The Story Skyrim Has Been Telling You All Along

[00:00:00]What is Skyrim actually about? That's a serious question.

[00:00:05]And most people would probably answer dragons or the civil war, maybe freedom and maybe exploration and maybe adventure.

[00:00:15]Maybe you.

[00:00:18]Maybe Skyrim's about you, but after so many hours of wandering Skyrim, I've started noticing something strange and none of these things are inherently incorrect or even incomplete. I believe Skyrim is about whatever you want it to be about ultimately. But after many hours in Skyrim, I've noticed something very strange and it's not in one quest or one city and not in one faction, but the strange thing that I have noticed, it's underlying theme, it's world-building.

[00:00:50]It's everywhere.

[00:00:52]At first it felt like coincidence, then another example appeared, then another and I can't stop seeing it. I have personally been obsessing over this video that I'm recording right now. I've been thinking about it for 2 weeks and I can't I can't get get this out of my mind. I have to talk about it.

[00:01:10]Every single major story in Skyrim revolves around the same idea.

[00:01:16]Not just every major story though.

[00:01:18]Most locations, most towns, most cities, most forts, most caves, the list goes on.

[00:01:25]The same idea.

[00:01:27]It's not about victory, it's not about adventure or destiny, but collapse.

[00:01:34]It's not about a civilization that is rising.

[00:01:38]And once you notice it, you realize that Skyrim isn't really a world that's alive. It's a world living in the shadow of everything it used to be.

[00:01:50]And I think all of us have always known this, but maybe we haven't connected the dots that this central theme, this very important narrative is centered in absolutely everything in Skyrim.

[00:02:06]The atmosphere of Skyrim contradicts us though. We look at things here within Skyrim and we can say that this game is beautiful, but it's rarely, rarely hopeful.

[00:02:19]Almost every location that you come across in Skyrim tells you about what you stood to exist. We think of the ruins and the broken forts that are now lived in by bandits and thieves and draugr and the list goes on. You have collapsed towers, you have so many villages and towns that are a shadow of what they used to be.

[00:02:44]Even the soundtrack reflects nostalgia.

[00:02:47]Jeremy Soule rarely writes music that feels really super triumphant.

[00:02:53]Most of the music that you hear in Skyrim, it feels very reflective, almost mournful.

[00:02:59]So, why would Bethesda build an entire fantasy world obsessed with ruins instead of prosperity? And especially taking into account that this is actually a sharp contrast from what we see in the preceding Elder Scrolls title, that being Oblivion. In Oblivion, we see the Oblivion crisis take hold of the Empire itself, yet ultimately the Empire comes out victorious and there is a strong promise of rebuilding.

[00:03:27]You end the game feeling hopeful for what's coming next. Skyrim, you don't actually. Skyrim, with every single quest line, you feel that something is unfinished. There is still troubles that lie ahead that have not been addressed and destruction is still waiting around the corner. This is especially evident in the Civil War quest line and the main quest line. And no matter the outcome of either quest line, no matter what you end up choosing, the inevitable shadow that is lurking around is still there, no matter what.

[00:04:02]The Thalmor.

[00:04:03]You don't feel hopeful with how they're sort of positioned in the grand narrative of The Elder Scrolls and its world building.

[00:04:12]You know that they are coming and that the Second Great War is practically inevitable.

[00:04:20]And it doesn't look good for Skyrim itself. In fact, it looks like to be its very demise, no matter what.

[00:04:27]And the same probably goes for Cyrodiil as well.

[00:04:31]And it seems that in Skyrim, civilization is dying in every single direction that you look.

[00:04:37]I mean, just bringing up the Empire, this would be what I would consider our first case study.

[00:04:42]Most players instinctively view the Empire as the good guys. Whether you think they're right or wrong, that's actually a separate question, but ultimately, they are the picture of authority and organization and justice.

[00:04:56]That's how the lore has portrayed them up to this point, anyway. And that's why probably 60 to 70% of players favor the Empire, at least according to some polls that I have found online, along with the ones that I've ran myself.

[00:05:11]But once we look closer, the Empire that we meet here within Skyrim is clearly exhausted. It is thin. It is weak. It is short on manpower to the point to where they can't even bring in soldiers from Cyrodiil to fight the Civil War. In fact, they are mostly relying on local recruits from within Skyrim itself.

[00:05:32]Hammerfell has left the Empire and the Empire itself couldn't do anything about it, basically.

