When it comes toThe Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, most people tend to think of the dragons, given their significance to the story, as well as their sheer magnificence. However, there is another beast that is almost as powerful, and that’s the werewolves.Skyrim’s werewolves are found all over Tamriel, and while they are a force to be reckoned with, there was a time that they were almost going to be completely different, as some of the developers discuss.
In a documentary posted to YouTube recently, called “You’re Finally Awake,” nine developers who worked onSkyrimhave been discussing some behind-the-scenes anecdotes about creating what is probably one of the biggest RPGs in the last ten years. Among other topics, one thing that was discussed was the creation of the werewolf creatures. Character artist, Dennis Mejillones, said that lycanthropes were not going to look like the beasts that they do now, as they were originally going to just be human characters, but with the head of a dog.
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The idea behind this, according to the documentary, was that it would make the werewolves look scary. However, Mejillones said that this would have just made them look likeSkyrim’s cat race the Khajiit, adding that it was going to be “horrible.” World artist Nate Purkeypile admitted that it was “absolutely hilarious” that there were going to be these vicious creatures that had the body of a regular human just with the head of a dog instead, adding that people weren’t scared of a “druggy cat guy hanging out in the city,” so gamers would probably not be afraid of werewolves. Mejillones said that he wanted lycanthropy to be a “big time power fantasy.”
Obviously, it didn’t pan out this way, and the game got the animals that fans know today. For those who are not aware,it’s possible to become a werewolf inSkyrim, which involves completing the questline for the Companions Guild found in Whiterun. The documentary goes on to say that one of the problems encountered early on was that werewolves would run faster than the game could load terrain, so a solution was hit upon by animator Jeremy Bryant that involved pulling the camera out when the player ran as a werewolf, which made it seem like they were going faster than they were.
Lycanthropy is popular in culture, and its depiction inSkyrimis no different. There’s every reason whywerewolves should make a comeback forThe Elder Scrolls 6, but that’s obviously up to the developer. In the end, it’s nice that players got the beasts that are currently in the game, rather than some canine equivalent of the Khajiit race.
Skyrim: Anniversary Editionwas released on June 05, 2025 and is currently available on PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
