Does Windhelm from SKYRIM have realistic defences?

In This video I'll use my historical knowledge to analyse and review the city Windhelm from the video game The Elder Scrolls 5, SKYRIM, for it's practicality, realism and effectiveness.
The CASTLE shirt: teespring.com/en-GB/stores/sh...
Special thanks to the Open Cities mod for Skyrim: www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/...
Intro and Outro Music by Dragens
Music backing: Folk Round by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/

[@childeater7327]

FOOL the loading screen protects it

[@coreypatton6290]

Childeater No, it’s tendency to crash protects it.

[@maybe3xcesive742]

unjucovek I pounded Mr.house’s slimy ass with my fist and then blew his nasty wrinkly oozing ass all over the basement

[@trashtrash2169]

Skyrim never crashes for me until I pump it full of 50 mods, if you have the default bug fixes and the like, I am talking about oldrim.

[@udozocklein6023]

@@trashtrash2169 Skyrim crashed for me only a few times since i own it (2015). I use like 200 mods, but i have around 100 active. none of them have problems with each other since they are all for different purposes. It neither crashed with 0 mods, nor with 100. Sadly, I can't use more than those at once because they will make problems for each other.

[@NinjasUseGlocks]

Not with open cities

[@vhoro4514]

"Force the enemy to approach the castle the way that you want them to approach. AND PUNISH THEM FOR IT!" I like this guy....

[@mrhalfwit972]

YOU'D DARE APPROACH MY DOMAIN, well ok then if you wish too but dont say I didnt warn ya

[@afinoxi]

Ho ? Instead of running away , you're approaching me ?

[@thelordconstantine1464]

I literally started that part AS I saw your comment! 🤣🤣

[@have_a_good_day420]

I like your comment but I'm not touching it and ruining that 69. YEAH!!! 69!!!

[@have_a_good_day420]

And I just gave you your 669th like. YEAH!!!69!!! 🤜 🤛

[@nicholasfallbrook9810]

I like to imagine that Shad's Dragonborn took over Skyrim himself out of frustration so he could fix these cities' defensive designs.

[@Swiss_femboy]

Dovashad shouted down their Walls to rebuild them stronger… He even reinforced the Thalmor Embassy before kicking them out just for a good brawl.

[@starslayer8390]

I was an imperial and I can personally attest that the bridge ISN'T EVEN IN THE SIEGE! You just... SKIP IT! Like was no one on it or what? That would have been great but apparently the stormcloaks would rather kill you inside the wall cus reasons.

[@SwedishEmpire1700]

Well, you got an invading...well, "army" of 15-20 guys and you vs 15-20 guys and Ulfric, if those defences where up to date, it would have been a short siege since you and your posse would burn by oil in the first trap on the bridge LOL

[@kevinsullivan3448]

Pffft! I would take the fort on the mountain and build trebuchets on the high ground and pound Winsdshit to dust. The Nords are morons when it comes to warfare.

[@theangryaustralian7624]

They didn't think anyone was gonna play imperial

[@0SilentLeopard0]

@@theangryaustralian7624 Huh. That's surprising considering the Imperials are superior in almost every single way other than the fact that they're licking the Thalmor's boots. But that's another story.

[@LadyGameshine]

@@0SilentLeopard0 i think it is all opinion. I personally would follow the imperials more often than not because the Nords are very racist especially towards the beast races. But the Imperials don't show Nord heritage any respect either

[@TheAgamemnon911]

Hands up: Who wants a mod that fixes all the city defenses?

[@animallover372]

Agamemnon 🙋

[@jaydenlobbe7911]

YES!

[@alexdiamond3987]

If this is still an idea fresh in your mind I can do level design/ landscaping all I need is details and what you want done to it

[@wardragon9438]

That would be cool

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

My dude. Man oh man do I love Skyrim's modding community.

[@smeefbeef367]

what do you call an elf made of plastic? Poly-mer

[@zacrigby4426]

Tristan Heath I don't get it..

[@smeefbeef367]

Zac Rigby the elf races in skyrim are called dunmer, altmer, and bosmer.

[@andreasf2216]

Zac Rigby Every Elvenrace ends with -mer. Altmer (Highelfs), Bosmer (Woodelfs), Falmer (Snowelfs)

[@Mateo-sc7lm]

what do you call an elf from a long distance? a farmer

[@HarveyJackOlden]

Tristan Heath 😀

[@silphaer5353]

You should be hired to design cities for Bethesda. Also, you do have to remember that Windhelm is meant to be the oldest city in Tamriel, so defences wouldn't have been as advanced when it was built.

[@veryaggressiveducks830]

It's also damaged from age too also plenty of wars

[@sluggaming4217]

And as far as the flat plane to the west there would have originally been smaller settlements or watchtowers/small fortresses

[@TEGRULZ]

I know it's a year on since this comment, you forgot a second point as well, this is the Fourth Age/Era isn't it? Believe it or not, this is Skyrim at it's worse and most decayed in peace time. If nothing else, you would have to see a major rebuilding effort, but I can't see any modern builder (in their universe,) not saying, well we need to change a whole helluva lot!

[@AlphaGarg]

AND complaining about mountains, in SKYRIM, is pretty dumb. Like, where else would they build the castle other than near a mountain? It's Skyrim, snowy mountain land, otherwise everything would be in the Rift and and Whiterun's plains. And to build it on top of the mountain means it'd be freezing cold, and where there's freezing cold, there's Ice Wraiths. Yuck.

[@Lakita2880]

@@AlphaGarg Case in point, High Hrothgar

[@iamjegger508]

next time do markarth everyone in skyrim says that markarth is very defensive and i want to know if it really is

[@user-ys3jq3uf4p]

IamJegger “safest city in the reach” my arse

[@zekun4741]

@@user-ys3jq3uf4p maybe it's safe when it comes to defending against an enemy siege, not so safe with all them forsworn agents, reachmen, cannibals, criminals, corrupt nobles, the Thalmor and Molag Bal himself taking up residence there

[@starkillersspace5474]

@@user-ys3jq3uf4p it is the safest, it's the only city in the reach lol

[@shadysam7161]

@@starkillersspace5474 inb4 someone claims Karthwasten is a "city"

[@Linguineo]

It's defensible since you'll get lost trying to navigate the wonky inside layout.

