The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

About

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is the fifth game in The Elder Scrolls series created by Bethesda. The game was directed by Todd Howard and proved extremely successful, with several rereleases and ports to consoles after its initial 2011 release on Windows, the Playstation 3, and the Xbox 360. It has proven very popular in online culture as well, generating a large fanbase and spawning multiple memes.

History and Gameplay

Skyrim was released on November 11th, 2011 for Microsoft Windows, the Playstation 3, and the Xbox 360.^[1] In the game, the player takes the role of a character whose class and gender they can choose. However, the class system proved versatile, allowing players to experiment with different skills rather than be railroaded into one gameplay style early on. After completing the game's first mission, the land, known as Skyrim, is completely open for players to explore, meaning they can engage with or ignore the game's main quest as they please. The game also allows for players to explore and join various sects and groups in the game. Of note, the game heavily features dragons, and players can encounter and elect to fight dragons at different points in the game.

The game was developed after 2006's Oblivion and 2008's Fallout 3. The game was conceived as a spiritual successor to both Fallout 3 and previous Elder Scrolls games. The game was announced on December 11th, 2010 (first trailer shown below).

The game's success led it to being ported to the Playstation 4 and Xbox One in 2016. A port for the Nintendo Switch was released in 2017. A VR version for PC was released in April of 2018. Three pieces of downloadable content have been released for Skyrim as well.

Reception

The game was widely praised upon release. Critics praised the removal of the character class system and lauded the game's art style. The initial release received a score of 94/100 on Metacritic.^[2] It also sold extremely well. In 2016, Todd Howard confirmed the game had sold over 30 million copies since its initial release.

Online Presence

Online, Skyrim has a very large presence. Its subreddit^[3] has over 501,000 readers. On Facebook, the game has over 1.3 million likes.^[4] The game also has an extensive modding community.

Related Memes

Fus Ro Dah

Fus Ro Dah are the words used in a dragon shout that summons a powerful force from the speaker's throat in Skyrim. "Fus Ro Dah" are the words for the "unrelenting force" thu'um shout in the game. After reaching the first town of Whiterun, the player must defeat a dragon that poses a threat to the town. Once the dragon has been killed, the player absorbs its soul and discovers he is a rare chosen hero known as a "Dragon-Born" who is blessed with the ability to perform various powerful shouts. "Fus" is the first shout the player learns of the 24 that can be discovered in the game. It fires a shock-wave of force energy that stuns and pushes enemies. After visiting the Gray Beards at High Hrothgar, the player learns the more powerful shout "Fus Ro Dah" that can be translated as "force balance push."

I Took an Arrow to the Knee

I Took an Arrow in the Knee is a memorable quote from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. An often repeated stock line throughout the game, it went on to inspire the snowclone "I used to X, then I took an arrow to the knee."

Like Skyrim With Guns

Like Skyrim With Guns is a memorable quote by Adam Kovic of the Machinima YouTube channel comparing the open world first-person shooter game Far Cry 3 with the The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim which was widely mocked by the online gaming community.

At the Gamescom conference in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany held in August 2012, Machinima host Adam Kovic interviewed Far Cry 3 producer Dan Hay, saying the game was "like Skyrim with guns."

Adam Kovic: I didn't realize what you guys were demoing and it's open world… and I've already told you this, but it feels like Skyrim with guns.

On November 13th, IGN Forums member Shaggy_Drew posted a thread questioning why the Machinima quote "Like Skyrim with guns" was featured in advertisements for the game Far Cry 3 (shown below). On November 29th, the game developer Ubisoft released Far Cry 3 for the Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms.

On November 30th, Machinima's Adam Kovic posted a video defending his "Skyrim with guns" quote (shown below). In the first two years, the video garnered upwards of 190,000 views and 2,100 comments.

On December 6th, Redditor ronasd4 submitted a promotional image for the 2008 roleplaying game Fallout 3 titled "This is the original 'Skyrim With Guns'" to the /r/gaming subreddit (shown below, left). On December 12th, 2012, redditor "thedz" submitted a screenshot of a Far Cry 3 character walking up the side of a mountain titled "Wow, Far Cry 3 really IS Skyrim With Guns" to the r/gaming^[2] subreddit (shown below, right).

