Interesting and Secret Trivia about Skyrim

1. Tamriel's Moons are actually corpses from a god

that's right, that's a corpse!

Skyrim’s night cycle is one of the most beautiful we’ve seen in the series thanks to its Northern Lights tickling the horizon and not one but two moons. Most people would assume Tamriel is set up just like Earth with normal planetary physics. But that most certainly isn't the case.

The two moons, Masser and Secunda, are believed to be the remains of the God of All Mortals, Lorkhan, which was cut in two after his destruction. Masser is the largest of the moons and is similar to Mars in both color and look. Secunda is smaller and looks more like the Earth’s moon. If the Elder Scrolls series ever goes into space, maybe we can see if these moons are made of rock or corpses of a god after all.

2. There are 337 Books in Skyrim (!!)

Old memories from a good past ...

  You don't have to play any quests in Skyrim if you don't want to. That is the point of loading up the game, but there are so many things to do in the world - it's easy to get sidetracked. With 337 books around the world totaling 316,000 words, you could get some reading in instead of preventing the end of the realm or picking a side in the civil war. For reference, Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is only 187,790 words, and the entire LOTR series is 576,459. Bethesda likes its lore. You have to give them that.  

so if you like reading, Skyrim is the way to go.

3. You Can Kill Forsworn Briarheart By Pickpocketing Their Hearts

It's an interesting fact

If you run into a Forsworn encampment, you can run across Forsworn Briarhearts, who are both magic-casters and melee fighters. In Skyrim, these are highly regarded members of the Forsworn who have had their hearts cut out and replaced with a briarheart. It’s a creepy type of body horror, but it’s also a weakness you can exploit as a player.

If you’re able to pickpocket the briarheart from one of these enemies, they’ll die instantly. If you target the heart with your bow, you can do more damage than normal. The moral of this story? Don’t leave your briarheart exposed during combat or lying around in your inventory.

4. The Ebony Warrior Shows Up When You Reach Level 80

The final boss of the game

How is this for a "Final Boss": When you reach Level 80 in the game, you'll be approached by the Ebony Warrior in the first city or town you enter. This Redguard warrior will challenge you to duel as he hopes to finally be beaten and reach Sovngarde and thinks you're a powerful enough warrior to do it. His armor, shouts, and spells make him tough to kill, but you'll get to loot all his gear if you finally send him to Sovngarde. We will give the warrior credit: Ebony Armor is one of the coolest-looking things in the game.

5. Skyrim's Engine Contains Code From 1997

Did you know that??

Previous Bethesda games like Morrowind, Oblivion, and Fallout 3 all used Gamebase’s Gamebryo engine which was first created in 1997. For its 2011 release of Skyrim, Bethesda unveiled its Creation Engine, which it proceeded to use for Fallout 4 in 2015 and Fallout 76 in 2018.

Since the Creation Engine is still based on the Gamebryo engine with a bevy of improvements and capabilities, there are a ton of weird engine quirks and workarounds in the engine (see the Dead Body Cleanup Cell). For the next Elder Scrolls game, Fallout 5, and Starfield, Bethesda is using Creation Engine 2, but there’s no telling how much original DNA from the 1997 engine still exists.