[@BlueLighteningGojo]

If your castle can be taken by such a small force of troops....Something is wrong.

[@reapy_s0ul26]

Be afraid, the gods of plot progression have blessed my sword!

[@gerardmagos3608]

i actaully often kill off my own allies and then solo the entire city for fun while doing civil war quests

[@the_devils_jester]

miner johnny1211 ironically the player can simply open the main Gate because the Defenders forgot to lock it.

[@deadmouldytree7290]

I'm making castles in games and using your videos to help make them realistic and they are much more visually appealing and fun now

[@willherondale6367]

susan locktang Awesome what game?

[@HarveyJackOlden]

susan locktang indie?

[@baronvonbeans9887]

Minecraft? Stronghold Crusader? Those are what I use, personally.

[@estevanruiz8735]

susan locktang interesting, got a name yet?

[@JakeCWolf]

Medieval Engineers would be the it place to put those idea into play. Great game.

[@ragewinninethousand4140]

Shad flipping out about gates and crenellations is the best part. 10/10

[@swarnendu2007]

You can see the Shrine of Azura at 04:54.

[@MacCadalso]

By azura by azura!

[@remingtonwright6796]

I'd like to point out that it looks like she's literally overlooking windhelm, watching over it

[@Conwera]

@@MacCadalso it’s the grand champion

[@aronenark8184]

God, Shad. You should become a modder; you would make the BEST castle overhaul mods for video games! Better yet, you keep making great videos! -- I'll try to learn to mod and turn your ideas and constructive criticisms into game improving mods!

[@DatMageDoe]

Or he could work with a modder or two to overhaul the existing defenses so they are more realistic and formidable.

[@reapy_s0ul26]

I definitely wouldn't mind a few full town overhauls by Shad in my game, there aren't enough/any town overhauls that actually change the structure of the town itself (including walls) to make it both more realistic and visually appealing.

[@clothar23]

Any major modification to a city's layout would have to include some major overhauling of the NPCs pathfinding since they already struggle with the vanilla layout as it is.

[@joeysoap827]

Agreed, I hope Bethesda asks Shad for his approval next game

[@user-rw3kw7wx7e]

if the "battle for" quests could be overhauled so the defenders actually take advantage of natural defenses that would also be great.

[@danieltaylor5542]

What does Shad call a dwarf on the gatehouse? A shrimp on the Barbican

[@mikiroony]

I guess Bethesda had already a fortress by the mountain: Whiterun. Although the mountain by Windhelm is fairly inaccessible and it's already protected on the far flank by a fort, Fort Kastav.

[@skbartistry2473]

True that, although I think that Ulfric hates that all fortresses were built by the empire

[@boscxx1447]

SKB Artistry still stations stormcloaks at them tho 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@jamesroper4952]

But it's occupied by evil wizards until you actually start the civil war questline. And just every single fortress in Skyrim. It's in complete ruins, because the majority of the warriors in the province were busy fight in the great war. So there was no one around to maintain these forts. Wow Ulfric really chose I bad time to start a war. Could've waited for the economy to improve a bit so he could afford to fund his army, but no. Instead he starts a war almost immediately after a previous war that pretty bankrupt both the Empire and Skyrim.

[@wisemankugelmemicus1701]

@Matthew Cooper >literally called "The Empire" >has a royal family >has a strict class system >had slaves >clearly modeled after the Romans >communists Gee I hope someone got fired for that blunder

[@wisemankugelmemicus1701]

@Divalvaro I love the Empire because they were the good guys in every other game and because the Stormcloaks have no chance of beating the elves.

[@RabanDarkward]

Many excellent points Shad but i would like to raise one issue with you're evaluation of Windhelm as a Medieval Castle. the Issue is that is in fact not a Medieval castle. I checked on the lore on the Unofficial (so i have taken it with a pinch of salt) elder scrolls pages and it put the construction of Windhelm close to 4000 Years before the events of Skyrim. with this Knowledge would it be more fitting to compare it to fortresses and citadels of the bronze age like Hisarlik (Troy) or Mycenae. Now I know you could argue "Why don't they modernize the structure to fit the defensive technologies of the day?" but you try telling that to Ulfric Stormcloak and not have him fus-ro-da your skull out your arse for cultural blasphemy.

[@Jayzgrouse]

Sounds about right.

[@imdone8243]

It's been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times. The only original part is the hall where ulfric is, which has a different style.

[@natsumenatsume8708]

Too be fair though, even in the Bronze Age these principles were known across many cultures. Look at the hill forts in bronze age Britain and the Maori Pa' and they were often built on the highest local area with winding hillside paths to force the enemy to go on one predetermined route.

[@DukeoftheAges]

Ulfric is young, it could have been modernized by the literal hundreds of lords before him. Also bronze age castles and forts and cities were much more fortified than this too. There's no excuse besides bad world design.

[@LordVader1094]

Except the current Windhelm is not the same as the one made 4000 years before, at one point it was sacked so thoroughly that only the PALACE was left standing. So it was rebuilt a number of times, almost in its entirety at one point.

[@cory6266]

Markarth or Fort Dawnguard next.

[@fiddlove]

Fort Dawnguard has real potential.

[@caolanferryify]

cory6266 Yeah or the vampire castle valikhar (I dunno how to spell it)

[@unorthodox4564]

Castle Volhikar, although I think Fort Dawnguard is a better option.

[@KorGarrot]

caolan ferry It's all good, we know which one you mean. (I think it's Volkihar.

