Given that the game is set in 1403, reading isn’t exactly the most common skill. And most of those who can read aren’t very fluent. Of course, you get points for trying, so you may have noticed a number of NPCs reading the wrong side of books. This has convinced fans that people in Bohemia are faking it.
Talk About Judging A Book By Its Cover
Over on the Kingdom Come subreddit, SnooGuavas8458 shared a photo mode shot of Henry reading a book. While you won’t notice it in the game’s first-person perspective, when you enter the game’s third-person photo mode, you’ll see that Henry has his face almost buried in the book, almost as if he were absorbing the knowledge rather than reading it. Or, maybe he’s just hiding his face because he doesn’t actually know how to read.
“Judging by some of the stuff Henry says when failing reading checks in convos, he either still struggles and really needs to focus or gets stage fright reading in front of people,” said one comment which could explain why he’s reading up-close.
This prompted the comments section to point out that perhaps no one in Bohemia actually knows how to read. Multiple images of NPCs reading the wrong side of books were provided to back up this conspiracy theory. Among them was even Lord Semine, who you’d think would know how to read, considering his administrative duties.
However, not everyone subscribes to this theory, with one comment saying, “My mom used to tell me about back in the day after she would listen to a record she would stare at the cover art for hours, picking out every detail. Semine has just finished the book so many times and loves it so much he’s studying the art.”
