Skyrim talk:Alduin's Wall

Delphine and Esbern stuck

I am not able to edit the Glitches section. If you already went through Sky Haven Temple, and Delphine and Esbern get stuck at the first puzzle, then here is how I managed to get them moving again:

1. Go to the large room with the big head and a circle on the floor
2. Save the game (I quicksaved)
3. Close Skyrim to desktop
4. Start Skyrim again
5. Load the quicksave

When my quicksave loaded Delphine and Esbern came running and I could resume the quest.

I am not sure if this will work for others but it could be a possible solution, at least until Bethesda get it fixed.

Sverri — Unsigned comment by 87.60.174.85 (talk) at 21:08 on 26 November 2011 Edit:Never went to Sky Heaven Temple but they still got stuck. This worked to fix it still - Thiago

To solve this problem on Xbox 360 I did the following:

1. With Delphine and Esbern stuck at the first puzzle, I went into the room with the big head.
2. I then fast-travelled to Skyhaven Temple. I reappeared in the room with the big head, with Esbern and Dephine beside me, so I could continue the quest.Speccy 07:16, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

Alternate Solution for PC

(Confirmed Working)

THIS WORKS !! - Stranger who tried this method

Download the voice files for Esbern and place them in your Skyrim/Data folder. They can be downloaded here: [1]

Afterwards, you should be able to talk to Esbern and continue the game as normal. This fix also works for the Esbern dialog glitch in Riften.

99.166.73.121 06:35, 17 January 2013 (GMT)

Another workaround for previously solving the temple puzzles

Per some posts on the Steam forums I found another successful workaround:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2244183&page=2

Travel to the Karthspire camp with Delphine and Esbern, or meet them there. Be sure to enter the Karthspire cave together. When they walk up to the rotating columns there will be some dialogue, and then they'll be stuck. Open the console and do "setstage MQ203 140" and they'll walk all the way to the blood seal, where everything will proceed as normal. Unfortunately, this doesn't fix the case where you do the blood seal and then they run back to the columns, probably because you can't rewind quests. I wasn't sure about the etiquette of adding this directly to the page, so I'm putting it here. 69.151.197.106 06:03, 31 December 2011 (UTC) Adam Haun

Delphine is Psycho

For some reason, when I reach Karthspire and meet up with Delphine and Esbern, Delphine will not stop trying to kill me. I have no idea why this is. I am traveling with Lydia, Barbas, Mercer, Amren and Shadowmere. Maybe it has to do with one of them? If anyone knows what to do, please respond.--98.247.139.166 01:24, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

• It's Barbas -- this just happened to me today. I've traveled for a lung time with Barbas, and I've noticed that lots of peaceful characters get stuck in a loop of asking Barbas to leave, so it's not too surprising that an armed NPC would finally snap and attack him. Unless someone objects. I'll add this as a bug that remains even in the Unofficial Patch. 73.200.104.97 03:05, 30 July 2015 (UTC)

Skyrim crashes to Desktop just after talking to Delphine.

Skyrim crashes to DeskTop, just after talking to Delphine, in front of Alduin's Wall, and agreeing to talk to the Greybeards. Delphine says: "Talos guard you", and the game exits to DeskTop.

Has anyone else experienced this bug?

Also tried skipping to the next Main Quest in Console, but the result is the same: Crash to DeskTop..

Need some help if anyone has a clue, please help.

Finished Karthspire early, now there is no Sky Haven Temple?

Per subject - I cleared Karthspire early, lowered the bridge, went across to see a big, rubble-filled hole in the middle of a hollow mountain. Did a myriad of other dungeons, some questlines... Finally got around to the quest Alduin's Wall, and there's still just a big, rubble-filled hole in a hollow mountain...