[@cory6266]

Volkhiar is good, but the approach to Dawnguard is BRUTAL with how much coverage the arrow slits on those towers give it. No gatehouse, no drawbridge, but a hail of death every step of the way. One of the towers even lets you shoot at the backs of anyone trying to get through the door. The palisade at the bottom isn't very good, but it would slow attackers down while the tower overlooking it easily kills them all.

[@carlose4314]

Do "Are playmobil toy castles realistic?".

[@kevinsullivan3448]

Moar realistic than video game castles...

[@notatruck2640]

I fuckin loved those as a kid

[@thoticcusprime9309]

@@notatruck2640 ????

[@Casedilla73]

And LEGO ones too.

[@BlackBirdOni]

So, the best protected place in Skyrim is High Hrothgar.

[@gagejohnathan9641]

Quite Literally. Yes. Every other location has some form of issue like the ones discussed in the whiterun, solitude and windhelm videos, High hrothgar is: Near the peak of *the* highest mountain in skyrim. Necessitating the need to walk up the thousand steps. Getting a seige tank up that is absolutely impossible. Even more difficult to take control of due to Most of, if not everyone within high hrothgar haviny some form of knowledge of the Thu'um, no to mention paarthunaxx. Seriously cold on the way up, and the steps wind, and the animals are a major threat to any and all making the pilgrimage.

[@RedDragon-og6ql]

Or skaldafin

[@eldara3]

Obviously. High Hrothgar has it's own dragon atop. What about the college of Winterhold? Turn that bridge into a drawbridge (or really, in event of attack, just blow it up with the help of some of those Master Mages within) and there is *literally* no way for an army to get to it. Not a castle, sure, but High Hrothgar technically isn't either.

[@jerseythedeer5045]

There is a better Windhelm in ESO, it's much bigger and much earlier in time so a lot of the rampards are still in place.

[@arthas640]

it's too bad the better castle is stuck in an inferior game. That's like getting a Ferrari but only being able to drive it on an old Soviet era road so riddled with potholes you can't go above 25mph, and every couple of miles you have to hand out a mirco transaction bribe to be allowed to use the steering wheel.

[@LordVader1094]

@@arthas640 ESO is a great game, though.

[@insertusername7342]

"There is acces to the rampart from the inside!" "You do not give the attackers a means to get up to your walls!" We nords have no use for any walls or defenses, unlike the emperial milk drinkers! No glory in winning a battle with a handicap. Let them come, and let our ancestors watch as we tear their army apart.... Or watch us die with honour and pride! On a serious note love these videos, keep them comming! EDIT: at 17:10, is that an oblivion gate? I also love lore friendly mods!

[@gopher3572]

So Nords are dumbasses who are overly reliant of ancestors who never help them? Sounds right.

[@dionwoollaston5717]

Gopher they were busy helping the dovakin slay alduin

[@peachyjam9440]

I mean.... Ysgramor with his 500 companions conquered the whole Skyrim and made Snow Elves almost extinct

[@LadyGameshine]

@@peachyjam9440 almost? I thought they went extinct? Like, completely?

[@coolchaserz]

@@LadyGameshine in Dawnguard expansion,you actually meet a snow elf in the questline

[@dennis111098]

That's it. I'm rewatching Lord of the Rings now...

[@TaranAlvein]

Shad: It should be big, and it should be thick. Me, to my wife: That's what she said. *Instantaneously afterward* Shad (muttering): That's what she said. The synchronicity of that moment made that way funnier than if the joke had just come from you or me alone. Beautiful comedic timing!

[@jacobmarton1670]

I wanna see Shad build a Castle from scratch in his own image

[@JumalaPlays]

He has many times in 3D programs

[@ilcondottierocartografo6770]

Honorguard

[@WaiGee_]

Well Windhelm isnt a city, but Novigrad (Witcher 3) is, right? riiight? This is my way of asking you to do Novigrad next

[@LukasJampen]

WaiGee or Kaer Trolde both would be really interesting.

[@Berzelmayr]

and Crow's Perch

[@nestorgonzalez2745]

And Beauclair please!

[@yayatistudios]

aaah beauclair is such a beautiful city.... and one from isle the one on the mountain

[@nestorgonzalez2745]

Kaer Trolde maybe? The one of Clan An Craite?

[@samhansen9771]

the horns on the outside of the walls would be a dream come true for attackers. they could hold ladders in place very well.

[@Valmed87]

"It should be big...and it should be thick. That's what SHE said..." That one cracked me up :)))...seems like nobody here noticed it

[@widgetfilms]

Shad. I agree that castle's should be put on top of mountains, but from a game design point, it makes sense not to. The world of Skyrim, is quite small in reality. It's not even close to 100 square miles. If a player could see all of skyrim at once, the illusion would be destroyed. So, putting a castle on a really high place, where you can see the real size of the world (or, what your computer can render at least, which is actually another reason) is a really bad idea. Mountains and forests and other large structure break up the environment.

[@Charizardlison]

obviously a castle should not be on the top of the highest and snowiest mountains, gamedesign- and logicalwise. but the mountain next to windhelm isnt that high or could have made just even smaller. his main concern is that the mountain is just aside. he said it would have been better located on the other side of the river - what, also for the game designers, should have been the obvious solution

[@AustinD_YT]

That's because he was looking at it as if it was made to protect in the real world, not focusing on defending in the game world but rather asking "If this castle was actually made in real life, how effective would it actually be?" and even if you do consider the gameplay reasons, it could still be added to to make it at least mostly defensive. If not on top of a mountain, what about archers or some form of extra walling to defend from enemies above, or if you really wanna play by gameplay reasons, Make the mountain harder to actually scale like more vertical so it would be nearly impossible to even conceive an invader climbing up the mountain to get in.

[@Gutslinger]

I remember how mind blowingly huge the map seemed when it first came out. Lol

[@aussiebloke609]

14:43 Shad (sotto voce): "That's what she said." **spits coffee all over my keyboard**

[@shadiversity]

Ha ha ha, gotcha!

