How viable are the guard's words? I think this is a mistake on Bethesda's part. Some faulty writing. The guards know many things they should not, and don't know many things they should.

You want ebony curved swords? Curved. Swords?


You don't like the look of glass and Imperial swords, then?

The Redguards make Scimitars. The Dwemer made Trueflame and Hopesfire. The Dunmer had Ebony Scimitars. Not to mention katanas. There's lots of curved swords, and I think a master smith would know a little more than a guard.

Goldbrand was a katana made by dragons of the north.

I'm not against people having their swords. My valid complaint is that all of the high end two handed swords are curved or are katanas. Most of the one handers are too except for the thieves guild variants - I play a warrior, so you can see the dilemna.

I'm still confused why a sword like Chillrend is linked to the Thieves Guild when in Oblivion it took a more warrior-quality approach to obtain it. (Defending a farm from a small army of goblins.)

That's fine. Everyone can have an opinion.


Do you have any evidence to back that up?

Yeah, the idea of Eorlund Grey-Mane, the supposedly best smith in all of Skyrim, not knowing how to make a certain weaponstyle doesn't seem very probable to me.

The FACT that there are so many curved swords in the game, yet guards make a statement making it sound as if they are uncommon?

For one thing, they think they might be Dragonborn and they just don't know it yet. No matter how far along in the quest I am.

Such as... ebony which is rare and imperially mandated, daedric which is crafted with imperially mandated ebony with a rare daedric heart, and a cutlass from a foreign country?



No TVs, no internet. People aren't omniscient.

And there is orcish.

However, at least from a lore standpoint the most common weapons one would see if iron and steel. Orcish, ebony, daedric and the scimitars would be rare weapons that the common guard could go years without seeing.

I absolutely love the Ebony weapons and armor in Skyrim. My favorite, by far. Daedric is awesome sure, but it's overly evil looking and doesn't fit any character besides a mass murderer-demon god.

Ebony FTW.

He's still an old man who could have travelled and traded. Cyrodiil also has the Black Horse Courier.

Once again, Goldbrand. A katana. Forged by dragons of the north.

Try the daedric ebony blade, after you kill your companions who cannot transform into a werewolves as a companion on your journeys.

The only thing I can figure is that dragons fly. Maybe one went to Akavir? Either way, the developers clearly wanted us to know that Skyrim wasn't familiar with swords that weren't straight edge.

also, the black horse courier? Running all the way to Skyrim? Not likely.

I think the Ebony blades are the best looking swords in the game. Elven looks super cool as well. Very artistic.

Indeed, and that is because the curved weapons are from other cultures, or insanely rare. It is almost only the player who uses high quality items like ebony. The Alik'r are almost the only ones using scimitars. Orcish weapons are more common than these, but still fairly rare. Ebony and Daedric are very rare by default, almost no one uses them. All of the curved blades are rare if you don't count the players choice of weapon(s).

But as for the style of curved blades: It is possible for smiths to try new shapes and styles for their weapons and armor, even if they haven't had influence by others.

I brought up the Black Horse Courier because they do have ways of transmitting information, besides magically. Even without TV and Internet.

Dragons are originally from Akavir, as well as the Tsaesci. Tsaesci made katanas. They also killed lots of dragons. And they were humanoid. Humans are also humanoid, and can make good use of katanas. Dragons want their human allies to be of good use. Dragons make katanas for humans. Glldbrand.
THe devs don't CLEARLY want us to know that NOT A SINGLE PERSON IN SKYRIM has ever seen a curved sword any more than they CLEARLY want us to know EVERY SINGLE GUARD USED TO BE AN ADVENTURER LIKE YOU BUT THEN THEY TOOK AN ARROW TO THE KNEE. Furthermore, guards don't represent all of Skyrim.

I think a better choice is to differenciate the style of the weapon from the material. Basically, when you learn a new smithing material, you learn a the default design as well... but you could also, say, use the Ebony Material to make a two handed sword in the shape of a glass two handed sword instead. It'd add for a variety to the game, as well as making both sides of the "Bawww, katanas" and "Bawww, not enough katanas" argument shut up and enjoy the game for once.

Get a LOTR mod. Anduril is in a two and one handed version and looks great. Personally the aren't enough curved weapons. There's like 3. Also an ebony sword is a katana? How exactly? They are nothing alike AT ALL.

Knew someone was gonna do that. I wish the handle wasn't all the sword though.

The ebony weaponry doesn't go terribly well with any armour - not even ebony armor. Easily the worst weapons design in the game.

And a valid argument in Cyrodiil, but not in Skyrim.

The only katana we know that dragons made, was goldbrand. Saying that because dragons made goldbrand, that they also made katanas or intended for nords to make more katanas, is a stretch. Especially since we go back in time and see the dragon wars and no one's using a curved sword. Further mroe there are no curved swords in dragon priest temples.

I used Eorlund as my prime example because he's THE blacksmith of Skyrim, the one to which all others are compared and in his home town curved swords are unknown.


An arrow in the knee is a likely occurrence in war. Volleys of arrows were common place on battlefields. All the same, setting the theme of a place, its culture, and how it reacts to foreign cultures is far different than a joke.

The ebony sword is my favorite weapon. It just looks damned cool to me, it's effective, and when enchanted I can carve up just about anything. *

(* Take this with a grain or two of salt. I'm 62, probably a bit senile, highly opinionated and frequently irrational. Life is grand.)

But the technology required exists. At least enough for someone in Whiterun to know the College of Winterhold is back to normal, or someone in Solitude to know someone was murdered in her own orphanage.

Dragons made Goldbrand, therefore dragons made katanas. Also, dragon priest daggers are also curved. ALSO, the Akaviri Dragonguard, the predecessor of the Blades, made katanas. For example, Dragonbane, which you find in Sky Haven Temple - which has been sealed off until recently.

Eorlund is not a guard. He knows more about weaponry than they do. He's not the best for no reason. He has ebony swords in his inventory. And so do those two at the blacksmith right at the door.

The guards weren't in a war, they were adventurers like you. And to many of us the "curved swords" line is also a joke. Who are you to say what guard dialogue is factual and what isn't?

I think the first person view of it looks a bit odd, like the model is different and there is less blade length, in third-person there seems to be more blade and looks fine.