Where Do Skyrim's Rivers Come From?

#skyrim #hyrdology
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[@any_austin]

I started playing Fallout 3 for the first time. It’s good.

[@omara.3964]

it's mid compared to 4 & NV

[@any_austin]

@@omara.3964I don’t believe in comparisons

[@palibakufun]

@@any_austin He's wrong anyways, at least about 4.

[@anniebananie2746]

If there was ever a person to talk to about Fallout in general, it's me and/or Eden lmao. Eden more for NV and F3 since I haven't finished the games, me for F4 and the series lore in general because I'm obsessed with it all lol

[@kaiserruhsam]

ಠ_ಠ

[@lswan1487]

Somewhere out there, an environment artist is weeping for joy that someone took an interest in all the little streams & tributaries they designed.

[@trueKorvus]

And embarrassed by their spurt.

[@NopeNothingD9]

@@trueKorvusthe spurt is completely accurate to real life it’s a fast flowing water breaking on a rock of course there’s going to be white foam

[@insomniac639]

I think thats what makes this stuff so interesting. Somebody spent some ungodly amount of time planning and building all this, just for 99.9% of players to walk past without ever thinking about it.

[@Concord003]

Chances are, that environment artist doesn't know this video exists... :( But we could summon the power of the internet people to find that specific environment artist and send the video to them! We could... But I'm too tired tonight

[@connynordling1788]

​@@insomniac639Just like in our "real life"

[@RBarn2000]

"let's find the source"- immediately heads downstream

[@TRVPHAUS]

that supposed to be a joke?

[@younggriff4703]

@@TRVPHAUS i don't know, is it? guess we'll never know

[@hannahjones5363]

@@TRVPHAUS probably because going upstream would find the source, going down stream you would find where it ends.

[@EliKat94]

​@@TRVPHAUS Upstream would be source point downstream would be ending point.

[@DrClownPhD]

@@garrettthethief9118 Pretty sure he also said he wants to find where the river actually ends

[@blakdeth]

The reason I find this kinda stuff interesting is because someone made it. Skyrim was a mix of generated and handmade landscapes. And it's a pretty safe assumption that someone on the land sculpting team was in charge of making rivers make sense. So it's interesting to see how far someone's design will take that. How far until they think nobody will pay attention so they stop worrying about it. They didn't model holes in the mountains so clearly they didn't think people would examine them too closely, and only see them from a distance. Those areas in video games always intrigue me. The very edge of the designers' imagination.

[@roercula8425]

I followed the salmons to their breeding grounds. One day i saw them jumping up the waterfall which they only do irl when they return to where they came from. So i decided to follow them.

[@hdns4]

I'd say it's less the "edge of the designer's imaginations" and more the "edge of detail justifying costs." It's not like the designers ran out of brain juice at the last second and couldn't comprehend the idea of creating a hole in the mountain for the water to flow out of. They probably brought it up, in fact, and just got told no.

[@aki-senkinn]

@@hdns4 also this game is relatively old, you didn't want to spam extra geometry without reason. A few holes in the mountains alone are not an issue whatsoever, but in reality almost everything has a few simplifications like that, which adds up a ton when you are rendering this much environment.

[@drifter402]

I think your attitude is wrong. It's a fantasy game where anything can be hand crafted. Your assumption is that 'making sense' was the goal when it probably wasn't at all.

[@blakdeth]

@@drifter402 considering how far he had to travel before the logic of the river broke, I'd say it's very reasonable to assume they put effort into making the rivers make sense. And why wouldn't you? Even in a fantasy world you don't want to ignore realism completely and physics. That would break immersion.

[@moonkenzie]

Someone made a mod to create a source at Ivarstead and used this video as their inspiration. You're changing lives my dude

[@brendo1143]

What is name of mod. I dont need sleep, i need answers

[@SpoopySquid]

Commenting because I too need answers

[@noalaor5714]

I need the mod name, i require it

[@Overcrook65]

@@brendo1143 It's just "Ivarstead Source"

[@ElysetheEevee]

That's actually really cool. I wonder if they chose the location based on a gut feeling or if they actually did research to see if that's feasibly be a good source, geographically, for it.

[@Matt_M_again]

As someone who models groundwater flow for a living, this is the best meal you've ever prepared.

[@any_austin]

fact check me I want to learn more about

[@ASTR0Dragon95]

Anyway Whiterun is on top of an artesian well? Could bring water to the surface without pumping, naturally flowing so they put a city in that spot since it had a water source.

[@FuzzyPanda962]

@@ASTR0Dragon95probably why Jorrvaskr was built there. It’s the oldest human settlement/building in Skyrim iirc

[@michael6880]

​​@@FuzzyPanda962it ain't but it's one of the oldest still standing and lived in. Jorrvaskr came to be after the Nedes had settled, founded saarthal and got " night of tears"d by the snow elves. Fled back to back to Atmora and returned with 500 big angry boys and girls to genocide them in return. Settled at where jorrvaskr is now because the skyforge was already there and the snow elves seemed to avoid it like the plague because of whatever old magic lives there so it was a suitable frontier home base for the companions

[@raph3699]

As a guy who doesn’t do that. It was a very good meal

[@GavinSpace]

you know we’re deprived of a new elder scrolls title when we’re trying to decipher where water comes from

[@zefile]

no, this is just what this channel does and it's great.

[@suturesunder3465]

Hate to say it but after Starfield I don't think the next TES game is going to be worth looking for water sources in a decade later.

[@Flutterpie132]

Nah, this is just what us neurodivergent weirdos are into. This woulda been equally interesting to me in 2011 too

[@GavinSpace]

@@zefile yea i was just joking i love this type of content

[@balloonedraccoon2503]

I'll take what I can get

[@D34DParadise]

As I have gotten older I have realised that playing skyrim for the first time was one of the greatest experiences of my life

[@LayneBenofsky]

I was solidly an adult when it came out, and I still agree. It was a phenomenal game experience!

[@stevenwade5923]

100%

[@dwellner502]

Agreed for sure. I haven’t played it in a few years. I think I’ll download some mods and start a new run through

[@TheDreadedAssassin]

Whiterun: _How does it feel to have our power sources interlinked?_ *Interlinked.* Ivarstead: *I N T E R L I N K E D .*

[@girinori]

I also thought the same think lmao

[@megancress1384]

I love the idea of a forest ranger mapping the local waterflow and getting interrupted by a dragon to which they sigh and slay it with the same enthuasithsm of moving a stubborn duck out of the way of their car

[@squiddyowlbairn1028]

It really is though. I'm a field ecologist and this ramble through Skyrim really reminded me of some of my field trips, if we replace the dragon with a giant spider/snake/feral pig and rather than killing it, I have to wait for it to move along.

[@bananaboy8416]

I laughed out loud at that part for the exact same reason.

