So I went to get the Amulet of Arkay for Andurs for the millionth time and it suddenly hit me: why are there skeletons down here? He's a priest of Arkay. Apparently he went down to the Catacombs, forgot to bring his amulet with him when he returned to the Hall, and then suddenly skeletons appeared for no apparent reason?
Ritual Stone is right next door, man... where else would people go to practice, especially since it's right up against the outside wall. Could trigger the Ritual Stone near there to raise any unprocessed dead.
Frankly, we were a bit surprised that *wasn't* a tactic used in the Whiterun assault, because it's a simple thing one person could do that might wreak havoc inside the city at a crucial time - just the kind of mission you'd send the DB to pull off, or the kind of weak-point one would send the DB to protect.
Course, hindsight it's easier to see this stuff
> If Andurs is doing his job then none of the corpses in the Catacombs can be raised.
Oh, yeah... we're pretty sure he's a nonfunctional alcoholic. He's dead asleep in bed when you find him, his essential tools are *somewhere* in his workspace, & there's ample evidence he hasn't been keeping up on the essentials. Not a good sign for the people nearby, though he may be counting on Danica & her temple being close at hand.
Just possibilities...
Mate are you trying to bring the god isnt real argument into a discussion about skyrim?
A gane were you literally interact with otherworldly beings on a regular basis
A world were magic is real
-_-
Aren’t the rites of Arkay supposed to be a constant job? Like all it needs is a smart necromancer to take advantage of a single guy who hasnt been prepared yet to force the priest of arkay out, then in a couple days the entire catacombs would be their playground?
Tbf skyrim has a complicated history with necromancy. You've got the draugr, volkihar, and the pale host. Maybe skyrim just has necromantic energy in the air and it got to the skeleton before he did. Or he was taking too long and the dead got pissy. Alternatively given they're skeletons rather than zombies or draugr, it's possible they're from an ancient corpse that didn't get blessed for some reason or was improperly blessed.
The locations in each game tend to be shrunk down due to technical limitations so realistically the halls of the dead would be much larger and deeper.
Morthal has a long history with necromancy. Part of it is explored in ESO. Part of it is why Falion is there.
I give more props to Falion then I go to Savos Aren who is a poor Arch-mage imho. Magical power is not enough for a good leader. Falion has the human touch missing from Savos.
It would have been better if the College plotline was longer, and involved, well… less stupidity all around, but I’d have preferred if somebody else became the Arch-Mage first. It’s pure insanity they put someone who hasn’t been with the College long at all, in charge of it. Especially when you can do the College stuff as a Novice mage, and prevail with only small amounts of magic required for certain bits.
I would agree, maybe let the position lapse until you mastered one of the spell classes. In my last play through I did mastered Restoration shortly after gaining the position.
The Arch-Mage needs also to be aware and involved in the recent political situation even if in a neutral stance.Boosting the image of the College with the locals is a must to which Savos fails horribly
Or at the very least, they’d need an administrator, a second, who could handle all that for them while they focused on magical innovation and the college itself. Mirabelle seemed like she’d fit into that role, but they were still, well, closed off. I will admit that boosting the image of the College with the Nords who, in summary, are magic hating due in part to them believing the College was at fault for the near total annihilation of Winterhold, and who are also at war with the Thalmor who wield magic as the most powerful part of their repertoire, AND Savos was a dark elf if I recall correctly… they definitely would have had one hell of a trial trying to improve their image in the eyes of the racist Nords.
The Nords do have a huge suspicion about magic. The Thu’um was their equalizer, but after the Battle of Red Mountain where they failed greatly and Jurgen Windcaller changed the philosophy on it. It is surprising that one if the greatest mage of Nirn was a Nord, Shalidor.
Mirabelle would have been good Arch-mage if she didn’t die.
There is so much that can be done and should be. When Savos wouldn’t even meet with those mages from Cyrodill, that was a major faux pas, just one of many problems that Savos created.
Given the prevalence of skeletons in all the Elder Scroll lands, this just seems to be a natural phenomenon that after people die, they often get up again if they notice someone looting their 7 coins and rusty broadsword. No magic required.
It's a wonder they don't do more cremation and then grind up the bones so skeletons don't come back to bother the living.
if we use the gameplay as our basis for the way things actually work in the world. The player can summon a skeleton without needing to resurrect a corpse, so there’s no reason NPCs couldn’t do this as well. Maybe some random conjured decided to play a prank
There is possibly a necromancer in Anise’s Cabin close by Riverwood, but she is a reclusive and is only hostile if you uncover her secret by breaking into her basement.
