Skyrim: Reborn

In a rare occurrence, a glitch in Skyrim resolved itself. I’m not certain if it was the result of an update, but while trying to clear out my miscellaneous quests I tried once more to hand in, “The Helm of Winterhold.” Previously this had been hampered by the Eternal Mourning glitch, and made impossible by the fact I had chosen to support the Empire in the war and had the jarl issuing the quest disposed. The location on the map led me to the former Jarl Korir on several occasions, but he was found to be wandering aimlessly South of Windhelm. He refused to acknowledge the quest before, making it impossible to finish. Then, on this occasion, I was able to finish it properly, even though he was out by a road at night, where he had no right to be. I immediately swiped the helmet back from him when he wasn’t looking. I’d been holding onto it for over a hundred hours, unable to remove it from my inventory, and I’d grown quite attached to it. I’d even upgraded it. I decided to give it to Lydia to wear, but in the meantime, I found I was able to continue past the Eternal Mourning glitch, now that the issue of the helmet had been resolved.

Upon entering Jorrvaskr I was immediately greeted by a pop-up dialogue telling me about the next branch of the quest. My companion immediately left me and was replaced by Vilkas and I went off to retrieve the last piece of the axe. Everything proceeded as normally from there, with one exception: I wasn’t a werewolf. I’d switched to vampire and back again a dozen times, but I was no longer werewolf like the rest of the Circle. Thus, when I finished my quest, I didn’t have to contend with offering up a head to the flames to free myself from the curse.

This was a huge boon, as previously my character had been stuck, unable to finish the questline. I had to start a whole new character and play through just to get the achievement. Months and months had passed and I’d given up any and all hope. If it wasn’t for Dawnguard, I’d still be a werewolf as well.