Skyrim:Thane of the Reach

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Gain the title of Thane of the Reach. Quest Giver: Radiant Location(s): The Reach Prerequisite Quest: Find Hrolfdir's Shield or The Battle for Fort Sungard or Season Unending Concurrent Quest: Making Friends and Influencing People Reward: Title of Thane, Blade of the Reach Disposition: =3 (quest giver) ID: Favor250

Become Thane of the Reach

Radiant Options

This is a radiant quest which you can receive from Igmund or Thongvor Silver-Blood, whichever is Jarl of the Reach. The jarl lives in Understone Keep in Markarth. The jarl can be found in multiple places - arguing with Calcelmo, roaming the halls, sleeping in his bedroom or sitting on the throne.

Quick Walkthrough

1. Befriend the Jarl of the Reach.
2. Assist five people of the Reach.
3. Purchase Vlindrel Hall.
4. Return to the jarl for your reward.

Detailed Walkthrough

This is an umbrella quest for several other quests that must be completed if you wish to become Thane of the Reach. The Jarl requires you buy the house in town as well as performing five favors for the townsfolk. Once this is achieved you can become Thane.

In order to receive this quest you must first aid the current Jarl. If the Jarl is Igmund, then you must usually kill a Forsworn leader and Find Hrolfdir's Shield; however, if he was ousted from Markarth during Season Unending and reinstated following The Battle for Fort Sungard, that is sufficient to begin this quest. If the Jarl is Thongvor, whether he was installed via Season Unending or The Battle for Fort Sungard, then the completion of that quest is sufficient to fulfill the prerequisite.

Once you have completed the prerequisite, speak with the Jarl again and he will ask you to assist the people of the hold. You must assist five people in the hold, usually by completing favor quests for them. Note that many of the quest givers are non-essential NPCs, so their deaths would result in a loss of potential quests to complete. If they die after you assist them, they still count towards your Thane status. You can also befriend merchants if you have the Investor perk by investing in their stores.

Note that there are several favor quests involving members of Orc strongholds in the Reach; assisting Orcs living in strongholds does not count towards your Thane quest, but Orcs in Markarth do count.

You may consider completing The Heart of Dibella as successfully completing it befriends all four of the priestesses of Dibella, which is almost enough to qualify for thaneship alone. It also requires you to visit Karthwasten; resolving the Sanuarach mine dispute there (for either side) will be enough to complete this requirement.

You must also purchase Vlindrel Hall, which costs 8,000 gold. Simply purchasing it is enough, there is no requirement to decorate, although it becomes more useful if decorated.

The Reach Favor Quests

Highlighted quests can be easily completed without any skill use. If any citizen offers multiple favor quests, only the first completed one will count towards Thaneship.

