Perfect post at the perfect time lol. Woke up minutes ago. Good day
this post was submitted on 15 May 2026
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Tangent: I wish games wouldn't force speaker names in the subtitles.
At the opening of Skyrim we have no way as a player to know this guy is 'Ralof' and the way he talks makes it clear he doesn't know who you are either, yet his name is right there.
It's really immersion-breaking to have this omniescent knowledge of things we shouldn't know - so thank you to games which let you turn it off.
Also good are games which show names as '????' or generic 'Man', 'Child' etc until you learn their names and then it fills in :)
Agreed, also because it doesn’t matter.
“Ralof” dies almost immediately upon meeting him so I feel like the hassle of naming him wasn’t even worth the time spent thinking about it.
I feel them giving him a name was a way to humanize him a bit and try to give him personality but there just wasn’t even time between knowing him and his death to make anyone care.
On another note, I think allowing to skip the intro and even the tutorial sections in games should become standard. Yes I’m sure studios put a lot of effort (lol) into that initial hook, but when you go through it for the third or fourth time it’s just annoying.
Admittedly I haven't played Skyrim in ages, but surely Ralof doesn't die during the intro? One of the prisoners does die when they try to escape but not Ralof.
according to hastily googled 'scrolls wiki: https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Ralof
... However, Alduin attacks Helgen, and Ralof is able to escape. After reaching shelter, Ralof frees the Dragonborn from their bindings and asks for help against the Imperial soldiers. Later, the Dragonborn has the opportunity to rejoin Ralof and escape from Helgen. ...
he's part of few quest lines later on as well.
edit: but truth be told, even with name, I wouldn't have regognized him after helgen anyway.
Oh yeah you’re right, my bad, haha. Same, I cared so much for him that I forgot he survives Helgen smh.
heh, it happens.
Frankly, I didn't even regognize Ulfric either once I got to meet him later in the game. Sidequests for days until progressing anything main plot related, heh.
Isn't Ulfric optional? I don't think the civil war is required for the main quest.
could be, honestly not even sure - it's been a while since last visit to Skyrim, and even then it likely was just random exploration and sidequests! :P
I think that I've only started the questline only a few times, and only for the empire, I think. I'm not even sure if I've finished it or ever met Ulfric.
Is the questline good? I fear that it's too main questy, and Bethesda can't write a good main quest to save their lives.
or ever met Ulfric.
He sits with you on the cart at the beginning.
I think that says a lot about how memorable he is.
To be fair he's gagged and and apparently in the middle of silent tantrum so he's not very communicative in this scene, though even later when he's back on his throne and even during Stormcloak questline he's not very memorable too, you mostly talk with Galmar Stonefist who is more expressive. I guess it's explained officially by him being apprentice to Greybeards and wielding some degree of Thu'um, you just don't flap your gums carelessly when you can demolish everything around you accidentally.
Don't the greybeards still have quite a bit of dialogue? Also, both the player & Miraak are quite talkative, from what I rember, though it makes sense why the latter wouldn't care much about collateral damage.
I think that Bethesda should just stop shipping main quests with their 1st party games. I think that there are even mods to disable them, which should be somewhat telling about players' opinions.
Don’t the greybeards still have quite a bit of dialogue?
No, actually not, except Arngeir who is the most proficient in Thu'um, even they risk releasing the power. Or maybe they just got used to silence after decades of maintaining it. It's actually indicating Ulfric talent and control he managed to become warlord and politician despite it.
both the player & Miraak are quite talkative
Yes but it's because both of them are actual Dragonborn for which dragon language is no problem, but Greybeards including Ulfric are normal (if talented) humans, for them learning and controlling Thu'um is much more difficult.
Maybe I have to play trough the story again.
I believe I've been to Ulfric's throne room few times, but can't remember why, probably some sidequests take you there as well? I do think I've done the war-quest but for the life of me I can't recall which side I was on, or if it was good/bad/meh.
Usually in this kind of games I tend to do few runs to see each side of mutually exclusive paths, but... well, it's been a while, like a decade according to steam.
Skyrim SE (the remake) is just about a decade old. Mods have progressed a lot if you want to give it a try.
This is just from memory, so I could be wrong. I believe, though, Ralof lives if you join him, and Hador(I think) survives if you join him. So basically, if you think Ralof dies, you're imperial scum! /s
Easily fixed with a Skyrim mod that gives everyone a nametag like at Wal-Mart.
"My name is... RALOF"
Then the subs don't break immersion.
Off to tell Claude what to do