Skyrim talk:Orthorn

Location After Quest

What happens to Orthorn after the quest is resolved? Specifically the conditions that need to be addressed are:

• Left him in the dungeon (ignored him and went straight for the books).
• Freed him then told him to leave (got the books yourself).
• Traded him for the books.
• Defeated the Caller with his help.

So far I've only done the 2nd option, to free him then convince him to get to safety. However, I haven't seen him since so I'm not sure where he actually went. -- Haravikk 18:29, 9 March 2012 (UTC)

I've found him in the Frozen Hearth Inn in Winterhold after I defeated the Caller with his help. You might be able to find him there as well. I can't speak for the other options, but I assume he will remain in Fellglow Keep indefinitely. Wolok gro-Barok 18:37, 9 March 2012 (UTC)

I've heard that there is a bug which causes him to continuously move between Dawnstar and Driftshade refuge after you free him and kill the caller. He hasn't arrived in The Frozen Hearth in my game so I believe this bug, or something similar where he's gotten lost has occurred. 80.0.148.127 23:09, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

I left just left him in the cell until I cleared out the rest of the dungeon. On my way out I passed him and opened his cell. He won't engage in conversation or follow me. Just keeps asking "How could you just leave me here?". Now he's sitting in the next cell eating his bread...Damn him.... — Unsigned comment by 147.124.146.94 (talk) at 05:03 on 5 April 2012

I did option 1 (running on the Out of Balance bug, didn't want to bother with conversation while exploding everything). Persuaded The Caller to give me the books, came back down and let him out, and all he'll say is 'How could you just leave me here?'. According to the current article tho, he'll say that if you Persuade to get the books, so I dunno which is the cause. He's hanging around the dungeon, and, yes, seems to have teleported into the adjacent cell while I wasn't looking. Currently trying to walk his way through the bars (well it worked for the dividing wall, maybe it'll work again...). The games been on for hours tho, so I'm sure that was a glitch. I saved before deciding what to do with him, so I'm going to run through it again later this week (probably'll try option 4 a few times). 12th 10:47, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

(←) "I left just left him in the cell until I cleared out the rest of the dungeon. On my way out I passed him and opened his cell. He won't engage in conversation or follow me. Just keeps asking "How could you just leave me here?"." - I think this must be included in the bugs section because this is exactly what happened to me. I think it happens when you choose to "persuade" The Caller. 88.223.58.181 19:57, 19 July 2014 (GMT)

As this is a wiki, the someone who is supposed to add your observation is yourself. Do not be shy about it, because if your contribution needs improvement, there are always others willing to add to it, correcting language or grammatical errors, or just remove it, should it turn out to be added elsewhere or there is reason to believe it is too rare to mention. (In the last case you are welcome to forward disagreement here at the talk page.) Explanations of the additions, changes or deletions are then given in the edit summary.

But before you start, what platform are you on? Do you have any mods or unofficial patches installed, and if so, could they interfere with this quest? —MortenOSlash (talk) 05:29, 22 July 2014 (GMT)

Did you guys kill the boss, loot the key then run back to him to unlock the cage directly with the key? I did and he just stood there, I turned around and saw some levers. Turns out you have to let him out that way. 20 January 2016 — Unsigned comment by 75.142.147.62 (talk) at 12:11 on 20 January 2016 (UTC)

I've checked this bug, and it works with certain conditions. He'd be stuck in "How could you just leave me here" if you persuade the Caller to give you books (even if you kill her afterwards). Works with the latest unofficial Skyrim patch. However, if you kill the Caller and talk to him before opening the door, he'll ask you to let him go and the bug doesn't appear. Although, I'm not sure it's a bug though, as persuading the Caller does sound like "You give me the books and I promise I won't touch anything", so it might be a part of roleplay.37.190.63.23 13:00, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

Route taken by Orthorn after following

I decided to follow Orthorn after completing the quest. After leaving Fellglow Keep he ran off-road until reaching the road that passes by Loreius Farm, north of Whiterun. He followed that road until the split that leads to Dawnstar, which he turned left onto. He stayed on that road and turned right onto a smaller footpath that passed Duskglow Crevice before rejoining the road to Dawnstar near Fort Fellhammer, where the footpath joins the main road again.

Once in Dawnstar he ran up a small footpath towards Nightcaller Temple, but went off-road to the south into a valley. He then looped back between Dawnstar and the valley south of Nightcaller Temple. I followed him for about 10 minutes and it appeared the loop would continue indefinitely. I decided to wait one hour which caused him to stop his loop. Fast traveling to Winterhold placed him inside The Frozen Hearth to the left of the bar, next to the Hanging Pheasant. Speaking with him allowed for the same conversation where he thanks you for rescuing him, and that he will wait before going back to the College of Winterhold. - JonDePlume 06:21, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

orthorn & vampires

"It is also possible to cause Orthorn to be attacked by the vampires in the previous room, giving an interesting dialogue, if you open the vampire cages when he is passing by."
well I couldn't get anything like that: Orthorn attacks the vampires, the vampires don't attack him at all while saying random fighting banter... nothing out of the ordinary...
did anyone manage to get to this "special dialogue" ? 84.101.149.153 07:14, 14 September 2012 (GMT)

I also had this happen. It makes for very frustrating sneaking because I can't tell if the fighting is coming from Orthorn or somewhere else. But he just keeps hitting them and they do nooooothing! — Unsigned comment by 67.197.186.115 (talk) at 23:29 on 6 September 2014 (GMT)

Game disables Orthorn after completing the quest

After completing "Hitting the Books" Orthorn arrives at the Frozen Hearth, however, after a while, the game seems to disable him. If you re-enable him while in the Frozen Hearth (prid & enable & moveto player) he then exits the Frozen Hearth and heads south at a walking pace. Didn't bother to follow him though. --88.245.16.195 14:13, 9 October 2012 (GMT)

I fast-forwarded him by using "moveto player" at each intersection and seeing which way he went. He goes south out of Winterhold, past Fort Kastav, Anga's Mill, and Mixwater Mill, up into Valtheim Towers, across the bridge, then walks up to the rock wall and stops. SheeEttin (talk) 23:17, 22 May 2014 (GMT)

I started noclipping through the rocks to see if there was anywhere for him to go... While I was doing so, he disappeared. I moved him to the top of the rocks, and he headed for where but Fellglow Keep. Once he gets there he'll follow you around like during the quest, until you leave the area. I'm not sure what he does if you're not there, presumably go back to his starting point. SheeEttin (talk) 23:30, 22 May 2014 (GMT)

And yep, reloading a save and doing some fast traveling means he goes back to his cell. SheeEttin (talk) 23:42, 22 May 2014 (GMT)

No key in his inventory

The article states "In his inventory you can find and steal the Fellglow Ritual Chamber Key, the very key he could've used to escape from his cage". This is not/no longer the case. If the key was ever in his inventory, I don't know with Patch changed it. So I'm not sure if I should remove the line move it to fixed bugs. Someone more established on this wiki should decide. 194.49.52.254 20:48, 28 March 2022 (UTC)

(other player): He only has the key if you defeat the caller first. SSE april 2024