The Golden Claw

Beneath the Barrow

Travel to Riverwood. You can overhear rumors about a recently robbed store; locate the Riverwood Trader. Inside, the proprietors Lucan and his sister, Camilla Valerius, are engaged in a heated discussion. It seems bandits have recently broken into their dried goods store and stolen a solid gold ornament in the shape of a dragon’s claw. Offer your help to Lucan; the sibling bickering doesn’t stop, but Camilla seems appeased and takes you out to the bridge on the edge of Riverwood.

Find your way up the mountain path north of Riverwood, passing the Riverwood Folly (where bandits roam), and to the summit, where the Nord tomb appears through the blizzard. Expect more bandit activity in this area. Locate the arched carved door leading into Bleak Falls Temple. Inside the first chamber, you hear two bandits around a campfire talking about a Dark Elf heading farther into the Barrow. End their conversation swiftly before venturing down the stairs.

Pass through the spiderwebs, the burial urns, and the dead Skeever, and engage another bandit on your way to a ceremonial entrance room. A portcullis blocks your path, and the lever nearby is currently inactive. In the alcoves to the left are a trio of three-sided pillars. Approach the first, and you’ll notice they can be activated. Each side has a different animal carving: the Hawk, Whale, and Snake.

Puzzle Solution: Rotate the pillars so a Snake, Snake, and Whale face out. The carved Nord heads above the portcullis (and the fallen middle one) hold the answer in their maws.

Descend the spiral steps beyond, battling a few Skeevers on your way. As the thick spider silk begins to cover the walls, you hear a voice up ahead and to your left. Cut through the doorway covered in webbing, and enter the lair of a Giant Frostbite Spider. Attack the arachnid before venturing toward the trussed-up Dark Elf: one of the bandits from the raiding party you slaughtered previously. This is Arvel the Swift, who is carrying the Golden Claw. He quickly tells you he knows how it works, how it fits into the door in the Hall of Stories. The bandit is babbling. But he needs cutting down first. Oblige him.

After a couple of weapon swipes (or magical blasts), Arvel’s sticky prison gives way. He immediately flees, laughing that he won’t be sharing his treasure with the likes of you. This is correct, but that’s because you’ll be taking him out—use a quick arrow or two in the back or other ranged attack—or letting the denizens who lurk deeper into this crypt deal with him.

Follow Arvel’s trail, passing through the crypt entrance and down into the catacombs. The swift soon meets the dead as Arvel falls under a flurry of Draugr attacks. The Nord undead now turn their attention to you. Battle them back using your combat mettle or run north toward the open spiked gate and pressure plate. Keep to the extreme left, and you can activate the swinging gate trap without being hit. Instead, use it as a skewering device against the Draugr. Then search Arvel. Among his belongings is the Golden Claw and the Dark Elf’s journal. Read it for more clues on this Barrow’s secret.

• Golden Claw
• Arvel’s Journal

You have Lucan’s trinket, but don’t return it until you completely reconnoiter this Barrow. Continue down, battling Draugr and searching corpses, both resting and animated, as you go. At the swinging blades, sprint forward the moment the closest blade swings past you. Brandish your weaponry, but don’t be overzealous with fire in the passageway with puddles; this is actually oil leaking from a hanging lamp, and the corridor erupts if flames touch the ground; use this as a trap against your bony foes.

Eventually, you climb steps into a tall chamber with a waterfall and another Draugr. Although a treasure chest can be ransacked, the Barrow’s secret lies past a portcullis above the rushing stream. Locate the chain next to the portcullis and activate it, before splashing down the stream and into a larger, curved cavern with an opening at the far end. Ready any ranged attacks you can muster; a Draugr (or if you’re at higher levels, a Frost Troll) is pacing the snow bridge directly below the waterfall opening. Strike it with as many projectiles as you can to weaken it, then engage it in a fierce battle throughout this upper cavern and lower bridge. Flee to regain Stamina or Magick if necessary. Another option is to simply flee entirely, although you’ll miss the scavenging on the curved path below the bridge. Here you’ll find the body of Thomas. Follow the path around and into the illuminated entrance to Bleak Falls Sanctum.

Open the Sanctum doors, and weave your way to another bladed corridor. Coax the Draugr beyond into this trap, before dashing through it, into the Great Chamber. Expect attacks from Draugr bowmen on the bridge above, as well as melee strikes from the ground. You can drop oil lamps and burn the decaying flesh of these foes as you head up and over the bridge, to the Iron Door leading into the Hall of Stories. The Hall is a long corridor with intricately carved Nord stonework on either side and an ornate door at the far end.

Puzzle Solution: The door consists of three “rings” that rotate when you activate them. Each has three animals plated into the structure, while the central keyhole is unlocked using the Golden Claw. This puzzle is inaccessible without it, as the solution is on the palm of the Golden Claw. Rotate it in your inventory to see the three circular petroglyph carvings on the Claw’s palm. Move the rings so the Bear, Moth, and Owl appear on the outer, middle, and inner rings, respectively. Then insert the Golden Claw into the keyhole.

This reveals the Barrow’s secret at last: a ceremonial burial grotto with waterfalls surrounding the long-forgotten chamber. Move to the carved stone center and check the chest. Scavenge what you need; then inspect the Word Wall, where you’re granted a Word of Power! However, this stirs a high-level Draugr Lord from his rest, and you must defend yourself from this final Barrow guardian.

After the fight, inspect the Draugr’s corpse; he is carrying a Dragonstone! Now take the staircase on the chamber’s left side, activating the handle to raise a secret stone slab door out into an upper Barrow alcove, a ceremonial alcove, and an exit out into Skyrim.

Now it is a simple matter of returning the Golden Claw heirloom to Lucan to complete this quest.

Quest Conclusion

• Word of Power: Unrelenting Force
• Dragonstone
• Gold pieces (Leveled; if you return the Golden Claw to Lucan)

Postquest Activities

The Dragonstone is a valuable item sought by the Wizard of Whiterun, Farengar Secret-Fire, as part of Main Quest: Bleak Falls Barrow.