I decided to start this topic so we could share all those moments that caught you off guard and lead to a death. The biggest fail for me was during one of my dragon hunts, i usually fast travel between dawnstar, winterhold, and riverwood until i find a dragon. So when i got to dawnstar, i killed a blood dragon with the help of the local guards. while i was absorbing the dragons soul, another one flew over and started attacking. we killed it and it landed right about where the other did. while i was absorbing that ones soul, i noticed the guards pull out their bows and shoot past me. i turned around and caught a glimpse of a frost troll take a swing at me. it killed me with one hit. If anyone thinks they can top that fail, feel free to try. haha

I decided to attack a stronghold of Forsworn head on during one of my early characters - I was level 10 and the stronghold was Karthspire. MILLIONS of them came at me (alright, not millions). I was put in my place by them! Painfully.

Picked up, got chewed on and then I got thrown away, and another dragon picked me up before I hit the ground. The second dragon throws my corpse down the cliff.....

Dragons are fail in this game. Annoying, weak and unavoidable, pretty much the reincarnation of the cliffracer.

If you don't fast travel you rarely encounter them. For the past 50 hours, in real life, I've encountered 2 or 3.

You've encountered 2 or 3 dragons in real life?? Where do you live??

Just the other day I was on my noncombat merchant save. I was on a quest around Riften and Shor's Stone and I stumbled across a Spriggan and three wolves. As I was not fighting, I had my follower Jenassa along. She went in first and went after the wolves. She killed one before the Spriggan got to her. As she turned her attention to it I realized that the Spriggan's AoE health damage was affecting me so I moved farther away.

As I moved away I heard some rustling in the trees. I turn and 4 Frostbite Spiders attack me. I sprint all the way to the other side of the Spriggan, hoping to hide in the rocks until it is safe. I turn the corner past some rocks and there is a bear. I flee back to the main area and the Spriggan has Jenassa in submission, so I have 4 Frostbite Spiders, 2 wolves, a bear, and the Spriggan all attacking me. It did not end well.

i was just playing and knew i had to put this up. i was traveling on foot to the orc mine near windhelm. when i got to it, 6 wolves and 2 bears spawned. since i dont usualy use spells, i had my shield and daedric sword out. i only managed to take out two of the wolves before the bears killed me.

i falcon punched fail and fell off a cliff.

Fighting off a whole bunch of Draugr, only to turn the last one so he falls into one of those traps with water in and a metal grate on top. I jump in after to loot his body, the grate on the trap snaps shut and I am trapped under it. Drowned and felt pretty silly.

Went to do a Become Ethereal shout so I could jump off a mountain without being hurt. Forgot I had Unrelenting Force hotkeyed and leapt to my death. Woops

I cast an area effect damage spell in some Dwarven ruins and got taken out by a strut to the face.

yeah skyrim stories are weak. ive been playing FO:NV for the past week and really enjoying it so far. yeah that graphics arent as good as skyrim but the stories make you oblivious to the graphics or minor bugs.

I found an undiscovered location on the compass and wanted to give it a visit. I headed into its direction only to find a large wall of rocks. I started climbing and forgot about my follower. They only get stuck and she will catch up as soon as I reach flat ground, I thought. After some time had passed and I finally got over the wall of rocks did I sneak closer towards the marker to get a peek at the location. The location was far in the south and close to the edge of Skyrim itself. No way my follower would have an easy task finding this place and I will have to use fast travel to pick her up. I moved on, believing that I had left my follower behind for good, and finally I arrived at some walls, high above the valley below from where I started. It was the backyard of a fort. I searched for an entrance, found one, but it was blocked by mechanical bars. I do the one thing I could do and peeked inside. There I see my follower standing, with her torch in her hand and several dead bodies around her. She had killed them all.
Let down by the knowledge of having missed a good fight - a hagraven and two mages - did I try to find my own way in. It turned out that the only way in was either to climb some more rocks and to jump into the backyard or to go through a door with a master lock. The mechanical bars were still blocking the entrance and the switch to open them was on the inside. That day I learned that you just cannot trust a follower to get stuck when you need them to.

Tried to take out Paarthurnax for the blades at an early level...he threw me off the mountain for a considerable distance. He earned my respect then and there

My stupidest death was fairly early on and went something like this: *running towards a tiny hill* STOP! That's a cliff... *splat* Tobuscus references, wut? Sprinting can really get you into trouble sometimes. My face broke my fall.

Also, that first encounter with a giant was a doozy. Watching the pre-release footage I was under the impression that they mostly ignored you unless you attacked them. Turns out, they don't want you in their camps.

I love the dragons in Skyrim. I am always up for a good Dragon Battle.

Now as for my own epic fail.. Hmm.... I tried to use Fus Ro Dah to push a mage off a cliff but the mage put up a ward which blocked... Wasted my shout.

Another would be... Hmm.. Well.. I don't have many ik but Derkeethus, my follower, has epic fails a lot. He keeps ending up fighting HIS OWN summoned Dremora Valkynaz.

~Edit~

Oops Death Related Fail... I got killed by Alduin during the UNBOUND quest once.

Skyrim really all I have to say.

Within 30 minutes of playing the game back on 11/11 I did the ol run up to a giant like he was my bff and ended up 400 feet in the air

Buying Skyrim and expecting a deep RPG with a somewhat decent plot with memorable characters.

Blaming skyrim for your faulty expectations?

Lots.

Once I Found pretty shapes on the floor (a rune) and then moved towards them for a closer look. I was quite a low level character at the time and was killed instantly.

Another time I was herb picking in the mountains and got killed instantly by a sabrecat that suddenly appeared right in front of me. To this day I still have no idea where it came from.

I admit i got conned just like i got conned with Dragon Age 2

Well basically, when a mommy sabercat and a daddy sabercat loves each other reeaaally much...

LOL - I did exactly that recently. My character was running in thick snow somewhere between Winterhold and Dawnstar and ran up a tiny slope - then the ground vanished and they fell down a sheer drop. I'd forgotten to fastsave since leaving Winterhold as well. Just when that character was starting to feel really powerful they do something dumb and walk off the edge of an iceberg. Good job I wasn't playing DID as that would be a feeble way for the Dragonborn to go.

...Sounds like it may have been the same bloody cliff.

Nearly every time I start to really feel like a bawse, I do something stupid. Usually when my girlfriend's watching. Oh, the humiliation. ._.