The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim came out in 2011, but there's plenty of people still playing the game almost a decade later. The fifth entry into The Elder Scrolls series offers incredible replayability just in the vanilla game, but a whole community of mods has developed on top of that. Mods like Enderal: The Shards of Order completely realign The Elder Scrolls V, making it a whole new adventure. Most mods, though, just rearrange base aspects of the game or add new content to Skyrim, such as weapons, perks or new interfaces.
Some mods add content that has no previous connection to Skyrim. For instance, if the player is a fan of trains, there's a mod in Skyrim that changes every dragon into Thomas the Tank Engine. However the following mods are much more realistic, adding features by taking cues from previous Elder Scrolls titles such as Morrowind and Oblivion, and remain lore-friendly to the original game.
The Lore Weapon Expansion mod for Skyrim expands the number of obtainable weapons. Some weapons in the mod are inspired by weapons from previous games. For instance, there is almost a whole set of new Cyrodilic Iron weapons, inspired by Oblivion, which is set in the province of Cyrodiil. There's also new glass, steel and silver Cyrodilic weapons, along with eight new Dwemer weapons from Vvardenfell, an island in Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind. This Skyrim mod also introduces iconic unique weapons from previous games, such as Goldbrand, a sword created by dragons. This mod is very compatible with other mods for Skyrim, and can be used simultaneously with many of them.
Skyrim Lore-Friendly Mods Tie Into Past Elder Scrolls Games
Another The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim mod that is very lore friendly is the Oblivion Gates mod. It's a pretty simple mod: it adds ruined Oblivion Gates to Skyrim's landscape. Oblivion Gates were crucial to the plot of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, linking the Daedric world to the mortal plane. According to lore, the Oblivion Crisis devastated Skyrim despite the fact that no gates remain in the vanilla game. This mod changes just that.
Deadly Dragons is a mod for Skyrim that increases the diversity and power of the game's winged predators. In the base version of Skyrim there are seven types of dragons, all of which seem to be easier than a Frost Troll. Deadly Dragons adds 14 new types of dragons to the base set, along with difficulty modifiers for the seven dragons already present. If players don't want to add anything that isn't in the lore, the 'Loremonger Edition' of this mod allows players to use the full feature set of this mod without adding the 14 new kinds of dragons, thus remaining lore-friendly. What's the point of that? Getting to use Deadly Dragons' assault feature, an auxiliary dragon spawner that works independent of Skyrim's in-place spawner. Toggles in the mod's menu allow players to set the frequency, difficulty, and even amount of dragons, making it possible to set up 'dragon raids' upon unsuspecting holds. This mod also allows players to toggle NPC's as 'essential' so they can't be killed by the more-powerful dragons.
With no Elder Scrolls 6 in sight, Skyrim is going to be the top Elder Scrolls game for a while yet. Players that tire of the base game can install mods to up the ante, but some mods are downright ridiculous. The lore-friendly mods listed in this article like Lore Weapon Expansion and Oblivion Gates take from previous games and give The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim a new twist. Deadly Dragons itself adds a whole new challenge, even in the lore-friendly edition. Make sure to try them all, before your adventure takes an arrow to the knee.