😱 What If You Saved the Thief Who Stole the Golden Claw?

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you saved the thief who stole the Golden Claw? Usually, he doesn’t survive for long-either he gets killed by an undead warrior, or by a trap. But what if you saved him instead? How far could he go? To find out, I decided to rescue him and see what happens.

[@TexasToast712]

When the game told me to cut him down I always took it literally.

[@suspiciouslystickysocks8850]

Me to, 13 years and I never knew he would'veWan all the way to the druager

[@froodefroo]

"cutting someone down" could also mean to insult them. bit archaic though.

[@salvatorerispo9244]

perhaps figuratively?

[@useless8303]

Immediately after hearing you fool was what sent me

[@esaputra3828]

Nice Chad

[@rage_2000]

*Arvel:* I don’t know, I never thought I’d get this far

[@roberth4395]

it is not just him. If you go to Whiterun and get the free the Grey-mane son from the talmor, once you free the prisoners and him, the game makes them run to a group of horers and they all die. If you run there and kill the horkers, if I remember corretly they try to run to other enemies again and if you keep following they run to the mountains and try to dupe you. Once I looked away Grey-mane boy was gone forever. Chances are he did not became a Stormcloak

[@AustinBlack28]

well then allow me to suggest your next move!!

[@randomkitty2555]

The game is a over a decade old and I can still remember the layout of that dungeon. Skyrim was epic.

[@rebcommando587]

Epic downgrade from oblivion yeah

[@randomkitty2555]

@@rebcommando587 I never got the chance to play Oblivion especially now with busy work life, are they better with dungeon designs?

[@Ace2014Ace]

​@@randomkitty2555 a little. In Oblivion there are several dungeons with multiple entrances and some with underwater sections. Morrowind is even better have many dungeons requiring flight to fully explore. The real downgrade from Morrowind to Oblivion and Oblivion to Skyrim is limiting freedom. There are less gear and magic choices from each game to the next.

[@orangegradient4309]

​@@rebcommando587 Skyrim is still good

[@Original-Alastor]

@@Ace2014AceFr I played Skyrim first, but playing Oblivion changed my entire view. And then playing Oblivion was like it was in the middle of both in the best way possible. I like Morrowind in terms of actually roleplaying, but Oblivion is beautiful to just go around walking in it(Since Morrowind is mostly ash and Skyrim is dead winter). They both put Skyrim to shame.

[@richpeltier9519]

He ran from me once. In all subsequent play throughs he dies in the webs.

[@Reightch-h8t]

He's clearly a friend

[@gray-days-clear]

I accidentally killed him in my first playthrough and felt really bad, so I looked him up in case I should reload a previous save. Nope, lol.

[@Guntherson220]

Same

[@Meower43]

Arvel the swift is a ledgend

[@Lonely_Moth]

Yeah. Some say he's still hanging in those cobwebs since the dragoborn left off to stealh archer their way to the top of a few shady organisations and never came back for that tablet 👌

[@thetalantonx]

He is definitely ENDing up on some LEDGe, for sure.

[@michaelpettersson4919]

He is so fast that he act before he thinks through if he should.

[@ryzekiv7147]

Arvel the Swift, outrun by _some dude_ caught crossing the border 🤦

[@mrfryfilmguy]

Legend has it, he is still clearing out enemies and traps for the thief, who is now on his way to kill Alduin..

[@Cyryvy]

Arvel: "I'm so close to getting what I want... I don't deserve it!" *dies*

[@twiggypie2314]

I’ve gotten him through the trap. I’ve gotten him all the way to the end of that segment with the room where you have to open the grate over the stream of water that leads into the cave. For me he stopped there, but you could turn him aggressive again to get him to follow you.

[@dmitritelvanni4068]

The fact theres people who havent tried is baffling. He just gets killed by the first trap

[@daviddragonheart6798]

IF the Draugr dont get him, the traps do. My guess, they set him to path to a certain point, expecting that he'll die along the way WELL before he actually could be in the same room as the end point. And considering the number of traps and threats between him and the end point, this seems realistic. Why he stops on a trap? PROBABLY at that point, the only way he'd get there is if the player intervenes somehow. If the player didnt want him to die, the traps would do it, and you NEED his golden claw to open a door, so he is supposed to die. And if he cant see the player, he'd need to go somewhere to die. The trap sounds fair.

[@occulticacid6426]

"usually he doesn't survive for long" is true in my playthroughs cause when someone calls me a fool for savin' them like that my sword's goin' through them

[@nasmokt]

same uwu

[@xLionsxxSmithyx]

I've had him go all the way to the Golden Claw Puzzle door where he then Fails the puzzle and dies.

