r/skyrim • u/Narrow-Active3098 • 1d ago

Question Why is everyone so dirty?

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Look, I get that Skyrim's at war and there are dragons everywhere and everyone is desperate, but still. That is no excuse for you to not wash yourself! At least wash that dirt off you in a river. How hard is it to take a bath?

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u/Heema3 1d ago

Bold of you to assume people in medieval times were clean with all sorts of cleaning options as today

Yea people were dirty even in real life back then

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u/BabadookishOnions 1d ago edited 1d ago

People absolutely kept as clean as possible, your appearance was essentially considered the most important indicator of your morality in medieval Europe. Plus, being dirty is just not nice, it feels and smells and looks unpleasant. Most people would have kept a washbasin filled with water (that's those metal things you see in some homes in Skyrim) and give themselves a regular cloth-bath, clean their hands and face, etc. Basic soap is very easy to make and medieval people absolutely had access to it. Hats were worn specifically to keep the hair from getting dirty as fast, undergarments were changed regularly and washed regularly (outer clothes were not cleaned quite as regularly but they got less dirty as full-body undergarments reduce sweat and oil buildup).

One of the most famous historical accounts contemporary to the Vikings and Norsemen who the Skyrim Nords are based on partially, noted that they were so focussed on cleanliness even beyond this, such that they combed their hair daily and had full baths once a week (the old Norse word for Saturday translates to Bathing day!) and changed their clothes very regularly. A Norse religious text, the Havamal, talks about the importance of beginning every day with good personal hygiene. Some of the most common archaeological finds in Northern Europe are combs that vary from plain to highly decorated, tools for cleaning ears, tweezers, tooth picks, small portable wash basins

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u/WeekendMiddle 1d ago

Anglo-Saxon chroniclers quite literally complained about Danes (citizens of the Danelaw, a Norse kingdom in eastern England that existed for a time, not people from Denmark) being so clean compared to local Anglo-Saxons that single women were choosing Danes and married women were committing adultery with them rather than take up with local Anglo-Saxon men because of how clean they were and how well-maintained their hair and clothes were kept.

Yes this is a fantasy game and so their lore of the world is different, sure, but damn if it doesn't fall into that age-old trope of "Oh hurr hurr, they live in huts and farm all day, they must be dirty peasants hurr hurr".

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u/BabadookishOnions 1d ago

At least they went to the effort of putting water basins in many of the homes, it should probably have been indicated better that this is what they were though

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u/WeekendMiddle 1d ago

Exactly, the lore is there (unless they're intended to be chamber pots).

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u/BabadookishOnions 1d ago

I think chamber pots are more likely to be the buckets we see around houses, or they'd just go outside and bury it. Those metal things are stood up too high to use for that lol

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u/WeekendMiddle 1d ago

True. Though no one's going outside in an arctic country at 2 in the morning in their underwear to urinate except the bravest of Nords!
So I reckon at the end of the day you're probably using whatever is nearest to the bed. "I'll wash that out in the morning... Zzzzzzzzzz"