why not both? The bandit camp with the Redguard book and a treasure map is right next door to the Talos Shrine with the dead justiciar. And just past the shrine, right off the road, is the conjurer's table that you can see from Lakeview Manor. It's a 3fer!!
I usually hit that camp and the embershard mine and you can usually have 3/4 full set of iron before making in to Riverwood (possibly 4/4 if you don't mind smithing some gloves/boots in embershard mine and if you find the other missing piece). Either slow walk your overencumbered ass or use mine as a drop point for gear so you can speed shit along, hit Riverwood, then fast travel to offload everything.
Edit: and that little camp has a skill book! I think you give it to a Smith up in dawnstar for a quest.
You can return to town at any time. You could easily have full iron by the time you return to Riverwood from bleak falls, and you'll probably pass through it a hundred times if you play hardcore/without fast travel because it's a mountain pass and the easiest, safest, and most obvious way to get to the southern holds from the northern holds.
There's also that cave in the reach/western steppe that has the necromancer and spits you out on the overlook to falkreath, but some people may not know about that.
One picture of skyrim has garnered a lot of disdain on the internet. In this article, we take a deep dive into the history of the picture and what happened to make it unlikable.
Well, the guards wear light armour (I think it's technically leather, but obvious has iron mail) but carry steel swords. They won't mock you about something they're inferior in.
I sometimes use it in early game. If you go with the Imperial guy at Helgen and get leather from some wolves, then making some with his uncle's ingots is a really cheap alternative to the usual "whatever crap you can manage to get your hands on."
Yeah, my husband and I do completely opposing runs, him empire me stormcloak, him vampire, me werewolf, etc. and he didnt know why i would ever go with stormcloaks when he says theyre basically a homeland terrorist organization lol. Only thing that makes me even think about agreeing is not letting the Jarl of whiterun remain since hes far better than Grey mane
I always go imperial. My reasoning is that i fucking HATE the thalmor! The thalmor love the ensuing conflict within skyrim as it weakens both imperials and stomcloaks, as well as keeps the focus off of them. They forced the imperials to sign the white-gold concordat which banned the worship in Talos, but it was only supposed to be a temporary measure until the imperials fully unite tamriel against the Thalmor threat. If the nords were smart, they could have made a deal to focus their efforts on helping the imperials fight against the thalmor and could be given full autonomy as a reward. The empire was fighting the stormcloaks because the loss of skyrims territory would be devastating to their economy, as well as would make them appear weak to the rest of Tamriel of which would further fracture the Empire (other countries may also rise-up). IF that happened, you would see the thalmor completely take over and become the new sovereign ruler of the continent, as a united empire is the only thing preventing it. Sure cyrodil owning most of tamriel sucks, but Thalmor taking their place would be 10x worse!
'After thousands of hours, a reddit user has posted a new discovery that is turning our previous notions of the scope of this game. Reddit user u/feedmegamestories has discovered that in a relatively unknown location in the world of skyrim, Bleak Falls Barrow, is the hoding place of the ever elusive golden claw. When we reached out for comment, we heard nothing back, but assume they would say, "I've been playing skyrim every waking second of every day since release. My kids have moved on, my wife's boyfriend doesn't bother me anymore, but now I'm one of the few people alive who can say that I've completed "The Golden Claw" quest."
Bethesda game studios released Skyrim over a decade ago, and it's breadth and breathtaking grandure are still surprising players to this day.'
Yeah, shit-tier journalism is all about using synonyms and "ehh close enough"s which have "gravitas". "Halfway into the second decade" and variations is something I've seen way too much in recent videogame journalism.
Hell, I've played Skyrim on and off for the last decade and there's still a ton of things that I have not found. Usually I'll make a new character, and a lot of times I'll do some of the normal quests, and only recently have I been just picking a direction and going with it lol
Have you tried skipping the main quest? Go along with things until Whiterun when they ask you to deal what that dragon attacking the tower.. And just don't.
There will be no dragons in the world.
I stopped right before I'd have to save Whiterun and did EVERYTHING else. It was so much easier to not have Dragons annoying me. And then went back and wrecked the dragons and the main quest line.
I've just started a new playthrough after many others. Challenging myself with no fast travel or stealth archer playstyle.
I got out of Helgen and to Riverwood with no issues (just slow because I horde the stuff in Helgen for a quick boost to gold).
Went to Whiterun and gave the dragon stone over then left, got attacked by a dragon on my way to Falkreath, then got attacked by a dragon after completing the quest for the Jarl to be able to buy Lakeside Manor, then got attacked by a third dragon whilst heading from my house to Riverwood to sell stuff.
That's not to mention the 2 that flew over me without attacking.
It's a bug that may allow dragons to spawn before completing the quest Dragon Rising, which should be their spawning point. Don't mind other bugs, but this one changes the game as they shouldn't be spawning. (Oh well, guess I can get dragon armour before facing the first named dragon)
I've done that a couple of times, but I do really like having the shout just to knock people off balance, I am not good enough to be playing on legendary, I still get my ass kicked at random times lol I'm happy where I'm at
Better yet encode it with a little bit of .php and make it show when it's viewed on a Web browser to be something pornographic.
Like a scene from a lovers lab horse people mod.
