A little girl who is beaten by her family, who is a fledgling apprentice in magic, and who is having prophetic dreams? Well, if that is not a dropped quest hook, then i don't know what is.

Rorikstead always struck me as kind of weird. It's just... there. And nothing really happens. Everything about it smells of incomplete stories and cut quests.

I love the thought that everyone there is living their lives and the Dragonborn is running around bothering them with a paranoid theory of them being apart of a sort of sacrificial cult.

Lemkil is actually an anagram for "Kill Me."

Rorikstead is stuck in a time loop. Some are aware of it, others are not. The war Rorik talks about is a far more ancient one. The reason why Erik's father doesn't want Erik to leave is because he's aware of the time loop, and Erik is not. He left, as Erik wants to, and came back after years of adventure to find the village reliving the same year that he left. Erik leaving means he'll find out about the time loop. It's also why he's packed away his armor: It's from a far more ancient time, and would give away the fact that the town is actually millenia old. Oh, and let's not forget the whole "stay on for one more season." All he has to do is keep his son there for one more season and the year will reset. As for the soil? The pact was made during a particularly fertile year. Clavicus Vile is known for screwing people over in his deals. "I wish the soil was this fertile every year" and Clavicus Vile makes it that year over and over again. He's known more for the downside of the deal being built into the boon than he is for demanding things in exchange. His masque made its wearer paranoid, he "cured" a man's daughter of lycanthropy by giving him an axe, giving a scribe a quill that everything he wrote a work of inspiration but eventually drove him to suicide, etc.

It just feels like rorikstead has like 4 incomplete quests

That really does sound just like a clavicus vile deal. Fertile soil for fertile women.

When a guy spends 2 weeks punching children in Skyrim to answer our much needed questions on the extended lore of Skyrim, you know he's the man we need for this kind of content. you did this all for us. and you are a legend.

"Wow Rorik, what is the secret ingredient that makes your soil so potent" "The blood of the virgin" "What?" "Mammoth Fertilizer"

Reading about Clavicus Vile's realm of oblivion, and guess what it's supposed to look like? Verdant farmland that smells like perfume and rotting flesh. Something nice on the surface but gets stinky when you look deep enough. Like Rorikstead. and the color of the sky? Greenish grey.

"I can teach you how to put out a candle". You mean like blowing it? 😳

I feel like the kid is being raised as a sacrifice, but Jouane has grown fond of her, and so is secretly teaching her magic survival skills.

The real mysterious answer to the Rorikstead fertile crops? "It just works." -Todd Howard

"I had a dream about a old Gray dragon,he wasn't scary he was friendly" You wot mate

Lemkil: "I spend every day tending the fields, and what do my daughters do? Nothing! Complain and caterwaul! Sleep and eat! Useless!" The Dragonborn: "I uh.... I got some potatos."

I love how when the video is halfway through, Camelworks starts to really sound like someone who has studied this mystery for 200-hours.

Sal'aad, daedric prince of cabbage. He is a patron to all farmers.

Camel: "by the Nine..." Thalmor Justicars: ಠ_ಠ

So, the ancient Nords worshipped Dragons, and there is a shrine to Akatosh just north of Rorikstead up on a ridge that overlooks the town. It is also east of Lund's Hut. at this shrine you will find Dragon scales as an offering. Something that should not be, given that dragons are just returning. This could be connected to the girl's dream of Paarthurnax. Maybe something of the old Dragon cult (or their practices) survived?

It could be that the reason Lemkil is so obnoxious towards his daughters is that he knows what the future holds for them, and is forcing himself not to become attached to them by any bonds of anything resembling love.

West end of Whiterun, born and raised. On the Rorikstead farm, I spent most of my days. -Erik the microphone slayer

I hope that, wherever Elder Scrolls VI is set, we hear a rumor of a farm girl who scaled The Throat Of The World.

22:20 I believe this happens because there's a radiant quest where, should someone watch you kill something, they may send you a letter asking you to attack someone they hate in return for coin. In the creation kit, we can see that Lemkil hates his children, so the quest is just a quirck of the quest system. I know I'm like, 5 years late, but I have the urge to binge all the old videos again.