[@ErbBetaPatched]

If Skyrim was real life the government would make dragons a protected species and killing them a felony so you'd just have to stand around and grumble until it left of its own accord

[@andrek6920]

@@ErbBetaPatched Nah, farmers would slaughter most of the dragons, the gov would pay you to slaughter some more, and then theres like 10 dragons left and ecosystems relying on them are collapsing so dragons need to be protected and reintroduced.

[@collin4555]

You little dragons are really trying my patience! ...oh but you're so cute

[@ahaetulla]

Chuckled heartily at the idea of the dragonborn taking an intense interest in river cartography and having to look up from water saying "Ugh. God dammit" to kill a whole dragon before staring back down and pondering the weird videogame river split.

[@Eidako]

Not that far removed from real-world science. Nowadays the dragon is having to teach undergraduate classes, dealing with hundreds of students who want an A despite not handing in one assignment and a top-heavy administration that's deeply concerned there are slightly more white men than black women in the department.

[@thatguy8711]

​@@EidakoJust kill the dragom and put him out of his misery

[@AyaneFukumi]

​@@EidakoJesse what the fuck are you talking about

[@awarmmilkandcookies]

​@@Eidako Alright Grandpa, back to bed with you

[@kylegonewild]

@@Eidako Source: I made it the fuck up

[@colinbarnes705]

"I'm still dealing with object permanence on an emotional level" Same. I find it really calming to go on Maps, find a new place, and then drive there to see that it actually exists. Anybody else?

[@GeoNebula]

I totally relate to this! It's an amazing feeling to see a place in real life that you've only ever seen online.

[@nickz4993]

That satisfaction of exploring places that you've always seen from a distance or passed by before is so addicting lol. Sometimes I go online just to see pics inside buildings for no reason other than curiosity

[@---wq9xp]

No I live in a shitty area :( I do however like driving past places then later seeing what they are or where they lead to on Google maps

[@SvelaPrisera]

I think an additional possible reason why you found this interesting to do is because it's a small little game you've made out of it. You set a goal for the game, with various rules, and along the way to the finish line you found a multitude of interesting pieces of information, such as the underground rivers becoming spontaneous waterfalls. There is also the side factor of just being able to enjoy the scenery in a leisurely pace. You're not off to save (or doom) the world. You're just on a little hike, and sometimes that in itself is fun. Sometimes. Anyways, 'twas fun for me to watch, so thank you for the video! :D

[@AutoAndChill]

We used to call this "emergent gameplay"

[@RylixBlizzai]

this video makes me feel so valid for having once spent several hours drawing up a detailed map of routes and sources for a fictional river network in my own fictional world

[@any_austin]

People make fun of stuff like this but without people like you fiction wouldn’t be nearly as good as it is

[@someasiandude4797]

@any_austin pure concentrated facts

[@Dragonwarrior125]

It really is something else to spend dozens of hours for worldbuilding things like that. Reminds me of how all the time I've spent playing colony sims makes me consider a LOT of what has to fit into a given city, town, or self-sufficent fort in my DnD campaign.

[@worromot]

This is actually quite important since civilization is often built near running bodies of water and can shape the entire design for settlements and cities.

[@tameless2494]

I love exploring in video games: tugging at the seams until the facade of simulation falls away and the structure of the underlying game appears is just so much fun. I hope someday to make a game that drives people to analyze it in the same way.

[@jesselindsey9760]

"The game just admits that it can't justify everything and sometimes it just has to make a big river and that's just the way it goes" is the most real, adult thing I've ever heard in my life.

[@steveng6721]

gasp, a game helmed by todd howard just saying "it just works" instead of actually thinking?

[@rr-zb3rh]

@@steveng6721 my god a game being a game. horrible business

[@Dan_Kanerva]

@@rr-zb3rh also try to ignore Todd Howard shenanigans why don't you?

[@hundvd_7]

​@@rr-zb3rh"making up bullshit" is not "being a game" There are _plenty_ that can believably justify such basic features. Even some older TES did a good job.

[@rr-zb3rh]

@@hundvd_7 man its a river

[@HeldLikeAgrudge]

With so many KZbinrs who go so in depth into a subject until they have encapsulated the entire matter within one package leaving nothing left to be explored it’s really nice that you gave us the motivation to find out more by ourselves!

[@JB52520]

When I found that spot where the river comes from no where and splits in two directions, I assumed there was a massive cave system feeding it from high in the mountains. It's just fun to imagine that kind of thing. Also the wide creek makes sense if you assume the ripples are more from wind than water flow.

[@lukesites2457]

A dragon attack being little more than a nuisance to our hydrologist dovakin had me stitches

[@kitsunekaze93]

*shoves dragon carcass away* look at this waterfall! *tosses aside ancient treasure* wow, this river sure is long!

[@neonxeno2]

It had ye stitches, did it lad?

[@ooooneeee]

IKR, silly dragons smh

[@andrewwelch5302]

You know this channel is for you when you've genuinely asked yourself this question in Fantasy titles.

[@kyndramb7050]

I have followed the rivers and tributaries before.

[@aamu3]

YEP

[@VeronicaSipe]

Only Austin is brave enough to feed the masses hungry for tedious video game minutiae.

[@youmukonpaku3168]

then you play Far Cry 2, look at the map once, and immediately say "this is not how water works, Ubisoft"

[@JokerFace090]

The channels for me would of made this into a 1 hour video and included a video call with an expert about rivers. This was a great idea with very lackluster content.

[@johannesopsahl]

water is often thought of as either moving (ie rivers, streams) or stationary (lakes, ocean). however, water works on a spectrum from stationarymoving. When the smaller river originating in Ivarsted suddenly became wide without any additional streams feeding in, its because the geometry of that area needed water to pool up in excess before it could spill over and continue flowing. Essentially, there is a river flowing on top of a small lake or pond.

[@gnbman]

I think what intrigues me about this concept is that video games provide small scale geography and other related fields that anyone can follow and analyze.

[@Wildoutness]

7:49 As an avid paddle boarder, I can tell you that this is also found in nature. I have been paddling upstream and then came across a second current pushing in the opposite direction. A spring boil is responsible.

[@rafaxd8178]

Orinoco river is an example

[@ChimaraJ]

Interesting! Given Ivarstead’s proximity to the volcanic tundra of Eastmarch maybe that could be a viable in-universe explanation for it?

[@At0mix]

@@ChimaraJ Love the amount of effort we put into making dev laziness make sense

[@Earthstar_Review]

​@@At0mixit can be so hard to stop before getting into that mindset and acknowledge whether or not the designers put thought into why some detail is the way it is. I certainly didn't know about spring boils.

[@vyrkolach5546]

@@ChimaraJ yes. I was actually dissapointed at that part of the video. Nature actually has real double path rivers.If it's made by laziness its still okay but these rivers exist. Current can come under the river too.

[@Number8Entertainment]

I feel the same way with rivers/creeks in real life. Like, I've always had thin innate desire to follow them either all the way up or all the way down. It might just be a combination of the love of nature, and a primal urge to explore. I'm really not sure though. I'm glad someone else has this feeling.

