Skyrim talk:Creatures/Archive 1

This is an archive of past Skyrim talk:Creatures discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page, except for maintenance such as updating links.

Plural of Draugr

This is an overall stylistic problem I've come across in many Skyrim articles. I figured this would be the best place to discuss it.

I consistently see the word Draugrs used as the plural form of Draugr in the occupants section of Place Summaries and throughout articles. I believe this is a completely made-up word (combining an Old Norse word with the English plural 's'). In Skyrim dialogue, I believe (not 100% sure) that that the word Draugr is both the singular and plural form of the word, like moose. But when Draugr is mentioned in actual mythology they are called Draugr (singilar) and Draugur or Draugen (plural). Link: [1]. I feel that whatever is used in Skyrim for the plural form would be most appropriate. Any thoughts? Ulfsark 21:46, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

You're totally right - but by the same token we're not exactly going to do a PSA about the correct plural of Draugr lol. If you see the incorrect word on a page, feel free to correct it - that's what wikis are for! I certainly will be :) Revoran 05:28, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Actually, the main source of the problem is probably my bot, which auto-filled most of the occupants in the Place Summaries. In the case of the bot, the problem is just that I didn't think to add Draugr to the list of names that shouldn't have an 's' tacked on for the plural form. Meaning it's more a programming error than a spelling error. However, trying to now auto-fix the entries by bot has several complications, meaning that it's more trouble than it's worth when I have way too many other tasks for the bot. But if you see cases and want to fix them, feel free.

Nevertheless, thanks to this discussion I have now researched what exactly is used in-game and can confirm that Bethesda nearly always uses "draugr" as the plural. The only exception anywhere in Skyrim is one case of "draugrs" in the book Amongst the Draugr, but I think it's safe to call that case a typo, given other cases in the book using "draugr", most notably the title. Therefore, I've gone ahead and added this to our Spelling style guide. --Nephele^Talk 06:03, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

I agree fully. This is a similar (albeit extremely common) confusion of perspective. As we all know, people tend to debate over pronunciation. Examples being: "Deers/Deer", "Buffalo/Buffalos", and so on and so forth. Draugr is meant to be not only the creature, but to represent the entire existing population, therefore the term "Draugrs" is obsolete. I say potato, you say! We all know how it goes. Tes95 18:40, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Spelling of Mud Crab

I've changed the spelling from "Mudcrab" to "Mud Crab", on the basis that the latter is what was used in Oblivion, making it the most recent. --Legoless 13:29, 16 October 2011 (UTC)

Actually, the in-game spelling is "MudCrab". Bethesda just had to come up with a third way of spelling it.... --Nephele^Talk 02:52, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

respawning

i relise this is still prety early after release to ask this but do creaturs respawn on this game and if so whats the reset time i tryed 3 days like oblivion but the mammoths i had killed was still there i had left and come back The sorrow 18:39, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

The mammoths and giants do indeed respawn at their camps, i killed some for their tusks early on, now they are back.

Dwarven Sphere

I just ran into one in Raldbthar. Should I add it it the list of Dwemer Centurions? --I a m g o o f b a l l--Need Something? Drop by on my Talk Page. What I've done for this site. 01:58, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Also, I just ran into a Dwarven Spider Worker.--I a m g o o f b a l l--Need Something? Drop by on my Talk Page. What I've done for this site. 02:01, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

Will add :) Revoran 00:17, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

Fish

Do fish go on this page, or (because there are several types) should they get a new page?

At the very least, an entry for fish as a whole should be put on this page. Revoran 00:17, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

I'm opting to move all the fish (other than Slaughterfish) to Passive Creatures, with just a single to link to the page from the Creatures article. None of them are true "creatures". The game just considers them to be activators (ACTI records instead of CREA), in other words they're just a bit of animation that you can click on. The same holds for the insects. The hawks are actually just containers. --Nephele^Talk 02:52, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Hawks

Common around solitude, a real pain to shoot down, but occasionally they land in trees. Sometimes, a hawk will have a nest in a tree or mountainside that it will land in, this nest will dissapear once the hawk has been killed. They drop hawk feather and hawk beak for alchemy.

See comments under #Fish. --Nephele^Talk 02:52, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Spiders

Be they mere animals or monsters? Sections could use clarificaiton. Move Chaurus to wherever Spiders end up.

Totally agree. There needs to be a consensus on whether they are animals or monsters. Do they game files provide any clarification? Revoran 00:17, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

Separate category? In-game, they're considered Automatons. — Unsigned comment by 24.58.12.75 (talk) on 2/4/2012

Wisps/wisp mothers

When i was exploring an abandoned guardtower, I ran into 3 wisps and a wisp mother, should this go on the page?

Yes it should, i'll add them. Revoran 00:17, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

Wispmothers are classified as Wisps. I think they are slightly different. Same sitch as a Spriggan and a bear.

Where can Wisps and Wispmothers be found I've play probably 70hrs so far and never seen one. Lord Eydvar 00:37, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

Nevermind found 2 of em after posting my last comment. 1 in Blackreach and another in Labyrinthian. Lord Eydvar 05:54, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

The info page says Wispmothers can summon wisps and shades, and the shades will persist after she's been killed. Is this information correct? What is the difference between wisps and shades? The last time I fought one, she duplicated herself, but after I killed her, the duplicates died. --Tingz0r 23:23, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

Separate category? In-game, they're called automatons.

Draugr

I've meet Draugr Death Overlord and Scourge Lord, should they be mentioned under Draugr?--Tdroid 06:22, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

Yeah - in the variations section. Revoran 08:06, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

Added the Draugr Death Overlord variation. Apparently no one ever did. Encountered my first one today. The paralyze shout that sends you flying like you just died scared the crap out of me. --Bwross 18:39, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

I'd add it myself but no clue where the Wight Lords go. I've faced several they seem to be above straight Overlords but don't have some of the higher shouts that Scourge Lords and Death Lords have. Lord Eydvar 00:35, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

Human/intelligent enemies

While not creatures per se, I feel that enemies such as Vampires, Bandits, the Forsworn etc really belong on this page due to the fact that they're mostly hostile by default (their purpose is clearly to act as adversaries) - and the naming conventions are the same as for other creatures (they're not named NPCs and have different categorical names depending on what type they fall under, eg: Bandit, Bandit outlaw etc). Revoran 08:06, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

You got a point, and in these CS-free times, please go ahead and add them to the Creatures page. In time, we can always move the info into separate pages,but to get rid of some of the many red links would be great. Also, if you can add something about Skeevers, I'd be most grateful! ;) --Krusty 08:27, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

Insects

Just curious if the various insects that can be "caught" should be counted as well since the mechanic is basically the same as salmon? Aphotic Phoenix 04:46, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

See comments under #Fish. --Nephele^Talk 02:52, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Dragon bug

I killed a dragon (unnamed) who appeared in the courtyard of the Mages College, where its skeleton inconvenienced passersby for a long time. When the college was destroyed and then rebuilt (at the end of the Mages College quest line), so was the dragon -- and it appeared as a live but dying dragon stuck halfway through the architecture of the courtyard columns. It was nice to get a second dragon soul and set of goodies from the carcass, but it was very odd all the same. Has anyone else noticed dragon skeletons regenerating, or was this a fluke caused by the regeneration of the college particularly? -- Wordmama 04:30, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

You can open the console, click on the dragon and then type disable.

Well, yes, though it wasn't in the way and didn't cause any problems. My thought was that if this is a consistent bug, it ought to be noted on the main pages somewhere.Wordmama 13:45, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

I've also got a dragon skeleton in the Mage College courtyard, and one on each of the towers. Skeletons do not seem to disappear for me. Didn't have one come back alive, though. I did have a carcass that wouldn't burn up and give me its soul, and another that had been a skeleton but somehow turned back into a carcass. Aresvallis 00:16, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Me too. I also just had a dragon at Red Eagle that materialized half inside the wall, then died and gave me soul and goodies without me having to strike a blow. So it doesn't seem to be confined either to the Mages College or to places that get destroyed. Odd. -- Wordmama 16:38, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

NPC vs Creature

I'm starting to set up the rest of the creature-related infrastructure. As part of that process, I've created an NPCs page, and I want to move all NPC-type enemies onto their appropriate pages. However, I have no real way of knowing who is an NPC. The game mechanics for NPCs and creatures have changed substantially since Oblivion. Behind the scenes every enemy is now an "NPC_" record, meaning that old ways of distinguishing creatures from NPCs no longer work.

