Skyrim talk:Assassin

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Trigger[edit]

Does anything in particular trigger this or do they just randomly come for the player? The reason I ask is that I just started a fresh character and it seems this is the first random event I've gotten, I've barely met anyone who would want me dead so I was curiour. AzureSN 02:42, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

There doesn't seem to be any evidence of a reliable trigger; most likely it is purely random. The only way to prevent them is to either join or destroy the Dark Brotherhood; but there doesn't seem to be any way to trigger them. Probably just a random encounter, like meeting someone trying to rob you on the road. 67.166.1.227 04:03, 12 April 2012 (UTC)
According to the Creation Kit, this can be a random event with the only prerequisite being that you've reached level 5. ABCface 05:33, 14 April 2012 (UTC)
I think there is a trigger. I have made over 10 Skyrim accounts now, and the only place i have ever been attacked by this assassin is at the path next to the mountains, south-west of Falkreath. Never seen him anywhere else. WeeziMonkey (talk) 15:33, 15 February 2013 (GMT)
I have never been attacked by an assassin there, but couple of other places. Non of them repeating. —MortenOSlash (talk) 07:20, 16 February 2013 (GMT)

Male Nord[edit]

I don't think this always has to be a male nord, I encountered a female argonian assassin. --92.26.139.89 16:51, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

I can confirm this, I was attacked by a male khajiit Andil the mage 20:27, 12 December 2011 (UTC)
Any chance the Khajiit was female? Because what I'm seeing in the game data is an Argonian female, a Dunmer male, or a Khajiit female -- and never Nord male. For those curious about why it previously said Nord male, it's because the Assassin is actually a template instead of an independent NPC, and the template's gender/race are overridden (see Skyrim talk:Hag for more details). --NepheleTalk 06:15, 29 December 2011 (UTC)
I can't be certain unless I see the corpse again, but I'm almost certain that I've been attacked by a male Argonian assassin.--Admos 22:18, 19 January 2012 (UTC)
The only male Argonian I've ever been attacked by on the road is someone who demands I either pay him money or he'll try to kill me (you can comply and give him the money, try to persuade him you don't have any, or try to intimidate him into leaving you alone; if all checks fail he'll attempt to kill you). Was a robber and not an assassin though. 67.166.1.227 04:06, 12 April 2012 (UTC)
I was attacked by a male dunmer somewhere nearby the Thalmor Embassy on the hunt for elvish blood for the Discerning the Transmundane quest.--HardAdriano1 19:18, 18 April 2012 (UTC)
I was definitely attacked by a male Argonian, and NOT the thief. He was wearing Dark Brotherhood armor.99.127.173.78 04:38, 4 October 2012 (GMT)

() The article has already been updated to reflect that it is not always a Nord male. It's radiant, and marked as such. There is no need to list any further experiences regarding race or gender here. — ABCface 04:48, 4 October 2012 (GMT)

Does joining the Dark Brotherhood prevent this?[edit]

I would assume so, but someone should find out and note for sure in the article. What about destroying the Dark Brotherhood yourself in the appropriate quest? --Aquillion 01:21, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

I have had no assassins sent after me after joining the Dark Brotherhood. It wouldn't make much sense, considering Astrid is the one who sends the assassins. --Velyanthe 22:13, 19 January 2012 (UTC)
On a related note, I'm wondering if destroying the Dark Brotherhood would stop these attacks as well? For those interested, I only seem to encounter the assassins while wandering along the roads, so I think it's just one of several encounters that you can find on the roads and may be selected (unless you've joined the Dark Brotherhood of course). -- Haravikk 17:48, 4 March 2012 (UTC)
Yes; either joining or destroying the Dark Brotherhood causes these attacks to cease. 67.166.1.227 04:06, 12 April 2012 (UTC)
As an attempt to report as a bug an attack after joining the Dark Brotherhood was removed rather than correctly formatted, it is in place to revisit this topic. An anonymous user tried reporting being attacked by the assassin at the end of doing the Bound Until Death quest, though failed somewhat in formatting it properly as a bug. This was promptly removed with the reference to not being a bug, but a random encounter, even if it is stated higher up in the text that this should not happen after joining or destroying the Dark Brotherhood. Should we rather remove the statement about the attacks ending, or at least mark it with verification needed? —MortenOSlash (talk) 17:16, 9 April 2013 (GMT)
Ah, I removed it, I thought that they were referencing being attacked by Morag Tong assassins, which is a random event that was added by Dragonborn and is completely unrelated to these assassins. That was my mistake. Jeancey (talk) 17:18, 9 April 2013 (GMT)

() I added a vn tag linking here, so let us hope we can get some more on this. —MortenOSlash (talk) 19:07, 9 April 2013 (GMT)

