Despite being over 12 years old, Skyrim remains one of the most popular RPGs and continues to enjoy a massive player base. However, along with the epic quests and classic dialogue, there are more than a fair few bug and glitches. While some of these have been fixed by Bethesda over the years, there are still a surprising amount that remain, much to the annoyance and amusement of players.
At this point, many of Skyrim‘s bugs are seen more as beloved features, with most who still play the sprawling RPG aware of how to avoid the worst of them. However, while many of Skyrim‘s bugs and glitches can be funny, others can stop questlines from progressing or in some cases end a playthrough. Thankfully, Skyrim has a dedicated modding community and the Unofficial Skyrim Patch is available to fix most, although not all, of the issues listed here.
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10 Skyrim’s Introduction Scene
Bouncing Carts Aren’t As Fun As They Sound
Perhaps one of the more annoying bugs that can still hinder any new playthrough of Skyrim involves the game’s famous opening scene. As the title card fades in and the Dragonborn regains consciousness, Ralof will begin his opening chat to set the scene. However, this can all go terribly wrong as occasionally the carts transporting the group will start to misbehave, leaping around and sometimes sending the entire convoy flying down the mountain. Worse still, as this happens before the first save point, all that can be done is to restart and pray.
9 Giants Launching Characters Into The Air
At Least The View Is Good
One bug that many Dragonborn have long accepted as a way of life now in Skyrim involves the province’s mostly peaceful giant population. Should any adventurer get too close, these massive club-wielding giants are more than capable of defending themselves. However, sometimes in fights, it is possible for the giants to hit the Dragonborn so hard the character is launched into the air, where there is little to do but flail like a rag doll. What makes this glitch famous is the developers knew about this but left it in as they found it so hilarious.
8 Mercer Frey And Snow Veil Sanctum
Glitched NPC Will Halt Quest Progress
When progressing through the Thieves Guild questline the Dragonborn will eventually end up at Snow Veil Sanctum as part of “Speaking With Silence.” Here, the Dragonborn and guild leader Mercer Frey are meant to seek out what is causing the guild’s bad luck. However, sometimes Mercer will simply stop and stand there instead of opening the door to Snow Veil Sanctum, leaving players unable to progress the quest. Luckily, this can usually be solved by reloading a save or by gently nudging Mercer towards the door with Unrelenting Force.
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7 Invulnerable Miraak
A Hard Fight Becomes Impossible With This Bug
The fight with Miraak is the final boss fight at the end of the Dragonborn DLC questline where the Dragonborn must face off against the dragon priest. However, there is a bug where Miraak will become stuck in ethereal form during the fight, thus becoming invulnerable to all damage. This tends to occur if Miraak takes too much damage and is unable to heal himself using dragon souls, and the only solution seems to be restarting the fight.
6 Weapon Racks
Several Bugs Affect These Display Objects
Weapon racks are a great way to free up inventory space and decorate the Dovahkiin’s various homes. However, these handy objects are not without their fair share of bugs and glitches. One of the most common is weapons placed on the racks either becoming irretrievable or disappearing entirely. Other times, weapons placed on the racks will float next to them and there have even been cases of enchantments being stripped from weapons when placed on racks, too.
5 Finding Castle Volkihar Too Early
Discovering The Castle Too Soon Can Halt The Entire Questline
Exploring is one of the key aspects of Skyrim but those looking to complete the Dawnguard DLC main questline should take care not to get too close to Castle Volkihar when exploring the northern coastline. This is because there is a game-breaking bug that prevents the rest of the questline from progressing if the castle is discovered too soon. If the Dragonborn discovers the castle, enough to get the fast travel marker, before getting the quest to escort Serana home, the quest will become stuck as the castle gates will not open.
4 Brynjolf Being Too Busy To Talk
A Well-Known Glitch That Spoils The End Of The Guild Questline
After playing through an entire questline, there is nothing more frustrating than becoming stuck at the final hurdle, but that’s precisely what can happen during the Thieves Guild quest “Under New Management.” Here, the Dragonborn will need to speak to Brynjolf in order to take over as the new leader of the guild. However, Brynjolf will often glitch and repeatedly state that he’s too busy to talk, leaving the quest unfinished and blocking players from the achievement “One with the Shadows.”
3 Creatures Spawning Mid-Air
Miscalculated Loading Distances Cause Falling Creatures
Not all Skyrim glitches are game-ending; in fact, some of them are laugh-out-loud funny. One of the funniest is when the game miscalculates the distance from the approaching player when spawning creatures. This tends to result in the creatures appearing high in the air before plummeting down to the ground. Many Dragonborn have had to stop in their tracks as they watch mammoths, bears and sometimes bandits, rain down from the sky.
2 The Skyrim Civil War Questline
Whether Choosing Imperials Or Stormcloaks, The Bugs Don’t Discriminate
The Civil War questline in Skyrim is one that is still notoriously bug-filled, with quest givers Legate Rikke and Galmar Stone-Fist often not having the correct dialogue options for them to give out the next mission to the Dragonborn. Other times, enemy soldiers will not spawn during quests to reclaim forts or during the battle of Whiterun. However, one of the most annoying is General Tullius’ refusing to enter Windhelm, causing the final epic battle to glitch and become unending.
1 Blood On The Ice
Walkthroughs Are Usually Needed To Avoid The Many Glitches
Finally, there is a quest that is still so bug-filled that it has become infamous with Skyrim players. “Blood on the Ice” is a murder mystery in the city of Windhelm; however, with so many interconnecting parts, there are many things that can go wrong. Common bugs include the guard who initiates the quest dying prematurely, or other key NPCs disappearing. There are many walkthroughs for this quest alone to guide Dragonborns in a very specific order to avoid the worst of these bugs.
- Franchise
- The Elder Scrolls
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Xbox One , Microsoft Windows
- Released
- November 11, 2011
- Developer(s)
- Bethesda