The only concrete difference that I'm aware of at this point is that NPCs have black souls. However, that still doesn't help me because we don't yet know where information on souls is stored in the game data.

The upshot is that I have no real information, so I'm just using a crude, arbitrary system to decide who is an NPC. If anyone has confirmed information on which types of enemies have black souls, it would be very helpful in coming up with a proper classification. --Nephele^Talk 04:31, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

Falmer

I was looking at the list of creatures and noticed that the Falmer weren't here. Shouldn't they be added? — Unsigned comment by 98.112.248.29 (talk) on 20 November 2011

They are listed under Skyrim:NPCs, and have a page at Falmer. --Nephele^Talk 16:21, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

Falmer aren't npcs, you can't talk to them and they don't have black souls.--Ohnoitsmangofett 08:23, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

Needed Photos

If anyone on PC would like to find photos of these creatures and add them in, it would be much appreciated.

• Deer
• Fox
• Goat
• Giant
• Hawk
• Rabbit
• Slaughterfish
• Dwarven Spheres
• Dwarven Spider Worker
• Ghost

-Voltaire 16:55, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Done and dusted on the most part. Updated some older shots too. Thanks. Pifko 21:59, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

Soul Sizes?

I noticed that one creature had its soul size as a note. Might be a good idea to make that standard for adding creatures to this page. Any thoughts? -Voltaire 16:55, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

It doesn't belong on this page, which is supposed to just be summary information. If we included every detail about every creature, the page would be completely unmanageable in size. Rather, the information belongs on the various articles for each creature type, such as Animals, Monsters, Undead, etc. More than half of the information currently on the creatures page actually needs to be moved over to the other articles. --Nephele^Talk 16:58, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Ice Wraiths

Ice Wraiths are NOT undead. They can be seen with Detect Life, meaning they are very much alive. --Saphireking65 22:07, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

They should be taken off the Skyrim:Undead page, then. Thiafy 13:39, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

Skyrim:Herbane's Bestiary: Ice Wraiths clearly agrees. Though Shades are undead and yet they do not appear for some reason.

Spriggan vs Dragon bug

I've encountered a bug on multiple game saves that when a dragon spawns over a grove where Spriggans are present, it flies around erratically backwards. Also, I've witnessed one Elder Dragon have a Spriggan's Animal Allegiance used on it. When I tried to fight these bugged dragons, or tried using Dragonrend on it, it flew to the top of the cell and started spinning around while dropping the frame-rate to unbearable levels. Mikeyy 17:31, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

That bug isn't connected to Spriggans, though they can call dragons to aid them if there is one nearby. One of the patches causes some dragons of all types to fly erratically, sometimes backwards and cause the frames rate to increase to huge levels. Hopefully it will be fixed soon.--Ohnoitsmangofett 08:23, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

Atronach bug

I have an odd problem with my summoned atronachs (in my example: the flame atronach).

They are supposed to fully resist their own elemental type, and did exactly so in the past. However, whenever I now cast a fire spell at my summoned flame atronach, it takes damage and can die.

Anyone else had this problem or knows how to solve this? Thanks!

While being no help to solve your problem, I can confirm that this has happened to me as well. Only on my level 65 character, though. My conjured atronachs also are slower to respond, sometimes not doing anything at all. Mikeyy 10:09, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

This would have been another unpleasant side effect of patch 1.2, if you try this with 1.3 or higher you'll notice it won't work anymore. Lord Eydvar 08:19, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

Hawk missing from 'Creatures' section

Hawks are non-hostile flying creatures seen throughout Skyrim. They can be shot from the sky and provide both Hawk Beaks and Hawk Feathers. — Unsigned comment by 208.189.39.8 (talk) at 02:08 on December 3, 2011

They are Passive Creatures, not true creatures, which is why Hawk takes you to an entry on the passive creatures page. --Nephele^Talk 08:39, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

Hawks are living creatures live chickens, cows, or goats. I think they should be added.--Ohnoitsmangofett 08:23, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

You know this person is right yet no one has done anything about it. Rather take all the non-hostile animals out of the "animals" section and put them into the passive creatures section or put the hawk in with the animals along with chickens and fox, etc. There is really no difference just people being lazy when someone corrects them.

