Me: *kills Mercer for stealing skeleton key for greed* Also me: *keeps skeleton key for the same reason*

'Not many people are stupid enough to betray a daedric prince' Every smart Dragonborn in the Black Star quest: betrays Azura

Brynjolf: Never done an honest day’s work for all that coin you’re carrying, eh lad? Me after killing Alduin and Ulfric: Do you know who I am mate?

Brynjolf: Drop the main quest Dragonborn: Why? Brynjolf: Join my guild

Do “the dragon born is an idiot” Cause I am certain the daedric legal battle over ownership of your soul with all the quests you’ve done it’ll shake the world

Nocturnal: “Return the key.” Dragonborn: “No.” Nocturnal: “Understandable, have a great day.”

Guard: "what do you do? Fetch the mead?" Me, wearing Dragonscale armour: *Do I look like I fetch the f*king mead?*

I swear most of these could include "Picks a fight with the Dragonborn, a superpowered demi god"

Mercer Frey thought he'd get away with betraying Nocturnal the same way Vivec got away with betraying Azura and (literally) screwing Molag Bal, the same way Clavicus Vile got himself stuck in a cave for a few years, and the same way the Hero of Kvatch got away with ending Mehrunes Dagon's whole (career) invasion and carrying on to Mantle Sheogorath and save the Shivering Isles. Daedra are not omnipotent invincible Mary Sues. They're very much faillible divinities with egos and weaknesses. That's what makes them so interesting.

Wow Avarti, I lived next to the ocean and still haven’t experienced this much salt before

Actually if you have a very low amount of coins on you, Brynjolf will instead comment about how you’re running a bit dry.

I’m surprised how there aren’t any thieving khajit cats in the thieves guild 🤔

"Why on earth Mercer Frey, a mortal, thought he could outsmart Nocturnal a Daedric Prince-" Because the Grey Fox did it. He did it, cucked Nocturnal out of their Cowl using an Elder Scroll, and made the details of doing it highly publicized. The man basically wrote an autobiography labeled "Here's how I fucked over the Daedric Prince Nocturnal." And we know Frey admired the Grey Fox. So is it any wonder that the man tried to emulate someone that was essentially his idol?

"Not many people are stupid enough to betray a Daedric Prince...." Ummm... I'll just take my leave then.

I still feel weird that Mercer's voice is the exact same voice as Nick Valentine from Fallout 4, likely a polar opposite; I hate Mercer but I love Nick, probably my most favorite companion.

I thought Mercers house was a gift from Mavin.

5:53 funny story about that, I had a character that was a priestess and Vilkas from the Companions was her follower when I first encountered Brynjolf. Good job trying to recruit a priestess for the Thieves Guild in front of a member of the Companions, 10/10 immersion.

Why tf would you betray Nocturnal?! SHES HOT

I'm loving the idiot series please keep videos like this going

Mercer truly didn’t lose because he pissed off Nocturnal - *he lost because he pissed me (and whoever else played the thieves guild) off*

Who steals from a guild of THIEVES??? I mean, they are GONNA hunt you down for that.

3:08 That’s the thing Avarti. He DID build a lavish lifestyle. And that’s what got his predecessor, Gaius, suspicious of him to begin with. You know? The guy Mercer murdered to become Guild Master? The guy who’s death he framed on said mans lover? Also the Grey Fox who stole from Nocturnal is the founder of the Cyrodiil thieves guild. Every other thieves guild by the time of Marrowind onwards is completely independent from each other.

If the Skeleton Key can unlock _anything,_ can't he just _unlock_ the secret to eternal life and thus postpone his servitude indefinitely? Makes me wonder if both Miraak and Mankar Camoran went for the wrong patron Daedra. The Prince of Forbidden Knowledge and The Prince of Destruction hold unimaginable power, but if you want that power for _yourself,_ your best bet is to _steal_ it.

