Final thoughts on Elessir’s Skyrim Run

Here’s the final thoughts wrapup post on Elessir’s run, which will let me move him into the archive of old playthroughs!

Favorite follower

Lucien, no contest. I already knew I liked him from the aborted Harrowhark run, but getting to run him start to finish was very satisfying. Particularly with the coda of taking him down to Bruma with me, once the main action was done in Skyrim.

That said, I’ll also give props to Serana with the Serana Dialogue Edit mod. It wasn’t as thorough as I might have liked, but I did like that mod overall. It made Serana a more detailed presence on Solstheim, that’s for sure.

Favorite city

Gotta go with Bruma on this, just because that was the new hotness in this run. ❤️

Favorite Daedric quest

Going with Nocturnal on this one, as I feel pretty obliged to do on a Thieves Guild run.

Favorite non-Daedric plot

Going with Bruma’s main quest on this, again because it was the thing that was new to me!

Favorite armor

I think what I wound up wearing most often during this run was the Crimson Archer armor from Immersive Armors, plus the ringmail hood I’d discovered worked pretty well with it. So going with that combo.

Favorite weapon

I didn’t have a standout favorite weapon for Elessir, as I recall. And Bruma didn’t have any notable weapons that I remember finding.

Favorite named dragon

Paarthurnax still reigns supreme!

Things I actively disliked

Not much that I can recall, honestly. Though this is also a consequence of my writing up this summary many months after I finished the playthrough.

Things I wish I’d done differently

I’m not convinced running Bruma as late as I did in my playthrough was the wisest choice. It made the best story sense to me at the time, just because I feel like leaving Skyrim when Skyrim is under active threat of Alduin doesn’t really make much story sense.

So I feel like Bruma would have been better done earlier in the playthrough. Not entirely sure where, though.

And now, some stats

• Elessir did not break Kendis’ record for most gold carried at once, but he did beat Finds-The-Way, with a very nice 412,083 in his Most Gold Carried stat.
• He was thane of all the holds except Eastmarch.
• He owned the following properties:
  • In Whiterun Hold: Breezehome, Tundra Homestead, Goldenhills Plantation
  • In the Rift: Honeyside, Shadowfoot Sanctum
  • In Falkreath Hold: Lakeview Manor
  • In Winterhold: Bloodchill Cavern
  • In Haafingar: Proudspire Manor
  • In Hjaalmarch: Windstad Manor, Myrwatch
  • In the Pale: Heljarchen Hall
  • In the Reach: Hendraheim, Vlindrel Hall
  • In Eastmarch: Hjerim, Nchuanthumz
  • In Bruma: White Pine Lodge
• He was a member of the Bards College in Solitude
• He was Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold
• He was the Guildmaster of the Thieves Guild

Elessir didn’t vary much from my usual weapons and armor preferences. It’s probably worth noting, though, that he took to using the ebony scimitar he picked up while running Ghosts of the Tribunal. I don’t think he was about to worship the Tribunal any time soon. But that doesn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate his own people’s weaponry!

His run lasted for 435 days in-game.

Elessir finished his run with no murders committed. Good job, Elessir!

He had 16 trespasses, 63 items stolen, and no pockets picked. One wonders exactly how little the other members of the Thieves Guild did, if this got him made Guildmaster. 😀

Here’s Elessir’s skill trees video:

And here’s Elessir’s stats video:

Other commentary

One of the main things about this run was that it was the first time I played a male character in Skyrim. It was definitely different, just in terms of how NPCs tended to react to me–especially women. I won’t rule out playing further male characters in Skyrim, I think. But by and large, I still prefer to play female Dragonborns.

Next time

This officially concludes writeup posts for Elessir. With this post, I’ll be moving him into my archive of completed playthroughs.