Any advice? Any one else ever seen this issue? Croc 06:13, 28 April 2012 (UTC)

If you did the puzzles and this is the result then in my opinion you will, sadly, have to reload. 2dum2live 13:14, 30 June 2012 (UTC)

I believe that that was a bug for you only. I have played through that quest at least 10 times like that and it has worked perfectly for me. As 2dum2live said, reloading will be the easiest scenario. -- Ad Intellige Mecum loqui 21:05, 4 April 2013 (GMT)

Delphine and Esbern stuck, finally solved, I think

setstage MQ203 300

I have no idea why that works, but it did for me. Background - I explored this cave and solved all the puzzles long ago. I got here with Delphine and Esbern, and I got to the part where we opened up the head to clear the entrance to Sky Haven Temple. They told me I should have the honor of going in first, so I did. I noticed they did not go in with me, and when I went out, I noticed they were all the way back at the first 3 pillar puzzle, stuck there.

I tried all kinds of things for hours and nothing worked. I then did the console command 'sqs MQ203' which shows all of a quest's stages and whether they were fulfilled or not (0 or 1). Most of them were 1 except for 260, 290, and 300. So just for the heck of it, I did:

setstage MQ203 260

setstage MQ203 290

setstage MQ203 300

One of the first two made them put away their torches. The '300' one then made them start walking passed the puzzle. — Unsigned comment by 99.103.198.8 (talk) at 07:20 on 21 May 2012

Quest simply won't start

So I first had to download the BSAunpacker and extract VoicesExtra.bsa to allow for the door to be opened to Esbern. OK, so I finish the dialogue, and the quest Cornered Rat is completed while Esbern searches for his things. Yet the quest Alduin's Wall will simply not start, and Esbern just goes back to his cooking pot and stirs it, with no hint of following me or the quest starting. Using the console to start the quest or advance it to a next stage doesn't work either. This seems to be a very rare occurance although I've found one mention on the net of someone who has the same problem, yet no responses from anyone (http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/615805-the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/62871252/702426774). Please help, I really love this game but this is a game-breaking bug. I've tried loading from before I completed any of the quest objectives but to no avail.

I recently encountered this bug on PC and had no luck with the obvious fixes of reloading, using setstage, etc. One thing I noticed over time was that during all of my initial attempts to fix this issue I had used the [Persuade] option in the opening dialogue. Most of the talk about how glitchy Esbern seems to stem from his dialogue so I attempted something else. After picking another option (something about declaring yourself the dragonborn) he unlocked the door, finished his talking and the quest finally started. For anyone still having problems with this bug I'd recommend you try switching up your dialogue choices as it was the only thing that worked for me. Allskies (talk) 20:01, 13 May 2013 (GMT)

Elder Dragon?

Can anyone confirm that the dragon that attacks you just before the stone bridge into Karthspire is always an Elder Dragon? I've done this quest as low as level 8 and have yet to see it be anything else. Lord Eydvar ^{Talk | Contribs} 14:21, 7 September 2012 (EDT)

I've done this quest a number of times, but never encountered a dragon at all during the events of the quest.--121.74.137.175 14:24, 7 September 2012 (EDT)

Weird rofl, I'm on the 360 and I've always had an Elder Dragon attack me right before the bridge to Karthspire. I usually fast travel to Old Hroldan and walk from there and it has become part of my quest planning that I'll have to face this dragon. Lord Eydvar ^{Talk | Contribs} 19:52, 7 September 2012 (EDT)

It appears to be a dragon one level stronger than you could normally encounter. I was level 37 and it was an Ancient Dragon for me.

Delphine disappeared

as soon as i entered the area with a three stones,Delphine disappeared.so i continued with out her with the old guy.now im stuck by the alduin wall with him .does anyone has any suggestions? — Unsigned comment by 69.210.242.121 (talk) at 00:36 on 16 October 2012‎

Esbern Won't Participate in Riverwood

I fast-travelled from Riften to Riverwood after retrieving Esbern. He followed me into the Inn and stood there... Doing nothing. I eventually got him to begin his conversation with Delphine by leaving and re-entering the Inn. Delphine went downstairs and Esbern... Stood there. I tried attacking him, force-shouting at him, and a multitude of other things. My quest was at the correct stage all through this. I went into the basement with Delphine and attempted a "placeat player". This brought him down there, but did not cause him to interact with Delphine at all.

