Esbern is one of the last remaining Blades, the powerful order of knights and warriors who served as bodyguards to the Septim Emperors. They were also known throughout Tamriel as the eyes and ears of the Emperors. He is an ElderNord.
As the second last of the Blades, Esbern has been monitoring the ancient prophecies of Tamriel and had predicted the return of the Dragons under Alduin, the Nordic God of Destruction whose return would lead to the destruction of Nirn. He also has the title of Blades Archivist and knows a great deal about the nature of the Dragon Threat in Skyrim. He is closely associated with Delphine, another Blade operative. He is being persecuted and, therefore, is very cautious.
Esbern is the guide and advisor of the Dovahkiin (Dragonborn), the chosen one ordained to fight Alduin and his servants after the release of Alduin and the dragons back into Tamriel nearly two hundred years after the Oblivion Crisis.
Note: Many Esbern related bugs can be fixed by quick saving then quick loading.
For many players, Esbern will be severely glitched. His sound files do not play, which leads to him standing in silence. As a consequence, it is impossible to proceed in the A Cornered Rat quest. Two ways to try to fix this include (both do not need to be done):
PC Unpack the Skyrim - Voice Extra.bsa files into the data folder, or download it already unpacked here. Unzip the contents and place them in the data folder.
Navigate to C:\Users\Name\Documents\My Games\Skyrim and open the file Skyrim.ini with notepad. At the very end of the file, add the following text and save the file.
Even when he is talking properly, his door will sometimes not open. To fix this, open the console and type setstage MQ202 160 and hit enter. This will open his door and allow action to proceed. The door can also be disabled with the console by clicking it, then typing the command disable. It may be necessary to attack Esbern before being able to speak with him.
PS3 If accessing his underground home in the Ratway Warrens, the hole through his door allows one attack that will successfully land, which is the shout, Unrelenting Force. Upon doing this, a 40 bounty will be acquired, but if the hole closes, it will come up with: "Last Witness Killed. 40 bounty removed."
PC If Esbern will not speak after he opens the door, or the conversation just does not start, try stepping into Esbern's room and stand so that the door is on the other side of him, then try speaking to him again.
When dragon hunting after recruiting three followers into the blades, he will only say, "do you need something?" No other conversation options will be available.
PC Esbern will sometimes randomly go missing.
For some reason, Esbern may attack out of seemingly nowhere, much like the bug with Hamal.
After combat, when all enemies are killed, sometimes a conjured Atronach will start beating up Esbern. Less frequently, Esbern and a regular follower may also start attacking each other.
He will stay still in the battle pose. How to fix this is by talking to Esbern and choose the 'wait here' option, enter the next "cell," then he will follow again.
PC Without unpacking Skyrim, it is possible to skip his conversation through normal walkthrough especially in between characters speeches or when it's not possible to interact with him. For example, in the peace council hosted by the Greybeards, by first targeting him in the console before sitting down, once his speech stuck, open console and typein "disable," Esbern will disappear, and other characters will continue their conversations, open console again and type in "enable" with Esbern ref code still on so that Esbern will appear. (Note: The shout, Dragon Call, can still be learned in this way.)
PC 360 PS3 Another bug is for the miscellaneous quest where parts of a dragon can be exchanged for him to make a potion; while the game guide says that the "dragon infusion" perk will be received, it is not received and the quest to bring him the parts is left in the journal without being able to give him any parts to make another potion. On PC the perk can be obtained manually through console with the command "player.addperk 000E6DF0." The Quest will still appear in the journal.
Esbern has been reported to randomly appear in some towns after the main quest is finished, such as Karthwasten .
At some point after completing Alduin's Wall, fast traveling may cause Esbern to appear. He appears in the doorway at the arrival point, asks "Yes, what is it?" or says, "You'll have to speak up, I'm a little deaf in my right ear," then walks away. Kill Esbern and respawn him using console commands (comfimed PC). A mod that allows the killing of essential characters will be required. Alternatively, complete a dungeon or a mission without fast traveling for long enough for him to return to Sky Haven Temple; afterwards, he will stay there without further problems.
Sometimes quest bring a dragon bone and a dragon scale to Esbern may stack in Journal after complete.
Fix this bug by typing in console: SetObjectiveCompleted FreeFormSkyHavenTempleD 10 1
PC 360 After bringing Three recruits to Delphine and then talk to Esbern about the dragon lairs as she requested, he sometimes just stands there and says things like, "Did you need something?" "Hmm? Yes?" And, "What is it?"
Even in Sky Haven Temple, attacking him may add bounty to the Rift.
Esbern will sometimes just stand there as if he has been commanded to stay.
360 Esbern has also been seen to be walking around Solstheim in the Dragonborn DLC.
In Bethesda Softworks' The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Esbern is voiced by the Swedish actor Max von Sydow. He is famed for his acting in movies such as The Seventh Seal, The Exorcist, Minority Report, Flash Gordon, Robin Hood, Conan the Barbarian, Shutter Island, and Strange Brew. In the trailer, Max von Sydow voiced Esbern as the narrator.
Edit
Yeah, I noticed that his voice was different from time to time...
Well, I was wondering if this should be added to his page on the trivia. I tried to add it before thinking it might be interesting, and I clea...
Darn. I wanted to get the Oblivian walker achievement and I play on Xbox so can't revive him. :*(
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