Life in Skyrim can be unpleasant for NPCs, with angry players often causing trouble and hunting down those who might rat them out to the guards.
After all, when you can end up on some annoyed adventurer’s Ebony Blade kill list simply because of a minor plot hole in a quest or because all of their other nemeses have already died in combat, it’s easy to get a little stressed out.
One way to cope with this might be by developing a hobby, though, unfortunately now it seems as though the province’s vampires can’t even get away with this, being shamed for their love of sick kicks.
Why is the Skyrim branch of Foot Locker full of angry goths?
The thread on this topic in the Skyrim subreddit began with a post from user vjcullen, who posted an image of a huge collection of boots and shoes located in the vampire hangout of Shriekwind Bastion, captioning it: “Alright, what is it with vampires and boots?”
Many of their fellow players were quick to suggest that the reasoning behind the collection isn’t likely to be a love of sneaker culture, with user MalevolentPizza suggesting: “I thought those were supposed to be the footwear of their victims.” and caluminnes getting even darker by bringing up the piles of shoes left behind in former Nazi concentration camps.
Some users offered less depressing explanations, with user Wamblingshark theorising: “I always imagined they kept them because shoes must be a valuable commodity in a time without mass production.” and That49er joking: “I always thought they had foot fetishes.”
Thankfully, user RedditOfUnusualSize helped to divert the thread away from any more speculation about vampiric bedroom activities, revealing: “It's an arcane bit of vampire lore that Skyrim adopted. In the old Romanian folklore, vampires suffered from what we would describe as obsessive-compulsive behaviour, including a stark fondness for counting, hoarding and collecting.”
On the other hand, user AbbertDabbert suggested that they could just be taking a leaf out of players’ books, saying: “The Dragonborn isn't the only one who's allowed to collect tons of clothing items that they'll never actually wear.”
Though, by far the best idea regarding the collection’s origin came from user The_Crimson-Knight, who simply concluded: “They need soles.”
Regardless of whether you found that wonderful pun funny, make sure to follow us for more updates on The Elder Scrolls 6 and the wacky world of Skyrim modding.