[@miguelleite3510]

Shadiversity make the Telmar Castle from Nárnia it's the telmarines biggest and protected Castle ever build you Will like that castle

[@nirktheman-thingstab-cutter]

Best birthday present, thanks Shad!

[@shadiversity]

Happy birthday!

[@nirktheman-thingstab-cutter]

Thanks! Love this series man, everytime I see a new episode I want to open a new game of Medieval Engineers and build a castle that ISN'T such a failure.

[@Celerott]

I built a castle that's inspired by Windhelm, and I took a lot inspiration from it's bridge, and I made it where it was impossible for anyone on the bridge to get to the defenses. While also making it where you can still reign down death anyone you don't want on the bridge.

[@HearcliffOW]

I've never been more hyped to learn about castles than before watching this video

[@brokenursa9986]

Given that Windhelm is about 5000 years old by the events of Skyrim, I can excuse some of its defensive failures as just not having been invented by the time of the city's construction.

[@MrWolfman229]

Ryan Cauffman also, it was built over snow elf ruins as a giant "SCREW YOU" from Ysgrammor. Not built for practicality.

[@andreasf2216]

Ysgrammors live in a Nutshell: Skrew you elfs

[@hydrogenone4926]

Well to be fair to Ysgrammor, he did get skewed first by the Snow Elves in the "Night of Tears".

[@MrWolfman229]

Hydrogen One Oh yeah, he is totally justified in his hatred of the snow elves. Just stating why Windhelm exists where it does.

[@hydrogenone4926]

Yeah I understand... I guess one the reasons I commented was do to another comment section I looked at saying "The Nords can't help dark elves, they are in state of war", and for some reason that comment has sparked fictional race thing. I mean it's absurd...it's a fictional reality, where all these fictional races have history both good and bad. I am sorry for the rant. On the main topic Windhelm may be old/political statement, but the city should be able to have more upgrades over time. The only reason I can think of is the Nords either didn't have time or didn't have the money to do renovations.

[@ThisRandomGuy3]

Could you consider picking apart the free city of Novigrad next, Shad?

[@1234kalmar]

I would like to endorse that idea!

[@1234kalmar]

Or Crow's perch!!

[@modvind]

RandomMaun yes please

[@Gargboss]

Why would he pick apart a real city? ;P

[@ThisRandomGuy3]

Gargboss why not?

[@Knightfire66]

well the guys living there didnt build those castles. there are centuries old. and it doesnt sound right to rebuild the castle or parts of it when you're in a Civil War with dragons on the loose, an extreamly powerful magician who revived them wanting to kill everyone, vampires wanting to blot out the sun and sweetrolls getting stolen.

[@AustinD_YT]

Don't even need to rebuild really... just add one or two watch towers or even just fix whats been damaged so at least the old defenses can be functional And with so many threats, wouldn't it make sense to increase defenses to avoid as many threats as possible? Not increasing defenses with that many threats around is like saying "go ahead and kill us, we love to die."

[@noteansylvan6051]

I would think castle maintenance would be a priority given the vast amount of threats roaming the lands. Letting the only thing keeping you safe from said threats decay and degrade is asinine.

[@Hrolfgard]

I'd recommend checking out Oblivion's Skingrad city and castle next. They were always my favorite in-game location because of the internal divisions and excellently-positioned caste.

[@tichepotato7992]

Absolutely love you flipping out at the bridge/gatehouse. So much of it makes no sense...

[@essekaye]

It *is* lamp-shaded within in-game literature, but then again so is bloody everything. Suffice it to say, the White-Gold Concordat that the Empire signs before the game hand-waves the lack of proper gates, gatehouses, crenelations, matriculation, and most of the other oddities under a duty to keep the empire open to Aldmeri Dominion control.

[@RickJaeger]

I do want to say that the crap condition of the bridge/gatehouse might be handwaved as run-down. the nonsense of the stairway access is egregious, though. there's no handwaving that.

[@stevie_ily]

I've actually been learning a lot from these videos and I've used these ideas to inspire designs for castles and cities in my stories. And I've even started simulating them in Minecraft. Oh god, even mentioning Minecraft here makes me feel like a child.

[@shadiversity]

Minecraft is awesome!

[@stevie_ily]

Shadiversity yeah, it is a really good tool for creativity. I use it more as a simulation for buildings now more than anything else though. I just don't like mentioning Minecraft on the internet, especially among sophisticated content, because a lot of people will automatically assume you're a child because of the overexposure to younger people.

[@mondocool5670]

Aye man gotta start somewhere, as long as you're using minecraft to design and not make mediocre pewdiepie style videos where you just yell all the time I wouldn't think less of you for it

[@theoddity8375]

Hey, it's fine, there are still some mature people that play it. I still play it every now and then when I want to just play a relaxing game and let creativity flow.

[@sparkybish]

I've been using the information to build snazzy castles in Minecraft too.

[@StevieTurtle37D]

Could you either look at Riften, Collage of Winterhold, Fort Dawnguard, Castle Volkhiar, Raven Rock, and The Forgotten Vale Cathedral from Skyrim or Bruma from Beyond Skyrm: Bruma?

[@Jayzgrouse]

yes

[@lukealtree8795]

the college of winterhold is a college not a castle. neither is raven rock or the cathedral in the foggeten vale

[@lukealtree8795]

forgotten

[@nathenbosher1067]

Just the whole fkn game

[@rebelgaming1.5.14]

@@lukealtree8795 The College could be considered a fortress. It has a good defensible position, being positioned over the Sea Of Ghosts, allowing the College to control sea access around it. The Bridge has good defenses too, being positioned over the gap that formed after the Great Collapse, it could be used by a few soldiers to hold off an entire army. The Fortress is up so high that using a Siege tower is impossible, but they also provides an issue. If the bridge is destroyed, there's no way the College can be supplied, unless they built a port at the bottom of the Midden. The College has bastions, allowing archers to use cover. The Hall of Enlightenment makes a good keep, preventing an assault from any direction but the main gate. The massive holes in the walls unfortunately ruin the defensive capability, as if you hit the pillars with enough Catapult rounds, the entire wall could collapse. The College overall is better than most in the game, but still horrible.