I adopted Sissel the moment she said she's having dreams about a dragon that is strangely similar to Paarthurnax. In my head-cannon, this girl is potentially a Dragonborn as well.

wonder if rorik will make a response video

Todd Howard to developer: "Hey did you finish making rorikstead?" Developer: "oh yeah I did take a look!" Todd: "dude, it's a tiny Town with nothing in it and one quest. You had so much time!" Developer: "I dunno, what's wrong with a simple town that has fertile soil? (Nervous laugh)

I like the idea that Jouane genuinely wants to help out Sissel with helpful spells and the Dragonborn is plastered against the window screaming about sacrificing women. Also, if that's the truth, bet that Sissel is staring at Britte waiting for the day she grows up and gets pregnant. 'Finally, hey Britte, remember how you used to say I smell like a pig?'

I love how he said that Meridia’s description in The Book of Daedra implies a relation to necromancy, when she hates them specifically with a literal burning passion

“I wish I could be an adventurer like you...” *Flurry of arrows suddenly appears from nowhere to kneecap little girl.*

what conditioner does Erik use tho

I always come back to this video. But I do appreciate the 10 year gap between each sacrifice. Think of it, the soil turned amazing 20 years ago. Erik - around 20 years old. Britte and Sissel - around 10 years old Present day - Lund's wife. 10 years into the future - bye Britte

POTENTIALLY IMPORTANT: When you got to the part about lund's hunt I was literally there during my playthrough IRL and noticed something interesting. You mentioned how he had a possible wife who was sacrificed.... Well the thing I noticed might had some merit to this theory... In the chest next to lund's corpse yielded a boy's yellow tunic! Why would lund have children's clothes unless hehad a wife who was expecting? Don't know if this has been pointed out lol

Sissel is so going to sacrifice her sister within the decade. Talk about getting revenge for all the bullying, right?

Goodness, you spent 2 WEEKS punching video game children for our entertainment? I don't know whether to thank you or suggest a re-evaluation of life choices.

I've noticed that Juanne and sometimes Rorik will meticulously walk around town and watch people farm. It kind of makes sense. They're just seeing how the town is doing. But there's something creepy about it.

Rorikstead was always interesting to me because when you arrive there the man named Rorik says he established it. Yet you know, when you look at the ancient book that Farengar Triangle Face gets from our Blades friend at the start of the game, you see Rorikstead listed among the villages of Whiterun Hold back in that ancient era. That's what made me wonder about Rorikstead myself as the idea of this ancient village and presumably on the face of it, a guy who just happened to have the same name settling in the same spot eras later to start a similar village just seemed... odd to me. Funny enough I never pegged some conspiracy about soil however. When Rorik himself says "We just work hard" I believed it. Because.. that's a common line in Skyrim. "Only a Nord is stubborn enough to work the soil here" and all as several sources point out. And growing up as a farmer myself I know a good deal of progress can be made by the standard of sheer stubbornness even with inferior land. But I always wondered about that time and name situation. If there was some sort of time loop as I've seen suggested? That time loop goes back to the era of the Dragon War at the very least. The "Rorik" you talk to in there is technically thousands of years old pretending to have just settled that place a couple of decades ago. What amazes me however is that no one else in game picks up that. "What do you mean Rorikstead was settled 2 decades ago after the Great War? My Grandpappy got cabbages from there!" is something you'd think would be pointed out. Sadly I always figured the truth was Left Hand not knowing what the Right Hand was doing. The designer who filled in that ancient book referring to a Rorikstead during the Dragon Wars didn't know the person designing the settlement in game came up with a story that the settlement was only 20 years old. They just saw a mention of a Rorikstead in the game and filled that in for the book.

*hears Lemkil's voice* IF I HAD A SISTER, I'D SELL HER IN A SECOND

«Drinking ale, Sissel approaches» Sissel: I wish I could be an adventurer like you. Me: «Drinking, into mug» Mmmm-hmmm. «glug, glug» Sissel: I've been having dreams about a friendly gray dragon-- Me: «pppppffffftttttt» «gag, cough, splutter, cough, cough!» Wh- whaat?

