, "I mean look at him! Alduin looks like a dragon who got bit by a vampire!" Something to consider.

I mean there's plenty of candles in draugr tombs and they have presumably been burning for centuries too.

I really like the idea that Mephala is the Night Mother. That's pretty brilliant honestly, and very on brand for her.

Mephala being the Night Mother makes a little more sense when you consider a line of dialogue in her own quest where she says “Few can here my whispers anymore” and the Dragonborn can hear both Mephala AND the Night Mother. Seems like too much of a coincidental overlap.

"low amount of crops compared to people" Yeah, no, check the farm to city ratio. There is plenty of food. Honest gold for honest work.

I think the Lurkers are mutated sea elves

Events from Oblivion to Skyrim was approximately 200 years.

There isn't inflation because the currency is based on gold, so it's value is constant. I learned that in my Bard College econ class.

“And even longer since we’ve made one worth watching” bruh every one of your videos is worth watching.

the Lurkers look like they have armor close to the falmer so they might be once snow elves who needed sanctuary from the Nords

Think about this. In the Oblivion Dark Brotherhood questline, there are all kinds of betrayal and plots and murder as well, adding on to the theory of Mephala's doing. Especially as 'The Night Mother' alludes to having known all along what was happening.

The Dwemer got involved with a daedra while seeking forbidden knowledge. The blinding of the snow elves could be a daedra task. There was something the dark elf saix who lives in a giant mushroom prompted me to think about.

Lydia might have found the door with the ebony blade and learned something about the jarl which he didn't want out

NATE IS SHORT FOR NATHANIEL?! MY WORLD HAS BEEN SHATTERED!

I can imagine Mephala just sitting back with some popcorn and watching the two factions at each other's throats like she's playing The Sims

I remember I played this day and night and morning everyday I have literally everything, Completed every mission/side mission.I don’t know why I was so addicted to it.I got it in 2011 and I’m still playing today.

Lydia is the Night Mother confirmed headcanon don't @ me

Nathaniel?! He'S a SyNtH!

I totally believe the Lydia being mind wiped theory as when you have both Lydia and Inigo with you Inigo will attempt to introduce himself to Lydia (yes its part of the mod of course) and she at first doesnt realize hes talking to her and starts listing off vegetables she wants to get from the market. Or brings up other random dialogue. Inigo then tells lydia he truly thinks she needs medical or professional help. Its glorious to watch

The theory of Mephala being the Night Mother herself captivated me I hope Bethezda take it into consideration because fan theories do matter creators should listen to their fans for they are many and many bright minds are hidden among them who may not have the "social" skills or the "guts" or the "money" required to step out and become successful but that doesn't make them less gifted than the ones who currently write the plots in the TES games

It would be interesting if Lydia really was brainwashed. Maybe she listened to Whispering Lady and tried to get the Ebony Blade, but she was stopped and Balgruuf out of fear ordered Farengar to erase her memories. After the Whispering Door quest, she would start to remember things, and you would have a choice: kill her or help her remember everything and let her join us as a completely new person. Now that's a mod I would pay for.

Great video Nate!

My guess is that Lydia is related to Balgruuf. He is the only jarl who mentions the houscarl he assigns to you by name. His brother Hrongar is annoyed enough at you if you get Lydia to join the blades to possibly send thugs after you to beat you up. So if I'm right Balgruuf assigned his niece to the Dragonborn hoping they eventually get married and his family tree will become dragon blooded.

With Hearthfire, try planting a crop in your garden and see how long it'll take to mature. Then harvest it, and wait for it to mature again. There's some kind of magic that makes plants fully mature within a few days. At that rate, there needn't be any more crops.

Skyrim is a massive game

I heard a theory somewhere that the reason that there are so many bandits compared to people, is because they are the native Nords who live in the wilds, kind of like tribal people. I really like that theory, it contributes to the rough and primal land that Skyrim is supposed to be.

I died when he said hermaeus like Her-MY-Us

Dude. You are my reason to come back to Skyrim over and over.

whomst is nathaniel? did he murder nate to death?

Nathaniel, that threw me off 😂

That thing about Azura's candle might give a little credence to a joke theory I had. That the dwemer had been turned into torches that never burn out. That can now be found in dungeons across Tamriel.

You know, I've looked through some things and realized something, the statues that are in sheogoraths isle of madness look very similar if not exactly like the lurkers

Wow. It never occurred to me and now won’t stop bothering me that Lydia has no backstory D:

WHO TF IS "NATHANIEL"?? :)

Brainwashing of Lydia just made me think that she could be the mother of the Jarl's bastard.

The reason why I think Mephala would personify the night mother and make the dark brotherhood because at the time of the formation of the dark brotherhood, the Morag Tong were outlawed across Tamriel (but Morrowind) for the assassinations of the Potentate, which meant they were to be killed on sight outside of Morrowind, so by creating a new guild of assassins, she would still be able to do her plots