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Skyrim:Easter Eggs

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This page is for Easter Eggs only. Easter Eggs include inside jokes, pop culture references, and any similar reference to something outside the Elder Scrolls games. For other points of interest, like unfinished quests, or references to other games in the Elder Scrolls series, please see the appropriate pages.

Easter Eggs are secrets that the developers put in the game to give people a laugh when they find them. Skyrim has a large number of such jokes. Easter Eggs differ from in-game references in that they have been intentionally hidden from the player and are unusual with regards to their surroundings.

Cultural References are objects, characters, or events in the game that refer to a specific element of popular culture; they differ from Easter Eggs in that they are usually integrated into the game world, and strong parallels can be drawn between the in-game event and the specific work being referenced. Cultural references also include allusions to elements of real-world culture, such as historical events and folklore.

If you think you have found an Easter Egg or reference, please post your idea on this article's talk page before adding it to this article.

Easter Eggs

Moving Statues

  • When entering Sovngarde during the main quest, several of the statues lining the stone steps that lead down from the portal to Skuldafn will rotate as you descend.

Aiming for the Bucket

  • A room in the main area of Fort Dunstad appears to be a latrine. In this room, on a stone shelf beside one of the "toilets" is a Potion of True Shot, a possible joke by the game's developers about aiming during urination.

The Lusty RieklingDB

  • In Benkongerike there is a riekling hut tucked away all by itself. It is full of dozens of copies of The Lusty Argonian Maid and multiple bundles of linen cloth. The Lusty Argonian Maid, a pornographic play, and the linen cloths, which are similar to tissues or any other device used to clean up a mess, are both closely associated with masturbation. There is also a telekinesis spell tome hidden under the books, and in Skyrim, telekinesis is used to make items come to you...

Cultural References

A-D F-L L-R S-W
Alice in Wonderland
Annie
Arthurian Lore
Azaran the Cruel
Castlevania
Celtic Mythology
Charon's Obol
Choose Your Own Adventure
Chris Kluwe
Cicero
CuSith and Garmr
Dungeons and Dragons
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
Fishy Stick
Galaxy Quest
Ghostbusters
Hangover
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Hunt the Wumpus
Icelandic Folklore
Indiana Jones
Interview with the Vampire
Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Legend of Zelda
Love Potion No. 9
Minecraft
The Mourning Bride
Norse Mythology
Novembers Doom
Number of the Beast
Pac-Man
Pied Piper of Hamelin
Poltergeist
The Princess Bride
Red Dwarf
Rocky IV
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Shawshank Redemption
Star Trek
Star Wars
Swedish Metal
The Retching Netch
The Sallow Regent
Three Billy Goats Gruff
William Shakespeare
William Blake
William Tell

Alice in Wonderland

Annie

  • During the quest Innocence Lost, when you enter the orphanage, you will hear Grelod the Kind shout at the children "What do you say?", to which they respond "We love you Grelod, thank you for your kindness!". This is very similar to the musical "Annie", in which the orphans were frequently asked "WHAT DO YOU SAY?" and the response was always "We love you Miss Hannigan."
SR-easter egg-Lady of the Lake.jpg

Arthurian Lore

Azaran the Cruel

  • The Word Wall for the third word of the Become Ethereal shout "Gron" contains a passage in the Dragon language, which when translated mentions the name "Azaran the Cruel". Azaran the Cruel is a character from the Thief series of video games, mentioned in the game Thief II. This is likely an intended reference when considering that the Bethesda video game designer Emil Pagliarulo notably worked on the Thief games before joining Bethesda in 2002.

CastlevaniaDG

What a horrible night to have a curse...

Celtic MythologyDG

Charon's Obol

Choose Your Own Adventure

Chris Kluwe

  • A character named Kluwe "who went by Loate when hiding his face" appears as a member of Ysgramor's Five Hundred Companions in the book Songs of the Return, Volume 7. This is a reference to ex-Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, who played World of Warcraft for several years as a troll rogue named Loate.

Cicero

  • In the Dark Brotherhood quest line, you will encounter an assassin named Cicero. This is likely a reference towards the Roman philosopher and statesman Cicero, who was a close friend of Cassius, one of the assassins of Caesar, and openly endorsed the assassination after it had passed.
  • Additionally, the historical Cicero continually opposed Rome's transition from Republic to Empire, and was an enemy of Caesar's eventual successor Marc Antony, regularly attacking him in speeches. He was proscribed as an enemy of the state by the authoritarian Second Triumvirate (which Marc Antony was a part of) and executed. This roughly mirrors the fate of in-game Cicero, who opposes the corruption of the Dark Brotherhood's traditional organization structure under the personalistic leadership of Astrid, who orders his death after he attacks her to "save" the Brotherhood.

