There’s no question that without its signature charactersThe Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrimjust wouldn’t be the same game. Imagine walking throughWhiterunwithout being bothered by Nazeem for the hundredth time or arriving at Riverwood withoutCamilla Valerius. The characters really do make the game what it is, and the same goes forSkyrim’s villains.
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Skyrim’s bad guys come in many shapes. Some are mythical creatures with immense power, while others are better at operating undercover from the shadows, using their influence or political power to their benefit. Here areSkyrim’smost cunning and well-designed villains.
Updated on July 29, 2025, by Anastasia Maillot:Skyrim is making a brief comeback thanks to its 10th-year anniversary, pulling fans and newcomers alike to enjoy its open-world RPG that no doubt set the gold standard of games in the last ten years.
With that in mind, it’s a great time to revisit some of the amazing NPCs that defined the fifth installment of the franchise. While its main story fell flat, some of the game’s villains more than delivered in their insidious roles.
13General Tullius
The Civil War is one of the most debated topics among fans ofSkyrim. One thing is for certain: no side is purely good or evil. General Tullius, although he attempts to keep order in Skyrim, is the type of villain who will tolerate worse villains like the Thalmor just for the sake of keeping the peace.
Though a brilliant strategist, he’s extremely cold and dismissive towards the people of Skyrim and considers the traditions of Nords to be foolish most of the time. With how Tullius views Nordic culture, it’s easy to see why some might sympathize with Ulfric’s cause, even though he’s under the Thalmor’s thumb, too.
12Molag Bal
Daedric Princesby definition are evil forces, but not all of them are actually equally as nefarious. It’s hard to say exactly who takes the cake as the evilest one, but Molag Bal ranks pretty high due to his horrible background lore, most of which is too inappropriate to detail here.
That said, players don’t need to dive deep intoElder Scrollslore to figure out why Molag Bal is an awful being. His quest, House of Horrors, has players lure in and kill a man just because.
11Arondil
Not everyone will recognize Arondil’s name because he’s more of a side character toSkyrim. He only makes a brief appearance in a side quest that has players investigating the Yngvild cave. Arondil is a necromancer, who has been exiledfrom Dawnstarand now lives with his host of female draugr servants.
Through his journals, the player will discover his sick fascination with the dead female draugr he has at his every beck and call. It really doesn’t get darker than this when it comes toSkyrim’sside quests, and he’s truly the lowest of the low.
10Thonar Silver-Blood
Beginning with some of the milder crimes of these villains, there’s corruption and abuse of powerin Markarth. Thonar Silver-Blood is one of the two brothers of a prestigious family that basically calls the shots around the city, and he coerced some of the inhabitants of The Reach to sell their lands to him.
What makes Thonar truly evil and great is the fact that he has immense influence and he’s seemingly unbeatable. With how much his family owns around Markarth, it’s hard to turn one corner without running into something he owns.
9Eola
Another inhabitant from the ruthless city ofMarkarthis Eola, although perhaps the true evil here is not the woman herself but the Daedric Lord behind all her questionable practices. Eola is a member of Namira’s cult, an underground group of cannibals in Markarth.
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Eola pretty much makes the Dragonborn turn to her cult and then demands them to bring an innocent victim to their hideout, only to have them killed. She’s crazy and completely evil, with zero compassion.
8Maven Black-Briar
One could argue that Maven Black-Briar is possibly the strongest and most influential character in all ofSkyrim. This is very possible, considering how deep her connections run. She has people she can employ in the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood, for instance.
Maven’s a stone-cold businesswoman who only thinks of her own interests and treats others as below herself. She doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty with corruption either to ensure she has a financial edge against her competitors.
7Astrid
What makes Astrid such a great villain is that so many players feel a kinship with her. This woman takes the brand new member of the Brotherhood under their wing, only to turn around and betray them in the vilest of ways, resulting in the death and destruction of their fellow assassins.
Astrid’s greatest flaw is her selfishness, and her inability to be honest and loyal even to her own people. Although her death is emotional, it’s entirely what she deserves after bringing destruction into theDark Brotherhoodsanctuary.
6Calixto Corrium
Another seemingly kind and innocent NPC who turns out to be evil, Calixto begins as a simple man wanting to share the strange items he’s discovered all around Skyrim in his shop. However, as a string of murders ravages through the city of Windhelm, the Dragonborn’s investigation soon leads them to him.
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Calixto is a crazed man, driven to the end of his wits by the death of his sister. As a result, he began practicing the forbidden art of necromancy, which led to him taking the lives of multiple innocent victims in the city in cold blood.
5Mercer Frey
Betrayal seems to be a common theme on this list, and Mercer is a great example of it. Although Mercer’s never shown to be particularly likable due to his irritable and know-it-all superiority complex, the Dragonborn still sides with him when trying to trace down Karliah to save the Guild’s future.
However, Mercer doesn’t care about the guild. He’s been stealing from his brothers and sisters for years, and even betrayed a Daedric Lord, Nocturnal, for his own benefit. He truly is in love with himself only.
4Elenwen
A woman who has even more power and connections than Maven Black-Briar would probably be Elenwen, the ambassador of theAltmeriDominion in Skyrim. All Thalmor agents answer to her and her secret plans of breaking Skyrim from the Empire on purpose.
Elenwen represents exactly the kind of cutthroat opportunism that thehigh elvesof Altmeri Dominion are famous for. She would start a war without blinking an eye if that war would help her people get into a position of power.
