Narfi's theory does clash with the more believable theory that Reyda was killed by a vampire. The game itself starts at Sundas, the 17th of Last Seed, 4E 201. While there is a diary found in the Redwater Spring, written by Venarus Vulpin (vampire) who mentions he has passed through Ivarstead during 5th of First Seed, 4E 201. His diary specifically states "While looking for a bit of dinner in the Vilemyr Inn" I'm sure I don't need to say he did not refer to a mug of ale and well done venison. Its no concrete proof, but its has a lot more proof then the Werebear theory that has... quite literally no tangible proof whatsoever.
It is very likely Inn Keeper killed her. You can get a hint of this if you ask him personal questions. It is unlikely a Vampire or a Werebear killed her for one important fact, the arrow and it was used to kill her, guess who is good with a bow? He killed her then hired the Dark Brotherhood to mercy kill Narfi. He felt bad causing Narfi to fall like he did.
@@TheMaxymsa pedophile I don't think he did I do think it was nafari and he knew it so he had the dark brotherhood kill nafari since maybe he saw him do
Supposedly because Reyda was into witchcraft, which Wilhelm hates. He has a book behind his counter all about Hagravens and when you ask him about where to learn Magic he reacts in a crude manner. People theorize Reyda was the owner of the Alchemist Shack found nearby, and was working/studying with the Hagraven Cult found in Orphan Rock, as you can find fish corpses there. As for the arrows connecting to Wilhelm, in Riften’s Pawned Prawn, you can find a letter from Wilhelm to Bersi on the counter, right next to two iron arrows. Camelworks has a pretty extensive video all about the theories people have come up with, I’d definitely recommend it. @TheMaxyms
i think maybe the letter from a friend could be from the ebony warrior, since he comes to you and says you’re the only challenge left maybe he was trying to help you get more powerful so he could fulfill his quest to sovngard ?
More likely it is Paarthurnax who had them sent. There are some clues that suggest this, he isnt surprised to see you in first encounter. Like he knew you would come to him. He is also the only NPC in the game who can know where you are at all times.
@@masonguy3985Someone else on the Internet mentioned that when they killed Paarthurnax the letters stopped. So personally I believe it's either Paarthurnax or one of the Greybeards , but since I would NEVER kill my dragon friend I can't say if it's really true....
It was a really good video, and it made a decent amount of sense. It was interesting in how it depicted Wilhelm, but it was a decent and accurate video.
God I haven't watched his videos in years. Brings back memories of me playing TES while listening to his videos that was like 5 years ago, thx for that :)
Another possibility is that Narfi's sister ran away and faked her own death. Then, to cover up her own trail, hired the Dark Brotherhood to kill her brother.
Skyrim only turned twelve. There's a shrine to Akatosh on the hill overlooking Rorikstead. All soul gems shown are incapable of holding the mortal races' souls. Reyda is very slightly implied to have been killed by the vampire added in Dawnguard Venarus Vulpin in his journal.
@@EdenEnde you are trying so hard to sound smart about a game more than a decade old by trying to "debunk" fan theories on the internet. Would your ancestors be proud of this ? So confidently wrong too
I think the letter from a friend is the last woman you see while on the 7000 steps, she’s never seen in game again, only pops in when this quest is active and that’s when the letters start coming, she could be Kyne in a human form, she’s in front of the stone that mentions Kyne and has 2 of the books that mention Kyne in her inventory, plus she’d rather not discuss information about herself, makes it seem like she wants to keep her identity secret then soon as the quest is complete she’s gone without a trace
No doubt there were big things planned for both Ivarstead and Rorikstead. It's sad they never finished and had to tie up so many loose ends. There are more things wrong with Ivarstead, and though i won't argrue against the theory that Wilhelm might have been the one to make the contract against Nerfi's life, there are supposedly some veiled references about Sheagorath, the slice of cheese that is intentionally placed on the ground that nobody but the Dragonborn will pick up, the fact that the dude in the barrow is the descendant to someone by almost the same name that also met his end in a dungeon looking for a key, Reyda coincidentally going missing around the same time as the guy in the barrow and found only a short distance from there had two iron arrows meant to be lodged with her sunken remains that appear on the surface when you get to the area and slowly float down stream, the stream encircling the town flows in two directions with no evident source where the water is coming from, the fact that two iron arrows is sitting on the counter of Wilhelm's business associates(in Riften i believe), and Wilhelm speaks the same line as Narfi when finding out about Reyda's remains and necklace. The name Narfi is the name of Loki's son which may be a reference to Loki's equivalent in the Elder Scrolls lore, Sheagorath. There have also been some lore questions about the landslide that crushed Narfi's parents house that sent Narfi on the path to madness but i can't remember the specifics on that one. In Rorikstead, there is supposed to be one more copy of that rare book, or at least in the original release, if you go inside the house on the outskirt of town, and then clip through the wall there's supposed to be a low res canyon where that book is laying on the ground, also when you go into that house and come back out the first time, the ring that was sitting on that stone shrine is missing. Rorikstead is said to be established by the leader of the town(Rorik) after 'the war' but there are references to the town being much older.
You know, sometimes it's better that developers not able to finish some quests and they had to cut short, because it let us the fans to theoryze all kind of thing what they could'd meant with it.
@@Xenkatze or both. It might well be that the transformation is what triggered the collapse, but that the auger used his power to prevent it getting even worse.
Rorikstead has more confusion to it when the residents suggest the town was only founded shortly after the great war, but in Arena its one of the visitable locations, existing some 200+ years before the man named Rorik. There's also some *peculiar* details in the game. For one an entire scrapped quest even UESP is hesitant to list involving some Orcs in the stronghold closest to Windhelm. Followed by the note to Sapphire from Glover, on its own an unassuming detail till you remember Delvin has hit on Sapphire in the past.
There is a shrine near Rorikstead, on top of the hill overlooking the town. It's to Akatosh and it's also the only place you can regularly find dragon scales before completing the Bleak Falls Barrow mission that starts the dragon attacks. But it's not exactly in an area where anyone can normally see or go to so it suggests to me that there was a quest planned at some point for the village involving Daedra worship and maybe a countering force, possibly a dragon, that got canceled. Also Rorik's Steading is mentioned as existing in several different sources as far back as the time of the Dragon War and the first Kings of Skyrim so who knows how long some of those townsfolk really are.
It gets even weirder, considering the "Founder", Rorik, served in the Imperial Legion during the Great War... The place was named Rorikstead all the way in Arena, so who is telling the truth? Was the place razed and Rorik refounded it? Or is Rorik a liar and that might not even be his real name?
Personal theory is that Rorik and some of his friends are stuck in some sort of time loop because of a deal he made several eras ago. Every few decades every one resets and the people not involved can't remember because of the wording of the deal. So long as Rorik continues to meet the terms of the deal, likely sacrifices of young women, he'll never die along with anyone else who is part of the deal. @@Practitioner_of_Diogenes
I have a theory that the "letters from a friend" is the ebony warrior. Since he's only living to find someone worthy to fight it almost makes sense that he seen potential in the dragonborn and wanted to help him/her
I like that one a bit more than the theory I encountered that "Letters from a friend" are from Karita. Karita is an NPC you encounter a total of once throughout the entire game and only is encounterable while going up the 7000 steps for the first time. The theory is that Karita is an Avatar of Kynareth, not unlike Wulf is an Avatar of Talos. The problem with the theory is the mentioned "he" in the courier's dialogue in context to the letter. As the running theory that the Ebony Warrior is Ebonarm, an aspect of a deity, he'd also fit the idea, far more than a bloody daedric prince, who has no humanoid shape or aspect mind you.