[@any_austin]

10000000%

[@dasutin]

There's a great series of videos by Ed Pratt where he follows a river he used to play on as a kid from source to sea. I think it might be a universal part of the human experience to want to know where things begin and end.

[@ImpsDelight]

​@@dasutin Or the one where a guy found the source of the Thames.

[@stevensmith1031]

I like to spend my time on Google maps following local creeks and rivers to their sources

[@ImpsDelight]

@@stevensmith1031 I've done this with the Nile!

[@bigbrownhouse6999]

To me it’s interesting bc Skyrim sells the illusion of a real landscape with beautiful rivers, and it’s fun knowing the parts where the illusion breaks down. It’s like knowing how a magic trick is done behind the scenes.

[@RoboterHund87]

Thank you for making this video. I have been thinking about following Skyrim rivers from end to beginning for a long time, but never had the spare time to actually do it. This video scratched that itch

[@fantomflasch2289]

It's mentioned as a "bug" in the UESP, but based on the drawing of the classic foldout map of Skyrim, the river in the Rift seems like it was supposed to flow from the lake next to Riften to the lake by Ivarstead, then down the big waterfalls. It looks like the environmental devs accidentally made it flow the wrong way, which is why it has that weird nonsense spawning point next to Ivarstead. I wonder if any dedicated hydrologist modder created a mod just to fix that...

[@orangesilver8]

I checked that map and it doesn't have the river. Ivarstead is just no on a river on the paper map of Skyrim.

[@fantomflasch2289]

@@orangesilver8 I was talking about the Treva River on the paper map flowing the wrong way. The water next to Ivarstead is just supposed to be part of Lake Geir but they turned it into a weird river fork because they wanted a flowing waterway through the lumbermill.

[@trollisourbriteeggs6282]

there's a mod for one of the streams attached to lake illinalta, "half moon creek"

[@_Debu]

There are multiple mods that fix this issue, there are not hard to find

[@tyranmcgrath6871]

​@@_Debulink us

[@freelancepear87kakkoka11]

skyrim's mountains are filled with caves, tombs, temples and entire cities carved into the rock and they have underground rivers and lakes that could act as a source of water for the tributaries.

[@rareoddish]

This 100%, you can see some of the source of the Riverwood tributary inside the boss chamber of Bleak Falls Barrow. Thus the name, which I think most people would sort of skim over lmao. There's a really cool video on YT about the realism of Skyrim's ore generation as well, Bethesda are nothing if not good world builders

[@spejic1]

Blackreach water flows way down to Even Blacker Reach so none of the world's water comes from it. The question is does Blackreach's water come from the world? I think I'm going to try to find out.

[@JRR-kc2pv]

@@spejic1oh and by the way if you could survey the mountains to determine where the tectonic plates are in Skyrim and survey the agriculture to see if Skyrim could become self sufficient that could be great the government needs your help 😂

[@spejic1]

Looks to me like the Blackreach source is a series of waterfalls that come from under the mountains west of the Wayward Pass. There's no lake or river here, but there is lots of snow so it makes sense that melt from this comes down to Blackreach.

[@spejic1]

@@JRR-kc2pv I think that's Any Austin's job. Don't want to take away his reason for living.

[@celarts5752]

Videos like this have convinced me to really put a lot of thought into even the small minutiae of my projects, like making sure water sources make sense and such

[@mhoop1]

Summit Lake in Akron, Ohio 1/2 of the lake flows to Lake Erie watershed The other 1/2 flows to the Ohio River watershed The lake is right on the separation point, so, seeing the river go in two directions isn't imaginary, I guess?

[@SomeoneYouDontKnowOfficial]

The water from Whiterun actually isn't sewage funny enough! You'd think that from looking at it but in one of the books you can find in game, I believe it was in "King Olaf One-Eye's Verse" that you get for a Bard's College quest. But it says that part of the reason why the Companions originally set up shop where they did (in addition to it being where the Skyforge was built) was because of a natural spring residing at the top of the little mountain that provided a good place to recover after fights. It was said to posses healing properties which is why the Eldergleam cut was later planted where the magical spring flowed to as normal water wasn't able to support earlier attempts to plant cuts from the Eldergleam. That's also why the temple with the healers was constructed right next to the Eldergleam and the magical steam, so they could harness the alleged healing properties of the stream. Eventually King Olaf One-Eye created a private bathing area in the lower parts of Dragonsreach for himself, his family, his court, and his most esteemed guests, but he also made sure when it was constructed that the spring was still able to flow to the rest of the city to show respect to the Companions and obviously not harbor any bad blood between them and whatever Jarl would reside there, since the Companions are a very important historic part of Whiterun and it would be a great shame to disrespect them. The skeleton that's under the bridge at Dragonsreach is actually much older than you would expect but its decomposition has allegedly been halted by the restorative properties of the spring! So yeah, the water that you marked as sewage is actually a natural spring alleged to have mystical healing properties and not entirely sewage! (though there is probably some sewage) Sadly they didn't actually create the spring bath house as a place you could go in Skryim, I wish you could that would be really cool to see. At least I could imagine that being the case in an Elder Scrolls game, I actually made all of that up, but it was pretty believable eh? Bethesda feel free to hire me for your writing team

[@any_austin]

You got me I almost made fun of you for being a Skyrim nerd

[@SomeoneYouDontKnowOfficial]

@@any_austin Coming from you that would have meant a lot haha

[@kevinturner7509]

Yep. It's a spring that feeds into this video's main river, which is called White River, hence the settlement built atop the spring is called "Whiterun."

[@SomeoneYouDontKnowOfficial]

@@kevinturner7509 I'm glad I'm not the only one who knew about the White Spring!

[@lorizeppelina2286]

I remember that lore from somewhere. Like I heard it secondhand from the old folks table at Thanksgiving or something.

[@devinsamuel3612]

Austin: "Does anything else feed into this lake? Well the only way to find that out is-" Me, trained like Pavlov's dogs: "A direct survey? 😮"

[@879PC]

Same here man, same here

[@ravaxander4492]

I like Stormcloaks and I don't like imperial legion fanboys. In the Skyrim Civil War, the Stormcloaks are right and the Imperial Legion is wrong, and the Stormcloaks are better than imperial legion. Ulfric Stormcloak is hero and good character. General tullius is idiot and villain.

[@krakios3950]

Dude SAME

[@acdcljb]

@@ravaxander4492 what

[@reedfrombigisland]

@@ravaxander4492Skyrim belongs to the Empire!

