Stealing items and picking locks are a player’s bread and butter in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and a vital tool for a lot of these activities hinges on having a steady supply of easy-to-break lockpicks. The game is about to get a new release in the form of an anniversary edition, allowing players to once again explore Tamriel’s northernmost province as the central figure of an ancient prophecy. Skyrim gives players a vast land to explore and several mysteries to uncover.
Restocking lockpicks is a constant activity players have to go through if they want to continue their thieving, but there is an unbreakable one that exists in Skyrim. It takes the form of a daedric artifact known as the skeleton key. Being affiliated with Nocturnal, the patron god of shadows and thieves, players will need to start their search by approaching the Thieves Guild.
To access the unbreakable lockpick players need to head over to Riften and talk to a man called Brynjolf, he will send the Dragonborn on a series of errands before eventually giving the player the opportunity to join the Thieves Guild. The guild’s main questline will have the player infiltrating establishments, going through dungeons, and searching for the truth behind the guild’s foul luck. On the way, players will encounter a mysterious Dunmer called Karliah and uncover the truth behind the previous guild master’s murder.
How to Get the Skeleton Key in Skyrim
Skyrim players will first hear of the skeleton key after completing the quest “Hard Answers” where it is revealed that Mercer, the guild’s current leader, stole it from its place in the Twilight Sepulcher. In so doing, he angered Nocturnal and closed the door to her realm of Oblivion, which was the source of the Thieves Guild's fortunate luck. From here the player will be tasked with tracking down Mercer and retrieving the skeleton key.
Just continue going through the main quest until “Blindsighted” is reached. This is arguably the most difficult quest in the entire guild storyline, as it will have the Dragonborn fighting (or sneaking) their way through a large dwemer ruin before eventually engaging Mercer in a Skyrim boss fight. So be sure to prepare beforehand, and bring a lot of healing potions. Once Mercer is defeated and killed, the skeleton key can be looted from his corpse and will now be in the player’s possession.
This artifact will always show up on the screen as a key-shaped lockpick every time the player tries to pick a lock, and as befitting of a daedric artifact, this tool will never break no matter how badly Skyrim's Dragonborn is at lockpicking.
The game will try to prompt the player into giving up the key by returning it to its rightful place by completing the “Darkness Returns” quest. If the player is content with leaving the Thieves Guild questline unfinished, thus forfeiting rewards like guild leadership and some special Nightengale powers, Skyrim's skeleton key will forever remain in the player’s inventory, as a personal unbreakable lockpick.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is available on Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC