Part 2: Choosing an Orphan

Part 2: Choosing an Orphan

Which poor child in Skyrim is deserving of your success?

There are three types of children in Skyrim who make good candidates for adoption:

• Orphanage Orphans: These children are living in Riften’s Honorhall Orphanage under the draconian rule of Grelod the Kind.
• Orphaned Children: These children’s parents have been killed during the course of your adventure.
• Street Urchins: These are children you may not have encountered before; they eke out a living on the streets of a city.

In total, there are 23 children who are potential candidates for adoption. You can adopt only one or two of them, no matter how many properties you own.

Orphanage Orphans

Initially, there are four orphans you can adopt from the Honorhall Orphanage in Riften. In order to adopt one of them, you must:

• Own a home with a children’s bedroom or a Hearthfire home with suitable furnishings (see Part 1).
• Complete Dark Brotherhood Quest: Innocence Lost, in which you slay Grelod the Kind. After killing Grelod, return to Aventus and claim your reward; this gives the situation in Riften some time to settle down.
• Wait 24 hours or so (and make sure your Bounty in the Rift is at zero), and then return and speak to Constance Michel.
• Complete Constance’s verbal questionnaire. While there are some wrong (and humorous) answers, you can always try again if need be. Convince her you can support a child and tell her where you want your child to live, and she eventually gives you her blessing. If you don’t meet the requirements, Constance will let you know what you still need to do.
• Speak to the child you want to adopt and agree to adopt them. They automatically travel to your abode.

Aventus Aretino, a former resident of the orphanage now living in his house in Windhelm, is not available for adoption. If Constance Michel “accidentally” died along with Grelod, don’t despair. Come back in another day or two, and you can speak to the orphans to adopt them directly.

Orphaned Children

There are 15 children living in Skyrim who can be orphaned. In order to adopt them, you must:

• Own a home with a children’s bedroom or a Hearthfire home with suitable furnishings (see Part 1).
• Make sure the parents or guardians associated with the child (listed after their name) are dead. This may happen in the ordinary course of your adventure—they may be killed during a dragon attack; in a Forsworn Raid, Vampire attack, or other random act; or as collateral damage from your Storm Call Shout. Or you can slay the parents yourself!
• Wait 24 hours or so (and make sure your Bounty in the Hold in question is at zero).
• Locate the child. Once you complete Dark Brotherhood Quest: Innocence Lost, if Constance Michel is still alive, newly orphaned children are usually sent to Honorhall Orphanage in Riften. Otherwise, you can find them wandering the streets of their city or living in their old house.

If the child has been sent to the orphanage, you can adopt them by speaking to Constance Michel and completing her questionnaire, just as with any of the orphanage orphans. Otherwise, speak to the child directly and agree to adopt them, and they automatically travel to your abode.

Street Urchins

There are four other orphans you can find living on the rough streets of a city in Skyrim. In order to adopt them, all you need to do is own a home with a children’s bedroom or a Hearthfire home with suitable furnishings (see Part 1). Approach the child you want to adopt, bring the discussion around to adoption, and agree to adopt them. They will automatically travel to your abode.

Other Notes

A few days after completing Dark Brotherhood Quest: With Friends Like These..., if you have not adopted a child, expect to receive a note entitled “Consider Adoption” from Constance Michel, suggesting you visit Honorhall Orphanage.

Other children living in Skyrim (such as Agni, Kayd, or Virkmund) cannot be adopted, as their parents are integral to your adventure. They can never can be orphaned in the first place.

If you decide to move to another house you own, you can speak to your spouse (who tells the child), or if you are unmarried, you can tell your children yourself. Assuming your next dwelling has the correct setup for a child (a children’s bedroom or a main hall or bedrooms addition with beds in it), your children will appear at your new home the next time you visit.

If you’re building a Hearthfire home, your child always moves into the west wing bedrooms addition if it is built and furnished properly, If only your main hall is fully furnished, your children will sleep there instead. And if you build the bedrooms addition after the child is there, you need to move away, then return for the child to move into the bedrooms addition.