Skyrim – In the Beginning

I awake to find myself on a cart, being transported to a small village. A couple of chaps are sat with me in the cart, bound at the wrists. The speak of a rebellion against the imperials. I understand little of this, gazing longingly at the snow-covered mountains to either side of our moving transport.

Eventually, we arrive at our destination. It seems as though myself and another man have been captured alongside these rebels – he decides to make a run for it, and is promptly brought down by a hail of arrows. I decide to stick with the rest of them, until I am called forward.

It is at this point that I learn my name, and race, and identity as a whole. I am an imperial male, with short greying hair and in need of a shave. And I go by the name Hedron the Collider. How I came to be known as this is of little importance. Of greater importance is the fact that my neck is resting against a block, and a large man with an axe is about to sever my head from my body.


Luckily for me, a dragon arrives and gives everyone – villagers, prisoners, imperials – an almighty fright. The dragon also sets to burning a lot of the imperial guards. I run away, aware that the breath of a dragon is not the best place to explore with my new-found freedom. Following one of the alleged rebels, we make our way through a castle, which the dragon decides needs a small bit of remodelling.

Eventually, we find ourselves in a small cave complex, with a little river running through it. It would be pretty, were it not for the spiders spitting poison at me. To my great relief, I’d picked up some armour and swords from the fallen prison guards, and set to removing the spiders from my person with gusto.

We emerge from the cavern onto the side of a mountain, snow blowing and low clouds filtering. Trees are covered in frost, and the landscape extends far into the distance. My companion explains that the dragon has left us, that the mountain side will soon be crawling with soldiers, and for us to part ways. Up to this point, I genuinely thought he would end up being my best friend in these blasted lands. But alas, he is already running.

“Find the nearby village!” he shouts while running backwards away from me, “My sister will help you!” But not you, not you. Actually, maybe he really isn’t my friend. I already have no recollection of his name.

The village isn’t far by the mountain path I find myself walking, a simple rustic place called Riverwood. I enter the village and see a dog and a child at the side of the main way – the child informs me that he doesn’t steal things, and the dog just barks. I walk into a shop, where a brother and sister argue about chasing some thieves. Being the adventurer type, I offer to go walking off into the unknown, and to punish these thieves in the very den they call home.

Soon I am walking once more in the snow of mountains, towards a folly. An archer and a couple of bandits tell me that it would not be best for me to dwell, so I set to them instead with the cold steel of my blade. The folly is empty, but a path leads on, further up the dire mountain…