Skyrim:Glory of the Dead

Cure Kodlak's spirit and become Harbinger of the Companions. Quest Giver: Vilkas Location(s): Whiterun, Ysgramor's Tomb Prerequisite Quest: Purity of Revenge Reward: Wuuthrad, Shield of Ysgramor, Word for the Animal Allegiance shout, Harbinger of the Companions, 7 new followers Disposition: =3 (Aela the Huntress, Athis, Farkas, Njada Stonearm, Ria, Torvar, and Vilkas) ID: C06 Suggested Level: 6

The Companions and the citizens of Whiterun bid their goodbyes to Kodlak.

Quick Walkthrough

1. Have Eorlund Gray-Mane mend Wuuthrad.
2. Return Wuuthrad to Ysgramor's Tomb.
3. Make your way through the tomb.
4. Meet Kodlak.
5. Fight one final spirit.
6. Release Kodlak.

Detailed Walkthrough

The Funeral

After the events of Purity of Revenge, Vilkas will run towards the Skyforge to participate in the late Harbinger Kodlak Whitemane's funeral. The ceremony is to be held near Eorlund Gray-Mane's smithy. All of the Companions will be present, along with the Jarl, steward and the local priestess of Kynareth. Kodlak is placed above the forge, and the ceremony ends with Aela the Huntress lighting the fire, symbolizing a final goodbye:

Eorlund: "Who will start?"

Aela: "I'll do it. Before the ancient flame..."

Everyone: "We grieve."

Eorlund: "At this loss..."

Everyone: "We weep."

Vilkas: "For the fallen..."

Everyone: "We shout."

Farkas: "And for ourselves..."

Everyone: "We take our leave."

After the ritual, Eorlund will seek you out, asking for the fragments of Wuuthrad and Kodlak's secret fragment from his chambers. Retrieve the fragment from the end table in his room. Kodlak's Journal, also in the end table, offers some insights on him and his visions. Return to Eorlund with the fragment. When he accepts it, he will inform you that your Shield-Siblings have gone to the Underforge for a gathering and suggests you join them:

"Thank you. Your Shield-Siblings have withdrawn to the Underforge. I think they're waiting for you."

Wuuthrad Finally Returned!

"Just because something is, doesn't mean it must be."

In the Underforge you will find the three members of the Circle, Farkas, Vilkas and Aela, talking around the blood fountain, all of them frustrated and discouraged. They all know that Kodlak died without being granted his only wish, namely to be freed of his lycanthropy so he could spend his afterlife in Sovngarde. While they know of a way to cleanse his soul, it requires them to enter the Ysgramor's Tomb and perform a ceremony:

Vilkas: "The old man had one wish before he died. And he didn't get it. It's as simple as that."
Aela: "Being moon-born is not so much of a curse as you might think, Vilkas."
Vilkas: "That's fine for you. But he wanted to be clean. He wanted to meet Ysgramor and know the glories of Sovngarde. But all that was taken from him."
Aela: "And you avenged him."
Farkas: "Kodlak did not care for vengeance."
Vilkas: "No, Farkas, he didn't. And that's not what this is about. We should be honoring Kodlak, no matter our own thoughts on the blood."
Aela: "You're right. It's what he wanted, and he deserved to have it."
Vilkas: "Kodlak used to speak of a way to cleanse his soul, even in death. You know the legends of the Tomb of Ysgramor."
Aela: "There the souls of the Harbingers will heed the call of northern steel. We can't even enter the tomb without Wuuthrad, and it's in pieces, like it has been for a thousand years."

At this point, Eorlund Gray-Mane enters with the repaired Wuuthrad on his back:

Eorlund: "And dragons were just stories. And the elves once ruled Skyrim. Just because something is, doesn't mean it must be. The blade is a weapon. A tool. Tools are meant to be broken. And repaired."
Vilkas: "Is that? Did you repair the blade?"
Eorlund: "This is the first time I've had all the pieces, thanks to our Shield-Brother/Shield-Sister here. "The flames of a hero can reforge the shattered." The flames of Kodlak shall fuel the rebirth of Wuuthrad. And now it will take you to meet him once more."