[@dameanvil]

0:00 🎮 Starting in the digital world of Skyrim, exploring the origin and flow of a river. 1:01 🌊 Discovering a creek and waterfall feeding into the river in Riverwood. 1:18 🏞 Water generation from a mountain, explained by real-world concepts like groundwater seepage and snowmelt. 2:23 📈 Diagramming the river's flow and its tributaries for better understanding. 3:06 🚧 Finding a man-made creek in Whiterun, sourced from the city's drainage system. 4:00 📉 Observing elevation descent as the river continues, indicating realistic gravity effects. 4:23 🌲 Discovering another large river tributary with a difficult backtrack to its source. 6:00 🚶‍♂ Long hike revealing another generating waterfall and leading to the town of Ivarstead. 6:51 🔄 Noting the interconnection of rivers powering mills in different locations, demonstrating the game's attempt at realism. 7:10 💡 Identifying a point where the game reveals its nature as a digital construct. 9:00 🌨 Finding another river joining the main river at Windhelm, originating from snowmelt in surrounding mountains. 9:56 🗺 Following the river to its delta and eventually the sea, showing the end of its journey. 11:18 🌅 Exploring the start of the river near Riverwood, concluding it begins from a lake with no additional feeders. 12:00 🔍 Encouraging viewers to explore and find new paths in Skyrim, enhancing the game's replay value.

[@Altaku84]

Whiterun's runoff river may not necessarily be (just) sewage. Considering the name, it's more likely an underground spring that they built dragonsreach around and developed a route for it to connect to its original end point after going through the town.

[@salemfae]

If i went on a little coffee date with someone and they talked about the layout of the rivers of skyrim and how they make them feel emotionally for 13 minutes straight, there'd be a second date.

[@collinbeal]

That autistic rizz is powerful stuff

[@DjNitroShock]

date? that’s grounds for a proposal right there

[@_numb]

@@DjNitroShockand then oblivion ever after

[@BullyMaguireMaguire]

It's likely he worships Namira.

[@awwnuh]

Same

[@djdegracia02]

Okay, but isn't it just a love letter to a video game to just explore for the sake of exploring? To look at every little detail possible for whatever reason possible? Thank you for loving video games, Austin

[@KillahMate]

_Especially_ when that game is Skyrim - the archetypal example of a game where exploring for the sake of exploring is not only the best way to play the game but arguably the whole point.

[@Ahad-bj1cz]

@@KillahMate What happened to Bethesda man :(

[@Khronogi]

​@@Ahad-bj1cznothing, that's entirely what starfield is

[@mechadeka]

@@Khronogi Starfield is a bunch of nothing, yeah.

[@boarfaceswinejaw4516]

@@Khronogi there is more love in the average mountain in skyrim than the planets in starfield.

[@JasonMamoa-ee2fl]

I love how people make videos like this and it just makes me wanna pick up Skyrim to play for another 3 months straight

[@SoMuchNope]

Holy crap this video blew up! Congrats on your second 1 million+ view video dude! You're my favorite channel

[@ethanfritts5100]

Exactly what I was thinking! Been watching him since I was 13

[@any_austin]

Thank you!

[@any_austin]

Thank you also!

[@writerintherye]

@@any_austin I BEG you make this for Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

[@splatter_proto]

6:40 "hang on let me go kill this dragon so I can get back to talking about this water wheel"

[@meowsicle7463]

This is what happens to every god slaying rpg protag after they've retired

[@LibraritheWizardOfficial]

I am imagining this guy's Dragonborn as being a reluctant hero who has the power to slay everything as a Viking badass tends to... but to him, they are simply annoying obstacles preventing his peaceful research and cartography.

[@mattstrandquist2148]

Peak Skyrim.

[@thisisnotthechannelyourelo407]

I'm always astounded that real life waterfalls literally feel infinite, as if there's an unending amount of water in the earth for it to be spewing that much ALL THE TIME!

[@any_austin]

I legit don’t get it.

[@nuin9937]

The wata evaporates and goes back up no?

[@Yourmom753]

Yeah but the fact that it can achieve that foamy cascading equilibrium boggles the mind​@@nuin9937

[@MerkhVision]

@nuin9937 exactly, it’s a cycle. It goes up, and comes back down, and then goes up again, and comes back down again.

[@Luneytoon]

It’s because Earth is a closed system

[@alexluna6406]

As a child I remember playing Monster Hunter Tri for the Wii, and got fascinated by how rich that world and animal behavior was, I know now that it wasn't too incredible to begin with but as a kid, it just blew my mind. I used to spend many many days with a notebook taking notes of how many peaceful animals were in each area, and how many babies of that creature were alive, and trying to see if those babies would grow up and form their own families and keep the population alive. Obviously now, as an adult, I realize how it was just random numbers, each day a random number of adults and babies spawned in each area. But trying to develop a behavior note system and taking care of those animals made me really happy. My older brother hated it when I was playing, because all he watched was me, for hours, just walking and counting random animals. This video reminded me of that moment, it is wonderful to just pay attention to those details in videogames

[@Darkestbefourdawn]

Austin, thanks for this video. It inspired me to pop in Skyrim and travel on roads with my horse. I discovered about 2 dozen locations. I walked from Whiterun to Windhelm, then Whiterun to Riften. It was a delightful way to relax and I discovered new things about a game I've loved for over a decade.

[@chloukscolor7905]

When I first played Skyrim, I immediately got separated from the guy that guides you to Riverwood. And so, I thought to myself “to find a town, I should just follow water!” and proceeded to look for a river. Stumbled into a bandit camp, made it out alive, found the river and followed it… and arrived in Riverwood. I had been pleasantly surprised that the idea worked.

[@Fledhyris]

You are absolutely right, but also I have to say, if you could NOT find a town called 'Riverwood' by following a river, then the game devs were being exceptionally lazy...

[@concept5631]

​@@Fledhyris Which is something current Bethesda would absolutely do.

[@limabees]

I think my favorite thing about videos like this is that everything you see was put there by a person. Someone made that little waterfall that comes out of a sheer rock wall. There's something really beautiful about a space that is entirely deliberate in that way

[@jonnil1997]

Its kinda spiritual, the fantasy or faith of a creationist world

[@UhOphelia]

It's like how religious people believe that everything was handcrafted but like, actually. Like I could find the dude who put that rock there on Twitter and tell him good job

[@ZukaraTheGame]

This is why I love making games. Right now I'm working on the enviroments for Zukara and Pteranodon 2: Primal Island and it's my own little world. Even if the games don't come out great I take a little pride knowing I put everything down by hand for better or for worse

[@yarpen26]

Sad to see all this handcraft being replaced by AI. And let's not kid ourselves: this _will_ happen. Same way CGI took over even the domains where practical effects worked better: they were just cheaper. Ten years from now, we'll be watching video essays explaining how come the new game worlds feel so artificial, same way you can always tell that Midjourney look from real art, even if you can't quite put your finger on it.

[@Nathanaelelliott]

Athiest

[@S0ulcarver]

I love this work...it's 100% the kind of seemingly inconsequential detail I love to get lost in. You Sir just got +1 Subscribers ^^

[@ThatMattaTatta]

I will posit that the Ivarstead source could be a spring surfacing in that very spot. It might be the result of water building up inside of caverns in the adjacent mountain, and its "path of least resistance" results in it being forced out of the base of the mountain and then "up" by perhaps a layer of rock under the soil. There's a number of such springs out there IRL that displace tens of thousands of gallons every minute, which would be enough to gradually fill a broad lake and then fork into a river that has enough flow to power a mill. Skyrim also notably has many, many, underground water features. Lots of streams and rivers, pools and waterfalls and so on can be observed beneath the surface. Not to mention a lot of volcanic activity evidenced by geysers and natural hot springs. The large chunk of the caves in the game may be the result of erosion from all of this moving water, and not just simply the action of freezing water prying rocks apart. It is possible that there is an unfathomable quantity of water flowing underneath the surface of the province, and some of that water might be 'springing up' at the bottom of the major lakes seen in the game.

[@GrieveIV]

“I’m still working on object permanence… like emotionally” Wildly relatable. And same. But I’ve never been able to put it to words

[@MerkhVision]

That’s hilarious considering that it’s something that most people usually figure out by the time they hit the ripe old age of 2 years old lmao

[@GrieveIV]

@@MerkhVision exactly it’s so funny I love it

[@jaebebifi]

A lack of emotional object permanence is extremely common in things like ADHD, BPD and autism. "I can't remember how I felt 5 minutes ago so that emotion no longer exists to me" kinda thing

[@GrieveIV]

@@jaebebifi it’s true it’s real. Although the wording makes me think he’s more figuring out how to respond emotionally to the idea that something is bigger than he can see. But still. Very real

[@jacobhoover1654]

​@@MerkhVision whoosh, he's talking about emotional object permenanance... as in friends leaving you not literal object permance that's developed at an early age. It's dry humor.

[@JachymorDota]

The banality is the beauty. Like walking through a random urban area without any "Sightseeing spot", just admiring the little gardens and comfortable houses from the outside.

[@SolidIncMedia]

Years ago when Google+ was a thing I went on a bunch of photowalks with other photographers from around the state and that was exactly what we did. We walked down the little alleyways looking at the graffiti and stickers on the wall. We walked into the tiny little carparks hidden on back street to photograph an emergency fire escape staircase. I really miss those walks because I had an amazing time just looking at nothing. Sure we were just minutes away from a massive stadium or right near a statue of some big famous person, but there was coolness in just poking around the little two-person-wide alleys that went between two houses as a shortcut to another road, or going on a pedestrian overpass to peer into someone's backyard or something.

[@JachymorDota]

@@SolidIncMedia That is the way. When I was in Rome, you couldn't really "enjoy" the usual sightseeing destinations because it was just to full of people - both tourists and street merchants. Find your own highlights and beauty among the concrete and steel.

[@SolidIncMedia]

​@@JachymorDotairst time we went to New York we did the tourist thing. Went to Madam Tussauds, to Time Square, to the Empire State and so on. I loved it, but next time I want to see the lesser travelled areas. There's room for both, but sometimes it takes two trips

[@kylegonewild]

@@SolidIncMedia Have you *really* experienced a place until you've worriedly looked over you shoulder after wandering into a rough part of town and had to reassure yourself that you're fine and nothing seems out of the ordinary?

[@tateallen9972]

I don’t know why, but it’s been over a week and I absolutely cannot stop thinking about this river video

[@SuperToastytoast]

I love your videos. They're so new and refreshing from everything else I've been watching on KZbin lately. You take such an overlooked piece of the game and make it a movie. I can watch these all day, keep it up

[@waffleman2211]

Imagine being the guy living in a tiny settlement of about a dozen people, and some dude walks up rambling about rivers and sources and tributaries, and a dragon swoops down to attack. Instead of dying a fiery death, this crazy guy casually solos the demon lizard, muttering about the inconvenience, before scrutinizing the water again, making a few lines on a sketch pad, and wandering further up the mountain to search for "answers"

[@Fledhyris]

And all Gandalf the Grey had to do to become a legend was set off a few fireworks!

[@MrShinjiTabris]

My guy spent however long manually jumping up cliffs instead of noclipping lol, respect

[@_frasha_]

Went looking for this comment 😂

[@JohnnyThund3r]

Don't use no clip! It ruins the immersion!

[@Ewok612]

At the end of the day, what matters is what is shown to the player.

[@simulium85]

He did also not just console kill the dragon. A true hero...

[@augustgirl515]

I just found this video and, since you asked, I do find this idea interesting. It's interesting because it shows that for the most part the game's artists and map designer took care in making sure that the way the rivers function is consistent with how rivers function in the real world. Overall, they all have a logical beginning (e.g. a lake or groundwater reservoir created by snowmelt) and end (the sea/ocean). It makes you appreciate it more tbh because its not just water dropped in randomly for the sake of aesthetics

[@Tine_of_Nice_Dreams]

Im watching my friend play tears of the kingdom and the addition of a water source for zora's domain got me thinking about this exact thing for the first time. I did some following of rivers and told her about it, and she said "youre doing what Any Austin's new video is about". I think it's Its just so interesting to get curious about the facimile of game world and then realize how much there is to learn about the real world. Artists do their best to show us a reflection of reality, and by comparing the two we get to see our reality without the blinders we always have on. I love this video.

[@TheRoonie222]

I literally did this for a job once! I was paid to hike up a creek and all of its tributaries, classify them, and find erosion points! I can talk more about this if anyone has any questions. Our survey was more focused on the pollution and erosion question as well as updating a ~20 year old report.

[@any_austin]

That’s awesome

[@roberth5691]

Do you have to work as a sort of park ranger or be a general employee for a local state/govermment, or is it some university funded research to do this line of work?

[@Pictovaan]

Sounds like a cool job. What do you mean by erosion point? Were you looking for springs?

[@nullFoo]

Watching this video made we want to go on an adventure like that exploring a river near where I live but then I looked at a map and realised it's not really a river more of a river-shaped bay

[@ahall9839]

I have a question. Why do you say literally like an autistic valley girl?

[@savannahwise7058]

Stream and river ecologist here! You inspired me to determine the stream order of the Skyrim rivers now. I spend a lot of time doing watershed delineation on mapping software and now I want to figure out Skyrim's watersheds lol

[@any_austin]

That sounds awesome you should make it a video

[@daddyleon]

I would love that video too...I've never played Skyrim

[@IHaveArmiptFetish]

​@@daddyleonwhat are you waiting for bro, skyrim is a once in a lifetime experience ngl

[@Limrasson]

Plot twist: it's just the Greybeards shouting "WOTAH" in draconic

[@witmoreluke]

I AM REGISTERING MY INTEREST IN A VIDEO

[@sickjoe9174]

The environmental artists for this game don't get enough credit. If you check out the types of potions you can make with just the reagents you find in a zone, those alone can tell you a lot about the zone itself. There's a lot of Persuasion and Thievery related stuff near Riften, Antimagic near Whiterun tying in with the hall being used to bind dragons, all the battles and mass graves in Falkreath have the area saturated with deadly ingredients. It's also neat when you start to figure out where specific ingredients can be located like Fly Amanita spawns where a guard would take a piss, White Cap where ppl drop a deuce, Milkthistle grows outside a lot of houses and barns and is often used to settle stomachs irl...shit like that. I was curious how water even has a chance to form rivers with something as big as Blackreach beneath all the mountains. You'd figure structures like that would severely limit the space for aquifers.

