Bleak Falls Barrow (Location)
Map
Hold	Whiterun Hold
Location	West of Riverwood
Type	Tomb
Sublocations	Bleak Falls Sanctum
Quests	Bleak Falls Barrow (Quest) The Golden Claw
Characters	Arvel the Swift
Enemies	Draugr Bandits

Bleak Falls Barrow (Location) is an ancient Nordic tomb located in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It is a large temple built by Ancient Nords to worship dragons.

It is one place where ancient Nords buried their dead and, as such, the Barrow is infested with aggressive Draugr. There may be a dragon perched on the arch outside the temple, assuming that the Dragonborn has completed enough of the main storyline.

Contents 1 Architectural design 2 Interactions 2.1 Bleak Falls Barrow (Quest) 2.2 The Golden Claw 3 Enemies 4 Notable items 5 Word Wall 6 Quests 7 Gallery 8 Trivia 9 Bugs 10 Notes

Architectural design

The first section of Bleak Falls Barrow that is encountered is known as Bleak Falls Temple. This is an underground style of dungeon rather that the normal ancient Nord style of dungeon. There is also an inner Section, Bleak Falls Sanctum, which is blocked by another gate that only the Golden Claw can open after a puzzle is solved.

Interactions

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
Bleak Falls Barrow (Quest) During the course of the Main Story, Jarl Balgruuf the Greater will ask the Dragonborn to assist his court wizard Farengar Secret-Fire with his research into Dragons. The Dragonborn will be tasked with retrieving the Dragonstone, an ancient tablet with a map of Dragon Burial Mounds, from Bleak Falls Barrow. The Golden Claw Lucan Valerius, owner of the Riverwood Trader, may ask the Dragonborn to go to Bleak Falls Barrow and retrieve his Golden Dragon Claw, which was stolen by bandits. This quest can be completed simultaneously with the Bleak Falls Barrow quest.
Spoilers end here

Enemies

• Bandits
• Draugr
• Frostbite Spider
  • There is one "Wounded" Frostbite spider in the chamber with Arvel which acts as a mini-boss.
• Skeever
• Dragon
  • Dragons can be waiting for the Dragonborn outside the exit behind the Word Wall despite not completing the quest; this allows random dragon encounters, however, they are not part of the dungeon itself.
  • (Confirmed on PS3 and Xbox 360.)
  • Possible Troll (after completing Bleak Falls Barrow).

Notable items

• Pickpocket Skill Book - Thief
• Golden Claw - Arvel
• Dragonstone - End Boss
• There is a strongbox and apothecary's satchel, both containing random items, on the outside of the lefthand temple wall (if you are facing the temple door from the outside look to the left, walk until you reach the corner of the temple, turn right, and continue until you reach the end of the wall - they are in the corner).
• A chest with an apprentice lock up the stairs to the right of the first set of swinging blades.
• Two hidden treasure chests in the Word Wall room behind waterfalls on either side of the Word Wall.
• There is a chest hidden in the cobwebs next to a lootable skeleton which contains random loot just before you fight the frostbite spider and cut down/kill Arvel the Swift.
• Iron ore vein, next to a skeleton, pickaxe, and a cave stream.
• Another iron ore vein in the boss location, on the left when you enter.
• Random potion on the ground, to the left, immediately after exiting the barrows back to Skyrim just around a small jut of rock.

Word Wall

Thu'um	Dragon Language
	Transliteration	Translation
Unrelenting Force Locations: Bleak Falls Barrow
Fus
	HET NOK FaaL VahLOK DeiNMaaR DO DOVahGOLZ ahRK aaN FUS DO UNSLaaD RahGOL ahRK VULOM	Here lies the guardian Keeper of dragonstone And a force of unending Rage and darkness

Quests

• Bleak Falls Barrow (Quest)
• The Golden Claw

Gallery

Trivia

• This location does reset enemies and chests after a time. However, it does not generate an additional Dragonstone or the NPC and quest item required in The Golden Claw.
• A Dragon may appear after exiting Bleak Falls Barrow if the player has completed the quest, Dragon Rising.
• This was the first dungeon and respective quest seen by players of Skyrim. As it was shown in the very first demo.
• There is a bandit outlaw seen trying to open the puzzle, but gets shot by the poisoned arrows for failing.
• The exterior of Bleak Falls Barrow has four large beautifully carved stone archs. These arches are very popular in Ancient Nord architecture, and because the Ancient Nords who built the gigantic barrow were Dragon worshippers, stone Dragon heads can be seen on top of the archs.
• Sometimes after clearing the ruins and fast traveling back after a while can result in 5-15 Draugr battling 3-5 leveled Bandits near the entrance of the ruin.

Bugs

The riddle to open the gate by turning pillars may encounter errors. The turnable pillars may not turn on activation (by pressing the A button when looking at the pillar). To resolve this exit the cave from where you came in and re-enter. This is a bug. Saving and reloading may also fix this.

When you have the dragon claw that opens the door to the shout that can be unlocked it may not open.The code will just have the three owls all in a row and when you try and turn them they wont move loading to your last saved progress makes it possible to open it again.

Notes

• If the Dragonborn has not yet spoken to Lucan Valerius about his missing "ornament", upon entering the Barrow, he/she will overhear two bandits talking about it, thus beginning the quest "The Golden Claw"

Start a Discussion Discussions about Bleak Falls Barrow (Location)

You can find discussions about everything related to this wiki on Elder Scrolls Forum!