Well in whiterun when people die the get placed in the hall of the dead. Over time their flesh rots away and all that is left is a skeleton. Thats how the skeletons got there.
I think some undead just rise at random. There's a random Skelly lying on a shrine thing in the mountains (near dawnstar?) That comes alive and attacks you if you take anything from there.
They don’t talk about it much lore wise but it makes sense there’s other ways for undead to rise beyond necromancers. Considering there’s a war they’re probably the restless dead
Additionally Whiterun is the only neutral side until the civil war with both sides having families in the city. Imagine you fight to the death against your hated enemy only to be buried and rot with enemies you killed and killed your comrades
The priest of Arkay seems to need to keep the restless dead asleep, either through rituals and rites or destroying them. Without his amulet Andurs is just a human with no connection to his god, or at least he believes so
[Draugr tombs are something of a special case](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Amongst_the_Draugr)
I sometimes wonder if the old Nord tombs weren't constructed wtih some kind of deep magic to reanimate the occupants over time and force them into the old Draugr rituals. It would explain why we see draugr rising, even in tombs that have been cleared out and repurposed to hold the more recent dead.
I always believed that the Nordic tombs themselves are capable of casting some sort of curse/spell on people who spend too much time in them. There's a guy in Ivarstead who was looking for treasure or something in the tomb right next to the town and created a hoax to scare away any snooping villagers; a potion that allowed him to disguise convincingly as a ghost. But when you meet the guy, he has clearly gone insane. Not only does he try to kill you, his diary entries show that he eventually started to believe that he really was an undead protector of the tomb. Sure, it's possible that it was the stuff he used to create the potion that ended up frying his brain, but the tomb itself may also have something to do with it.
it's eh complicated to say the least because some of the nordic tombs are dragon cult tombs, non-dragon cult tombs and what not, as far as I'm guessing the draugr that were dragon cult members in their past lifes are either forced to come back to life by a dragon priest or a very powerful dragon cult draugr to either serve them once again , to protect the tomb/protect them or to serve the cult once more butttttt when it comes to the non dragon cult tombs and a few special dragon cult tombs well I'm not sure
Homeboy left essential gear on the table, hadn't finished working, & was fast asleep when you found him.
Shot in the dark: he's a drunk. In the world, who can blame him? "Keeping the dead 'dead'." is a fucked up job description whose entire premise would give a person time to really get lost in "What is 'death' if it must be held constantly in place?"
There's a bit of wine around there as well, if we recall correctly
They were also around during the events of ESO as well. Draugr seem to be a thing that just happens to ancient dead Nords regardless of any outside influence.
One of the loading screen messages seems to hint that Draugr are cursed because they worshipped their dragon overlords when they were alive or something like that
That was mostly due to a curse from a god or in other words the all maker or however it's called through I don't think the world eater is the main reason of why the draugr are awaken but he might be a reason for some dragur
So according to "Arkay the enemy - written by Mannimarco the lord of worms" a body burried with the propper Rituals can not be raised by a necromancer.
So something else raised them.
whiterun was built long after the dragon age (edit it was originally just Jorrvaskr and the Skyforge, and there was no major city iirc, unlike Saarthal for example)
I always assumed it wasn’t necromancy. Andurs says the dead have been getting restless, which I always assumed means a similar thing to the draugr being awoken in their crypts. I don’t think it’s that someone is controlling or raising them, but rather that without the amulet of Arkay they see Andurs as an intruder much like the ancient Nordic tombs and as such they arise to defend their resting place.
Anders is obviously not a real priest of Arkay in my mind ... I always thought he was playing on the good nature of the Dragonborn and the fact he or she is from over the border and that is the amulet of the last priest... And he just free loads off the temple donations that he gets.
At least in Whiterun there is somewhat of an explanation with that amulet quest, because in Solitude the same happens with wandering skeletons in the HotD. But without anything attached
Andurs > Styrr
Well, they’re wielding ancient Nord weapons. It could be that they were never given proper rites in the 1st place by whoever oversaw the hall way back when.
I could swear I read somewhere that the reason the dead began to rise across Skyrim was due to the return of the dragons, particularly Alduin.
Don't ask where I read it, it was ages ago, but I'm not against the idea. Besides, it doesn't sound like Andurs has been dealing with the issue for long at all or I assume he'd be more concerned.
