The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is an open world fantasy RPG. As with most games like these, the main protagonist is sent on an arduous quest to help save the world from a new threat. To do this in Skyrim, players must take on and defeat a series of specific quests in order to rid the land of the emerging dragon threat.
However, the world would feel quite bland if that was all there was to do in this game. That is why players can interact with various NPCs and pick up new side quests in the open world. Some of these can take minutes, while some of the side quests and main story quests in Skyrim are exceptionally long.
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7 Season Unending
A Cutscene That Drags On A Bit Too Long
- Starting Location: Dragonsreach, Whiterun
- Estimated Time To Complete: 10 minutes
Skyrim's civil war questline provides a great political backdrop. Players can choose to side with the Imperial army, who fight to keep this region as part of the empire, or the Stromcloaks, who want Skyrim to remain a free place for the native Nords. Alternatively, players can choose to ignore the conflict entirely. However, this war still needs to be addressed in the main questline.
The quest "Season Unending" is given to the player at the start of the third act of Skyrim's story if the player has not completed enough of the civil war quests on either side. To start this quest, players must speak with the Jarl of Whiterun, who wants the civil war to end if the player is to use his kingdom of Dragonsreach in their plan to stop the dragons. This means journeying to, and speaking with the heads of both the Imperials and Stormcloaks, as well as the head of the Greybeards at High Hrothgar. What follows is a ten-minute-long cutscene with a few dialogue options for the player. These are mainly inconsequential, though, for anyone not taking part in the civil war.
6 The Lost Expedition
Journey To Ancient Dwemer Depths
- Starting Location: Nchuand-Zel Ruins, Markarth
- Estimated Time To Complete: 20 Minutes
Markarth is one of the major cities in Skyrim, and it's full of mysteries. Players can uncover one of these mysteries by heading to one of the dig sites in the city and speaking to a man named Calcelmo. He will inform the player of a group of explorers who ventured down into the Dwemer ruins of Nchuand-Zel, but have not returned. The player must explore these ruins in search of the lost expedition crew.
This is no easy task, as these ruins are a sprawling labyrinth filled with evil Falmer and ancient Dwarven contraptions that are tough to kill. It is easy to get lost on this part of the map, which makes completing all the tasks necessary difficult. Players must first find the deceased bodies of the expedition crew, and then venture forth to reactivate the city's defenses and drive out the Falmer. Players must then find their way out of the ruins and speak with Calcelmo to retrieve their reward.
5 Pieces Of The Past
A Long Expedition To Find Lost Relics
- Starting Location: Silus Vensuius' House, Dawnstar
- Estimated Time To Complete: 25 Minutes
The quest "Pieces of the Past" will begin when the player receives a note from a courier asking them to visit Silus Vesuius in Dawnstar. When heading into his house, players will find that Silus is a collector, and he asks the player to seek out the pieces of a Daedric artifact.
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These three pieces are located in various places across the map, including Dead Crone Rock, Cracked Tusk Keep, and the secure pockets of an NPC in Morthal. The two latter locations are long dungeons that must be cleared, and the last piece requires the player to pickpocket or kill Jorgen. However, the player isn't done once they have given all the objects to Silus. The dark elf will turn on the player, and he will need to be defeated to finally beat this long and arduous quest.
4 Forsworn Conspiracy / No One Escapes Cidhna Mine
A Dual Quest That Reshapes All Of Markarth
- Starting Location: Markarth
- Estimated Time To Complete: 25 Minutes
The mystery within the city of Markarth deepens when players enter the city and witness the murder of a woman named Margret. This will trigger the quest "The Forsworn Conspiracy," and the player will then need to speak with an NPC named Eltrys. He will reveal that not all is as it seems inside the city, and the player will need to engage in three stages of investigation to uncover the truth.
This is a two-parter because the first quest will end with the player being arrested and taken to Cidhna Mine. This is a prison that holds anyone who learns the truth about an ancient faction of bandits known as the Forsworn. To escape the mine, players must win a brawl with another NPC, and then follow the instructions of a man named Madanach. On their own, each of these quests would take the same time to complete as a regular quest. However, the fact that one immediately follows the other makes this adventure a long mission.
3 A Night To Remember
Retracing Your Steps Takes Longer Than Expected
- Starting Location: Any Tavern
- Estimated Time To Complete: 30 Minutes
"A Night To Remember" starts out simply enough. All the player has to do is enter a tavern and speak with an NPC, Sam Guevenne. He will challenge the player to a drinking contest, but everything will go dark once they're a few drinks in.
What follows is a series of objectives to help the player find Sam, and recount the events of the previous night. These objectives include storming a fort, discovering the protagonist is engaged to a Hagraven, and journeying to the daedric realm, Misty Grove. Here the player finally learns that Sam is in fact the daedric prince of debauchery, Sanguine, and they are rewarded with a unique weapon, The Rose of Sanguine, for their efforts.
2 A Return To Your Roots
Finding Ancient & Rare Ingredients
- Starting Location: Blackreach
- Estimated Time To Complete: 30 Minutes
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion featured an infamous quest called Finding Your Roots. This quest required players to search the open-world in that game for enough Nirnroot plants to make a very underwhelming potion. It is a long quest, one that many players do not like due to how difficult it is. Unfortunately, Skyrim repeats this quest in a less than favorable way.
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"A Return To Your Roots" is a quest that players can find in Blackreach. By reading the journal they find there, the player will be tasked with finding thirty Crimson Nirnroot in this underground dungeon. Reducing the number of plants the player must collect is a nice touch by the developers. However, Blackreach is a dark place to explore, and is full of enemies to fight. Finding these plants is just as tedious and time-consuming as it was in the previous game.
1 No Stone Unturned
Another Arduous Trek To Find Unmarked Objects
- Starting Location: N/A
- Estimated Time To Complete: N/A
"No Stone Unturned" will be triggered at random whenever the player picks up one of the ancient stones needed to complete this mission. There is no indication that these stones are special until the player inadvertently picks one up, but doing so will leave the player with a quest to find all twenty-four of these ancient stones.
The stones' locations are not marked on the map, so the player is left to randomly roam every corner of the open-world to find these stones. Therefore, this quest can be one of the longest in the game if players do not already know where to look for these randomly placed stones, or unless they use an online guide.