Elder Scrolls Skyrim: The Tale of Four Voice Actors

My first reaction to the water breathing spell instead of the fire spell is that in medieval times Witches would be tried by weighting them or throw them in water. If they would float they would be burned at the stake or maybe in this case be sacrificed. If they would sink they would drown instead. A water breathing spell would certainly be able to save her life one day as the townsfolk are suspicious of magic and mages and would maybe not tolerate a young spellcaster within their mids. Jouanne noticed her talent for spellcasting and wanted to protect her instead. What is maybe suspicious is that an Altmer living far away from summerset and is only interesting in farming. I wonder what her backstory is. To bad this little town was probs one of those areas that got cut and the quest was never written.

Come to think of it, Sissel is likely going to sacrifice her own sister within the next ten years. She'd probably enjoy it. Damn Bethesda.

M'aiq has had cabbage from Rorikstead. M'aiq will never have cabbage from there again.

I find it strange that mralki locks his armor up its almost like he may have been a BLADE

I think Lemkil giving you gold for attacking his daughters is an oversight that occurs because he is set to have a negative disposition towards them. I've never had it happen, but apparently it's basically a radiant quest that can occur if an npc sees you attack someone else. They'll send a letter asking you to attack people they have negative dispositions towards, and they'll also sometimes send a letter thanking you, and giving you gold, if they see you kill someone they don't like.

My guess is that this was cut content. There was probably a quest that revolved around exposing the dark secret of the fertile soil.

Ya' missed something,Camel: Lunds hut is full of empty wine bottles. He was drinking away his grief. More evidence he is pining for his dead wife.

In about my second *serious* playthrough of Skyrim, I did a bit of “sleuthing” and I figured the reason their soil’s so great might be because they were sacrificing all the women in town in order to keep their farmland so fertile, explaining why the only girls in Rorikstead, are just children.🧐😔 And based on how she was treated by her family, they might’ve had plans to have Sissel sacrificed next.😒 Sooooo I sniped her dad from the hillside while he was farming, Aaaand immediately adopted Sissel.☺️ Also her bully of a sister got sent to the orphanage. So they were both spared from the potential fate of sacrificial doom.👍🏻

You know over a decade of playing this game, I just realised that all the high elves in Skyrim except for those associated with the Thalmor (except one) and Taarie's sister, they are all for the most part just lovely, nice people who just happen to have a brutally honest trait, something that as a woman with autism, I can relate to 😂

Why is no one commenting on the carry weight:1478/310 at 7:38 . Now i understand why it took him 200 hours to make this video.

Rorik's father is named Rorik. and so is his grandfather. and his grandfather's father. all the way to the mythic era. just like M'aiq. as for the reason the lands so fertile, it has always been. it's only when his father had to sell the land in which the soil left untreated. when Rorik had enough money, he bought it back, and had to make the land farmable like it was, through hard work, for 26 years. which is more than enough time to make the land fertile again. the secret is cow's poop. lots of it. So, there's no conspiracy here, citizen. now, move along.

I think they didn't have enough time to make Rorikstead. It is ripe for numerous quests. And the conversations between Jouane and the little mage girl are so intriguing and somewhat sinister, you'd think there'd be numerous quests.

Just wondering why in all the many remastered versions of the game they've never finished out this story line. It seems like someone laid the groundwork for a good deadric side quest.

Another weird thing about Lund's Hut; if you have the Spectral Assassin gift from the Dark Brotherhood (Lucien LaChance, from Oblivion!), you can summon him inside Lund's Hut, and he will say "I smell murder in the air". He says it every time. So. This MIGHT mean that Lund did not commit suicide; it may be that he was murdered, and it was made to look like a suicide by...Jouane? Raldith? Maybe Lund knew the secret of Rorikstead, because his wife was sacrificed, and he was about to blow the whistle?

There is a fourth place to find Spirit of the Daedra. MY FREAKING CHILD'S CHEST IN BREEZEHOME! I KID YOU NOT, that kid has ONLY brought home books about Daedra! The first one was about Azura I believe, and the second is the Spirit of the Daedra! My children in Skyrim terrify me.