CuSith and GarmrDG

Rahd's body next to Longhammer

Dungeons and Dragons

  • If you go back up the road from Riverwood to where you exited the cave after the prologue, there is a cave called Embershard Mine. This refers to the popular Dungeons and Dragons podcast that Mike Krahulik, Jerry Holkins, Scott Kurtz, and Wil Wheaton played in to showcase the new fourth edition of the game. In it, Scott Kurtz's character, Binwin Bronzebottom, refers to how his dwarven father stopped drinking because the Embershard family of dwarves stole their mine. A note found on a skeleton refers to the same, but with a Nordic, not dwarven, theme.
  • In the cave Liar's Retreat, you will find a Breton named Rahd, dead on an altar, who is referred to at one point as "Longhammer" (and carries a weapon by the same name). This is a reference to the 4th session of the D&D group Acquisitions Incorporated played by the members of Penny Arcade, PVP, and Wil Wheaton, in which Wheaton's character is rescued from hell along with an NPC named Rad Longhammer.

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser

  • In the Ratway, the first enemies you meet are a sneaky-looking fellow and a barbarian type called Drahff and Hewnon Black-Skeever. This references the adventures of Fritz Leiber's "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser". Drahff is an anagram of Fafhrd, "Black-Skeever" is a play on "Gray Mouser", and Hewnon is an anagram of Nehwon, the world in which Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser live.

Fishy Stick

  • When near Sheogorath, he will sometimes say "Do you mind? I'm busy doing the fishstick. It's a very delicate state of mind!" This is a reference to the Fishy Stick meme which began on Bethesda's Official Forums and went on to become a running gag in TES games.

Galaxy Quest

  • When you first enter the Frozen Hearth in Winterhold, the innkeeper will complain to Nelacar about conducting experiments at the inn—"Like some horrible monster was turned inside out, and then exploded."—a line very similar to one from the movie Galaxy Quest.

GhostbustersDG

  • While in the Soul Cairn, some souls will say "Death is but a door, time is but a window. I'll be back." These are the last words of Vigo the Carpathian, a character voiced by Max von Sydow, before his brutal death in Ghostbusters II.

Hangover

  • The quest A Night To Remember is an homage to the movie The Hangover. In the quest, you travel around Skyrim looking for your drinking buddy Sam and cleaning up all the problems you created while you were drunk.

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Hunt the Wumpus

  • The possible follower Belrand occasionally mentions a game he played as a child, "Seek the Wumpus", derived from the classic computer game Hunt the Wumpus.

Icelandic Folklore

  • The runic wheel on the second page of the Oghma Infinium is based on the Vegvísir, an Icelandic magical sigil circa 17th century.

Indiana Jones

Interview with the Vampire

  • In the Dark Brotherhood, there is a vampire named Babette. In Anne Rice's novel Interview with the Vampire, Babette is the protagonist's first love interest. The body of a young girl, however, is a reference to Claudia, the protagonist's "daughter", who was over 70 years old in the body of a 5 year old.
The Headless Horseman

Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Legend of Zelda

Love Potion No. 9

  • In the quest Salt for Arcadia, you will deliver frost salts to the alchemist Arcadia, who says she intends to use it to create a love elixir. This is a nod to the 1992 movie Love Potion No. 9, where the love potion at issue turned out to be concentrated salt.

Minecraft

  • At the top of the Throat of the World, you can find a Notched Pickaxe that provides a bonus to Smithing. The name (Notch is the nickname of the creator of Minecraft), the tool (the pickaxe is a commonly used tool in Minecraft), and the bonus (a major part of Minecraft is to create your own equipment) are all references to Minecraft.

The Mourning Bride

Norse Mythology

  • In the quest Promises to Keep, you are able to get a birth certificate mentioning Sleipnir, the great grandsire (grandfather) of Frost. Sleipnir is the eight-legged horse of Odin in Norse mythology. Frost's sire is Grane, another horse of Norse mythology (Grani in the myths). Grani is a descendant of Sleipnir, and is named by Sigurd due to Odin's advice. Frost's great damsire is Loka, which is possibly a reference to Loki the god, who was Sleipnir's mother.

Novembers DoomDG

  • Several of the souls in the Soul Cairn will say "I live in a dark world, where no light shines through. I carry this burden with every step I take." These are lyrics from the song Dark World Burden by death metal band Novembers Doom.
  • The souls may also say "Only those who have suffered long can find the light within the shadows", which are lyrics from The Pale Haunt Departure.