[@NightOwlsMedia]

You made a comment about 5:30 that said you just want to know where the water comes from and while I watched the video for a giggle - I feel this sentiment in my core. I was in Alaska on a cruise and when we docked I looked up at the mountain range and saw a small river - my absolute first thought was "I want to go drink from the base of that river". So my wife went on to explore the town with her sister and I went up the mountain, 4 hours later drank from (what I could find of) the base and then got lost coming back down the mountain and thankfully found locals who were hiking and they invited me to their house and showed me the way back to town. It was pretty damn epic.

[@elilentiart8025]

When Tears of the Kingdom came out I crafted a basic raft and sailed it from the base of the Lanayru Great Spring to Lake Hylia. One of the most immersive game experiences I've ever had and really allowed me to appreciate the work the designers put into the map.

[@kittycatdreamz]

Oh wow, that sounds amazing!

[@ktt179]

"I'm still working on object permanence in a way...like emotionally." That hit too close to home. I felt that.

[@theretrodragonyope]

I am weirdly proud that the game water at Ivarstead is connected to the Throat of The World. The place that would make the most sense to have game water, Paarthurnax's tinkle.

[@davisroyce]

this was such a fun video :))) i think what i love about this exploration is that it was all designed by someone!! this feels like kinda reverse engineering, kinda seeing the thought processes behind the designs world

[@infinitesimalperinfinitum]

"Now, the vertical striations of this cliff show it was pushed up from the landscape, but if we look on the other side of the continent... THE SAME STRIATIONS! This boulder had to have been moved from up-stream. And if it hadn't this whole lake wouldn't have been dammed and half these villages wouldn't have a coast." "Or a dragon moved it here."

[@poilboiler]

Traditionally giants are said to be responsible for random boulders in unusual or specific places.

[@bronzekoala9141]

In Germany we actually do have a spot where a river just pops into existence and comes up from the ground like in 8:00 The “Aachtopf”. Looks really cool. The Danube (europes second longest river) looses water to a cave system and at the Aachtopf it reappears from the ground.

[@OliDaChilla]

lol I was thinking about the exact same thing too. Stumbled across it some time ago in a Wikipedia Session

[@justlola417]

That can also happen for lakes, where the source of the water is just under the lake, or it's the result of seasonal melting of snow that don't feed into it all year round

[@syndicalistcat3138]

Europe's largest river is the Volga!

[@bronzekoala9141]

@@syndicalistcat3138 True - don't know where I got that from. Corrected.

[@syndicalistcat3138]

@@bronzekoala9141 Good!

[@xUN1T]

Hi, hydrology engineer. So the Ivarstead split is not as unbelievable as you might think. Plenty of water sources are springs coming. from ground water sources. And the fact that it suddenly becomes a large river from a small creek could be due to runoff being a main source for the larger river. Although it does look funky there are stranger natural water features in real life. Thanks for the video it was fun

[@zelly4914]

This is actually the sort of thing I did in playthroughs. I would hop into to a river and float with the current (and over some occasionally deadly waterfalls) and see where I ended up.

[@partysnax1984]

I used to live near Pittsburgh, PA. This is significant because Pittsburgh is built right where two rivers combine into a third river. These rivers are a major reason the city is a city, it allowed trade from all over the country even before we had a railway system. My family used to live near Wheeling, West Virginia. Right along the river that goes through the city. One day, my family was in Pittsburgh visiting me and saw some coal barges on the river and said, “those look like the ones that pass by my house!” They are literally the same ones. It’s the same river. Coal from West Virginia gets transported along the river to Pittsburgh, where it gets turned into Pittsburgh steel. To your point about the river powering saw mills in different parts of the world. Not only are rivers connecting towns and cities, sometimes rivers are the reason for the city.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Rivers have been important places all throughout history. With cities usually growing either at the start or end of a river (like where it flows out of a lake or into the ocean), where rivers meet (because that makes for a defensible position that already comes with a moat) or where a river is shallow enough to pass it (a ford)

[@noahkarpinski1824]

And in the Medival world of Skyrim, rivers are one of the BIGGEST reasons for cities to be built. They provide easy access to drinking water (obv) but also help with industry, provides natural fortifications, makes it easier to travel and so much more Seriously, do any of the actual cities not have a river running through it?

[@ravaxander4492]

I like Stormcloaks and I don't like imperial legion fanboys. In the Skyrim Civil War, the Stormcloaks are right and the Imperial Legion is wrong, and the Stormcloaks are better than imperial legion. Ulfric Stormcloak is hero and good character. General tullius is idiot and villain.

[@noahkarpinski1824]

@@ravaxander4492 ok traitor

[@DailyShit.]

Reading comments and watching this video makes me question americas education system. We learned this shit in 3rd grade.

[@micryt.]

3:40 - While the water most likely mixes with the city's waste, there's a high probability a natural water source is underneath the palace. From what I remember, the hill Whiterun is built on is a magical place so it wouldn't be out of place. 7:35 - Maybe the source is under the surface of the water coming out of the wall? It probably still would flow in one direction after creating a riverbed but I'm not sure.

[@MioAkiyama3686]

also, where the water from the vivec cantons come from? further proof of vivecs divinity i might say

[@noahkarpinski1824]

Who needs electric pumps when you have literal wizards?

[@MerkhVision]

What’s the backstory on Whiterun’s hill being magical? Sounds interesting, what’s that about?

[@micryt.]

@@MerkhVision Honestly, couldn't tell you. I just remember watching some lore videos on the topic and there was something about it but I don't really remember anything. I vaguely remember a possibility of it being a meteor and gods' influence. I think if you dig for info about the forge there and the shrine underneath it you should find something.

[@amaltea6191]

​@@MerkhVisionBefore the nords came from Atmora and the Companions of Ysgramor estabilished the meadhall of Jorrvaskr around which Whiterun would get built the giant bird of the Skyforge or even the forge itself was already there but Falmer (before getting shroomed by Dwemer) avoided the site. It might have been a place of worship estabilished by Nedes (ancestors to Bretons, Reachmen and Imperials and other human cultures that are now extinct), but their metallurgy was very primitive so a forge doesnt make sense, goddess Kyne/Kynareth is often represented as a Hawk but she has little to do with smithing, alternatively it might have something to do with the Elhnofey War. The hill and the forge are somehow connected to some divine powers, but there is no concrete answer.

