Skyrim Game Files Hint at New DLC, Including Snow Elves

By Catherine Cai
published

There's plenty of clues about what the Skyrim DLC may be about buried in some Skyrim patch filenames.

Dragon mounts, Morrowind, and Daedrics, oh my!

These are just a few of the wild rumors floating about on the Internet about what Skyrim's DLC could be about. However, a BethSoft forum user found some concrete evidence as to what the DLC's contents could actually be after scanning the Skyrim 1.5.26 patch files, revealing the following filenames (among others):

  • Animations[b]DLC01Chair_SnowElfPrinceDialogueA.HKX[/b]
  • Animations[b]DLC01Chair_SnowElfPrinceDialogueB.HKX[/b]
  • Animations[b]DLC01Chair_SnowElfPrinceDialogueC.HKX[/b]
  • Animations[b]DLC01Chair_SnowElfPrinceDialogueD.HKX[/b]
  • Animations[b]DLC01[/b]Chair_SnowElfPrinceDialogueE.HKX
  • Animations[b]DLC01[/b]Chair_SnowElfPrinceFireBall.HKX
  • Animations[b]DLC01[/b]Chair_SnowElfPrinceSitIdle.HKX
  • Animations[b]DLC01SnowElfPrinceAscensionBurning.HKX[/b]
  • crossbow_direction_behavior.hkx
  • AnimationsCrossBow_1stP_Run.hkx
  • AnimationsCrossBow_1stP_Walk.hkx
  • AnimationsCrossBow_Aim.hkx
  • AnimationsCrossBow_Equip.hkx
  • AnimationsCrossBow_IdleDrawn.hkx
  • AnimationsCrossBow_IdleHeld.hkx
  • AnimationsCrossBow_Release.hkx

The patch file scan turned up other features as well, including what seems to be new vampire feeding animations and something mysteriously prefixed as "RF." However, what you should be caring about is the clear indicator that the DLC will include snow elves, the Snow Prince, and crossbows.

If you're not too familiar with the snow elves, perhaps the Falmers will help you jog your memory. Yes, I'm speaking of those terrifying, underground creatures you've probably encountered multiple times on your journey through Skyrim. Reading up on the lore of the Falmers, you'll discover that they were once snow elves led by the Snow Prince against the first humans on Tamriel, Nords from Atmora who had immigrated over.

The Snow Prince was eventually slain in battle. The rest of the snow elves, a weakened force, sought refuge with the Dwemers in Blackreach. The Dwemers agreed to shelter the snow elves, but didn't trust them, force feeding the snow elves toxic fungi that caused them to become blind. The snow elves became the Dwemers servants and over time, twisted into the Falmers that you see in Skyrim.

Will we be able to revisit this part of Elder Scrolls lore in the upcoming DLC? Or will we see something different entirely? There were plenty of hints dropped through Skyrim through the in-game text "The Falmer: A Study" that suggested that the Falmer were to return to the surface. It would definitely make for an interesting story arc to have the DLC be about fighting back the Falmer as they attempt to regain their past glory.

As for the crossbows, I just hope that Bethesda doesn't ground them too much into reality, or else reload times will be absolutely dismal.

Catherine Cai
13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • lemlo
    Cool. Don't get the crossbows comment at the end there though.
    Reply
  • flatterland
    Crossbows took a long time to reload. A very long time.
    Reply
  • alidan
    ground them in reality, no...

    what i would imagine is that it uses a cocking mechanism, a crank or such... there is clock work things in the game, so most likely a crank, at least on higher end ones.

    ill imagine that they will be powerful, accurate, and not suffer normal bow short comings (if you don't know how to fire them) , making an early one a likely 1 hit kill for normal enemies, with a reload so long that you switch to second hand weapons. while higher end ones, i can imagine they will use a system closer to a repeating crossbow, take out allot at once, possibly weaker shots, but getting 4-7 a "clip" and needing to reload that clip when it runs out takes so much time that you switch to you secondary weapon.
    Reply
  • yzf197
    i've felt that Skyrim had somewhat of a Vagrant Story feel to it, those of you who were lucky enough to enjoy VS may agree. and VS had crossbows, lots of crossbows......outside of greatswords they were my favorite weapon. also in many replays (more than i'll admit to!) of Final Fantasy Tactics, i used a lot of archers, even an archer only play a time or two. i originally played Skyrim on my PS3 with a stereotypical Nord with a greatsword. when i decided to get a modern gaming PC (and a 2 gig 560Ti, mind you), i immediately set out with an archer only class player. infinitely more fun than the hack and slash fun i had on PS3.
    Reply
  • frank_drebin
    man i'm not even 1/3rd through main storyline...
    Reply
  • boiler1990
    I hope Bethesda doesn't charge a crap ton for this DLC. I was already hesitant to purchase a Bethesda-developed product in the first place after all of the hubbub about Skyrim's release (poor textures, bad coding, etc etc)
    Reply
  • fuzzion
    dont count on a cheap DLC, possibly 9.99. Bethesda will milk skyrim users until the titties hurt
    Reply
  • yzf197
    i paid 60 bucks for my ps3 copy and 40 (when it was on sale) for the pc copy, i'll gladly pay ten bucks for DLC. other developers should take note - we want epic single player games, and we WILL pay for them. keep feeding us trash and we will make sure your company goes bankrupt.
    Reply
  • lordstormdragon
    boiler1990I hope Bethesda doesn't charge a crap ton for this DLC. I was already hesitant to purchase a Bethesda-developed product in the first place after all of the hubbub about Skyrim's release (poor textures, bad coding, etc etc)
    ...or Morrowind or Oblivion, obviously. Hey, Boiler, if you suck at RPGs and still can't pull up your big-boy pants or tie your own shoes, why did you buy Skyrim? Stick to Region of Small-scale Skirmishcraft in the future, kiddo. Bethesda doesn't need your crybaby-cash anyway.
    Reply
  • rorouni
    i realy dont know about the snow elves, the falmers ofcourse i do.. but i merely uses bows/crossbows.. more like dual wielding and close combat rather than archery..
    Reply