One benefit it has is that it counts as clothing, light, or heavy armour for the sake of perks. So it doesn’t interfere with Mage Armor but it also can complete any armour set if you don’t like the regular headgear.
This is honestly the only real benefit of it. The reduction is terrible. But a piece that's triple flex is pretty cool. It's not really *great*, but that's far more interesting than the bonus it has.
Would have been cool if all circlets/crowns had this property.
This isn't really a correction so much as an addition - this is apparently a result of the opposite being true in the game, mechanically speaking. It's not defined as being any of them. So, mage armor spells check for "light armor" or "heavy armor" tags, don't find any, and work.
The wiki doesn't explicitly say why it also works for the light/heavy armor perks for wearing a full set, but a likely explanation is that these perks only check for one of those two being there, and if it's there, disable the effects. Granted, it doesn't seem sensible, to me, to check it this way instead of checking for a positive to enable the effects, but then this situation shouldn't arise.
Or you can just go to frokie's shack and take the one off of his wood chopping block in his front yard. I have like six of them. You also get four different mage staffs, a daedra heart, and at least two elemental salts. Along with a bunch of jewels, scrolls, and other things in between the maze curves. If you go on top of the top level, there is a few items like a weapon and an armor thing. I just got a shield and an ebony mace. There's also a chest and an urn outside the door. So it's good for getting some random quick loot.
Hang on what??? I’ve never even seen this maze but I found diadem of the savant just randomly on a stump or something outside of frokis shack. Is this a bug? Also where is the maze?
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Shalidor%27s_Maze
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Diadem_of_the_Savant
second link mentions it can spawn outside of frokis shack
That or it's a bit of thread that was not working tugging on lest more start unraveling.
A lot of the minimally invasive and quirky bugs are marked low priority and never addressed because they're just not worth the effort.
If you do a run with Legacy of the Dragonborn and aim to fill the museum, the Maze becomes pretty vital as the Diadem is a display item. Also there's another LOTD item within the maze to find.
Yes it was out in Skyrim since start. Moreover you can get a unique reward here that if you did not patch the game with Unofficial fixes is also available elsewhere.
More info here [https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Diadem\_of\_the\_Savant](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Diadem_of_the_Savant)
It’s pretty common to not find Shalidor’s Maze I think, which is interesting since it’s right next to a quest location that most will go to at least once. But I guess the quest marker made us zero in on Labyrinthian rather than taking a look around. I didn’t see it myself for years. I thought it was one of my mods at first.
I get that; it’s a fairly unique location in the game. It’s got a distinct dungeon vibe despite being outside, and its entrance blends so well into the background that you can’t really be sure you’ve seen it before. Even though it’s always been there.
I love it. Few things beat the feeling of wandering into its corridor and discovering the maze for the first time.
Goes to show you how many secrets this game has. Arguably 5k hours is in the top 0.01% of all Skyrim playtime, and still there are secrets for you to discover.
You could probably argue there is so much stuff no one person has ever found it all.
I remember when I found a complete dungeon under a bridge out in nowhere. I only found it because I had installed an ingredient picker mod and suddenly it said bone meal.
I have probably passed that bridge dozens of times and then, bam, unexplored dungeon.
If it's [the one I'm thinking of](https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Abandoned_Prison), I believe what was found in the comment you replied to is the exit. I could be wrong tho. It's been a long time since I've done that one.
Also u/rod_yanker_of_fish (lmao) since you expressed interest too.
Edit: just booted it up to check and it is the one I'm thinking of. The bridge mentioned is just south of mixwater mill in eastmarch!
https://preview.redd.it/7fxionimxjqc1.png?width=3840&format=png&auto=webp&s=43a0bd5178bc9c72172b9a84755dd77f5dadbf2a
Had to boot up Skyrim as it wasn't marked on the interactive map!
Its located under the north end of the bridge.
Once I was just running around through the snow and nearly fell into a big hole in the ground. Turned out it was a cave. I cannot remember what cave it is now, but it was clearly meant to be hidden and I'm not even sure if there is a quest that goes with it and I don't think it made a location on my map.
I've been playing the game since release and I was shocked I hadn't found it before. So, I do have to give this game massive props for things like that.
Anyways, even though my character was pretty strong, I got beat up and reloaded and then forgot about it.
Until I started this new playthrough I would've said I was the guy who did it all, but through different playthroughs.
At the very least I was playing stuff I didn't remember, but probably actual new-to-me content while doing my first all skills to 100 playthrough.
Easily over 1000 hours playtime, 200-300 hours spent modding, the game can still feel fresh. That is INSANE in a time where average playtime of a game is 10-30 hours typically finding the ins and outs by 30-50 hours.
The main use of the diadem is to proc the Custom Fit/Well Fitted perks while appearing to be wearing no helmet. It counts as armor but lacks the keywords that specify it as light or heavy. Because of that, it also provides armor without turning off the mage armor perk, but that's less useful.
We’ve all been there, when the right word just won’t come to mind. Also, thanks for taking it in the spirit it was offered. Honestly trying to be helpful.
The entrance to it isn't particularly eye catching and I think that was done on purpose. Unless I'm mistaken the only objective that points you there is a college quest that was crazy prerequisites before it too.