Dragonborn: Excuse me sir.. Could you tell me how to get to... Sigurd: I work for Belethor, at the general goods store. Dragonborn: Yeeeahhh, that's cool, but could you... Sigurd: I work for Belethor, at the general goods store. Dragonborn: Ok, we JUST talked about that. I just need... Sigurd: I work for.. Dragonborn: You know what? Screw you, man. I'm gonna go find someone who knows this town. Dragonborn: Excuse me, sir, could you... Nazeem: Do you get to the cloud district very often? Oh, what am I saying? Of course you don't. Dragonborn: Actually, that's where I'm trying to... Nazeem: Do you get to the cloud district.... Dragonborn: Man.. Screw this town AND the dragons. I'm gonna go do side quests. Good luck, weirdos! I'm out.

Mercer never has to worry about what Nocturnal will do with his soul after his death in my playthroughs. As far as I’m aware she has no way of retrieving it from the soul cairn.

Also, the Grey Fox in Oblivion was way smarter. He actually successfully ripped off Nocturnal because he broke the curse and rewrote history to where the curse doesn't even exist. Not only that but he got his old life back being a count of Anvil with his wife and the cherry on top is he got Lex to be his right hand man, the guy who was hunting him down for ages and NO ONE will ever know this because the Hero of Kavatch has the cowl so everyone will only see him as the Grey Fox. Honestly, you need to do a video on the Grey Fox as a companion to this video, showing what an intelligent Thieves Guild leader does.

Theory: The guilds recruitment system and everything else Mercer does is just part of the plan to get his soul send to my bro Sheogorath after he dies, because that's the only thing that makes sense

Why does everyone's hair look dumb?

Avarti: Not many people are stupid enough to betray a Daedric Prince Me: *Nervous laughter

I think theres an arguement to be made that Mercer wasnt a total idiot. The skeleton key can unlock a lot more than just doors. Perhaps he planned to unlock the secrets to immortality. If he was successful, he had no reason to rush his plans. He could do it slowly and carefully

After what she did to my boy Darien I could care less for what nocturnal wants

Why Cicero is a GENIUS - Skyrim Dark Brotherhood Lore

"My wealth is none of your business!" "Thats where you're wrong lad, wealth is my business." Maybe, but MY wealth is none of your damn business, sneak thief!

4:15 bottom left corner, I always feel like somebody's watching me And I have no privacy I always feel like somebody's watching me Tell me is it just a dream?

This is timely, I just finished up the Thieves Guild quest. Lol

"Who would trade a few mortal years of prosperity for an eternity of torture and punishment" This hit me deep cause it sounds alot like Hell/Afterlife.

Last time a roast was this fire Mehrunes Dagon was storming the imperial city

I like when my character has a bunch of sneak /middle gear and Mercer goes “you’re quite loud for someone who claimed to be a thief.” Big talk for the guy who screams and charges at every draugr instead of trying to hide

Brynjolf is essentially the really creepy guy in the alley going, "Hey kid, wanna make a couple of bucks?"

brinjolf's approach isn't random actually. By meeting a set of requirements, it's revealed in dialogue, that he knew more or less a bout the dragon born since, he/she was stopped by the guards at the gate. he gained enough knowledge by "sizing your mark" and approached the DB comfortably.

He broke the #1 rule of the elder scrolls. You can fight dadric princes, even defeat them. but you can NEVER betray them.

I mean, he didn't hire even a few mercenaries to kill THE FREAKING DRAGONBORN. It's not exactly a secret, every guard in Tamriel knows about you!

If he betrayed Nocturnal, then got the mask of the grey fox, he could have escaped his fate by erasing history. Maybe he was a genius.

He's really going on a roast streak

Avarti: Not many people are stupid enough to betray a daedric prince apart from Mercer Frey Miraak: Am I a joke to you?

Another idiotic thing Mercer did was to stab the Dragonborn after Karliah shot him... you were there with him, hunting down Karliah, a powerful ally

Also gotta love how he drew himself stealing the falmer eyes

I'm loving this series! Your pace is so freaking good, is the kind of stuff you can put in the background, not put your 100% of attention and still understand everything talked about in the video, 10/10 would recommend

That recruitment reason is the reason i got a mod that makes brynjolf not approach you until you have a specific level in various thief skills and stolen a certain amounts worth of goods. Makes much more sense

Remember that he had the Skeleton key. The longer the user carries it, the more strange powers it unlocks withing him. We can verify this is the final battle against Frey. He may have outwitted Nocturnal indefinitely or even surpassed her power at some point.

