Skyrim Cut Content Restoration (2025)

Safe to use

About this mod

This mod restores many pieces of cut content, such as some misc quests, locations, items, NPCs, and two spells. Attempting to both remain faithful to Bethesda’s original vision and the final release of the vanilla game.

Skyrim's files contain aplethora of randomly cut content including quests, locations, NPCs, spells, and much more.
This mod aims to restore a significant part of that content while taking into consideration that a lot has changed between old dev builds and the final release. This means some things may stray slightly from Bethesda's original interpretation. An example of this is Frost-River Farm. When Bethesda cut the farm, they replaced it with a dragon mound and reused the NPCs in the Missing Apprentices quest. So, in order to replicate it in the original location I had to integrate it with the dragon mound in a way that makes sense. That being, when it opens off-screen (during Diplomatic Immunity) the farm gets destroyed. And for the NPCs, I had to recreate new ones. Another example is Iron-Tree Mill. The original spot where this was placed is in the middle of a cliff near Ironback Hideout. So I had to move it somewhere else that made more sense.
Finally another example is Hoarfrost Grotto. This cave was originally two small rooms with a direct sightline to the boss room, which is bad dungeon design according to Bethesda. So I changed the layout to be more in keeping with the finished dungeons. I generally try to avoid taking liberties such as that one if I can avoid it.
That said, this mod should be quite accurate to the original content.

It's also good to keep in mind that things were cut for reasons other than deadlines. For instance, they no longer fit the game's overall vision or they were just genuinelybad. There are a few things I left out for these reasons.

Incompatible with Cutting Room Floor

Much of this info comes from:tcrf.net

Locations

• Bear’s Cave Mill: South of Pinewatch in its original spot before it was cut.
• Iron-Tree Mill: I had to move this as it looks like Bethesda reworked the heightmap at the location’s original spot (probably why it was cut in the first place) You can find it on the coast near the border with High Rock. It was originally supposed to be near where Ironback Hideout is now.
• Barleydark Farm: Farm near the puzzle pillars in Whiterun Hold restored at the original spot.
• Frost-River Farm: Restored in its original spot east of the Solitude Sawmill. Except it looks like after Bethesda removed the farm, they replaced it with a dragon mound. So I made the decision that when the dragon mound opens, the farm gets burned down :(. Bethesda never intended this to happen but I figured it makes more sense than having nobody at the farm acknowledge the fact the mound opened. The mound opens off-screen during 'Diplomatic Immunity'. But the dragon is long gone by the time you get there.
• Castle Dour Tower: Restores access to General Tullius’ private tower where you can also get a cool view of Solitude.
• Dark Chasm:A small unremarkable cave that was supposed to appear in the Soul Carin(added in v1.2)
• Hoarfrost Grotto:A small ice cave home to a frost atronach. I've adjusted the layout a bit to be consistent with Bethesda's finished ice caves and added a necromancer to explain the atronach.I took more liberty with this one as the original was very unfinished (v1.3)
• Riverwatch:A small snowy wolf den that was supposed to appear between Kynesgrove and Windhelm. Not much was known about this place until I saw some screenshots of the original and recreated it. It's almost an exact replica of the original. (v1.3.4)
• Uglarz' Hut:Not actually cut content, this place is a made up location that's necessary for FreeFormNarzulburWifeQuest to make sense.(v2.0)
• Restored a POI that was supposed to appear in the Whiterun tundra which involves a werewolf in a cage.(v2.0)
  
  

Quests

• Filling Soul Gems:Sergiusneeds you to help fill a grand soul gem for him (repeatable) (added in v1.3.2)
• Rogue Wizard:Tolfdir would like you to "Take care of" a wizard who's been wrecking havok, it's quite possible that said mage felt the effects of the Eye closing. (Repeatable radiant quest which starts after you finish 'The Eye of Magnus') According to the Prima guide this quest isn't supposed to have a reward (added in v1.2)
• Supply Line (Misc quest): Ulren wants you to deliver some of his ‘Soon to be famous” Frost-River mead to various taverns in Skyrim. (Spoiler: it doesn’t become famous) Ulren dies once Frost-River Farm is burned down so you won't be able to get the quest at that point
• Missing Apprentices (Misc quest): Phinis has been wondering what happened to four college apprentices: Rundi, Borvir, Ilas-Tei, and Yisra. This quest starts without quest markers since Phinis is unable to give directions as he’s unsure where they are. (This quest is not related to the other four apprentices or the dremora in The Midden in any way, that’s a whole separate story)
  The dialogue to start this quest opens up once you listen to Phinis' lecture on college policy (lectures are held at around 2 pm every day)
• FreeFormNarzulburWifeQuest:Chief Mauhulak is looking for a wife and only YOU can help him.(v2.0)
• Runil's Dark past:Not really a quest, but uses a quest so it can run. You can now learn about Runil's past.(v2.0)

Items

• Sild’s Staff: Belongs to Sild the Warlock in Rannveig’s Fast. Summons subjugated ghosts.
• Golldir’s Note to Vals Veran: a note with some backstory for Vals Veran
• Briarheart Geis: Unique axe wielded by the Forsworn boss at Lost Valley Redoubt
• Mzinchaleft guard’s note: a note carried by the bandit standing guard outside Maluril’s room in Mzinchaleft.
• Unsent Afflicted’s Letter: Contains some interesting backstory for the Afflicted in Bthardamz as well as mentioning the state of Cul Aloue in the 4th era)
• Nord Hero Arrows:Unimplemented arrows for the nord hero set, can be crafted at the Skyforge
• Some more robes which were unused. You can buy them at Radiant Raiment in Solitude.
• The Secrets of Ragnvald: A poem which can be found in Ragnvald on a pedestal in the entry hall.
• The Holdings of Jarl Gjalund book cover: The original book cover intended to be used has been restored.
• Letter From Harkon:This unused note will now appear in Malkus' inventory (v1.3.3)
• Herebane's Fortress and Herebane's Courage:These were supposed to be found on Herebane's Corpse in Kilkreath Ruins. (The dungeon was originally supposed to be filled with regular corpses and ghosts, but it looks like Bethesda wanted to make the dungeon a bit more unique and changed it to shades and desecrated corpses. Since Herebane is a regular corpse, they removed him. Though near the entrance inside there is a desecrated corpse with a closed imperial helmet. I'm confident this was where he was placed originally based on FormIDs)(v2.0)
• Shalidor's Insights: Magicka: Scroll which was originally intended for the reward table of its related quest(v2.0)
  