[@tylerneice210]

I just found the glory that is your channel... and thank you for existing. I have learned so much from just this one video, and I look forward to laughing and learning from your others! Keep up the amazing work!

[@brungrisatre5968]

I used to analyze castles like you, then I took an arrow in the knee.

[@jomartyn8789]

But can it withstand a barrage of mighty pommels?

[@zachzimmerman2996]

Nothing can. That is an unrealistic expectation. The only defense against pommels is the cost of the ammo.

[@h3nder]

Jor Martyn What?

[@vikram-6966]

throwing pommels at enemies is stupid

[@GerryBolger]

Lumberjack69 Not if you want to end them rightly.

[@tutes0133]

Nothing can withstand being ended by thy rightly

[@geebster.]

Hey you cant say that the city of Windhelm isnt divided. With the amount of racism going on I would argue it has too many divisions between quarters

[@ThiccboiSalmon]

Ok, it has been years.....but you Sir deserve a clap-a slow one-but still a clap.

[@spiffygonzales5899]

Honestly playing as a Nord in the other elder scrolls game and everyone hating the nords... I loved the amount of hatred the nords gave everyone else in their homeland :)

[@spiffygonzales5899]

@Divalvaro Exactly 😂 Like people talk all day about how racist the stormcloaks are but it's like they don't even remember the previous games.

[@allanon64king10]

@@spiffygonzales5899 racism does not and should not make returned racism acceptable, otherwise it never ends just like how it is right now in real life. It is not justice it is petty vengeance that simply continues the violence. Also if we're talking about karma back on the dark elves, they got absolutely decimated after the events of Morrowind by the argonians that they had enslaved, got devastated in the game Morrowind itself by a magical plague, and finally their homeland was blasted by a massive volcanic eruption.

[@spiffygonzales5899]

@@allanon64king10 So the racism against the Nords was okay in every other game, but the moment the Nords, in their own land, decide to kick out people who have been buttholes to them it's not okay? Nah dude. Skyrim for the Nords.

[@TheCorpusDelicti]

I wonder if the reason most of the video game castles lack high battlements, do not have limited ways to access ramparts, etc. is because they don't want them to block the player's view of the surrounding environments. It feels like the entire aesthetic of Skyrim is to have as many wide open vistas and scenic views of distant objects as possible, so maybe they made the walls short and added redundant ways to access areas to enhance visibility despite making everything less defensively realistic.

[@nathandecrom2409]

im not saying its missing machicolation but its missing machicolation

[@WelsknightGaming]

Yet another amazing castle analysis video.

[@mollof7893]

Hello Wels! :v

[@ryanance9871]

How goes hermitcraft?

[@sketep1117]

Why do I keep finding hermits in comments sections of random videos?! Is this like something KZbin does after you subscribe to a certain channel?

[@Danbearpig]

Oh hey, a Hermit! You must have been here for the same reason I am... learning about old castles in order to build a better one in Minecraft!

[@LDSG_A_Team]

Welsknight watches Shad? Yoooooooooooooooo

[@bogpaddle]

Since Skyrim was designed by TWO CONCEPT ARTISTS, I'm not even surprised at the overall lack of structural integrity with many of the fortresses and castles in the game itself, this issue stems into character and armor design as well, having just two minds working on such a huge game is ridiculous and unrealistic, especially when it appears that they have put little research into what they have placed into the game!

[@gopher3572]

Who cares? It's a fantasy game, they were designed to cool rather than realistic.

[@klakkat]

A lot of people care... but it doesn't necessarily make the game bad. Skyrim does have a reasonably consistent aesthetic, so that's preferable to strict adherence to historical detail. Every piece of fiction is going to be a little unrealistic, and as long as it doesn't break immersion it's fine ("breaks immersion" is a very personal thing, so let's say it's bad if it does it for the majority of the audience, not just some). Inaccuracies can be fine, even a charming part of the setting (e.g. Fallout) but they can seriously break the fun if they cluster too much too quickly, like say, in The Last Jedi. Plus, we never see any siege equipment in game... maybe the fortifications are as good as they need to be, because the attackers suck too. Or the fortifications are built around game mechanics more that real life; in that case the knee-high barrier on the wall actually makes sense as then you can fire over it from the top of the wall, but it still provides some cover, and characters can't do anything with murder holes anyway, so no point including them. Real life tends to be a lot more flexible than any game can be, although the difficulty is usually a lot less forgiving, and the lack of a save feature sucks.

[@johnmanthorpe4640]

It's meant to be unrealistic you myopoic manatee

[@toyotawakawaka1970]

@@johnmanthorpe4640 "Meant?" So the designers deliberately decided to have design flaws did they? It wasn't "meant" you failed abortion, they just didn't think of it because it doesn't have any significance whatsoever on how the game is played

[@johnmanthorpe4640]

@@toyotawakawaka1970 yes they did. If fantasy, especially fantasy video games went all out on realism and got nothing wrong, the game would suck. Cool fantasy stuff that makes sense in the world of that fantasy can be as unrealistic as it wants. Never sacrifice fun for realism.

[@NoxMortem]

As an Austrian i´m glad that you enjoy "Burg Hochosterwitz" so much ^^

[@garnettkaruna8767]

All Elder Scrolls Castles: WHERE BE YOUR BATTLEMENTS

[@antcommander1367]

I don't think all elder scroll castle's suck look at bravil from oblivion.

[@pip1981]

Garnett Karuna i think fort dawnguard isn't that bad considering realistic defences

[@SteveIsHavingMC]

look at fort dawnguard.