Just add hawk to the bloody list a hawk last time I checked was part of the animal kingdom as is a chicken and fox. — Unsigned comment by 76.71.37.17 (talk) at 10:02 on February 19, 2012

From the Passive Creatures page: "Skyrim contains many passive creatures, i.e., animals that are completely unable to attack or harm you. Technically, these are not even true creatures, but are more similiar to scenery: animated effects that can be activated (typically yielding an ingredient or food), but have no other activities."

From this page: "This page provides descriptive summary information on all the creatures in the game of Skyrim. NPCs are not covered on this page, nor are Passive Creatures (such as insects and most fish)."

I do not know about hawks myself, but the question we need answered is "Can hawks fight back against the player?" If so, they belong on the creatures page. If not, they belong on the Passive Creatures page. Chickens and foxes are non-hostile to begin with, but they can fight back against the player once attacked. Passive Creatures cannot. They may be a part of the real animal kingdom, but in the game, if they cannot fight back, they are not real creatures. --Velyanthe 16:12, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

In terms of game mechanics, hawks are treated completely differently from creatures. They are actually containers located in the sky, so they can't attack you any more than a chest or sack can. They don't show up using detect life; you don't get experience from shooting them down; they don't have health or any other attributes; they don't have souls. This is not an article describing real-life animal taxonomy, but an article describing how a game works, and therefore it must be organized based on the game's classification. --Nephele^Talk 16:21, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

Zombie info wrong

" Skyrim zombies are not decomposed and do not make any noise at all (apart from the occasional comment they may make upon defeat.)"

That's definitely not right. Whilst they are not decomposed as such, parts of them glow purple making it obvious that they have been reanimated. And they certainly DO make noises, they moan and grunt exactly like you would expect a zombie to. Judging by the end of that comment, the part about them repeating their death dialogue, I'd say whoever wrote this is simply experiencing a bug.

I'm playing the game on the Xbox 360 and they've been the way I describe in both versions so far (base game and patch 1.1, we don't have 1.2 on consoles yet). Glowing purple veins e.t.c and no regular NPC dialogue to speak of, just low moans and grunts.--62.30.162.142 17:58, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

I've heard zombies say something like 'thank you' when it died, like it was thanking me for killing it. Also I've never heard a zombie grunt or moan, although I don't play as a necromancer/summoner character. I play on Xbox--Ohnoitsmangofett 08:15, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

Bear Aggro

The verbiage in this article about being able to avoid bears seems totally incongruous to my experience. They seem to be crazy aggressive and I often have no warning until they are right behind me. The only solution is fight or sprint away (and they do give chase) so I don't see how they are any easier to avoid than anything else in the game?216.163.255.2 15:41, 29 December 2011 (UTC)

Horses

Is there any way to tell a horse NOT to follow you when you fast travel? I have Shadowmere now, and I want to keep him (her?) around and alive, and there are times when I don't want him to accompany me. I just fast traveled back to Bard's Leap and forgot about horses following, and he scared the daylights out of me when he showed up on the plank beside me and nearly knocked me off before I was ready to jump. (Pretty funny, actually.) Oshaugm 20:13, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

There doesn't seem to be. The best you can do once you have Shadowmere is fast travel to the next-closest POI and leave him there so that he doesn't bust a Leeroy at your real destination.206.76.160.254 20:51, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Skeever Teeth

Do we really want the observations on the skeever's teeth? I don't think real world rules on tooth type apply to Skyrim models, and it seems pretty obvious that skeevers are some kind of rat creature. We don't specify things like this regarding other creatures, like pointing out that the mammoths have four tusks and thus can't be related to elephants, etc. --Legoless 00:29, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Hagraven

Do the Hagraven have any weaknesses? I am asking because I am a low level character and wanted to kill them easily. 50.71.135.146 12:36, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

I'm not aware of any specific weaknesses. They are dangerous at a distance and also up close. What I've done is to sneak up (using terrain to protect me from them rushing me) with a bow and poisoned arrows. Any good ranged weapon would do. If you can't one- or two-shot them, use pillars or trees to help defend yourself, or back up until you're far enough out of range to use more poison or restore your health/magicka/stamina. Hope this helps. 108.28.253.229 01:39, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

More strategy info will no doubt materialize as the site develops, but there is already quite a bit if you look at pages such as combat, and some of the skills pages. I might add the following to the good advice given just above: Of course, you may wish to try to avoid them (as much as possible) for awhile and focus on developing your combat-related skills (and techniques). Make sure that you know all of the ways you can combine to protect yourself (potions, apparel that offers strong armor and fire resistence, poisons [as mentioned above], your best-available shouts and powers, etc.]. If you want to give more information on your current level, and some numbers on your skills (light and heavy armor, one- and two-handed, which kinds of perks you are selecting, etc.), I can try to share some of my ideas (my knowledge and experience is relatively limited, but I'm pretty strong at level 39 now), and others may offer more advice, too. You do know that you can temporarily reduce the difficulty level of the game when you encounter tough enemies, right? Relatively speaking, they are generally better at attacking than defending themselves: they are (again, generally and relatively) not very well armored, so in some situations, a good strategy can be to get up-close to them fast and pound or hack on them with your strongest weapons that are associated with your highest skills. --Jreynolds2^Talk 03:01, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

green Atronach

i was just in a cave and found a green Atronach when i went near it the sound of flies was so loud it hurt my ears ;/ it looked like a bunch of vines twisted into the same body the flame Atronach has though it looked like a bunch of green fireflies were swirling around inside it, someone may want to put that on here sorry no idea about what it does never killed it

Perhaps a Spriggan? 70.26.143.254 19:31, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

What you encountered was, beyond a doubt, a Spriggan or Spriggan Matron. Tes95 18:42, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Redundancy?

This page seems a bit redundant given that there are also separate pages on Daedra, Animals, etc. The information is just repeated, and a search goes directly to the more specific page. Shouldn't this summary be more like a table of links, maybe with images, rather than have all the info?--Admos 23:18, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Waiting for Creation Set

I wonder why after more than two months after release all pages(Monsters, Undead, Falmer, NPC) concerning Skyrim enemies are in such a poor state. No information whatsoever about their levels, hit points, damage, special abilities, etc. Just general lyric descriptions. Everybody waits for Creation Set?--89.23.171.139 17:21, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

That is the best way to get large amounts of information. There are other utilities available, but at best, they can only guess at what the data in the files represents. Also, unlike Oblivion, Skyrim has disabled one of the main methods of getting information: the Console TDT command. There are certainly a bunch of other commands available in Skyrim to get certain information, but nothing quite as broad-based as that. Long story short, yes, we're waiting for the Creation Kit. – Robin Hood↝talk 22:20, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Images: Magical Anomaly, Werewolf, Zombie

There are only three types of creatures on this page which do not have an image. I am not familiar with editing this site enough to add them myself, can a more experienced editor help out with this? There are two pictures of magical anomalies on the site that I've found, here and here. I have only been able to find one image of a werewolf, here. I know these are specific quest-related images, but can they be copied to this page so all types of creature have an image? Alphabetface 05:47, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

I added the second Magical Anomaly image, since that one lacks a hand and could be any Anomaly. However, I think that an image of a wild werewolf would be better than the image you have there, since this is not about NPCs nor the Companions. --Velyanthe 15:21, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

I agree about the Aela-werewolf image, that was just the only one I could find. I find it odd that there's not a werewolf image elsewhere on the site already, but oh well. Thanks for adding the one. :) Alphabetface 17:48, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

Wisps and Wispmothers

The article stated that Wisps summoned by a Wispmother die when that Wispmother is killed; however user 138.47.100.199 (talk) has removed this, implying it is not the case (no edit comment or entry on this page to explain why, though). Can anyone verify whether the original statement is true or not? --Reka 09:26, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Moira

Shouldn't Moira be added as unique hagraven? — Unsigned comment by Evlydia (talk • contribs) at 03:53 on 3 February 2012

Done. Alphabetface 13:33, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

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