Summary
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrimis quintessential among the roleplaying community, holding a special place in the hearts of manyElder Scrollsfans. The game is well-regarded for its quirky and unique characters, many of which have memorable impacts on the player’s journey. However, some ofSkyrim’s NPCs are much more than meets the eye.
The fifth installment ofThe Elder Scrollsseries has characters whose backstories and motivations remain a mystery. Players have spent years speculating about the deeper lore ofElder Scrollstitles, andSkyrimis no exception. Many feel that even more than a decade since the game was released, there are still more secrets to unravel. One mystery, that of the Imperial thief called Rune, has stood the test of time.
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The Mystery Surrounding Skyrim’s Rune Has Endured Since the Game’s Release
AsSkyrimplayers engage with the storyline surrounding theinfamous Thieves Guild in Riften, they may come across a character called Rune. Odd name aside, conversing with this fellow larcenist reveals that Rune’s history is as perplexing as it is mysterious. This character bears no considerable significance to any quests, not even side objectives, so players may be naturally intrigued by him.
Rune explains that he got his name from the time he was a child, found washed up inside a shipwreck by a fisherman on the coast ofSolitude in the north of Skyrim. The fisherman who soon adopted the boy nicknamed him Rune because of a small inscribed stone on his person, the only thing the child had in his possession. Rune himself remembers nothing of who he was before, where he came from, or what that mysterious rune symbol means.
While he finds it a real head-scratcher and does show interest in learning the truth, Rune also seems happy with his current lot in life. He reckons that, although he grew up poor, he considers the fisherman who saved him as a father. Rune now seeks adventure andfortune with the Thieves Guildand is content to live his life as it is. He makes a passing request that players keep their eye out for any information regarding his unknown origin and the stone in his possession.
Players search theprovince of Skyrimhigh and low for any sign of a side quest or some explanation to bring to Rune and satisfy the mystery but to no avail. There has only ever been a single clue, that of a note left behind by a man hired to find out more about Rune’s parentage. It simply says that Rune’s real parents have simply erased themselves from history, a fact that raised even more players’ eyebrows.
Despite the makings of an epic saga, this particular mystery never advanced any further. Theories still abound, and many believe that this quest was intended to be solved, but the content got cut by the timeSkyrimwas released. Nowadays, however, the winning consensus is that Rune is himself an Easter egg. His name is a reference to the adventure game calledRune, one with its own Nordic themes and art style were a great source of inspiration for Bethesda.
Whether players are ambivalent to Rune’s unsolved story or greatly disappointed it never saw the light of day, theEaster egg conclusionis still a wholesome one. It’s always heartwarming when games that end up being massively successful take a moment to acknowledge their inspirations. It also means that many players will inevitably take to the internet to learn more about the Rune character, only to stumble across the original game after which he’s named.
Easter eggs might seem like an effort to troll on the game developer’s end, and in some cases it is. But this particular homage highlights how a much older game likeRunecan benefit fromSkyrim’s access to a whole new generation of gamers. Rune the character may never learn of his true past, but discovering the adventures offered by his video game namesake is a close second.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrimis available now on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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