I moved him back upstairs, and in a fit of frustration tried waiting an hour. When I finished, he was downstairs talking to Delphine. When finished, I had to wait an hour again for him to walk over and read his book and continue his conversation.

If anyone else runs across this, it may be worth trying to "wait" to see if it causes him to continue the quest. I haven't searched to see if this is an issue anyone else is having, or whether it's just me, so I am adding this information here rather than the glitches section directly. If anyone feels this is worth adding to the article itself, feel free. I experienced these issues on PC with Skyrim/Hearthfire/Dawnguard. --69.11.24.239 22:52, 10 November 2012 (GMT)

Pressure Plates Don't Work

When crossing the floor with the pressure plates (after the drawbridge) I could step anywhere I wanted and not set off the trap. The plates never worked. I don't have any perks that would affect it and I'd never visited the area previously. — Unsigned comment by 98.160.100.108 (talk) at 13:43 on 4 April 2013

Bugs Cleanup

• If you have already explored the temple entrance and solved the first puzzle to lower the bridge, Delphine and Esbern may not follow you into the Blood Seal room at all preventing the dialog to activate the Blood Seal. They will remain at the previously completed first puzzle.
  • One way of getting them away from this puzzle is to go into the room with the Blood Seal, and then fast-travel to Skyhaven Temple. You will then reappear in this room with Esbern and Delphine nearby, allowing you to continue the quest.
• It's possible for Esbern to get stuck in "combat" mode in the cave. If this happens no dialogue can occur and the quest cannot move forward. Leave the cave (fast travel to the area might be needed) then reenter. He should be waiting with Delphine near the puzzle in the correct mode.
• Delphine may not move after telling you she has somewhere you can talk. Speaking to her and leaving the conversation should fix this.
• It is possible for Delphine to get stuck at the entrance door. When stuck, move her to your location at the top of Sky Haven Temple by typing the console commands prid 00013485 and then moveto player. If Esbern is stuck, he can be moved by prid 19dfd and then moveto player. Then you will be able to enter Sky Haven Temple with both Esbern and Delphine.
• While in Karthspire, your follower might disappear from the game forever and will not reappear after fast traveling or visiting that follower's residence. There are so far no fixes for the issue.
• If you have already visited the temple and uses fast travel, Delphine may arrive at the temple without Esbern. You may not be able to open the temple door without him.
• Delphine can get stuck after entering Sky Haven Temple.
  • This can be fixed by attacking her until she starts to fight back, and then sheathing your weapon.

These bugs have sat unconfirmed long enough. Additionally I removed a "confirmed" bug about Esbern being bugged already from the previous quest; this isn't a bug with this quest. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 21:27, 17 August 2013 (GMT)

Teleporting?

The previous quest wouldn't start, so I used the recommended fix: in the console, I typed setstage MQ203 10. it instantly teleported me to the temple. Is this a bug? has anyone else experienced it? Spark (talk)

game freezes after activating the blood seal

basically, what the title says. a few seconds after i activate the animation of cutting my hand, the game completely freezes. it will finish the audio clip of the stone face moving, then nothing, no sound, no moving image, and task manager says skyrim is not responding. do i have to restart my character? or is there something i can do to restart/move the quest forward without royally f#@king everything even more? i haven't found this particular issue on any other page online. the only ones i found were the NPC's misbehaving. — Unsigned comment by 67.40.22.156 (talk) at 02:29 on 7 February 2015‎

so, on further experimentation, the unofficial patch was the problem. disabling that fixed it for me — Unsigned comment by 67.40.22.156 (talk) at 18:09 on 7 February 2015

Had this problem also; disabling the Unofficial Patch fixed it for me also. Wierd. Desterine (talk) 12:45, 30 September 2015 (UTC)