Quest Giver	Giver Location	Quest	Objective(s)
Ainethach	Karthwasten, Karthwasten Hall	Sanuarach Mine: End the dispute over Sanuarach Mine.	Convince Atar to leave Sauranach Mine Tell Ainethach that Atar has been dealt with
Eydis	Old Hroldan, Old Hroldan Inn	The Ghost of Old Hroldan: Put an ancient ghost to rest. (radiant)	Bring Hjalti's Sword to the Ghost of Old Hroldan.
Pavo Attius	Kolskeggr Mine, Pavo's House	Kolskeggr Mine: Clear the Forsworn from Kolskeggr Mine.	Clear the Forsworn from Kolskeggr Mine Tell Pavo that Kolskeggr Mine is cleared
Perth	Soljund's Sinkhole, Miner's House	Soljund's Sinkhole: Defeat the draugr in Soljund's Sinkhole.	Clear Soljund's Sinkhole of Draugr Tell Perth that the Draugr are dead
Rogatus Salvius	Salvius Farm	Rogatus's Letter: Deliver a letter to a farmer's son.	Deliver Rogatus's letter to Leonitus [sic]
Skaggi Scar-Face	Left Hand Mine, Skaggi's House	Mine Ore: Get paid to mine ore. (radiant)
Vigdis Salvius	Salvius Farm	Gather Wheat: Get paid to gather crops. (radiant)
Banning	Markarth Stables	Delivery: Deliver an item to an associate. (radiant)	Deliver Spiced Beef to Voada
Bothela	Markarth, The Hag's Cure	Bothela's Discreet Delivery: Deliver the Stallion's Potion to Raerek or Reburrus.	Deliver the <Alias=Potion> to <Alias.ShortName=Steward>
Brother Verulus	Markarth, Hall of the Dead	Investigate the Hall of the Dead: Solve a problem for the Priest of Arkay.	Speak to Verulus about the Hall of the Dead Investigate the Hall of the Dead Tell Verulus the Hall of the Dead is safe
Calcelmo	Markarth, Understone Keep	Nimhe, the Poisoned One: Kill the giant frostbite spider blocking access to Nchuand-Zel.	Kill Nimhe inside Nchuand-Zel Tell Calcelmo that Nimhe is dead
Cosnach	Markarth, The Warrens	Fight! Fight!: Prove your strength by wagering on a fist fight with another. (radiant)
		Quest all Drunks Have: Make a drunk dance for joy. (radiant)
Degaine	Markarth, The Warrens	Quest all Beggars Have: Take pity on a beggar. (radiant)
		Quest all Drunks Have: Make a drunk dance for joy. (radiant)
Ghorza gra-Bagol	Markarth, Understone Keep	Skilled Apprenticeship: Retrieve a skill book for Ghorza gra-Bagol.	Bring The Last Scabbard of Akrash to Ghorza
Kerah	Markarth, Endon's House	Delivery to Calcelmo: Deliver a ring to Calcelmo.	Deliver a ring to Calcelmo
Lisbet	Markarth, Arnleif and Sons Trading Company	Lisbet's Missing Shipment: Retrieve a missing Dibella Statue for a struggling store. (radiant)	Retrieve Lisbet's shipment from <Alias=ForswornCamp> Bring the Dibella Statue to Lisbet
Moth gro-Bagol	Markarth, Understone Keep	Coated in Blood: Bring a Daedra heart to Moth gro-Bagol.	Bring a Daedra's Heart to Moth
Omluag	Markarth, The Warrens	A Few Words with You: Do a favor by talking to someone about a problem. (radiant)	Talk to Mulush about Omluag Tell Omluag that Mulush is taken care of
Ondolemar	Markarth, Understone Keep	Search and Seizure: Find evidence of a Talos worshipper for the Thalmor.	Find evidence of Ogmund's Talos worship Bring Ogmund's Amulet of Talos to Ondolemar

Note that Gharol's Message does not count towards this objective, as Gharol and the Stronghold Orcs are not designated as citizens of the Reach.

The Reach Stores

Investing 500 gold in certain stores will count towards Thaneship if you have not befriended the store's owner by other means. If the original owner dies and you had already invested in their store, you [can / cannot ^{[verification needed]}] also befriend their replacement.

Merchant Name	Store Name	Store Location	Merchandise
Bothela (Muiri)	The Hag's Cure	Markarth	Apothecary
Calcelmo	in Understone Keep	Markarth	Spells
Ghorza gra-Bagol (Tacitus Sallustius) [verification needed — investment bugged - does it affect Disposition?]	at the forge near The Hag's Cure	Markarth	Blacksmith
Lisbet (Imedhnain)	Arnleif and Sons Trading Company	Markarth	General
Moth gro-Bagol [verification needed — investment bugged - does it affect Disposition?]	in Understone Keep	Markarth	Blacksmith

Other Quests

The following quests also increase the disposition of citizens of the Reach, and therefore count towards this objective:

• The Book of Love: Help the Temple of Mara spread the cause of love throughout Skyrim.
• The Heart of Dibella: Find a new Sybil for the Temple of Dibella.

Reward

After helping five inhabitants and purchasing Vlindrel Hall, the journal tells you to return to the Jarl. The reward, the Blade of the Reach, is a random, leveled, enchanted axe. There is a 50% chance that it will be a war axe (one-handed), and a 50% chance it will be a battleaxe (two-handed). You will also receive a housecarl named Argis the Bulwark, who will be waiting for you at Vlindrel Hall.

Bugs

• The misnamed Blade of the Reach is an axe (not a blade).
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 1.2.4, fixes this bug.
• The weapon may not place properly on weapon racks or plaques. Even on racks it will place horizontally, with the blade part of the axe not showing.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 2.0.4, fixes this bug.
• The dialogue option to start the thane quest may not appear. This happens if you have too many unfinished miscellaneous favor quests in your quest log. Do a few of these quests and the thane dialogue will appear.

Quest Stages

Thane of the Reach (Favor250)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
10		Objective 10: Purchase a house in Markarth
20		Objective 15: Return to <Alias.ShortName=QuestGiver>

• The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 0, 15, 25, 200.

Notes

• Any text displayed in angle brackets (e.g., <Alias=LocationHold>) is dynamically set by the Radiant Quest system, and will be filled in with the appropriate word(s) when seen in game.
• Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.
• Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in any order. Some stages may therefore repeat objectives seen in other stages.
• If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.
• On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage Favor250 stage, where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages, but it is possible to clear all stages of the quest using resetquest Favor250.