The Rabbit is about as unthreatening as Skyrim wildlife gets. These small, unaggressive animals bound through fields and forests across the province and run the moment they notice a person or a predator. Players meet them constantly, mostly as a blur of fur disappearing into the undergrowth, and hunters bother with them for a quick bit of meat or an easy sneak-attack target.
With 5 health and nothing resembling an attack, a rabbit is not a fight so much as a footrace. The game files technically give it a 10-point unarmed attack, but it is never used. The trick is getting close: sneaking or a ranged shot works far better than trying to outrun one. You will often see wolves and foxes chasing them, and wandering hunters will take a shot if they happen to cross paths with one.
Where to find them
Rabbits live almost everywhere in Skyrim’s wilderness, so no single hold is their home. For a reliable group in one place, visit Shadowgreen Cavern in Haafingar, where several of them live inside the cave. They usually appear alone or in pairs rather than in large groups.
Cotton the pet rabbit
If you own Hearthfire and have adopted a child, the child may one day bring home a rabbit named Cotton and ask to keep it. Say yes and Cotton stays in the house. Unlike its wild relatives it does not flee from the Dragonborn, and it tends to hang around the child’s bed, follow the children, or roam the home.
Notes
- Despite the name, the game files call them hares, and the way they behave (larger, no burrows, rarely more than two together) fits a hare better than a rabbit.
- The Wabbajack has a small chance to turn a humanoid target into a rabbit. Used on the madwoman met in a random encounter, it always does.
- Casting Fury or Frenzy on a rabbit produces an aggressive bunny that trails after you without any way to hurt you. Because it now counts as hostile, other characters will try to kill it. The same works on goats and other animals.
- Unrelenting Force, like most attacks, kills a rabbit outright.
- The Combat page of the character statistics keeps a running count called “Bunnies Slaughtered”.
- Some Stormcloak soldiers grumble about being fed rabbit.
- A werewolf with the Savage Feeding perk can feed on a dead rabbit lying in the open, though not on one hanging from a game rack.
