Norse Mythology in Skyrim: Dragons, the Undead, and Place in the Viking Age

The aim of my thesis is to expand the placemaking analysis strategies that I learned in my previous thesis pathway course, HON 493: Placemaking in Middle Earth and Earthsea to my favorite fantasy setting, the land of Skyrim in the Elder Scrolls Universe. During the course, the class was encouraged to consider how historical texts, archaeological findings, and anthropological research served as the inspiration behind the worlds that J.R.R. Tolkien and Ursula Le Guin created along with the relationships that their fictional cultures had within those worlds. As the course drew to a close, I couldn’t help but start wondering what inspired the developers of Skyrim, the video game. One of Skyrim’s strongest features is its atmosphere and landscape. An analysis of the creation of place in Skyrim can teach future game developers how to create a land with stories rich enough to lose yourself in for years. I specifically wanted to focus on the burial practices and culture of the Nordic people, since most of the game is spent interacting with them and admittedly raiding the tombs of their ancestors in search of shiny trinkets and powerful artifacts. By delving into the inspirations behind Nordic burials, I hope to gain appreciation for the art of placemaking, and to broaden my knowledge of Nordic history, both fantasy and real. My research initially entailed finding stories about typical Norse burials, but since Skyrim’s burial grounds tend to be filled with the Nordic undead, known as the Draugr, I homed in on how the Norse believed that improper or disturbed burials could result in the rise of the dead. I also shifted attention to the importance of dragons in Norse culture, since they play a vital part in the existence of the Draugr in Skyrim, and I was curious if dragons perhaps played a similar role for the Norse people in the Viking Age. I found academic and historical studies about Viking myths about the origins of dragons and the undead and also studies on how these myths relate to the creation of place in Northern Europe. Lastly, I considered how the dragons and draugr in Skyrim depart from Norse mythology and how the inspirations and departures from Norse mythology deepen our sense of place in the land of Skyrim. This analysis made me realize how essential the Poetic Edda was to Norse mythology, since it’s one of the only written collections of Old Norse poems. The Norse people relied mostly on oral storytelling, which makes it extremely difficult to find any first-hand texts about their culture and lifestyles. After this project, or if I had more time, I think a read-through of the Poetic Edda would be an excellent way of educating myself on the breadth of Norse culture, as opposed to trying to find stories related to what I’ve experienced in Skyrim. I think there’s a limitless way of approaching an analysis of Old Norse culture in modern media and creative works, to the point that I felt I had to narrow my analysis to something simple, but fun, which was homing in on the dragons and draugr that I’ve had to battle thousands of with little previous thought as to their creative origins. The Norse people of the Viking Age may not have had access to our current understanding of the universe, but their speculations led to many fascinating beliefs about the unknown, like tales of dragons and draugar. Their mythology provided them with a unified sense of place and morals in a mercenary culture with loose collective cohesion. When their sense of place is brought into Skyrim and the dragons and draugar are brought to life, it’s easy to lose yourself in a depiction of their world. Skyrim was, and still is, a prime example of the importance of environmental storytelling in open-world games. Long after the graphics and gameplay become outdated, if the environment provides a living, breathing sense of place, then any fantasy game can stand the test of time. For those who aren’t convinced, I encourage them to try out Skyrim and experience their escape into another world with the iconic line, “Hey you, you’re finally awake”.