He will then address you personally:

"As the one who bore the fragments, I think you should be the one to carry Wuuthrad into battle."

He will then hand you the weapon and speak to the other members:

"The rest of you, prepare to journey to the Tomb of Ysgramor. For Kodlak."

Your allies will then take off towards the legendary Ysgramor's Tomb.

Ghosts of the Companions

The Ysgramor statue

A final request from Kodlak

Sovngarde awaits.

As soon as you enter the tomb, Vilkas will approach and warn you about the dangers that lie ahead. He also says he will take no part in the task, as he has too much grief in his heart. Activate the Ysgramor statue, which will take Wuuthrad from your inventory, and place it on the statue to lower the wall. You may reclaim Wuuthrad by activating the statue again, and the wall will remain open. Followed by Aela the Huntress and Farkas, two skeevers greet you as you head north into the tomb. Continue down, and follow the path around until you are heading west into the next chamber with several Companion ghosts who taunt and warn of your impending death. They attack with Ancient Nord Bows, Swords, and Battle Axes, but their loot will disappear quickly if not searched immediately. Now head south until you enter a large room, with more tombs encircling a pond. Here one or two more ghostly apparitions test your courage before moving deeper into the tomb. Going west up the small stairs past the tombs, you encounter a spider web to the south that must be broken through to continue. It is here that Farkas reveals that, "Ever since Dustman's Cairn, the big crawly ones are my weakness". Consequently, he will proceed no further and instead runs back to join Vilkas at the statue. With Aela the Huntress as your only ally now, hack your way through the spider webs and face a Giant Frostbite spider, and many poison-spitting frostbite spiders. Follow the stairs down past the white caps into the next area. Two more companion ghosts await you, and after finishing them off, search the draugr laid out on the tables for valuables, and a potion of stamina beside the wrapped body. Be sure to search the draugr skeletons in their tombs for leveled weapons and armor. Heading east up the small stairs, open the next iron door and you'll enter an area with draugr tombs to your right, but a closed gate to your left. Activating the pedestal will open the closed gate. Enter this chamber heading north, where four more ghosts await shooting arrows, and wielding both one and two-handed weapons. Dispose of them, and find the Two-handed skill book The Legendary Sancre Tor in the center of the room next to the burial urns. Up the stone stairs and through this final iron door.

The Trip to Sovngarde

You will find the ghost of Kodlak Whitemane warming his hands near the Flame of the Harbinger. After explaining that the room is, in fact, swarming with the ghosts of his predecessors, whom you can't see, he will ask you if you still own the Glenmoril Witch heads. He will then ask you to toss one into the Flame, in an attempt to cure him of his werewolf curse. After doing so, Kodlak's wolf spirit will be released and immediately attack. After the battle, Kodlak will thank you and name you the new leader of the Companions. He will then travel to Sovngarde and finally find his peace, completing the quest.

Harbinger of the Companions

You can now speak to Aela, who will recognize your new position and tell you she is going to stay in the tomb for a while longer, for further studies. If you linger there, Vilkas and Farkas will arrive and also say they want to stay. All three will then become available as followers.

You can cure yourself of lycanthropy before you leave the tomb if you wish. If you don't, you will be required to cure two other Companions of their lycanthropy before you will again have the option to do so. Consider that choosing to remain a werewolf is the only way to access the quest Totems of Hircine, which grants unique abilities you may use while in beast form. You may come back to cure your lycanthropy later. To cure yourself now, throw another Glenmoril Witch head into the fire. Your wolf spirit will emerge. Kill it to rid yourself of being a werewolf permanently. If Aela, Vilkas or Farkas are around, they will aid in the fight.

After you've finished, continue up the spiral wooden stairs and locate the chest on the northeastern ledge to claim the Shield of Ysgramor, along with some other valuable loot, then exit through the nearby door by activating a chain. Go up the stairs, and through another short hallway before arriving at another wall with a chain. Pulling the chain opens the wall to the first chamber in the tomb as well as the wall on the opposite side. Before leaving the tomb, you can take Wuuthrad from Ysgramor's statue if you didn't earlier. Exit the tomb through the Northern (N) passageway, which was previously inaccessible. Follow the set of stairs outside up the mountain to discover a word wall which teaches part of the Animal Allegiance shout. Directly north (to the right) of the word wall is a gold ore vein.