[@garnettkaruna8767]

Speaking wise on my gameplay I never got into the Dawnguard DLC, was summarizing several of Shadiversity's videos about Elder Scroll defences, in particular the walls. It might be something interesting if the DLC was designed by a different team who perhaps looked at actual castle defenses. Do you ever defend the castle itself on the walls?

[@SteveIsHavingMC]

Defend it against 2-4 vampires that come ever so often only whenever you exit through the main gate? Yeah, i'm not gonna run up to the ramparts to kill them from there, i just mow them down on the spot. Would be great if they spawned if you went to the top of the castel so you can fire down on them.

[@jellyrolls2765]

I am writing a fantasy series with a lot of medieval cities and castles, and this series has been great for me, because I am very keen on realism (as in, having everything make logical sense unless it is specifically because of fantasy). I hope that someday my world will be represented in some form of visual art and that you can pick apart all the design flaws. That would be great fun :).

[@kevinsullivan3448]

As a cronic fantasy world builder I always try to make the world as realistic as possible. So many game designers are just lazy when it comes to the world they are creating, not really taking their own fantasy or realism into account.

[@Viech54]

You made many videos about castles so far and I like them. I've learned a lot by watching your videos, keep up the good work! I intend to take a closer look at castles in games now that I know all this. Would you consider making a video on how to conquer a castle (medieval style, no fantasy elements involved)? I'm a relatively new subscriber, if you made one and I just didn't find it so far, feel free to ignore this. I'm going to find it someday when looking at all of your videos and what I already watched and didn't watch on your channel. There's still a lot to catch up on, but I'll get it done sooner or later.

[@arviddj1]

Windhelm felt huge ingame

[@Lundalf]

Also regarding the palace, if you look at it from the inside, you can see the ceiling is made from stone... And it's not vaulted but completely flat! :O correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't that be completely unstable at best if even possible to pull off? It must be insanely heavy considering its surface alone.. And that's not even taking into account the stupid wedding cake rooftop. xD

[@jojooffaraway2675]

Oh my god, Shad you are so close to 100k subs! I am really excited for you ^^

[@AmyraCarter]

175k now...

[@urdaddywingnut7820]

218k now.. . Man he's come so far

[@signorUebelst]

I got an idea for you that you might want to consider for one of your future videos. As seen above you already got videos in which you analyse Castles from Fantasy and where you compare them and the general concepts with IRL Castles, but I think what would also make for an interessting would be looking into walled Villages IRL (how they where build, what they had inside them, how they worked in normal day activity and how if they came under attack) and comparing this with Castles and other fortified structures maybe even some fantasy ones. One type in particular, which I think would be interessting would be structures like the Hakka Walled Villages, since they are basically a whole village in one building in such a way as to withstand assault.

[@williamhiegel2756]

The river would be freezing, if I remember correctly there is a ton of ice in that river, and isn’t it a deep river? Just saying it would be very dangerous to cross it

[@anythinggoes1813]

What I have been saying... How the fuck you want to put a heavy ass catapult on that mountain in the first place...

[@LaVidaHermosa]

I was waiting for this! Great video as always Shad!

[@shadiversity]

Thanks mate!

[@14ldolan57]

As long as they have pommels at the ready to end a besieging foe rightly , its pretty realistic.

[@vikram-6966]

stfu

[@14ldolan57]

The pommel meme will never die.

[@IanSumallo]

Ok... This meme is just too farfetched and forced. I like the pommel meme, but not in cases where the TREBUCHET that can launch 100 kilogram stone projectiles over 300 meters using a counterweight is better used.

[@14ldolan57]

Ian Sumallo Holy Shit, did I just encounter a wild meme critic?

[@IanSumallo]

Memes are not just fun and games. They are icons, images that serve as carrier of ideas spread and agreed upon within the meme community. Emphasis on ideas. If the idea signified, e.g. dankness, carried by the meme, e.g. pommels, does not correspond with the CONTEXT (this is another meme, but since this might be more obscure, I'd mention that the context meme is prevalent among the fans of scholagladiatoria/Matt Easton), the meme can be considered to be meaning, out of place, and is therefore, forced. Of course, some memes are immune to criticisms of context, and even in some cases, thrive and is given greater meaning when it is completely irrelevant. Some choice examples would be the memes "Thanks Obama", "Potato". Of course, it is actually quite inaccurate that these memes are completely devoid of context as the idea alone of "being out of context" is in itself, if given the terminology of mathematical sets, an inverse of the set "context". And yes, you just wasted your time reading this wall of text. I'm not saying that this wall of text does not have meaning, because it does. It is however meaningless should we use the term meaningless in the sense that the information placed here has no practical use (e.g. gender studies, and the study of apache helicopters).

[@Elfyja]

Its really interesting to see your videos on this with a historical point of view and architectural ! How it should be to best utilize a good defense. Also fun because i can sit here from my perspective and see why they did those things from a design perspective. Ive studied a couple of years in 3D Game design and can see the environment artist and or level designers thoughts behind this how the lines align, and keeping interest, extra detail for instance by the door etc. (not defending all of this design though)However currently studying concept art where we are supposed to keep in mind believe-ability and research in our designs much more compared to environment and level design (depending on the type of game or medium of course). I think the environment artists just went ham on a lot of cities, with some brief research but not really in depth. Its Design over function :D

[@mr3011]

that was really entertaining and informative. you just earned yourself a sub, good sir :D

[@samuelleask1132]

But what about dragons? #WHATABOUTDRAGONS

[@paweandonisgawralidisdobrz2522]

#WHATABOUTDRAGONS

[@arthas640]

Instead of defeating the dragons, just enslave them to your will, raise them from the dead, and send them back at your enemies. Worked for me.

[@ScotchLizardman]

has any one else noticed almost all of the forts and cities in the Elder Scrolls are in terrible (not able to hold off a siege) condition, even if there inhabited by workers who could easily upkeep it.

