The Empire of Tamriel is on the edge. The High King of Skyrim has been murdered. Alliances form as claims to the throne are made. In the midst of this conflict, a far more dangerous, ancient evil is awakened. Dragons, long lost to the passages of the Elder Scrolls, have returned to Tamriel. The future of Skyrim, even the Empire itself, hangs in the balance as they wait for the prophesized Dragonborn to come; a hero born with the power of The Voice, and the only one who can stand amongst the dragons.
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According to Game Informer, the written script used for the Dragon language was deliberately designed so its characters looked like they could have been carved by a creature with three front talons and a dewclaw, giving every rune a claw-mark shape.
Design Director Emil Pagliarulo has said 'Fus Ro Dah' is his favorite shout for its forceful simplicity, and revealed that in Skyrim's reveal trailer, it's actually his own voice yelling it in the recording booth.
The late Max von Sydow, known for The Exorcist and The Seventh Seal, lent his voice to Esbern, the elderly chronicler and last living member of the Blades who helps uncover Alduin's return.
Christopher Plummer, best remembered as Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music, voiced Arngeir, the Greybeard elder who first teaches the Dragonborn about the Way of the Voice at High Hrothgar.
Michael Hogan, recognizable as Colonel Saul Tigh from Battlestar Galactica, provided the voice of General Tullius, the Imperial Legion commander players encounter at the very start of the game in Helgen.
Vladimir Kulich, who played Buliwyf in The 13th Warrior, voiced Ulfric Stormcloak, the rebel Jarl of Windhelm whose bid for Skyrim's independence drives the game's civil war questline.
Voice actor Wes Johnson returned to the Elder Scrolls series to voice Sheogorath, Emperor Titus Mede II, the Spectral Assassin, the Wretched Abyss (Hermaeus Mora), and the game's Dremora, plus Hermaeus Mora again in the Dragonborn expansion.
Guinness World Records recognizes Skyrim as the fastest-selling open-world RPG ever, having shifted 3.5 million copies in just 48 hours of release and coming within half a million copies of matching Oblivion's entire lifetime sales inside its first month.
Bethesda has confirmed Skyrim's lifetime sales have passed 65 million copies across its many re-releases, placing it among the best-selling video games of all time alongside titles like The Witcher 3.
Skyrim's dungeon design team consisted of just eight people, who between them were responsible for designing roughly 150 individual dungeons scattered across the game's map, each needing to feel distinct enough to stay interesting.