I agree with Graybeards theory as well. In my latest playthrough I meet them and ended up sent for the horn of.. As a real lazy Skyrim player I completely forgotten main questline for a long while, but started receiving letters from a friend completely normally... It's defo not Delphine (nor anyone else I can think of) as only they recognized my player as Dragonborn at that point... Hermeus theory is nice but only with Dragonborn DLC taken in consideration... Without it it makes much less sense
@@Practitioner_of_Diogenes Plus if you're just playing the game without the Dragonborn DLC what purpose do you serve to Hermaeus Mora after you've finished his questline and helped Septimus unlock the mysterious contraption in his ice cave
He could've said "Skyrim recently began its thirteenth year," but "Skyrim recently turned thirteenth this year" doesn't work. Human math error, or machine translation error?
Maven's black sacrament "not working" makes perfect sense though. Without a listener the Dark Brotherhood relied on rumours to find out about dark sacraments being performed. If Maven was serious about privacy regarding her sacrament, the Brotherhood wouldn't have known about it. Well, at least until the courier handed the complaint letter to Astrid.
I always thought that the mysterious friend was Arngeir, as he is the Dragonborn's mentor and always directs you to the words of power. Also, if you shout at a city, you'll receive a letter from this friend saying that not everyone likes the shouts. For me that is Arngeir helping the Dragonborn. I never thought that it could not be him
In Rorikstead you forgot or in case you didn't know, there is a nearby "Sacrificial Altar: with a dead body and all. Same area surrounding the town. Up the hills.
Another theory on the letters I heard was that it's one of the Greybeards. The evidence for this was that a) they would logically know where the words are found b) they want to help the Dragonborn and don't expect him to climb 7000 steps every time c) one of them has a quill and a roll lf paper in his inventory (writing paraphernalia, don't recall what they exactly had)
The issue of how did Narfi's sister die is somewhat confused by couple of bugs in the game: Firstly the arrows that should be sticking out of her corpse are floating in the river, which obviously causes people to miss the obvious cause of death. Second, part of the river is flowing in the wrong direction as the flow is towards the lake when around the bend the river turns into a series of rapids and falls. This has caused at least one person to conclude Narfi was the killer because "obviously" the body was carried by the current from his house instead of from the lake, but the lake is higher and water should not flow uphill. Considering the facts Wilhelm's theory that she went to collect herbs at the island on the lake when she disappeared seems true. She was either traveling on the shore or had reached the island when one or more attackers shot her and she fell or was dumped into the water. Possible suspects include the guy hiding in the tomb in Ivarstead, draugr from the tomb on the island, and random bandits. However, none of those really match with someone hiring an expensive assassin on Narfi, so my prime suspects are the Dark Brotherhood. The parents might have been up to something or knew something, so they and the daughter were murdered. Then someone noticed they missed one and Narfi was given to the newbie member as a target, likely as a test if you really follow orders when Astrid isn't there to watch over you. Though for all we know, Wilhelm or someone else at the village might be assuming Narfi killed her sister, or even feels pity and thinks he would be better off joining her, so they hired the DB for a mission of either justice or mercy. Of course, given that you need to commit either a murder or grave robbery to acquire the materials for the black sacrament it has never really made any sense why anyone capable and willing to contact the DB couldn't just kill him themselves, as they clearly aren't too squeamish...
Btw if I remember correctly, once you kill the Ebony Warrior, the "Letters from a Friend" will go away even if you've still got more words to find. Make if that what you will
for the mystery friend i assumed it was the ebony warrior at the end of the leveling up just knows were you are and challenges you, he would want you to get stronger so you can match or even best him in an all out battle to the death.
Now as much as I love the Hermas Mora theory but I already solved it because it says that not everyone is ready for the return of the dragonborn which would point to the greybeards because you received those messages before the dlc releases and the reason why I said the greybeards is because they also say that they can feel the words of power and can give one location every so often which of course is why it's the greybeards who sends you the letter from a friend because they only show up once you've used the voice in a civilization zone
one little problem with that theory: the greybeards don't leave high hrothgar and i doubt a courier just randomly climbs past all the bears, ice wraiths and trolls up there to fetch the mail. also the greybeards can hear you shout from pretty much everywhere, since they'll call for you as soon as you use unrelenting force for the first time, no matter where you do it. the only suspect who ever made sense to me is Ulfric. he is the only character who possesses mastery of the thu'um, and can send out couriers whenever he wishes.
@@windhelmguard5295 no, this doesn't make any sense. people regularly climb the 7,000 steps to meditate at the monuments or bring supplies to the greybeards, no reason why a courier couldn't, nor why someone already there couldn't forward a message the greybeards give them to a courier once they're down. the greybeards hearing you shout from pretty much everywhere is an argument in favour of it being them, because that explains why they always find out about it. it doesn't make sense for it to be ulfric, because he'd only want a powerful dragonborn aligned with the stormcloaks, or at the very least NOT aligned with the empire, yet it happens regardless of which team you side with.
This was settled long ago. It's the graybeards. If you kill parthanax, that letters stop. I was very surprised to see this was part of the list. This was common knowledge in the first few years it was out.
Biggest 2 mystery's will always be Kagrenzel and how tf Vulthuryol stayed alive all this time in Blackreach but did not become a skeletal dragon like the one in Labyrinthian.
Because the dragon in Labyrinthian had actually been slain and supposedly had its soul devoured or captured, as you don't absord a soul when you kill it, so its more of a reanimated dragon skeleton than an actual living dragon. This idea is further supported by the fact it has the least amount of health of any dragon in the game. Dragons don't just become skeletal thru time, dragons are immortal unless they are slain and have their soul absorbed. The mystery isn't how Vulthuryol is alive, because well he's an immortal dragon who can only die by being forcefully killed, but rather how did he even get into Blackreach in the first place.
@@nordvestgaming1238 my theory on that is that blackreach wasn't always under a dwarven ruin and that it was there first. One mystery is if Alduin is the one resurrecting all the dragons how did he get down there to do it 😂 Cause essentially all dragons were "dead" and only came back when Alduin returned. Unless like the dragon on top of the mountain this one was never slain and for some reason just chilled in blackreach all this time 🤔
@@kyledavies5731 Not all dragons were slain, many were just in hiding like Paarthunax. One dragon famously actually served Tiber Septim at one point before being killed by the player in ES Adventures Redguard. And even Mirmulnir, the first dragon the player actually fights is one of the dragons who survived the dragon wars, as well as the two dragons in the Forgotten Vale. As well as all of the dragons that serve Mirraak although there is only one dragon that lives outside of Apocrapha. So its very possible that the dragon in Blackreach was either trapped or willingly aided the Dwemer in some way and just decided it was better to stay in Blackreach than risk being hunted down above ground.
@@nordvestgaming1238does that imply Cyrus was a Dragonborn or just that bc he couldn't claim the soul it got sent back akatosh/alduin/whoeverkeepsthedragonsoulsforreincarnation?
@@Fiddy_Too Nafaalilargus's soul went to where ever dragon souls go when slain by a non dragonborn, as I don't believe its truly known if their souls return to Akatosh or if they just kind of hang around unable to take a physical form unless acted upon by a significant outside force such as Alduin.
I always thought the letter from a friend is that one guy that traps you at that one word wall when you fall down a trap. I think this because afterwards you don't get any letters after taking him out. Or maybe that's just me and it was a coincidence.
For the Narfi thing, I just thought it would be a mercy contract, the poor guy doesn't have much to live for, someone sees this and then says the Dark Brotherhood that killing the next lord of insanity would be okay. Poor guy though... And for Reyda? I've got no clue
imo the friend who sends letters is Tiber Septim, as in morrowind he shows up for the neravine appearing as an old veteran and his manner of talking is awfully like the mysterious letters.