[@TheWampam]

Yes, but it's made by the same developers that think that 200 years after a nuclear war nobody knows how to use brooms. ;)

[@dr.piggyhoneybear7952]

Awesome video! I think that one reason that most of Skyrim’s ‘castles’ are build at the bottom of mountains is because in game they’re built and designed to be a city. But thanks for the video targeting it as a castle, bc it’s much easier to compare it to real life if you have the sizes the same ♥️♥️

[@Robert-ry6xe]

4:50 But how would you build on the mountain? It has no flat points.

[@kevinsullivan3448]

Where do you think all the stone for the walls came from? You cut the top of the mountain off like you do in a quarry. Then you have a nice flatish surface to build on and then you import some soil to grow your lawn so your horses aren't on stone all the time.

[@Poldovico]

Get a crew of horseback builders.

[@arthas640]

Wait for a volcanic eruption and when the top of the mountain get's blown off you'll have a handy flatish area to build on! You just have to be patient for a few days or maybe a few centuries.

[@Ninjaananas]

@@arthas640 And if it is not a volcano?

[@Momlovebabycharline]

@@arthas640 morrowind? Red mountain?

[@Tobias11ize]

can you make a video on how you think a dwarf fortress would be made? like how to make an effective "castle" undercround? for example in the hobbit the dwarfs just had their first wall as defence but wouldnt they have several layers of walls? i think it would be interesting to see how you would imagine such a structure. where they would have full control over where the enemy can go.

[@iivin4233]

Consider NORAD. You will learn that Dwarves are the one fantasy species that will survive nuclear war.

[@Dynvali]

@@iivin4233 And yet in the Elder Scrolls universe the entire race mysteriously vanished without a trace.

[@lulzdragon7339]

@@Dynvali Don't play around with Tonal Architecture, kids.

[@user-ys3jq3uf4p]

Who needs machicolations when you have steam powered murder machines

[@dodgechance4564]

i feel like a lot of the castles in older video games like skyrim were limited with the technology of the time in being able to make a realist depiction. That and the game developers probably didn't know too much about castles or medieval cities to begin with.

[@Gool349]

really nice Review! :D I would love if you could do Oxenfurt from the Witcher 3 since I think it might actually be a very very well defendable castle

[@jhay3966]

"You start so welll... and it goes off.. and everything's ruined" Bethesda in a nutshell

[@semiruu]

Nooo way! Today I was strolling through Windhelm and wondered if Shad will ever make a video about Windhelms defences as its quite an impressive city and would make for another great video in the series, aaaand indeed he just uploaded it, yay! :)

[@isaacshowme2708]

Soooooo what did you think?

[@semiruu]

You mean what I think of the Video, or the city/castle? If the Video, its excellent as always, if the you meant the city, well its still one of the better ones in Skyrim in my opinion :)

[@isaacshowme2708]

because it seemed like you liked the city I was curious, that's all.

[@lytherael2309]

Ysgramor wasn't very good at building castles then. Should've stuck to killing snow elves.

[@reapy_s0ul26]

Keep in mind that the only thing currently standing in Windhelm that was built by Ysgramor is the palace, the rest of the city has been destroyed and rebuilt several times, that's why the architecture is so different.

[@lytherael2309]

Yeah but the palace has tons of flaws too as was said in the video.

[@Cole.Ignios]

You know, watching all of these has made me interested in tackling an analysis of the defences of the walled cities from the eragon series (could even talk about how they were acually sieged and what both sides could have done better, as well)

[@mikestanmore2614]

Two o of the best "primers" I've found on castle design are: 1) Fortress, by Ian V. Hogg (St Martin's Press) and 2) The Compendium of Weapons, Armour & Castles by Matthew Balent (Palladium).

[@RexorInvicta]

Do Kaer Trolde from the Witcher 3!

[@CarnalKid]

I'm not familiar with any of the games these places are from, but I still quite like this series. Thanks for making another one, man.

[@liftlash98]

Play it! Fork out the money for the game or even the console if you don't have it, I can promise you it's worth every penny.

[@runawaysmudger7181]

I think that empty corner in the back is where the arena which was cut from the game supposed to be because from the looks of the terrain it seems like they just scooped something out and lazily patched it over with some textures and that area is right next to the castle's prison and barracks as well

[@matthewkuchinski1769]

Very good video. I also want to point out that the mountain could also be used as an artillery platform for the attackers. This would give any besieger a huge opportunity to harass and damage the defenders' prospects of holding out.

[@AhriOfAstora]

As aspiring game designer this is voice of reaosn I am going to listen painting my landscapes, thank you i love functional stuff!

[@infinitedeathloop5517]

How has you game design career been going?

[@maxencepenel6202]

@@infinitedeathloop5517 don't worry for her bro she's unemployed. You can't be game designer and having a job that's the rule.

[@infinitedeathloop5517]

@@maxencepenel6202 you aren't funny

[@maxencepenel6202]

@@infinitedeathloop5517 simp

[@infinitedeathloop5517]

@@maxencepenel6202 you keep proving my point

[@Charter23682]

Now that i think of the Witcher and Kaer Morhen, it would definitely be interesting to have a video about Kaer Trolde :D

[@modvind]

Rexxaris638 yes!

[@meris8486]

Good idea

[@paweandonisgawralidisdobrz2522]

I dont think it would be possible to besiege it

[@jesternario]

Also of not about the bridge gatehouse, there is an underbridge section that is used as a break-room for the guards when off duty.

[@konsg598]

Thank you for the video, very insightful, would love to hear your opinion on Mount & Blade castles! :D

[@yahiahammadi8076]

Damnit shad stop roasting Skyrim it can't survive your onslaught. Great video mate. Keep doing what you are doing.

[@PhillipPSee]

Excelent! Funny and didactic, game companies should hire you for design advises. Cheers

[@morrigankasa570]

Considering how old the city is maybe they used to have gates but they fell into disrepair/deterioration, same for the condition of the walls. Also walking through the castle/city the streets are rather narrow and a bit of a maze, just half a dozen forming a shield wall can block the way.

