Skyrim is a game about freedom. You are free to explore the world at your own pace, free to take and tackle quests in whatever order you choose, free to go dungeon diving or collecting butterflies as the mood strikes you. You could even choose to ignore all the adventuring nonsense and instead go work a normal job chopping wood or collecting vegetables. Not that I'm sure why you would, but the option is there.
You are also free to do some pretty horrible things. Take your wrath out on the local townsfolk, rob an entire city blind, steal someone's sweetroll. Truly, the high points of depravity. Which one of us has never quicksaved, gone on a killing spree just for the hell of it, and then reverted everything back to normal? Ah, the power of control over time.
But sometimes you will do something awful, something really sick and twisted, and not revert to an earlier save. This is something you meant to do, something you want to live with, and you know what? The game will reward you for it. In this game of ultimate freedoms you do not have to be the good guy. The Dovahkiin can be the horror that keeps kids awake at night and keeps farmers behind locked doors and the game will give you the equivalent of a thumbs up for your malevolence.
Here are 15 times Skyrim rewarded you for doing some pretty messed up stuff.
15 Steal From A Beggar, Donate It Back
You know what is nice to have when you're out on the town, hitting the local shops and maybe grabbing a drink at the inn? A high Speechcraft score. Higher Speechcraft increases your barter ability, meaning prices are lower and you sell things back for more. If you really want to get the best bang for your buck you can donate a coin to one of the local beggars. For the low price of a single gold piece you temporarily get “The Gift of Charity” which gives you a bonus to you a nice bonus to your Speechcraft score.
Of course, if you are a real cheapskate even one gold piece might be too much for you. But never fear, because you can always sneak up on the poor beggar and steal one of their meager gold pieces from them. Then donate your newly found coin back to them, thus earning your bonus.
And, if you are really feeling cruel, you can steal that same coin back from them before you leave. Hey, a gold is a gold.
14 Munching Down On Some Strange Stuff
On one hand, you have to kind of admire the Dovahkiin's approach to learning alchemy: munch down on any ingredients he comes across and see what it does to him. Poison? No problem? As long as it doesn't kill him he gets some valuable information based on how his health drains.
Where it starts getting weird is what exactly the Dovahkiin is willing to eat in the name of alchemical discovery. Hearts and flesh (including human, though based on a later entry to this list that might not be a surprise), raw eggs and fish, ashes, and freakin' teeth. Just the thought of crunching down on some teeth is enough to make me gag, but the Dovahkiin does it and is rewarded with some experience towards his alchemy score.
13 Join A Cannibal Cult
Speaking of the Dovahkiin's diet...
While hanging around Markarth the Dragonborn learns that people are being kept from visiting the Hall of the Dead. Talk to the priest of Arkay in charge, Brother Verulus, and you will learn that someone has been taking a few bites out of the bodies. Seems like something for the Dragonborn to investigate.
And investigate he does, which leads him to worshipers of the Daedric Prince Namira, who also happen to be cannibals. Now, at this point the Dragonborn could do the right thing and take out the cultists… but then you'd miss out on that sweet Daedric loot. So instead pop back up to Verulus, lure him back to the cultists, and kill him for their feast. You will be rewarded with the Ring of Namira, which allows you to feast on dead human bodes for a bonus to health and stamina.
Worth it.
12 Sacrifice A Follower, Get Some Armor
Namira isn't the only Daedric Prince the Dragonborn can gain the favor of. All the Daedric Princes have their own quest line, but none requires the Dragonborn to sacrifice quite as much of Boethiah. And by 'sacrifice,' I mean it in a literal sense.
See, over the course of the game, the Dragonborn can recruit a number of followers, people whose trust he has gained absolutely and who will follow him to the very planes of Oblivion to help him fight the tides of darkness. They trust him so much they will not question him as he leads them to a shrine of Boethiah, won't question him as he takes them to the Pillar of Sacrifice, and can only cry out in shock of the betrayal as they are stabbed with the Blade of Sacrifice. Harsh.
But hey, at the end of this quest chain the Dragonborn gets some cool Ebony Mail. So I'm sure they understand.
11 Killing For Your Inheritance
Despite much of Skyrim being vast, lawless tundra, the Jarls uphold the laws of their holds with great force. Skyrim's peoples take the rules of inheritance very seriously, to the point where trusted couriers will brave all manner of harsh conditions to deliver Letters of Inheritance and any associated coin to the proper recipient.
As you complete quests and favors for the good folk of Skyrim you may well wind up listed in a Will or two yourself (so nice of them to think of you, really). Though the citizens of Skyrim don't exactly seem to age, so you might be waiting quite a bit for inheritance…
Unless you take the matter into your own hands, of course. The inheritance is directly proportional to your relationship rating with the victim, so be sure they're truly beloved friends of yours before you stab them in the back.
10 The House Of Horrors
A Vigilant of Stendarr asks for your help searching an abandoned house for Daedric activity. Seems pretty standard fare for the Dragonborn so far. Once inside, though, everything goes to hell. You find yourself trapped by Molag Bal and only one of you is allowed to leave.
Don't worry, cause Bal will make it worth your while if you do one more thing for him: lure a rival Daedra's follower back to his shrine and then torture him till he submits. You beat the poor guy literally to death with a rusted mace, at which point Bal revives him and has you resume the beating until finally he gives in. Then you kill him for real.
As way of reward you are given the Mace of Molag Bal, which helps trap the souls of things it hits.
