Skyrim offers a unique and expansive world to traverse and explore, giving players a wide range of opportunities when it comes to completing quests and finding adventure. One quest that the Dragonborn can undertake in Skyrim involves assisting the people of various holds in order to achieve the title of Thane. This title grants players partial diplomatic immunity within that region, as well as granting access to a new weapon and the ability to purchase land. The utility of such a title is understated but nonetheless useful for players looking for a place to settle down.
One hold that players can attain thaneship over is Eastmarch, the snowy and volcanic planes dominated by the former capital of Windhelm. Here, players can purchase the haunted house of Hjerim, provided they help five people in Eastmarch, solve a murder mystery, or bring an end to the civil war. While sounding like the most simple task of the three, helping the people of Eastmarch can lead to some unexpected avenues of completion.
In an image uploaded to the r/skyrim subreddit, user Greg_the_Bassist shows that helping Aventus Aretino in the quest “Innocence Lost” contributes to helping the people of Eastmarch. This quest sees the Dragonborn assume the title of a Dark Brotherhood assassin who journeys to Riften to kill the matron of Honorhall Orphanage in recompense for her brutal treatment of the children there, of which Aventus is one. This quest begins an hours-long storyline in which the Dragonborn becomes the leader of the assassin’s guild, murdering plenty of people all across the province, culminating in the assassination of Emperor Titus Mede II. It’s particularly interesting, then, that helping Aventus murder an old woman is considered “helping.”
Windhelm is, at the beginning of the game, held by the Stormcloak rebels who seek independence from the religious oppression of the Empire and the Thalmor. User Gabricuss jokes that perhaps this is exactly the reason why helping Aventus counts towards thaneship. After all, assassinating the Imperial emperor would do wonders for the morale of the Stormcloaks. Moreover, as user carpeutah rightfully points out, the quest “Just says help. Never said HOW.”
This quirk of quest completion shows how utterly bizarre Skyrim can be at times, allowing the player to freely murder somewhat innocent people and receive a bounty of rewards for doing so, including, as user niceshotpilot highlights, "a cool plate." It also demonstrates how Skyrim can still inspire humor even 10 years after its first release.
Skyrim is available for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.