Skyrim tells alot of norse mythology. It's common that norse gods will take human form to influence human events. I believe the letters from a friend are from akatosh or shor. As they are the ones who are the most invested in rhe dragonborn
I always imagined that Maven wanted the Dark Brotherhood to kill the Dragonborn. It would explain the random attacks before you join the Brotherhood. She may feel threatened by the Dragonborn becoming a prominent member of the Thieves Guild and the fact that he is emerging as a threat to Mercer's leadership. It always made sense to me that Maven would have conspired with Mercer to kill Gallus and steal the Skeleton Key. The decline of the Guild to being only a force in Riften, where Maven could keep under her thumb and completely dependent on her, would benefit her immensely. The Dragonborn securing support for the Guild from other parts of Skyrim makes the Guild less dependent on Maven, and that ultimately diminishes her influence. I could see that being ample motive for her wanting the Dragonborn dead. (Yeah, I know there are holes in this. I think they could have easily been explained with a few additional quests and a few more in game revelations.)
In all honesty I can't believe the anonymous friend thing is even a difficult question to answer, it's just random people sending you letters after watching you use the thumm and trying to help the Dragonborn because culturally the Nords are the type of people to help the Dragonborn
0:29 there was a video explaining that the farming is daedric worship, it went into a lot of depth and explains everything. There are no mysteries about daedric worship.
I always thought Maven's black sacrament was for the player, us! Because after awhile, we get an assassin try to kill us and on his body is a note with the order to kill [Insert Name] As for Narfi, i agree with another in the comments that Camelwork's (very long explanation, but totally worth watching!) makes perfect sense. Everything lines up even the arrows floating on the water when you first approach the area of the skeleton (pretty sure they float away after you first go there..)
FOR ANYYONE WHO COUTNTED THE NOT SO 700 STEPS , its not steps of rise its steps you take, or the stones placed if you count the stepping stones including the approximated ones under the snmow there are placed 7000 actuall pieces of stone , and yes it took me nearrly a year
Skyrim in-game is scaled down from the actual size lorewise, vertically and horizontally. Otherwise it would take you multiple days to run across the map instead of just 1 hour. In the lore it's actually 7000 steps.
The anonymous friend could be the Ebony Warrior. He doesn’t show up until late game when you’re really powerful, and with his motives, it would make sense that he would want you to get stronger
Soul gems are NOT scattered among all homes. There are only 2 soul gems in the village. Shrines do not need to be present to be blessed by the gods. Rorikstead is a very nuanced topic. To just glance over it in a couple of minutes does not do it justice. I suggest Camelworks video on this topic because his research is much more extensive and he puts a lot more effort into exploring all aspects of the topic to ensure he is passing on correct information.
Since rorikstead is much older than rorik the theory that the village is named after him is not correct. The village is mentioned in the song about Ragnar the red and is listed as roriks steading in the first era.
With the unknown friend, I'm surprised you didn't mention the one graybeard who has a paper and quill in his pocket, which the others don't, if I recall correctly. I always figure it's that dude. (( ... and that the courier didn't press for a name bc he was EXTREMELY terrified of _hearing_ an answer :'D. When a graybeard wants to stay anonymous you best let him ! ))
My Xbox 360 has recently stopped allowing me to play Skyrim. Possibly because of glitch that I used to often in Whiterun, where you can climb onto a barrel then over the wall by the gates. Doing that allows you to run around the outside of Whiterun and get under the Skyforge and raid a chest. The worst thing is my character was at level two hundred forty three and I had only just killed Parthurnax.
Is he though? I think it's just a thing the devs added without any further lore behind it in order to motivate players to go look out for more word walls. But let's assume there would be an actual friend, I don't think it's either Delphine or Hermie, because as you can see they have no problem revealing themselves to you. And neither of them mentions these letters. Whoever this friend would be, it's someone who doesn't want you to know it's them. Otherwise, why not tell you about the letters or sign them with their actual name?
theory makes even more sense seeing as the woman who runs the mill has a bear problem so maybe that guy is a werebear and maybe he causes the problems and not well real bears
Hermaeus Mora being the entity behind the letters from a friend makes the most sense from a real life perspective. It was likely a hint towards the Dragonborn DLC, which is obvious is hindsight.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the term "Lycanthropy" is used to describe turning into a wolf or wolf-like creature exclusively. There is a different term used for people who turn into other creatures, like bears. Unfortunately, I cannot remember what the term is.
Werebear is "man-bear" just like werewolf is "man-wolf". Skin-changer is a common term for anyone who can turn into an animal, though usually it implies a voluntary transformation, not a curse like lycantrophy. For example, a man turning into a wolf by putting on either a magical salve or an enchanted wolf skin. In Hobbit Beorn(and his kin) was a skin-changer who could turn into a bear simply by willing it, but no explanation is given why, he is simply a northerner style hero similar to Beowulf.
The term Lycsnthropy does actually include all types of were-creatures, and not just werewolves. The term is way bigger and way broader than people first think. As someone who reads everything about all types of were-beasts, because i'm that guy who does that, i csn safely say that lycanthropy is a term where all were-beasts are included. There's even a book in Skyrim that you cdn read, that explains it all. Werewolves and other Lycanthropes is the name, if i'm not mistaken. It's one reason we know about werebears and werewolves.
The more generic term for a person who can turn into an animal or a person/animal hybrid is therianthrope. From the Greek "therion" for "wild animal" or "beast".
@@ВікторКушнір-й8о Yes and no, shapeshifter/changer or metamorph includes doppelgangers, T-1000 terminators, vampires, Cybertronians and others. Weres and skinwalkers generally transform into only one specific animal. Also, many stories of skin-changers specifically describe how the being is either a human putting on an animal skin or an animal able to take it off, and would lose the ability if their "cloak" is stolen.
Thought, rather than mentioning stuff about Rorikstead that isn't a mystery, for the reasons you said, that you would bring up the real mystery: the fact that Rorikstead is mentioned in writings from decades before Rorik was even born, despite him being the founder.
3:29 This letter from Maven to Astrid.. It seems to me it was and is about that random assassin who goes after the player and has that note on them about someone wanting “this poor fool dead” or something to that extent. I believe, we, the player are of 90% likely hood the one Maven wants dead and Astrid failed to kill- of course.
Before you join the Dark Brotherhood, sometimes on the roads you will come accross an assassin as a random encounter and if you defrat them, you can loot a note off of them that is signd "M". I always thought that the M stood for Maven.
7:30 also on top of this the letters will still be sent to you even if she’s forced her ultimatum on you to kill paarthanaux and I doubt she’d still send them if that were the case
I very deliberately avoid getting known for as long as possible. I just run around all over the map discovering locations. I have no friends. I have no enemies. Why is someone sending the Dark Brotherhood sfter me? Who even knows me? . The midden is full of daedric stuff. The Augur knows that the thirst for knowledge is a mage's greatest ambition, and he seems to feel that it's a mages greatest downfall, too. I suspect that the Augur didn't have an experiment go awry so much as he got wrecked in a deal with a daedric lord. He wanted to be all knowing, all seeing. The name Augur itself is evidence of that. I think that since a mortal cannot be all knowing and all seeing, he got transformed into his current form. . While I'm at it, I think it's possible that the dwarves all got flung into the future much like Alduin did. I think they might all return, too, and I think they're going to be mighty pissed off about how their cities have been plundered while they were gone.
My biggest question is why were there bones stuffed into columns in the Ancient Nord Ruins where we get the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, goes against everything on ancient Nord burial rituals
Wrong on first count there is a Shrine of Akatosh on a hill with offerings.Suitable for a dragon god.Kagrenzal was probably gonna be an entrance to Blackreach but the game devs abandoned it.Gee,mysteriously someone wants the Dragonborn dead and hires The Dark Brotherhood,Maven has connections to The Empire and the DB and the Dragonborn is the only non-military witness to the strange secret execution attempt on Ulfric Stormcloak except for a child who lives now in a remote area with his grandfather and possibly a couple of wandering displaced farmers.There is no evidence Narfi is a werewolf or werebear,we do know his family are all dead,possibly under mysterious circumstances and Narfi is not exactly sane.I do not know who the friend is,but occasionally non-hostile dragons seem to spy on you.The only thing I can think is that Paarthurnax sent them and has somebody communicating to you.I agree Hermaeus Mora might be devious enough to be the letter writer as in your theory ,and letters and knowledge are his domain.No,some of the current staff knew the Augur of Dunlein as a person,only an elf could have been old enough to remember The Red Year.
