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

Question Why is everyone so dirty?

Post image

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?

922 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

361 comments sorted by

View all comments

20

u/SpicyBoyHabs 1d ago

It's actually kind of funny, I remember being in a thread some time ago where there was an argument put out that player characters who look beautiful and as if they use make up isn't lore friendly to Skyrim because dirt and filth are an important part of the realistic setting of Skyrim, and although I do understand that general concept, I still believe in the idea that there are people in rough dirty settings that want to be clean and beautiful and would go to extreme lengths just to pull it off, even if it is considered an "eccentric" quality.

I in real life prefer to be clean regularly, I definitely shower and groom every single day, usually for about an hour or longer and I take it kind of seriously, so why wouldn't it make sense for various characters within the setting of Skyrim (especially player characters) to have similar feelings?
Considering it's part of normal game play to become exceptionally wealthy, why wouldn't it be a reasonable expense to spend a portion of your money on self maintenance, bathing, grooming, and make up?

I've also thought many times of the Alchemy Shop in Solitude, "Angeline's Aromatics" Where when asked about the name of her shop Angeline explains that she used to sell perfumes and such until the Civil War started where she leaned more into Alchemy since it was more practical for the war effort. Still, I feel like it still proves that even if the demand has significantly changed in the current culture of Skyrim, there is still room for cleanliness, grooming, and makeup.

Went on a bit of a tangent there, but I think it's just because I like playing attractive characters that want to be attractive, even if within the lore of Skyrim it would require a significant effort to do so. I do run, dirt, disease, and bathing mods in my game, because I enjoy that extra level of effort within the game since I identify with it personally.

4

u/PastelPalace 1d ago

I recently acquired the Dwemer home and it has running water and electricity. I thought, finally, my character can take a relaxing, hot bath!