The Elder Scrolls franchise is not for the faint of heart. Each installment in Bethesda’s epic fantasy saga drops players within a sprawling world, points them in a general direction and then sets them free to make their own way. Battle against hellish monsters, plumb the depths of mysterious caves, or steal everything that isn’t nailed down… it’s entirely up to you.
Skyrim launched six years ago, and players are still exploring the remarkable adventure that Bethesda crafted for them. Not content to simply design a vast, empty world, they filled it with stories of all kinds, from the obvious ones you get thanks to NPC’s and quest givers to smaller, more personal stories that are easy to miss.
The land of Skyrim is a harsh place, and many of its people meet sudden and tragic ends. As your “Dragonborn” warrior of destiny traverses the frigid landscape of the north, he or she can stumble upon a number of heartbreaking tales. Tragedy is never far away in the land of Skyrim.
These are 15 Times Skyrim Made You Cry.
15 Lost Prospect Mine
Just like in our world, everyone in Skyrim wants to get rich. Luckily for us, our moneymaking schemes don’t generally get us killed in dank caves.
In Lost Prospect Mine, your Dragonborn will find a seemingly unspectacular cave. A journal left inside tells the story of two friends who partnered up to try and find gold in the cave, but after weeks of digging, they had found nothing but rock. The journal’s author, Hadrir, then left to get more supplies, and when he returned there was no sign of his friend Bern. Assuming Bern had abandoned him to plumb the dusty cave by himself, Hadrir writes him a scathing note and leaves. The Dragonborn, however, can find a hidden alcove in the cave that contains deposits of gold, and Bern’s skeletal remains buried under boulders. It turns out Bern found his treasure after all, but he paid the ultimate price for it.
14 Mourning A Friend
If you’re one of the few people left in the world who hasn’t played Skyrim yet, here’s a tip: don’t mess with the giants, or their mammoths. It doesn’t end well.
The giants are relatively peaceful, as long as you leave them alone. Get too close to their beloved mammoths, however, and they will waste no time in teaching you the meaning of personal space.
During your travels in Skyrim, you might find a particularly sad giant standing over his deceased friend. Unlike other giants, he won’t attack if you approach, as long as you don’t get any funny ideas. Instead, you can join him in respectful silence as he mourns his friend. It’s an Easter egg that will touch anyone who has ever felt the sting of losing a pet.
13 Tova Shatter-Shield
Life is hard in Skyrim, what with the civil war, the deadly wildlife, and the brutal cold. Unfortunately for Tova Shatter-Shield, it gets even worse when a serial killer begins stalking the alleys of Windhelm and claims one of her daughters as his victim.
A tragedy like that would rock even the strongest of matrons, and Tova is indeed reeling from her loss when you meet her. But since this is Skyrim, you have the opportunity to make her life even worse! If you join the Dark Brotherhood, you will eventually be given a contract on the life of Tova’s sole surviving daughter. If you choose to make good on the contract, Tova’s grief will drive her to the depths of despair, and she will take her own life.
12 Camping Turns Deadly
Young lovers are always looking for a nice, private place to share with each other. In the world of Skyrim, though, the simple act of finding a secluded place to camp for a night can get you killed.
Stumble upon an abandoned tent in Skyrim’s wilderness and you will find all the signs of a romantic rendezvous: empty wine bottles, luxurious blankets, and even an amulet of Skyrim’s love goddess, Mara. What was surely a memorable night for the tent’s occupants turned tragic, however. Though their personal effects remain, they are nowhere to be found. You can decide for yourself what cruel fate they met in the wilderness, but the land is teeming with cruel bandits and feral predators…
11 The Horror Of Frostflow Lighthouse
The people of Skyrim have dreams, just like us. The Redguard sailor Habd had a dream to buy the Frostflow Lighthouse and raise his family there. Purchasing the lighthouse and moving in, it seemed his dream had come true, but instead he found a nightmare.
