Who tends the Draugr? How can swords kill them? : V - Skyrim

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:46 pm

On one hand your going into a crypt full of undead draugr and worrying about candles because its not realistic lol. On the other hand any good fantasy writer knows that the key to making it believable is to make it as realistic as possible. One of the things shown on that vid by Bethesda was dark dungeons so maybe thats something they will do who knows.

I'm not saying it's un-realistic, I just wanted know who lights the candles and so forth

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:39 pm

Maybe I'm half brain dead myself but you know, I never think about this kind of thing in games. I just play them and have fun. So little of it is realistic anyway that I have a hard time trying to justify the things that don't adhere to what we know as reality. I think it would spoil the game for me if I had to come up with a sound reason why everything happens the way it does. Sometimes it's just best to take it for what it is and go with it.

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:04 pm

The more powerful ones must have some intelligence -- they talk occasionally unfortunately, since it's in draconic language so I can't understand it. The only word I've caught for sure is Krosis--sorrow.

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:26 am

The book mentioned in previous posts: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Amongst_the_Draugr.

They do seem to be conscious undead:

They don't just "sleep until disturbed". It's apparently just coincidence that they're (usually?) all dormant when the player finds them:

From the text as a whole, it is apparent that nobody tends the draugr for it is the draugr themselves who tend the dragon priests. The torches and candles are presumably for their own use; as far as I am aware, it hasn't been stated that draugr have any form of night vision, so they would need light sources to avoid accidents while making their way to and from the dragon priest's chamber.

The entire concept of the Draugr is so awesome that I want to find whoever it was who came up with it and just give him/her a big hug for being so awesomely awesome.

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:06 pm

I'm not saying it's un-realistic, I just wanted know who lights the candles and so forth

no one does when there arent any necromancers in the area, theyre just there for gameplay purposes

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:41 am

It's the same guy that put a copy of Hasphat Antabolis's book inside of Saarthal past the door that hasn't been opened in thousands of years(Despite Hasphat only being around 300 or so years ago)

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:28 am

The book is "Amongst the Draugr" and it's very rare indeed.

Draugrs sustain themselves, albeit their life force slowly wanes with time. They also maintain the tomb (hence the lit candles and torches) and occasionally venture outside: this explains why in these ancient tombs there is some 'modern' loot like imperial outfits, books written in the second and third era and fresh potions. Probably the spark of intelligence they seem to still possess manifest itself through hoarding of resources and junk as if they are still stockpiling food and comfort even in the afterlife.

^^ this, I found that book and it's an interesting read as well, and as far as killing them goes it would have been nice to have to cut their head off in order to kill them but I can live with simply hacking at em until they drop :biggrin:

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:28 pm

There's mumies around these days who have lasted over 2000 years.
I'm confused about your question.

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:53 pm

The entire concept of the Draugr is so awesome that I want to find whoever it was who came up with it and just give him/her a big hug for being so awesomely awesome.

They're probably in Valhalla, moaning at their galley-slaves about Bethesda making a mint off of their idea :wink:

» Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:04 am

Yet most crypts were made to look like the Draugr were dormant, and bandits / necromancers took up residence.

Then when you arrive at the crypt, it's not much of a stretch to think the Draugr became active with the arrival of Alduin, and slaughtered the inhabitants of their crypts.