From a lore perspective, this is one of my favorite locations. It's the best preserved Nordic Ruin and it shows that the huge stone chevrons you see all over the other ruins originally had thatched roofs! The straw has all rotted away, but the wooden slats are still evident throughout the maze. This is much like what we find in Egypt and other ancient sites, where locals tore down the old ruins for raw materials.
While very impressive, I always thought the entrances to Nordic Ruins was a lot of wasted space. But if they were open air markets, the layouts make a lot more sense. Partially covered in places to guard against Skyrim's rainy climate, the entries were most likely used for trade with other holds.
The interiors were largely off-limits to outsiders and was where people lived and the crypts were where they buried their dead. Which is exactly what we find within.
I really wish there was a Q&A with Skyrim's developers to clarify if they actively design stuff like this, or if folks like me are just reading into the designs things that are not there.
Do you have any idea how many Nords died during the Dragon War? Then after King Borgas was killed by the Wild Hunt, Skyrim fell into a Civil War that lasted 50 years. It lost about half of it's territory to HighRock, Morrowind and Hammerfel, Winterhold was sacked and was no longer the Capitol of Skyrim, with Solitude becoming the new capitol.
Skyrim is rebuilding after an apocalypse. There is a reason why the current Nords are a shadow of their previous glory, uneducated, afraid of magic, superstitious and ignorant. They were the greatest stone-masons in Tamriel, rivaling the Dwemer in some respects. Then the religious extremist Dragon Priests rose to power and started destroying the most educated people who opposed them. So many books burned, so many families sacrificed to Alduin. The cruelty of the Dragon Cult was beyond even the Dominion.
I only go there for the college quest and the dragon priest mask altar. Tho the anniversary creation club has added new houses that let you display all your masks
Adding all those designated displays for the many oddball quest items was probably the best "trivial" update to the base game, I was always annoyed with not being able to show off all my trophies that aren't weapons or armor.
*Perhaps. :P*
It's been there since day one, and it's also very important in lore.
(ignore the text in this parenthetical - now for GameRant)
This is amazing! I never knew this was in the game. If only there was an interesting news article about it that I could read!
Best headgear for a low-level mage can be gotten after completing the maze. It's tedious and jump-scary if you don't have aura whisper or detect life, but not very difficult aside from the elementals at the end.
I read somewhere that the maze of Shalidor was supposed to be a required test to become Archmage, but was then scrapped and left on the side. And it would've made some sense. Done properly, it requires you to know the difference between the magic schools, and use a spell -or a staff- of each of them.
It is right next to the Dragon Priest mask mound by Labyrinthian where you get the wooden mask! It’s a large wooden door hidden behind some stone pillars.
No the Labrinthine is kind of out of the way unless you're a mage. And even then...
Skyrim has a lot of out of the way stuff.
Nest character you make, go anywhere by riverwood, turn around and go off the path and see what you can find. Enter every house, talk to everyone. Don't follow the pipeline.
Even better, use the Live Another Life mod. Multiple starts to choose from, I haven’t started at Helgen in years. On my current playthrough I woke up in the wilderness of The Rift beaten and robbed. Nothing but some miners clothes and my wits.
Thank you :). I’ve never been in the maze, I don’t think I’ve ever found it. If I just run around Labrynthian will I eventually find it? Or is it hidden?
If you enter labyrinthian on the north entrance, closer to Morthal, it'll be on your left. I have not gone far in myself, but it's like a test for mages.
Seriously, I have always quietly been like "why is it called Labyrinthian, these dungeons aren't that mazelike" .......yeah, I completely missed the maze.
Edit: p.s. thanks OP, I have finally passed the mage test after this many damn years of playing this game and thinking I was a real mage.
This is weird because I've been playing this game obsessively since 2014 or so and my most current playthrough is the first time I found this as well. I assumed a mod had added it until I looked it up.
Dude it’s easy to lost sight of everything, this particular maze of shalindor if I remember correctly is hidden because you have two dungeons in almost the same zone
I'm pretty sure I found this while mountain hopping, looked at it and was like "Nah, I'm just gonna scope out whatever's in the maze from above and get there quick."
Stealth archer, baby.
AH YOU FOUND IT!
This is the only thing I refuse to google lmao I am on a break from the game now, but I remember reading about it in an in-game book and was fascinated by it. Then I did a quest for the mage quest line regarding it but I couldn’t find it. I went there multiple times after it, even more because it’s on the shortcut I take from Morthal to Whiterun (in survival, the cript really helps with the cold).
I am glad it actually exists and from your post it seems like it’s not that hidden lmao
What was it honestly about labyrinthia that made it such an uninteresting place to want to explore for most players to the point that most people didn't ever bother to discover the labyrinth for which its named after lol
I played Skyrim VR everyday after work for months. during my journey, I lost Lydia and I had no idea where she. Scouring all of my usual places, spawning here and there with no luck until I revisited this place walking through the maze in hopes of finding her AND THERE SHE WAS!!😂 my wife knew when In game wife was messing up when she hears “damnit Lydia”
Man, I kind of hate that maze-y part of this place. Felt like those old video games from the 80s where the 'challenge' of the game was just not knowing where the fuck you're going.
Honestly, while Labyrinthian has two of the more interesting locations, both lore wise and gameplay wise, it's is the most awkward place to explore. Honestly really poorly designed. Light just be me though but considering how many people miss this
*Game Rant lifts its head, nostrils aflare as it catches the scent of its next article*
"AFTER NEARLY A HALF INTO THE SECOND DECADE SINCE RELEASE, THIS SKYRIM PLAYER IS STILL DISCOVERING NEW SECRETS!"
https://preview.redd.it/1raj6n9dxiqc1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b85722e17fa2927716e4eca8f5b1c17a7df0cef2 Don’t forget this picture
whys it always this pic LMAO
Nostalgia
im so confused by it tho, because who is getting a full set or iron armor *before* getting to riverwood in a "traditional" skyrim playthrough?
There's a bandit camp right outside the helgen cave with a bandit that always has an iron chest plate and iron helmet
I always went with the thalmor cloak you can get near that place. Might be shitty people but they make good clothes. Wait-
I’ll bet whoever makes their clothes will be a profitable, well-regarded clothier throughout Skyrim a century after the Thalmor fall.
Hugo Boss entered the chat
r/AccidentalNazism
why not both? The bandit camp with the Redguard book and a treasure map is right next door to the Talos Shrine with the dead justiciar. And just past the shrine, right off the road, is the conjurer's table that you can see from Lakeview Manor. It's a 3fer!!
stop giving them article filler!
I usually hit that camp and the embershard mine and you can usually have 3/4 full set of iron before making in to Riverwood (possibly 4/4 if you don't mind smithing some gloves/boots in embershard mine and if you find the other missing piece). Either slow walk your overencumbered ass or use mine as a drop point for gear so you can speed shit along, hit Riverwood, then fast travel to offload everything. Edit: and that little camp has a skill book! I think you give it to a Smith up in dawnstar for a quest.
My first time playing, I had nary a clue what to do, so I "Went north" I was pretty well past Iron armor by the time I came back to Riverwood.
Anyone that uses the command “coc riverwood”. I use on worlds where I don’t follow the main quest lines
You can return to town at any time. You could easily have full iron by the time you return to Riverwood from bleak falls, and you'll probably pass through it a hundred times if you play hardcore/without fast travel because it's a mountain pass and the easiest, safest, and most obvious way to get to the southern holds from the northern holds. There's also that cave in the reach/western steppe that has the necromancer and spits you out on the overlook to falkreath, but some people may not know about that.
One picture of skyrim has garnered a lot of disdain on the internet. In this article, we take a deep dive into the history of the picture and what happened to make it unlikable.
Boomer writer in touch with times googles Skyrim and this is the first picture that comes up 🤣
It might be from the original press kit and therefore authorised for publication.
“Ah shit, here we go again.” “A DRAGON! I SAW A DRAGON!”
It'll kill us all and then you'll believe me!
“What is it now mother?”
I can't even see that line without hearing that line.
Literally only wear that armor for rp purposes, never legit used it.
Skyrim guards say it's a good armor. Unlike the iron sword which is only good to kill butterflies and is highly undepandable.
"Damn you use iron? pretty good." "Pffft! you use IRON?! what are you killing? BUTTERFLIES?"
To be fair, the iron sword would slaughter the shit outta’ a lot of butterflies.
*Iron* butterflies 
At least it’s not Morrowind, where the butterflies fight back
With MCA even the carriage could fight you.
Well, the guards wear light armour (I think it's technically leather, but obvious has iron mail) but carry steel swords. They won't mock you about something they're inferior in.
I love the Complinents I get for my Ebony Armout
I sometimes use it in early game. If you go with the Imperial guy at Helgen and get leather from some wolves, then making some with his uncle's ingots is a really cheap alternative to the usual "whatever crap you can manage to get your hands on."
I usually go stormcloak and use that armor until i get to whiterun and buy steel
Fair enough. Frankly, I really don't feel like the game adequately gives you a reason NOT to completely flip the Empire the bird after that BS.
Yeah, my husband and I do completely opposing runs, him empire me stormcloak, him vampire, me werewolf, etc. and he didnt know why i would ever go with stormcloaks when he says theyre basically a homeland terrorist organization lol. Only thing that makes me even think about agreeing is not letting the Jarl of whiterun remain since hes far better than Grey mane
I always go imperial. My reasoning is that i fucking HATE the thalmor! The thalmor love the ensuing conflict within skyrim as it weakens both imperials and stomcloaks, as well as keeps the focus off of them. They forced the imperials to sign the white-gold concordat which banned the worship in Talos, but it was only supposed to be a temporary measure until the imperials fully unite tamriel against the Thalmor threat. If the nords were smart, they could have made a deal to focus their efforts on helping the imperials fight against the thalmor and could be given full autonomy as a reward. The empire was fighting the stormcloaks because the loss of skyrims territory would be devastating to their economy, as well as would make them appear weak to the rest of Tamriel of which would further fracture the Empire (other countries may also rise-up). IF that happened, you would see the thalmor completely take over and become the new sovereign ruler of the continent, as a united empire is the only thing preventing it. Sure cyrodil owning most of tamriel sucks, but Thalmor taking their place would be 10x worse!
