Guide for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2024)

The main focus of the Hearthfire DLC is to become the Thane of Falkreath Hold, Hjaalmarch Hold, and The Pale in order to purchase a plot of land in each and construct a house there. The amount of effort involved in doing this will depend on the way the Civil War is going, or has went in the main game. Becoming the Thane of a Hold usually involves performing specific quests for the Jarl of that Hold and then a few miscellaneous objectives to help out the people of the Hold.

Once you are Thane you can buy the plot of land and begin construction on your new house. You can design and build these houses from scratch. Once built they can be used as a storage centre, and for your family to live in.

Additionally from building three full houses, you have to adopt at least one child. After at least one house is built with at least one child's bedroom you can adopt a child, there are no other prerequisites.

You do get other additional, non-achievement related features such as stewards, a personal carriage driver, a personal bard, new activities such as; baking, beekeeping, fishing and farming, and four new loading screens as well.

So the achievements are:

• Landowner - Buy one plot of land
• Land Baron - Buy all three plots of land
• Architect - Build all three wings of one house
• Master Architect - Fully build all three houses
• Proud Parent - Adopt one child

Windstad Manor

> Windstad Manor is in the Hjaalmarch, home to Morthal, go there.

If you have completed the Civil War for the Stormcloaks and replaced 'Igrod Ravencrone' with 'Sorli the Builder' as the new Jarl then all you need to do is complete '3' little favours for the people of Hjaalmarch in order to become Thane, skip down to 'Favours' below.

If you followed the Comprehensive Playthrough you should already have completed the Side-Quest 'Laid to Rest' for the Imperial Jarl Igrod Ravencrone, if so skip down to 'Favours' below, if not follow these steps and complete it now:

> Find the burned down house on the west side of Morthal to add a conversation starter to the game, then go into the 'Highmoon Hall' and speak to the Jarl about it. The house belonged to a Nord lumberjack called 'Hroggar', it burned down recently killing his wife and child. The Jarl is suspicious of Hroggar since he shacked up with a local Nord woman named 'Alva' the very next day.

> Return to the burned house again and speak to the ghost of Hroggar's daughter; 'Helgi'. She wants you to play hide and seek with her, and if you find her before a certain someone else that she is afraid to name, she will reveal who set the fire.

> Return to the Jarl and tell her about Helgi, SAVE. You will have to wait until it's dark, after 8pm and a quest marker should appear to find Helgi again.

> Before you reach Helgi you'll come fact-to-face with a vampire called 'Laelette', kill her, make sure to SAVE then talk to Helgi immediately to prevent a bug. Helgi reveals that Laelette was actually forced to set the fire, and in her regret she attempted to save Helgi by turning her into a vampire, unfortunately it was too and she died.

> After this Laelette's husband 'Thonnir' will arrive, he is very upset at his wife's death and he doesn't believe your story. You must find proof of Alva and Laelette's vampirism.

> Find Alva's house on the east side of town, if you break in during the night Hroggar may be inside and you will have to sneak past him or kill him, if you break in during the day Alva will be inside and you may have to kill her instead. Either way find Alva's journal in the basem*nt and read it, SAVE.

> The journal reveals the whole plot about a Master Vampire named 'Movarth' who lives in a cave near Morthal. He enslaved Alva and used her to turn some of the residents of Morthal into vampires while keeping the others around as a fresh blood supply. Take this information to the Jarl in Highmoon Hall.

> The Jarl rewards you with some leveled gold and commissions you to kill Movarth in his lair, she has gathered a group of townspeople to help you.

> Go back outside and SAVE, the mob will be waiting for you to walk to 'Movarth's Lair' found north of Morthal. The mob will be lead by Thonnir who will begin to leave whether you're ready or not.

> As you approach Movarth's Lair everyone except Thonnir will flee back to town in fear. You can choose to have Thonnir accompany you into the cave, but it's best to leave him here to prevent a glitch and he isn't much use anyway.

> Enter the lair and SAVE. Movarth will have several thralls inside which you must kill to get to him, and if you didn't kill Alva before, she will be here too, although she may turn on Movarth and his thralls, it is best to let her die by their hands as you can incur a bounty by killing her, even if Thonnir is outside.

> After you have killed Movarth and his thralls, leave the lair. You will be greeted by Helgi's ghost again outside and she thanks you for avenging her and her mother. Return also to the Jarl and receive a leveled amount of gold and to increase your disposition with her.

