Key Takeaways
- A fan has proposed a compelling theory for one of Skyrim’s Thieves Guild quests.
- Mercer Frey may have brought the Dragonborn through a ruin to craft a lie about Karliah.
- This would potentially alter play perceptions, making them believe Karliah is more dangerous than she is.
After thirteen years, Skyrim is a game that has been thoroughly picked apart by curious players. However, one enterprising player has done some digging and has proposed a credible theory for something most people may not have realised about the Thieves Guild quest line.
One of the pivotal moments of this quest line occurs during ‘Speaking with Silence’, the quest where Mercer Frey sends the Dragonborn after a supposed Guild traitor at Snow Veil Sanctum. At the quest’s conclusion, the Dragonborn is incapacitated by a poisoned arrow shot by Karliah. Frey will then betray the player, only for them to be saved by Karliah, who was believed to be the actual traitor. After this series of events, you wake up outside the ruin, but you can re-enter it through a back door located at an unmarked structure.
Betrayal in the Sanctum
The back way into the ruin is barred by a locked gate controlled by a pull-chain on the other side of the gate. Suck_My_Vaporeon on Reddit had a hunch and decided to progress through Snow Veil Sanctum the normal way to investigate the locked gate, discovering the pull-chain in the process.
This led them to devise a theory regarding Mercer Frey and Karliah. We know that Frey, Karliah and their fellow Nightingale Gallus Desidenius previously infiltrated Snow Veil Sanctum, only for Frey to betray Gallus by throwing him down a grate to his doom. This is evidenced by the fact that you can actually find the grate with Gallus’ skeleton near the ‘end’ of the ruin. Frey then frames Karliah, assuming control of the Thieves Guild in one fell swoop.
While traversing the ruin with Frey, he’ll remark that Karliah is an exceptionally talented thief, traversing the ruin without triggering any traps, alerting any draugr and locking all doors behind her. The original poster theorises that Frey is lying to make Karliah seem more dangerous and cunning than she is. Frey opens a claw-locked door using the Skeleton Key he stole from Nocturnal, something that Karliah wouldn’t be able to do.
The back door has a trail of blood leading out of it, causing the poster to believe that both Frey and Karliah have been using the back door to get in and out of Snow Veil Sanctum, and the blood is from Frey’s altercation with Gallus. According to this hypothesis, Frey led the Dragonborn through the whole ruin to showcase how dangerous Karliah was, even though she was likely using the back door, especially because she’d have to bypass a claw door to get in through the front way.
It’s an interesting if inconsequential theory, though it’s notable that Bethesda even included a back door, since the player is teleported out of the ruin anyway, eliminating the need for a back door for convenience’s sake. TheSpringKiller also humorously points out that since losing Nocturnal’s blessing, Brynjolf and Karliah are no longer adept at sneaking around, making it less likely that Karliah could have pulled off the exploits that Frey claims she did, in her current state.
Of course, all of these points could be hand-waved for gameplay purposes, as not everything in Skyrim has been thought through to minute detail. The blood trail is an interesting inclusion, but it could be the blood of the Dragonborn that dripped on the floor as Karliah carried them to safety. Who’s to know? The beauty of Skyrim is that it keeps us curious even after all these years.
One of the all-time greats, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim redefined the concept of the Western RPG. With countless awards under its belt and releases on almost every platform imaginable, you’ll find yourself engrossed in a colossal open world in your role as the Dragonborn. You must face your destiny and save the land from a formidable foe.