If one thing is clear, is that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim caused a sensation when it hit shelves back in 2011. Millions of gamers the world over were eagerly awaiting the release of Bethesda’s epic role-playing game, a game which lets you take control of a messianic hero in a medieval fantasy world (and fight dragons too…).
Skyrim sold millions of copies since launch and has been ported to many platforms after its initial launch on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3, including the Nintendo Switch.
The game still has an active community of players and modders, with thousands of “user mods” having been released for the game over the years. These change aspects of the game like the weather or vegetation, making the game world prettier. Others have overhauled the game’s intro sequence by adding content cut by Bethesda. Total conversion mods, which are entire games in their own right, also exist, such as the highly-rated mod Enderal by German crew SureAI.
Crazy mods, such a one which lets you fight your enemies (including dragons!) with a chair are also available…
Developer Bethesda, the people behind the Elder Scrolls games, has always been keen on modding and has been open to users tinkering with their games, and Skyrim is no exception.
And given Skyrim’s long-term success, it’s no surprise that people keep churning out mods for the game, such as the recently released “Shirley – A Skyrim follower mod”. As was recently covered by Eurogamer, this mod adds Shirley Curry, also known as “Skyrim Grandma” to the game as a follower.
Curry made headlines in 2019 when she was summoned to Bethesda’s studio in Maryland for motion capture work, so that she could appear in the upcoming Elder Scrolls VI video game (the character she’ll be playing in the game is unknown right now).
You see, Curry runs a YouTube channel where she plays video games, and is a known fan of Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls games.
She had lamented, though, that taking into account her age (Curry was 82 at the time) she likely wouldn’t get a chance to play the next Elder Scrolls game, which is unlikely to arrive before 2023 (Bethesda has admitted that The Elder Scrolls VI is still a long ways off, and has not yet discussed further details about the game).
Fortunately for her, aside from Bethesda hearing her pleas and choosing to immortalize her in the next Elder Scrolls game, a new mod for Skyrim will let you have her as a follower too, as stated earlier in this article.
And according to the mod description on nexusmod.com, grandma Shirley will be one mean follower in Skyrim, one who’s not just around to “carry your burdens”.
Voiced by Curry herself, her Skyrim character lives north west of the Silent Moons Camp (which itself is north west of the game’s city of Whiterun). You’ll find her in a location called Brightwood, which also serves as a player home.
And it’s likely that more than one Skyrim fan will be looking forward to doing battle with Skyrim’s fearsome dragons together with the Skyrim Grandma in the game, that’s for sure.
Read more: Shooting birds out of the sky, and using a chair as a weapon in Skyrim