Been going through a bit of an episode of depression recently, dove headfirst into Skyrim and it helped like always. I’ve been constantly feeding myself your content and it’s done a lot too. I can actually plug into it, enjoy it, laugh at it, and shut everything off for a little while. I love how you present the lore and how it all ties together. You deserve more views than you get. Your content is very appreciated and worthy of multiple watches.

Perhaps Lund's hut is a scrapped Daedra mission that involved this Rorikstead conspiracy

A note about Lemkill and asking you to hurt his daughters: I've heard it explained that if you show violence in front of a character (such as killing someone in sight of Lemkill), they have a small chance to request you hurt/kill someone they dislike. So basically, it's a small chance for anyone to offer money for that service, and he simply is scripted to dislike his children. Nothing special about that interaction being tied to Rorikstead.

I think it could also be related to Kynareth. Kynareth is the goddess of nature and harvest which good explain the good soil. Sissel is able to dream about parthurnaax who taught men the voice, as instructed by Kyne. Perhaps the town is blessed by Kynareth and Sissel is a seer

I do not know if you are aware but... Rorikstead has also very nearby a lair full of vampires... too close that they would be oblivious about it. Would they perhaps have anything to do with this village? I always wondered about that, to be honest.

I swear I don’t know what to do with myself when he says “a nice fertile woman” 🤣

"Seems like a good man until you poke around town for 200 hours" Lol! We appreciate the work you put in! xD

He could be teaching her how to survive executions, putting out fires (surviving burning at the stake) and surviving being drowned. It makes sense that she would need to survive if they thought killing her would save the women.

I thought it would be really nefarious, but after hearing the possible conclusion... it sounds more-so sad rather than sinister. Jouane wanted to help his village, may have come across the Daedric book one time and was desperate for anything. He most likely contacted Clavicus Vile and made a pact with him, not realizing Clavicus Vile's sinister nature until it was too late. As for Reldith's input, I don't think it may just be a copout. She's an altmer, and altmer tend to be very boastful, arrogant, and prideful of themselves and their work.

46:15 i think this might just be a case of "if we remove the tomato the game will crash so we just left it in"

Must Stay Awake Must Watch *CAMEL*

According to the wiki, when entering Lund's hut with the Spectral Assassin, he'll say, "I can smell murder in the air."

if you read Runil's journal (its a quest item given to you by Runil the priest of Arkay in Falkreath) he also talks about dreaming of dragons and possibly the dragonborn without ever seeing either. and he mentions how weird it is he dreamt of both. maybe something to look into

This whole thing -- especially the bit at the end with the inaccessible green exterior -- is genuinely spooky, and beautiful, and weird. Like it depicts the psychological reality around the physical house of the suicide. "Cut quest" or no, it feels very artful. I love that it was just left in this state as an ominous and fascinating series of implications for players to draw what conclusions they will. Feels like Twin Peaks. Subscribed.

I'm more terrified of the floating cheese at 23:45. Sheogorath's left his mark.

Sissel could be blessed by Kyne. Her dreams a combination of her natural gift of magic, and a calling to High Hrothgar.

44:25 Maybe that was part of the quest that was meant to be about Rorikstead's soild, but was left in when they presumably ran out of time. Maybe entering through a secret door in the hut led to a horrifying nightmare version of Rorikstead. The arrangment of the rocky crags are quite similar to those near Rorikstead, after all.

The "rorikstead" mentioned in older texts could refer to different rorikstead than the one we visit. its not unheard of for more than one place to share the same name, at least IRL

I think Rorik is secretly a demi-prince (which is why he appears human) who works with Clavicus Vile. Whenever he "dies" just like any other Daedra he returns to Oblivion and then comes back to re-establish Rorikstead. He secures souls for Vile and in return gets to live a cushy live of farming.

Fertility for fertility, it does sound like it was supposed to be the Daedra quest for Clavicus Viles that they were planning early on, but cut it in favor of the (less intriguing) quest we have today. It could help explain why there was something so close to being this awesome mystery, but never touched upon in game.