Actually, whoever the mysterious friend is does not have to know the location of the Dragonborn to have a letter delivered to them. He just hands the letter over to the courier, who then goes to look "everywhere" for the recipient. All part of the job.
I’m sorry but no one can convince me the letter from a friend is anyone other than the ebony warrior. Listen I know even if you kill him if you haven’t learned every shout you still will get the letters but I believe it’s a bug. I think the way Bethesda intended was for you to complete all the shouts before level 81. It makes the most sense in my head. Letter from a friend. A fellow Dragonborn. The forgotten Hero. It makes sense
I always thought the letters from a friend could be coming from the Ebony Warrior. He has traveled Skyrim, has a similar shout ability, and wants someone strong enough to defeat him.
The Blackbriar sacrement is place on the Dragonbourn. Early in the game after you escape Helgan you encounter a Dark Brotherhood assasin who attempts to off you. What is weird is you aren't told what crime or what reason you were picked up by the Imperials and why they want to put you to death. You just simply don't kill ppl if they play no part in political wars. You have to ask why the Dragonbourn was in that area of Skyrim or what business he had crossing the borders. Aulduins appearence at Helgan was no coincidence, he just happened to show up the moment of your execution. One would question if Aulduin was trying to kill you or perhaps save you. I doubt he was trying to kill the Dragonbourn because if that were the case he'd have simply let the headsmen do his job and that would have been that. I have had my suspicions that Maven Blackbriar was behind the Dragonbourn getting picked up by the Imperials. Did you know that Maven has connections to the Yarl of Morthal? The women who posses the ability to see past and future events? With Bethesda you really can't figure things out because so many quests in skyrim end as abruptly as they started leaving little understanding or reasoning behind the quest itself. I was quietly laughing to myself the other day that so many players gush over Serana as the perfect spouse yet stay quiet about the scorned and devoted Karliah who basically gets left in a cave after defeating Mercer and forgotten. Jenessa is her sister yet people never figured that out. Btw Jenessa makes the best wife and mother in Skyrim though you'd think she'd be a murderous sword for hire. Whats laughable are those who seek Aela the Huntresses hand in marriage yet she complains about the dangers out at player built houses meanwhile Jenessa praises your home and is very active with your adopted children. Aela a warrior princes who can wolf out afraid of spiders, giants and bandits? I came home and Jenessa was whooping butt on some bandits and a giant, meanwhile Aela runs away lol.
Hermes mora would make sense if his quest line was part of the vanilla game, fie me the ebony warrior makes more sense, he's the only other non affiliated character that knows multiple dragon shouts, and has every reason to see you reach level 80 ( the vanilla games cap) and the moment the ebony warrior reveals himself!
@3:59 im pretty sure there's another theory that also makes perfect sense Maven may have a contract to kill the main character as that would explain the random assassination attempts on the player
Kagrenzel i think has something to do with the skeletons you see in the walls if you open the local map while falling in it you see massive skeletons in the walls and you can see bones in the walls. Im pretty sure that was the specific ruin with them in it and thats the only dungeon with bones like that in the walls if im remembering correctly. So id hazard to guess it wasnt just for trapping people id say it was a disposal ground for snow whale carcasses. Snow whales are supposedly a creature that exists(ed) in skyrim at a point in time. All of this is to be taken with a grain of salt though but thats my theory on it its all michael Kirkbride writing so it could end up that snow whales arent canon but then what explains the skeletons?
For #3 I would dare to put that, Maven Black Brair wants the player dead,if you think of how ,at A certain point, the Dark Brotherhood sends Assasins after you and Maven's disdain,it seems A logical conclusion,it probably was meant to have more lore ,either way,try testing this,by making different decisions about her;remember,just because you may befriend Maven's family,it doesn't mean she will be friendly , after all,Maven knew about it (possibly even ordered it ) because she wanted that "family member" to learn A lesson..
Most of these can be "more likely than not" explained by Camelwotks videos. However, TheBlackRose youtuber has new intesting theory of the "Letter from a Friend"
I still instantly click on new Skyrim content even in 2023
Who wouldn't?
Yes
I still check every week and i have 3 versions of Skyrim so i can play different modded builds i prefer GOG to steam
I’m on my annual Skyrim obsession trip right now.
@@mikesdynasty1haters.
Narfi's theory does clash with the more believable theory that Reyda was killed by a vampire.
The game itself starts at Sundas, the 17th of Last Seed, 4E 201.
While there is a diary found in the Redwater Spring, written by Venarus Vulpin (vampire) who mentions he has passed through Ivarstead during 5th of First Seed, 4E 201.
His diary specifically states "While looking for a bit of dinner in the Vilemyr Inn"
I'm sure I don't need to say he did not refer to a mug of ale and well done venison.
Its no concrete proof, but its has a lot more proof then the Werebear theory that has... quite literally no tangible proof whatsoever.
It is very likely Inn Keeper killed her. You can get a hint of this if you ask him personal questions. It is unlikely a Vampire or a Werebear killed her for one important fact, the arrow and it was used to kill her, guess who is good with a bow? He killed her then hired the Dark Brotherhood to mercy kill Narfi. He felt bad causing Narfi to fall like he did.
@@StacieMMeierIn that case why did he killed her ?
@@TheMaxymsa pedophile I don't think he did I do think it was nafari and he knew it so he had the dark brotherhood kill nafari since maybe he saw him do
@@TheMaxyms He made an advance of her and she rejected him 😂
Supposedly because Reyda was into witchcraft, which Wilhelm hates. He has a book behind his counter all about Hagravens and when you ask him about where to learn Magic he reacts in a crude manner. People theorize Reyda was the owner of the Alchemist Shack found nearby, and was working/studying with the Hagraven Cult found in Orphan Rock, as you can find fish corpses there. As for the arrows connecting to Wilhelm, in Riften’s Pawned Prawn, you can find a letter from Wilhelm to Bersi on the counter, right next to two iron arrows.
Camelworks has a pretty extensive video all about the theories people have come up with, I’d definitely recommend it. @TheMaxyms
i think maybe the letter from a friend could be from the ebony warrior, since he comes to you and says you’re the only challenge left maybe he was trying to help you get more powerful so he could fulfill his quest to sovngard ?
More likely it is Paarthurnax who had them sent. There are some clues that suggest this, he isnt surprised to see you in first encounter. Like he knew you would come to him. He is also the only NPC in the game who can know where you are at all times.
it’s either nazeem or adoring fan
I was actually going to say the ebony warrior as well. How else is he gonna die?
What if you kill Paarthyrnax, do you still get the letters?@@StacieMMeier
@@masonguy3985Someone else on the Internet mentioned that when they killed Paarthurnax the letters stopped. So personally I believe it's either Paarthurnax or one of the Greybeards , but since I would NEVER kill my dragon friend I can't say if it's really true....
I like camelworks’ theory about narfi’s killer.
I just think it makes more sense regarding how wilhelm is the killer
It was a really good video, and it made a decent amount of sense. It was interesting in how it depicted Wilhelm, but it was a decent and accurate video.
God I haven't watched his videos in years. Brings back memories of me playing TES while listening to his videos that was like 5 years ago, thx for that :)
You absolutely should again, his elder scrolls detective series is pure fire 👌🏻
This literally has stole footage of Camel's.
Another possibility is that Narfi's sister ran away and faked her own death. Then, to cover up her own trail, hired the Dark Brotherhood to kill her brother.
I have a feeling that this game will never die even after the release of ES6.
People are still playing the other Bethesda games so I have no doubt that Skyrim will be played for decades to come.
We never stop playing . We just take breaks eh
We're just finally awake, as usual
Skyrim only turned twelve.
There's a shrine to Akatosh on the hill overlooking Rorikstead.
All soul gems shown are incapable of holding the mortal races' souls.
Reyda is very slightly implied to have been killed by the vampire added in Dawnguard Venarus Vulpin in his journal.
all soul gems? Black soul gems are specifically for black souls, only normal soul gems can't hold people souls
@@Xenkatze None of the soul gems shown in the video were black soul gems.
@@EdenEnde you are trying so hard to sound smart about a game more than a decade old by trying to "debunk" fan theories on the internet. Would your ancestors be proud of this ? So confidently wrong too
@@annpc8266 Corrections, please.
@@annpc8266 mate he literally just added what he knew to the conversation
I think the letter from a friend is the last woman you see while on the 7000 steps, she’s never seen in game again, only pops in when this quest is active and that’s when the letters start coming, she could be Kyne in a human form, she’s in front of the stone that mentions Kyne and has 2 of the books that mention Kyne in her inventory, plus she’d rather not discuss information about herself, makes it seem like she wants to keep her identity secret then soon as the quest is complete she’s gone without a trace
No doubt there were big things planned for both Ivarstead and Rorikstead. It's sad they never finished and had to tie up so many loose ends.
There are more things wrong with Ivarstead, and though i won't argrue against the theory that Wilhelm might have been the one to make the contract against Nerfi's life, there are supposedly some veiled references about Sheagorath, the slice of cheese that is intentionally placed on the ground that nobody but the Dragonborn will pick up, the fact that the dude in the barrow is the descendant to someone by almost the same name that also met his end in a dungeon looking for a key, Reyda coincidentally going missing around the same time as the guy in the barrow and found only a short distance from there had two iron arrows meant to be lodged with her sunken remains that appear on the surface when you get to the area and slowly float down stream, the stream encircling the town flows in two directions with no evident source where the water is coming from, the fact that two iron arrows is sitting on the counter of Wilhelm's business associates(in Riften i believe), and Wilhelm speaks the same line as Narfi when finding out about Reyda's remains and necklace. The name Narfi is the name of Loki's son which may be a reference to Loki's equivalent in the Elder Scrolls lore, Sheagorath. There have also been some lore questions about the landslide that crushed Narfi's parents house that sent Narfi on the path to madness but i can't remember the specifics on that one.
In Rorikstead, there is supposed to be one more copy of that rare book, or at least in the original release, if you go inside the house on the outskirt of town, and then clip through the wall there's supposed to be a low res canyon where that book is laying on the ground, also when you go into that house and come back out the first time, the ring that was sitting on that stone shrine is missing. Rorikstead is said to be established by the leader of the town(Rorik) after 'the war' but there are references to the town being much older.
You know, sometimes it's better that developers not able to finish some quests and they had to cut short, because it let us the fans to theoryze all kind of thing what they could'd meant with it.
I get the impression that the Augur of Dunlain is part of what kept the Collage intact despite the great storm.
or maybe was the cause of it?
@@Xenkatze or both.
It might well be that the transformation is what triggered the collapse, but that the auger used his power to prevent it getting even worse.
Rorikstead has more confusion to it when the residents suggest the town was only founded shortly after the great war, but in Arena its one of the visitable locations, existing some 200+ years before the man named Rorik.
There's also some *peculiar* details in the game. For one an entire scrapped quest even UESP is hesitant to list involving some Orcs in the stronghold closest to Windhelm. Followed by the note to Sapphire from Glover, on its own an unassuming detail till you remember Delvin has hit on Sapphire in the past.
There is a shrine near Rorikstead, on top of the hill overlooking the town. It's to Akatosh and it's also the only place you can regularly find dragon scales before completing the Bleak Falls Barrow mission that starts the dragon attacks. But it's not exactly in an area where anyone can normally see or go to so it suggests to me that there was a quest planned at some point for the village involving Daedra worship and maybe a countering force, possibly a dragon, that got canceled.
Also Rorik's Steading is mentioned as existing in several different sources as far back as the time of the Dragon War and the first Kings of Skyrim so who knows how long some of those townsfolk really are.
It gets even weirder, considering the "Founder", Rorik, served in the Imperial Legion during the Great War... The place was named Rorikstead all the way in Arena, so who is telling the truth? Was the place razed and Rorik refounded it? Or is Rorik a liar and that might not even be his real name?
Personal theory is that Rorik and some of his friends are stuck in some sort of time loop because of a deal he made several eras ago. Every few decades every one resets and the people not involved can't remember because of the wording of the deal. So long as Rorik continues to meet the terms of the deal, likely sacrifices of young women, he'll never die along with anyone else who is part of the deal. @@Practitioner_of_Diogenes
I have a theory that the "letters from a friend" is the ebony warrior. Since he's only living to find someone worthy to fight it almost makes sense that he seen potential in the dragonborn and wanted to help him/her
I like this and considering he can shout that lends some credence that he'd know where word walls are.
I like that one a bit more than the theory I encountered that "Letters from a friend" are from Karita.
Karita is an NPC you encounter a total of once throughout the entire game and only is encounterable while going up the 7000 steps for the first time. The theory is that Karita is an Avatar of Kynareth, not unlike Wulf is an Avatar of Talos. The problem with the theory is the mentioned "he" in the courier's dialogue in context to the letter.
As the running theory that the Ebony Warrior is Ebonarm, an aspect of a deity, he'd also fit the idea, far more than a bloody daedric prince, who has no humanoid shape or aspect mind you.
One logical theory is that one of Greybeards sends the letters. There's paper and quill found in one of their inventories.
I agree with Graybeards theory as well. In my latest playthrough I meet them and ended up sent for the horn of.. As a real lazy Skyrim player I completely forgotten main questline for a long while, but started receiving letters from a friend completely normally... It's defo not Delphine (nor anyone else I can think of) as only they recognized my player as Dragonborn at that point...
Hermeus theory is nice but only with Dragonborn DLC taken in consideration... Without it it makes much less sense
@@Practitioner_of_Diogenes Plus if you're just playing the game without the Dragonborn DLC what purpose do you serve to Hermaeus Mora after you've finished his questline and helped Septimus unlock the mysterious contraption in his ice cave
Isn't Skyrim twelve years old? It dropped on 11/11/11.
Correct
This video was sent back in time for us to enjoy a year early
He could've said "Skyrim recently began its thirteenth year," but "Skyrim recently turned thirteenth this year" doesn't work. Human math error, or machine translation error?
That comment will be irrelevant in a few months
Maven's black sacrament "not working" makes perfect sense though. Without a listener the Dark Brotherhood relied on rumours to find out about dark sacraments being performed. If Maven was serious about privacy regarding her sacrament, the Brotherhood wouldn't have known about it. Well, at least until the courier handed the complaint letter to Astrid.
I always thought that the mysterious friend was Arngeir, as he is the Dragonborn's mentor and always directs you to the words of power. Also, if you shout at a city, you'll receive a letter from this friend saying that not everyone likes the shouts. For me that is Arngeir helping the Dragonborn. I never thought that it could not be him
I think it's actually one of the other Greybeards. One of them has a quill and a roll of paper in their inventory
In Rorikstead you forgot or in case you didn't know, there is a nearby "Sacrificial Altar: with a dead body and all. Same area surrounding the town. Up the hills.
