The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim bears the distinction of being one of the most popular adventure RPGs ever made, and it's been entertaining fantasy gamers for the past near-decade. However, as longtime fans know, this game is loaded with just as many bugs and glitches as NPCs and memorable quests.
Many bugs have been patched out through regular updates, but some linger on undeterred to wreak havoc on players to this day. The funniest bugs and glitches are what make Skyrim so memorable, and there's an argument to be made as to whether Bethesda should finish their patching job or turn away and let things remain as they are.
Physics Bugs, And Then Some
Havok is the de facto standard physics engine for most games, and it handles everything from item drops to body ragdolls. Without it, players and NPC bodies wouldn't react as realistically to the environment. However, the physics system is notoriously bad in Skyrim, and to the point of being comical.
With the slightest bit of prodding, players can produce some appalling physics bugs and glitches. Other times, the game produces hilarious results all on its own, with no direct player involvement. This goes double if the PC version of the game isn't locked to 60 FPS. Going over this limit for the sake of a high framerate can produce some wild results, and that's putting it mildly.
The Giant Home Run
It wouldn't be Skyrim without a hilarious encounter with a typical giant. These behemoths can be found littered throughout the province, and they tend to keep to themselves unless provoked. Get too close, and it's lights out for any player who thinks they can match a giant swing for swing.
If a hit manages to connect with the player, they can expect to be hurled a few miles into the sky, before careening back to the ground below. To date, it's one of the funniest moments in Skyrim, and it's also one of the few bugs that Bethesda was forced to patch back into the game after fan uproar proved too much.
The Gigantic Chicken
One of the absolute funniest bugs ever to have plagued Skyrim revolves around the typical village chicken. These creatures are already programmed in so badly that it's to the point where the player will incur the wrath of the local authorities in what is now a hilarious classic Skyrim meme.
Sometimes, however, the script that handles how the chickens are spawned goes haywire, producing one that is positively gargantuan. It doesn't happen a lot, but it's no less funny to see this monstrosity clucking about. Thankfully, it's a visual bug only, and can be taken down with a single slash of the sword.
Pinballing Mammoths
When Skyrim first shipped, it was a mess and would require several patches to get things relatively under control. Day one players were forced to contend with everything from random crashes, to unskinned blue pine trees, and, of course, the infamous pinballing mammoths bug.
This occurred for no discernible reason and involved giant mammoths bouncing in between trees before falling back down to earth. It was a bizarre bug that left players scratching their heads, but, thankfully, the game's stellar gameplay made up for the immersion-breaking experience.
Mannequins On The Move
Many Skyrim modders have encountered a ton of bugs related to the mannequins in the game, which can be dressed up with various armor and weapons that players find throughout their travels. However, there are mannequin bugs that affect the vanilla game, as well, based on random chance.
Mannequins are actually normal NPCs with a limited set of scripts built in to make them do what they do. When those scripts break, mannequins can move mysteriously from their posts, walk around like normal NPCs, or pose themselves inappropriately. Of all the objects in Skyrim, they're some of the most vulnerable to bugs and glitches.
The Dead Attend A Wedding
One of the more pleasant aspects of Skyrim is the ability to marry one of the various NPCs that populate the game world. This is largely down to personal choice, but, when the time is right, players can pop the question, walk down the aisle—so to speak—and cement the bonds of marriage with friendly NPCs as guests.
Unfortunately, a bug caused some NPCs who had died during the course of the game to spawn into the ceremony, with outrageously funny outcomes. There's nothing quite like having the dead corpse of a well-liked Skyrim traveling companion attend a wedding while taking the vows of holy matrimony.
Clueless Robbery Victims
Another bug that Bethesda was forced to patch back into Skyrim is also one of the funniest. This classic glitch allows players to ransack an NPC's home or store by using a simple and obvious trick. Simply locate the nearest bucket, basket or barrel, and place it over top of their heads. With vision obstructed, players can loot all day long.
Years after the fact, this bug still gets a lot of laughs, and it's very easy to replicate. Whenever the activate key is pressed and held down, the action switches to a grab. This allows players to move objects, bodies, etc. from in the world, and reposition them. By using this trick, players can literally rob their victims blind—literally.
Dragon Rodeo
Horses are already one of the most nonsensical aspects of Skyrim, but one is necessary to trigger this hilariously fun bug. It involves dropping onto the back of a dragon from above in a sneak attack, which triggers the creature to attack. Making contact with the dragon causes it to launch into flight, with the player and horse still on its back.
What follows is a brief bout of dragon rodeo before the creature kicks the player off, sending them flying in a random direction. This can include soaring clear across the map, headfirst into a mountain, or way up in the sky where the physics engine will break and cause them to get stuck. The bug is easiest to trigger at Skyborn Altar.
The Haywire Horse Wagon
The modding community has provided a ton of mods to play Skyrim in 2021, and "Alternate Start" is one that allows players to avoid bugs such as this one. It happens randomly during the opening sequence of the game when the player is transported via wagon to Helgen to await execution.
Sometimes, the wagons go absolutely haywire and start flailing about uncontrollably. From a first-person perspective, it's as jarring as it is laugh-out-loud hilarious to watch. The bug made its way into the special edition of the game, as well, which is proof that Bethesda can make great games, but they can't seem to patch them very well.
The Headless Dragonborn
Skyrim is a brutal province with a lot of dangerous folk lurking about, and some aren't above separating heads from bodies in order to prove a point. Fortunately, decapitation mechanics can sometimes break—just like everything else in Skyrim—producing some eye-wateringly hilarious results.
For instance, the two execution victims in Solitude and Helgen can immediately get up and start running around after losing their heads. Similarly, enemies who behead the player during combat can produce a glitch that allows them to keep living on for the long haul. Whatever the case, a headless Dragonborn is a cause for laughs.