Elessir Playthrough

Elessir
Playthrough Info
Game Skyrim Anniversary Edition
Race Dunmer
Playthrough Dates Started 7/19/2023
Platform PC, Steam Deck
Language English
Difficulty Adept

This is the page for my tenth Skyrim playthrough, for the Dunmer character Elessir.

Elessir’s playthrough is born out of my attempt to reassess my mods situation after the disastrous attempt to recover Harrowhark’s playthrough. I’m running him concurrently with Finds-The-Way and Kendis.

This marks my first time playing a male character in Skyrim, as well, since I finally got High Poly Heads, KS Hairdos, and RaceMenu working, all of which allowed me to make a male character that didn’t look terrible! And, playing a male character is one of the few things I haven’t tried in the game yet.

This character is named after Elessir a’Natharion, Unseelie mage and singer, who’s one of the major characters in my books Faerie Blood and Bone Walker.

Goals for this run:

  1. Cover some of the same ground I wasn’t able to do with Harrow’s run before it imploded, which means:
    • Running Lucien as a follower
    • Running the Thieves Guild for Good Guys mod (though this time I’ll be trying a newer version)
    • Running the Dark Brotherhood for Good Guys mod
    • Running Beyond Skyrim: Bruma
  2. Like his namesake, Elessir needs to be a gifted mage, so I’ll be emphasizing using Destruction magic in his combat and will try to get his Illusion up, too.
  3. Elessir’s namesake is also a skilled musician (and a notoriously snarky Elvis impersonator, LOL), so he will definitely be running the Bards College.

Elessir’s Backstory

Since the Elder Scrolls franchise doesn’t really have an analogue of the Seelie and Unseelie Court mythos, I can only borrow some of the core ideas from Elessir’s background in my books. Current rough idea is that he’s an exile from a House in Morrowind, fleeing for his life after he failed in an attempt to overthrow his House’s Grandmaster. Who very likely also sicced the Morag Tong on him.

Playthrough Posts

Here are all the posts about Elessir’s playthrough! These are dynamically updated, so a new post should appear here when it goes up. They’re listed in descending date order, so the newest posts should always appear first. Also, note the pagination controls after the first five posts. You can page through to see the older ones.

  • In Which Elessir Investigates Ruins and Caverns, and Becomes Thane of Haafingar - 10/23/2023
    In which Elessir investigates the ruins of Winterhold, and slays the dragon priest and dragon he encounters as a result; slays another dragon at Goldenhills Plantation; tames a unicorn near Riften; finishes helping Largashbur with its curse problem; fights Forsworn and hagravens at Lost Valley Redoubt and Cradle Stone Tower; and delves into Runoff Caverns to find and deactivate a runaway Dwemer weather machine.
  • In Which Elessir Defies Maven Black-Briar and Becomes Thane of the Rift - 10/14/2023
    In which Elessir acquires critical intel for the Thieves Guild from both Goldenglow Estate and Honningbrew Meadery, defying Maven Black-Briar as he does so; aids Remnant agents in rescuing one of their own from the Thalmor; helps the Orcs of Largashbur with a giant attack; returns the Lexicon to the depths of Avanchnzel; buys Honeyside in Riften and is named Thane of the Rift; returns Azura's Star to her shrine; and heeds Azura's command to cleanse Malyn Varen's soul from the Star.
  • In Which Elessir Seeks Azura’s Star and Joins the Thieves Guild - 10/04/2023
    In which Elessir is tasked by Azura to restore her broken Star, and recovers it from Ilinalta's Deep; slays the bandit Tyra Blood-Fire, after she challenges him; clears a mine of a spider infestation; joins the Thieves Guild in Riften, but with less extortion than they ask him for; recovers the Headman's Cleaver from Lost Knife Hideout, and a Khajiit's amulet from Treva's Watch; and clears out a skooma den on behalf of Riften.
  • In Which Elessir Becomes Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold - 09/16/2023
    In which Elessir retrieves and returns instruments for the Bards College; discovers what slew a family in Frostflow Lighthouse, and another family at Goldenhills Plantation; quests into Mzulft in search of Synod researchers and the Staff of Magnus; retrieves the Staff from Labyrinthian, and slays the dragon priest Morokei; and saves the College of Winterhold by putting a stop to the plans of Ancano of the Thalmor.
  • In Which Elessir Saves Dawnstar and Finds a Lost Drum - 09/10/2023
    In which Elessir works with a priest of Mara to save Dawnstar from a plague of nightmares; and recovers Rjorn's drum from Halldir's Cairn in Falkreath.

Screenshots

Elessir’s screenshot galleries can be found on the Elessir Screenshots page.