[@babo814]

This is one of those videos you find that makes you appreciate how beautiful something is in a way you hadn’t thought of before. Maybe I should play Skyrim again…

[@mattsanchez4893]

What a strangely unique and entertaining video, would never of thought of this as good subject matter!

[@patate87548]

"I'm honestly not totally sure what I find interesting about all of this." That was exactly my thought as I was watching this video. It is fascinating, but I don't know why. I want more.

[@pisscvre69]

monkey brain like river river clean water source

[@joelsytairo6338]

In a landscape of video game streamers and “critics” hyperfixated on photo realism, graphical fidelity, p and fps and all that, what a blessing to watch this lovely man find joy in the imperfections of the medium and build a whole channel and following around this. One of the few truly unique video game youtubers imo

[@silverstream4928]

There is something fascinating with looking at the details of someone else's work and seeing how accurate they decided to be.

[@Asteroidaceae]

What drives me just a little crazy about the split of the river at Ivarstead is that they could have sold the big lake as being the source of both rivers with multiple outflows (especially since it's perched in that hanging basin with a complex waterfall system spilling off at both ends). Of course I'd want to put a bunch of little tributaries and creeks flowing *into* the lake (and the same with the big lake above Riverwood) from further up in the mountains... God, it would be a dream to plot out terrain for a big game like this starting from hydrology. The bedrock and the hydrology should be the framework upon which everything else is built.

[@oldnotweak]

i live in the mountains, theres a funny little canyon a few miles from my house. if you go up it long enough you find a small stream slowly appearing as you go up the narrow canyon. its then gets bigger as you go uphill, you notice it actually flows more as you go up. then it slows down and dissapears. the water seems to just seep out of the mountains and then back in about half a mile later

[@JohnJaneson2449]

Wow

[@sheepith204]

You’ve discovered how groundwater works.

[@oraposo7863]

You found a spawn of water, one of the creators bug

[@Serahpin]

Most of what we see as rivers are actually underground.

[@dc4lcorkscrewpatdaGIGA]

@@sheepith204badass little discovery

[@ElysetheEevee]

I'm still studying do the art side of game development, and so this is usually one of the first random things I run off and explore in games, haha. I remember trying to find where many different rivers and creeks started in Skyrim back in the day. I also have bizarre interests in weird things like this. 😂

[@meindopen007]

Nice! Love this. Former hydrogeologist here. Technically, I guess all the issues with say, the big lake at 8:50 all of a sudden getting huge can somewhat realistically be explained by the lake being fed groundwater (so it is a "gaining" lake). The water literally comes into the lake through the ground below it. Same goes for all of the rivers that don't seem to have a legitimate visible source. Gaining streams (and losing streams) are a natural hydrogeologic phenomenon, all a part of our real world.

[@porterjones6022]

Austin, dude--you have no idea how happy this video made me. I'm graduating with my bachelor's degree in Geology in a few days, and seeing you talk about the hydrology and geomorphology of freaking Skyrim was so, so cathartic after having to complete a huge trip to the Verde River headwaters and then writing a 23-page paper on its hydrology! I loved seeing you examine the stuff that checks out (the springs, the waterfalls, the lakes) and the stuff that's very obviously the developers going, "Aight, that's good enough." You've made me appreciate all the games I've played in a whole new light! Just thanks again, man, and hope you're doing great! Your videos are definitely some of the most unique and enjoyable ones on the entire platform.

[@shebl3702]

huge congrats on ur geo degree!! i’m about to head to field camp soon :D

[@longdrinkmcg]

that spot in ivarstead could've been a subterranean river emerging at a bit of a high point on the landform. the water appears to be rushing out in the direction that the river is emerging, and the distinct elevation change combined with the pressure of the flow is creating the higher rate of movement, but the rocks in the waterfall plus unseen depth in the channel could be causing a backflow, which combined with a slight elevation change in that direction (towards the lake) would create the pooling effect you see. when you look at the water, there is the obvious downstream flow toward the waterfall, but the other side appears to have ripples running perpendicular to the flow, which should indicate a relative stillness/very slight flow of the water in that direction. so at that point the water is very slightly running in that direction where it found a channel, or possibly is running in a shallow diversion channel created by the citizens of ivarstead to either prevent the backflow from flooding the village or to use in some form of irrigation. the lake it runs into is a perfect intake for that water. now i feel like i need to reinstall skyrim to look into this one a bit more haha.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Do it and inform us about your findings.

[@jonnil1997]

Or maybe its a portal to a plane of oblivion filled with water seeping in to the mortal realm, who knows😊

[@vonbalt4891]

it could have been a bug/oversight in the water flow system too, skyrim is full of those. if the water feeding the Ivarstad river came from lake Halcyon around Riften it would make total sense just like it comes from lake Ilinata to feed the whiteriver that pass through whiterun.

[@mailliam548]

thank you Any austin , u just make me lovin ur skyrim content with oddly specific perspective

[@knightcorps84]

I'm with you on how interesting rivers are. I think for me it's a combination of a desire to deeply explore things/places paired with the sense of scale that knowing how rivers work (on a basic level) & where they go gives me. They build up over large spans of distance and time from multiple sources that cumulate into these world-shaping flows, yet their origins are typically inaccessible, obscured from view, and often spread across many different source locations and causes. Seeing pictures and videos of bodies of water flowing underground to eventually seep into the outer world is another very cool thing.

[@VagueDrake]

This was strangely fascinating to watch. The river you were following is called the White River. It flows from Lake Ilinalta and into the Sea of Ghosts. The tributary that comes from Ivarstead is called Darkwater, and the one near Windhelm is River Yorgrim.

[@Raycheetah]

Yeah, I was surprised he didn't start *AT* Lake Ilinalta, the *obvious* source of the White River. =0[.]o=

[@stratospherica]

I knew that this river was called the White River, but your comment just made me realise that Whiterun could be so named because its waters *run* into the *White* river (or named after Whiterun Hold, where the White river runs!) Granted, Whiterun was a city in Arena and I don't think that the White River was a thing, but it's neat to see that kind of attention to world building.

[@politesse3914]

@@stratospherica A run is actually a type of creek in somewhat antiquated English. You'll see things called "Brigham's Run" or somesuch in the Eastern US on occasion.

[@JurnJurn]

"I'm still working on object permanence, in a way... emotionally." That gave me a hearty laugh. Also loved you getting annoyed by a dragon on your river adventure. Good video 👍

[@kingmasterlord]

this is an adhd thing

[@birchwwolf]

"I KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT" is my second fave tune from 7 Songs. Honestly keep it up, great LP

[@vladislavkaras491]

Darn! I have never thought I would ask myself such questions and how important some minor details can be important when creating something! Thanks for the video!