• Terek: The true owner of Breezehome, you’re just a guest. If you want him gone, you’ll have to kill him. (Separate ESL because he's annoying lol)
• Miners at Saarthal: Some people the College hired to excavate Saarthal.
• Half moon mill guard: The Guard who was supposed to appear at Half-Moon Mill has been restored.
• Hern has also been re-enabled so you can hear his unique lines of dialogue which he says if you haven’t started the DB contract against him.
• Mazgak: Hunter intended for Ill Met by Moonlight
• Thjollod: Hunter intended for Ill Met by Moonlight
• Viding: Hunter intended for Ill Met by Moonlight
• The Spirit of the AncientTraveler: The boss at Wayward Pass. Spawnsif you take his skull.
• Eyldi the Bear: Retired nord hero who lives at Bear’s Cave Mill.
• Trilf: lives at Iron-Tree Mill with his brother Steirod
• Steirod: Trilf’s brother, he also lives at Iron-Tree Mill
• Bronvir: Lives at Frost-River Farm with his brother Ulren, Originally it was Borvir who lived there but when Bethesda cut the farm they reused the NPCs for the Missing Apprentices quest so I had to make replacements.
• Ulren (same story as Bronvir except he’s the alternative to Rundi)
• Mithorpa Nasyal: a boring dunmer farmer with only two (three if you’re dunmer) unique lines of dialogue. He has a cool farm.
• Skeggr: One of the three guards intended for Mercer Frey's house which never got implemented. In the final game the house uses bandit placeholders.(v1.3)
• Hrolmir:Another guard for Mercer's house. He replaces the bandit wizard that was disabled in Mercer's basement.(v1.3)
• Reves: Another guard in Mercer's House who never got implemented.(v1.3)
• Talib: Miner in Stonehills. His only unique dialogue is a scene that plays out between him and Gestur Rockbreaker. He sleeps in the unoccupied bedroll at the camp. (v1.3)
• College Guard:Added a college guard to protect the miners at Saarthal. They don't have any unique dialogue however. v1.4
• Muril: A restored Thalmor agent who was supposed to accompany Estormo at the end of Labyrinthian.(v2.0)
• Castor the Puzzlemaker's Corpse:A corpse that was supposed to appear at the end of Damphall Mine.(v2.0)
• Henrik:A victim originally intended for Wolfskull Cave.(v2.0)
  

• Fade Other: An invisibility spell that you can cast on other people. NPCs have unique dialogue lines when casting it on them.
• Spectral Arrow: reward for completing the ‘Infiltration’ quest. Can be found inside the boss chest at the end of Treva's Watch.
• Fire, Shock, and Frost Flow spells:From the Dragonborn DLC. These are lower level versions of the 'Wall' spells and aren't as good.(v2.0)
• Circle of Vitality as well as its scroll:You can purchase the spell book from Colette after Restoration Ritual Spell. (v2.0)
• Unused Scrolls have now been injected into levelled lists (via script)(v2.0)
• Added a Fade Other Scroll for consistency with other spells having scrolls.(v2.0)
  
  

• Restored a scene intended for the Riften Ratway where Drahff tries to rob you instead of attacking on sight. (v1.3)
• Restoring Talib also restores a scene between him and Gestur Rockbreaker at Stonehills (v1.3)
• Restored a scene between Skulvar and Uthgerd outside the Whiterun stables(Separate optional download)
• Restored Xander's shopping scenes by allowing him to travel up into the city(v1.3.3)
• Restored Mikael's Bannered Mare scene(v1.3.3)
• Restored a line of dialogue for Potema's escape during The Man Who Cried Wolf.(v2.0)
• Restored some scenes that were supposed to play at Falkreath's Graveyard.(v2.0)
  

• Castle Karstaag map marker: The map marker that was originally supposed to be used at Castle Karstaag has been restored.
• Pinewood Grove map marker:Adds a map marker for an area referredto as Pinewood Grove in the ck. This is actually the plot of land that you build Lakeview Manor on so when you buy the plot of land the marker gets disabled since you're destroyingthe grove.(added in v1.2)
• Solstheim Mudcrabs: Added some of the unused Solstheim mudcrabs which are covered in ash (added in v1.2)
• Windhelm & Dawnstar Dock markers:Re-enabled the disabled dock markers added to Windhelm and Dawnstar by Dawnguard (added in v1.3.2)
• EEC NPCS:Restored the original names for the otherwise generic npcs in the East Empire Company warehouse in Solitude. (v1.3.4)
• Both unused spiders from the Dragonborn DLCv1.4
  
• Telvanni Banner at Tel Mithrynv1.4
• Added the scorpion trap which was intended for the Forgotten Vale. (v2.0)
• Staff of Fire Rune, Frost Rune, and Shock Rune.(v2.0)
• Re-enabled some dialogue for Barbas.(v2.0)
  

I've also released Granite Hill - Cut Content Restorationwhich isn't included in this mod

I also recommendExalderan'scut content mods for content not included here.