9 Defiling Graves
In the quest Ancestral Worship, you help a man whose ancestral barrow is being defiled by a necromancer. You help him out because defiling graves is wrong. And also because you are a massive hypocrite.
A very large portion of the dungeons of Skyrim are filled with the graves of the ancient Nords. And those graves that aren't filled with Draugr are often filled with that sweet loot. Even the bodies laid out in ancient cairns aren't safe from the Dragonborn's greedy fingers.
But hey, its not like they can spend it after they're dead, right?
8 Brutally Training On Hadvar
This is more of an exploit than some that was intended, but its still pretty messed up.
At the beginning of the game, you are given a choice of fleeing with either Hadvar or Ralof. If you are concerned about your low starting skills flee with Hadvar. After you obtain the first weapon start attacking him. He is set to essential (unkillable) and gets back up after being downed near instantly. Best of all, no matter how many times you hit him he will not turn hostile. He will continue to stoically try to progress through the games intro sequence.
Keep beating on him and by the time the two of you split up for Riverwood you will have gained quite a number of levels, forged in his suffering.
7 Turn A Child Into A Death Machine
Children in Skyrim are invincible. This goes beyond simply being essential, they are completely immune to any damage. If only there was some way to weaponize this power.
Oh, there totally is. Simply cast a Frenzy spell in area with the target child in it and watch him get involved in combat with the town's entire supply of city guards. He can't do much damage but he is invincible, meaning as long as he stays frenzied he will eventually wear those guards down.
And while he's being super distracting, there's no one watching the actions of the Dragonborn. A couple extra points of messed up if this is your adopted child.
6 Using Your Follower As A Minesweeper
The dungeons beneath Skyrim are often filled with booby traps. These traps are large and pretty easy to notice as long as you are paying attention. But you are the Dragonborn and you have more important things on your mind than where the next pressure plate is. That's what easily replaceable followers are for.
Just give them the order to go to the other side of the room and watch them trigger every possible trap between here and there. If they are essential they may need a moment to collect themselves after a spike trap slams them into a wall. If not… well, you can always find another.
5 Interpose In A Love Triangle
The town of Riverwood has a love triangle going on between the sister of the local shopkeep, Camilla Valerius, and her two suitors, the bard Sven and the wood elf hunter Faendal. All is fair in love and war, and the Dragonborn speaking to either of these suitors will lead to a quest to sabotage the other. Love is important, so the Dovahkiin can take some take out of slaying dragons to get these all straightened out.
Or you can agree to help one of them and then immediately screw them over by going to their rival or revealing the plot to Camilla (they really should know better than to trust the PC with this sort of stuff). They are left heartbroken, and the Dragonborn gets rewarded from whoever he didn't screw over.
And then you can leave both of them in the dust by marrying Camilla yourself. All is fair, after all. Best part is, if one of the suitors is your follower now they have to serve you all the while knowing you stole the love of their lives from them. Tragic.
4 Selling People Their Own Stuff
Skyrim has a weird relationship system where if you make people like you they will allow you to take stuff from their houses. Usually nothing too valuable, and the rules for what you can take seem arbitrary at best (the only way to really tell what you can and can not take is to mouse over it and see if the prompt says 'take' or 'steal'). I know no matter how much I like someone I probably wouldn't let them come into my home and start taking a bunch of my knickknacks.
What's most messed up is that if the person you just 'borrowed' all of those things from is a shopkeep you can then sell it all back to them. Usually you've got to find a fence to sell stolen goods, but this stuff isn't stolen, it was lent to you as a symbol of friendship.
And you toss that symbol right back in their faces and demand gold instead. I can only imagine their faces as they are forced to buy back the pants you looted from their nightstand.
3 Steal Souls, Make Weapons Out Of Them
Souls possess power in the world of Elder Scrolls. This power can be harnessed to fuel magic, recharge magical weapons, and create new magical gear. The most powerful souls are those of sentient, humanoid beings: Black Souls. Trapping Black Souls is specifically forbidden by the College of Winterhold.
Not that this stops necromancers, nor does it stop the Dragonborn. By finding a Black Soul Gem the Dragonborn can trap the souls of the citizens of Skyrim, dooming them to an eternity wandering the world of the Soul Cairn. And there is no point in letting that soul go to waste, so might as well craft a shiny new weapon out of that person's pure essence.
If you're feeling particularly cruel, you can even name the new weapon after them. It is only fitting.
2 Making Enemies Kill Each Other
The Dragonborn delves into a new cave and finds yet another bandit encampment inside. This is the third one this week and even the might Dovahkiin begins to grow weary. But don't worry, he's got a trick up his sleeve to allow this problem to sort itself out.
One well placed Frenzy spell and the bandit camp will start to literally tear itself apart. The bandits all turn against one another forgetting all bonds and loyalties and just looking for the kill. Doesn't matter if they're brother, friend, or lover. The moment that spell hits them they are all mortal enemies.
All that's left for the Dragonborn to do is stroll through the carnage and pick up the pieces. And the loot.
1 Kill A Parent To Adopt Their Child
Hearthfire added the ability for the Dragonborn to become a parent to one of Skyrim's children. They can't have children of their own but they can adopt any of the children they come across.
Well, to start they can only adopt beggar children and those found in the orphanage. But you know what they say, everyone will be an orphan eventually (is that just me?). Find a kid you want to adopt but who currently has a pair of loving parents? Not a problem, simply kill those parents. The kid will find their way over to the orphanage where the Dragonborn can then give them the home they have always deserved.
If the Dragonborn ever remembers to return home and check on their child, anyway.