Skyrim:The Way of the Voice

Meet the Greybeards. Quest Giver: Jarl Balgruuf the Greater Location(s): Ivarstead, High Hrothgar Prerequisite Quest: Dragon Rising Next Quest: The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller Reward: Word for the Unrelenting Force shout, Word for the Whirlwind Sprint shout ID: MQ105

Master Borri teaching "Wuld"

Quick Walkthrough

1. Go to Ivarstead.
2. Climb the 7,000 Steps.
3. Speak to the Greybeards at High Hrothgar.

Detailed Walkthrough

Ivarstead

After you're finished in Whiterun, you'll want to head to Ivarstead, as it is located at the foot of the 7,000 Steps leading up to High Hrothgar. You'll have to walk to Ivarstead, so buying a horse may make the journey faster. Alternatively, you can pay for a carriage ride to Riften and head to Ivarstead from there. Once you get there and get close to the bridge, you'll hear a conversation. Talk to one of the men, Klimmek, and learn about what dangers are lurking ahead. You can take an optional quest from him to deliver supplies to the Greybeards.

The 7,000 Steps

When you start on the trail up, you'll run across various leveled wildlife and monsters, and a couple of pilgrims. You will also find various stones giving you information on the history of the dragons and the Way of the Voice. Just after Emblem 4, at a point where the steps are sandwiched between two cliffs, there is a strong frost troll that will jump from the top of one cliff if it sees you. For low-level characters, it is suggested that you scale around the cliff to avoid it, or use ranged or magic attacks and stay out of reach while fighting it. Trolls are vulnerable to fire, so any fire magic available can help you defeat it. Alternatively, you could lure it back to Ivarstead and let the guards deal with it, but that might result in the unfortunate deaths of a few citizens. Fortunately, Ivarstead has very few quests attached to it.

The Greybeards

High Hrothgar

After finally arriving at High Hrothgar, you'll be greeted by Master Arngeir, who speaks to you on behalf of the other Greybeards (whose voices are too powerful for conversation). After proving you are the Dragonborn by using the Unrelenting Force shout, they welcome you to their monastery and instruct you on how to use the dragon shouts, or Thu'um.

To further your training in the ways of the Thu'um, you will be taught the second word to the Unrelenting Force shout, Ro, and asked to practice it three times on ethereal targets that the Greybeards summon. Arngeir comments on how quickly you learn, then takes you outside for the next lesson. They teach you another word, Wuld, for Whirlwind Sprint. You'll be asked to practice it by using the shout to get through the gate Master Borri opens before it closes. When you're finished, Arngeir will send you on the last test: retrieving the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller.

Achievements

One achievement is unlocked when you complete this quest:

• The Way of the Voice (20 points/Bronze)

Notes

• If you activate and read all ten plaques along the 7,000 Steps, you'll receive the blessing Voice of the Sky that causes wildlife to neither flee nor attack you for 24 hours.
• There appear to be only around 700 steps, but many may have been worn down or covered in snow over time.
• Despite the fact that, especially at higher levels, there are many dangerous wild animals along the 7,000 steps, the two pilgrims met along the way seem to be around the same level as the average bandit.
• With a horse and a little cunning, you can skip both the long trip to Ivarstead and climbing the 7,000 Steps altogether. Starting at the Whiterun Stormcloak Camp, you can ride almost straight up the mountain, bypassing the dangerous creatures and the tedious long climb with only moderate difficulty.
• The shout the Greybeards use to create the attack targets for learning Ro is Fiik Lo Sah, Mirror Deceive Phantom. It is not attainable by the player except through console codes.
• When you are asked to run through the gate before it closes using your new Whirlwind Sprint shout, you can make it through the gate in time using a regular sprint.
• Upon completion of this quest, you will gain access to the main quest of the Dragonborn expansion.