[@xbarkaimx]

ivarstead in general is where the devs just gave up on sense it's the home of most of skyrim's strangest "oddities" there is the unsolved mystery of narfy's dead sister, the absurd hit on narfy from the black brotherhood, the associated line of narfy's script spoken by the inn keeper depending on interaction, not to mention the possibly possesed treasure hunter that couldn't find the key that the same inn keeper gives as a reward for his death ivarstead is odd

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

I've watched that video on Narfi's sister. I think the conclusion was that she was an alchemist and her skeleton can be found in the water close to the village. Now why the brotherhood would go after him, the one who is responsible for his sister want to get rid of him, to stop him from suffering.

[@andreasolsson4539]

Somewhere in the basement of Dragonsreach is a goblet with a summon water enchantement lying on it's side under some rubble. Farengar have been trying to find it forever.

[@DigitalVanquish]

I saw this on my recommended, and pressed it immediately. Like you, it's something I find interesting in real-life (because it's nice to be reminded two places exist at once), and it's brilliant to see the detail a developer or two put into Skyrim's water ways - something the vast majority of players won't think about, and even fewer would be interested in.

[@Doorito_]

The silliness of the editing matches the silliness of the subject, i love this lol.

[@GodChaos333]

"I do play these games nornally. Please believe me" Press X to Doubt.

[@lorizeppelina2286]

You mean this isn't normal?

[@ravaxander4492]

I like Stormcloaks and I don't like imperial legion fanboys. In the Skyrim Civil War, the Stormcloaks are right and the Imperial Legion is wrong, and the Stormcloaks are better than imperial legion. Ulfric Stormcloak is hero and good character. General tullius is idiot and villain.

[@faultwire8274]

I grew up in northern New Hampshire, and one of my favorite things to do as a kid was follow the rivers near my house. People have told me I anthropomorphize things a bit too much, but for me, following a river really feels like following its life. You find its beginning, and as you follow it along you can see it grow, collecting water from the places it travels. It really feels like you're on an adventure together, and as you get to know the river, it gets to know you. You see it struggle through some areas and roar through others, it sees you slip and catches you, it guides you with its sound. You mentioned this a bit in the video, but most rivers will end in the ocean or a larger body of water, and reaching the end really feels like such a bittersweet goodbye. This river you've gotten to know so well slips into something larger, its individuality lost as it blends with so many others. But the best part it you can always walk its length again, find your favorite places and discover new ones. I think there's a lot of things in nature like this, climbing a mountain to its top, or a cave to its center. The world is such a beautiful place to discover, and videogames are such a fascinating lens to see the world refracted through. Sheesh sorry for the length, I really let this comment get away from me.

[@hemslonnigum]

this is such a cool sentiment. nature is after all alive.

[@jesseh.5223]

My dad's from rural Vermont in the summer he'd take an inner tube down the river with all his stepbrothers and cousins and stepcousins until he got to the next town where his father would know to meet him and they'd all get in towels in the truckbed and ride back home!

[@ellaisplotting]

That's so lovely, I wholeheartedly relate.

[@YourFriendTomFromMyspace]

This is such a wonderful comment. Thank you for writing about it!

[@ShadowclawFC]

The nice thing is, while the river you can follow may 'end' at the lake or sea (or sometimes in a great basin or swamp!), it hasn't truly ended. Those that reach the sea join in a massive circulation, continuing as one for a time before separating and either evaporating or being pulled along by one of the many currents that, themselves, create a global, underwater 'river'-like system which can circulate almost endlessly in its current state. And the water that does evaporate, whether from a lake or basin or swamp or sea, is carried along by wind currents much as the water currents flow! And that water eventually falls again as precipitation, which collects and seeps and joins new river systems to make the journey all over again! It's little wonder why water and rivers are often used as metaphors for life or memory, beyond it's necessity for survival.

[@CYBER_MESSIAH]

I think your interest in this stems from the desire to understand game design at a low level. Same thing happened to me when I started to look into systems like economics and NPC schedules. I was even going to reference the videos on woodworking in Skyrim and Totk until I noticed that those videos were yours 😂

[@ambiguousdrink4067]

3:03 I don't think the water coming out of water in Whiterun is sewage. If it was, why would it be going through the middle of the city, with many fancy shapes, splitting around the marketplace and so on? That would be just disgusting and stink a ton. If it was sewage, it would likely be underground or to the side. I think they're just decorative water features with normal water.

[@___Johnny___]

8:01 "a secret handshake directly with the video game" might as well be the subtitle of this entire youtube channel. Great work

[@ricoooooooo]

I have seen many springs that come straight out from the ground like that so that's not far from reality

[@umpteenthreason9627]

We learned many interesting things in this video, but the most shocking is that Austin allegedly enjoy videogames the normal way, he just likes to share the weird way to enjoy them for some reason

[@cdarklock]

Well everybody else is already sharing the normal way

[@Elephantslovebacon]

Hydrology ✔️ Dragon fight intermission ✔️ Handshaking Skyrim ✔️ 10/10 video

[@HazhMcMoor]

This content have a special place for me, because im introducing my nephew to Skyrim, and what he did is keep following the river all the way from Riverwood to somewhere on the north where we're blocked by invisible wall. Im still wondering how the hell do we got here so far from the start.

[@tyrannicpuppy]

This is my absolute favourite kind of video game content. Digging into the mechanics but in a fun way instead of a critical way. Exploring how the world is assembled and tracing oddities to their sources for no other reason than we can. Because some games are built in such a way that it can work.

[@LexSchilperoord]

I think part of what makes this interesting is that, from a design perspective, I doubt the rivers were constructed starting at their origins. I would imagine the designers placed cities, and lakes, and promptly connected those on a world map. What would follow is the process of actually finding where that river going through a town comes from, where it'll end up, and how it all ties into the surrounding area. I can also imagine this is why eventually they run into a problem of realism, where there are deadlines to meet, milestones to reach, and it forces them to settle for a non-ideal solution to a design problem far removed from the enjoyment of gamers. Videos like this make it seem unfathomable to create a world like this, and it solidifies why game credit sequences have hundreds upon hundreds of names in them.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Worldbuilding starting at the bottom. A valid method.

[@choo_choo_]

To be fair, it's not like Skyrim (the province) was just poofed into existence when the game came out. The release of Arena and Skyrim are 17 years apart. Arena's map of Tamriel is pretty close to what it currently is as well. So while a lot of those official maps don't really show waterways, there was plenty of time to figure those out, and I'm sure someone did well before Skyrim was ever even planned. There's plenty of people that obsess over maps, and I'm sure there were quite a few on the dev teams over those 17 years.

[@Benlucky13]

the waterfall shown at 1:43 is Takakkaw falls, fed by a glacier about a mile behind it. it does have a cave near the top of the falls that runs parallel to the cliff face for ~200ft, but the water doesn't flow through it. there's actually a climbing route to the left of the falls that involves crawling through that cave. the 'rooster-tail' feature where the water shoots outward is an indentation in the cliff face redirecting the falls

[@SentinalSlice]

Just started watching this video. It’s beautiful! Great on the scene reporting.