If Rorik is to be believed, the village has only existed for a few decades, but traditional songs like "Ragnar the Red" and various tomes suggest that Rorikstead has existed since the Merethic Era, thousands of years prior to the events of Skyrim.
The existence of Rorikstead itself is even shrouded in mystery due to several historical books in Skyrim. A short distance away from the main settlement is Lund's Hut, where the eponymous skeever-keeping Lund seems to have deliberately poisoned himself in grief for a lost spouse (perhaps even a wife, sacrificed by Jouane?). The innkeep Mralki mentions a basement in the Frostfruit Inn, though no such space exists, and Sissel claims to have dreams about an old, grey, friendly dragon, a description that seems to match to Paarthurnax - whose existence is known only to the Dragonborn and the Greybeards. It's far from the only strange occurrence in Rorikstead, though. While other lore mysteries in The Elder Scrolls may have wide-reaching consequences, this theory surrounding Rorikstead is unexpectedly dark. But viewed together they inform perhaps the biggest secret of Skyrim's Whiterun Hold - Rorikstead has two cases of mothers dying shortly after giving birth, and they may have been sacrificed as part of a dark bargain.
Alone, any of these would be simply details to flesh out the settlement. They all have context and backgrounds around their lives, added for a bit of local color - Rorik returned from the Great War after Jouane healed his grievous injuries Erik wants to be an adventurer, but his father has been overprotective since Erik's mother died when he was young Ennis was orphaned at a young age, but the proud farmer Reldith took him in and the two now export cow manure as well as crops and Lemkil's wife died shortly after their daughters were born, leading him to resent the children. Compared to many of Skyrim's weirder NPCs, the denizens of Rorikstead seem completely normal at first blush. Nine named NPCs live in Rorikstead, across four groups - the previously mentioned Rorik and his long-time companion Jouane, a healer the innkeep Mralki and his adventure-hungry son Erik the Altmer farmer Reldith and her adult adopted son Ennis and the farmer Lemkil and his twin daughters Britte and Sissel. The quality of the soil is Rorikstead's big mystery, and while it could be merely a coincidence, a bit of digging reveals a significantly darker explanation. Despite numerous closer farms, the city of Whiterun receives the majority of its produce from Rorikstead, which is noted to have particularly fertile soil compared to the largely barren tundra that comprises the rest of the region. More observant players may note that Rorikstead stands out, however, for being the most prosperous farm in Whiterun Hold. It contains an inn, a pair of small farms, and with the manor or Rorik, who bought the local lands after he fought in the Great War and for whom the settlement is supposedly named. Aside from a nearby burial mound where Alduin can appear to resurrect a long-dead dragon, the village seems wholly uninteresting. A few quests may bring the Dragonborn through Rorikstead, but none connect to the main plot or larger quest lines. For context, Rorikstead is a small settlement on the border between Whiterun and the Reach.
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