Bizarre Skyrim Clip Shows Whiterun NPC Falling From the Sky

05.04.2024 - 01:59 / gamerant.com / Elder Scrolls / Clayton Cyre

A player clips a bizarre Skyrim moment that highlights Adrianne Avenicci plummeting to her death. Some persistent Skyrim bugs continue to result in strange moments many years after the game's release, but this one may be among the most bizarre.

Skyrim was released for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in 2011, but it continues to have a strong community to this day. The game has been updated many times since it was released, including the multiple ports that have been released on newer consoles. Among the things that haven't been fixed are exploits that can increase Skyrim abilities like Pickpocketing, Speech, and Stealth. Although these patches have addressed multiple issues with the game, some can still be found in any given playthrough. Oneplayer has spotted an overlooked bug as they witness a useful Whiterun vendor falling from the sky to their death.

Reddit user SandLady5454 recently shared a Skyrim clip highlighting a strange experience in Whiterun. Skyrim's Whiterun is one of the first cities players will encounter beyond the Helgen Keep escape, and typically stopping in Riverwood first. This gamer's video shows their Khajiit character entering the city and making their way to the Blacksmithing station. With Adrianne Avenicci sharpening a blade using the Grindstone, the player takes her place to make a Flawless Blade of Woe. After getting off the Grindstone bench, Adrianne is thrown upward and is seen dying once she connects with the ground before the player finishes their weapon upgrade.

After falling to her death, Adrianne then slumps from the Blacksmith station into the Whiterun moat near the entrance of the city. The game seems to have mixed up the ragdoll physics of a dead NPC when the player replaces Adrianne on the Grindstone. It's unclear if the fall would've killed a player from the same height, potentially showing the NPC's lower health stat. Because the character died as a result of the bug, this gamer would have to revert to an earlier save file or lose the Skyrim vendor indefinitely. Because Adrianne is a Blacksmith who can purchase weapons and armor from the player, this could mean one less way for the Reddit user to earn gold in their playthrough.

While Bethesda has updated Skyrim recently, it's unlikely that this long-standing bug will be patched anytime soon. Most of the latest updates are focused on highlighting Creation mods created by the community. Though some of these mods can reduce the likelihood of issues like this, some NPCs continue to act peculiarly.

Skyrim is the fifth major game in the Elder Scrolls series. Considered one of the greatest games ever made, it has been released on several generations of consoles. Since its initial release over a decade ago, Skyrim has become one