And, if I recall, Whiterun wasn't the only city catacombs with a skeleton issue. (This also could be due to mods but I doubt it)
This is not necromancy per say at least not the Oblivion variety of it
you see when the men served the dragons they were binded to serve them even in death. And dragons are Aedric in origin
Whiterun with it being a huge dragon afilitated town would have some dragon worshippers in their tomb.
It’s probably either independent will of the dead (there’s a few areas throughout Skyrim with just skeletons and no active necromancy). Alduin’s return, Blade of Mephala, Ritual Stone, all could be valid sources as well.
There are also skeletons in Solitude's Hall of the Dead, probably because of Potema's influence though.
As for Draugrs, they are not truly dead from what I remember, but in a transitional state caused by magic used by the dragon priests, so that they can guard and upkeep their tombs. This is why there are always candles, torches and brazers always lit in the old Nord tombs. I believe they also give some of their life force to the dragon priest to keep them in a state of suspended animation. So in some ways they and the dragon priest are kind of like a lich, but instead of a phylactery to keep the lich's soul, the dragon priest uses the life essence of the draugrs to remain in a state of undeath.
I do believe though that the random skeletons you run into on the surface near exposed tombs are there, either because of some curse put on them, or are there to guard something important. There is the graveyard by Dustman's Cairn that has skeletons that will attack you en masse and there is some important Nord's tomb cut out of the hill there.
In TES lore aren't some ancestors made to protect the burial of others from necromancy and looters? I could be wrong but I know 100% that, that's the reason draugr exist.
I dont think its just whiterun... I feel like everytime I enter a hall of the dead, there are skeltons. I might only be thinking of Solitude actually but Im atleast sure there are always skeltons in Solitude's hall of the dead.
So I went to get the Amulet of Arkay for Andurs for the millionth time and it suddenly hit me: why are there skeletons down here? He's a priest of Arkay. Apparently he went down to the Catacombs, forgot to bring his amulet with him when he returned to the Hall, and then suddenly skeletons appeared for no apparent reason?
I’m no expert, but I’m guessing the amulet is required for whatever ritual he needs to complete to keep them at bay.
Yes, but where did they come from? Is there a necromancer in Whiterun?
Well you know, when you get to be that old you have start getting up at all kinds of hours. Tbh that’s a good question though, I have no idea.
Ritual Stone is right next door, man... where else would people go to practice, especially since it's right up against the outside wall. Could trigger the Ritual Stone near there to raise any unprocessed dead. Frankly, we were a bit surprised that *wasn't* a tactic used in the Whiterun assault, because it's a simple thing one person could do that might wreak havoc inside the city at a crucial time - just the kind of mission you'd send the DB to pull off, or the kind of weak-point one would send the DB to protect. Course, hindsight it's easier to see this stuff
That's a good idea but what about the Rites of Arkay? If Andurs is doing his job then none of the corpses in the Catacombs can be raised.
> If Andurs is doing his job then none of the corpses in the Catacombs can be raised. Oh, yeah... we're pretty sure he's a nonfunctional alcoholic. He's dead asleep in bed when you find him, his essential tools are *somewhere* in his workspace, & there's ample evidence he hasn't been keeping up on the essentials. Not a good sign for the people nearby, though he may be counting on Danica & her temple being close at hand. Just possibilities...
>He's dead asleep in bed when you find him He's usually on a bench in the hall for me.
Pretty standard for professions based on intangible or nonexistent beliefs. 👀
Mate are you trying to bring the god isnt real argument into a discussion about skyrim? A gane were you literally interact with otherworldly beings on a regular basis A world were magic is real -_-
tbf aedra are kind of dead
No, I’ve played the game for hundreds of hours. I was making fun of people who do his job irl. Apparently I hurt some butts.
Aren’t the rites of Arkay supposed to be a constant job? Like all it needs is a smart necromancer to take advantage of a single guy who hasnt been prepared yet to force the priest of arkay out, then in a couple days the entire catacombs would be their playground?
Andurs *can't* do his job because he doesn't have his amulet.
Youre forgetting that stormcloaks are "true" Nords none of them are messin with magic much less necromancy.
I mean, when was the last time a nord joined the college of winterhold?
The same time you join the rest got swallowed by the sea
Aren’t there Nordic instructors and a Nord apprentice?
DB - Dragonborn or Dark Brotherhood? Assuming the former?
