But the mammoths are liberating themselves, kind of, and doing it in record time to boot. Yes, technically, what I did could be considered brainwashing. "Yes! Rise up, my mammoth brothers! Smite the evil-doers!" I cried. What would take me minutes, they did in seconds. He didn’t even make it two steps before he was being viciously gored by two sets of razor-sharp tusks.
It barely scratched him, but he began to charge toward me for an attack. They each stayed passive, until I attacked the giant with a fire spell. I carefully lined up my Shout to hit both of his stock at once, and brought them under my sway. I returned to a former giant encampment that I had passed by earlier. Making my way through it granted me a Shout to sway animals to my side for a short time, making them fight to protect me. These thoughts occupied the back of my mind when I found a small cove near Helgen. No, I needed to find some way to inspire the beasts to rise up against their oppressors. The mammoth problem couldn’t be permanently solved by stepping in and imposing my own strict rule I’d be no better than the giants themselves. Clearly, stockholm syndrome had taken hold.īesides, something about simply assassinating the giants seemed inherently wrong. Instead of relishing their newfound freedom, though, they would often stay firmly in place. But I would take care not to hurt them and then leave them be, only occasionally singeing them in the cross-fire. They would usually fight me too, no doubt upon threat of beatings if they failed to protect their cruel master. When I did fell one of the owners, the mammoths seemed unimpressed. Even with all that help, it will take several minutes. A companion makes good bait and sometimes I’ll summon a Flame Antronach to distract him.
I can burn the brute endlessly, and sometimes even survive a single blow from his mighty club. It’s a long and tedious process, usually with no small amount of running away and healing. As a full-fledged Dragonborn who has literally saved the world, I can generally take down a giant if I really want to. And I presume (by the mammoth skulls laying around) that once they’ve outlived their usefulness for mystery milk, they’re killed for their delicious and plentiful mammoth meat.Ĭlearly something had to be done. Each giant owns one or two lonely mammoths, leaving the poor creatures unable to form rich mammoth social bonds. Mammoths are apparently harvested for milk to make cheese, but I’ve checked and not found any mammoth nipples-that alone has disturbing enough implications. But I am in favor of humane animal treatment, and the giants inhabiting Skyrim just don’t seem to treat their livestock very well. I’m not quite what you would call an animal rights activist. I’ve become the leader and, thus far, sole member of the Mammoth Liberation Front. The point is, my quest to save the world of Tamriel in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has left me with a pretty sizable list of accomplishments, but my latest title came as a surprise. Lacertus, my Argonian mage, has been known as many things: Dovahkiin, master assassin, arch-mage, and even lizard wizard, which is more of a personal anthem that I sing to myself while toasting hapless bandits.