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Dead Men's Respite

Map

Hold	Hjaalmarch
Location	Southwest of Morthal
Type	Tomb
Sublocations	None
Quests	Tending the Flames
Characters	Ghost of Svaknir King Olaf One-Eye
Enemies	Draugr Frostbite Spiders Skeevers

Dead Men's Respite is an ancient Nordic tomb located in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

It is located southwest of Morthal on the bank of the Hjaal River in Hjaalmarch Hold. The tomb is the final resting place of King Olaf. The initiation quest for the Bards College faction, "Tending the Flames", takes place here. Dead Man's Respite is also a possible location for the Companions radiant quest, "Trouble in Skyrim".

WalkthroughEdit

Upon entering the dungeon the player will see a ghost, but will be unable to interact with it. There is a Ruby Dragon Claw there that will unlock the door and release four enemies into the room. It is possible to kill the four Draugr in this room while sneaking, before picking up the Claw, while they are asleep. There is an Iron Door on the left of this room with minor loot.

Down the hall, the player will come to a burial room and see the ghost disappear through a wall. This part of the tomb is a puzzle as there are rotating doorways activated by a pull chain. Activating the pull chain will change the doors, opening some and closing others.

Eventually the player comes to a room with two circular grates in the floor. Two Frostbite Spiders will drop from the ceiling. To the left there is an urn behind a spiders web and an apprentice chest. Open the gate on the far side of the room by activating the chain to the right of the entrance. Follow the watery passage to a large, two-story room. Walk up the wooden ramp on the right, the cage-like door is rigged with an adept-level trap. Activate it in the bottom right corner of the door to avoid the pendulum axes. The trap may be disabled by pulling the chain on the pillar once past it. Up the stairs is an iron door.

Past the iron door is an Arcane Enchanter and a sealed door that is currently inaccessible. To the right of this and down the slope there is a powerful Draugr that may use the Disarm shout. There are more rooms with draugr, but only one will be hostile until passing through again on the way back out. They may be killed before they wake on the first walk through. The leveled Draugr Warlord will attack soon as one enters the room. The left side of the room he is found in has a floor trap switch, a draugr body, a Grand Soul Gem, a Common Soul Gem, a stamina potion and several Scrolls. Going through the right side will bring the player to a room with another circular grate in the floor. An expert locked door with a master locked chest behind it can be found on the way.

In the room with the circular grate, cage doors will open and about six Restless Draugr will attack. A trapped chest in one of the back rooms contains some minor loot. Pull the chain to open the grate and proceed down the spiral staircase. At the bottom, pull the handle to open a secret doorway.

Next is a room with Svaknir's ghost, as well as his corpse. The corpse clutches King Olaf's Verse and the player must take the book to continue the journey.The book is not actually on the body of Svaknir but is in his hands. Aim at the book and take it in order to get it, searching Svaknir will only get gold. Svaknir's ghost will disappear, but the player can find it by returning to the sealed door.

Behind this door will be a puzzle door and the player must arrange the pictures on the door to match the symbols on the dragon claw in order to enter the next room. (Wolf, Eagle, Wolf).

Past the door is King Olaf's burial room. The ghost of Svaknir calls upon King Olaf, causing waves of Draugr to attack. Svaknir will help the player fight the Draugr and King Olaf One-Eye will appear to join the fight.

After the player and Svaknir's ghost defeat Olaf, Svaknir's ghost pulls out a lute, plays a few notes, and disappears now that he is finally at peace. At this end of the room is a Word Wall. The player can either loot the key from Olaf's body or pick a Master level lock to go through a door to a small room with treasure. Using the lever there will unlock the next door back to the first room of the dungeon.

Notable lootEdit

Ruby Dragon Claw
Word of Power, Whirlwind Sprint
Speech Skill Book: "The Buying Game" - in the rotating doors section
Ebony Weapon

FacilitiesEdit

Arcane Enchanter

QuestsEdit

TriviaEdit

There might be dragon fighting a giant.

BugsEdit

This section contains bugs related to Dead Men's Respite. Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following:

Confirm all bugs with other editors on the talk page before adding them below.
Always try reloading an old save first, before asking for assistance.
Don't discuss possible bug fixes or origins. Leave those and all other first-person-anecdotes on the talk page, not the article.

Always add 360 , PS3 , and PC to clarify which system the bug appears on.

Click to see the list of bugs encountered
After obtaining King Olaf's Verse and following Svaknir's ghost to Kings Olaf's Burial Chamber the Puzzle door, which makes use of the Ruby Dragon Claw, will glitch and show all Dragon symbols. When it is like this you can not interact with the door. To fix this, reload an autosave. It doesn't matter when, only that you reload. When dropping down the hole into the water, follower(s) may need a nudge first. PC 360 PS3 Before the Bard's College quest to recover King Olaf's verse is activated, the ruby claw door will not open. Sometimes, the Ruby Claw door rings will not activate, rendering it impossible to escape without loading an older save. The draugr won't attack until the player has fully entered Olaf's burial chamber. While standing in the doorway, one can easily kill most of the slumbering draugr with a bow or spells while they sit on their thrones. PS3 If follower(s) haven't fully entered King Olaf's chamber before the battle starts, only killing King Olaf will open the door to let them in. If none of the quests for the Greybeards have been completed, the Dragon Claw door will not always open. Sometimes, at the Sealed Door, Svaknir will be running against the wall opposite. Because one cannot interact with him, this means the quest ends here. A good idea to prevent this is to make a clean save outside of the tomb. 360 If the player is killed after King Olaf has been awoken and load a save from before entering the room, upon return all of the draugr, (including King Olaf), may be awake instead of coming in waves as normal. Dawnbreaker, from the quest "The Break of Dawn", can make the fight with Olaf easier because of its ability to cause fear in stronger undead. King Olaf uses the Dragon Shout, Disarm, which can make equipped weapon(s) permanently disappear. PS3 When dropping down the hole after the two frostbite spiders the game may freeze. PC Sometimes when Svaknir's dead body is found, his ghost Svaknir isn't leaving from there. 360 the book near Svaknir's body may not be there and you will be stuck there forever.

GalleryEdit

AppearancesEdit

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (First appearance)

Start a Discussion Discussions about Dead Men's Respite

Bug:No King Olaf's Verse!
- A Wikia contributor
  
  (PS3)This dungeon troubled me a lot as I couldn't get the sealed door opened.I found myself in a dead end when i opened the small room w... 2013-05-02T10:13:14Z

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Dead Men's Respite

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