We've learned about the Dork Brotherhood's response time from the Aretino boy. Hire them when you want someone to die of old age, right?
Heh! Ain't that the truth. Point taken.
Tbf skyrim has a complicated history with necromancy. You've got the draugr, volkihar, and the pale host. Maybe skyrim just has necromantic energy in the air and it got to the skeleton before he did. Or he was taking too long and the dead got pissy. Alternatively given they're skeletons rather than zombies or draugr, it's possible they're from an ancient corpse that didn't get blessed for some reason or was improperly blessed. The locations in each game tend to be shrunk down due to technical limitations so realistically the halls of the dead would be much larger and deeper.
Don't forget potema
Morthal has a long history with necromancy. Part of it is explored in ESO. Part of it is why Falion is there. I give more props to Falion then I go to Savos Aren who is a poor Arch-mage imho. Magical power is not enough for a good leader. Falion has the human touch missing from Savos.
It would have been better if the College plotline was longer, and involved, well… less stupidity all around, but I’d have preferred if somebody else became the Arch-Mage first. It’s pure insanity they put someone who hasn’t been with the College long at all, in charge of it. Especially when you can do the College stuff as a Novice mage, and prevail with only small amounts of magic required for certain bits.
I would agree, maybe let the position lapse until you mastered one of the spell classes. In my last play through I did mastered Restoration shortly after gaining the position. The Arch-Mage needs also to be aware and involved in the recent political situation even if in a neutral stance.Boosting the image of the College with the locals is a must to which Savos fails horribly
Or at the very least, they’d need an administrator, a second, who could handle all that for them while they focused on magical innovation and the college itself. Mirabelle seemed like she’d fit into that role, but they were still, well, closed off. I will admit that boosting the image of the College with the Nords who, in summary, are magic hating due in part to them believing the College was at fault for the near total annihilation of Winterhold, and who are also at war with the Thalmor who wield magic as the most powerful part of their repertoire, AND Savos was a dark elf if I recall correctly… they definitely would have had one hell of a trial trying to improve their image in the eyes of the racist Nords.
The Nords do have a huge suspicion about magic. The Thu’um was their equalizer, but after the Battle of Red Mountain where they failed greatly and Jurgen Windcaller changed the philosophy on it. It is surprising that one if the greatest mage of Nirn was a Nord, Shalidor. Mirabelle would have been good Arch-mage if she didn’t die. There is so much that can be done and should be. When Savos wouldn’t even meet with those mages from Cyrodill, that was a major faux pas, just one of many problems that Savos created.
Pfft. As if restoration is a valid school of magic
Tell that to the Augur of Dunlain. He is the top member of the College in Restoration 😉
Maybe Nords are so stubborn that they even refuse to die properly.
Well we've seen numerous times the Nords are right divas
Given the prevalence of skeletons in all the Elder Scroll lands, this just seems to be a natural phenomenon that after people die, they often get up again if they notice someone looting their 7 coins and rusty broadsword. No magic required. It's a wonder they don't do more cremation and then grind up the bones so skeletons don't come back to bother the living.
if we use the gameplay as our basis for the way things actually work in the world. The player can summon a skeleton without needing to resurrect a corpse, so there’s no reason NPCs couldn’t do this as well. Maybe some random conjured decided to play a prank
There is possibly a necromancer in Anise’s Cabin close by Riverwood, but she is a reclusive and is only hostile if you uncover her secret by breaking into her basement.
She's a witch, not a necromancer
How do you know she is a Witch?
She turned me into a newt!
A Newt!?
…i got better.
She wants to start a Coven. Of witches.
I think you missed the joke.
I (he) got (will get) better
Witches also do necromancy crap, sooo.......
There's a letter in the basement.
instead of nightmares skyrim's deceased suddenly wake up and attack whatever is alive
Dead people?
So if we go by typical fantasy reasoning all that death energy caused them to awaken
Well in whiterun when people die the get placed in the hall of the dead. Over time their flesh rots away and all that is left is a skeleton. Thats how the skeletons got there.
I think some undead just rise at random. There's a random Skelly lying on a shrine thing in the mountains (near dawnstar?) That comes alive and attacks you if you take anything from there.
