Namira's Ring

[sticky runes]

Why is there a unique animation for when you cannibalize your defeated enemies or corpses on the roadside?

You don't get an animation for when you eat ordinary food like bread or fruit and vegetables, or for when you drink ale or mead or a potion. You don't get an animation for picking flowers or reading books or lying down in bed. NPCs do all of these things, but not the Dragonborn.

Yet when you slip on Namira's Ring (an item you can completely avoid by betraying the coven) you get treated to an animation of your character tucking into a dead bandit like a free buffet. It's yucky.

 

[Nephor The Shadow Stalker]

Maybe as to actually see that cannibalism is wrong. Bethesda is a company that does things on purpose and maybe that's why. I know that's not an answer but with these games it's always speculation.

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[sticky runes]

I mean, when you take an animal's pelt you don't see your character cutting the skin off the beast (like in Red Dead) or you don't prey to a shrine to receive a god's blessing, you just stand there and it happens. Having my character animated during some of these more mundane actions might have even increased my immersion in the game. there probably are mods out there that do show the player character physically reading books and drinking from bottles. Just seems odd that Bethesda made the effort to include a cannibalization animation.

And Eola is one of the few characters in Skyrim who mentions your past, so I wonder if the writers did actually intend for the Dragonborn to be a cannibal.

 

[Nephor The Shadow Stalker]

All that is mundane crap no one wants to do. Eating a corpse that's a Hannibal and they obviously wanted to show that. Much like the vampire feeding animations and the werewolf animations which are created for a specific reason. Also just because Eola spouts off some details about eating a corpse doesn't mean that you did that. Sure you could have but more than likely she's trying to make you feel like a cannibal with a false memory. Of course it's up to the player if they eat people or not.

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[TheDovahkin]

I think that everything should have been animated in Skyrim. It would really add to my immersion. What is the point of wasting 15 gold on some Nord mead when all you get is the sound of someone swallowing!

And yes there are mods that add animations, such as; eating, drinking, lockpicking and harvesting crops. Brodual did something on it..

 

[sticky runes]

All that is mundane crap no one wants to do. Eating a corpse that's a Hannibal and they obviously wanted to show that. Much like the vampire feeding animations and the werewolf animations which are created for a specific reason. Also just because Eola spouts off some details about eating a corpse doesn't mean that you did that. Sure you could have but more than likely she's trying to make you feel like a cannibal with a false memory. Of course it's up to the player if they eat people or not.

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Some people do want to see the mundane stuff happening (such as the other person who just posted on this thread and the people who created the mods he's talking about) people enjoy games like Skyrim because they include mundane activities such as sleeping, shopping, reading books and drinking wine as well as all the action packed stuff like sword fights and slaying dragons and casting spells. Bringing normality into a fantasy role-playing game does not ruin the experience, it enhances it.

And yes I know Eola's speech isn't necessarily true about the player character, as she's capable of making people think what she wants them to think like when she convinces Verulus to lie down on the altar by telling him he's tired. It was her way of manipulating the dragonborn into helping her coven. I was just saying there aren't many other moments when somebody mentions your past.

 

[DarkBeckyhood]

And yes I know Eola's speech isn't necessarily true about the player character, as she's capable of making people think what she wants them to think like when she convinces Verulus to lie down on the altar by telling him he's tired. It was her way of manipulating the dragonborn into helping her coven. I was just saying there aren't many other moments when somebody mentions your past.

I always interpreted Eola's speech in the same way as Brynjolf's little "never earned an honest coin in your life, have you?" speech, myself. She looked at you and 'thought' she saw something of herself in you, and hoped that by just coming out and saying it, you'd be amenable to admitting as much. While Brynjolf incentivised admitting to it with the offer of steady coin for your nefarious deeds, Eola incentivised admitting to it with the idea of acceptance and comradery for something that is otherwise socially shunned. Both incentives would make it easier for someone to come out and admit to something, I think, hence why they did it. For example, it's probably much easier to admit to someone that you're an alcoholic or a drug user if the person asking admits to being one too, if that makes any sense.

I tend to dismiss the idea that she was trying to magically influence the player into having a false memory, as it's pretty easy to just dismiss her suggestion out-of-hand (and then kill her for suggesting it); yet later on she was able to compel that guy to lie down and get eaten, which you'd think would have been even easier to resist. And I don't think it was Bethesda trying to establish a past for your character either, as again, you can dismiss her suggestion out-of-hand. It's up to you if her guess was correct. My goody two-shoes characters have invariably reacted negatively to Brynjolf's suggestion that they are thieves, taking offence at the insuination, and they've obviously reacted even worse to Eola's suggestion that they were cannibals. Just because they think you're a thief or a cannibal, doesn't mean that you are. Unless you are, in which case BONUS!!!, they just found themselves a friend!

It's a pretty risky game to play on their part, though. The way Brynjolf just wanders up to you at random and blurts out that he's a thieving scumbag and thinks you might be too is a bit of a dangerous thing to do, even in a place as corrupt as Riften. There's nothing stopping people from immediately running off to the guards and ratting him out, and even if that results in nothing, he could end up with a greatsword through the gut for his troubles (I know that in game-terms he can't, because he's essential, but I'm thinking practically). Eola's game is even more dangerous, as she admits to being a cannibal to a heavily-armed stranger in the middle of a completely empty Hall of the Dead, and given how reviled cannibalism is in most of Tamriel (besides Valenwood), any number of ill fates could befall her if she admits it to the wrong person... and often have, in fact!

As for why Bethesda decided to animate your cannibalistic acts, well... I suppose it just wouldn't have the same "ewww.... what have I just done!" effect if you just stood there motionless and gained a health boost. It's cannibalism we're talking about here, it's supposed to be gross.

 

[sticky runes]

I just remembered - when she first sees you, Eola also says "Not many would walk blindly into a crypt, smelling of steel and blood, but not fear." It's likely that by the time you reach Markarth you've probably already explored tons of crypts and fought loads of undead to the point it becomes routine, so walking into a Hall of the Dead is not going to scare you that much.

So maybe this lack of fear in your character is what makes Eola think you might have certain interests in dead bodies. She also says that your mouth wets and your stomach growls when you see the dead. Maybe you do get excited when a draugr shows up because its a chance to fight an undead warrior, or if you've been building your skill in conjuration, then you're a necromancer who enjoys raising corpses to aid you in combat, which is also kind of perverse, but not necessarily in a cannibalistic sort of way.

So yes, it is likely that even though your character might be repulsed by cannibalism, Eola could be mistaking or misreading your feelings on the subject. A lot of regular people in Skyrim hate the idea of their dead being tampered with, and are suspicious of mages interfering with tombs and dabbling in necromancy. And here you are - someone who wanders around ancient burial grounds picking fights with dead people and discovering staves that reanimate corpses. You're not exactly a regular person!

 

[DarkBeckyhood]

Ooh, I didn't think of that 'walking around the Hall of the Dead without being scared' angle. That makes sense too. Although I'm not sure I know of a skill in Tamriel that allows one to sense how much saliver is in someone's mouth...

 

[sticky runes]

Don't forget that some of these ancient tombs have big wads of cheese and barrels of fresh fruit in them, so that might be making the Dragonborn hungry!

 

[DarkBeckyhood]

Yeah, I never understood that! After thousands of years, cheese and apples wouldn't just be stale - they'd be dust!