I love how he sounds like Nick Valentine. I really like this voice actor.

The fact that Brynjolf calls me a thief when all of my 7k septims was given me from all the grateful people I saved and I can't knock his teeth out hurts too much!

That dialogue about your money only appears if you have more than 300 gold, btw. If you have less, he says that you need to earn some or something.

Personally I actually liked Mercer frey. So I’m going to play the devils advocate and disagree with you that he’s an idiot. Nocturnal and the skeleton key: Nocturnals skeleton keys has many allegedly mystical powers in the lore. In the game it’s a lot more boring albeit helpful being basically an unlimited lockpick, but lore wise it’s alleged that the key can open up any door, even to other dimensions. It’s possible that if Mercer wanted to he could escape death itself. Or if not that gain the knowledge of how to by using the skeleton key to obtain it. Maybe by going to hermaous moras dimension and reading one of his black books perhaps? This is obviously no guarantee that nocturnal wouldn’t just bump him off of course, she is a daedric prince after all. But there is at least some logic to stealing the skeleton key. There is also another possible reason why he stole the key, because he’d know that nocturnal would try to curse it. Think about it. Mercer has been planning to steal from the thieves guild for a long time. Probably before he murdered gallas. If you were Mercer who despite being wealthy and the leader of the thieves guild, was surrounded by equally wealthy people with a lot of power and influence. How would you go about weakening them? You’d cut off their revenue naturally. The curse of nocturnal, even if it would reduce the amount of money you’d be able to steal from them, would still be largely a boon to you in the long run. Because unlike everyone else you wouldn’t be affected by it due to you owning the skeleton key. If Mercer has succeeded he could’ve effectively had a monopoly on thieving THROUGH nocturnal. Stealing from the thieves guild: My guess to why he stole the gold and dipped out as quickly as possible was so that he could get out of the thieves guilds range. This obviously didn’t happen because the Dragonborn caught up with him but seeing how he’d been doing this for quite a while it’s entirely possible that he could’ve gotten away with it. Once he was out of range he could’ve hired hitmen to kill the already weakened thieves guild without putting himself at risk. From then on he could’ve spent the rest of his days or even eternity as an immortal thief living a life of luxury.

This has been one of my favorite series of any KZfaqr. Thank you and keep going.

Caveat: the mentally I have always thought went with Nocturnal's curse on the cowl was something of a backhanded compliment. She was impressed that someone stole from her as much as she was angry, so the curse made whoever wore it the best criminal possible but also made it so the couldn't have a personal life. A "I gave you EXACTLY what you wished for" sort of curse.

I love this new serious dude make more you have so much potential and lore from the chicken necromancer to the guy that tries to take over Skyrim with skeevers under the wine factory in Whiterun 😂👊 good work Lad.

Well, Astrid and Mercer are done, only Savos Aren and Kodlak Whitemane left... Well, and maybe Viarmo. What? He's made vid about the leaders of DarkBrotherhood and Thieves'Guild, it won't be fair if he didn't make one each for CollegeOfWinterhold and TheCompanions (and maybe Bards'College too) LOL

Why are the Thieves Guild surprised when they find their vault empty? I thought they had fallen on hard times and were basically broke. They shouldn't even had wealth if that was the case!

I translated gallus’s journal and it says that mercer was spending large amounts of coin, also maul was hired by gallus and he found evidence of mercer spending the money on luxuries

You should make the jump to fallout specifically for Arthur maxon.

As says a saying we have here in Brazil: "a thief who steals from a thief has 100 years of pardon". Maybe Mercer took that a little too seriously.

Dragonborn: You think you can just steal from us and walk away? Mercer: Yeah.

*Moral of the story:* Never try to betray a Daedric Prince!

Why Paarthurnax is AWESOME! :P

"Who on Earth would trade a few mortal years of prosperity and wealth for an eternity of torture and torment?"

I find it funny i basically "returned the Thieves Guild to its former glory" without even finishing the guild questline. Heck, by the time i completed all the special city jobs, I still had to tail that lizard in the docks.

