It must be discarded in order to complete the guild’s story properly, but it’s arguably better to just hold onto it. As such, any player who undertakes the Thieves Guild will eventually come into contact with it. The Skeleton Key is also the only Daedric Artifact in the game that’s directly tied to a guild. This artifact is literally an unbreakable lockpick in and of itself. The Unbreakable perk does stop lockpicks from breaking, but many players just keep Skyrim’s Skeleton Key on hand after progressing far enough during the Thieves Guild questline. Related: Skyrim's Secret To Joining The Thieves Guild Without Jailing Brand-Shei Without any lockpicks in the player’s inventory, the lockpicking minigame cannot be initiated.
Failed attempts will result in broken lockpicks. The process requires at least one lockpick, and higher-level locks may take several attempts to successfully pick. Locks adorn many of the game’s chests, doors, houses, strongboxes, and safes. Lock picking in Skyrim consists of a minigame that occurs any time the player wishes to crack open a lock. It can even be used to circumvent entire parts of some of the game’s quests. More than just a way to open locked chests, the skill also presents a way to avoid dangerous obstacles, open hidden pathways, and access powerful items earlier in the game. Locks are the barrier between the Dragonborn and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s best loot, and the Lockpicking skill is the way to bypass that barrier.
