"Skyrim" is a game so beloved by millions, that even over a decade after its release, it remains relevant. This is just the case here again, as a bunch of scientists tried using facial recognition technology on a skeleton in the game to see what they could come up with.
According to IGN, the scientists "reconstructed" the "Skyrim" skeleton into what amounts to a "grumpy-looking caveman." They shared the results of their efforts on Twitter, with the post earning 2.8k likes at the time of this writing:
Facial reconstruction of an ancient Atmoran from Saarthal, dated to the late Merethic Era. pic.twitter.com/jz8R5IgsT7
— Ancestral Whispers (@Sulkalmakh) April 1, 2022
While the project is more or less about scientists having a little bit of fun, they're not about to make it sound non-official. As such, they gave a very serious-sounding name for their specimen: "An ancient Atmoran from Saarthal, dated to the late Merethic Era." When in reality, they just took the ubiquitous skeleton model from the popular "Elder Scrolls" game and used their advanced tech on it.
Eventually, the project (and the tweet) would be noticed by former "Skyrim" dev Jonah Lobe. It turned out that he was actually the one who designed the skeleton, and he gave the scientists props for producing a reconstruction accurate to what he initially wanted the ancient Atmorans to look like.
In a tweet, Lobe said that he wanted "Skyrim" skeletons to have "thick, sloping brows & big jaws/teeth just like 'heavy neanderthals.' According to PCGamer, Lobe mentioned that he wanted the skeletons (meant to attack the player) to look intimidating but without the stereotypical "meanie eyes" you often see on fantasy skeletons.
I built Skyrim's skeletons with thick, sloping brows & big jaws/teeth. I didn't want them looking pale and delicate, I wanted them to look like heavy neanderthals.
— Jonah Lobe - "Quiet: Level One" on Kickstarter! (@Jonahlobe) April 7, 2022
And now, ten years later, these bones have been reconstructed into a human face. AND HE'S BEAUTIFUL. 😍 https://t.co/DpvXx0Wpee pic.twitter.com/Lp0XC14KPH
Safe to say, the Bethesda dev was very impressed with the facial reconstruction technology's results.
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Facial Reconstruction Technology At A Glance
The technology used to reconstruct the face of the "Skyrim" skeleton is not something to scoff at. Modern scientists use this tech to "bring back to life" people who have died hundreds (sometimes even thousands) of years ago with the highest degree of accuracy possible.
One good example of this came a few years back. A team of researchers reconstructed the face of a man who died during the 13th Century. Called Context 958, the man was likely a victim of the Bubonic Plague (aka the Black Death). The resulting reconstruction was the visage of a middle-aged man which wouldn't look out of place in the modern west even if he lived almost 700 years ago:
If this was made possible using the remains of an actual person, then the fictional "Skyrim" skeleton would have been a relative piece of cake. This type of reconstruction was achieved by using a computer to "interpret" the intimate details of the skull, then sculpting the long-gone soft facial tissues at an accuracy rate of around 70%, according to The Conversation.
Much of the results of this tech tend to be received with either curiosity or "guarded apprehension," as they could end up looking very realistic. Nevertheless, it is an important piece of technology which allows us to "turn back time" and see how people of the past may have looked like-whether they're real or from a video game.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
