Bugs in a Jar

A small 'guide' about the strange markings on the bottom of the lids of the jars. Some of these markings resemble the ancient runes used throughout Europe between 150 and 1100 AD.

Introduction

In Skyrim you may find 5 jars with a living bug inside:

• Bee in a jar - Goldenglow Estate
  
• Butterfly in a jar - Alchemist's Shack
  
• Dragonfly in a jar - Dushnik Yal
  
• Moth in a jar - Duskglow Cravice
  
• Torchbug in a jar - Frostflow Lighthouse

None of these jars serve a particular purpose. You can use the jars as decoration or just sell them for 1 septim. But taking a closer look you will find strange markings on the bottom lid of each jar. The characters look like Germannic, Proto-Norse or Oldnorse runes, or plain Latin characters.

Bee in a jar

The bottom lid of the jar holds three characters as shown in the picture. These three characters could represent respectivily (from left to right):

• a Latin D or a Germannic/Proto-Norse/Oldnorse Þ (TH)
  
• a Latin K or an Oldnorse U (also V, W, O, Y or Ø)
  
• an Oldnorse A or Latin T

This jar can only be found once as the zone never resets.

Butterfly in a jar

The bottom lid of the jar holds three characters as shown in the picture. These three characters could represent respectivily (from left to right):

• a Latin P or a Germannic/Proto-Norse W, but could also be an Oldnose Þ (TH)
  
• a Latin I or a Germannic/Proto-Norse I or an Oldnorse I, Æ, J or E
  
• a Latin G, a horizontally mirrored Germannic/Proto-Norse W or a horizontally mirrored Oldnorse Þ (TH)

This jar can be found more than once as the zone resets after clearing.

Dragonfly in a jar

The bottom lid of the jar holds three characters as shown in the picture. These three characters could represent respectivily (from left to right):
[/list]

• a Latin V or an Oldnorse K
  
• a Latin W or a vertically mirrored Germannic/Proto-Norse E
  
• an Oldnorse A or Latin T

This jar can only be found once as the zone never resets.

Moth in a jar

The bottom lid of the jar holds two characters as shown in the picture. These two characters could represent respectivily (from left to right):

• a Latin M or a Germannic/Proto-Norse E
  
• an Oldnorse A or Latin T

This jar can be found more than once as the zone resets after clearing.

Torchbug in a jar

The bottom lid of the jar holds four characters as shown in the picture. These four characters could represent respectivily (from left to right):

• a Latin Z, but could also be a horizontally mirrored Germannic/Proto-Norse S
  
• a Latin W or a vertically mirrored Germannic/Proto-Norse E
  
• a Latin K (or an Oldnorse U (also V, W, O, Y or Ø)
  
• an Oldnorse A or Æ, or Latin T

This jar can be found more than once as the zone resets after clearing.

Runes

The first runic inscriptions date back to around 150 AD. Up till about 500 AD the Elder Futhark with 24 runes were used by all the Germannic peoples of Europe, including Scandinavia. This changed drastically after 500 AD when the Scandinavian peoples decreased the number of runes to 16 in the Younger Futhark, mainly during the Viking age between 750 and 1100 AD. The Angles, Frisians and Saxons (and maybe some other Germannic tribes) increased the number of runes to 31 or 33 after 500 AD.

Reading runes is quite difficult, in particular the Younger Futhark with its 16 runes in which a single rune could be used for various characters. Runes could be mirrored both horizontally and vertically. Also known are the socalled bindrunes where two of the same or different runes were combined into one rune. Most of us are used to read from left to right and top to bottom, but runes may have been written from right to left and top to bottom or bottom to top. To make it even more difficult as lines of runes may have been mixed and lines should for instance be read: first line, fourth line, second line, third line.

Question

What could be the purpose of the markings on the bottom of the lids of these jars? Could there be some "secret" hidden message? As far as I know these markings are the only ones I have found in the game sofar, but if you have found more, please let me know.

[Altbert]

Just saw the video from Camelworks. Although I couldn't follow it completely, I did understand that the jars were supposed to be part of a quest, but later cancelled (like the Windhelm Arena and the Edda quest). Their detective work on the runes is not quite correct. Some of the characters that look like runes, never changed throughout a 1,000 years, although their appearance may have just slightly changed.

[Crack Baby]

It appears to be some form of... ancient text skipper.

[BLUEMOON687]

I found the video I was talking about, it's a video by camelworks called "Skyrim's Bugs In Jars SOLVED - Elder Scrolls Detective." It answers basically everything involved with the bugs in jars thing.

[Altbert]

Thanks! I didn't know that. This could mean that the marking intentionally had some meaning. I have been puzzling but haven't found something meaningful.

[BLUEMOON687]

I watched a thing about this, the jars were part of a quest-line that just never went anywhere. The developers never found a way to make it work or something. A bunch of developers and other people confirmed it aswell.