Favours

You have a few more little tasks to complete before you are made the Thane of Hjaalmarch. You must win the favour of at least '3' people in Hjaalmarch Hold, I have listed some of the easiest of these below:

• Fight Benor - Find Benor either wandering around Morthal, or in the Guardhouse on the south side of town between 2am and 9am. Offer to brawl him and win.
• Mine Ore for Gestur - Find Gestur Rockbreaker in Rockwallow Mine in Stonehills, found to the east of Morthal. Simply sell him some iron ore.
• Deliver Note for Idgrod the Younger - Find Idgrod the Younger in Highmoon Hall on the southwest side of Morthal. Deliver a note for her to Danica Pure-Spring in Whiterun.
• Chop Wood for Jorgen - Find Jorgen near the mill on the north side of Morthal or in his house. Simply sell him some firewood.
• Book for Lami - Find a copy of the 'Song of the Alchemists' (See Skill book section of the Miscellaneous Achievements page) for all locations, and bring it to Lami. she can usually be found in the Thaumaturgist's Hut in the centre of Morthal.

Note some of these NPCs can die, if you are unable to complete 3 favours then the only option now is to gain the 'Investor' perk from the Speech skill tree and invest money with any merchant in Hjaalmarch Hold.

Buying the plot of land

With 'Laid to Rest' complete find the Nord ranger 'Aslfur' in the Highmoon Hall. He serves as the Jarl's steward and speaking to him about 'Buying a house' will prompt the offer instead to buy the plot of land in the Hjaalmarch. This plot is 5000 gold, if you do not have enough yet see the Money Making section of the Miscellaneous Achievements page.

Buying your first plot of land unlocks:

• Landowner

  Buy a plot of land

  

  2 guides

Windstad Manor is located to the northeast, it will be marked on your map, head out there from the nearest fast-travel point.

Building your house

> When you arrive, SAVE. You will find a 'Drafting Table' - used to design your house, a 'Carpenter's Workbench' - used to build parts of your house, and a smithing 'Anvil' - used like an ordinary anvil to craft weapons and armours, but now you have the added option to craft 'Building Materials'.

> You will also notice the chest with some building materials inside and wood logs nearby, these are just a few free materials to get you started.

> Take '10' 'Quarried Stone' and '4' iron ingots from the chest then activate the Drafting Table. Select the only option; for a 'Small house layout' - this is for the foundation of the house and it adds their design to the Carpenter's Workbench.

> First activate the Anvil, go down to 'Building Materials' and craft '40' nails, it's 10 to each ingot.

> Now activate the Carpenter's Workbench and build the 'House, foundation' and the 'House, wall framing'. Continue to build the 'House, walls', 'House, floor', and 'House, roofing'.

Now unless you already had some iron ingots with you, you won't be able to continue past this point. You will require many various materials to finish the construction of Windstad Manor. Iron ore and ingots are readily available from various blacksmiths in major towns and you can buy 'Lumber' from any of the various wood mills in Skyrim. Corundum ingots are required for many parts of the buildings also. And you will also need 'Clay' and 'Quarried Stone' - deposits of these will be newly scattered around Skyrim after the Hearthfire DLC is installed, and once you build one house you can buy them from your steward. You will require a 'Pickaxe' to harvest the materials from these deposits like any ore. Pickaxes are found in many mines around Skyrim. A definite location is in 'Embershard Mine' just west of Riverwood, found inside by the fire. Or you could find the special 'Notched Pickaxe' embedded in the rocks right at the very top of the Throat of the World mountain. Note; that unlike normal ore veins, the clay and quarried stone deposits offer an infinite supply of their materials, so you are only limited by how long you mine for and how much you can carry.

See the lists of iron deposits, corundum deposits, and wood mill locations after this section of the page for reference.

Stone Quarry

Clay Deposit

There is a clay deposit right next to the log pile at Windstad, it's in the ground and quite hard to see on the north side of the logs. There is also a stone quarry a little further north, it's embedded in the cliff wall on the east side just before two snow covered trees. Also, directly west, is another clay deposit and another stone quarry just behind that. You will find an iron ore vein too just to the south of the Drafting Table etc, behind some rocks.

Continue to gather further materials as you play. Return when you wish to add materials to the chest near the Drafting Table, it is safe to store all your materials here. Keep adding the main designs to the Carpenter's workbench and building the various parts of the building. Remember to add the extra bedrooms so you can adopt a child (unless you already own a house from the main game). Note; that you can only add one design to the workbench at any one time, the drafting table will allow you to select multiple parts of the building but you will only be able to actually make the last one you selected, return to the table to add another design.

This page will gives you a good idea for the designs of the various houses and the required materials:

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Construction

Once you have constructed your first house with three wings you will unlock:

• Architect

  Build three wings on a house

  

  5 guides

When you enter your new home you may notice that it is extremely bare. To add additional features, such as tables, beds, chairs, storage items etc, use the Carpenter's Workbenches in the relevant rooms. These features may require many different materials including ingredients and some special new items, such as Straw, Goat horns and Glass etc. Things like this can be purchased from most general goods merchants, and they will begin to appear in random loot.

