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'Skyrim' Superfan Counted The Steps To High Hrothgar, And Bethesda Lied To Us All

Ewan Moore

Published 

'Skyrim' Superfan Counted The Steps To High Hrothgar, And Bethesda Lied To Us All

Featured Image Credit: Bethesda

Every Skyrim player remembers their first journey to High Hrothgar to meet the mysterious and reclusive Greybeards. For most, it's a journey fraught with peril.

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Climbing to (nearly) the very top of the mountain involves following an ancient series of stone steps built into a path that leads through numerous deadly dangers, the most infamous of which is a Frost Troll that's guaranteed to rustle the jimmies of all lower-level players that cross it. Given how early on the game asks players to go the Throat of the World to High Hrothgar, it's safe to say that Frost Troll lives on a substantial diet of unfortunate newcomers.

Multiple characters refer to this journey as the Seven Thousand Steps, and it's one of the first major challenges in Skyrim on the way to becoming the Dragonborn. Except Bethesda lied to us all. The Seven Thousand Steps are in fact nowhere close to being 7,000 steps. I know, I'm as furious as you are at having been lied to like this.

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Reddit user Jimeee first uncovered this treachery nearly nine years ago, not that long after Skyrim first release. Their post explaining the truth behind the Seben Thousand Steps has since resurfaced, however, and it's worth sharing for those who might have missed it the first time around. Why yes, it is a slow news day - why do you ask?

"Boredom and curiosity got the better of me so I set out on this epic quest," Jimeee wrote. "Please note this topic is in jest, Skyrim is awesome and I wont be taking it back to the store after this shocking discovery!"

Counting every last step visible on the path from the very first step over the Ivarstead bridge right up to the front door of High Hrothgar, Jimeee discovered there are roughly 748 steps leading up to the Greybeards. They acknowledge that the terrain implies more steps are buried under the snow, so you can add an extra 100-150 to that number if you really want. Either way, it's not exactly 7,000 is it?

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim / Credit: Bethesda
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim / Credit: Bethesda

"So in closing, if the Throat of the World was to really include 7000 steps, our journey up to the Greybeards would have roughy been 10 times longer," Jimeee explained. "I suppose you can also say the mountain itself should be about 10 times bigger? Crazy if it was that big in-game. Also Todd Howard is a lying bastard."

As Jimeee stressed, it doesn't actually matter that there aren't 7,000 steps leading up through the mountain. That number probably would have been way too much anyway - just imagine how many more Frost Trolls you could fit on a path like that? If anything, I'm more impressed that somebody out there actually had the energy to count every last step.

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Like I said, slow news day.

Topics: News, Skyrim, Bethesda

Ewan Moore
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