How a Skyrim Username Error Left an Innocent Man to Serve 18 Months in Jail
An innocent Canadian wrongly served 18 months in prison after Wisconsin police misspelled his Skyrim-inspired internet username.
Brandon Klayme from Halifax, Nova Scotia, was arrested in 2020 on charges of child luring and possession of child sex abuse imagery, after his username on chat app Kik was tracked down by U.S. cops.
But police made an error when identifying that Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim username, Klayme's lawyers have now proven, finally securing their client's innocence six years later — and long after he served 18 months behind bars for crimes that someone else committed.
The case's 12-year-old victim identified the man talking to them on Kik as operating under the username "fus__ro_dah," a reference to Skyrim's infamous dragon language shout. Klayme, meanwhile, used the username "fus_ro_dah," a difference of one underscore.
In an affidavit submitted for his appeal seen by CBC News, Klayme said this difference had been "a subtle mistake that changed the course of my life."
"We noticed the problem when we were working on the appeal arguments this spring," Klayme's defence lawyer Zeb Brown told CBC News. "We were trying to figure out why the digital forensic evidence pointed at him given his denial of any involvement."
"If the correct username had been used at the start of the investigation, the subsequent steps in the investigation would not have led to Mr. Klayme," a subsequent appeal board declared. "In these circumstances, Mr. Klayme is factually innocent of the offences. He should never have been charged, let alone convicted."
As yet, there's no word on whether Klayme will pursue any further claim for damages after it's now been shown that he was falsely imprisoned. For now, however, his name has been cleared.
Earlier this month, Skyrim publisher Bethesda announced that its beloved RPG had now officially crossed the 65 million units sold milestone, joining fellow fantasy role-playing game The Witcher 3 as one of the top 10 best-selling games of all time. Confirmation came from Bethesda boss Todd Howard, who outlined the company’s lineup of games following Xbox’s latest round of layoffs, with The Elder Scrolls 6 now a priority.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social