Although Skyrim has been out for quite some time now, the game just keeps on giving. There's always a place we haven't discovered yet or a quest that we didn't notice before, making the game one of the best designed open-world fantasy titles of the last few decades. While we might all be familiar with the main plot of Skyrim and what happens to our brave Dragonborn, there are still many hidden secrets and facts that even the most hardcore fans tend to miss in the world of Skyrim. Luckily, we're here to spill the tea on all these nifty details.
10 10. The Daily Ritual Of The Draugr
During your adventure in Skyrim, you can't avoid encountering these terrifyingly powerful Dragon Priests. These creatures, formerly rulers elected by dragons to rule over humanity, have slept thousands of years inside their crypts, waiting for a revival of the old days to come once more. Each day the Draugr awaken to clean and tend to the graves of these priests, as well as to give part of their very life force to the priests in order to sustain their frail bodies until the arrival of the Dragonborn.
9 9. Winterhold's Mysterious Fate
You may have noticed just how damaged and deserted Winterhold is compared to the rest of the cities. Aside from the College and its grounds, the place is completely wrecked due to a massive storm that ripped through the area. Because of the magic that protects the College's grounds it was able to survive, but this also made the locals suspicious of the mages. They believed it was the College that destroyed Winterhold. However, the mages themselves believe this was caused by the eruption of the Red Mountain in the neighboring province of Morrowind roughly a century earlier.
8 8. Whiterun Was Born From Battle
After the first human settlers in Skyrim were brutally killed by the local Snow Elves in fear of being surpassed by humans in numbers, a group of human warriors led a campaign to reclaim their lands.
One of these places was what is now known as Whiterun, where the two races engaged in bloody combat before under Jeek of the River's guide the city was finally taken. It was this group that was established the Companions guild in Whiterun, and it was Jeek's boat, the Jorrvaskr, that became the iconic roof of the Companions' headquarters.
7 7. The Falmer Were Betrayed
We're all familiar with these horrific underworld dwellers, but the truth is that they suffered a terrible fate. Snow Elves, after losing the war against Nords centuries ago, fled underneath the surface to their closest cousins, the Dwemer. However, the Dwemer were cruel in nature and enslaved their own cousin species, forcing them to work in horrible conditions. They were poisoned by their Dwemer masters through toxic mushrooms, which turned them blind. It's no surprise then, that in Elvish the word "Falmer" means "Betrayed".
6 6. Nocturnal's Treasures
Once you've joined the Thieves' Guild, you'll be introduced to the Nightingales, a mysterious group of thieves who worship Nocturnal. She's the owner of two of the most valuable and powerful treasures a master thief could only dream of: the Skeleton Key and Grey Cowl of Nocturnal. The Cowl is so strong in magical power it can completely mask the identity of a person and even make those around them forget ever seeing the wearer of the cowl. As for the Skeleton Key, this unbreakable lock pick is notorious for being the one item that most players delay returning to Nocturnal for as long as possible.
5 5. The First Dragonborn
The player's character is not the first of their kind, even though they are without a doubt special in Skyrim. In fact, there have been several before him, and the first in line was no less than the first Empress of Tamriel and the liberator of humans from elven slavery.
Alessia was a young woman who lived an unremarkable life as a slave, but eventually grew up to lead a rebel army of humans against their masters. Thanks to her, people began to worship the Eight Divines, and upon her death she herself was made into a human saint.
4 4. What The Sun & Stars Really Are
How people in Skyrim perceive reality is different from us. The sun, moon and the stars are not considered stellar bodies at all, but instead tiny holes and a single large hole in the fabric of Mundus, which is the world humans and others inhabit. A long time ago, when deities created Mundus and began to inhabit it, they realized they were losing their powers and becoming more human-like. Some deities panicked and decided to flee Mundus to preserve their powers and god-like status, piercing tiny star-shaped holes and the shape of the sun and the moon on the edge of Mundus. Those that left are now known as the Daedra.
3 3. How The Night Mother Was Born
The Dark Brotherhood, one of the most cunning and mysterious groups of assassins in all of Tamriel, is known for its worship of the Night Mother and a being known as Sithis, which is only known to represent chaos.
It's believed that a long time ago, a nameless woman with five children was contacted by Sithis, who challenged her to kill her children in exchange for becoming his bride. The woman agreed and so she became the Night Mother, after slaying her children in cold blood.
2 2. The Mystery Of The Throat Of The World
Introduced early in the main quest line, the Dragonborn must climb the steps up to the highest mountain of all Tamriel, dubbed as the Throat of the World. Here, the elusive Greybeards live in total exclusion and practice their Thu'um, and it was also here that Alduin was banished and a tear in time was created. It is said that at the top of the mountains the snow never melts, and that it even carries magical properties so powerful they make the ingredients for the famous White Phial that purifies and amplifies any liquid put into it.
1 1. Where Did The Dwemer Go?
Perhaps the most intriguing mystery in all of Skyrim, the fate of these cruel elven cousin species has plagued every player who has set foot in the terrifying underground dungeons of the Dwemer. More advanced than any other species in Skyrim, the Dwemer were intelligent, cunning and cruel. After discovering a fabled artifact known as the Heart of Lorkhan, the Dwemer sought to use it as a source of power for a giant brass robot dubbed Numidium, which would be worshipped as a Dwemer god and allow their species to transcend. However, during the manipulation of the artifact, something went wrong and caused the Dwemer to simply vanish into thin air. To this day, it is unclear where they've gone.