Another theory on the letters I heard was that it's one of the Greybeards. The evidence for this was that a) they would logically know where the words are found b) they want to help the Dragonborn and don't expect him to climb 7000 steps every time c) one of them has a quill and a roll lf paper in his inventory (writing paraphernalia, don't recall what they exactly had)
The issue of how did Narfi's sister die is somewhat confused by couple of bugs in the game: Firstly the arrows that should be sticking out of her corpse are floating in the river, which obviously causes people to miss the obvious cause of death.
Second, part of the river is flowing in the wrong direction as the flow is towards the lake when around the bend the river turns into a series of rapids and falls. This has caused at least one person to conclude Narfi was the killer because "obviously" the body was carried by the current from his house instead of from the lake, but the lake is higher and water should not flow uphill.
Considering the facts Wilhelm's theory that she went to collect herbs at the island on the lake when she disappeared seems true. She was either traveling on the shore or had reached the island when one or more attackers shot her and she fell or was dumped into the water. Possible suspects include the guy hiding in the tomb in Ivarstead, draugr from the tomb on the island, and random bandits.
However, none of those really match with someone hiring an expensive assassin on Narfi, so my prime suspects are the Dark Brotherhood. The parents might have been up to something or knew something, so they and the daughter were murdered. Then someone noticed they missed one and Narfi was given to the newbie member as a target, likely as a test if you really follow orders when Astrid isn't there to watch over you.
Though for all we know, Wilhelm or someone else at the village might be assuming Narfi killed her sister, or even feels pity and thinks he would be better off joining her, so they hired the DB for a mission of either justice or mercy. Of course, given that you need to commit either a murder or grave robbery to acquire the materials for the black sacrament it has never really made any sense why anyone capable and willing to contact the DB couldn't just kill him themselves, as they clearly aren't too squeamish...
Btw if I remember correctly, once you kill the Ebony Warrior, the "Letters from a Friend" will go away even if you've still got more words to find. Make if that what you will
This is why Skyrim is literally the best game ever made.
I could listen to your voice for hours, you're blessed man
How has no one in Solitude figured out Sybille Stentor is a vampire yet?
Illusion magic?
The friend doesn't need to know where the Dragonborn is. He's using the courier who knows where the Dragonborn is.
for the mystery friend i assumed it was the ebony warrior at the end of the leveling up just knows were you are and challenges you, he would want you to get stronger so you can match or even best him in an all out battle to the death.
Though if somehow you neglected some of the world walls by level. 80 and you kill the ebony warrior, you still get messages from the friend
Now as much as I love the Hermas Mora theory but I already solved it because it says that not everyone is ready for the return of the dragonborn which would point to the greybeards because you received those messages before the dlc releases and the reason why I said the greybeards is because they also say that they can feel the words of power and can give one location every so often which of course is why it's the greybeards who sends you the letter from a friend because they only show up once you've used the voice in a civilization zone
one little problem with that theory: the greybeards don't leave high hrothgar and i doubt a courier just randomly climbs past all the bears, ice wraiths and trolls up there to fetch the mail. also the greybeards can hear you shout from pretty much everywhere, since they'll call for you as soon as you use unrelenting force for the first time, no matter where you do it.
the only suspect who ever made sense to me is Ulfric. he is the only character who possesses mastery of the thu'um, and can send out couriers whenever he wishes.
@@windhelmguard5295 no, this doesn't make any sense. people regularly climb the 7,000 steps to meditate at the monuments or bring supplies to the greybeards, no reason why a courier couldn't, nor why someone already there couldn't forward a message the greybeards give them to a courier once they're down. the greybeards hearing you shout from pretty much everywhere is an argument in favour of it being them, because that explains why they always find out about it. it doesn't make sense for it to be ulfric, because he'd only want a powerful dragonborn aligned with the stormcloaks, or at the very least NOT aligned with the empire, yet it happens regardless of which team you side with.
@@sashaiden.773easier argument against ulfric is that you receive the letters even if ulfric is dead
This was settled long ago. It's the graybeards. If you kill parthanax, that letters stop. I was very surprised to see this was part of the list. This was common knowledge in the first few years it was out.
@@windhelmguard5295 one of them has a bow and shoots the letters down the mountain...
Or yeets it with the power of being really really loud
Biggest 2 mystery's will always be Kagrenzel and how tf Vulthuryol stayed alive all this time in Blackreach but did not become a skeletal dragon like the one in Labyrinthian.
Because the dragon in Labyrinthian had actually been slain and supposedly had its soul devoured or captured, as you don't absord a soul when you kill it, so its more of a reanimated dragon skeleton than an actual living dragon. This idea is further supported by the fact it has the least amount of health of any dragon in the game. Dragons don't just become skeletal thru time, dragons are immortal unless they are slain and have their soul absorbed. The mystery isn't how Vulthuryol is alive, because well he's an immortal dragon who can only die by being forcefully killed, but rather how did he even get into Blackreach in the first place.
@@nordvestgaming1238 my theory on that is that blackreach wasn't always under a dwarven ruin and that it was there first.
One mystery is if Alduin is the one resurrecting all the dragons how did he get down there to do it 😂
Cause essentially all dragons were "dead" and only came back when Alduin returned.
Unless like the dragon on top of the mountain this one was never slain and for some reason just chilled in blackreach all this time 🤔
@@kyledavies5731 Not all dragons were slain, many were just in hiding like Paarthunax. One dragon famously actually served Tiber Septim at one point before being killed by the player in ES Adventures Redguard. And even Mirmulnir, the first dragon the player actually fights is one of the dragons who survived the dragon wars, as well as the two dragons in the Forgotten Vale. As well as all of the dragons that serve Mirraak although there is only one dragon that lives outside of Apocrapha. So its very possible that the dragon in Blackreach was either trapped or willingly aided the Dwemer in some way and just decided it was better to stay in Blackreach than risk being hunted down above ground.
@@nordvestgaming1238does that imply Cyrus was a Dragonborn or just that bc he couldn't claim the soul it got sent back akatosh/alduin/whoeverkeepsthedragonsoulsforreincarnation?
@@Fiddy_Too Nafaalilargus's soul went to where ever dragon souls go when slain by a non dragonborn, as I don't believe its truly known if their souls return to Akatosh or if they just kind of hang around unable to take a physical form unless acted upon by a significant outside force such as Alduin.
I always thought the letter from a friend is that one guy that traps you at that one word wall when you fall down a trap. I think this because afterwards you don't get any letters after taking him out. Or maybe that's just me and it was a coincidence.
For the Narfi thing, I just thought it would be a mercy contract, the poor guy doesn't have much to live for, someone sees this and then says the Dark Brotherhood that killing the next lord of insanity would be okay. Poor guy though...
And for Reyda? I've got no clue
imo the friend who sends letters is Tiber Septim, as in morrowind he shows up for the neravine appearing as an old veteran and his manner of talking is awfully like the mysterious letters.
I got a Letter From A Friend literally after I got back from Apocrypha. Like how the hell did they know I was there!?
Imagine the amount of cut content/lore (that haven’t been restored by mods) we’ll never know/see I think is pretty insane to think about.
Skyrim tells alot of norse mythology. It's common that norse gods will take human form to influence human events. I believe the letters from a friend are from akatosh or shor. As they are the ones who are the most invested in rhe dragonborn
I always imagined that Maven wanted the Dark Brotherhood to kill the Dragonborn. It would explain the random attacks before you join the Brotherhood. She may feel threatened by the Dragonborn becoming a prominent member of the Thieves Guild and the fact that he is emerging as a threat to Mercer's leadership. It always made sense to me that Maven would have conspired with Mercer to kill Gallus and steal the Skeleton Key. The decline of the Guild to being only a force in Riften, where Maven could keep under her thumb and completely dependent on her, would benefit her immensely. The Dragonborn securing support for the Guild from other parts of Skyrim makes the Guild less dependent on Maven, and that ultimately diminishes her influence. I could see that being ample motive for her wanting the Dragonborn dead.
