Skyrim:The Throat of the World

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Receive a lesson from Paarthurnax. Quest Giver: Arngeir Location(s): High Hrothgar, Throat of the World Prerequisite Quest: Alduin's Wall Next Quest: Elder Knowledge Reward: One unlocked word of power for the Fire Breath shout and the whole Clear Skies shout ID: MQ204

Paarthurnax

Quick Walkthrough

1. Talk to Paarthurnax.
2. Learn the Word of Power from Paarthurnax.
3. Use your "Fire Breath" shout on Paarthurnax.
4. Talk to Paarthurnax.

Detailed Walkthrough

When you enter High Hrothgar and tell Arngeir that you need to learn the shout used to defeat Alduin, he will be quite shocked at this and ask where you learned about it. If you refuse to tell him, he will not help you. You can either tell him that you learned it from Alduin's Wall or that you were talking to the Blades. In either case, he will be strongly offended by this and refuse to deal with you. Einarth may, depending on your answers to Arngeir, chastise him for his line of questioning. If he does, Einarth will say, "Arngeir. Rok los Dovahkiin, Strundu'ul. Rok fen tinvaak Paarthurnax." meaning, "Arngeir. He is Dovahkiin, Stormcrown. He will speak (with) Paarthurnax." resulting in a hasty apology. Follow Arngeir out into the courtyard, where you will be taught all three words of the shout Clear Skies. Clear away the mist that blocks the gateway to Paarthurnax. Continue to blow away the mist as you follow the path to the summit of the Throat of the World by shouting when needed.

As it turns out, Paarthurnax is a dragon. As you approach, he will land and greet you with: "Drem Yol Lok. Greetings, wunduniik. I am Paarthurnax. Who are you? What brings you to my strunmah ... my mountain?" After you explain your objective, he'll respond: "Drem. Patience. There are formalities that must be observed, at the first meeting of two of the dov. By long tradition, the elder speaks first. Hear my Thu'um! Feel it in your bones. Match it, if you are Dovahkiin!" He'll then shoot a gout of flame onto a wall and encourage you to participate in "tinvaak" (loosely translated, "conversation").

Inspect the word he left behind to learn a new Shout, and Paarthurnax will grant you his knowledge of it, saying "A gift, Dovahkiin. Yol. Understand Fire as the dov do. Now, show me what you can do. Greet me not as mortal, but as dovah!" Use this new shout on Paarthurnax. He will agree with the opinions voiced by Greybeards that "the dragonblood runs strong in you", even if you are a "joor" (mortal), and offer to answer your questions.

Upon asking about Dragonrend, he will admit that he was expecting this, as "Alduin and Dovahkiin return together". Though he doesn't know the shout, he believes it could be learned by returning to the beginning of the "Tiid-Ahraan", the Time-Wound on the Throat of the World using an Elder Scroll, or "Kel". It was there that the first Tongues Paarthurnax taught to use the Thu'um defeated Alduin, and it was there that the Dragonrend shout was first used. If you can acquire an Elder Scroll and bring it back to him, you may be able to manipulate the Time-Wound and travel back to Alduin's first defeat. As the quest ends, the dragon admits he has no idea where to find an Elder Scroll. Your quest log suggests you talk to Arngeir, or alternatively, you can speak to Esbern for more information.

Notes

• You can use the Become Ethereal shout to stroll through the mist, except for the first cloud of mist: Passage through it requires Clear Skies.
• If you unlock the word yourself, at just the right time, before Paarthurnax gives you his "understanding", he will teach you the second word for Fire Breath instead of the first (or the third if you started out knowing the first).
• Paarthurnax will say that he is teaching you Yol, no matter which Word the wall actually teaches you.
• It is possible to climb to the very top without going through the temple and the barriers.
• Paarthurnax and your follower may become hostile towards each other. In addition to the possibility of harming your follower, this may also prevent you from talking to Paarthurnax.
• When speaking to Paarthurnax for the first time, leaving the mountain when you have the objective 'Use your "Fire Breath" Shout on Paarthurnax' gives you a very short cooldown time on all shouts, meaning shouts like Fire Breath will be ready seconds after being used.

• Choose the Optional dialog and say you want to learn about:

Fus	force	Force Without Effort	+25% Stagger, -25% Recoil with Unrelenting Force
Feim	fade	Eternal Spirit	+25% HP Regen while Ethereal
Yol	fire	The Fire Within	+25% Damage from Fire Breath

These increase the respective shout capabilities. You can only have one active at a time.

Bugs

• You may be unable to learn the Clear Skies shout.
  • This bug is fixed by version 1.9.26.0.8 of the Official Skyrim Patch.
  • Reloading a save from before talking to Arngeir, then following him outside immediately will usually fix the problem. Sometimes it is necessary to watch him whisper to words on the ground to ensure they stay lit.
• If you fire an arrow or cast a spell such as Firebolt through the mist at the gateway, you will stagger as if you had walked into the mist. Everyone within a certain distance from the gateway will also stagger. ^?

Quest Stages

The Throat of the World (MQ204)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
10		With Esbern's help, I've deciphered Alduin's Wall in Sky Haven Temple. It revealed that Alduin was defeated in ancient times by a Shout of some kind. Maybe the Greybeards can teach me this Shout, or at least tell me how I can learn it. (Objective is assigned): Talk to Arngeir
60		With Esbern's help, I've deciphered Alduin's Wall in Sky Haven Temple. It revealed that Alduin was defeated in ancient times by a Shout of some kind. Arngeir knew the name of the Shout, "Dragonrend", but could not teach it to me. However, he has agreed to show me the way to reach Paarthurnax, the Greybeards' leader, who lives at the top of the Throat of the World. Arngeir says that Paarthurnax is the only one who may know this Dragonrend Shout.
70		(Objective is assigned): Learn the "Clear Skies" Shout
83		(Objective is assigned): Use the "Clear Skies" Shout to open the path
90		(Objective is assigned): Talk to Paarthurnax
100		With Esbern's help, I've deciphered Alduin's Wall in Sky Haven Temple. It revealed that Alduin was defeated in ancient times by a Shout of some kind. Arngeir sent me to talk to Paarthurnax, who he said was the only one who might know this Dragonrend Shout. It turns out that Paarthurnax is actually a dragon.
120		(Objective is assigned): Learn the Word of Power from Paarthurnax
135		(Objective is assigned): Use your "Fire Breath" Shout on Paarthurnax
140		(Objective is assigned): Talk to Paarthurnax
200		With Esbern's help, I've deciphered Alduin's Wall in Sky Haven Temple. It revealed that Alduin was defeated in ancient times by a Shout of some kind. Arngeir sent me to talk to Paarthurnax, the Greybeards' leader, who turned out to be a dragon. Paarthurnax didn't know the Dragonrend Shout, but believes that there's a way for me to learn it from the ancient heroes who used it against Alduin.

• The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 0, 1, 20, 30, 35, 40, 50, 55, 65, 66, 67, 71, 72, 80, 81, 82, 85, 86, 95, 110, 125, 130, 150, 180, 190, 195, 205, 210, 220

 

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 MQ204 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 MQ204.

Prev: Alduin's Wall

Up: Main Quest

Next: Elder Knowledge