Mysterious noises from the cellar were assumed to be mere pests of some kind, but in reality they were vicious Falmer and feral Charus insects. Returning home from a trip to town to find his beloved wife murdered, Habd tries to rescue his children from a similar fate, but he is too late. His son is already dead, and his daughter takes her own life rather than face the Falmer. The Dragonborn eventually finds the remains of Habd and his family in the blood splattered lighthouse. Though you’re too late to save them, you’re free to avenge them if you choose.
10 Narfi’s Lost Sister
The bonds of family are strong in Skyrim, but few families are spared the kind of tragedy that is so common in the north. The sad story of a lowly beggar named Narfi is a prime example. His beloved sister Reyda goes missing in the harsh wilderness, and Narfi’s grief turns to madness. By the time the Dragonborn meets him, Narfi is a rambling basket case desperate to find his sister.
Everyone in town assumes that Reyda is long dead, and sure enough the Dragonborn finds her remains at the bottom of the nearby river. It seems that Reyda was simply the victim of bad luck and drowned in the cold waters. Whether the Dragonborn delivers the bad news to Narfi or feeds him false hope of her survival is up to you.
9 Ranmir’s Tale Of Woe
In the harsh chill of Skyrim, it’s only natural that some folks turn to drink to warm themselves (and to keep busy). In Ranmir’s case, drinking is more of an escape from his heartbreak. Once a happy, productive member of society, Ranmir descended into alcoholism after his love Isabelle left town and never returned. He believes she left him because he was poor, and he sank into a deep depression.
His friends in town ask the Dragonborn to find Isabelle so Ranmir can get some closure, but what the roving hero finds is a sad story. Finding Isabelle’s remains in a cave full of necromancers, the Dragonborn learns that she left Ranmir in the hopes of striking it rich so the two could live in comfort. Unfortunately, she met a grisly end in pursuit of those riches.
8 Star-Crossed Lovers
Some love stories don’t get a happy ending. In fact, in Skyrim, some lovers meet the grisliest of fates.
That’s certainly the case for the star-crossed pair of Talvur and Karan. As the daughter of a wealthy merchant, Karan’s love for a lowly Dunmer miner like Talvur was a source of shame and embarrassment for her family.
Rather than bow to her father’s wishes, though, Karan ran away with Talvur and the two began a journey through the wilderness to find a new home together. But they didn’t get very far, falling prey to one of the many predators that stalks the barren landscape. The Dragonborn can stumble upon their camp and find their bodies, as well as the animal responsible for their demise.
7 Faithful Husband
It seems like falling in love is one of the most dangerous things you can do in Skyrim. We’ve already had some examples of that on this list, and here’s another one. While exploring the northern reaches of Skyrim, the Dragonborn discovers a meager shelter and the remains of a man named Trius. Rummaging through the dead man’s belongings reveals that he was waiting for his love Shelly to arrive on a ship bound for Skyrim. The ship never completed its journey, however, and Trius, refusing to give up hope, eventually died a lonely death in the cold.
If the Dragonborn descends into the frigid waters of the north, he will find a sunken ship nearby. It’s likely that this is the ship on which Shelly was a passenger, so it seems she shared her lover’s tragic fate.
6 Death Of The Dark Brotherhood
The Dark Brotherhood storyline is always a highlight of each new Elder Scrolls game, and Skyrim is no exception. Players have the choice of joining the elite group of assassins or seeking its destruction, but let’s be honest: most of us join up!
In Skyrim, the Dark Brotherhood is struggling to rebuild itself, and a motivated Dragonborn plays a big part in returning the group to glory. That changes when the Brotherhood’s duplicitous leader Astrid makes an ill-advised deal with the Empire to sacrifice her best assassin for clemency. The Empire immediately reneges on the deal and launches an assault on the Dark Brotherhood compound, reducing it to ash and killing almost all of the assassins inside.