Bugs

• If you have previously attained a dragon soul between this quest and Dragon Rising, you can unlock "Wuld" before you are given the knowledge of its power. This will result in the Greybeard giving you the second Whirlwind word without having to find the proper word wall. In order to do this, when you learn "Wuld" from the ground in the courtyard, immediately go into your shouts menu and use a dragon soul to upgrade the shout before the Greybeard can give you his knowledge. However, the next time you encounter a Word Wall containing the word "Na", you will not learn any word, and you will still be required to hunt down the final wall containing the word "Kest". This same trick can repeated with Paarthurnax in a later quest and carries the same penalty. However, it cannot be done with "Ro." ^?
• Similar to the bug above if you have waited and received 'whirlwind' from a wordwall beforehand they will take notice and indicate that they will teach you 'Fury' (lvl 2). Doing the above trick will grant both Fury and Tempest (lvl3) ^?
• If you enter High Hrothgar from the back door, the Greybeards don't congregate in the hall and the quest will not progress. Exit from the front door and reenter before speaking to Master Arngeir to progress
  • This bug is fixed by version 1.2.4 of the Unofficial Skyrim Patch.
• If you leave High Hrothgar after being presented the word Ro, but before learning (absorbing) the word on the floor... the game in some cases may not let you learn the word when you return. This can also happen in very rare cases even if you do not leave (more likely to happen later in the game if you have put off doing the main quest). This bug makes the main quest line fail to continue. No workaround for this other than reloading a previous save from before the word is presented to you.
• When asked to demonstrate your Unrelenting Force shout after learning Ro, sometimes the targets summoned by the Greybeards fail to appear. A workaround appears to be possible by entering the "Items" menu. When accessed, the apparitions will materialize in the background. You can then exit the menu and target them with your shout. ^?
• If you move around in the room while demonstrating your Unrelenting Force shout the targets may not react to it. To solve this stand next to Arngeir and use the shout on the targets. ^?
• Sometimes there will be no option to say that you're "ready to learn" when speaking to Arngeir. ^?

Quest Stages

The Way of the Voice (MQ105)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
8		(Objective is assigned): Speak to the Greybeards
10		The Greybeards have summoned me to their monastery of High Hrothgar on the slopes of the Throat of the World. They seem to have learned of the mysterious power that I gained when I killed the dragon outside Whiterun. (Objective is assigned): Speak to the Greybeards
30		The Greybeards summoned me to their monastery of High Hrothgar on the slopes of the Throat of the World. I spoke to Arngeir, one of the Greybeards, who believes that I am "Dragonborn", which means I am especially gifted in the use of the Voice. They have offered to help me learn to use my new abilities. (Objective is assigned): Demonstrate your "Unrelenting Force" Shout
50		(Objective is assigned): Speak to Arngeir
58		(Objective is assigned): Learn the Word of Power from Einarth
70		(Objective is assigned): Speak to Arngeir for further training
80		(Objective is assigned): Demonstrate your "Unrelenting Force" Shout (<Global=MQ105TargetsHit>/<Global=MQ105TargetsTotal>)
100		(Objective is assigned): Learn the Word of Power from Borri
120		(Objective is assigned): Demonstrate your "Whirlwind Sprint" Shout
160		The Greybeards summoned me to their monastery of High Hrothgar on the slopes of the Throat of the World. Their leader, Arngeir, recognized me as "Dragonborn", and taught me more about my new Voice powers. After passing several tests, they sent me on one final trial, retrieving the legendary Horn of Jurgen Windcaller.

• The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 0, 1, 5, 12, 15, 20, 25, 55, 56, 59, 60, 75, 76, 80, 82, 85, 90, 103, 105, 110, 115, 125, 127, 130, 140, 150, 180, 190, 200, 220, 240, 242, 245, 250, 255, 260, 265, 270, 280, 282, 284, 288, 290, 300.

 

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 MQ105 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 MQ105.

Prev: Dragon Rising

Up: Main Quest

Next: The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller