I always thought of Dragonreach’s “decorative moat” as you put it as an actually functional piece of architecture. Just not as part of the palace’s defenses, but more of a day to day thing. I think it’s a livewell that’s been made to resemble a moat. There’s always fish in there, and Whiterun Hold has lots of fertile fishing spots. Fisherman throughout the Hold could be payed by the Jarl’s household to catch fish from around the Hold and bring them back to Dragonsreach alive, so that the fish can be released into the livewell and recaptured when the Jarl’s kitchens are ready to cook them. There’s even waterfalls oxygenating the water and keeping them pure and flowing downhill. People often like to keep catfish or carp alive for a while in ponds, pools, or even bathtubs before cooking them. It lets you keep them in clean water eating clean food for a while, which lets some of the bottom-feeder funk work it’s way out of the meat.
This channel is a real throwback to the old video game myths/creepypasta videos of the old internet but with a modern take and I absolutely love everything about it
The skeleton is floating because it's marked as a body you can loot. While you can find pieces of skeletons under water, actual bodies cannot fully submerge because the water physics engine actively prevents a body's head from going under the water.
I suppose they could have made a container object that looks like a sunken skeleton and put that down there. Maybe they just wanted it to be conspicuous
Personally I like the idea that it's an escaped prisoner who chose the worst hiding place imaginable and drown. Like "the guards are distracted! They won't check under here!" *eventually drowns because the guards won't leave* Morbidly funny.
I've played through Skyrim so many times at this point I immediately knew what this video was about and was honestly surprised someone bothered making a video about it. Good stuff.
I've always been curious about that skeleton since if first laid eyes on it and knew instantly which one you were referring to. Sometimes the Skeleton does have some coins and some bone meal.
Gabriella in the DB favours a bow and iron arrows.... and mentions she likes using a body of water as a hiding place when you talk to her about killing the Gourmet. So my headcannon has her responsible for a bunch of underwater skeletons around Skyrim including Narfi's sister, Reyda, too.
@@Thealmightysanchez We don't have any. But she was killed, and left underwater with 2 iron arrows spawning above her location. (We also have no idea who took out a DB contract on us, and that encounter fires randomly, and can do so very early, so it isn't tied to anything we do in-game.) Not everything has an explanation laid out for us, that's why we develop our own headcannons.
So you actively drag Nazeems body through half of the city and up the massive stairs to dump him in there? 😂 I like to imagine everyone seeing it but pretending that nothing is happening
@@generalpenultimo6502one a playthrough a few years ago, i massacred every npc that was outside and dragged them all to the well in the marketplace lol. All the guards who tried to stop me also joined the pile
I figured it was a joke about someone who had to wait to see the Jarl for so long they perished and turned into bones and are still there waiting. 😂 But really, its probably a piece of a cut quest from the originally planned larger Whiterun that actually had a Cloud District. Nazeem used to have a house, but it was cut so he's basically homeless.
My theory: that's Balgruuf's wife. I don't think he straight up murdered her, but I think he was forced to put her down for her use of the ebony blade. Perhaps she was unhappy about his illegitimate child, possibly sired while she was being driven mad by it, estranging him. Or perhaps he used the blade on her under it's influence and deeply regrets it (I don't think he is evil). The court and Jarl fears it-- it has a history somewhat recently in dragonsreach where something went down.
But if that were the case why wouldn't he put her in the hall of the dead? Or bury her and not leave her under the bridge to dragonsreach, a place where people could easily spot it.
I think you're right about it being Balgruuf's wife. However, I don't think he did it himself. I think it was actually the Dark Brotherhood. Gabriella's preferred way of disposing bodies is by dumping them in the water. Another possible murderer is Balgruuf's second in command, Irileth, who was previously a member of Morag Tong.
While Maven is a plausible candidate, I don’t think she’d be so brazen as to dump the body underneath the doorstep of another Jarl. She might have Riften firmly in her pocket, but risking the anger of another Jarl who she doesn’t control is a chance I don’t think she’d be willing to take. More likely, she’d remove the guy from Whiterun and have his body dumped somewhere out in the wild where he wouldn’t be found…. Cos it’s kind of ridiculous that the Dragonborn is the first person to find such an obvious and not very well hidden body. Whoever the body is, it has to be something related to Whiterun’s domestic politics, which is why the guards pretend not to notice it when patrolling the bridge all day. If it was someone outside the city, they’d at least remove it and intern it in the hall of the dead, so the fact they haven’t is pretty good indication they’ve been told to leave it alone. Or maybe a Bethesda dev just thought it’d be funny to put a skeleton there. 😂
My theory is that it is indeed Balgruuf's wife and that the killer is either Gabriella from the Dark Brotherhood (she has a penchant for dumping her targets in the water), or Irileth, who was trained by the Morag Tong and admits to killing many threats to Balgruuf.
Lilith Maidenloom's dialogue implies she's friends with Maven - Lilith runs the horse stables in Whiterun. Whoever Christophe was, he must be someone connected to Lilith. I firmly believe Christophe is the skeleton and that he wronged Ms Maidenloom, forcing Maven to retaliate.
We need one with the “lady of the lake” skeleton arm holding up a sword next, it can be found right outside Whiterun. When I come across it, I often to choose to role play my characters not touching it (unless they’re the more reckless thieving kind) assuming it’s cursed.
Fun fact I don't know if this happens to anyone else but sometimes irileth will either look down where the skeleton is when you go to meet with the soldiers or if you let her go out before you once you get outside she'll be in the water right next to the skeleton and won't move from it til you get outside so I think it may be related to her maybe a quest that was never realized.
As for the killer, i have always thought it was a certain member of the dark brotherhood who enjoys hiding bodies in the water as she encourages with a certain Orc contract. It's also not the only bridge with a skelly hidden under it showing her footprint in the world XD
I was three when Skyrim came out, and it is now my absolute favourite game. I live for these videos! The best part of Skyrim are these little details, and your vids just document them so perfectly. Keep up the awesome work!! 💞💞
In the realm of outlandish conspiracy theories about this skeleton in the moat, I have one. Mikial was possibly envious of the husband of Carlotta, and possibly saw the two together in the inn constantly. Mikial was jealous, wanting Carlotta for himself. He may have courted Carlotta, but she chose her husband instead of him. So, Mikial goes Arcadias shop and buys Deadly Nightshade and a bottle of Nord mead. Mixes it in and offers it to Carlottas husband on a walk to the Jarls palace. Carlottas husband is poisioned, and Mikial strips the body of clothing and identification papers, dumping the body in the moat, reasoning that nobody checks there.
A fun and interesting theory. The only real flaw is that someone willing to go that far to be with someone would not suddenly give up just because some random person asked them to...
This is why I love content like this. Always putting a spotlight on things I never noticed before. And I've played this game for YEARS and still discover new things. Great content 🤝
Both sensible, I like the idea the skeleton has something to do with Balgruuf but the more I looked down that rabbit hole the more I realised how ridiculous it'd be for the Jarl to pop a body in his own moat.
@@christianthrasher8677 To what purpose? It whould be far easier for her to just dump the body off the Drangosreach balcony and thus out of the city and into a spot few people ever venture.
There is one, though not very strong, reason why it is not Christophe. Maven letter says someone will come and escort him back to Riften, so it would be much easier to dispatch of Christophe somewhere on the road in the wilderness. If she wanted to send a message, well then the assassin wouldn't have hidden the body. And about the black sacrament, the letter to Astrid is unsent and the ritual sacrifice still in place so most likely whoever Maven wanted killed by the Dark Brotherhood is still alive. A potential target for the dark brotherhood might be Svidi/Lynly Star-Sung. She might be Sibbis problem, but I doubt that Maven would tolerate anyone humiliating her family
Truth is he spawned at night with a draugr friend. Morning came and they tried jumping in the moat to survive (as water will prevent skellies and draugr from dying in the daytime), they were both too late however.
I wonder what happens once you become the leader of the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves guild. Does Maven continue to use these threats? It could be an interesting video, covering how your progress changes the perception of characters in game.
Sadly, Skyrim is a very static world. People's opinion of you *very* rarely changes in the game. No matter what positions you occupy or feats you've accomplished, to most people in the game (Maven included) you're still a newcomer and a peon. :/
7:47 I know that elsewhere is an actual word, but for some reason when you said it I first thought of Elsweyr, where the Khajiit come from, which just shows how much time I spend watching Elder Scrolls lore videos. It would be very strange if the skeleton was actually transported to Whiterun from Elsweyr by the Khajiit caravans.
Practically every popular lore channel had me thinking it was Balgruf’s wife. I am glad that other people are out here making lore videos with different perspectives. This theory is the best one that I have heard so far. You and the black rose are my go to for the new lore perspective. That’s why I like it when new people join the TES lore ranks. Plus these two are more closer to my thinking style. Doing deep research rather than just scratching the surface just to get a video out haha
My personal theory is that any body (skeletal or otherwise) in water is a victim of Gabriella from the Dark Brotherhood. During the Dark Brotherhood questline, if you ask her for advice about one of the quests (I think when you kill the Gourmet, but I might be wrong) she comments that she prefers hiding her work in bodies of water. There's one in Markarth and Reyda in Ivarsted and probably others that I'm forgetting
I’ve loved watching all of your RDR2 videos for the years you’ve been making them, and today I log onto UA-cam to find out you’re making Skyrim videos, that are really interesting, in 2024!!!! My day has been made and my life complete
Its a left over halloween decoration that one of the guards thought would be funny but then forgot about it when it came time to clean up. Joking of course, your theory holds more water than most
I always assumed the pound is just there as way to control and direct the flow off a spring, it isn't there as a milirtary defensive measure instead it's there to control and manage the enviorment for protection of the palace foundation
I've always thought Maven was woefully underutilized in Skyrim. Doing jobs for her (☠️) would have been a better introduction to the Dark Brotherhood questline than killing Grelod. She could have been a major client for the DB and the Thieves Guild. I've always wondered why Bethesda settles for poorly written questlines when people who write fanfiction could come up with better stories.😖
Not to mention that her daughter Ingun would be a perfect addition to the Dark Brotherhood. Why can't we recruit NPCs to the DB like we can with the Rejects-I mean the Blades?
@WraythSkitzofrenik 💯! Ingun would have been a perfect recruit for the DB. Muiri in Markarth would have been a great recruit as well. Maybe J'Zargo, some of the vampires in Castle Volkihar. I would have loved to recruit new named members to the DB instead of the Blades, 😖.
what if its the body of the real nazeem and the one in whiterun is a clone i mean he always ask if ive been to the cloud district like cmon hes not real right?
My theory: maven doesn't exactly shy away from publicly declaring her corruption, so the fact that the guy at the meadery is terrified of even speaking poorly of her suggests that he's the only one under that threat. I think maven specifically gives that requirement to whoever works the tasting counter as a sadistic form of pleasure - i.e., she just wants to see them get stressed out
The original skeleton is the Jarl mistress left there as a message for the people to know their place, but later got replaced by each person who mentioned or asked about it
You know the old seer that tells you your future somewhere along the dark brotherhood questline? My first thought was maybe the dead guy got on her bad side, or discovered she has ties to the dark brotherhood, or something. Then the dark brotherhood came to shut him up. But this one makes more sense. I didn’t even know there was a skeleton floating down there until watching this video.
Out of the three people that are supposed to be at the bottom of lake honrich, you can't find none. Only individuals at the bottom of a lake/ river are Narfi's sister outside Ivarstead & the explorer that's tied to a rock at the bottom of the pond outside the upper entrance to darkwater pass.
It probably something to do with cut content for the Mephala quest, since the ebony blade is followed by a trail of death and it in Whiterun I imagine it would've had been for to kill someone at some point.
I've just been getting back into Skyrim (for the billionth time lol) and this is one of those things I always remember for some reason, yet i never noticed the literal dragon skeleton in Dragonsreach until you mentioned it. What is wrong with me?
I think it's pretty obvious to both questions. The who the skeleton is is Balgruuf's wife. The who did it is the Dark Brotherhood. There is one member of the Brotherhood, Gabriella, who's favoured way of disposing bodies is by dumping them in the water.
My theory is that the skeleton is the jarl's wife who we have no info on, but if you do the whispering lady quest, you find out the jarl isn't as innocent as he is, so I think due to the sword, the jarl was drunken by its power, killing his wife to make the sword stronger, after realizing what he did, he tried to have the sword destroyed, failing and locking away the sword and removing all record of it and his wife, making a lie where she ran away with someone else (possibly another victim of the blade?)
I had a dead whiterun guard in the water in the beginning of my game, and when I come back later there was only a skeleton. I always thought it was the dead guard?
I have two theories regarding this skeleton. 1) It’s the corpse of Sadia who was killed by the woman posing as Sadia in order to take her identity. 2) The skeleton is just an unearthed corpse that was buried in that location long ago.
My suspects are Olava who contacted the dark brotherhood hence her connection to Gabriella or perhaps Lilith whom hints at being a lot like Maven... Perhaps ulag all we know is a "skooma incident" but no time was mentioned if a murder was commited it is possible for him to be on their radar years later then ysolda hires him. it is also possible for guards to be too lazy to dredge it up if it is someone who is not a noble.
I always just assumed that they meant to put something else there, and just accidentally put a skeleton instead because the ID was similar. It is a Bethesda game after all
Well, if they didnt want the skeleton to float they would've placed it into the floor (theorhetically). Look at what they did with Reyda. So there is a bit of a chance it was meant to be a more recent corpse
I do wonder if Skyrim is full of little nuggets of environmental storytelling that were maybe a smidge too subtle, so that people are only finding them and exploring their significance a decade later... ...or if they just put a skellington in the game because they look cool.
I certainly feel bad for anyone who considers Maven a 'friend' as there's no loyalty or honor in that woman's bones. God I hate her so much. And I feel bad for the poor wood elf who runs the meadery for her. The man is terrified, he even tells you she made multiple disappear and dumped their bodies in a lake. Edit: I wasn't expecting it but you brought it up as soon as I finished writing this comment lol.
One of Maven Black-Briar's friends is in whiterun... There are also Dark Brotherhood connections in Whiterun so perhaps it is in correlation to organized crime?
So I don’t know what I did in my vanilla play through, but every time I enter Riften a huge fight happens in the town and everybody fights Maven. Serves her right I’ve always hated her. I am a dragon slaying badass I could easily turn her into paste if only the game would allow me.
We get so many clues that it's the jarls wife. The wife had the ebony blade, Maphala told her Balgruuf was cheating on her and that woman was with child. Feeling betryed, she in trun betryed Balgruuf by trying to kill him with the ebony blade. Balgruuf, irileth or both, then killed the wife and hid the body and sealed the blade away. It would have been a MASSIVE scandal for the jarl if this was found out and that's why they hid the body. The story is pretty much repeating itself with the kid. It's the only thing that really makes any sense, 2+2=4. Killing a guy where guards are around all the time is a massive risk, so is dragging a body across town. It's a million times more likely he was put down on the way to riften, zero risk in that.
The Dragonborn: upsets Maven Maven: contacts the Thieves guild to Rob the Dragonborn The Dragonborn: Hi 👋 Maven: okay then Also Maven: performs black Sacrament The Dragonborn: Hello There, I'll be your friendly neighbourhood Assassin for this evening Maven: What happened to Astrid, and when did you join the Brotherhood? Dragonborn: Astrid fucked up and died. Astrid recruited me a while ago, now I'm it's leader. Now, who do you want dead? Maven: Forget it. *pays guards to arrest the Dragonborn* Dragonborn: *Is Thane of Riften, smirking at Maven as they drink with the guards bribed to arrest them* sup?
1:14 Easter egg to Elisa Lam, who drowned mysteriously in a watertank above the Cecil Hotel The moat/pons you mention where this skeleton floats in is the water supply for the city below, it flows all the way down through the districts and out of the city by the city gates.
@@Princess_Celestia_ The way medieval cities where built is like Whiterun :D Cleanest water for the rich, seeping downwards to the poorest.. and think again, where is that well? Yup in the lowest part of the city ;) seeps into the ground, and bucketed up again...
"Nobody plays a fantasy RPG to adhere to the laws of physics" I'm not gonna lie, the _very first thing_ I thought on pressing play on this video and seeing the skeleton was "Do bones float? I don't think bones even float like that!" So... not nobody 😂
I don't think Maven even had to pay anyone to "look the other way" - death isn't exactly a rare sight in Skyrim, those are wild times in a country that is mostly untamed wilderness. People don't say much if you show up in town with a whole skeleton army following you, at max you get some grumpy comments about using magic which most nords see as weakness. Also if anyone is caught pickpocketing or lockpicking, the guards would be their BEST option, as some offended citizens would straight up attack a thief and could very much get them killed before the guards even arrive. So I don't think guards aren't used to see an unaccounted body here and there. After all, who cares? Noone? Then it isn't something worthy of attention.
Irileth, Balgruuf's housecarl seems really jumpy and talks about assassins. Could this be an assassin that was caught and thrown into the moat as a warning to more assassins?
Doubt it. If he had been an assassin, they would have just put him/her in a gibbit and hung him above the city gates where it can be seen, not under a bridge where you can only see it if you jump in.
It's the last person who got to the cloud district very often. Nazeem was trying to warn us all along
My theory is he was the last person to ever tell Heimskr to shut up, and that’s why no one has ever bothered him since.
Somebody had to do it.
@@FizhyAnd his punishment was well deserved for daring to interrupt the worship of Talos
My guy is devoted to Shor, Kyne, Stun, Tsun, the other Atmoran Gods than the aedra.
My theory is he was killed because he got to the Cloud District more often than Nazeem
I love this one.
I always thought of Dragonreach’s “decorative moat” as you put it as an actually functional piece of architecture. Just not as part of the palace’s defenses, but more of a day to day thing. I think it’s a livewell that’s been made to resemble a moat. There’s always fish in there, and Whiterun Hold has lots of fertile fishing spots. Fisherman throughout the Hold could be payed by the Jarl’s household to catch fish from around the Hold and bring them back to Dragonsreach alive, so that the fish can be released into the livewell and recaptured when the Jarl’s kitchens are ready to cook them. There’s even waterfalls oxygenating the water and keeping them pure and flowing downhill. People often like to keep catfish or carp alive for a while in ponds, pools, or even bathtubs before cooking them. It lets you keep them in clean water eating clean food for a while, which lets some of the bottom-feeder funk work it’s way out of the meat.
That's really cool! That's my new headcanon perspective on the moat now, thanks for that lil tidbit of info. :D
makes sense, since repeatedly having the court wizard freeze the fish with magic seems like quite the waste of his time
This channel is a real throwback to the old video game myths/creepypasta videos of the old internet but with a modern take and I absolutely love everything about it
Bro yesss 😂😂😂😂 ..I'm be 21 next year
The skeleton is floating because it's marked as a body you can loot. While you can find pieces of skeletons under water, actual bodies cannot fully submerge because the water physics engine actively prevents a body's head from going under the water.
I suppose they could have made a container object that looks like a sunken skeleton and put that down there. Maybe they just wanted it to be conspicuous
"In the event of a water landing, your cranium can be used as an improvised flotation device."
I've been seeing that skeleton every now and then for 13 years so I was so used to it that I didn't know what skeleton you were talking about at first
I've been playing for 13 years and haven't seen it once... I thought I paid a lot of attention to my surroundings.
Dev 1: what if we put a random skeleton in the moat.
Dev 2: why?
Dev 1: eh why not
you did it....... you solved the mystery.............
Love how this guy put this much thought into one decorative skeleton. 😂
Personally I like the idea that it's an escaped prisoner who chose the worst hiding place imaginable and drown.
Like "the guards are distracted! They won't check under here!" *eventually drowns because the guards won't leave*
Morbidly funny.
I have done it again, I have made another Skyrim video for you to enjoy
You sly dog!
But why?
Bless you
And you delivered. Appreciate the content myg love from Cardiff
You have indeed. Enjoy it, we shall.
I've played through Skyrim so many times at this point I immediately knew what this video was about and was honestly surprised someone bothered making a video about it. Good stuff.
I've always been curious about that skeleton since if first laid eyes on it and knew instantly which one you were referring to.
Sometimes the Skeleton does have some coins and some bone meal.
Nothing better than some fresh Fizhy content 👍
Here to serve
Gabriella in the DB favours a bow and iron arrows.... and mentions she likes using a body of water as a hiding place when you talk to her about killing the Gourmet. So my headcannon has her responsible for a bunch of underwater skeletons around Skyrim including Narfi's sister, Reyda, too.
That's my theory too!
What evidence is there that would indicate Reyda did something worth getting a DB contract, though?
@@ThealmightysanchezWell her equally unimpressive brother earned one, so why not her as well?
@@Thealmightysanchez We don't have any. But she was killed, and left underwater with 2 iron arrows spawning above her location. (We also have no idea who took out a DB contract on us, and that encounter fires randomly, and can do so very early, so it isn't tied to anything we do in-game.) Not everything has an explanation laid out for us, that's why we develop our own headcannons.
I always end up with two skeletons in that little moat: poor Tony, and nazeem.
So you actively drag Nazeems body through half of the city and up the massive stairs to dump him in there? 😂
I like to imagine everyone seeing it but pretending that nothing is happening
Rofl 🤣
@@generalpenultimo6502one a playthrough a few years ago, i massacred every npc that was outside and dragged them all to the well in the marketplace lol. All the guards who tried to stop me also joined the pile
I love how nazeem is in lowercase
You certainly can't say that nazeem doesn't get up to the cloud district.
I figured it was a joke about someone who had to wait to see the Jarl for so long they perished and turned into bones and are still there waiting. 😂
But really, its probably a piece of a cut quest from the originally planned larger Whiterun that actually had a Cloud District. Nazeem used to have a house, but it was cut so he's basically homeless.
I did wonder why Nazeem and Alham sleep upstairs in the Drunken Huntsman…
If it made nazeem homeless, it's fine by me.
“Come to Dragonsreach to discuss the ongoing hostilities like the rest of the great warriors?”
"ah no mere brute mercenary but a thinker... perhaps even a scholar?"
My theory: that's Balgruuf's wife. I don't think he straight up murdered her, but I think he was forced to put her down for her use of the ebony blade. Perhaps she was unhappy about his illegitimate child, possibly sired while she was being driven mad by it, estranging him.
Or perhaps he used the blade on her under it's influence and deeply regrets it (I don't think he is evil).
The court and Jarl fears it-- it has a history somewhat recently in dragonsreach where something went down.
But if that were the case why wouldn't he put her in the hall of the dead? Or bury her and not leave her under the bridge to dragonsreach, a place where people could easily spot it.
Black rose enjoyer
I think you're right about it being Balgruuf's wife. However, I don't think he did it himself. I think it was actually the Dark Brotherhood. Gabriella's preferred way of disposing bodies is by dumping them in the water. Another possible murderer is Balgruuf's second in command, Irileth, who was previously a member of Morag Tong.
@@garymaidman625 nah man balgruff isn’t leaving his ladies corpse to rot in front of his own house
@@facelessnameless but does Balgruuf actually know it's there. If he didn't kill her himself, then how does he know where the body is disposed of?
While Maven is a plausible candidate, I don’t think she’d be so brazen as to dump the body underneath the doorstep of another Jarl. She might have Riften firmly in her pocket, but risking the anger of another Jarl who she doesn’t control is a chance I don’t think she’d be willing to take. More likely, she’d remove the guy from Whiterun and have his body dumped somewhere out in the wild where he wouldn’t be found…. Cos it’s kind of ridiculous that the Dragonborn is the first person to find such an obvious and not very well hidden body.
Whoever the body is, it has to be something related to Whiterun’s domestic politics, which is why the guards pretend not to notice it when patrolling the bridge all day. If it was someone outside the city, they’d at least remove it and intern it in the hall of the dead, so the fact they haven’t is pretty good indication they’ve been told to leave it alone.
Or maybe a Bethesda dev just thought it’d be funny to put a skeleton there. 😂
My theory is that it is indeed Balgruuf's wife and that the killer is either Gabriella from the Dark Brotherhood (she has a penchant for dumping her targets in the water), or Irileth, who was trained by the Morag Tong and admits to killing many threats to Balgruuf.
Lilith Maidenloom's dialogue implies she's friends with Maven - Lilith runs the horse stables in Whiterun. Whoever Christophe was, he must be someone connected to Lilith. I firmly believe Christophe is the skeleton and that he wronged Ms Maidenloom, forcing Maven to retaliate.
Love the atmosphere in these videos, makes it feel supernatural or just generally actually unnerving when diving into these
We need one with the “lady of the lake” skeleton arm holding up a sword next, it can be found right outside Whiterun. When I come across it, I often to choose to role play my characters not touching it (unless they’re the more reckless thieving kind) assuming it’s cursed.
My initial reaction is foul play with the whiterun guards.
Fun fact I don't know if this happens to anyone else but sometimes irileth will either look down where the skeleton is when you go to meet with the soldiers or if you let her go out before you once you get outside she'll be in the water right next to the skeleton and won't move from it til you get outside so I think it may be related to her maybe a quest that was never realized.
I remember the first time I heard Maven's son speak after playing Fallout 4 and involuntarily yelling "Nick!" Lol
I remember the first time playing 13 years ago and just diving into the water, not thinking anything was in there and then BOOM. Big ol skellybob.
As for the killer, i have always thought it was a certain member of the dark brotherhood who enjoys hiding bodies in the water as she encourages with a certain Orc contract. It's also not the only bridge with a skelly hidden under it showing her footprint in the world XD
I was three when Skyrim came out, and it is now my absolute favourite game. I live for these videos! The best part of Skyrim are these little details, and your vids just document them so perfectly. Keep up the awesome work!! 💞💞
In the realm of outlandish conspiracy theories about this skeleton in the moat, I have one.
Mikial was possibly envious of the husband of Carlotta, and possibly saw the two together in the inn constantly. Mikial was jealous, wanting Carlotta for himself. He may have courted Carlotta, but she chose her husband instead of him.
So, Mikial goes Arcadias shop and buys Deadly Nightshade and a bottle of Nord mead. Mixes it in and offers it to Carlottas husband on a walk to the Jarls palace.
Carlottas husband is poisioned, and Mikial strips the body of clothing and identification papers, dumping the body in the moat, reasoning that nobody checks there.
A fun and interesting theory. The only real flaw is that someone willing to go that far to be with someone would not suddenly give up just because some random person asked them to...
@@Kahadi who says none of the dark brotherhood contracts against the player are from him?
This is why I love content like this. Always putting a spotlight on things I never noticed before. And I've played this game for YEARS and still discover new things. Great content 🤝
My theory is that he didn't get to the cloud district very often
I've always believe the theory that it's either jarl balgruuf wife or a assassin that tried to kill balgruuf
Both sensible, I like the idea the skeleton has something to do with Balgruuf but the more I looked down that rabbit hole the more I realised how ridiculous it'd be for the Jarl to pop a body in his own moat.
@@Fizhy Irileth could have put the body there
@@christianthrasher8677 To what purpose? It whould be far easier for her to just dump the body off the Drangosreach balcony and thus out of the city and into a spot few people ever venture.
There is one, though not very strong, reason why it is not Christophe. Maven letter says someone will come and escort him back to Riften, so it would be much easier to dispatch of Christophe somewhere on the road in the wilderness. If she wanted to send a message, well then the assassin wouldn't have hidden the body. And about the black sacrament, the letter to Astrid is unsent and the ritual sacrifice still in place so most likely whoever Maven wanted killed by the Dark Brotherhood is still alive. A potential target for the dark brotherhood might be Svidi/Lynly Star-Sung. She might be Sibbis problem, but I doubt that Maven would tolerate anyone humiliating her family
Truth is he spawned at night with a draugr friend. Morning came and they tried jumping in the moat to survive (as water will prevent skellies and draugr from dying in the daytime), they were both too late however.
I wonder what happens once you become the leader of the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves guild. Does Maven continue to use these threats?
It could be an interesting video, covering how your progress changes the perception of characters in game.
Sadly, Skyrim is a very static world. People's opinion of you *very* rarely changes in the game. No matter what positions you occupy or feats you've accomplished, to most people in the game (Maven included) you're still a newcomer and a peon. :/
Hail Sithis🖐️
7:47 I know that elsewhere is an actual word, but for some reason when you said it I first thought of Elsweyr, where the Khajiit come from, which just shows how much time I spend watching Elder Scrolls lore videos.
It would be very strange if the skeleton was actually transported to Whiterun from Elsweyr by the Khajiit caravans.
Another Fizhy video to watch after work
Oh indeed
Was not expecting more skyrim content dayum
Practically every popular lore channel had me thinking it was Balgruf’s wife. I am glad that other people are out here making lore videos with different perspectives. This theory is the best one that I have heard so far. You and the black rose are my go to for the new lore perspective. That’s why I like it when new people join the TES lore ranks. Plus these two are more closer to my thinking style. Doing deep research rather than just scratching the surface just to get a video out haha
My personal theory is that any body (skeletal or otherwise) in water is a victim of Gabriella from the Dark Brotherhood. During the Dark Brotherhood questline, if you ask her for advice about one of the quests (I think when you kill the Gourmet, but I might be wrong) she comments that she prefers hiding her work in bodies of water. There's one in Markarth and Reyda in Ivarsted and probably others that I'm forgetting
your videos are so addicting! always glad to see another upload from fizhy 🖤
I’ve loved watching all of your RDR2 videos for the years you’ve been making them, and today I log onto UA-cam to find out you’re making Skyrim videos, that are really interesting, in 2024!!!! My day has been made and my life complete
only fishee could make a 20 minute video about this guy
Its a left over halloween decoration that one of the guards thought would be funny but then forgot about it when it came time to clean up. Joking of course, your theory holds more water than most
Fizhy returns when we need him most! And with more great content!
I always assumed the pound is just there as way to control and direct the flow off a spring, it isn't there as a milirtary defensive measure instead it's there to control and manage the enviorment for protection of the palace foundation
I've always thought Maven was woefully underutilized in Skyrim. Doing jobs for her (☠️) would have been a better introduction to the Dark Brotherhood questline than killing Grelod. She could have been a major client for the DB and the Thieves Guild. I've always wondered why Bethesda settles for poorly written questlines when people who write fanfiction could come up with better stories.😖
Not to mention that her daughter Ingun would be a perfect addition to the Dark Brotherhood. Why can't we recruit NPCs to the DB like we can with the Rejects-I mean the Blades?
@WraythSkitzofrenik 💯! Ingun would have been a perfect recruit for the DB. Muiri in Markarth would have been a great recruit as well. Maybe J'Zargo, some of the vampires in Castle Volkihar. I would have loved to recruit new named members to the DB instead of the Blades, 😖.
Your videos are so great dude. As long as you keep making them I’ll keep watching
I freaking love your channel dude. Keep up the good work
what if its the body of the real nazeem and the one in whiterun is a clone i mean he always ask if ive been to the cloud district like cmon hes not real right?
nazeem is a ghoast
Maybe nazeem is a ghost and he just desperately wants somebody to go up there and claim his remains so that he can be put to rest already.
My theory: maven doesn't exactly shy away from publicly declaring her corruption, so the fact that the guy at the meadery is terrified of even speaking poorly of her suggests that he's the only one under that threat. I think maven specifically gives that requirement to whoever works the tasting counter as a sadistic form of pleasure - i.e., she just wants to see them get stressed out
The original skeleton is the Jarl mistress left there as a message for the people to know their place, but later got replaced by each person who mentioned or asked about it
You know the old seer that tells you your future somewhere along the dark brotherhood questline? My first thought was maybe the dead guy got on her bad side, or discovered she has ties to the dark brotherhood, or something. Then the dark brotherhood came to shut him up. But this one makes more sense. I didn’t even know there was a skeleton floating down there until watching this video.
3:41 did… you just… say… “the cloud district”? Oh my… DO YOU GET TO THE CLOUD DISTRICT VERY OFTEN? OH WHAT AM I THINKING OF COURSE YOU DONT.
Out of the three people that are supposed to be at the bottom of lake honrich, you can't find none. Only individuals at the bottom of a lake/ river are Narfi's sister outside Ivarstead & the explorer that's tied to a rock at the bottom of the pond outside the upper entrance to darkwater pass.
The skeleton is actually every Elder Scrolls fan that was waiting for 6
I love all your videos they are so good. Really amazing
It probably something to do with cut content for the Mephala quest, since the ebony blade is followed by a trail of death and it in Whiterun I imagine it would've had been for to kill someone at some point.
Babe, wake up! @Fizhy dropped another Skyrim mystery video
Skeletons in Skyrim *do* naturally sink, so floating skeletons are definitely strange. The separated bone skeletons sink at least
Brilliant video my man.
I love when Maven threatens me with the dark brotherhood bc I'm almost certainly the leader at that juncture
I've just been getting back into Skyrim (for the billionth time lol) and this is one of those things I always remember for some reason, yet i never noticed the literal dragon skeleton in Dragonsreach until you mentioned it. What is wrong with me?
I’ve always wondered about that thing.
I think it has to do with Heimskr because you find many skulls inside of his house and that’s just really suspicious
Given the fact that there’s a note on the skeleton referencing Maven, I assume that she’s the culprit
I think it's pretty obvious to both questions. The who the skeleton is is Balgruuf's wife. The who did it is the Dark Brotherhood. There is one member of the Brotherhood, Gabriella, who's favoured way of disposing bodies is by dumping them in the water.
My theory is that the skeleton is the jarl's wife who we have no info on, but if you do the whispering lady quest, you find out the jarl isn't as innocent as he is, so I think due to the sword, the jarl was drunken by its power, killing his wife to make the sword stronger, after realizing what he did, he tried to have the sword destroyed, failing and locking away the sword and removing all record of it and his wife, making a lie where she ran away with someone else (possibly another victim of the blade?)
Keep these up, they’re great
The level designer thought it would be fun to put a skeleton in the moat 😂
I had a dead whiterun guard in the water in the beginning of my game, and when I come back later there was only a skeleton. I always thought it was the dead guard?
I have two theories regarding this skeleton.
1) It’s the corpse of Sadia who was killed by the woman posing as Sadia in order to take her identity.
2) The skeleton is just an unearthed corpse that was buried in that location long ago.
My suspects are Olava who contacted the dark brotherhood hence her connection to Gabriella or perhaps Lilith whom hints at being a lot like Maven... Perhaps ulag all we know is a "skooma incident" but no time was mentioned if a murder was commited it is possible for him to be on their radar years later then ysolda hires him. it is also possible for guards to be too lazy to dredge it up if it is someone who is not a noble.
please keep making these!
nazeem killed them. that's why he keeps asking you if you go to the cloud district often
Skeletons going walkies made me laugh so hard. 😂
Maven ordering someone to get whacked makes sense but it doesn’t explain how the body became a fully decomposed skeleton. 🤔
I always thought it was just a skeleton left there from previous jarls eons ago to hint at the fierce nord history/culture
I always just assumed that they meant to put something else there, and just accidentally put a skeleton instead because the ID was similar.
It is a Bethesda game after all
Well, if they didnt want the skeleton to float they would've placed it into the floor (theorhetically). Look at what they did with Reyda.
So there is a bit of a chance it was meant to be a more recent corpse
I was always curious about that skeleton.
Hell yeah !, this one has always bugged me
I don't really think Bethesda puts as much thought into its environmental storytelling as to give every skeleton a backstory.
I do wonder if Skyrim is full of little nuggets of environmental storytelling that were maybe a smidge too subtle, so that people are only finding them and exploring their significance a decade later...
...or if they just put a skellington in the game because they look cool.
You made my evening.
How did I miss this upload? This would have been perfect to throw on while making dinner
I certainly feel bad for anyone who considers Maven a 'friend' as there's no loyalty or honor in that woman's bones. God I hate her so much. And I feel bad for the poor wood elf who runs the meadery for her. The man is terrified, he even tells you she made multiple disappear and dumped their bodies in a lake.
Edit: I wasn't expecting it but you brought it up as soon as I finished writing this comment lol.
One of Maven Black-Briar's friends is in whiterun... There are also Dark Brotherhood connections in Whiterun so perhaps it is in correlation to organized crime?
Obviously it was Nazeem, he seems so interested in whether or not people have been to the cloud district…. A little too interested.
So I don’t know what I did in my vanilla play through, but every time I enter Riften a huge fight happens in the town and everybody fights Maven. Serves her right I’ve always hated her. I am a dragon slaying badass I could easily turn her into paste if only the game would allow me.
My theory is one of the gods (developers) just put it there for fun and there is no other reason beyond that.
We get so many clues that it's the jarls wife. The wife had the ebony blade, Maphala told her Balgruuf was cheating on her and that woman was with child. Feeling betryed, she in trun betryed Balgruuf by trying to kill him with the ebony blade. Balgruuf, irileth or both, then killed the wife and hid the body and sealed the blade away. It would have been a MASSIVE scandal for the jarl if this was found out and that's why they hid the body. The story is pretty much repeating itself with the kid. It's the only thing that really makes any sense, 2+2=4. Killing a guy where guards are around all the time is a massive risk, so is dragging a body across town. It's a million times more likely he was put down on the way to riften, zero risk in that.
The Dragonborn: upsets Maven
Maven: contacts the Thieves guild to Rob the Dragonborn
The Dragonborn: Hi 👋
Maven: okay then
Also Maven: performs black Sacrament
The Dragonborn: Hello There, I'll be your friendly neighbourhood Assassin for this evening
Maven: What happened to Astrid, and when did you join the Brotherhood?
Dragonborn: Astrid fucked up and died. Astrid recruited me a while ago, now I'm it's leader. Now, who do you want dead?
Maven: Forget it. *pays guards to arrest the Dragonborn*
Dragonborn: *Is Thane of Riften, smirking at Maven as they drink with the guards bribed to arrest them* sup?
in short: Maven Blackbriar had a corpse dumped there and thats what its from
1:14 Easter egg to Elisa Lam, who drowned mysteriously in a watertank above the Cecil Hotel
The moat/pons you mention where this skeleton floats in is the water supply for the city below, it flows all the way down through the districts and out of the city by the city gates.
The city's water supply is a well in the market district.
That would be far too morbid and insensitive of an Easter Egg.
@@Princess_Celestia_ The way medieval cities where built is like Whiterun :D Cleanest water for the rich, seeping downwards to the poorest.. and think again, where is that well? Yup in the lowest part of the city ;) seeps into the ground, and bucketed up again...
@@Sanguivore ..not really, they have made more innuendo's like this in Edlerscrolls games. And IN Skyrim are pretty morbid things to behold aswell...
You can also talk to maven about Louis and the horse
To this day I wonder whether King Olaf secretly was or wasn’t the dragon in the dungeon…
(He wasn’t)
"Nobody plays a fantasy RPG to adhere to the laws of physics" I'm not gonna lie, the _very first thing_ I thought on pressing play on this video and seeing the skeleton was "Do bones float? I don't think bones even float like that!" So... not nobody 😂
I always wondered what the context was of that letter in the Bannered Manor
I don't think Maven even had to pay anyone to "look the other way" - death isn't exactly a rare sight in Skyrim, those are wild times in a country that is mostly untamed wilderness. People don't say much if you show up in town with a whole skeleton army following you, at max you get some grumpy comments about using magic which most nords see as weakness. Also if anyone is caught pickpocketing or lockpicking, the guards would be their BEST option, as some offended citizens would straight up attack a thief and could very much get them killed before the guards even arrive. So I don't think guards aren't used to see an unaccounted body here and there. After all, who cares? Noone? Then it isn't something worthy of attention.
Irileth, Balgruuf's housecarl seems really jumpy and talks about assassins. Could this be an assassin that was caught and thrown into the moat as a warning to more assassins?
Doubt it. If he had been an assassin, they would have just put him/her in a gibbit and hung him above the city gates where it can be seen, not under a bridge where you can only see it if you jump in.