You wouldn’t think the deaths of merciless assassins would be something to cry about, but if you join up with them, you become part of their strange but loyal family. It turns out assassins can be quite charming once you get to know them!
5 Eternal Life Snuffed Out
Where do you go when you die? It’s the eternal question, and in Skyrim you not only get an answer, you get to see it for yourself!
In the northern reaches of Tamriel, heroic men and women dream of joining their noble ancestors in the paradise of Sovngarde. Those who are worthy ascend to this heavenly plane when they die, and it’s a pretty decent place, with its Hall of Valor offering all the mead you can drink and all the sweet rolls you can eat.
It’s also where the evil dragon Alduin goes to recharge his strength, and he does that by devouring the souls of the heroes who live there. How’s that for a terrible fate? You live a good life and make it to Sovngarde, only to have your eternal soul chomped up by a dragon.
4 Meeko
The bond between a dog and his master is strong indeed. In a world that is filled with magic, dragons and assorted monsters, it’s comforting to know that something as wonderfully simple as a dog’s love still exists.
On his travels through Skyrim, the Dragonborn will encounter a lonely dog named Meeko. If you follow Meeko back to his home, you’ll find him maintaining a watchful vigil over the body of his dead master, who has recently succumbed to disease. The Dragonborn can invite Meeko to join him, but unless you formally adopt him as your new pet, he will always return to his master’s hut to sit by his bedside. You can forge a lot of alliances in Skyrim, but Meeko might just be the most loyal of them all.
3 Laid To Rest
In a game filled with sad stories, young Helgi’s might be the saddest.
In the village of Morthal, the Dragonborn will learn of a recent tragedy: a fire that claimed the life of Helgi and her mother. Strangely, Helgi’s father Hroggar doesn’t seem all that upset, having immediately taken up with the beautiful Alva.
Long story shot, Alva is a vampire who enchanted Hroggar to her side and then ordered the murder of his family. The fledgling vampire Laelette set fire to Hroggar’s house with his family inside, but she had a change of heart upon seeing Helgi and attempted to turn the young girl into a vampire. That scheme failed, and Helgi’s ghost can be found haunting the remains of her home. The Dragonborn can provide the girl’s spirit with a measure of comfort by finding her coffin and eliminating Laelette, after which Helgi’s ghost moves on to join her mother in the afterlife.
2 Friends Forever
The strongest friendship in all of Skyrim can be found on the icy shores of Winterhold. Travel along the water in that desolate wasteland and you will find this pair of skeletons. It’s easy to piece together what happened here. One of the friends got their leg caught in a bear trap, and the other refused to leave his side.
We can safely assume that they attempted to remove the trap. That clearly failed, but a nearby alchemist’s satchel suggests that the trapped individual’s friend made every effort to ease his pain as he succumbed to his horrific injury. The cold ultimately claimed them both.
We don’t know much about these two, but they obviously shared a remarkable bond, and for the suffering they endured, it’s a safe bet they were welcomed into Sovngarde with open arms.
1 When Your Favorite Follower Dies
A lot of crappy things happen in Skyrim, but no tragedy is more personal or devastating than the one that befalls you, the player, when your loyal follower falls in battle. There are dozens of followers in the game for the player to choose from, all with their own unique personality and fighting style. Though you can pick and choose, most players inevitably find a favorite and stick with them.
Skyrim’s followers aren’t immortal. They can die, and worse, they can die at your hand. That might not seem like a problem, but when you’re flailing away in close combat with a legion of skeletons or necromancers, it’s incredibly easy to accidentally slice or bludgeon your partner. If you kill your favorite follower (and don’t have a save file with which to rectify your mistake) they’re gone forever.
Whether it’s housecarl Lydia, proud Nord warrior Mjoll the Lionness, Companion shield-brother Farkas or one of the dozens of others, losing your favorite follower is the game’s real tragedy.
When did Skyrim break your heart? Let us know.