"Not many people are stupid enough to betray a daedric prince" Me who never played but kinda wants to: well I guess I'll be stupid then if I get the chance that is

This gives Nocturnal your soul...although: I get the meta theory of each guild being a different life option lol: by the end...the DB's soul is promised out...to a COUPLE of Daedric Prince's lol. They'll have to fight over it.

Imagine Mercer receiving the note from the dark brotherhood in his rich clothes and rich life in Bruma 🤔 or imagine Astrid trying to kill him 🤔

If you cross the thieves guild to the degree mercer did i wouldnt put it past brynolf to use the back sacrament and mercer would likely become arnbjourns snack.

This is seriously the best skyrim youtube series there is.

One mosquito can kill a Human. One Human can kill a God.

I disn’t need a video to know this, but good video

*demigod that kills Alduin, Ulfric Stormcloak, and assassinates the Emperor* Random guy in Thieves Guild: “So…you’re Brynjolf’s new protige, huh? You don’t look like much to me”

To quote a famous thief: I work alone I don't want join a guild.

Can you do a video on why you should not side with the Stormcloaks?

Pft... An idiot? Step one: Get rich ripping off a god Step two: become an immortal vampire. 😏

Forget the thieves guild finding out, Mercer's real worry would be the IRS.

Skeleton key can open anything huh? Tries to open a door that cannot be lockpicked... unable lockpick. Well that was a damn lie. Skeleton key is just an unbreakable lockpick.

can't watch 5 mins into this your voice murders my will to live

"Not many people are stupid enough to betray a Daedric Prince." Mannimarco: *exists*

He would be better off becoming a bounty hunter than spending an eternity in torment and darkness.

Great video. Keep going. Im a new subscriber.

During the quest with him as a guest, make sure to spam "Marked for death" on him for an easy kill at the end

Well yea, he tried to betray a Daedric Prince. I mean, others have betrayed Daedra. ***chokes in Vivec*** You just don’t fuck with them, it’s guaranteed that they will get their revenge. Just look at what happened in Morrowind. Ohhh, Avarti! You didn’t just destroyed Mercer, you shattered him!! His house IS shit!

A week ago i found out that if you are poor brynjolf will tell you something like "you look like you need some extra coin"

I cannot reconcile this with Stephen Russell’s voice acting

Nocturnal was testing them with that key in general, and mercer frey took the bait and got the entire guild cursed.

Mercer *was* living lavishly above his means, and Gallus *did* notice. It's what got him killed.

Next video's title : why Avarti is the smartest boi

Simple headcanon explanation: he was trying to buy his way into Clan Volkihar by giving them the skeleton key while keeping everything else he stole, setting himself up for several lifetimes of wealth after he became a powerful vampire, with the added security of a potentially influential organization. That was the plan at least...

Brynolf actually approaches you with different dialogue depending on how much gold you have. If you don't have a significant amount of gold, he instead comes to you purposing more means for you to obtain gold. Gesturing at your near empty wallet.

Had whiplash when i saw Brynjolf had this k-popstar, host, model haircut. Guess all that thieving money went to his stylist

Everyone's talking about keeping the skeleton key... I'm sitting over here picking master locks every time without breaking a lockpick

3:30 "Owning the best house in Riften is similar to owning the best house in a slum. it doesn't actually count." That's kind of mean. It's a lovely city considering the surrounding vistas. Sure it's not a lively and well built as Solitude or as airy and clear as Whiterun, but it's probably the third best city in the province of Skyrim by any measure. And its no different being rich there than anywhere else. It's a lot cheerier than Markarth, and half the townsfolk aren't cannibals or forsworn agents when you first walk in.

Everyone who has done this quest: I'm keeping this skeleton key Nocturnal: am I a joke to you?

I love it when I’m early game, dressed in another hold’s guard armor OR as an imperial scout, and Brynolf wanders up wondering if I’d like to make a little coin with some thievery. 😂 cracks me up every time.

My headcannon? He had the cowl of the grey fox. He has a bust of the grey fox in his house, so he's clearly familiar with the item. It would allow him to steal the money and the jewels, and then disappear forever.

Pretty much everybody who almost killed the dragonborn is an idiot because they’re just gonna die from a dragon right after