Mages in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim have access to massive amounts of power, with some able to summon elemental creatures or raise the dead to aid them in battle. So the fact that they are simply thrown in jail with everyone else if they commit crimes is, quite frankly, silly. The vast land of Skyrim has fantastic in-depth lore, but gaps in logic like these can annoy players as it can feel like lazy world-building.
There are many ways for players to break the law in Skyrim, and depending on the character they are playing, how the world reacts will either be a significant setback or a minor annoyance. When a player breaks the law in Skyrim, then they will gain a bounty on them in the hold where the Dragonborn committed the crime. Bounties do not carry over into other holds, so it is possible to be a criminal in the Reach but an upstanding citizen in the Pale. If the guards do catch up to the Dragonborn, then there are a couple of options open to players as to how to deal with their lawbreaking and remove a bounty in Skyrim. One is simply to pay the bounty, but the other option involves jail.
Skyrim is a favorite among Elder Scrolls fans for its role-playing possibilities; however, a few things can break immersion. If the player finds themselves in jail, there are no special accommodations for magic users, which makes no sense. The Elder Scroll universe - and the upcoming Elder Scrolls 6 - needs a better way to imprison criminal mages for a world with such deep lore.
Anti-Mage Solutions For Skyrim & Elder Scroll 6's Prisons
Mages in the Elder Scrolls universe who find themselves in jail aren't really facing any punishment as breaking out or even taking over the prison would be a doddle given their arcane powers. As such, putting them in the same deep dungeon as Skyrim’s murderers and sweet roll thieves doesn't make much sense. It would be more logical to have separate areas within the prison or even independent prisons just for magic users. Other games - such as the Dragon Age series - have establishments to deal with rogue mages. Mage students must go to Circles in Dragon Age, where they study how to use their magic correctly, but the downside is that the Circles are guarded by magic-nullifying warriors known as Templars who watch every move they make.
Obviously, the solution seen in the Dragon Age games is an extreme reaction to imprisoning mages; however, Elder Scrolls 6 could implement mage-only prisons with guards specially trained to combat their abilities. Another solution could be to use magic in Elder Scrolls 6 to combat the criminal mage's magic, as seen in Morrowind. A straightforward way to deal with mages could be to use magic-dampening or draining manacles to sap their magicka and prevent spell casting. Bethesda could even apply this solution to wider areas to create anti-magic cells, which could be used in conjunction with silence spells to render the offending mage inert.
There are several ways Skyrim could improve how it imprisons mages; however, much of what is seen in-game could be put down to the Nord's distrust and general ignorance of magic. By the time of Skyrim's events, the Mages Guild held no power in the province, and members of Skyrim's College of Winterhold knew little of the Psijic Monks, who uphold a strict code of conduct for their members. The impractical way mages are jailed in Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim could be designed that way purposefully to emphasize how unprepared Nords are to combat powerful mages, or it could be an oversight on behalf of the developers. Whichever is true, fans will undoubtedly continue to speculate and theorize different ways the Elder Scrolls universe could improve.