I hadn’t planned on spending my Thursday afternoon getting teary-eyed over a Skyrim mod, but when dogs are involved, it’s pretty hard to hold back the tears. Particularly with a story as touching as this one.
“Murphy” is a Skyrim mod that introduces a new dog companion to the game, but this beautiful boy has a particularly special backstory. His creator, 22-year old Daniel, made this mod in tribute to his own greyhound, who died last year.
“On April 14th, 2018, my beloved dog, Murphy, passed away,” the description reads. “As soon as I was able to collect myself later that same day, I set to work doing what I knew I needed to do.
“I needed to immortalise him, the only way I knew how: through Skyrim modding.”
While the mod has existed since May 2018, it’s been hidden from view for several months, but Daniel’s ready for it to become public once again. It’s been updated, the page has been given a refresh, and the re-release is now viewable on Nexus Mods. The page also hosts a heartwarming letter addressed to Murphy, which you can read here. Have a pack of tissues ready.
“I chose modding simply because it’s what I’m best at,” Daniel told me when I asked him about the mod. “I have years of experience making mods but never released anything publicly besides a much smaller, much less significant font mod. I chose to release this publicly because I guess I thought it would help me through the loss. Which it did.”
Real-life Murphy, Daniel told me, was the first dog his family had ever owned, and the reason he now loves dogs so fiercely. As a racing dog in his youth, Murphy was adopted by Daniel’s family from an organisation dedicated to re-homing retired greyhounds (although Daniel said he “never really lost the racing instinct” and would continually try to chase small fluffy animals). The family looked after Murphy for close to a decade, and he meant a great deal.