Skyrim:First Lessons

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Join the College of Winterhold. Location(s): College of Winterhold Prerequisite Quest: None Next Quest: Under Saarthal Reward: Membership ID: MG01

Faralda at the entrance bridge

Quick Walkthrough

1. Approach the bridge to College of Winterhold.
2. Speak to Faralda.
3. Prove your ability or persuade her, provided you have a high enough Speech skill.
4. Cross the bridge and enter the courtyard.
5. (Optional) Speak to Mirabelle Ervine.
6. Enter the Hall of the Elements.
7. Listen to Tolfdir's lecture and participate.

Detailed Walkthrough

Proving Yourself

Before heading to Winterhold to start this quest, you may want to check whether you have enough magicka to complete the quest's first challenge—you may need as much as 135 magicka. With the novice hood found in Helgen Keep during Unbound, even new level-one characters will have 130 magicka. If you do not have other Fortify Magicka apparel or potions, one option available to all players is to visit the Temple of the Divines in Solitude and activate the shrine of Julianos to obtain 25 more magicka from the Blessing of Julianos.

Once in Winterhold, follow the main road west through town, and approach the prominent bridge connecting the town to the College of Winterhold. Standing at the start of the bridge is Faralda. She will ask you about your intentions and what you expect to find on entering the college. Regardless of the dialogue options you choose, she will ultimately decide that you need a lesson and will say that you must take a small test to show you have some degree of skill with magic.

If you agree, she will randomly select one spell from any one of the five schools of magic for you to cast. This may be:

• Casting a Firebolt at the eye-shaped seal next to her.
• Conjuring a Flame Atronach on the seal.
• Casting Fear at the seal.
• Casting Healing Hands on her.
• Casting Magelight at the seal.

If you do not have the spell she asks of you, she will offer to teach it to you for 30 gold. This is an easy and cheap way to learn any one of the above spells, if you do not already possess them.

You must cast the spell at the circular impression in the floor behind her. Casting the spell in any other location will not progress the quest.

Alternatively, you can attempt to persuade her and avoid this test, or if you are here for the quest Elder Knowledge, you can tell her you are Dragonborn after which she will ask to see a shout. Either of these will get you in without needing to cast a spell. In order to persuade her, you will need a Speech skill of 100 (70 with the Persuasion perk) or an Amulet of Articulation, available only by completing the Thieves Guild questline and becoming Guildmaster.

Regardless of which path you take, Faralda will allow you across the bridge and direct you to Mirabelle Ervine.

Initial Tour

After you speak to Mirabelle Ervine, she will want to give you a tour of the facilities. Before that, however, she will give you two items to wear (although wearing is not mandatory for membership): a Novice Hood (+30 to Magicka) and a Novice Robes of Destruction (-12% to Destruction Spell Magicka Cost, Magicka regenerates 50% faster).

As you follow her around, she will point and explain the few areas and what their purpose is.

She will lead you to your new quarters, which is an Apprentice room in the Hall of Attainment, a circular chamber with five rooms total. One room is assigned to each of the apprentices, and one to Tolfdir. Your room is the first on the right, which includes a bed, several furniture containers, and some starting items such as a few soul gems. The furniture containers (wardrobes, end tables, and drawer) are safe for storage, but the food barrels respawn and are unsafe.

Join the Lecture

"Welcome, welcome! We were just beginning. Please, stay and listen."

Upon completing the tour, she will ask you to join the lecture hall and listen to Tolfdir. Tolfdir will start talking to you and your three other peers. Their anxiety is palpable. Your peers will badger the professor to teach them practical knowledge of magic instead of lecturing about the importance of controlling its dangers, and he will eventually ask you for what you think. Even if your dialogue choice is "Safety should be more important than anything", Tolfdir will still cave in and ask you to perform a protection Ward spell. If you do not have this spell, he will give it to you freely. You will be asked to cast the spell and fend off his attack with it.

After you successfully defend yourself from one of his fire balls, the quest is finished, and the next quest will automatically begin.

