Skyrim Bleak Falls Barrow | Walkthrough
“Bleak Falls Barrow” is one of the first story quests that you will encounter in the fifth game of ancient scrolls - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The quest will be available as soon as you get to Whiterun and talk to Jarl Balgruuf. During the walkthrough of the mission, the game puzzles the dragonborn several puzzles that are often confounded even by experienced gamers.
In this Guide, we, of course, will analyze how to uncover the mystery of the Bleak Falls Barrow and solve all the puzzles. And also you will learn many useful tips for a beginner, because this is one of the very first tasks, during the walkthrough of which you better master the game and gain experience.
It's time to go through the mission, let's get started.
Story Quest "Bleak Falls Barrow" - the walkthrough of the mission
Let's start with the very first item - where is the task and how to start? In order to get it, you need to arrive at the Dragonsreach and talk to the Jarl Balgruuf.
Upon learning of the impending danger, Balgruuf will offer our hero to work together with the court magician Frengar, who is just engaged in the study of dragons and magic. We don’t have the option to refuse, so we follow the jarl to the room to the magician, where we will be introduced to the future customer.
We speak to the Secret Fire (yes, this is the nickname of the court magician), you can even bargain with him if you are interested in magic or you need new soul stones.
Having learned that he had a ward, the magician will give us the first mission - to go to the south of Skyrim in the Bleak Falls Barrow fortress and get there a dragon stone, which will give the magician a lot of necessary information about dragons. If you want to move further along the plot, then the task will have to be completed in any case. No sooner said than done.
Interesting! If at Riverwood you took the task “Golden Claw” from merchant Lucan and successfully completed it, then you should already have a dragon stone in your inventory. This will allow you to immediately give the subject for the job and go to the next, not returning to Bleak Falls Barrow. If you missed the Riverwood merchant mission, then go right away.
Location - Bleak Falls Barrow
Mark with the ruins of the Nordic appear on the world map, so that Dovahkiin easier to navigate. Go straight from Whiterun, or you can first get to Rivervud by carriage, and from there you can walk on foot. The ruined Nordic abode is high in the mountains, and it is rather long and painful to climb there.
Whatever way you go, on the way you will meet bandits.
If we approach Bleak Falls Barrow from the side of Whiterun, then there will be only three thieves. Even on high complexity, you can easily cope with them, thanks to the large open space where you can beat and run off to replenish your health reserves.
After killing all the bandits, be sure to collect armor and other valuable loot from them. In the early stages of the game, any pennies are important - for example, for buying a horse. Having finished here, boldly go inside the ruins.
How to get to Bleak Falls Barrow in Skyrim
Going into the mound, you will find yourself in a large hall with a bunch of human and rat bones under your feet. At the entrance, no one will meet you, but then you stumble upon a small camp with a couple of bandits. One with a bow, and the other with a sword and shield. If you have a bow, I advise you first to inflict as much damage as possible from “Stealth”, and only then go to the frontal one.
This will greatly help you in a fight. From the robber with a bow, you can hide behind a large column while you are dealing with a shieldman.
Interesting! If you do not immediately engage in battle with the bandits, but hide and listen in on their conversation, then you will hear interesting information that we have to do next. The gangsters will discuss their accomplice Arvela, who decided to deceive them and disappeared with a golden claw in his pocket. If you have not taken the task “Golden Claw” from the merchant, then it is activated right now. After the fight, you can relax on their stove bench, collect loot from corpses and from the chest and search the entire hall. Having finished with the search for jewels, we will continue our way further. Passing a few more empty rooms, you will find yourself in a large two-story hall, in the center of which stands a robber with a torch. Don't scare him off! And follow the action.
What will happen? The poor fellow will run up to the lever, pull for him and .... immediately die from the triggered trap. His sacrifice was not in vain, now we know more! Of course, this will not prevent us from collecting money, master keys and expensive armor. Inspect the room.
Bleak Falls Barrow - How to activate the columns
Carefully inspect the room. In the center we see the lever that killed the mob with the torch. Behind him the gates that we need to open. But on the left wall there are three columns with images. With the help of the button, the interaction of the column can be twisted, watching the changing patterns.
This is a puzzle that we have to solve. If you press the lever without the right combination - you will suffer the same fate as the gangster with the torch. On small difficulties, a trap may not kill, but on high ones - easily.
To find the password to the door, just turn the head and carefully inspect the room. We are most interested in these plates.
Actually, here is the answer to our riddle. Pay attention to the animals that are depicted on the plates and recreate the same combination, starting from the left side. To open the door of the column should look like this: snake-snake-whale. By exposing them in this way, you can safely pull the lever without fear of a trap.
Just in case, I advise you to make a quick save, suddenly you made a mistake and entered the code incorrectly.
Attention! A bug is known, due to which the columns do not rotate during interaction. Because of this, it becomes impossible to complete the task and advance on the further plot. To fix the bug, exit the location and go back to the temple.
