Life in Skyrim can be pretty dangerous for NPCs, with players often being around to cause trouble and hunt down those who might rat them out to the guards.
After all, being nice and friendly often isn't enough to save you from the fury of a frustrated Dragonborn that is struggling to master a new combat system or recover from being bested by their Shadow of Mordor-esque nemesis.
This is especially true if said prophesied hero has a new blade to charge up with unholy energy, as a recent Reddit thread proves.
Which of Skyrim’s poor citizens have you sacrificed to Mephala’s unholy blade?
The thread in question on the Skyrim subreddit began with a post from user Poison-_-Ivy, who shared an image of their newly acquired Ebony Blade, a Daedric weapon that gains potence with every friend of yours it slays, asking: “(It’s) my first time trying to charge this up, what characters do you guys usually pick to kill?”
Their fellow players were quick to share a few popular victims from their past kill lists, with user EMEYDI immediately singling out “(Jaree-Ra), the Argonian in the ship in the quest to turn off the (Solitude) lighthouse” and K3VLOL99 saying: “Severio Pelagia. He lives in Whiterun and becomes your friend after selling him a crop. He is guaranteed to die if the battle of Whiterun happens because his house gets blocked off by debris, so I usually upgrade the sword using him since he'll disappear anyway.”
No matter the chosen target, the main piece of advice throughout the thread seemed to be that, as long as you have a means by which resurrect them a few times, only one killable buddy is needed the charge up the blade, with user kridjok suggesting donating to beggars and using the ritual stone’s power to bring them back.
User Claptrap-94 suggested the same approach, but using one of the hireable followers located in taverns around the province as the unfortunate assistant in your amoral magic act.
Thankfully, user Fakula1987 recommended a more morally acceptable strategy, which centres around using calming spells of bandits before you kill them, ensuring that they'll be a part of the ‘friends’ faction when they hit the dirt.
Unfortunately, a number of users weren’t as benevolent, seconding jmeade90’s suggestion of: “Nazeem. I don't care that it doesn't charge it, he can just die.”
Regardless of whether you’re still on the Nazeem hate train, make sure to follow us for more updates on The Elder Scrolls 6 and the wacky world of Skyrim modding.