So i just got my first bug in a jar. The torch bug from the frostflow lighthouse. An awesome misc quest btw...

My question is:

Has anyone looked at the jar closely? Besides the added realism of little bug turds on the bottom of the jar... Lol... There is also something written under the cork lid.

It looks like "zwat" or "zuat" or "luaz"??? I cant qute read it... But its there so i know it has to mean something. Plus im using a regular crappy old tv so its even harder to read...

Alyone else notice this?

LOTS of threads here about this very thing. You should do a search, you'll probably turn up 15 or so. Read them all.... profit....

http://www.reddit.com/r/skyrim/comments/nklj2/you_know_those_runes_on_the_lids_of_the_bug_jars/c39wpky

This is a very interesting read. I'm not sure how true any of it is, though..

Oh, I don't know that any of it is "true". It's all just a fun side-quest sort of thing....

It may or may not be true, or part of something much, much bigger... But, i do believe the symbols mean something.. They have to. Developers do not put stuff like this in there for nothing. Whether huge or inconsequential, it means something.

Like the little mountain made from your mashed potatoes?

Uh. Hon, devs put stuff like this in games all the time. Most of it means nothing. Players speculating on it gives the devs crits n giggles most like.

im sure theres some use for em, ive heard they put bugs in the archmages garden, but never bothered to test it. im always doin somethin else when i remember or im playing a character with no jars. theres also the transmutation circle theory, but i myself have never seen any type of transmutation circles in game, though some crafty pc players went digging and apparently found some circles in a book that strangely looks like one of shalidors journals. i have my doubts about the current transmutation theory, but ive been finding these wierd little stonehenge type ruins all over the place that seem to line up with eachother, so they may not be far off. who knows, game devs have been planting dlc in the launch version of games for awhile now. we may never buy a full game again.

The archmage's garden has some of every bug, yes.

I recommend watching http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLQVfHVdDZg It explains the conspiracy.

i know its got a ton of alchemical ingredients on the shelves but im not sure ive ever seen a live insect in the garden, could just be me though as i got hit with almost every gamebreaker on my first playthrough so idk...

I've spent a fair amount of time in there on some toon or the other. There's live bugs. In fact, the torchbugs are really pretty to watch. Remind me of lightning bugs when I was a kid on my g'parent's place in Arkansas.