If anyone needed to be convinced of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim‘s near-infinite replay value, one player’s screenshot of an enemy Necromancer “catching” an arrow in their teeth just might do the trick. This funny user-generated moment can be added to the massive heap of entertaining, bizarre, and baffling interactions that gamers at large have experienced while exploring Skyrim‘s vast open world.
For a game that is approaching its twelfth birthday, Skyrim is surprisingly still full of secrets to uncover. The game has one of the largest maps of any RPG, and players can enter just about any building, cavern, or magic portal that they come across. Whether a player is exploring these interiors or the lush overworld, there is no shortage of collectibles, bits of lore, and other interactive experiences to be found. Not everything is a docile and relaxed time in Skyrim, however, as the world is teeming with monsters, feral animals, demons, and other antagonistic forces ready to take the user down or, in the case of Skyrim‘s many player-throwing giants, launch them a mile into the sky. Luckily, gamers can make use of various magic spells and weaponry to neutralize these enemies.
As spotted by Game Rant, Skyrim player and Redditor Ebony_Phoenix has utilized one of these offensive options in a unique, hilarious way. Ebony_Phoenix shared a series of screenshots to the Skyrim subreddit that feature a Necromancer – one of the game’s many humanoid enemies – with a loose arrow stuck horizontally through their mouth. Because of the position of the arrow and the neutral expression on the NPC’s face, this gives the impression that they intentionally caught the arrow between their teeth as some sort of daredevil-ish party trick.
See the full image gallery on Reddit here.
Of course, this unforgettable Skyrim NPC is not, as it might appear, a one-in-a-million stuntman hidden within Bethesda’s 2011 masterpiece. Instead, it is far more likely that Ebony_Phoenix simply pulled off an impressive and accurate shot with their bow and arrow and managed to screenshot the moment that it pierced the Necromancer’s face. Regardless, it is certainly impressive that the game’s arrow collision is so robust and particular that these sorts of goofy screenshots are possible.
Even just the fact that these images were shared says something about Skyrim as a whole. Although the game is over a decade old and is, in many ways, outdated, it seems like fans are still regularly uncovering new moments, secrets, and observations, even after hundreds of hours of gameplay. While this replay value might not be an adequate replacement for the currently-in-development Elder Scrolls 6, moments like this will likely continue to satiate a number of Skyrim fans in the meantime.