Dude you’re a genius this is one of the most interesting Skyrim videos I’ve ever seen n it kept blowing my mind every lil thing n even the dialogue it truly is more interesting then any other towns npc dialogue, anyway, great video, 10/10, keep up the good work 💯

I think this is the original Clavicus Vile quest. Or at least a competing one that wasnt chosen for whatever reason. And that it was completed enough to leave in the game as an interesting stop.

Wow. Just wow... I instinctively got a creepy vibe in this town, and have largely avoided going back there. I even noticed it, but couldn't put my finger on why. Now that I've watched the video I have a theory. What if the sacrifice had to happen every 10 years or so. The innkeeper's son is probably about 20. The twin girls are around 10 years old. And Lund only recently killed himself based on the lack of decay on his body and the food on the floor/live skeevers inside the house. It would make sense if his wife had just died. Add to that the idea you put forth that the little girl is being prepared to take over the sacrifice ritual because the healer is in the "twilight of his life", and might be concerned he won't be alive in 10 years when the next sacrifice will have to be made... But the other twin, who isn't being trained, will be of child bearing age... And, remember how he told her he was going to teach her waterbreathing because it might save her life one day... Because they "dunk" witches... Wow... Rorikstead is dark and twisted...Eerie how that all lines up isn't it??? Wish Bethesda had added that as a mini quest. They basically did something similar to that with the Foresworn in Markath...

Personally I think the issue with the age of Rorikstead can be explained rather easily. Whenever you hear them talk about the village from three thousand years ago they say Ol' Rorikstead, not just Rorikstead. They are two different towns and the first one is long gone by now. The reason the owner makes it a point to say this town was named after him was cause people would think he just copied the name from a famous long gone town and he wants to be clear why it has the same name. Just my theory though.

For some reason, I can't get it out of my head that Sissle may be influenced just a bit by Hermaeus Mora, dadric god of fate, past, and future who also has infinite knowledge and memory; then we have little Sissle who is having dreams of an old, grey nice dragon. Or alternatively, her birth was affected by Clavicus Vile due to her being the younger sister and was closer to her mother during the time of death and was granted some power by Clavicus Vile.

I think the thing about Sissel thanking you for killing Britte is a quirk in the programming, since Sissel and Britte most likely, in the game files, have low disposition towards each other and it is a random event that someone may thank you and give you a gift if you kill someone they don't like. The part with Lemkil wanting you to beat up his daughters is most likely a similar quirk in the programming.

I feel like the hut, the unfinished exterior of the interior, the real age of the stead, the futility, and Sissel are all unfinished/cut content. Has to be. Just think how amazing these quests would have been if they decided to continue with it. I mean… Amazing. And what if they make little nudges at it in the next game? That'd be neat. But seriously, with the unfortunate dead ends on some parts of this, it really seems like it was cut content.

Something that caught my attention was when Camel was reading about the book of the daedra, some of them actually described very specific personalities within Rorikstead. Hermaeus Mora: Knowledge of fate, past/present, and treasures knowledge. Sounds like Sissel, who sees visions of a friendly dragon. Mehrunes Dagon: Change, Revolution, Energy, Ambition. Sounds like Erik, who wants to break out and demands he be set free and wander the world. Namira: Spiders, Insects, and other creatures that are repulsive to man. Lund kept skeevers as pets, a lot of them. No one else does this. Also, Namira is all about the ancient darkness and is the spirit daedra, which clipping out of Lund's hut puts you in this strange ethereal realm not like other areas in the game, except some areas of Blackreach (there are small patches of faint green tint.) I would throw a wild theory out there that it isn't necessarily the fertile women offered up, but the children of the fertile women, and the women are killed in the process as the children become champions for the daedric princes. Oooor.... Jouane _IS_ Clacivus Vile/Mephala, just fucking with everyone.

I know I'm very, very late, but I have some insights that may help explain the myths about beating up and killing Sissel and Britte: If I remember correctly, very character in Skyrim has either a positive, negative, or neutral disposition towards each other's in the game's files. Most people are neutral to one another, but if a character has a positive or negative disposition towards another character, there can be some interesting interaction that happen. Lemkil has a negative disposition towards Sissel and Britte, and Sissel and Britte have a negative disposition towards each other in the game's files. This means that, if you attack or kill one of them, there is a small random chance that they will thank you and reward you with gold for doing so. It's just a part of the game's natural code, the developers just didn't turn if off for this family. This explains why you couldn't get it to trigger- it's a very small, random chance to occur. It's not a myth, it's real, but I don't think it has any lore implications.

Just came across this place and instantly felt some eerie nature. So glad my impressions were correct, this whole story sums up why I love this game

"Their twins that's why they look identical" every godamn child in this game looks identical

"See those guards over there? Cause any trouble and you'll have them to deal with" Me: *looks at the corpses next to the dead dragon* Um... Yeah, about that...

And here I though "Cowflop" was a cow-tipping reference, lol

The problem with the books thing is that Rorik isn't am uncommon name. So there could easily be many Roriksteads. Like the thousands of places called Springfield, Newstead or Manchester. Like it's incredibly incredibly unlikely that a village would endure the passage of time untouched some place like Skyrim.

I like how the only thing you can say to Lemkil after his rant is "I have potatoes to sell." HONESTPAYFORHONESTWORK

With the falling book in the inside exterior, i was kinda hoping for "Lusty Argonian Maid" :/

Here is a theory... What if the horse thief was Lund's son? His father knew about the sacrifices, and his wife had to die. He developed an obsession with skivers and mourns his wife. one day his son finds out what happened to his mother and ran away, only to be caught stealing a horse. This explains why he is from Rorikstead and no one in town mentions him... no one mentions Lund either, they don't even know he is dead. When Lund's son ran away, Lund snapped and committed suiside

This Rorikstead conspiracy should be a questline. It'll be so interesting to see this actually go somewhere.

"In Rorik's manor where Jouane and Rorik live, we can also find..." Advertisement pops in: "Have thick eyebrows for days!" Um...okay...

Damn we really got robbed of a nice quest. :/

“no secrets here, my friend” “you sus, bro”

12:45 lol! "I need you to help me, just one more season". Thats definitely from the first star wars. Uncle owen telling luke he needs to help him on there farm for "just one more season".also a wise man once said when it comes to parenting. " Would you rather your kids be safe or competent? The answer is competent because incompetence is dangerous but there's nothing safer then competence".

Clavicus Vile Rank: Daedra Prince Titles: - Child-God of the Morning Star - Master of Insidious wishes - Prince of Bargains Sphere: Pacts, Wishes, Power Plane of Obilivion: The Fields of Regret Sourced from fandom

Clavicus Vile's deals usually are double sided with a tragic undertaking by the victim such as Sebastian Lort's slaying of his lycanthropic daughter, or cause and effect such as with his vampire underlings becoming immediately cursed by the pact they made with him. I think that the deal made with him in the case of Rorikstead was not a sacrificial pact, but a cause and effect pact. Its not that Jouane sacrificed these women, or that Reldith is an accomplice. Rather, when these women gave birth, Vile took them, and Jouane couldn't stop them. Reldith wasn't an accomplice to a sacrifice, but rather the midwife during delivery that witnessed the Daedric influence take its due from the twisted pact.

No one ever seems to mention what seems to me the most obvious reason for the name/town age discrepancy. Ragnar the red came to riding to whiterun from /old/ rorikstead. Maybe Rorik bought and built modern rorikstead in the same area as a previous, but destroyed/abandoned town of Rorikstead. Seems like a straightforward answer to that riddle if you ask me, if there's an old and new rorikstead, both older lore and his current explanation are true.

(fine-tuning my lute) Oh, there once was a hero named Ragnar the Red, who came riding to Whiterun from Ol' Rorikstead! And the braggart did swagger and brandish his blade, as he told of bold battles and gold he had made! But then he went quiet, did Ragnar the Red, when he met the shieldmaiden, Matilda, who said: "Oh you talk, and you lie, and you drink all our mead, Now I think it's high time that you lie down and bleed!" And so then came clashing and slashing of steel, as the brave lass Matilda charged in full of zeal! And the braggart named Ragnar was boastful no more... as his ugly red head rolled around on the floor!