Number of the Beast

  • In the quest The Cure for Madness, Astrid's horse Shadowmere resurrects from a pool of murky water. When this happens, a journal entry reading "Behold Shadowmere" is presented. The relevant quest stage for this entry is 666 and is clearly referring to "the number of the beast", a common association in mainstream Satanism/demonism as well as in popular culture. It should be noted that quest stages can only be observed on the PC version through the console or Creation Kit.
Nom nom nom!

Pac-Man

Pied Piper of Hamelin

Poltergeist

  • In the quest The House of Horrors, when you become locked in the abandoned house in Markarth and the poltergeist activity starts, there are a load of chairs stacked in a precarious manner on a table. This is probably a reference to the famous scene in the 1982 movie Poltergeist, where the entities haunting the family's house do exactly the same thing.

The Princess Bride

  • During combat, Brynjolf may exclaim "So it's to the pain then!" This is a reference to Westley's famous threat to Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride.

Red Dwarf

  • In the quest The Mind of Madness, Pelagius' Confidence and Anger are manifest as actual beings fighting each other, and Paranoia is one section of Pelagius' mind that must be overcome. The conflict between Confidence and Anger is similar to an early episode of the British sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf, when during the episode "Confidence and Paranoia", Dave Lister contracts a mutated disease and his Confidence and Paranoia are made into human form as an effect of his illness, during which time they strive to undermine and eventually kill one another.

Rocky IV

  • A generic piece of dialogue sometimes uttered by male drunks and bandits during a fight is "Remember... hit the one in the middle!" This is the advice given by Paulie in Rocky IV to help Rocky overcome double vision, which can be caused by both drunkenness and head trauma.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Shawshank Redemption

Star Trek

SR-easter egg-Star Wars.jpg

Star Wars

Swedish Metal

  • During the quest Darkness Returns, you can recover Nystrom's journal, detailing a plot by two individuals to try and infiltrate the dungeon and its priests. The two are Nystrom and Anders, a reference to Anders Nystrom, guitarist and songwriter from Swedish metal band Katatonia.
    • The unknown phrases in the last paragraph ("He also mumbled some nonsensical phrases like 'night is the new day' and how he was the 'ghost of the sun.' I have no idea what these cryptic sentiments mean, but hopefully during tomorrow's ritual, Anders and I will put everything we've learned to the test.") are references to multiple Katatonia albums and songs—the most obvious being the album Night is the New Day and the song "Ghost of the Sun" from the album Viva Emptiness.
    • When completing this quest, you will jump into a hole. In the hole is a skeleton containing Anders's message.

The Retching NetchDB

  • When prompted, Geldis Sadri will tell the player the story of how his cornerclub, The Retching Netch, was named. This story is a reference to a similar story of a drunken outburst in the 1996 film Twister: "So he strolls up to the twister and says 'Have a drink!' and he chucks the bottle into the twister and it never hits the ground!"

The Sallow RegentDB

Three Billy Goats Gruff

William Shakespeare

  • Peryite, the Daedric Prince of plague and pestilence, has a shrine dedicated to him on a cliff in the wilderness of the Reach. In an alcove at the base of the cliff to the southeast, two corpses can be found with poisons and a dagger lying between them, a reference to William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (and to the famous line in Act 3, scene 1, 90–92).
  • The name of the quest Ill Met By Moonlight is directly taken from the line "Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.", spoken by the fairy king Oberon in Act 2 of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

William Blake

  • During the quest Unfathomable Depths, you will encounter a dead Argonian named Watches-The-Roots in Avanchnzel. In William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, one of the "Proverbs of Hell" states "The rat, the mouse, the fox, the rabbet; watch the roots; the lion, the tyger, the horse, the elephant, watch the fruits." In addition, the text of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell specifically deals with ancient and forbidden knowledge; the reward for the quest is a permanent bonus to smithing, titled "Ancient Knowledge". Blake describes hanging over a pit of spiders in his work said to be a vision of Hell, suggesting the skeleton over the pit in Avanchnzel with four spiders at the bottom may represent Blake.
SR-easter egg-William Tell.jpg

William Tell

  • In Swindler's Den is an archery training dummy with an apple perched on its "head", a nod to the famous story of William Tell, the master crossbowman who was forced to shoot an apple off his son's head.

See Also

  • M'aiq the Liar, the recurring character whose comments are references to events and features of the game (both new and removed), jokes, and Easter Eggs.
  • Skyrim-General Subforum — A place on the UESP forums where you can discuss Easter Eggs related to Skyrim