[@adrian29811]

if you're wondering were you heard the background music it's used in legacy of the dragonborn

[@1234kalmar]

:D After that Intro I swear I'd buy a t-shirt if i had the spare cash :D CAAASTLES!

[@shadiversity]

BECAUSE CASTLES ARE AWESOME!

[@sugoistalin7809]

Curious to see if you'll be doing Riften or Fort Dawnguard...

[@kriseriksen7706]

Riften has horrible defenses

[@sugoistalin7809]

Oh of course it does, still want to see his take on it.

[@ogaogaboogamba]

Not to mention, any attacker could simply just bribe the guards outside for entry.

[@ANGRYGREEKMANYO]

Spam Mohan LOL!!!!

[@GarlicPudding]

Love this series!

[@derskalde4973]

Just had this thought while watching: one of the schools of magic in Skyrim _is_ Illusion, so you _could_ make some of the problems work with in-game aestetics. Like, the absence of arrow slits and such in the Walls. They look exactly like they do in the game, but there is an Illusion cast on the Walls, that makes them something like a one way mirror, concealing those battlements that are there from the outside. So you have perfectly usable, normal arrow slits in the Walls, but attackers can't see them, other than that there come arrows out of the wall at certain points.

[@Sheol02]

Shad, could you please pick apart witcher's castles/cities, like Kaer Trolde, Novigrad, Boclear, Crows Perch? You really didn't do justice to the witcher, looking on Kaer Morhen alone. It's an ancient, "primitive" castle, hence why walls so thin etc.

[@Sheol02]

Like really, all those other places have such a massive potential.

[@xXSASxSTORMXx]

Sheol_IK beauclair* ;)

[@brennangum6236]

Beuclair is a palace... but yes please do crows perch and the castles on skellige

[@Darwyn4321]

So, when's the SHIELDS! and ARMOR! shirts coming out? Seriously, I want to buy them. I already got the SWORDS! shirt and I just ordered the CASTLES! shirt.

[@AstralS7orm]

The real ARMOR! shirt is a riveted mail shirt.

[@SwedishEmpire1700]

And, the area infront of that bridge-gatehouse that goes into the entryway slopes up, making it perfect trebuchet placements to bombard the castle village, i think the game also does this when you get to the "invade Windhelm" part of the civil war.

[@xNobodyOfConsequenceX]

"Why didn't they build it on top of the mountain?" BECAUSE OF THE FUCKING DRAGON MOUND. One does not simply build a city on top of a dragon's burial mound.

[@Cj-xt6tv]

Damn bro chill. Any other way still valid point. They built it right next to a dragon mound. It still sucks and Bethesda is trash

[@stupidlittlenugget12]

I'm sure someone else has said this by now, but a Skyrim mod needs to be made to fix the things you talk about in your videos. P.S. I love you videos, you are the best, and CASTLES ARE AWESOME!

[@blyat_horse156]

It seems the people of Skyrim wish to rely on pike walls to defend their cities. Pikes that arent in the game Damnit Bethesda....

[@Stardweller1]

Yeah, I've wondered myself why Tamriel seems oddly lacking in anything that even resembles spears (except for the one used by the rieklings).

[@wisemankugelmemicus1701]

@@Stardweller1 Streamlining gameplay. Spears used to be in the series before Oblivion.

[@USSEnterpriseA1701]

@@wisemankugelmemicus1701 At least there are ways to (sort of) add them back with mods. I wonder how long it'll be before someone makes a 'complete Shadification' mod for either the original game or the SE re-release version. That would be interesting to see, and I'd bet gaming computers are pretty much at the point where they could handle the graphical challenges that would include, which makes the SE a better candidate, as it has improvements to the allowable amount of usable RAM, among other modernizations.

[@joethesheep4675]

07:16 - its not only ladders and siegetowers. The Water from here to the docks is just kneehigh if i remember correctly... so one could just walk into the docks, even in platearmor.

[@ninawernick6501]

Never really thought of how vulnerable that path up to the 'gatehouse' ramparts really makes the entry way... which is weird, since that pathway up to the gatehouse 'walls' was well used by myself when fighting a siege against Windhelp-needed... I ran up (well, directed my character up, but you get the point) and rained down punishment on the poor Windhelm guards. Really enjoyed this, thank you.

[@blackphillip5757]

But how about the goats? How realistic are they? (Do they like salt, balancing on stuff, etc) I imagine they would be a very furry breed of goats. I give this video 2/10 goats, not touching on the density of goat fur is a no-no. I liked that promotion part in which you yelled "castles!" Although i would improve it by replacing it with "Goats!", it would improve your rating by at least two goats. Have a nice day.

[@willherondale6367]

Goats are Great wut

[@Warden_Vtel]

Goats are Great What :o

[@shannonstrobel6727]

I attack your castle with goats!

[@reapy_s0ul26]

Fool! You can't attack a castle with goats if the castle itself is made out of goats!

[@SonsOfLorgar]

goats make good eating for big cats and hillmen of the vale in Westeros XD And dragons in Essos :P

[@rinflame44]

Hi Shad, what about a Castles shirt that includes the descriptions of various parts of a historically accurate castle like in your video? It would not only showcase that Castles are awesome and you know they are awesome but also that you know about castles and WHY they are awesome :)

[@yogsothoth7594]

As will solitude the a good fix for this would be a sister fort. It doesn't need to be much due to its inaccessible location, something like one of the little Roman mile forts would do. As long as you have plenty of water you could set up a pulley system to move food up from the city making it very difficult to take. No only does that let you hold the slopes above the city but if you put some bolt throwers and ballisters up there you could deal with flying attackers very easily and fire down at enemies who have breached the first layer of the gates.

[@JesseJames_46]

Hey man, love your videos. Can you do a defensive review of the reiksburg castle at Cochem, Germany??