Skyrim:Battle for Solitude

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The final push to free Skyrim of the Imperials. Quest Giver: Galmar Stone-Fist Location(s): Solitude Prerequisite Quest: The Battle for Fort Hraggstad Concurrent Quest: Liberation of Skyrim Reward: Leveled Sword ID: CWSiegeObj

The Stormcloaks mount their final offensive.

Quick Walkthrough

1. Get your orders from Galmar Stone-Fist.
2. Go to Solitude and listen to Ulfric Stormcloak's speech.
3. Fight your way to Castle Dour.
4. Make General Tullius surrender.

Detailed Walkthrough

Assaulting the city

After taking Fort Hraggstad and returning to Galmar Stone-Fist, you will be told to meet Ulfric Stormcloak and help take Solitude. Make your way to the gates to Solitude to hear Ulfric's speech. After the speech, everyone will run into Solitude. Follow them in and fight your way to Castle Dour. If facing problems coping with the Imperial soldiers, it would be a good idea to stick with Ulfric. There will be several wooden barricades littering the city—three hits or less from a weapon or Destruction spell will break them. The gate to the courtyard will be closed, so you will have to go around the city to get to Castle Dour.

Negotiation at its finest

Once you've had enough fighting, enter Castle Dour. Galmar and Ulfric will appear inside with you. You will be put in a cutscene mode for a few seconds while Ulfric tells Galmar to secure the door. Head through the doorway with Galmar and Ulfric to confront General Tullius and Legate Rikke. A lengthy dialogue commences, and despite Ulfric's pleas that she surrender, Rikke insists on standing her ground and engages in combat. Kill Rikke and beat Tullius into submission.

Once Rikke is dead and Tullius is on the floor, he will stop the fighting, and they will talk for a short time. After some talking, Galmar will suggest that you kill him, and Ulfric will ask if you want the honor. You will be given three choices. Choosing "I've had enough killing for today" or "The honor belongs to you" will result in Ulfric killing him. Choosing "I will gladly kill him" causes Ulfric to give you a leveled sword. You will receive the sword even if you weren't the one to kill Tullius. With that, the quest ends, and the final stage of Liberation of Skyrim will begin.

Achievements

One achievement is unlocked at the end of this quest:

• Hero of Skyrim (30 points/Silver) — Capture Solitude or Windhelm

Notes

• This quest, Battle for Whiterun (Stormcloaks), Battle for Whiterun (Imperial), and Battle for Windhelm are all different radiant versions of the same quest.
• The map marker for Solitude will disappear during the quest, so you will have to fast-travel to Katla's Farm or some other nearby destination and walk from there to the gates of Solitude.
• To minimize game lag, bodies disappear soon after they have been killed.
• If you're currently doing the Dark Brotherhood quest Bound Until Death, the Battle for Solitude will be delayed until that quest is complete. Ulfric will stay in his bedroom, and if spoken to there, will tell you, "We're ready to march on Solitude, but the Emperor's cousin is getting married! If royal blood was spilt, all of Cyrodiil would be up in arms. We can't afford an all out war with the Empire. So we'll bide our time for now."
• If you complete this quest before finishing the main quest, you can encounter Legate Rikke in the mists of Sovngarde.
• Finishing the quest will clear any bounty currently held by the player in the Haafingar Hold.

Bugs

• After entering Castle Dour, you may get stuck in cutscene mode permanently without Ulfric or Galmar joining you. You can get arrested inside the East Empire Company Warehouse and then serve your time in jail. You can then access Castle Dour and Solitude. ^?
• When you're about to enter Solitude, you may get locked out of the city and say it requires a key to open the door, leaving you unable to finish the quest. ^?
  • Open the console, click on the door, and type unlock. The door will be unlocked and you can continue with the quest.
• The final confrontation with Legate Rikke and General Tullius is particularly buggy. Reports indicate a number of different things going wrong once you enter Castle Dour with Galmar and Ulfric, including: ^?
  • Rikke and Tullius may leave combat mode. It is possible to carry on a conversation with General Tullius about how the war is going while Ulfric is standing right next to him with his axe drawn. It becomes impossible to end the quest.
  • Rikke may become invincible; attacking her until she has zero health will force her to the ground, but she will simply stand up moments later and recover full health. She is not always hostile upon standing up; it may be possible to hold a normal conversation without quest-specific dialogue. (this seems fixed on X360 in the latest patch)
  • General Tullius may also become invincible, as the scripted conversation that results in his death may not be triggered by beating him to the ground. Although the "Talk to General Tullius" dialogue option may still appear, the option cannot be activated, and the quest cannot be completed as a result. There is apparently no known solution to this bug.
  • Tullius may be paralyzed accidentally when fighting is first initiated. He will fall to the ground as if dead, but proceed to talk and blink until Rikke is killed and Ulfric gives you the honor of killing him. Though he appears dead and cannot move, the slightest damage will kill him, allowing the quest to continue.
  • Additionally, you may find yourself permanently locked in the room with Rikke, Tullius, Galmar, and Ulfric, unable to leave as the only exit door requires a key that you don't have (and can't get anywhere within the room). The only option is reload an earlier save.
• If you have a bounty in Haafingar and are caught by a guard prior to arrival at Solitude, you can submit to paying a fine and find yourself just outside Castle Dour, effectively skipping the entire battle. ^?
• When you enter Solitude the city may be in its normal state with citizens and guards wandering around instead of Imperials. This will cause guards to attack Ulfric, Galmar, and you if you attack guards in Castle Dour along with the essential legate. The quest can still be completed by simply attacking Tullius. However, there will be no speech or cutscenes, and it is recommended that you leave the city soon after. Your bounty will not be reset until you fast travel somewhere else and then back to Solitude. ^?
• After the battle is over, the battle music may continue playing.
  • Rebooting the console will fix this.

Quest Stages

Only the quest stages and objectives that are possibly relevant to this radiant version of the quest are shown.

• <Alias=General>: Ulfric Stormcloak
• <Alias=City>: Solitude

Battle for Solitude (CWSiegeObj)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
1		I am to join Ulfric Stormcloak in the final attack on Solitude, putting an end to the Imperial Legion in Skyrim, once and for all.
1000		(Objective is assigned): Get your Orders from <Alias=General>
1005		(Objective is assigned): Break through the Enemy Barricade
1015		(Objective is assigned): Follow <Alias=General>
1020		(Objective is assigned): Open the Exterior Gate
1030		(Objective is assigned): Open the Drawbridge
1050		(Objective is assigned): Enter <Alias=City>
1060		(Objective is assigned): Break through the First Barricade
1070		(Objective is assigned): Break through the Second Barricade
1080		(Objective is assigned): Break through the Final Barricade
1200		(Objective is assigned): Force Jarl <Alias=Jarl> to surrender
1210		(Objective is assigned): Accept Jarl <Alias=Jarl>'s surrender
3010		(Objective is assigned): Break through the Enemy Barricades
3020		(Objective is assigned): Open the First Exterior Gate
3030		(Objective is assigned): Open the Last Exterior Gate
4002		(Objective is assigned): Force General Tullius to surrender
4102		(Objective is assigned): Execute General Tullius
9000		We have captured Solitude, killed General Tullius, and destroyed the final bastion of Imperial influence in Skyrim.

• The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 8999, 9999.

 

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 CWSiegeObj 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 CWSiegeObj.