Behind the bars is a cupboard with delicious loot and a chest (I caught an enchanted hunting bow in it, which helped a lot in the early stages of the game). If you did not save after the lever, then again I advise you to make a quick save. To the left of the cabinet is a spiral staircase, behind which you will find a small ambush.
How to get to the Sanctuary
As soon as you begin to descend the stairs, you will immediately be attacked by a few Skeever. I advise you to immediately return to the top step so that you are not surrounded, and deal with the evil rodents one by one.
Immediately after the stairs you will enter a large room, the exit from which is covered with cobwebs. Because of the web, there are screams for help. And here is Arvel, about which we heard from the bandits in the first hall of the barrow! But do not think that everything will be so simple.
As soon as Dovahkiin clears the passage, covered with cobwebs, and enters the room, a huge frosty spider will come down from the ceiling. The creature of a rather large level hurts at any difficulty and spits poison that takes a lot of health. If you understand that the matter is bad, you can rush out of the room, heal a little and return to the spider again. The fight is rather difficult, especially for small characters, so if you understand that you cannot kill, I advise you to reduce the difficulty to “Easy”.
After that, problems should arise.
How to get a Gold Claw
Having dealt with the monster, collect useful loot from his body, and also search the cocoons scattered throughout the room. Here you can find and master keys, and potions of treatment, and spider eggs. After that, you can go to Dunmer, who so desperately asks for help.
Arvel the Swift confesses that he has a Golden Claw, but he will give it back only when he is released.
Unfortunately, the bargain will not work. All we can do is take his word for it and cut the web. And who would have thought, the robber decided to deceive us and run away with the claw!
Here we have two options:
- Catch up with the mean bandit, kill him and take the claw along with the diary from the body. In this case, draugres in the crypt will not wake up, and you will have the opportunity to sneak past them or kill them before waking up.
- Let Arvel escape and watch the events. With his tramp, the unfortunate tomb raider wakes up all Draugras, and if he does not die by their hands, he will surely fall into the trap that will kill him.
The claw you get anyway, so choose for yourself. I decided to let him go in order to suffer less with the dragons, and then took the items from all opponents at once.
If you decide to fight with the rebels themselves, then this device will help you greatly. But be careful, the trap can also hurt you. When you click on the plate, the door mechanism will work, and the iron lattice with spikes immediately fly into the forehead of the victim. Further on the game you will often meet similar pressure plates, as well as stretch marks on the floor, chests with traps and other dangerous mechanisms.
Read the diary and inspect the claw obtained from the body of Arvel. Now the claw can be returned to the merchant in Riverwood, but this later, we still need it. We make our way further into the mound, battling with crowds of awakened Draugras, cleaning the crates and chests, until we rest on the closed door. Everything is simple here - just pull the ring on the right to open the passage.
From now on, always inspect the walls, columns around the buried doors - such rings are very common in the dungeons of Skyrim.
Interesting! As you progress, you will often encounter oil traps. They can be clearly seen on the floor, and over a spilled oil a jug with it almost always hangs. They can be used in combat with the help of the usual magic of destruction that Dovahkiin has available from Helgen himself. I think this advice will help you greatly to deal with the crowds of Draugras who will meet as you progress through the dungeon.
Bleak Falls Barrow: second puzzle with owl, butterfly and bear figures
Moving along the Nordic ruins, you will enter a long room without any enemies, in which lies the second secret of the ruins. At the end of the room there is a door, in the center of which there is a keyhole, and along the edges there are three moving plates with images of animals. The keyhole can be opened with a claw, but in order for it to work, you must first find the password, as in the first puzzle.
Do not rush to inspect the walls in search of clues - there are none. The answer is much simpler, and it is even in your inventory.
Open the backpack and carefully examine the golden claw. If you look closely, you can see three images with figures of owls, butterflies and bears. Revealing the secret was not so difficult! Now it is enough to activate the columns in the correct order, insert the golden claw into the gate and the door will open.
Behind the puzzle is the sanctuary of the mound, and it will not be easy to open the door. This is the final room, after which the task will be completed. Hurry down and study the word of power on the wall. Do not be afraid of the bright effects, such walls with words of strength will be waiting for you in almost every corner of Skyrim.
Immediately after studying the word, the location boss will be awakened - a high level draurgist-warlord. It will not be possible to escape, because in his inventory is a dragon stone, for which we came. Draurg has an enchanted weapon that beats with cold, actively uses Creek and has a lot of health. This is a dangerous opponent, so use your entire arsenal, drink potions for damage and heal, set it on fire and chop it into pieces.
After the victory, take the dragon stone, enchanted weapons and other expensive jewels from the corpse. In the chest near the sarcophagus, you can find a random enchanted weapon, a book of spells, a gem and expensive items. All items received, which means you can go back.
Golden claw will never come in handy again, so I advise you to return it to the merchant in Riverwood for a fee. Dragonstone is attributed to the Dragonsreach to the main magician. As a reward for the valiant performance of the task, our hero will receive a random enchanted armor from the Jarl itself.
This task “Bleak Falls Barrow” is completed.