Summary
Jarl Balgruuf the Greater is a memorable figure to many players inSkyrim, but a cut quest involving him and his family could have had remarkable consequences. Granted, the man himself still plays a role in several major events, largely due to Whiterun’s importance inSkyrim’s story. This is especially true with Whiterun being the first major city that the player is directed to in-game. However, Balgruuf’s role could have turned out much differently if one quest hadn’t been cut down. Had it not, then the future of Whiterun as a whole could have been called into question.
While there are manyJarls in the land of Skyrimfor the player to meet, Balgruuf may be the most popular. He’s the first one that they will encounter through following the story, and he’s one of the most reasonable of the bunch. Balgruuf stands out as a fair and wise ruler who treats the player well and is sincerely grateful for his assistance. Since many of the game’s Jarls show many flaws of their own, such as ill tempers or lacking competence, it makes players appreciate Balgruuf that much more. In all honesty, he could make a fine replacement for High King Torygg if he wanted.
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Balgruuf’s castle is actually the home ofSkyrim’s Ebony Blade artifact, potentially one of the strongest weapons in the game. The quest to unlock it, The Whispering Door, involves talking to one of Balgruuf’s sons, Nelkir, to find the source of his recent unsettling behavior. As it turns out, Mephala, the Daedric Prince of Secrets, was speaking to him to sow distrust towards his father. However, Mephala instead switches focus to the player and grants them the Ebony Blade, a weapon that goes stronger whenever it’s used to kill a friendly character. It’s a weapon custom-made to be wielded by a treacherous Dragonborn.
Some cut content could have made The Whispering Door into one ofSkyrim’s most disturbing Daedric quests. Originally, rather than giving up on Nelkir, Mephala was meant to not only keep influencing him, but affect Balgruuf’s other children as well. This would have eventually escalated to the children working together to kill Balgruuf, leaving his brother Hrongar to take the throne. Unfortunately, Hrongar lacks his brother’s cool head and has a much quicker temper, making him a much worse candidate for Jarl. The full impact of his potential reign is unknown, but losing Balgruuf alone would have a major negative impact on Whiterun.
It’s not completely clear why this version of The Whispering Door ended up beingcontent cut fromSkyrim’s final release. It’s possible that the idea of Balgruuf being killed by his own children was considered too dark by Bethesda, so the developer dropped it. Another theory is that Balgruuf may have been to important a character to abruptly kill off in a side quest, or perhaps the developers liked him too much to do that to him, necessitating a rewrite. In the end, the changes to The Whispering Door ended up sparing Balgruuf’s life, letting him keep his throne as the rightful Jarl of Whiterun.
In the final version of The Whispered Door, Balgruuf barely plays a minor role at best, with issues such asSkyrim’s civil war storylinecommanding more of his attention. This is probably the best possible outcome, as losing Balgruuf may have been too high a price to pay, even for a weapon as strong as the Ebony Blade. While Balgruuf’s children aren’t the nicest kids inSkyrim, but at least they never attempt to actually murder anyone in the final game, let alone their own father.Skyrim’s cut version of The Whispering Door could have taken the game down a seriously dark turn.
Skyrimis available now for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
