Part of the reason that The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is so successful is that it's such a wonderfully detailed world. Even in 2021, 10 years after the game's first release, players are still discovering little details that Bethesda wove into the land of the Nords to make it more detailed and compelling. Naturally, these details include little references to the previous Elder Scrolls games, since Skyrim is only the latest in a line of epic stories. One of those references stems from the Dragonborn DLC, in which players can fight a new incarnation of a boss from The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind.
The Morrowind boss in question is Karstaag, a frost giant who appeared in the Bloodmoon expansion for the game. Although Karstaag was a pretty minor character in the expansion's story, he's known as a pretty formidable boss. That reputation could be what earned him his appearance in the Dragonborn expansion, where players can find Karstaag's skull and use it to summon him from beyond the grave. Since not every Skyrim player has necessarily been playing Elder Scrolls games since Morrowind, Karstaag's history is worth revisiting. After all, he's a perfect example of how Bethesda creates both large and small stories that span the Elder Scrolls franchise.
Karstaag's Fall in Morrowind
Karstaag's appearance in Skyrim immediately becomes less surprising when considering his homeland. He's native to Solstheim, an island that straddles the border between the Dunmer land of Morrowind and the Nord land of Skyrim. Karstaag is a particularly powerful and influential frost giant who keeps a castle on Solstheim, ruling over a clan of the goblin-like Rieklings that live on the island. Notably, although Karstaag is a giant, he apparently has a peaceful relationship with the nearby Skaal Village, as indicated by some Skaal citizens who speak warmly of him.
Much of Karstaag's role in the Bloodmoon expansion of Morrowind involves his absence, oddly enough. When the Nerevarine, Morrowind's player character, speaks to the people of Skaal Village on coming to Solstheim, some will say that Karstaag seems to have gone missing. That point is driven home when Bloodmoon's plot eventually sends players to Castle Karstaag, where players find various Rieklings vying for control of the castle in their master's absence. One way or another, players end up investigating and exploring Castle Karstaag, and though they don't find the castle's namesake there, the battle with Karstaag is just around the corner at that point.
The cause of Karstaag's disappearance ties directly into the overarching plot of Bloodmoon, in which the Daedric Lord Hircine is the main antagonist. Bloodmoon is all about a prophecy leading up to a great hunt organized by Hircine, and it turns out Karstaag was spirited away by Hircine to be a part of his hunt. Hircine even thought that Karstaag would win the hunt, and it's not hard to tell why, considering Karstaag's complete immunity to multiple damage types and his high damage reflection. Nevertheless, Karstaag's tale in Bloodmoon and Morrowind ends when the Nerevarine slays him on the road to confronting Hircine.
Karstaag's Return in Skyrim
Karstaag doesn't have anything to do with Skyrim's main story, but he appears once again in Skyrim's version of Solstheim if players seek him out. Skyrim players who own the Dragonborn DLC can journey to Solstheim to defeat Miraak the First Dragonborn, after followers of Miraak make an attempt on the player's life. Solstheim has changed a lot in the 200 years since the events of Morrowind and Bloodmoon. Castle Karstaag has been reduced to ruins, although it's still populated by Rieklings and players can still navigate the remains of the frost giant's home.
Karstaag's skull finally comes into play in the Dragonborn DLC. Northeast of Saering's Watch, players can find a location called the Glacial Cave. At a glance, it's a fairly unremarkable cave, populated by a few hostile Rieklings and filled with a bit of loot. If players go all the way to the southern end of the cave, however, they'll find the skull of a frost giant — Karstaag's skull, to be specific. It seems likely that, after Karstaag's death during Hircine's hunt, some Rieklings claimed and preserved the skull of their former master, leading it to eventually fall into the Dragonborn's hands.
The last step to seeing Karstaag once more involves actually tracking down the rest of his remains. Players need to enter the Castle Karstaag Ruins, either by picking the lock on the front door or by fighting through the caverns beneath the castle that are filled with Rieklings. Once players get to Karstaag's throne room, they can place Karstaag's skull on his throne to summon his ghost, immediately leaping into battle. As a level 90 enemy, Karstaag will challenge even some of the strongest Skyrim players, so anyone seeking out this long-lost Bloodmoon boss had better come prepared.
The Connections Throughout Elder Scrolls
Karstaag's lore isn't particularly complicated, since he's mostly just a local figure who got caught in Hircine's games, but it's still exciting to see a character from a Morrowind expansion return in a Skyrim expansion. It makes sense that Karstaag could be found in Solstheim 200 years later, but even so, Bethesda could've focused on adding wholly new content to the island rather than baking a callback boss battle into the game. It's great that Bethesda brought Karstaag back, though; moments like that are what make the settings of Elder Scrolls feel like a real world with real history.
It seems unlikely that Elder Scrolls players will see Karstaag again anytime soon, since even his ghost has been slain now, and The Elder Scrolls 6 could be far from Solstheim geographically if it takes place somewhere like Hammerfell. Still, one hopes that Bethesda finds ways to tell similar stories that connect the games in Elder Scrolls 6. Karstaag is a fun tertiary figure in the franchise, memorable for being a formidable foe, if not a character that the player develops a significant relationship with. Hopefully The Elder Scrolls 6 is filled with unique minor characters and memorable battles that tie the game into the greater franchise, just like Karstaag.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is available now for PC, PS3, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
