The Whispering Door

Background

"Balgruuf the Greater, Jarl of Whiterun, has a troubled child. He's asked me to help the boy."

Walkthrough

Note you must be at least level 20 and have finished Dragon Rising to receive this quest. After hearing a rumor at the The Bannered Mare, talk to Jarl Balgruuf in Dragonsreach (or if you sided with the Stormcloaks in the Civil War he is in the basement of the Blue Palace) reveals he is having problems with his youngest son Nelkir, who has been taking a sudden dark turn in his personality. Nelkir tells the Dragonborn how a Whispering Lady tells him secrets and he directs you to the locked room in the basement.

Once there, a voice tells you that you are more worthy and orders you to open the door. In order to find who has the keys, you must talk to Nelkir again, and he says only the court wizard Farengar Secret-Fire and Jarl Balgruuf carry the key because of the war.

You can pickpocket Farengar through the map board in the side room.
Waiting for either Jarl Balgruuf or Farengar Secret-Fire to go to sleep allows you to pick-pocket them without worry as long as you are Hidden.

After acquiring the key and unlocking the door, the voice is revealed to be that of Mephala, who instructs you to take the Ebony Blade, which is next to a book warning of its corrupting evil.

The quest is completed at this point, but Mephala tells you the Ebony Blade does not match its own description, and has fallen to a lesser form due to its aging without use. In order to restore its former strength, it must taste the "Blood of Deceit". For the blade to do this, you must kill someone who trusts you: a person that you did a quest for, or a follower. You can identify people who trust you based on what they say in your presence. They may say something like "Its a fine day with you around", but it's far easier to simply use a follower. Considering this, you may want to use the Ebony Blade in the quest Boethiah's Calling, The Taste of Death, or Lights Out!

On the PC version of Skyrim, it is possible to resurrect killed followers or friends using console commands, allowing you to kill the same people repeatedly while reaching the Ebony Blade's full power.

Trivia

When inspecting the quest of The Whispering Door more thoroughly with help of the Creation Kit, it is revealed that the quest was intended to be far more dark and elaborate. Unused scripts and packages hold references to all of Balgruuf's children having been intended to fall under the manipulation of Mephala.
One unused script named SF_DA08 Frothar Kills Horse Scene, shows that Frothar was meant to kill a black horse at the stables named Karinda, (currently an unused horse NPC). An accompanying script is named SF_DA08 Frothar Listens To Ebony B, referencing to Frothar falling under the control of Mephala much like Nelkir has, meant to occur at one point during the quest, with Ebony B standing for the Ebony Blade through which Mephala makes her voice heard.
Another script is titled SF_DA08 Children Kill The Jarl Scene, where Balgruuf's children were meant to gather at an undefined waypoint in secret, to commit patricide (possibly with the Dragonborn's aid as the script calls for removing Balgruuf's essential state) against their own father. An accompanying interaction package is named DA08 Balgruuf Wait To Die In Scene where Balgruuf is present at an undefined place as to be murdered.
Upon Balgruuf's death, Hrongar was meant to replace Balgruuf as Jarl. Attached to his NPC is a lot of unused dialogue parallel to that of Balgruuf, meant to be used in the civil war quests and main quests. The dialogue varies from that of Balgruuf in that Hrongar takes a more aggressive approach towards the problems at hand.
If you start the quest and leave it, and then do the March on Whiterun quest, Balgruuf will no longer be Jarl and the quest may be lost.
Note: If you obtain the blade beforehand by glitching through the wall using a plate or such and pick up the sword when doing the quest you will be unable to complete "retreive the Ebony Blade" as the sword cannot be dropped and picked up again.

Bugs

Click to show
If the Ebony Blade is upgraded at a Grindstone after making it eat a soul, the damage will be lowered and it will be unable to receive additional upgrades. If you have started the quest "The Fallen" and have asked Jarl Balgruuf the Greater to be prepared, you cannot question him until that quest is done. PS3 If Hulda is dead, her innkeeper function goes to Ysolda. Ysolda can not be asked for rumors, making the quest impossible to start. Resurrecting Hulda will not help; if the player asks her for rumors after resurrecting her, she will simply say the Companions are accepting new members (even if the Companions quest line is completed). Fix: Get two platters, then go the locked door and place a platter up against the door and use Whirlwind Sprint to shout through the door. Grab the Ebony Blade and then place the second platter in the corner between the door and the Whispering Lady (represented as a floating end table) and use Whirlwind sprint to shout back through the door. On PC, the TCL console command can be used to toggle collsion and noclip through. The blade may not charge because the quest has not started. After speaking to the innkeeper at the Bannered Mare and receiving the quest to speak to Jarl Balgruuf the Greater, the player may sometimes not receive a dialogue option to discuss his son. PS3 Either starting or finishing the quest, or picking up the Ebony Blade may cause your game file to become corrupted to the point where any subsequent saves will never re-load. Because of this, and because there doesn't seem to be any known solution, it's advisable to make several separate game saves, one before starting the quest, one before opening the door at the end of the quest, and one before picking up the blade itself. Placing an Ebony Blade on a weapons rack can cause it to disappear, losing it forever. It's possible to open the door the whispering lady is behind without console commands. Simply get Whiterun Guards to chase after the player and stand close to the door. They may open it, but it is impossible to enter, as the Whispering Lady (which the model for is simply a box) is floating in mid-air, blocking the way. Sometimes, the door won't open, even if the player has the key (it will only say the key is required), making the quest unfinishable. The Ebony Blade may not be able to be upgaded.

Appearances

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Template:1st