[@jamesonmaylif8009]

Same!

[@KDB349]

I'll admit I haven't wondered this, his greed was his downfall. BUT, something I did do was untie him and used fury on the spider to see what would happen. While the spider and Arvel did technically fight it was clear that the spider wasn't doing any damage whatsoever to him and Arvel simply solo'd it.

[@nocturnechanson]

When I went there he triggered the swinging gate trap taking out both Draugr warriors as well as himself. Very convenient. 😅

[@leafonhead777]

"Normally he doesn't survive for long. Either he gets killed by an undead warrior, or dies to a trap." Yeah... Totally.. That's what happens to him alright.. It's a shame, but what can be done?

[@mechatech9897]

The game code be like "Wait! This NPC has gone too far. He needs to die now."

[@daviddragonheart6798]

I'd program something to force kill him at a certain point, OR just make him get to the puzzle door, try to open (but instead just activate a trap), and that's how he could die. But I guess at this point, the player would KNOW the traps, and know Arvel is supposed to die, so going THIS FAR to cover something that 100% will not happen until nth playthrough (when someone tries this) is unnecessary

[@arminosas]

"why are you helping me -i'm not, I'm helping me"

[@Saitama62181]

Usually, he gets killed by me

[@Ozzy_Man_Dias]

Todd Howard knew you were gonna do that,he's psychic

[@dex337]

It just works

[@kaio1076]

Bro turned into a escort quest

[@MikeBreed21]

Try the thief that tries the room puzzle but triggers the trap.

[@Nictator42]

That ones been tested before, he just walks into the next room and stands there

[@wingolauchsiknimat]

Bloke always runs faster than me and usually becomes spider food. As for the other thie...none can stop him😂

[@AlkoholischerAnonymer-OH]

The madness ore armour from Dementia looks quite nice 👌🏼

[@christopherchedid1321]

I can imagine how frustrating this short must have been to make

[@krakenlord7506]

i think they "did" expect him to get that far... which is why they mad him stop in the middle of a trap

[@beanpizza48]

He either dies to the traps or dragur. But in my playthrough he always seems to "die suddenly" to a mysterious Warhammer

[@TheFirstEldenLord]

Bro I remember forgetting the claw on a couple playthoughs let just say it was quite a walk back

[@gbux19]

Wish there more treasure hunters in the game like this. I know you can find tons of dead ones

[@FourEyedFrenchman]

"Well, my navmesh ran out right on top of this trap! How silly of me!"

[@JustSomeKittenwithaGun]

Crazy you didn't include him dying by the player cause I do that every single time.

[@sspaceforce]

i love questions like this... and often wonder these things my self

[@kenthorhagadol9675]

Sounds like an opportunity for a savvy Mod Maker . . .

[@gongaming3434]

I scared him to the door but he wouldn't open it

[@brandonn6099]

They DID expect him to make it this far. That's why he stops on the trap.

[@lowgrav5900]

If he somehow survives to this spot lets make him stop in the path of danger so at least this trap / hazard won't miss Dragon born turns off trap .......umm excuse me could you pull that chain there thanks in advance

[@brandonn6099]

@lowgrav5900 Exactly. The real unexpected thing was for the player to gap his escape by such a wide margin that they could do this. Should have used a trap that cannot be turned off.

[@mythicdawnist]

What if you were on vr and just decided to drag him out by hand

[@davidkleemann4897]

Well they did expect him to potentially make it that far, but no further. Stopping in the path of the blades was a pretty good idea to potentially account for nearly every situation besides yours.

[@amberrountree269]

Bro the madness armor in Skyrim is awesome I wish oblivion would be remade

[@DunkanWinter]

These are the kind of things that red dead redemption developers would think off

[@metalheadrevolution2650]

I tested this once I went through great amount of effort for him to just spontaneously die out of nowhere

[@KarmicID]

I always try to save this guy but he just finds the most random ways to die

[@Kia_Malifa]

ive had him get all the way to the puzzle door

[@Revan498]

he's supposedly to be scripted to input the wrong combination on the claw door if he makes it that far and die to the darts.

[@spillerboy92]

I managed to lead him to the puzzle door.

[@AccordingtoJim]

I’ve never seen him get past the first set of draugr on any difficulty

[@karateka_95]

I saw a short the other day where someone brought Arvel up to the Draugr Overlord with the dragon wall. When using Calm, he just says "too slow!" over and over when interacting with him

[@FeruMorningstar666]

I wish they coded it so that IF he makes it to the very end and if he doesnt know you are near he has dialogue like "what are these ruins on this wall?" And the coffin opens up and he goes "what is that!! SOMEONE HELP" then gets killed there

[@billybifocals]

Kitty Seduuuuuuuce 😂

[@acehood6343]

Next time go there after becoming a God and pickpocket a broken armor onto him 😂

[@sircrimsonwolf7492]

I found out about that over six years ago. Thought it was a funny detail the developers overlooked.