(Yeah, I know there are holes in this. I think they could have easily been explained with a few additional quests and a few more in game revelations.)
Yeah a few holes, like her not knowing we exist when the attacks can happen from the very beginning
In all honesty I can't believe the anonymous friend thing is even a difficult question to answer, it's just random people sending you letters after watching you use the thumm and trying to help the Dragonborn because culturally the Nords are the type of people to help the Dragonborn
0:29 there was a video explaining that the farming is daedric worship, it went into a lot of depth and explains everything. There are no mysteries about daedric worship.
I love how much hidden stories and secrets skyrim has, best game ever for me personally
I always thought Maven's black sacrament was for the player, us! Because after awhile, we get an assassin try to kill us and on his body is a note with the order to kill [Insert Name]
As for Narfi, i agree with another in the comments that Camelwork's (very long explanation, but totally worth watching!) makes perfect sense. Everything lines up even the arrows floating on the water when you first approach the area of the skeleton (pretty sure they float away after you first go there..)
Or could it be the Ebony Warrior who’s sends the letters? Or perhaps the Greybeards?
Maven's sacrament was made for us, the Dragon born. The first brotherhood assassin we see has her letter on them.
No I think it's the ebony warrior that wants you to become more powerful
you’re on the algorithm my friend, this video is gonna blow up :)
It's definitely not, dude. Trust me.
@@christianbell8347 why so pessimistic?
@@ogAlacath because I'm cool as hell. And right.
You forgot clipping out of bounds in Lund’s hut filled with skeevers leads to terrain with a daedric book
FOR ANYYONE WHO COUTNTED THE NOT SO 700 STEPS , its not steps of rise its steps you take, or the stones placed if you count the stepping stones including the approximated ones under the snmow there are placed 7000 actuall pieces of stone , and yes it took me nearrly a year
Skyrim in-game is scaled down from the actual size lorewise, vertically and horizontally. Otherwise it would take you multiple days to run across the map instead of just 1 hour. In the lore it's actually 7000 steps.
My theory of the mysterious friend is the ebony warrior. He needs you to become more powerful in order to fight him
It's Paarthurnax
How does he write then 😂@@StacieMMeier
The anonymous friend could be the Ebony Warrior. He doesn’t show up until late game when you’re really powerful, and with his motives, it would make sense that he would want you to get stronger
Soul gems are NOT scattered among all homes. There are only 2 soul gems in the village. Shrines do not need to be present to be blessed by the gods. Rorikstead is a very nuanced topic. To just glance over it in a couple of minutes does not do it justice. I suggest Camelworks video on this topic because his research is much more extensive and he puts a lot more effort into exploring all aspects of the topic to ensure he is passing on correct information.
The idea of Hermaeus Mora sending letters to his friends just cracks me up for some reason
Why are you using @camelworks footage?
Where do you find the background videos you use in your videos or do you record them yourself in-game?
Pretty sure the "friend" from the letters is one of the Greybeards. If you kill Parthanax, the letters stop coming.
I think the letters from a friend author is The Ebony Warrior. Strengthening you for a final battle.
Who here in 2024??😭
Me.
Meee lol 🙋♀️🙋♀️
Literally everyone watching this video lol
This Guy!
Since rorikstead is much older than rorik the theory that the village is named after him is not correct.
The village is mentioned in the song about Ragnar the red and is listed as roriks steading in the first era.
The book on farengar's table is further proof of that
When deadric worship is involved, Rorik could be far older then he claims.
With the unknown friend, I'm surprised you didn't mention the one graybeard who has a paper and quill in his pocket, which the others don't, if I recall correctly. I always figure it's that dude.
(( ... and that the courier didn't press for a name bc he was EXTREMELY terrified of _hearing_ an answer :'D. When a graybeard wants to stay anonymous you best let him ! ))
My Xbox 360 has recently stopped allowing me to play Skyrim.
Possibly because of glitch that I used to often in Whiterun, where you can climb onto a barrel then over the wall by the gates. Doing that allows you to run around the outside of Whiterun and get under the Skyforge and raid a chest.
The worst thing is my character was at level two hundred forty three and I had only just killed Parthurnax.
I feel like a lot of mysterious things are just caused by Bethesda not fleshing things out.
That’s it in nutshell suspend thy disbelief
Herma Mora is definitely the friend.
makes absolutely no chronological sense
@@Pwnopolishe has a following and could force them to write the letters I guess.
Is he though? I think it's just a thing the devs added without any further lore behind it in order to motivate players to go look out for more word walls. But let's assume there would be an actual friend, I don't think it's either Delphine or Hermie, because as you can see they have no problem revealing themselves to you. And neither of them mentions these letters. Whoever this friend would be, it's someone who doesn't want you to know it's them. Otherwise, why not tell you about the letters or sign them with their actual name?
I still love this game. Great video!
theory makes even more sense seeing as the woman who runs the mill has a bear problem so maybe that guy is a werebear and maybe he causes the problems and not well real bears
4:26 that is an interesting theory about the murder.
Esbern make more sense. Mora wasn't part of the initial game design aside from his artifact quest.
Hermaeus Mora being the entity behind the letters from a friend makes the most sense from a real life perspective. It was likely a hint towards the Dragonborn DLC, which is obvious is hindsight.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the term "Lycanthropy" is used to describe turning into a wolf or wolf-like creature exclusively. There is a different term used for people who turn into other creatures, like bears. Unfortunately, I cannot remember what the term is.
Werebear is "man-bear" just like werewolf is "man-wolf". Skin-changer is a common term for anyone who can turn into an animal, though usually it implies a voluntary transformation, not a curse like lycantrophy. For example, a man turning into a wolf by putting on either a magical salve or an enchanted wolf skin.
In Hobbit Beorn(and his kin) was a skin-changer who could turn into a bear simply by willing it, but no explanation is given why, he is simply a northerner style hero similar to Beowulf.
The term Lycsnthropy does actually include all types of were-creatures, and not just werewolves. The term is way bigger and way broader than people first think. As someone who reads everything about all types of were-beasts, because i'm that guy who does that, i csn safely say that lycanthropy is a term where all were-beasts are included. There's even a book in Skyrim that you cdn read, that explains it all. Werewolves and other Lycanthropes is the name, if i'm not mistaken. It's one reason we know about werebears and werewolves.
The more generic term for a person who can turn into an animal or a person/animal hybrid is therianthrope. From the Greek "therion" for "wild animal" or "beast".
@@AnalystPrimeshapeshifter is more common term for what you're describing
@@ВікторКушнір-й8о Yes and no, shapeshifter/changer or metamorph includes doppelgangers, T-1000 terminators, vampires, Cybertronians and others. Weres and skinwalkers generally transform into only one specific animal.
Also, many stories of skin-changers specifically describe how the being is either a human putting on an animal skin or an animal able to take it off, and would lose the ability if their "cloak" is stolen.
This is the first video of yours I've seen and I'm subbing for the voice
Thought, rather than mentioning stuff about Rorikstead that isn't a mystery, for the reasons you said, that you would bring up the real mystery: the fact that Rorikstead is mentioned in writings from decades before Rorik was even born, despite him being the founder.
The term mystery is really to put it lightly at this point. Who knows, maybe Todd Howard will tell us in the Elder Scrolls 6.
Lolwut! Narfi is a werebear and Wilhelm too! You would need an elder scroll to warp this factually false statement into an even remote possibility
3:29 This letter from Maven to Astrid.. It seems to me it was and is about that random assassin who goes after the player and has that note on them about someone wanting “this poor fool dead” or something to that extent. I believe, we, the player are of 90% likely hood the one Maven wants dead and Astrid failed to kill- of course.
Skyrim turned 12, not 13. It was released in 2011.