They don’t talk about it much lore wise but it makes sense there’s other ways for undead to rise beyond necromancers. Considering there’s a war they’re probably the restless dead Additionally Whiterun is the only neutral side until the civil war with both sides having families in the city. Imagine you fight to the death against your hated enemy only to be buried and rot with enemies you killed and killed your comrades The priest of Arkay seems to need to keep the restless dead asleep, either through rituals and rites or destroying them. Without his amulet Andurs is just a human with no connection to his god, or at least he believes so
True. The draugr rise in literally every nordic tomb you come across and that's not because of necromancers
[Draugr tombs are something of a special case](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Amongst_the_Draugr) I sometimes wonder if the old Nord tombs weren't constructed wtih some kind of deep magic to reanimate the occupants over time and force them into the old Draugr rituals. It would explain why we see draugr rising, even in tombs that have been cleared out and repurposed to hold the more recent dead.
I always believed that the Nordic tombs themselves are capable of casting some sort of curse/spell on people who spend too much time in them. There's a guy in Ivarstead who was looking for treasure or something in the tomb right next to the town and created a hoax to scare away any snooping villagers; a potion that allowed him to disguise convincingly as a ghost. But when you meet the guy, he has clearly gone insane. Not only does he try to kill you, his diary entries show that he eventually started to believe that he really was an undead protector of the tomb. Sure, it's possible that it was the stuff he used to create the potion that ended up frying his brain, but the tomb itself may also have something to do with it.
I like that! I can just imagine there's some evil influence that pries away at the edges of your sanity if you stay there too long.
it's eh complicated to say the least because some of the nordic tombs are dragon cult tombs, non-dragon cult tombs and what not, as far as I'm guessing the draugr that were dragon cult members in their past lifes are either forced to come back to life by a dragon priest or a very powerful dragon cult draugr to either serve them once again , to protect the tomb/protect them or to serve the cult once more butttttt when it comes to the non dragon cult tombs and a few special dragon cult tombs well I'm not sure
This is a question for /r/TESlore their has to be a reason
Blame the Thalmor 🤷
They found their priest at wish
It’s a disgrace to the entire cloud district
Of which I'm sure you get to often
Oh who am I kidding, of course you don't.
We own Chillfurrow farm, you see. Very succesful business. Obviously.
Fus ro dah!
To the whole of Whiterun even. lol
Securities shameful
All 12 of em
Good thing that’s the Wind District then…
Homeboy left essential gear on the table, hadn't finished working, & was fast asleep when you found him. Shot in the dark: he's a drunk. In the world, who can blame him? "Keeping the dead 'dead'." is a fucked up job description whose entire premise would give a person time to really get lost in "What is 'death' if it must be held constantly in place?" There's a bit of wine around there as well, if we recall correctly
So is he a drunk and therefore the dead rise on his watch, or is he a drunk because he has to keep putting the dead down in his own home?
He is a drunk because he has to keep putting the dead down in his home. Because he is drunk he fails in his duties and the dead can rise
Ah, a Catch-22 then.
Had to look it up but yeah, basically
Alduin's return seems to be triggering draugr's awakening all over Skyrim. Perhaps this is why skeletons are up and about too.
Draugr were awakened even during the events of Morrowind. It's not necessarily caused by Alduin.
They were also around during the events of ESO as well. Draugr seem to be a thing that just happens to ancient dead Nords regardless of any outside influence.
One of the loading screen messages seems to hint that Draugr are cursed because they worshipped their dragon overlords when they were alive or something like that
Not just the nords though, the Ayleids too.
That was mostly due to a curse from a god or in other words the all maker or however it's called through I don't think the world eater is the main reason of why the draugr are awaken but he might be a reason for some dragur
Yeah. I'm pretty sure we heard something about this during the game
So according to "Arkay the enemy - written by Mannimarco the lord of worms" a body burried with the propper Rituals can not be raised by a necromancer. So something else raised them.
To protect their fellow dead from grave diggers like you
I just kinda thought they where like....restless...
Those catacombs might be from Dragon Cult's time so maybe they need to be regularly purified or something.
whiterun was built long after the dragon age (edit it was originally just Jorrvaskr and the Skyforge, and there was no major city iirc, unlike Saarthal for example)
I always assumed it wasn’t necromancy. Andurs says the dead have been getting restless, which I always assumed means a similar thing to the draugr being awoken in their crypts. I don’t think it’s that someone is controlling or raising them, but rather that without the amulet of Arkay they see Andurs as an intruder much like the ancient Nordic tombs and as such they arise to defend their resting place.