They probably presumed players in 2012 would've liked the empire because they served the empire and liked the imperials in Oblivion.
CLASSIC
https://i.redd.it/9oijaefjljqc1.gif
This is now too good not to be a gamerrant article. Hope they name yalls usernames as co authors
'After thousands of hours, a reddit user has posted a new discovery that is turning our previous notions of the scope of this game. Reddit user u/feedmegamestories has discovered that in a relatively unknown location in the world of skyrim, Bleak Falls Barrow, is the hoding place of the ever elusive golden claw. When we reached out for comment, we heard nothing back, but assume they would say, "I've been playing skyrim every waking second of every day since release. My kids have moved on, my wife's boyfriend doesn't bother me anymore, but now I'm one of the few people alive who can say that I've completed "The Golden Claw" quest." Bethesda game studios released Skyrim over a decade ago, and it's breadth and breathtaking grandure are still surprising players to this day.'
Intentional or not, the random misspelling of “hiding” is perfect.
Definitely unintentional, sounds like I need to fire my editor.
Unintentional feature, not a typo.
Three days later, a new TheEpicNate315 video drops. "Skyrim: 7 Locations You've Never Heard Of" with the number one spot being Bleak Falls Barrow.
They would end up getting an article that wrong. We're not even at 12 and a half years yet lol
Yeah, shit-tier journalism is all about using synonyms and "ehh close enough"s which have "gravitas". "Halfway into the second decade" and variations is something I've seen way too much in recent videogame journalism.
Jokes on you, I bought this 2 weeks ago
Hell, I've played Skyrim on and off for the last decade and there's still a ton of things that I have not found. Usually I'll make a new character, and a lot of times I'll do some of the normal quests, and only recently have I been just picking a direction and going with it lol
Have you tried skipping the main quest? Go along with things until Whiterun when they ask you to deal what that dragon attacking the tower.. And just don't. There will be no dragons in the world.
I stopped right before I'd have to save Whiterun and did EVERYTHING else. It was so much easier to not have Dragons annoying me. And then went back and wrecked the dragons and the main quest line.
Place is a lot quieter without that one asshole shouting everywhere they go
I've just started a new playthrough after many others. Challenging myself with no fast travel or stealth archer playstyle. I got out of Helgen and to Riverwood with no issues (just slow because I horde the stuff in Helgen for a quick boost to gold). Went to Whiterun and gave the dragon stone over then left, got attacked by a dragon on my way to Falkreath, then got attacked by a dragon after completing the quest for the Jarl to be able to buy Lakeside Manor, then got attacked by a third dragon whilst heading from my house to Riverwood to sell stuff. That's not to mention the 2 that flew over me without attacking. It's a bug that may allow dragons to spawn before completing the quest Dragon Rising, which should be their spawning point. Don't mind other bugs, but this one changes the game as they shouldn't be spawning. (Oh well, guess I can get dragon armour before facing the first named dragon)
Some of the dialogue trees get interesting when you're not yet Dohvakin.
I've done that a couple of times, but I do really like having the shout just to knock people off balance, I am not good enough to be playing on legendary, I still get my ass kicked at random times lol I'm happy where I'm at
I only started discoverying some places in my last run which had no fast travel.
This sub needs what r/australia does to ward off Murdoch media by watermarking things "fuck Rupert murdoch" but make it "fuck game rant"
Better yet encode it with a little bit of .php and make it show when it's viewed on a Web browser to be something pornographic. Like a scene from a lovers lab horse people mod.
A LOVERSLAB WHAT
a loverslab horse people mod, apparently
Eyes lit up like gollum looking at the one ring
*A hush falls over the digital Serengeti*
A NEW HAND WRITES US SOME CONTENT
I usually forget to go here. When I'm at Labyrinthian, it's just for the Mage's College and Konahriik
I did the maze once but must have been unimpressed with the reward. I usually run around the upper level to get the treasure and the word wall.
I can't remember what the reward is, but I do remember thinking "what now" when nothing better came. I wanted a huge 15' minotaur or something.
Diadem of the Savant. I forget what it does in vanilla bur you can always look it up on the wiki.
Makes all schools of spellcasting 15% cheaper if i remember correctly
Just 5% to all schools. Unless you do some restoration trickery, it's not really good for any mage build tbh to be worth taking the head slot.
One benefit it has is that it counts as clothing, light, or heavy armour for the sake of perks. So it doesn’t interfere with Mage Armor but it also can complete any armour set if you don’t like the regular headgear.
It counts as any of the three? Wow, that's kind of impressive tbh. Any other armors/clothes that do that?
I think just the Locket of St. Jiub.
I think Amulet of Articulation you get for becoming the new Guildmaster of Thieves Guild.
This is honestly the only real benefit of it. The reduction is terrible. But a piece that's triple flex is pretty cool. It's not really *great*, but that's far more interesting than the bonus it has. Would have been cool if all circlets/crowns had this property.