[00:05:38]The Aldmeri Dominion dictates the terms of the treaty and the Empire just stands idly by and accepts it, just knowing that if they don't, they cannot continue the conflict.

[00:05:51]The Empire in a way actually feels very isolated. They don't exactly have a huge plethora of allies willing to come to the battlefield with them.

[00:06:00]The legions are clearly stretched thin and the civil war isn't even evidence of true Imperial strength. It's evidence that they can barely keep one province together.

[00:06:13]The opening execution in Skyrim isn't confidence from the Empire. It's actually desperation.

[00:06:19]Why would the Empire want to eliminate the Stormcloak leader immediately after his capture? Yes, on one hand logically it should bring the Stormcloak rebellion to its end, at least a lot quicker than otherwise.

[00:06:35]But on the other hand, there is still the looming question. Can the Empire actually sustain the captivity of Ulfric? At least long-term or even short-term for that matter.

[00:06:46]The moment that any Stormcloak chieftain or some other minor leader gets word about where he's stationed, they would of course inevitably launch an attack to be able to free him. I believe that the Empire just simply doesn't have the strength to be able to fight that.

[00:07:04]At least with a confidence level that they can guarantee success.

[00:07:08]And so in doing this, it's to me opening execution isn't clear confidence. It is in fact desperation because they can't really do much else.

[00:07:18]They actually don't have much of another choice.

[00:07:21]The greatest Empire Tamriel has ever known is slowly losing its grip.

[00:07:27]You might ask, well, what are the potential downsides of actually eliminating Ulfric so quickly? Well, you risk him becoming a martyr.

[00:07:36]We see enough examples of that in history where Ulfric may die but his cause doesn't. There just becomes another leader to step up in his place, which could even further the war itself.

[00:07:50]And the Empire could also assert some authority or dominance through the capture of Ulfric.

[00:07:57]You could create negotiations around his release, whether that is getting back cities along with a treaty. I mean, there's so much possibility there.

[00:08:08]So, why choose to eliminate him so quickly?

[00:08:13]Well, the blunt reality is the Empire simply is not strong enough to keep a hold of him.

[00:08:19]They already accomplished something so great and so difficult of capturing him in the first place.

[00:08:25]They need to just get this over with and hope for the best. That's essentially what's happening.

[00:08:30]And this pattern does not stop with politics.

[00:08:34]Our second case study that we can look at is Winterhold, located in the northern snowy wasteland of Skyrim.

[00:08:41]And perhaps this is the clearest visual metaphor that we are given where not even a single person really has to say anything for us to kind of put the pieces together and understand what's being communicated.

[00:08:53]Once this city was the capital of Skyrim. Now, it's like four buildings if I'm counting correctly and remembering correctly.

[00:09:03]The collapse quite literally swallowed most of the city into the sea.

[00:09:09]Yet the college remains, and because of this, nobody trusts the college anymore.

[00:09:14]Knowledge itself has become suspect. At this point, Skyrim has a disdain for the magical arts and a disdain for the College of Winterhold.

[00:09:24]Winterhold isn't just physically ruined, it's culturally ruined. It's identity has disappeared.

[00:09:31]So, not only has Winterhold collapsed, but so has the amount of trust for mages and wizards and basically anything to do with magic.

[00:09:42]Again, you can travel as far south as Riften and you will find NPCs and townsfolk that talk about this very incident and they have a strong disdain for the magical arts. Even over in Ivarstead and even over in Markarth, you find the exact same thing.

[00:10:00]You talk to people and they just warn you about those mages in the north.

[00:10:05]Now, whether they're actually at fault or not, I believe has yet to be actually confirmed.

[00:10:10]But at least the narrative is there.

[00:10:12]That is the public opinion.

[00:10:15]And this doesn't happen overnight.

[00:10:17]But what happens when civilization doesn't collapse overnight?

[00:10:23]But it actually slowly forgets itself.

[00:10:26]Unlike most fantasy races, the Dwemer didn't lose a war and I would consider this our third case study.

[00:10:35]They did not slowly decline.

[00:10:38]They did They just simply vanished.

[00:10:40]Leaving only machines and underground cities and mysteries and technology.

[00:10:45]Their civilization is now understood almost entirely through archaeology and everything that they have left behind as far as their creation.

[00:10:54]Every Dwemer ruin reminds the player that knowledge disappears.

[00:11:00]Even greatness leaves unanswered questions.