Achievements

One achievement is unlocked when you complete this quest and finish the questline:

• Glory of the Dead (30 points/Silver)

Notes

• Aela and Farkas, as quest-specific followers, behave differently than "permanent" followers:

• Neither of them will enter sneak mode when you do, and when either can see you, the sneak eye remains open.
• If you get too close to them while sneaking, they will yell "Stay away from me!" as if you were going to pickpocket them.
• Accidentally attacking either of them might turn them hostile.

• Aela, Farkas, (and Vilkas after he speaks to you at the entry) will only repeat "For Kodlak!" during the quest, and won't have any dialogue options, including skill training.
• You can bring any other follower with you and they will help clear the tomb. However, at the final fight they may ignore Kodlak's wolf spirit as if it were invisible to them. If you choose to cure yourself, they will fight your released spirit normally.
• The ghosts' remains cannot be looted and will disappear immediately.
• It's possible to pickpocket the ghosts' armor and weapons with the Perfect Touch perk before they engage in combat or after casting Pacify on them.

• All ghosts wear a full set of Ancient Nord Armor and wield one of the various Ancient Nord weapons.

Bugs

• The quest may not start if you are in combat with Eorlund Gray-Mane
  • The Official Skyrim Patch, version 1.9.26.0.8, fixes this bug.
  • To start the quest, first select Eorlund and enter kill in the console, followed by enter setstage C06 0 and finally resurrect.
• Kodlak's ghost may not appear when entering the final chamber.
  • Using the console command setstage C06 60 will allow you to put the witch's head in the fire, at which point Kodlak's wolf spirit will appear. After defeating the spirit, Kodlak may still not appear, at which point the console command setstage C06 200 will end the quest as usual, with Aela exclaiming that she heard Kodlak pronounce you leader.
• If you leave the Underforge while the circle is talking after the funeral, the dialogue may not continue when you return.
• If you follow the Circle members heading to Ysgramor's Tomb after Wuuthrad has been assembled, the group may eventually get stuck running back and forth between Dawnstar and the mountain range about halfway towards Driftshade Refuge.
• If Eorlund isn't around: Go to the Skyforge and execute the following commands (note that player.placeatme does not work): "prid 1A683" then "resurrect" then "moveto player". Talk to him to continue the mission. ^?

Quest Stages

Glory of the Dead (C06)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
10		I should attend the funeral of Kodak Whitman [sic], the late Harbinger of the Companions. Objective 10: Attend Kodlak's funeral
15		Eorlund needs the fragments of Wuuthrad to prepare them for remounting in Jorrvaskr. Objective 15: Give the fragments of Wuuthrad to Eorlund
17		Objective 17: Retrieve Kodlak's fragment
18		Objective 18: Give the final fragment to Eorlund
20		As a member of the Circle, I need to convene in the Underforge to determine the next steps for the Companions following the death of Kodak Whitman [sic]. Objective 20: Meet the Circle
30		The Companions believe there is a way to cleanse Kodlak's soul of the taint of the beast. We're going to the ancient Tomb of Ysgramor to perform the ceremony. Objective 30: Go to Ysgramor's Tomb with the Circle
35		Objective 35: Return Wuuthrad to Ysgramor
40		Objective 40: Get to the burial chamber
50		Objective 50: Speak to Kodlak
60		Objective 60: Put witch head into fire
65		Objective 65: Defeat the wolf spirit
70		Objective 70: Speak to Kodlak
200	Finishes quest	I helped grant Kodlak Whitemane the glory of Sovngarde, and took his place as Harbinger of the Companions.

• The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 0, 1.

Notes

• Any text displayed in angle brackets (e.g., <Alias=LocationHold>) is dynamically set by the Radiant Quest system, and will be filled in with the appropriate word(s) when seen in game.
• Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.
• Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in any order. Some stages may therefore repeat objectives seen in other stages.
• If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.
• On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage C06 stage, where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages, but it is possible to clear all stages of the quest using resetquest C06.

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Up: Companions

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