Quicksaving

Quicksaving refers to the practice of a a video game feature that allows players to save their progress with a single keystroke or command as oppose to going to specified saving zone, checkpoint, or options menu. Moreover, the ability to quicksave enables the player to repeatedly attempt something difficult from the same point. Online, people use "Quicksave" as a catchphrase to express that a dangerous and/or ill-advised action is about to take place. _Skyrim_'s quicksaving feature saw use in memes starting in 2017. On April April 17th, 2017, Redditor CuteBabyPeguin posted a screenshot from the video game Skyrim (shown below) to the /r/Gaming subreddit. The image received more than 72,000 points (89% upvoted) and 1,400 comments.

That day, Redditor Fish_Grillson posted a picture (shown below) to the /r/dankmemes subreddit in the thread "2meta2fast." The photo of a teenage boy above the Skyrim "quicksaving" chyron and under "when the teacher roasts you but she doesn't know you got an M9 in your backpack" received more than 2,900 points (97% upvoted) and 20 comments.

The school shooter picture appeared again that day on the /r/MemeEconomy subreddit. Redditor lukeM22 submitted
the picture (shown left) in the thread "'Quicksave' memes on the rise!!! Buy buy buy!!! lukem22's post received more than 5,900 points (91% upvoted). The meme adds the "Quicksaving" status bar to another meme from a post by Whitepeopleonly (shown right) on iFunny.co.

You Cannot Fast Travel

You Cannot Fast Travel When Enemies Are Nearby is a notification message displayed in the game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim whenever a player attempts to use the fast travel ability when hostile non-player characters are in the immediate vicinity. On December 15th, 2015, Twitter user @VGFGamers posted an "I Will Find You and I Will Kill You" image macro accompanied by the "you cannot fast travel" caption (shown below, left). On June 22nd, 2016, Redditor Death_Machine_ posted a photoshopped picture of Spongegar in a Skyrim scene with the caption "You cannot fast travel when enemies are nearby" (shown below). Prior to being archived, the post gained over 5,400 points (93% upvoted) on /r/BikiniBottomTwitter.

Khajiit Has Wares

Khajiit has wares, if you have coin is a memetic line of dialogue from the 2011 video game, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The meme seems to have spread due to the highly exploitable nature of the line combined with the stereotypes of the Khajiit race.

The line is often spoken by the non-player Khajiit named Ma'jhad, who is part of a merchant caravan and fence for the Thieves' Guild, when approached by the player. Due to the travel pattern of the caravan, this encounter will often take place early in the game as the player approaches the city of Whiterun, and was many first-time players' encounter with Khajiit.

Internet users have been seen photographing their own cats in situations where they resemble Khajiit merchants and captioning image macros with the line. Additionally 'shitpost' threads are often spotted on places like GameFAQs where the original post or thread title is merely the line in question recanted. Google search for 'Khajiit has wares' produces over 67,000 results at time of writing.

Skyrim Skill Tree

Skyrim Skill Tree refers to photoshopped reaction images in which a headline about a person doing something is paired with a screenshot of a corresponding skill from the leveling-up system on Skyrim, demonstrating that person's proficiency in said skill. In Skyrim , when a player has enough experience points, they can level up by entering a skill tree system, wherein they spend their experience points on improving a certain skill. On June 18th, 2017, /r/dankmemes user Autistic_Spinning posted the first template, in which a video of an escaped prisoner convincing a police officer he was out jogging is paired with "Speech: 100" (shown below). The post gained over 21,300 points.

Skyrim Vore

Skyrim Vore refers to a series of vore-themed Skyrim gameplay videos on YouTube which are generally created using the Devourment game mod, allowing players to consume non-player characters in-game (NPCs). The mod is most popular on YouTube, where the first play of the mod uploaded to YouTube was posted November 26th, 2013, gaining over 18,000 views (shown below).

Over the following years, dozens more videos of the mod were posted to YouTube. Two users in particular uploaded many of the most popular playthroughs of the mod. YouTuber Forgetful Hatter uploaded some of the most watched. For example, one of his most popular uploads has gained over 175,000 views (shown below, left). Another popular uploader is Serenity, whose most popular upload has over 70,000 views (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References