Most likely location where esbern glitches or delphine

I've been going crazy lately over the esbern glitch for Alduin's wall. I decided to start over with a different character and follow them this time and found out where exactly they glitch. They toke a very long and weird path to alduin's wall and near the end they backtracked their path 8 times. They just turned around and started running back made a u-turn and went back again and this went on and on for quite some time. So i switched to my first character to see if this is where esbern might be. And there he is a bit further up the road the path leads past the ; broken tower redoubt. He was fighting some low lvl mobs, after i killed him he decided he needed to retrace his steps again... Now im just following him but thank god i found him i was really getting desperate. So if you lost Esbern or maybe Delphine im not sure if this applies for her, they glitch ALOT. My advice is take the path north from Rorikstead then take the first left and thats the road towards the Broken Tower Redoubt. For now he is still going up and down from the junction until the tower but atleast i know where he is. If this is not where he is take the east at riverwood, the road that ends up going underneath riverwood. There is a dragon soon where he might glitch. Then follow the path west past the guardian stones and along the buttom of the lake. At the end of that lake head north towards rorikstead, this is the route they take if you let them go by themselves. Hope this helped som1 in need, at least it helped myself. I encountered a total of 3 dragons on this road to alduin's wall where they both made funny moves, just try and look for any of the two which you lost on this path from riverwood to rorikstead to broken tower redoubt.

Bug: Esbern may get stuck in the book animation at the beginning of the quest.

[PC] I was able to get Esbern out of his book placing loop by shouting Unrelenting Force at him. — Unsigned comment by 103.26.61.246 (talk) at 11:34 on 11 October 2015

Noted -- SarthesArai ^Talk 12:16, 11 October 2015 (UTC)

Bug: Delphine and Esbern get Stuck in the Sleeping Giant Inn

Googling brings up nothing about this bug, so I'm assuming I'm the only one that's experienced it and won't add it to the bug section.

Delphine and Esbern, in my save, got stuck in the Inn; specifically, on the door to the room that has the hidden closet. Shouting wouldn't help, moving them via the console wouldn't help, waiting, everything you can think of. I picked the split up option

The only thing that worked was attacking them to the point where they would follow me and attack back, lead them outside, and pay my bounty. Then the game assumes I asked them to follow me and everything is normal so far.

Sfinna (talk) 03:10, 26 June 2019 (UTC)

Delphine just stands there inside entrance to Sky Haven Temple

This is after the puzzles are solved and you go through the face door and then the Sky Haven Temple entrance door. Delphine is scripted to light the standing fire pit right at the entrance. She should continues to light a second and third as she moves through the entryway of Sky Haven Temple to Alduin's Wall, bantering with Esbern a bit as she goes. For reasons unknown, she sometimes (read: every freakin' time I do this freakin' quest) can't get to that first standing fire pit. If this happens it's quest over. She doesn't move a foot, Esbern gets up to Alduin's Wall and just stalls there, and the quest won't continue. No amount of shouting Delphine up to Esbern or using the PRID command (PC) to move her will work. If you're on PC you can advance the quest by using the 'setstage MQ203 280' command. I always perfer going back to a previous save though. If you save right before you, Esbern, and Delphine go through the Sky Haven Temple door (after the face door), It shouldn't take long to get one where Delphine lights the standing fire pits. If she lights the first one you should be good. — Unsigned comment by 108.5.22.62 (talk) at 22:47 on 21 April 2022 (UTC)

You can easily fix this issue on PC by adding a torch to Delphine's inventory using the console: 'additem 1d4ec 1' (while Delphine is selected). On other platforms I recommend either trying to pickpocket Delphine to add a torch (or triggering her aggression and exiting and reentering the temple), or by loading an earlier save and approaching Karthspire in the morning so that Delphine's torch does not die out before she can light the braziers. — Unsigned comment by 72.204.4.167 (talk) at 22:56 on 30 April 2022 (UTC)

You can also fix this on xbox one if running mods. the cheat room comes with a cheat spell under alteration magic. equip it set delphine non-essential, then kill her, esbern will continue the wall and after, resurrect delphine and set her back to essential using the cheat spell mentioned above.