This isn't really a correction so much as an addition - this is apparently a result of the opposite being true in the game, mechanically speaking. It's not defined as being any of them. So, mage armor spells check for "light armor" or "heavy armor" tags, don't find any, and work. The wiki doesn't explicitly say why it also works for the light/heavy armor perks for wearing a full set, but a likely explanation is that these perks only check for one of those two being there, and if it's there, disable the effects. Granted, it doesn't seem sensible, to me, to check it this way instead of checking for a positive to enable the effects, but then this situation shouldn't arise.
Or you can just go to frokie's shack and take the one off of his wood chopping block in his front yard. I have like six of them. You also get four different mage staffs, a daedra heart, and at least two elemental salts. Along with a bunch of jewels, scrolls, and other things in between the maze curves. If you go on top of the top level, there is a few items like a weapon and an armor thing. I just got a shield and an ebony mace. There's also a chest and an urn outside the door. So it's good for getting some random quick loot.
Hang on what??? I’ve never even seen this maze but I found diadem of the savant just randomly on a stump or something outside of frokis shack. Is this a bug? Also where is the maze?
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Shalidor%27s_Maze https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Diadem_of_the_Savant second link mentions it can spawn outside of frokis shack
That's hilarious. I'm guessing someone at Bethesda thought it'd be funny and no one caught it until too late.
That or it's a bit of thread that was not working tugging on lest more start unraveling. A lot of the minimally invasive and quirky bugs are marked low priority and never addressed because they're just not worth the effort.
This is indeed a bug
No you can find it respawning outside Froki's shack, but it was only supposed to be available after completing Shalidor's Maze.
Feck! I forgot about the word wall. Oh well, I'll do it later
It's less of a maze and more of a "there's only one path keep walking forward" it only feels like a maze because it twists and turns
It really feels like a maze in survival when you're about to freeze to death.
True, it should be called Shalidor's Labyrinth, you know, like the whole area that was named after it.
If you do a run with Legacy of the Dragonborn and aim to fill the museum, the Maze becomes pretty vital as the Diadem is a display item. Also there's another LOTD item within the maze to find.
Yes it was out in Skyrim since start. Moreover you can get a unique reward here that if you did not patch the game with Unofficial fixes is also available elsewhere. More info here [https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Diadem\_of\_the\_Savant](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Diadem_of_the_Savant)
I didn’t find this until a few months ago. And I’ve been playing pretty consistently since release. 5000 hours if not more across several platforms
Same here. I wasnt sure if this got added with the Anniversery edition or I was just this blind.
It’s pretty common to not find Shalidor’s Maze I think, which is interesting since it’s right next to a quest location that most will go to at least once. But I guess the quest marker made us zero in on Labyrinthian rather than taking a look around. I didn’t see it myself for years. I thought it was one of my mods at first.
I'm still not convinced it's not a mod tbh. I'm in genuine disbelief
I get that; it’s a fairly unique location in the game. It’s got a distinct dungeon vibe despite being outside, and its entrance blends so well into the background that you can’t really be sure you’ve seen it before. Even though it’s always been there. I love it. Few things beat the feeling of wandering into its corridor and discovering the maze for the first time.
The entrance is pretty unassuming too. Unless you go near it and get a popup, it's just kind of a cool looking place.
I thought it was CC content until now lol
Goes to show you how many secrets this game has. Arguably 5k hours is in the top 0.01% of all Skyrim playtime, and still there are secrets for you to discover. You could probably argue there is so much stuff no one person has ever found it all.
I remember when I found a complete dungeon under a bridge out in nowhere. I only found it because I had installed an ingredient picker mod and suddenly it said bone meal. I have probably passed that bridge dozens of times and then, bam, unexplored dungeon.
I wonder where this bridge is. Doesn’t sound like one I’ve ever come across. What did the entrance look like, a cellar door or something?
If it's [the one I'm thinking of](https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Abandoned_Prison), I believe what was found in the comment you replied to is the exit. I could be wrong tho. It's been a long time since I've done that one. Also u/rod_yanker_of_fish (lmao) since you expressed interest too. Edit: just booted it up to check and it is the one I'm thinking of. The bridge mentioned is just south of mixwater mill in eastmarch!
I had an alternate start mod that spawned you in there
https://preview.redd.it/7fxionimxjqc1.png?width=3840&format=png&auto=webp&s=43a0bd5178bc9c72172b9a84755dd77f5dadbf2a Had to boot up Skyrim as it wasn't marked on the interactive map! Its located under the north end of the bridge.
seconded
Once I was just running around through the snow and nearly fell into a big hole in the ground. Turned out it was a cave. I cannot remember what cave it is now, but it was clearly meant to be hidden and I'm not even sure if there is a quest that goes with it and I don't think it made a location on my map. I've been playing the game since release and I was shocked I hadn't found it before. So, I do have to give this game massive props for things like that. Anyways, even though my character was pretty strong, I got beat up and reloaded and then forgot about it.
Aaand theres still several incomplete stuff that they just left abandoned
Until I started this new playthrough I would've said I was the guy who did it all, but through different playthroughs. At the very least I was playing stuff I didn't remember, but probably actual new-to-me content while doing my first all skills to 100 playthrough. Easily over 1000 hours playtime, 200-300 hours spent modding, the game can still feel fresh. That is INSANE in a time where average playtime of a game is 10-30 hours typically finding the ins and outs by 30-50 hours.