Can someone check the scripting out with the CK? I've never had this encounter happen to a character who's either destroyed or joined the DB. --Morrolan (talk) 01:28, 11 April 2013 (GMT)
Innocence Lost is the quest you need to complete; all the parameters were checked for the World Interactions page and it is correct there already. If there are attacks after that, it's a bug. Maybe faulty scripting. Maybe Innocence Lost is sometimes not marked complete or something. Vely►t►e 02:29, 11 April 2013 (GMT)
I recently discovered with one of my character that there's a dunmer Assassin waiting for me south of Black-Briar Lodge, long after I completed the Dark Brotherhood questline. He probably spawned when I was doing Promises to Keep and didn't spot me, but it's odd since random encounters are supposed to reset; the poor guy has been waiting for months. The only other case I found is M'aiq, who stays at the exact same location until he spawns somewhere else. It's the only reason I can think of. -- Elakyn (talk) 08:06, 11 April 2013 (GMT)
I do not think the assassin here is in any way involved in the Promises to Keep or the Black-Briar Lodge? Are you sure this was not one of Maven's guard thugs found up there? —MortenOSlash (talk) 11:41, 11 April 2013 (GMT)
Ah, I see the confusion. No, I mentioned Promises to Keep because it's the only quest for which I went down there before joining the Dark Brotherhood (or maybe it was Flight or Fight, doesn't matter), and there's a random encounter spot on the main road just south of the Lodge. I suppose he spawned as I was approaching, but I never got close enough for him to attack, so he stayed there all this time. Also, if my theory is correct, it means that he leveled since then because I was merely a level 15-20 at the time and he's got easily 400 health. -- Elakyn (talk) 14:51, 11 April 2013 (GMT)

Rarely?[edit]

The article says they come rarely for the player, I've been attacked 3 TIMES in the period of 2 hours of gameplay. Maybe because I don't use fast travel at all. — Unsigned comment by 84.252.18.25 (talk) on January 15, 2012 06:23

I have also been attacked more than rarely, and do not use fast travel either. Perhaps once every few hours, which is more frequent than dragon sightings. At such rates, "rarely" may be more subjective and I think it should be reworded or removed. The word "periodically" is already included, too. --Velyanthe 22:13, 19 January 2012 (UTC)
For me it seems I get attacked rarely like every 10-15 hours, however dragon attacks happen so often it's becoming annoying. "Periodically in random places" seems like a good way to phrase the situation for many random events actually. =) --D. Gemini 02:43, 27 February 2012 (UTC)
These attacks are rare over the long run but you may get streaks of them; that's just the nature of randomness. Sometimes it feels like I get attacked by a dragon every 5 minutes; sometimes I play for hours without ever seeing one. Your mileage may vary. 67.166.1.227 04:09, 12 April 2012 (UTC)
My character at level 29 (indicating there are many playeds hours) has not encountered a single assassin. Neither did my previous character - either I have a broken copy of Skyrim or then ... yeah. 88.113.200.51 18:48, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

Assassin's seem to have supercharged senses[edit]

I'm guessing that because of their roles as assassins, Bethesda gave these guys ridiculous detection abilities. I saw one from a distance on the other side of the bridge. I tried to sneak up on him, but even while invisible and with a dual-charged Muffle spell on, he was able to detect me even when I was 10-15 feet away. Can anyone check into their stats and confirm this for me. --XERAXES 19:42, 12 July 2012 (UTC)

They are scripted to hunt you down, so they aren't "looking" for you, they are coming for you. You can avoid them, but you would need to go the opposite direction if you see them. The Silencer speaksTalk 20:08, 12 July 2012 (UTC)
I understand that but this guy wasn't "coming for me" (unless I'm misunderstanding what you meant by that). She was crouching down by the end of the bridge (with M'aiq actually) and just sitting there (occasionally wondering a few feet) and when I started sneaking up on her, she slowly started detecting me. That's why I think this is more of a detection thing. --XERAXES 20:47, 12 July 2012 (UTC)
After several tough random encounters on the road I started sneaking for the final leg of a trip to Riften, and got a random assassin quite a way in front of me, but they immediately detected me even though there were several obstacles between me and them. It could be a side-effect of the way they're scripted, rather than their basic abilities, as some NPCs will still engage you in dialogue even if you're hidden from them, so it's possible something to do with the fact that the assassin starts off running towards you with weapons drawn can cause them to detect you right away. In the specific case you mentioned I'm not sure, as M'aiq has a tendency to appear at the same time as other random events (rather than on his own) which can result in combat situations that screw up the event, especially since I think the assassins are hostile toward everyone. -- Haravikk (talk) 15:02, 29 November 2012 (GMT)
Mai'q happens to be able to see invisible, muffled people. It is quite possible Mai'q saw you and the assassin was told. -- 98.215.42.244 14:49, 28 July 2013 (GMT)

NPC interaction[edit]

Isn't the phrase,"A contract can be put on the player even if he has not encountered any NPCs,"misleading?I mean you meet NPCs right at the start of the game.Therefore,I believe we should take that sentence out of the article.Please post your opinion.Thank you.--Skyrimplayer 00:48, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

I am not sure what the editor of that phrase meant, but I can guess that if the Construction Kit reveals that the contract can be put up without any provocation that could mean you could hypothetically purposefully avoid any NPCs after the Unbound quest until after reaching level 5, and still have a chance of being targeted by the Assassing NPC. However this is quite hypothetical, and since you have already encountered NPCs during the Unbound quest, I think you are right in that it does not really give any meaning as it stands. --MortenOSlash 05:36, 19 July 2012 (UTC)
The problem we still have is how to make the sentence clearer.And I am at a loss for this.--Skyrimplayer 14:00, 19 July 2012 (UTC)
I've removed the note. —Legoless 16:06, 19 July 2012 (UTC)
Thanks!I would give you a high-five,but my computer lacks hands.--Skyrimplayer 17:01, 19 July 2012 (UTC)