Achievements

One achievement is unlocked during this quest, once you join the college:

• Gatekeeper (10 points/Bronze)

Notes

• You can buy the Healing Hands, Magelight, Fear, Conjure Flame Atronach, or Firebolt spell from Faralda (depending on which is required for your test) for cheaper than the tome is offered in stores. If you want to purchase a specific spell cheaply, you can save before initiating the quest and reload to try again. You will also learn the Lesser Ward spell while listening to Tolfdir.
• If one of the three students die by any means, Tolfdir will cancel the ward training and immediately start the next quest.
• Without enough Magicka or spent Perks in Restoration, it may be difficult for some characters to maintain a Ward long enough for Tolfdir to even throw a firebolt. This can be bypassed by using Fortify Magicka potions, or more efficiently, Spellbreaker and its Ward effect.
• Several of the college's optional quests become available once First Lessons has been started, namely Out of Balance, Enchanting Pick-Up, Filling Soul Gems, and Restocking Soul Gems, Fetch me that Book!, and Shalidor's Insights. Most of the other optional quests do not become available until after the next quest, Under Saarthal, has been completed.
• At the end of the lecture in this quest, Tolfdir's relationship with you is upgraded to friend.

Bugs

• If for any reason you step in front of Faralda as she casts the spells during the walk up to the college, it will show up as a light spell on your character and will never light the podium. ^?
• If interrupted during the tour (such as by a dragon), Mirabelle Ervine will not continue, saying only "after I have finished showing you the grounds we can talk". There is no known fix to this issue, but if you proceed to the Hall of Elements, Tolfdir will begin his lecture and you can complete the quest as if you had finished the tour. Mirabelle Ervine seems to return to normal behavior after this point. ^?
• If you miss the first chance to defend yourself from Tolfdir's fireball, he may not throw another one at you, stalling the quest indefinitely.
  • Tolfdir will start firing the spell on you but will immediately stop. This can be solved by simply moving around for a bit on the spot, then start casting the Lesser Ward spell again.
  • It can also be solved by killing one of the students, running away to someplace outside of Winterhold, then paying up the 1000 gold bounty to the guards.That way Tolfdir will skip the training part, and start the Under Saarthal quest.
• If you dismiss a follower during the demonstration of wards (in order to, for example, keep him or her out of the line of fire), there is a chance that the entire class and any faculty present will attack the follower. Since an invincible follower stands up after kneeling for a bit, this results in a loop without a sufficient delay to continue the lesson. ^?
  • Permanently killing the follower or reloading a previous save will successfully address this issue.
• If a dragon attacks before you can cast the spell Faralda has requested, she will disappear entirely from the game. ^?

Quest Stages

First Lessons (MG01)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
0
3
10		I've found the College of Winterhold, where mages study the arcane arts in Skyrim. If I want to learn more about magic, I'll need to join their ranks. (Objective is assigned): Join the College of Winterhold
20		In order to join the College of Winterhold, I need to show I'm capable of simple magic by casting a Magelight spell.. (Objective is assigned): Cast a Mage Light spell
21		In order to join the College of Winterhold, I need to show I'm capable of simple magic by summoning a Flame Atronach. (Objective is assigned): Summon a Flame Atronach
22		In order to join the College of Winterhold, I need to show I'm capable of simple magic by casting a Firebolt spell. (Objective is assigned): Cast a Firebolt spell
23		In order to join the College of Winterhold, I need to show I'm capable of simple magic by casting a Fear spell. (Objective is assigned): Cast a Fear Spell
24		In order to join the College of Winterhold, I need to show I'm capable of simple magic by casting Healing Hands on Nirya at the entrance to the College. (Objective is assigned): Cast a Healing Hands spell
30		I've been allowed to join the College of Winterhold, and need to find Mirablle Ervine for a tour of the grounds. (Objective is assigned): Report to Mirabelle Ervine
40		I have joined the College of Winterhold. Mirabelle Ervine has agreed to show me around in order to become familiar with the grounds. (Objective is assigned): Tour the College of Winterhold
50		I have joined the College of Winterhold, and after a tour of the grounds need to find Tolfdir, who looks after the new Apprentices. (Objective is assigned): Listen to Tolfdir
200		After joining the College of Winterhold and speaking with Tolfdir, I've learned a bit about wards and will be accompanying some of the others on an expedition.

 

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 MG01 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 MG01.

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Next: Under Saarthal