Skyrim Player Baffled When Riften Blacksmith Inexplicably Buffs Up

gamerant.com:

A lot of odd things can happen in Skyrim for seemingly no reason, and one player was a little confused to see that Riften's blacksmith is not his usual self and has become much more buff than usual. There is such a variety of ways to play The Elder Scrolls 5, with different experiences and encounters each time, so it's not surprising that Bethesda's iconic epic has managed to stand the test of time, even if the next entry feels a little overdue by now.

There is so much to do and see, not to mention the merchants Skyrim has to offer, that it's possible to feel fully immersed in this world by just wandering around and interacting with NPCs. Of course, over the years, many have had this sense of immersion shattered, usually by some bizarre glitch that will break the illusion, even if some of them are a little amusing. However, there are some things that occur which can't always be attributed to some harmless bug.

Skyrim Blacksmith Spotted Standing in Forge

One such example comes from Reddit user Y1m1w2 who, after not playing Skyrim for a while, came back to the game to see something that confused them. In an image uploaded to the site, it seems as though Balimund, the blacksmith from Riften, had seemingly become a lot more «hench» during the player's absence. Unable to determine any mod that could be causing this, with Y1m1w2 saying they have some quality-of-life tweaks but nothing that could account for this, it's not clear why the trader has become inexplicably buff. One person suggested it could have come from the «Do You Even Lift?» mod, but it doesn't appear as though OP has that installed either.

While there are more well-known blacksmiths in the game, such as Whiterun's Eorlund Gray-Mane, Balimund is a pretty popular