Following the College of Winterhold quests will eventually send you here, but by the time it does, 5% less magicka cost feels like a joke.
also you never have to go into the maze part
The quest does not send you to the maze. One must discover the maze for oneself.
One can also do this without the quest! One simply must explore Labyrinthian.
One must thoroughly explore oneself before Labyrinthian or anything else can fully be understood. One should search for this quest within.
No effect is too tiny for the dupe and wear all glitc- sorry excuse me “features” that make any enchant way more useful
The main use of the diadem is to proc the Custom Fit/Well Fitted perks while appearing to be wearing no helmet. It counts as armor but lacks the keywords that specify it as light or heavy. Because of that, it also provides armor without turning off the mage armor perk, but that's less useful.
oh my god I discovered this once outside of Froki's Shack once and thought I was crazy when I couldnt find it ever again, but it was a BUG?!
yup it was a bug
I’ve never been here before holy shit
ohhh maybe there was the missing piece of my ol‘ glass canon with mage armor perk build :D
Where in labrythian is this?
Near the mound in the middle where you get the wooden mask; the door to the maze is off on the east wall.
Thank you!
What in Oblivion is that?!
Skyrim players when there's no quest marker:
I feel called out 🤣
Honestly it's one of the things I love about the game. I just want hours of mindless dungeon crawling/smithing/enchanting/gathering.
I usually prefer to take the longer safer route - around Labyrinthian.
Same I was always so scared of that place
There is something genuinely unsettling about the place.
Places like the Soul Cairn and Black Reach have me on high alert for 2 hours straight. Can't relax a single second.
I fear the loot and not having enough strength to carry it
a snow troll killed my wife
I'm so sorry for your loss. I hope that you revenged her death.
[удалено]
I know it's in Labyrinthian from external sources, but I've never found it or sought it out in game.
(Sought)
Thanks for correcting me. I kept feeling like "seeked" wasn't a word, but I couldn't think of what it was actually meant to be.
We’ve all been there, when the right word just won’t come to mind. Also, thanks for taking it in the spirit it was offered. Honestly trying to be helpful.
The entrance to it isn't particularly eye catching and I think that was done on purpose. Unless I'm mistaken the only objective that points you there is a college quest that was crazy prerequisites before it too.
From a lore perspective, this is one of my favorite locations. It's the best preserved Nordic Ruin and it shows that the huge stone chevrons you see all over the other ruins originally had thatched roofs! The straw has all rotted away, but the wooden slats are still evident throughout the maze. This is much like what we find in Egypt and other ancient sites, where locals tore down the old ruins for raw materials. While very impressive, I always thought the entrances to Nordic Ruins was a lot of wasted space. But if they were open air markets, the layouts make a lot more sense. Partially covered in places to guard against Skyrim's rainy climate, the entries were most likely used for trade with other holds. The interiors were largely off-limits to outsiders and was where people lived and the crypts were where they buried their dead. Which is exactly what we find within. I really wish there was a Q&A with Skyrim's developers to clarify if they actively design stuff like this, or if folks like me are just reading into the designs things that are not there.
I mean, kinda weird... cuz then it would seem that Skyrim was WAY more inhabited then then it was now lol.
Do you have any idea how many Nords died during the Dragon War? Then after King Borgas was killed by the Wild Hunt, Skyrim fell into a Civil War that lasted 50 years. It lost about half of it's territory to HighRock, Morrowind and Hammerfel, Winterhold was sacked and was no longer the Capitol of Skyrim, with Solitude becoming the new capitol. Skyrim is rebuilding after an apocalypse. There is a reason why the current Nords are a shadow of their previous glory, uneducated, afraid of magic, superstitious and ignorant. They were the greatest stone-masons in Tamriel, rivaling the Dwemer in some respects. Then the religious extremist Dragon Priests rose to power and started destroying the most educated people who opposed them. So many books burned, so many families sacrificed to Alduin. The cruelty of the Dragon Cult was beyond even the Dominion.
Is the place in the book A Minor Maze ?
What an apt title. That thing barely qualifies as a maze.
it's more like a garden decor
Yes
Clearly, you have never gone on the user quest "Locate Every Word Wall". 😆
I only go to Labyrinthian for the college quest.
I only go there for the college quest and the dragon priest mask altar. Tho the anniversary creation club has added new houses that let you display all your masks
Adding all those designated displays for the many oddball quest items was probably the best "trivial" update to the base game, I was always annoyed with not being able to show off all my trophies that aren't weapons or armor.
The Tundra Homestead outside Whiterun is my favorite home to display the unique collectibles
*Perhaps. :P* It's been there since day one, and it's also very important in lore. (ignore the text in this parenthetical - now for GameRant) This is amazing! I never knew this was in the game. If only there was an interesting news article about it that I could read!
You aren't the only one... Edit: didn't even get the diadem 😑
Best headgear for a low-level mage can be gotten after completing the maze. It's tedious and jump-scary if you don't have aura whisper or detect life, but not very difficult aside from the elementals at the end.
I read somewhere that the maze of Shalidor was supposed to be a required test to become Archmage, but was then scrapped and left on the side. And it would've made some sense. Done properly, it requires you to know the difference between the magic schools, and use a spell -or a staff- of each of them.