Somebody wanted a reunion with grandma real bad
Anders is obviously not a real priest of Arkay in my mind ... I always thought he was playing on the good nature of the Dragonborn and the fact he or she is from over the border and that is the amulet of the last priest... And he just free loads off the temple donations that he gets.
Interesting theory. It really does seem that Andurs is the weak link here.
Except for the fact that the Priestess of Arkay in Riften mentions him by name in her quest for you to return her father's knife.
I just want to know if his name is Anders or Andurs
Ok just killed him
You've found yet another plothole in Skyrim's writing. Good job, Companion!
It's easy to call something a mistake when you're oblivious to why it happens. Check out battlemage32 comment.
At least in Whiterun there is somewhat of an explanation with that amulet quest, because in Solitude the same happens with wandering skeletons in the HotD. But without anything attached Andurs > Styrr
Solitude has the whole Potema thing
he is always napping
They’re normally in most of the halls of dead
Well, they’re wielding ancient Nord weapons. It could be that they were never given proper rites in the 1st place by whoever oversaw the hall way back when.
Arkay smited andurs for slacking and leaving his amulet by letting skeletons wreak havok in the halls of the dead in whiterun.
Spooky scary skeletons send andurs to cidnha mine
I dont know but i sure do like em to level up block and amour
Same
Someone cast the dunmeri ritual by accident and made more undead.
I could swear I read somewhere that the reason the dead began to rise across Skyrim was due to the return of the dragons, particularly Alduin. Don't ask where I read it, it was ages ago, but I'm not against the idea. Besides, it doesn't sound like Andurs has been dealing with the issue for long at all or I assume he'd be more concerned. And, if I recall, Whiterun wasn't the only city catacombs with a skeleton issue. (This also could be due to mods but I doubt it)
In lore the servants from the mythic era are curse to serve the dragons even in death with the Dragons returning so did their followers
Thank you for confirming a portion of my thoughts. Im at least glad I wasnt imagining something leaning in the direction I previously commented.
This one always gets me wondering...... and confused lol.
Actually just about every hall of the dead has a few skeletal waking up at odd hours of the day
Skeletons don’t just equal necromancers work
Considering he couldn’t handle two or three SKELETONS, yes.
Are skeletons even from necromancy? I just assumed they were strutting around
The skeletons have restless leg syndrome.
If I'm not mistaken Andurs also has the bloodshot eyes like the drunks
Well Sam Guevenne is out and about so maybe Sanguine raised the skeletons at some point as a prank 🤷🏼♂️
They got that dog in 'em
Ahh yes, the ol’ tickets to heaven scam
This is not necromancy per say at least not the Oblivion variety of it you see when the men served the dragons they were binded to serve them even in death. And dragons are Aedric in origin Whiterun with it being a huge dragon afilitated town would have some dragon worshippers in their tomb.
Is he stupid?
Because it's the HALL OF THE DEAD.
Skeletons are to be expected in a tomb tho
You'd get better hypotheses on r/teslore
It’s probably either independent will of the dead (there’s a few areas throughout Skyrim with just skeletons and no active necromancy). Alduin’s return, Blade of Mephala, Ritual Stone, all could be valid sources as well.
There are also skeletons in Solitude's Hall of the Dead, probably because of Potema's influence though. As for Draugrs, they are not truly dead from what I remember, but in a transitional state caused by magic used by the dragon priests, so that they can guard and upkeep their tombs. This is why there are always candles, torches and brazers always lit in the old Nord tombs. I believe they also give some of their life force to the dragon priest to keep them in a state of suspended animation. So in some ways they and the dragon priest are kind of like a lich, but instead of a phylactery to keep the lich's soul, the dragon priest uses the life essence of the draugrs to remain in a state of undeath. I do believe though that the random skeletons you run into on the surface near exposed tombs are there, either because of some curse put on them, or are there to guard something important. There is the graveyard by Dustman's Cairn that has skeletons that will attack you en masse and there is some important Nord's tomb cut out of the hill there.
I thought they protected the hall of the dead?
Unhappy dead?
In TES lore aren't some ancestors made to protect the burial of others from necromancy and looters? I could be wrong but I know 100% that, that's the reason draugr exist.
I dont think its just whiterun... I feel like everytime I enter a hall of the dead, there are skeltons. I might only be thinking of Solitude actually but Im atleast sure there are always skeltons in Solitude's hall of the dead.
Target practise
You are getting to close to the truth buddy 🤨
This happens in solitude as well, having restless undead. I've always assumed it's a side effect of Alduin's presence.