[@zacharycunningham7669]

Are you sure they overlooked it? Did you send them a letter, asking them about this? If not, I'm just going to assume this was deliberate on their part, because Arvel was never meant to make it all the way to the puzzle door in the first place.

[@elisiahpoe6996]

I casted ressurect on him like 12 times. He actually made his way back outside to his allies i had killed before going deeper..it seems as if they were attempting to loot the place but the spiders and drouger stood in their paths

[@KaoruMzk]

You can push him through the corridor by paralyzing him then using the Staff of Hazedoki from the CC, which is just a staff of unrelenting force & soul trap. You can take him all the way to the dragon claw door that way, but he'll just stay in place.

[@jareththegoblinking3191]

You couldn’t just make him angry so he’d chase you so he’d go further from the place he stopped?

[@StayKindUnwind]

You need to go outside

[@badluck7286]

@@StayKindUnwind No not really, they just asked a genuine question lol, you should get friends or something idk

[@impkiller5932]

@@badluck7286 outside of temple, he wouldn't follow you, he will stay at the dungeon.

[@fathurrachman9498]

In cutting room floor mod, you have another way to keep him safe by briebing him😅. So i think he do have some role in the game

[@boldbearings]

Need a mod where he powers through and steals the Dragonstone. Gotta hunt him down over several missions😂

[@p1ainands1mple81]

The pacifist run I didn’t know I wanted

[@alecrichards8574]

As many times as i have played Skyrim, this is something i've never tried and now i'm so curious. The way you proceeded is the only way to do it. EXCEPT you can nudge him along by sprinting into him, getting him further along little by little, maybe he'll start running again, clear the Deathlord for him, then nudge him to the exit and see where he goes from there. I have to try this on my next playthrough.

[@ENTHUSIAST_VRC]

you know you could do a much deeper study and analysis on this using commands like maybe the constant use uh the calm spell broke the ai, or you could try clearing the whole dungeon then move him past the trap that he got stuck at or even near the end, Skyrim is known to be filled with bugs perhaps the unofficial patch fixed a bug that was causing him to get stuck. Edit: had to delete comment was signed into channel I edit for... lol

[@Y0sh1no5am]

A new skyrim challenge how far can u save Arvil without him dying. Similar to the guy in solitide how long can you keep him alive?

[@The_Jade_Dragon]

My 2nd play through I got distracted and forgot to chase after him.. he was hit by the first trap and sent flying and I had no idea where he landed. I was unable to find the claw 😂

[@maverickcrow6252]

Arvel: I have made it past the traps! Now give me the ancient treasure of the nords! Dovahkiin: . . . Or . . . What? Arvel: I don't know. The developers didn't think i'd get this far :/

[@BranBal]

What if you had pickpocketed the Drafon Claw from him and left him there, would he still be there after you finished the dungeon?

[@tree-love]

Good point

[@chattycatty3336]

I'm pretty sure he's blocking the way you have to go so you can't go forward unless he's cut down

[@kurtrobertson495]

So mod can finish it. Who knows, he might become the richest man in skyrim

[@rudycuevaslopezjr8121]

I may have found a hidden chest inside the temple of Mora in riften after sitting down on the bench waiting to get married

[@GreysonMoss-xq1ft]

Have you verified on Reddit or something that it has really never been found? Or do you mean you personally have never found it?

[@GreysonMoss-xq1ft]

Have you verified on Reddit or something that it has never been found? Or do you mean you personally have never found it?

[@Kalimangard]

I thought it was scripted that he would step on that swing trap

[@ZacharySnyder-ie6cg]

Arvil the shortsighted

[@Liam-nz7sl]

What is that armor?

[@Undersizedgrowing]

Its the madness armor from a dlc for oblivion

[@SadovnikovSS]

​@@Undersizedgrowingrather Madness Armor from Saints & Seducers CC, included in Skyrim Anniversary Edition.

[@Undersizedgrowing]

@SadovnikovSS do you know of any mods or add-ons that includes the imperial dragon armor (the gold armor you get for beating oblivion) it's always been my favorite set and I couldn't find it with any mods for skyrim

[@heathercurry898]

You ran ahead???? How???? He is fast! I’ve never been able to catch up and stop him from getting in the first trap.

[@arshiaazimi9522]

we should show this to the elder scrolls 6 developers

[@beverlyarcher546]

First time I played he made it to the door.......

