Overview

• Prerequisites: N/A
• Quest Giver: Varies
• Reward: Stormcloak Armor and membership into the Stormcloaks faction
• Next Quest: The Jagged Crown

Objectives

• Speak with Galmar Stone-Fist.
• Travel to The Serpent Stone.
• Kill an Ice Wraith.
• Take the Stormcloak oath.

Walkthrough

There are several ways to join the Stormcloaks. The quest to join the Stormcloaks can be obtained by following Ralof during the tutorial quest. Before entering Helgen Keep, the choice may be made to enter with either Ralof or Hadvar. Upon entering with Ralof, the quest is automatically received after leaving the keep. If Hadvar is followed, he can either be killed after leaving the keep or left alive and the rebellion joined at a later opportunity.

The quest can be activated either by going to Windhelm and talking to Ulfric Stormcloak or by talking to farmers and Stormcloak soldiers. After receiving the quest, it's necessary to travel to Windhelm and the Palace of the Kings to speak to Ulfric, who sends the Dragonborn to Galmar Stone-Fist. Galmar asks that the Dragonborn prove his or her worth by traveling to The Serpent Stone and killing an Ice Wraith. After leaving the palace and traveling north, the Serpent Stone is found amidst floating icebergs in the middle of the sea near the edge of the map, (north of Windhelm, east of Winterhold). After the Ice Wraith is found and killed, and reporting back to Galmar, he will administer the oath to become a Stormcloak. Completing this quest immediately fails the Joining the Legion quest; however, the Imperials can still be joined by turning the Jagged Crown in to General Tullius instead of Ulfric Stormcloak during the quest The Jagged Crown.

Achievement

• Completing either this quest or Joining the Legion unlocks the "Taking Sides" achievement.

Trivia

• Even if the Dragonborn is a Nord, Galmar Stone-fist will say: "Now tell me, why's a foreigner want to fight for Skyrim?"
• Completion of this quest will cause the Stormcloaks to refer to the Dragonborn as "Unblooded."

Bugs

• Sometimes after killing the Ice Wraith and reporting back to Galmar Stone-Fist, he still behaves in the same manner as before the Ice Wraith was killed, resulting in having to do this portion of the quest again.