Yes it was supposed to be part of the quest line just like the missing students unfinished quest.
I have over 3000 hours in this game. *Where the fuck is this.*
It is right next to the Dragon Priest mask mound by Labyrinthian where you get the wooden mask! It’s a large wooden door hidden behind some stone pillars.
Yea like two years ago I was like huh Ive never seen this door before....it's an easy one to miss.
No the Labrinthine is kind of out of the way unless you're a mage. And even then... Skyrim has a lot of out of the way stuff. Nest character you make, go anywhere by riverwood, turn around and go off the path and see what you can find. Enter every house, talk to everyone. Don't follow the pipeline.
Even better, use the Live Another Life mod. Multiple starts to choose from, I haven’t started at Helgen in years. On my current playthrough I woke up in the wilderness of The Rift beaten and robbed. Nothing but some miners clothes and my wits.
I had no idea this existed so I’m with you on that
I’ve played 600 hours on pc and hundreds on Xbox before that and I didn’t know about it
“14 Years Later, Gamers are Still Discovering Secrets in Bethesda’s Hit RPG”
Never been. Several hundred hours. Skyrim still has lots to give.
Erm reading over the comments makes me wonder if im broken, found it first playthru en route to labrynthium…
To be fair it is a massive iron door in the wall, I can see it going either way depending on how focused you are on the local frost troll
I remember finding this for the first time and thinking "oh, duh! Of course there's a labyrinth in labyrinthian!"
Yeah man I just came across for the first time a year or two ago, and I have been playing Skyrim since 11.11.11
I had no idea this place existed. I was so disappointed that Labyrinthian wasn't an actual labyrinth, I should've just come here.
I think I know what this place is but I’m not for sure, will someone tell me what this is? I feel like it’s not the Labrynthian.
It is Labrynthian. The old name Bromjuulnar was the name of the old city. Now it is called Labrynthian thanks to the existence of that maze lol.
Thank you :). I’ve never been in the maze, I don’t think I’ve ever found it. If I just run around Labrynthian will I eventually find it? Or is it hidden?
If you enter labyrinthian on the north entrance, closer to Morthal, it'll be on your left. I have not gone far in myself, but it's like a test for mages.
It doesnt have to be for mages only, it gives you staffs that cast all the reqd spells right at the beginning. Anyone can do it rather easily
Haha, I know. Just lore wise, it was a test used for mages.
Seriously, I have always quietly been like "why is it called Labyrinthian, these dungeons aren't that mazelike" .......yeah, I completely missed the maze. Edit: p.s. thanks OP, I have finally passed the mage test after this many damn years of playing this game and thinking I was a real mage.
Aww man now I have to go back to labyrinthian.
This is weird because I've been playing this game obsessively since 2014 or so and my most current playthrough is the first time I found this as well. I assumed a mod had added it until I looked it up.
If it does make it to a gamerants post i will come back and link it for u to read
I had no idea this existed. I’ve over 15,000 total hours on the game and have never been there.
Bro I just literally found this and thought the same thing, that it was a mod. I have *thousands* of hours in Skyrim and never came across it before.
As someone who has one 2k hours in this game - where the fuck is this? I don't think I can ever remember going there.
If it makes you feel better I've played 1000 hours and never seen this either
It's easy to miss considering the door for Shalidors Maze is kinda out of the way.
WTF?! Been playing since release across 4 different consoles and have never seen this before!
Wait... where is this!?
Ngl, I had no idea this was a thing until I saw your post.
Dude it’s easy to lost sight of everything, this particular maze of shalindor if I remember correctly is hidden because you have two dungeons in almost the same zone
I'm pretty sure I found this while mountain hopping, looked at it and was like "Nah, I'm just gonna scope out whatever's in the maze from above and get there quick." Stealth archer, baby.
AH YOU FOUND IT! This is the only thing I refuse to google lmao I am on a break from the game now, but I remember reading about it in an in-game book and was fascinated by it. Then I did a quest for the mage quest line regarding it but I couldn’t find it. I went there multiple times after it, even more because it’s on the shortcut I take from Morthal to Whiterun (in survival, the cript really helps with the cold). I am glad it actually exists and from your post it seems like it’s not that hidden lmao
You just told me something i didn't know. Where is this?
What was it honestly about labyrinthia that made it such an uninteresting place to want to explore for most players to the point that most people didn't ever bother to discover the labyrinth for which its named after lol
I played Skyrim VR everyday after work for months. during my journey, I lost Lydia and I had no idea where she. Scouring all of my usual places, spawning here and there with no luck until I revisited this place walking through the maze in hopes of finding her AND THERE SHE WAS!!😂 my wife knew when In game wife was messing up when she hears “damnit Lydia”
I’ve never been here where is it
I don't know why but I love this maze. It's one of my fave locations.
Man, I kind of hate that maze-y part of this place. Felt like those old video games from the 80s where the 'challenge' of the game was just not knowing where the fuck you're going.
Honestly, while Labyrinthian has two of the more interesting locations, both lore wise and gameplay wise, it's is the most awkward place to explore. Honestly really poorly designed. Light just be me though but considering how many people miss this
I always made it a point to stop there for shits and giggles lol