She lay there, blood dripping from her nose, mouth, and eye sockets after getting the worse end of a brawl she had insisted on. I was just trying to settle a dispute for the Companions. There I stood, about 6'5", 260 lbs. of muscle, tusks, and fury, decked out in my rustic looking iron armor. She looked up and says, "you're tougher than you look.".

WTF

This annoys me.

You look like somone who is 6'5", 260lbs, and you are tougher then that. Whats the problem?

One might try to argue that to be tougher than that you need to regularly knock people across rooms... but that is surprisingly common in Skyrim.

My point is, why the hell are NPCs saying things like that to probably the fiercest looking Orc warrior in Skyrim?

It isn;t just that. You become Harbinger of the Companions, and the guards still say, "so you what, fetch the mead?". It is those little details that can detract a lot from the believability of the world.

Haha, I always thought that was weird too.

I agree with you on the last point about the Harbinger.. but the first one is just a regular insult, not so much a problem for me...

The mead comment is annoying, and part of one of Skyrim's big flaws, lack of recognition for accomplishments (nothing changes when you do important stuff, why should they notice that it was you that did them?), but as for the tough comment, hey it's Skyrim, the frozen North, everyone has to be a bit tough (or be remarkable in some other way such as magic, or stashing enough away to leave as an inheritance when you are a beggar) just to survive as a farmer or whatever.

Same with bandits, I give them one strike with my deadric pimped out warhammer and they yell something about how easy I'm going down. And that's just after I chopped away 80% of their health with one strike...

Mabye there is a PC mod that lets dying enemies really run away scared?

Some enemies actually flee without any mods. When I was one of them started running away, kneeling down and begging for mercy. I think it has something to do with a given NPC's aggression/courage settings.

Also, there are spells and probably weapon enchantments which make enemies up to a certain level flee after you hit them. For example, the sword Red Eagle's Bane sets the undead on fire and makes them flee.

those little comments always bug me too, it just goes back that in skyrim you cant build reputation xp like in FLNV

Agreed. It's kind of bothersome that you show up to the Jorv (or anywhere for that matter) with Guild Master armor on/almost single handedly win the civil war, and most NPCs still think you're some peasant. C'est la vie I suppose.