At Last, the High Hrothgar Frost Troll Has Been Defeated!

Any gamer would tell you that nothing is more fearsome than when you first encounter the Frost Troll en route to High Hrothgar in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. If you're like me, your character is way to weak to even put up a fight against the beast. Must've died several times before I managed to run past it. Even when I created a second character to spice things up, I relied on guile to sneak/run past it. One feature of sandbox games is that not everything a PC encounters matches that character's level. Some are too weak. Others like the Frost Troll serve as reminders that the PC is not too big for its britches. A quirk of Skyrim is that dragons become manageable foes far sooner than the Frost Troll. I remember my excitement when I finally downed it. My PC was at range while summoned creatures and follower fought it up close. Very satisfying indeed!


Still whenever my main character would return to High Hrothgar, such as to learn a location of another Shout, I'd just take advantage of Fast Travel to travel there. Much, much to perilous to face the dreaded Frost Troll. After a six month sabbatical from playing Skyrim and an even longer sabbatical from playing the main quest, I decided it was time for the Nord Thorson to pursue the quest to defeat Alduin once more. Upon learning that High Hrothgar was the destination, I decided that I wouldn't use Fast Travel at all. Thorson travelled from Sky Haven Temple all the way to High Hrothgar on foot. A big change as its been years since a character of mine travelled such a long distance on foot. My second character a Nord name Hragi frequently uses Fast Travel to get places; and Thorson hadn't travelled that path since first reaching High Hrothgar the first time.  So I decided it was time that the Nord Thorson walk that path from long ago and finally face that Frost Troll.


Up the slope of High Hrothgar, Thorson traversed until he encountered a Frost Troll. The quick work that his follower and summoned Flame Atronach made of the Frost Troll felt... anticlimactic. Barely got a hit in! Plus it didn't seem right. I admit its been a year or three since I last made the trek so I couldn't rule anything out with any confidence. Onwards I went. Finally, I reached the familiar (and dreaded!) encounter. Sure, the follower and Conjured Flame Atronach fought it. However, I wasted no time having my character engage it. Nothing more satisfying than the cinematic display of the very character that had been savagely trounced repeatedly by that very Frost Troll dispatching said beast. The troll being absorbed into a Soul Gem was icing on the cake. Then the mighty hero Thorson continued his merry way up to High Hrothgar.