The NPC Erik The Slayer is named after Erik West, who's online alias was "Immok The Slayer". Bethesda was so impressed with his knowledge of Oblivion that they gave him an in depth tour of Bethesda studios and decided to create a character based on Erik. Erik died of cancer in May 2011, and never got to see the release of Skyrim. The Tour of Bethesda's workspace was set-up by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Bethesda was approached to make a game based on George R.R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice, from which the TV series Game of Thrones is also derived. Although they wanted to do it, they turned down the offer to focus on Skyrim.

The appearance of Draugr is randomized and not gender specific. This means that a Draugr can spawn with a female body and a beard.

While a dragon corpse is burning, the effect can be seen from the world map.

According to pre-production concept art, Chaurus were originally planned to be mounts for Falmer riders.

The quest "A Night to Remember" may be a reference to the movie The Hangover, as both involve characters getting hungover and retracing their steps to find out what happened during the previous night.

By using console commands and editing the game's files to disable the game's boundaries, it is possible to travel outside of Skyrim's map. Going out far enough south, it's possible to find an untextured place-holder for the White-Gold Tower where the Imperial City should be, as well as the overall landscape of Cyrodiil around it.

There is a room in Skyrim that holds the corpses of all deceased, unique NPCs. The room can only be accessed through the use of console commands, and has four exits that lead to a black void. Should the dead character be resurrected through console commands, most NPCs will be hostile towards the player.

The quest "Mind of Madness" has parallels with the story "Alice in Wonderland", where Alice is instructed by The Mad Hatter to do several menial tasks while he has a tea party. When you do finish the quest, you get the staff of "Wabbajack", a reference to the poem "Jabberwocky".

In the Heroic Fantasy book 'The Name of The Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss, the main character Kvothe stumbles at one point (Page 22 in the attached PDF) and says "I took an arrow in the knee on my way through the Eld three summers ago" The book was published in 2007 and might be where Bethesda got the line from. If this is the case, then 'arrow in the knee' may be an Easter egg or reference to the novel.

The leader of the Thieves Guild, Mercer Frey, has the same voice actor as another well known thief, Garrett from the Thief series. Both are voiced by Stephen Russell.

In the games files there is an unused Pit or Arena Called "Windhelm Pit Entrance". Entering the Pit spawns 2 Argonians (Both Male), Nords, Dark Elves and Imperials NPCs, They are all called 'Pit Fans', who are supposed to be spectators. It is believed that Windhelm was going to have an arena at some point of development where you would face against animals or NPC Bandits. There are also Pit guards who are fully voiced, but they cannot be viewed during normal gameplay. The place can be viewed by entering the console commands "coc WindhelmPitEntrance" and "coc WindhelmPitExterior".

Charles Martinet, voice actor of several main characters from the Mario series, voices Paarthunax, a dragon.

Southwest of Winterhold, in Bleakcoast Cave, there is a part of the cave guarded by frost trolls where you will find parts of a skeleton hanging from the icy ceiling. On the ground below it is a Steel Greatsword of Weariness. This is a reference to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in which there is a scene where Luke Skywalker is stuck to the ceiling of an icy wampa cave and must use the Force to retrieve his lightsaber to cut himself free.

At the very top of the Throat of the World, there is a special pickaxe that the player can obtain. The name of this pickaxe is 'Notched pickaxe', and is thought to be a reference to Minecraft creator Notch.

In Endon's House in Markarth, there is a shelf in the back of the room with Sliced Goat Cheese, a row of Garlic, and some Glow Dust arranged to look like a scene from Pac-Man.

Slightly Northeast of Bleakwind Basin, there is a pond with a skeletal arm holding a leveled sword, which is a reference to the Lady in the Lake in the legend of King Arthur.

The Dragonborn DLC contains a reference to Morrowind in which a Wizard casts a spell attempting to fly but winds up ultimately falling to his death.

The DLC Expansion for Skyrim, "Dragonborn", contains many of the music tracks that were previously found in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. This is fitting, seeing as the game is set on the island of Solstheim, in close proximity to the Morrowind region of Tamriel.

It's possible that the popular phrase, "I used to be an adventurer like you, until I took an arrow in the knee" was put into the game because Skyrim was the first Elder Scrolls game to not include greaves (knee armor).