They say that laughter is the best medicine and everyone thinks they have what it takes to prescribe. Comedy is very subjective and making humorous games is quite challenging, but that was never the focus of the Elder Scrolls series.
Of course, there’s some funny dialogue here and there as well as questlines that are a bit ridiculous, but the bulk of Skyrim humor comes from the people who play and post about it. As such, there are tons of bad jokes and puns that have popped up, but some deserve are actually surprisingly funny.
10 The Cleanest Soldiers Ever
Sometimes something is funny just because it’s so simple. Visual gags are almost instant in their effects so as soon as you see them, you'll usually be laughing. It’s even more effective when the subject in question is very recognizable.
This applies to the Dawnguard, a faction of vampire hunters that appear in the game as a result of the expansion bearing the same name. However, this image offers what looks like a competing faction of cleaning supplies that have decided to join the city guard.
9 Green Entrapment
Players are a very creative bunch. There are those who will spend hours learning all the ins and outs of the mechanics just so they exploit it or play around with it. A large part of Skyrim is exploring and grabbing everything that isn’t nailed down because there’s always a chance that you might need it for just the right moment.
Discarding items led to the discovery that items are affected by physics. So, someone took it upon themselves to gather all the lettuce in the world and use it to trap people in taverns all for the sake of a pun. A* for effort.
8 Bear With Me
Though Skyrim has a reputation for being a highly detailed and well-designed game, it still has its fair share of glitches. You never know when talking to someone will end with them getting launched into the air. Even more common are encountering things that shouldn’t be there.
Skyrim is no stranger to positioning certain creatures or characters in certain places, but I don’t think anyone ever expects to come home to find a dead bear on the rug. The player presents a bewildering situation only to get a pun that also serves as a perfectly valid solution.
7 Are You There, Deer?
An aspect of the Elder Scrolls games, in general, is how much work went into fleshing out and establishing the lore of their fantasy universe. There are a number of kingdoms, cultures, species, factions, religions, and mythologies that all have pages of text behind them.
Of course, this includes a pantheon of gods that can influence your character’s stats and a select few can even be found in the world. Skyrim has gods for many aspects of the natural world, especially animals. Hircine is one such deity who appears as a large humanoid deer. Can you think of a more perfect way to offer up a prayer to such a figure?
6 This May Make A Mess Effect Of Things
Crossovers are an interesting concept that can have different reasons behind them. There are multiple examples of bad and good executions, but both are interesting to watch.
Both the Elder Scrolls and Mass Effect are huge fantasy universes at different ends of the technological spectrum. They tell incredible stories with complex characters that you’ll find yourself getting invested in and Thane from Mass Effect is one of them. With a name like that, he’s perfectly suited to help run Whiterun and will laser blast anyone who disagrees.
5 A Polite Exchange
Skyrim is packed to the Sky-RIM with sidequests and tasks. See, we can do it too. The reason for this is the common stopping point that occurs after finishing one of the first missions for the Jarl Of Whiterun.
Once you complete it, you get a fancy new title, a bodyguard, and a house that you can decorate however you see fit. That’s quite a generous reward to receive so early on in the game so it’s only proper to show your gratitude and this is the best way to do it.
4 Don’t Cry Over This
There’s nothing wrong with a simple visual gag. They can be easy to make by throwing a bunch of images crudely, but as long as they get the point across then they’ve done their job. There are so many new terms that make up the Skyrim glossary and you’re well in your right to read through the loading screen prompts in hopes of understanding it better.
Terms that you can learn at the very beginning are the names of all the different races you can be and Argonians are quite distinct. They’re lizard-folk from the Black Marsh who looks cool, are immune to disease, and are great swimmers. And yet, someone has reduced them to a vegetable.
3 CSI: Skyrim
With the release of CSI: Miami, it was only a matter of time before the character Horatio’s quips would be transformed by the internet. This became not only a meme but a definitive structure for making a pun. This isn’t surprising since it has such a reliable structure: Setup, pun, enthusiastic “Yeah” from The Who.
It would appear everywhere and that includes Skyrim. The subject of this quip is M’aiq, a Khajit character you can encounter in the game who is something of an Easter Egg in the series. He has appeared in many of the major entries, including a recent Elder Scrolls Online title, Elsweyr. That’s where he’s going after Skyrim and this exit line is delivered perfectly.
2 They’re Right About That
Even if you ignore all the bugs, glitches, and random spawning that Skyrim has to offer, it’s a game filled with surprising things that are meant to be in there. A talking dog and giant with a goat are just some of them, but there’s also a fair number of characters to find who have died in various ways.
Frequently you’ll be able to figure how they met their untimely end through context, nearby objects, or just an accident. Mining is necessary if you want to get materials for blacksmithing, but it seems one miner got in over their head. Though they may be dead, those are some amazing last words.
1 This Is Dragon On
Just in case you forgot because you spending your time killing X monsters for Y villagers, Skyrim has a bigger story involving dragons. A monstrous world-destroying dragon known as Alduin has reappeared and as the Dragonborn, only you have the power to stop him.
You’ll face dragons throughout your adventure with each kill helping you get strong enough until you’re ready to take on Alduin. He’s a terrifying entity who only craves destruction and cannot be reasoned with despite his intelligence. It goes without saying that you wouldn’t want to make him angry, but the internet has already done that with these puns and he knew he had to clap back.