14 Years Later, 'Skyrim' Fans Can't Believe Bethesda's "Diabolical" Default Character Build

Before The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim became a genre-defining landmark and one of the best-selling games of all time, it was a demo at the 2011 E3 show. The 21-minute deep dive that Bethesda debuted at the now-defunct event gave players a 101 on how the game worked and how it evolved from the venerated Elder Scrolls formula. What most people remember from this incident is the meme of Bethesda executive producer Todd Howard telling players they could climb that mountain in the distance. 14 years later, however, fans are realizing that the Skyrim demo has some eyebrow-raising details they missed the first time around.

The demo begins innocently enough, with Howard dual-wielding, Standing Stones, and some basic combat. About four minutes and twenty-five seconds in, Howard quickly flips through his character's skill menu. Hilariously, the default character, who is technically in the game's open area, is immediately revealed to have a nearly maxed-out Destruction skill. It's common for gaming studios to use leveled-up characters in demos, as it is a guaranteed way to show off the best a game has to offer. If players are taking a second look at this detail now, it's because it's funny. Some are even calling it "diabolical."

Meet Howard

Here is Howard, dressed like a penniless NPC with some of the worst weapons in the game, except he's secretly commanding a master wizard. The man dispenses those initial enemies with a sword despite melee being among his worst skills. Those stats get even worse in the middle of combat as Howard contracts the Rockjoint disease. And that entire time, Howard's got Illusion skills that could turn him invisible or pacify the wolves. He could even push them into a murderous frenzy without lifting a sword at all. All the while, Howard is also carrying Elven armor that looks way more impressive than what his Nord actually has equipped.

Once Howard steps into Bleak Falls Barrow, playtime is over. Howard casts a spell on the ground that explodes two wolves at once. He casts dual Protection Circles against undead enemies who quickly turn into ragdolls. He eviscerates enemies with fire spells that fill up the entire room. Most people don't attempt the dragon priest enemy at the end of the dungeon until they're at a high level — they're supposed to be one of the toughest encounters in the game. Howard kills the dragon priest in less than 30 seconds.

Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks

Later on, Howard saunters alongside an enemy mammoth who pays him no mind until he attacks it. It's kind of weird, until you realize that Howard is running around with a 100 level Sneak skill. Then, when a dragon appears, Howard simply watches as the monster tears up an NPC. Once Howard deigns to attack, he deletes the dragon almost immediately. A few minutes later, Howard calls upon the power of a storm to kill a dragon without lifting a finger.

Howard can do all of that, but his speech skills make it seem like his all-powerful mage has never spoken to another person in his life.

These all sound like nitpicks, especially when the purpose of a demo is to give people an informative overview of what's possible in the game. For fans, noticing these details doesn't mean they're outraged; mostly people are amused.

"I love the idea that you're basically disguised as "unnamed bandit #3," one Skyrim fan wrote in a discussion about Todd Howard's build.

"Still deeply funny to me that the iron armor they show so prominently in the marketing is like the shittiest armor in the game that no player uses since you immediately find something better," another wrote.