[00:11:04]Sometimes collapse doesn't erase civilization. It transforms it.

[00:11:09]Because going hand-in-hand with the Dwemer, you then have Falmer.

[00:11:14]The Falmer is this ancient Elven race that once upon a time, they were the Snow Elves.

[00:11:21]They weren't monsters.

[00:11:23]They were just an advanced Elven civilization.

[00:11:27]Forced underground, poisoned, blinded.

[00:11:31]They weren't monsters. They became monsters very many generations later.

[00:11:39]And in every single encounter with the Falmer, you can't talk to them. You cannot hear their story. You find out everything about them third-party, basically.

[00:11:49]They are living evidence that civilizations don't merely disappear.

[00:11:55]They just become unrecognizable versions of themselves.

[00:11:59]This is collapse taken to its absolute extreme.

[00:12:04]But it's a clear example of when it's also pretty sad.

[00:12:08]Because the Falmer at least, as far as The Elder Scrolls is concerned, are a part of humanity itself. They are still elves.

[00:12:18]They just are cursed.

[00:12:21]That's I think the most basic and overarching label I can kind of put to it.

[00:12:28]But perhaps the saddest example of the collapse of Skyrim and its eventual decline that has been taking hold for so many years.

[00:12:38]Perhaps its saddest example is not underground. It's actually hiding in plain sight.

[00:12:44]This is what I would consider our fifth case study, Falkreath.

[00:12:48]And I have talked about Falkreath extensively. I've mentioned it several times in many videos, and I have an entire dedicated video to it. If you haven't checked it out, you can do so now.

[00:12:59]Falkreath is absolutely obsessed with death.

[00:13:04]It is ingrained into every single fiber of its very being in today's fourth era.

[00:13:10]And Falkreath isn't some haunted town.

[00:13:14]It's because death and decline and decay have become so ordinary that not only is there no hope for Falkreath, but the people within Falkreath that even choose to stay there, they even acknowledge this.

[00:13:31]And they just play right into it. Yes, Falkreath is a perfect example of a once mighty and thriving town where the empire itself was birthed through Tiber Septim.

[00:13:44]Yet, today, it's defining landmark is no longer the birth of the empire.

[00:13:52]It's not a castle, it's not an army, it's not a military, it's a cemetery.

[00:13:58]That is what Falkreath today is known for.

[00:14:02]People constantly reference funerals all the time. They constantly reference the adventures that once took place within Falkreath.

[00:14:10]They talk about the battles and the battles won, the battles lost, the once thriving people of Falkreath.

[00:14:19]That is the constant theme.

[00:14:22]They constantly talk about the ancestors and the loss of people.

[00:14:26]And even just walking around the forests around Falkreath, it's almost like the forest itself is reclaiming abandoning places and it's slowly pushing in on Falkreath.

[00:14:39]It's almost like anytime that we've watched some of those movies where it's survival and after so many years and decades or even possibly centuries, the wilderness overtakes cities and it starts kind of growing into the buildings and then some so many years later, you can't even recognize the town that was once there.

[00:14:58]I feel like that's what's happening to Falkreath.

[00:15:01]Falkreath is so sort of like one of those civilizations that's just surrendering back to the wilderness.

[00:15:09]And then finally, the collapse that is happening right now within Skyrim.

[00:15:16]The civil war.

[00:15:18]And yes, I talked about the Imperials and the empire itself, but this is a little bit distinct, and this is actually looking at more of the narrative around the Civil War itself and the people that are involved.

[00:15:31]Us players, we often debate who should win the Civil War.

[00:15:35]But maybe that's the wrong question because both sides represent decline.

[00:15:41]The Empire is weaker, like I have already extensively talked about.

[00:15:45]The Stormcloaks fight for an older Skyrim that simply no longer exists.

[00:15:51]They're themselves fighting for something that just simply isn't there.

[00:15:56]Cities are divided because of this.

[00:15:58]Families are divided because of this.

[00:16:00]Resources are clearly exhausted, and nobody is building.

[00:16:05]Everybody's instead just preserving.

[00:16:08]I mean, even just looking at Whiterun, Jarl Balgruuf is talking to his advisor, and he even says to him that they barely have enough coin to keep up with the salaries of their guardsmen.

[00:16:20]Whiterun was once upon a time the huge trade hub and golden jewel of Skyrim.

[00:16:27]But today, I mean, it was a debate if they could spare guardsmen to go defend Riverwood because their resources were already stretched thin as far as manpower is concerned in defenses.

[00:16:40]Now they can barely keep up with paying their guardsmen their salary.

[00:16:44]Whiterun itself is in its own state of decay and decline.

[00:16:49]They're just trying to stay alive.

[00:16:51]Whiterun, along with Civil War, is just trying to stay alive.

[00:16:56]This war isn't creating the future.

[00:17:00]It's fighting over the past.

[00:17:02]A past that, simply put, is irrelevant.

[00:17:06]It doesn't matter.

[00:17:08]Skyrim all around itself is declining.

[00:17:11]And then by the time that you arrive, you're too late. The Dragonborn simply is too late.

[00:17:19]Solving the dragon crisis does not fix the problems of Skyrim. It fixes Yeah, the the threat from Alduin, but that's really about it.

[00:17:28]And of course, that's a huge threat, but it doesn't really save Skyrim. It saves it in one sense, but Skyrim is still doomed in another sense.

[00:17:38]You inherit the ruin of Skyrim. You solve one problem only to be faced with other problems.

[00:17:44]Nearly every single quest line that you encounter in Skyrim will ask you to restore something. The Blades, the guilds, and I mean, all the ancient artifacts that are lost and now need returned to the forgotten temples and lost knowledge and you're not creating any new institutions.

[00:18:02]You're recovering fragments.

[00:18:04]And this is a pretty unusual design philosophy. Most RPGs have you build something.

[00:18:11]Skyrim is more so from the angle of its narrative asking you to remember something, not to build it.

[00:18:19]And it just sort of feels strange because Skyrim isn't showing us any glimpse of any sort of civilization or even people group at its very height of power.

[00:18:31]It's showing us the silence afterward and that every mountain hides behind abandoned ruins and every hold remembers better days.

[00:18:40]Every faction speaks about former glory.

[00:18:43]Every culture is haunted by its history.

[00:18:47]The world isn't empty because Bethesda forgot to fill it. It's empty because that's exactly what they're trying to say.

[00:18:53]And it's paving the way for the next installment of The Elder Scrolls series.

[00:18:59]Elder Scrolls 6, which is probably set in Hammerfell.

[00:19:02]And I think considering the path that has been paved for us up to this point, the fact that Hammerfell was able to declare independence from the Empire and fight and hold off the Falmer themselves. I think we're about to see a little bit of a turn in this story.

[00:19:18]In Skyrim, we walk through a civilization that has already become its own legend.

[00:19:23]And perhaps that's why Skyrim never feels old because every time we've returned, we're not revisiting a place that's really that alive, at least in the form of we are wandering through the echoes of one that isn't anymore.

[00:19:39]And this really got me thinking. Is this maybe why in Skyrim that at least as far as what it's representing of the lore to us, why the cities and towns that it's representing is smaller in scale than that of say Oblivion?

[00:19:53]I don't know if there's maybe some sort of technological reason or like engine limitations that for some reason cities at least the size of what we had in Oblivion, it wasn't compatible with the design of Skyrim. Or maybe were they feeding into the implication that yeah, everything is smaller in Skyrim because everything is declining.

[00:20:14]Is that a plausible interpretation? And I would say probably yes. Unless there's something clear that I'm missing, but that's what I'm taking away from it.

[00:20:25]In Oblivion, the cities were all pretty decently sized. I mean, still small in terms of the scale of, you know, what the cities actually would be in the actual lore itself or even what medieval cities represent in the real world from, you know, 1,000 years ago.

[00:20:40]But they were still much larger than what we have in Skyrim. And that's because maybe at the time they were thriving.

[00:20:47]But in Skyrim, they're much smaller now because they're declining.

[00:20:51]Maybe that's what Bethesda is trying to teach us.

[00:20:55]That's what I'm feeling like is the central theme around everything in Skyrim that isn't really talked about enough.

[00:21:03]I mean, there's even so many more examples you can go through. I mean, even the Dawnguard.

[00:21:07]I know it's DLC, but still. I mean, the point still stands.

[00:21:11]I think just about every single example that you can think of is everything that is just >> [sighs] >> hoping to restore its former glory, but ultimately probably doesn't.

[00:21:22]I hope you guys enjoyed the video. If you did, leave a like and subscribe.

[00:21:25]And honestly, let me know your thoughts.

[00:21:27]I sort of want to know if I'm maybe a little crazy for kind of connecting all these themes together. Anyway, I'll catch you guys on the next one. See you.