[@Soti206]

Huh, i still remember my first time encountering him i shat a brick when he started running (the bliss of being a naive 12 year old) Never crossed my mind he cant actually get away lol

[@brovusmarillian3303]

anyone else remember that Skyrim Teaser gameplay trailer of How "Darkelves" really were to sound? They were gonna go back to old school Morrowind. But the Dev's thought? Naw, lets go with Jolly ol' english~

[@Daedro1888]

What armour are you wearing it's awesome !!!!

[@Lodrik18]

This is an outrage, who is going to be my spouse now?

[@flaskofmayonaisse4508]

I have tried many times but never had the Calm spell on me so maybe that is what I am missing. Staff of Paralysis would also go hard

[@ReddRooster88]

Never gave it a thought. I found him to be annoying. Had to take out the trash. 🤔🗑😅

[@justlooking813]

did you ever calm/pacify the Markarth assassin?

[@Turtlejohn8]

No usually he gets killed by me lol

[@AlDo-kw7sc]

If you get him to the end, will he open the door?

[@Karmaaa66]

What armor is the dragon born in this wearing?!?! I NEED IT

[@NAcHO-wx5vg]

Wait… people don’t just kill him after letting him down?

[@ryangaff8968]

I used ash rune on him then ran foward and killed everytging and hid if i remember correctly he dies trying to open the door by the arrows

[@stefanweber6434]

No, i never wondered this

[@gabrielmanzo2432]

I got a good idea for you what would happen if you didnt kill the first dragon in whiterun murmulnir

[@itzwilza7189]

No dragonborn quest

[@edwardm2445]

There is actually a playstyle based on this. After that quest you are officially reffered to as dragonborn. If you dont do this quest you can actually finish most of the quests. You can collect most of the dragon prist masks except for the one. You can finish the entire dawnguard dlc. Also the npc's in general will have a different attitude towards you which is the most immersive thing ever.

[@gabrielmanzo2432]

Thanks for the info i thought of the idea a few weeks ago but couldn’t find a video on it

[@Pickleton]

Almost none of my playthroughs of Skyrim do I fight the first dragon. Something about being a skilled adventurer instead of some mythical chosen one just feels more fun to play.

[@JoeyShihouin]

Firth playthrough I did he died at the door

[@knightsofthedraftingtable1961]

GameShortsSphere the Swifter

[@marisbarkans9251]

nah he usually dies because of me

[@alphablaqog]

Thos is where I wish developers would put more time into their games. Cause why does the person have to die? Why can’t I save them or they save themselves and I can see them somewhere outside one day? Why are they forced to be one off characters

[@mark9152]

I just played this last night. I bought the game when it went on sale a few weeks ago and didn't want to start playing without using mods to make the graphics a bit bearable. Well I gave up modding and tried the game anyway. I got to this part of the game and accidentally killed him and I thought I messed up. So I reloaded the qucksave from the entrance and just ran all the way to this guy again and didn't accidentally killed him. This dude ran away and I followed him then he attacked me. I killed him and reloaded my actual save file when I accidentally killed him. Finished the quest and didn't know how to get out. I saw a path behind the wall of text but I couldn't proceed. I asked ChatGPT if I need to go all the way back to the entrance and GPT told me there is a lever there. So I looked for it and found it. Finished the quest and went to whiterun to do the main quest. I was surprised that I skipped the entirety of the mage dude (forgot the name) quest and just gave him the stuff from this quest. Then the Jarl gave me a companion, Lydia, and went back to nexusmod to make her prettier LOL. Edit: Needless to say, I might shelf this game again until I figure out how to mod properly. I tried with MO2 first with a lot of youtube guides but some mods have so many requirements that they themselves have requirements that they themselves have requirements that they themselves have requirements... My friend just told me to use Vortex and I did. I downloaded and installed what vortex told me to fix issues and when I loaded the game, nothing loaded properly.

[@DarkSeraph95]

He's not too sharp

[@TheVanisher181]

What armor are you wearing

[@miguelfrancisco284]

or he get killed BY U

[@michaelvalentino652]

What is that armor he has on with the face on it

[@Mastervan86]

Madness armor sets.

[@Soloman01899]

What is that armor your wearing

[@matthewsiregar]

what is that armor yo

[@teyanuputorti7927]

So he dies anyway

[@turdiousmcfurgeson1570]

What kind of armor is that?

[@SantosGonzalez1950]

How do I get your armor set?

[@LaraRolle-c1g]

I saved him also..

[@tazz_da_angel_media]

What armor set is that???

[@fabriciocaravalhogasda5470]

Whats the armar u are using