Mushrooms of The Elders Scrolls Part One: Fly Amanita

The Elder Scrolls is an expansive video game series with a vast variety of options to explore; one of which is Alchemy. Out of over a hundred ingredients found all throughout the world, thirteen are mushrooms.

The Fly Amanita, or Amanita Muscaria, is one mushroom of The Elder Scrolls that is a real mushroom, so I thought it would be interesting to compare the attributes of the video game version of Fly Amanita to the real-world counterpart. There are different versions of the mushroom found throughout The Elder Scrolls games, so we’re using the Fly Amanita found in Skyrim. 

Resist Fire

Alright, it’s pretty obvious that eating mushrooms isn’t going to make you fire resistant any time soon. However, it is interesting to note that they were said to have been dried over the hearth during winters, and are thought to be tied into popular holiday myths. Shamans used Fly Amanitas in rituals around the winter solstice in pre-Christian times. 

When out collecting mushrooms for use, the Shaman would be dressed in red robes and carrying a special sack. Sound familiar? Santa Claus is daring enough to go down the chimney and into a fireplace, so it’s easy to assume he might have some fire resistance. Even Santa’s red, rosy cheeks relate to the side effects of eating fly agaric mushrooms, which are known to cause the face to flush. 

Fortify two-handed 

Hallucinogenic mushrooms that contain psilocybin have been shown, as mentioned in my recent post, to increase the information pathways in the brain. In a sense, this could be considered a property that would boost skills, including those involving both hands.

Unfortunately, Amanita Muscaria contains different compounds, not psilocybin, and the effects are drastically different. In fact, Ibotenic Acid, one of the compounds, is considered a neurotoxin, while Muscimol, the other main component, causes dizziness and clumsiness amongst other symptoms.

In summary, it seems the real-world effect and the alchemic property are at complete odds with each other. 

Frenzy

In The Elder Scrolls, frenzy is used to excite creatures and other characters into attacking anyone and everyone around them. With groups of enemies, this is useful, as it causes in-fighting and your adversaries will eliminate each other for you. 

However, in reality, there are some that believe that Norse berserkers used Amanita muscaria to accomplish their feats of strength. There are a lot of doubts on the accuracy of this claim, as there are several negative side effects that accompany the benefits with consuming Fly Agaric. There are ways to prepare it to lessen the severity of these effects, but no way to get rid of them altogether. I, personally, find it doubtful that berserkers would risk nausea, clumsiness, sedation and more for a potential temporary boost, but it is an interesting connection between the in-game and real-world properties.

Regenerate Stamina

In the short term, this is another case where life and game directly clash. The psychoactive properties of the Amanita Muscaria are sedatives in nature, causing feelings of relaxation and drowsiness. Of course, though highly unlikely, if someone got extremely lucky and didn’t experience any of the myriad of negative responses, it is possible they could wake up the next day feeling refreshed and well-rested, with a boost to their stamina. I admit, that’s a bit of a stretch, so I think we’ll go with direct opposites here, as well.  

Where to Find Fly Amanita

Playing into the misconception that mushrooms grow in dark, damp areas, the majority of Fly Amanita found in Skyrim are in caves and mines. On Earth, however, they grow in coniferous and deciduous woodlands of the Northern Hemisphere, mainly in places with warmer climates.

There’s no knowing for sure if the direct contrasts or comparisons were done on purpose or just randomly put together, but it’s interesting that the properties were an even 50/50 mix between exact opposites and reasonable matches. 

Is there a specific mushroom from The Elder Scrolls that you think deserves it’s own match up? Feel free to let me know in the comments.