Skyrim 100% Maximized Legendary Playthrough - 291. Darkness Returns

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40/30 Gaming

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Published on July 14, 2023 1:15:03 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGa12uLZCzE

Game:

Nocturnals (2024)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 1:01:33

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We're off at last to the Twilight Sepulcher to return the Skeleton Key. Now many Skyrim players of course recommend keeping the Key indefinitely, since it functions as an unbreakable lock pick, but we already have the perk that grants us unbreakable picks, so there's no real benefit to us. Now what would have been useful is if we could have used the Key to grant ourselves all the nifty powers Mercer had while he had the Key, but alas, those apparently were cutscene-only powers.

We have a bit of an overland hike to get to the Sepulcher. Along the way we meet a thug sent by Louis Letrush to punish us for double-crossing him, but Louis should have hired better help. We also run into a secondary location - the remains of a caravan burned by a dragon.

We finally arrive at the Sepulcher, and inside we meet the ghost of Gallus who gives us the rundown on the place. This is one of the better locations and quests in the game, just because it has uniqueness to it. True, most of the Sepulcher is just a standard Nordic ruin with draugr replaced with the corrupted sentinels, but the part where you have to cross the area while remaining in darkness and avoiding the light is inspired. It's on-theme and decently challenging, making for a memorable section of gameplay.

At last we return the key and get a face-to-face meeting with Nocturnal. I like Daedric Princes who actually show up in person. My understanding is that in Daggerfall (which I haven't played), you could summon and meet all of them. We get a pat on the head from her, and then Karliah shows up and gets to have a reunion with Gallus. Afterwards she gives us the final bit of exposition on this whole Nocturnal business, so warning - rant incoming.

So Karliah claims that Nocturnal grants luck to thieves. This luck is mediated by the souls of previous Nightingales, who pass from Nocturnal's realm into the world via the Sepulcher and invisibly guide thieves in their job. When Mercer stole the Skeleton Key, it closed the gateway to Nocturnal's realm, preventing her from providing that luck to thieves, which is why the Thieves Guild fell on hard times and why the Key had to be returned.

Okay, let's break that down piece by piece. Karliah says that this luck is what separates thieves from ordinary bandits. But how does Nocturnal know who is a "thief" and who is just a "bandit"? Do you have to be a member of a guild? Do you have to have a license like in the old Quest for Glory games? Does that mean you can't make it solo as a thief? Remember, ordinary thieves don't care or possibly even know about Nocturnal, so it doesn't come from any sort of acknowledgement on their part.

But whatever, Nocturnal grants thieves luck, and the Guild has been without it, which led to the hard times they've been going through. Logically though this should affect thieves all over Tamriel, and even over all of Nirn. So has the Thieves Guild in Cyrodiil been having the same problems for 25 years? In 25 years has nobody put together that thieves the world over are having a really rough time? And pity those thieves that aren't in Skyrim - the Nightingales and the Sepulcher are located in Skyrim, so when things go bad those other thieves don't even have a way to know what's gone wrong.

And furthermore, even if thieves don't have luck, why can't they still be successful? Why is the Guild actively having *bad* luck? Skyrim is positively lousy with non-union bandits who don't have Nocturnal's favor but who seem to be doing quite well for themselves, capitalizing on the chaos due to the civil war and the dragons. The idea that a thief can only be successful with Nocturnal's luck is kind of insulting.

And speaking of that, here's the biggest question of all - how have *we* been able to be successful as a thief without her luck??? We completed the entirety of the Thieves Guild questline, plus 125 side jobs for Vex and Delvin, and we managed just fine without some kind of supernatural luck. This whole idea of Nocturnal providing luck to thieves was just really poorly thought out - like much of Skyrim's writing, sadly.

Back to actual gameplay, we return home to Whiterun, and only one thing remains for us to completely wrap up this questline. Next time we're headed back to Riften for our coronation as the new Guildmaster

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