Here is a list of some free Iron and Corundum deposits and wood mill locations:

Iron Deposits

• Solitude's Blacksmiths - 5 ores and 27 ingots can be stolen from in and outside.
• Halted Stream Camp - Located north of Whiterun. Contains: 16 veins and 4 ores.
• Fort Fellhammer - Located south of Dawnstar. Contains: 10 veins and 10 ores.
• Embershard Mine - Located west of Riverwood. Contains: 8 veins, 2 ores and 2 ingots.
• Treva's Watch - Located southeast of Ivarstead. Contains: 1 vein, 3 ores and 18 ingots.
• Sorli's House - Located in Stonehills, east of Morthal. Contains: 4 ores and 19 ingots.
• Knifepoint Ridge - Located northwest of Falkreath. Contains: 6 veins and 3 ores.
• Iron-Breaker Mine - Located in Dawnstar. Contains: 6 veins and 1 ore.
• Lefthand Mine - Located southeast of Markarth. Contains: 5 veins.
• Forsaken Cave - Located west of Windhelm. Contains: 11 ingots.

Corundum Deposits

• Knifepoint Ridge - Located northwest of Falkreath. Contains: 19 veins.
• Blackreach - Located through Alftand, west of Winterhold. Contains: 14 veins and 2 ores.
• Goldenrock Mine - Located northeast of Ivarstead, west of Mistwatch. Contains: 4 veins, 9 ores and 6 ingots.
• Liar's Retreat - Located northeast of Karthwasten. Contains: 4 veins.
• Broken Helm Hollow - Located southeast of Riften. Contains: 3 veins.

Wood Mills

• Solitude Sawmill - Located just south of Solitude, speak to 'Kharag gro-Shurkul'.
• Heartwood Mill - Located to the west of Riften, speak to 'Grosta'.
• Anga's Mill - Located to the west of Windhelm, speak to 'Aeri'.
• Ivarstead - Located in the west of the Rift, speak to 'Temba Wide-Arms'.
• Half-Moon Mill - Located north-northwest of Falkreath, speak to 'Hert'.

Adopting a Child

You now have the ability to adopt up to '2' children, but only '1' is required for the achievement. I have listed every available child that can be adopted below. Apart from adopting from the Honorhall Orphanage in Riften, which requires the completion of the Dark Brotherhood quest 'Innocence Lost', there is no prerequisite other than having a house with extra beds in to adopt a child.

These additional children can be adopted only if their parents have died in the game:

To actually adopt a child imply talk to them about their parents, and offer to adopt them. For those in the Honorhall Orphanage you must speak with 'Constance' first, she will ask your name and what you do for a living. The best answers to give are 'I'm the Dragonborn', 'I'm the Harbinger of the Companions', or 'I'm the Archmage of the College of Winterhold'. Any of these answers will suffice and as long as you have a home with extra beds you can choose it from a list of your homes and the deal is done.

Upon adopting your first child you will unlock:

• Proud Parent

  Adopt a child

  

  9 guides

Heljarchen Hall

You should have already completed the Daedric Quest 'Waking Nightmare' as part of the Comprehensive Playthrough, but if not then navigate now to the Daedric Artifacts page and follow the 'Skull of Corruption' section to complete this quest first.

Once Waking Nightmare is complete you may have to do one favour for the Jarl of Dawnstar in order to be able to buy a plot of land in the Pale. To be able to start this favour quest you must be at least character level 22. Go to Dawnstar when you are.

> Go into the 'White Hall' in the southeast of Dawnstar, SAVE.

> Talk to the Jarl about helping with a giant problem, he will direct you to either 'Blizzard Rest', 'Red Road Pass', or 'Tumble Arch Pass'.

> Go to the giant camp, SAVE, kill the giant.

> Return to the White Hall, SAVE, and report back to the Jarl. He will be pleased and reward you with some leveled gold.

Once you have completed these tasks you can build towards becoming the Thane of the Pale. If Brina is the Jarl through siding with the Imperials in the Civil War quest line, then you would have already gained favour and you can skip down to 'buying a plot of land'. Otherwise you will have to complete favours for at least '3' people in the Pale.

Favours

These favours are quite small, some of the easiest are listed below:

• Mine ore for Beithild - She can be found near Ironbreaker Mine there in Dawnstar. If you didn't kill her during the Dark Brotherhood quest line then all you need do is sell her some Iron ore.
• Mine ore for Leigelf - Quicksilver Mine, Dawnstar. Just sell him some Quicksilver ore.
• Chop wood or deliver note for Aeri - Found at Anga's Mill west of Windhelm, just sell her firewood or deliver a note for her to the Jarl - only one of these will count for the favour.
• Void Salts for Captain Wayfarer - Find him on the 'Sea Squall' docked at Dawnstar harbour, simply give him some Void Salts
• Make Karl Dance - Find a drunkard inside Ironbreaker Mine in Dawnstar and give him any kind of alcoholic drink.

Note some of these NPCs can die, if you are unable to complete 3 favours then the only option now is to gain the 'Investor' perk from the Speech skill tree and invest money with any merchant in the Pale.

Buying the plot of land

Once you have gained enough favour in the Pale you must now speak to either Skald or his Steward 'Bulfrek', if the Stormcloaks are in power. If the Imperials are in power speak directly to Jarl Brina Merilis. Ask them to buy a house in Dawnstar, they will say that there are none available, but that you can buy a plot of land in the Pale for 5,000 gold.

After buying the plot of land 'Heljarchen Hall' will be marked on your map, it's located directly between Dawnstar and Whiterun, but closer to Whiterun, just north of Loreius' Farm.

Go there and follow the same method of construction as with Windstad Manor, see 'Building your house' above.

Specifically found near Heljarchen Hall are: A Stone quarry just south of the chest, and near the lop pile to the west are two clay deposits. There is also a Corundum ore vein near the rocks to the northeast and an iron ore vein on the other side of the rocks to the west.

Lakeview Manor

> Go to Falkreath and enter the Jarl's Longhouse to the east of the town.

If you sided with the Stormcloaks in the Civil War and you have made 'Dengeir of Stuhn' the new Jarl of Falkreath then you would have gained a lot of favour with him. You still have to complete '3' favours for the people of Falkreath though, if this is the case skip down to 'Favours' below.

If the Imperials are in power then you must first complete the side-quest; 'Kill the Bandit Leader' to become the Thane of the Reach. After reaching level 9 you should have received a letter from Jarl Siddgeir asking for help with a problematic bandit leader. If you did not receive the letter then you must also complete a small favour for Siddgeir called 'Rare Gifts'. Speak to him and he will ask you to retrieve some 'Black-Briar Mead', that's all, a lot of bottles can be found in the Honningbrew Meadery found southeast of Whiterun.

Once that is complete speak to him about the bandit leader.

> Siddgeir wants you to kill a bandit leader of either 'Bilegulch Mine', 'Cracked Tusk Keep', 'Embershard Mine', or 'Knifepoint Ridge'.

> Go to the specified location, SAVE. You do not have to kill every one of the bandits, just the leader him/herself who will be marked with a quest marker.

> Once the bandit leader is dead, SAVE, and return to Siddgeir in the Longhouse.

Favours

You have a few more tasks to complete before you are made Thane of Falkreath; you must win the favour of at least '3' people in Falkreath Hold. I have listed all known instances of this below:

• Chop Wood for Hert - If you didn't kill her during a Dark Brotherhood quest the you can find her at Half-Moon Mill, found to the north-northwest of Falkreath. Simply sell her some firewood.
• Steal Items for Dengeir - Speak to Dengeir about stealing some letters for him.
• Sell Wheat to Mathies - Find Mathies at 'Corpselight Farm' in the centre of Falkreath, simply sell him some wheat.
• Runil's Journal - Find Runil in the Hall of the Dead in the northwest of Falkreath town. Speak to him about retrieving his journal, and retrieve it for him.
• Thadgeir - Find Thadgeir in Dengeir's house on the north side of Falkreath, retrieve deliver 'Berit's Ashes' to Runil for her in the Hall of the dead.

Note some of these NPCs can die, if you are unable to complete 3 favours then the only option now is to gain the 'Investor' perk from the Speech skill tree and invest money with any merchant in Falkreath Hold.

Buying the plot of land

If the Stormcloaks are in power speak to Dengeir's steward 'Nenya', if the Imperials are in power speak to Siddgeir's steward 'Tekla'. Ask about buying a house and they will say that there are none available but you may buy a plot of land in Falkreath Hold for 5,000 gold.

Buying a third plot of land will unlock:

• Land Baron

  Buy three plots of land

  

  3 guides

With the plot purchased it will then be marked on your map, Lakeview Manor is found to the northeast of Falkreath by the shore of Lake Ilinalta.

The method of construction is identical to previous houses, please refer to the 'Building your house' section of Windstad Manor above for more information.

Specifically located near Lakeview Manor are; a stone quarry can be found to the southeast, near the cliff face, and two clay deposits to the southwest of that. Also two iron ore veins can be found near the clay and a corundum ore vein is just up the hill to the south in the snow.

Fully constructing all the wings of all three houses will unlock:

• Master Architect

  Build three houses

  

  3 guides

What you do with your houses is now entirely down to you. Why not fill them with all the trophies of Skyrim as reminders of all your adventures?

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