OK so "bug in a jar" items are bothering me. You have seen one probably. Other forum posts have talked about them so you might know that on the inside of lid are symbols that don't quite fit in anywhere in the TES world. I read all that and decided it was probably nothing. THEN I went and joined the Thieves Guild. If you have joined the guild then you may have met an NPC named Rune in the hideout. He tells a story about where he got his unusual name and it struck a cord with me. He says that he was rescued from a sinking ship off the coast of Solitude and that the man who found him also found a smooth stone inscribed with a strange rune on it in his pocket. He says he has tried asking everyone and no one knows its meaning. This alone seemed like a throw away conversation because it did not trigger a quest or anything, but combined with the weirdness of the jar bug runes and the fact that those items so far have no use could mean something. When I get a chance I'm going to scour the depths around Solitude looking for a ship or clues. If your bored or curious check it out yourself and give me a hand. Any help would be greatly appreciated seeing as how the seas are large and dark. I"ll report back if I find out that this leads anywhere.

Bump. For Science!

This was a triumph...

Here's a http://i.imgur.com/o6acL.jpg of the lid (butterfly). If the stray mark is indeed a mistake I think the runes say "Joy" and "Man", or possibly "Joy", "Ice" and something else. Too hungry to have a closer look right now!

Maybe the runes are a component of a magic spell that keeps the insect in the jar alive? Could be.

They are real rune markings as in rune stones. I studied then a lot long ago with tarot and other arts was never good at reading rune stones though. I'll go dig my set of stones out and find the translations in one of my books. TES has always had a slightly pagan feel to it I'm glad to see some other pagan influences in the game.

For others interested I found this website that matches the translations in my book:

http://www.paranormality.com/runes.shtml

Have not found anything yet, but its nice to see others are as curios as I am. I am having people over so I need to take a break for a while I'll get back to it soon.

I agree that there is too much involved with this guy and his name not to lead to something else. Maybe the note in the thieves guild leads somewhere. The one that is from a person that couldn't find Run's parents.

What is this note you speak of sir?

Side note, Boosh to you Barnaby Jones, Boosh to you. People let me tell you about my new best friend, Barnaby Jones! Nap!

Looking at the jar on my system the first symbol is certenly "joy" the second looks like "man" but I can't figure out the little off shoot line at the bottom so I thought maybe the center line was a divider line since it dose not make full contact with the second rune but even then I can't identify it with 100% certenity. My best guess is the guy that posted before me is correct and it's "joy" and "man" but I'll keep looking perhaps there is another version of the runes I don't know about. Also if we could create a list of bugs in jars it would be helpful

I'll start with the only one I know about:

Butterfly in the jar: found in the alchemist shack located at the south east base of the throght of the word.

Heres a thread with a little bit more info on the jars you may find useful. http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1308746-runes-on-lids-secret-message-possible-spoilers/ Also are there any clues near were you find the jars?