Before you join the Dark Brotherhood, sometimes on the roads you will come accross an assassin as a random encounter and if you defrat them, you can loot a note off of them that is signd "M". I always thought that the M stood for Maven.
In Kagrenzal, I believe bandits are killed because they're evil, while the player is spared and dispensed with intact because he is (supposedly) good.
Great video! Also, I wish I had your voice😁
The friend is the grey beards have none of you pissed them off if you kill there dragon the letters stop coming
There's a shrine to Akatosh north of Rorikstead on the hill it has dragon scales on it
The biggest mystery is.....
Do you want to play tag!!!😁👍
7:30 also on top of this the letters will still be sent to you even if she’s forced her ultimatum on you to kill paarthanaux and I doubt she’d still send them if that were the case
Could you do an Elder Scrolls 4 Obilivon list?
I very deliberately avoid getting known for as long as possible. I just run around all over the map discovering locations.
I have no friends. I have no enemies.
Why is someone sending the Dark Brotherhood sfter me? Who even knows me?
.
The midden is full of daedric stuff.
The Augur knows that the thirst for knowledge is a mage's greatest ambition, and he seems to feel that it's a mages greatest downfall, too.
I suspect that the Augur didn't have an experiment go awry so much as he got wrecked in a deal with a daedric lord. He wanted to be all knowing, all seeing. The name Augur itself is evidence of that. I think that since a mortal cannot be all knowing and all seeing, he got transformed into his current form.
.
While I'm at it, I think it's possible that the dwarves all got flung into the future much like Alduin did.
I think they might all return, too, and I think they're going to be mighty pissed off about how their cities have been plundered while they were gone.
My biggest question is why were there bones stuffed into columns in the Ancient Nord Ruins where we get the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, goes against everything on ancient Nord burial rituals
None of these were particularly new to me. I've been obsessed with this game for way to long...
⚠️content thief!!!⚠️ literally ripped straight from Camelworks’ video and slapped an AI voiceover on it. Despicable
Wrong on first count there is a Shrine of Akatosh on a hill with offerings.Suitable for a dragon god.Kagrenzal was probably gonna be an entrance to Blackreach but the game devs abandoned it.Gee,mysteriously someone wants the Dragonborn dead and hires The Dark Brotherhood,Maven has connections to The Empire and the DB and the Dragonborn is the only non-military witness to the strange secret execution attempt on Ulfric Stormcloak except for a child who lives now in a remote area with his grandfather and possibly a couple of wandering displaced farmers.There is no evidence Narfi is a werewolf or werebear,we do know his family are all dead,possibly under mysterious circumstances and Narfi is not exactly sane.I do not know who the friend is,but occasionally non-hostile dragons seem to spy on you.The only thing I can think is that Paarthurnax sent them and has somebody communicating to you.I agree Hermaeus Mora might be devious enough to be the letter writer as in your theory ,and letters and knowledge are his domain.No,some of the current staff knew the Augur of Dunlein as a person,only an elf could have been old enough to remember The Red Year.
Actually, whoever the mysterious friend is does not have to know the location of the Dragonborn to have a letter delivered to them. He just hands the letter over to the courier, who then goes to look "everywhere" for the recipient. All part of the job.
I’m sorry but no one can convince me the letter from a friend is anyone other than the ebony warrior. Listen I know even if you kill him if you haven’t learned every shout you still will get the letters but I believe it’s a bug. I think the way Bethesda intended was for you to complete all the shouts before level 81. It makes the most sense in my head. Letter from a friend. A fellow Dragonborn. The forgotten Hero. It makes sense
I would have to disagree with the Narfi one.
I always thought the letters from a friend could be coming from the Ebony Warrior. He has traveled Skyrim, has a similar shout ability, and wants someone strong enough to defeat him.
And the dead can’t send letters
The Blackbriar sacrement is place on the Dragonbourn. Early in the game after you escape Helgan you encounter a Dark Brotherhood assasin who attempts to off you. What is weird is you aren't told what crime or what reason you were picked up by the Imperials and why they want to put you to death. You just simply don't kill ppl if they play no part in political wars. You have to ask why the Dragonbourn was in that area of Skyrim or what business he had crossing the borders. Aulduins appearence at Helgan was no coincidence, he just happened to show up the moment of your execution. One would question if Aulduin was trying to kill you or perhaps save you. I doubt he was trying to kill the Dragonbourn because if that were the case he'd have simply let the headsmen do his job and that would have been that. I have had my suspicions that Maven Blackbriar was behind the Dragonbourn getting picked up by the Imperials. Did you know that Maven has connections to the Yarl of Morthal? The women who posses the ability to see past and future events? With Bethesda you really can't figure things out because so many quests in skyrim end as abruptly as they started leaving little understanding or reasoning behind the quest itself. I was quietly laughing to myself the other day that so many players gush over Serana as the perfect spouse yet stay quiet about the scorned and devoted Karliah who basically gets left in a cave after defeating Mercer and forgotten. Jenessa is her sister yet people never figured that out. Btw Jenessa makes the best wife and mother in Skyrim though you'd think she'd be a murderous sword for hire. Whats laughable are those who seek Aela the Huntresses hand in marriage yet she complains about the dangers out at player built houses meanwhile Jenessa praises your home and is very active with your adopted children. Aela a warrior princes who can wolf out afraid of spiders, giants and bandits? I came home and Jenessa was whooping butt on some bandits and a giant, meanwhile Aela runs away lol.
I always thought that friend's letters were from Delfine or maybe Miraak trying to make the DragonBorn a greater challenge.
watching your videos made me realize how I failed to explore all of skyrim.
Hermes mora would make sense if his quest line was part of the vanilla game, fie me the ebony warrior makes more sense, he's the only other non affiliated character that knows multiple dragon shouts, and has every reason to see you reach level 80 ( the vanilla games cap) and the moment the ebony warrior reveals himself!
I think the bandits killed each other trying to each get to the orb first.
The real mystery is why the college of winterhold has such incompetent professors.
@3:59 im pretty sure there's another theory that also makes perfect sense Maven may have a contract to kill the main character as that would explain the random assassination attempts on the player
Of course those are just part of Skyrim's random events but it's possible there's even a back story for a random event this game is very detailed
That Wilhelm theory’s is one hell of a stretch.
Kagrenzel i think has something to do with the skeletons you see in the walls if you open the local map while falling in it you see massive skeletons in the walls and you can see bones in the walls. Im pretty sure that was the specific ruin with them in it and thats the only dungeon with bones like that in the walls if im remembering correctly. So id hazard to guess it wasnt just for trapping people id say it was a disposal ground for snow whale carcasses. Snow whales are supposedly a creature that exists(ed) in skyrim at a point in time. All of this is to be taken with a grain of salt though but thats my theory on it its all michael Kirkbride writing so it could end up that snow whales arent canon but then what explains the skeletons?
I actually wonder if the "friend" is the Ebony warrior? Wanting you to get stronger so he has a good challenger to possibly send him off to Sovengaurd
The ebony warrior is the one leaving the notes and lit the torches to hurry your journey along lol
You get them after he is dead, so nope
"Maven has secrets that even she dares not reveal"
In other words, secrets?
Lol
For #3 I would dare to put that, Maven Black Brair wants the player dead,if you think of how ,at A certain point, the Dark Brotherhood sends Assasins after you and Maven's disdain,it seems A logical conclusion,it probably was meant to have more lore ,either way,try testing this,by making different decisions about her;remember,just because you may befriend Maven's family,it doesn't mean she will be friendly , after all,Maven knew about it (possibly even ordered it ) because she wanted that "family member" to learn A lesson..
Unlikely, you can get attacked from the very beginning and she wouldn’t even know we exist
Most of these can be "more likely than not" explained by Camelwotks videos. However, TheBlackRose youtuber has new intesting theory of the "Letter from a Friend"