Many players have called The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim many things over the last decade. Unfortunately, “Polished” is not usually one of them. The fact is, whether someone thinks it’s the best action RPG of the 2010s or a criminally overrated game that’s only kept alive by mods, Skyrim’s been something of a buggy mess since day one. One Reddit user received a reminder of that fact during an unusual encounter during his un-modded playthrough.
Reddit user SupahLuke was passing through the courtyard of Skyrim’s College of Winterhold when he encountered Arch-Mage Savos Aren. Of course, that wouldn’t have been unusual if Savos Aren wasn’t already dead by that point in his playthrough.
The Dark Elf wizard leads the College of Winterhold, the Kingdom of Skyrim’s oldest and currently only dedicated magic school. However, partway through the College of Winterhold’s questline, he dies trying to stop a Thalmor agent from unleashing a powerful magical artifact. Upon completing the questline, the player succeeds him as the new Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold. However, it appears that a bug can cause Savos Aren to reappear well after he’s supposed to be dead and gone. This is how SupahLuke ended up running into the old Arch-Mage, after becoming the new one.
The post’s most upvoted comment was one comparing the attached screenshot to the meme of Spider-Man pointing at his doppelganger. Other’s made various jokes about Savos Aren either being a ghost or the Dragonborn’s guilt-induced hallucination. Multiple people also picked up on Savos Aren’s default line, “What you learn here will last a lifetime. Several, if you’re talented.” If nothing else, it is undoubtedly an appropriate statement from an apparent ghost. There’s also the fact, as a few commenters point out, that Skyrim’s College of Winterhold doesn’t ban necromancy, offering a lore explanation for the bug.
Notably, NPCs coming back from the dead isn’t that uncommon of a glitch in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. A relatively common set of glitches cause the Companion’s Kodlak Whitemane and Skjor to come back from the dead after their questline. Players can even accept quests from the revived Skyrim characters.
Again, Skyrim’s always been a buggy game and remains one after two re-rereleases. Some players have even argued that both Skyrim: Legendary Edition and the recently released Anniversary Edition caused more bugs than they fixed. Of course, what that says about Bethesda and whether that makes The Elder Scrolls 5 charming or infuriating is a matter of perspective.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Anniversary Editon is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
