The Golden Claw is one of the first side quests most players stumble into in Whiterun Hold. Someone broke into the Riverwood Trader and walked off with exactly one thing: a golden ornament shaped like a dragon’s claw. Lucan Valerius wants it back, his sister Camilla wants to go after it herself, and the trail leads straight up the mountain to Bleak Falls Barrow.
How to start
There are several ways into this quest:
- Walk into the Riverwood Trader in Riverwood, where Lucan and Camilla are arguing about the theft, and ask what was taken.
- Ask Orgnar at the inn in Riverwood for rumors.
- Enter Bleak Falls Barrow and eavesdrop on the bandits talking about the claw.
- Simply pick up the claw during the main quest Bleak Falls Barrow; the quest then begins with the objective to find its owner.
Several Riverwood locals, such as Gerdur, Hilde and Frodnar, also gossip about the break-in before you get involved, noting how odd it is that almost nothing else was stolen.
Walkthrough
Retrieve the Golden Claw
Camilla points you to the path up the mountain west of Riverwood. Bandits guard the barrow entrance, and two more inside chat about a comrade named Arvel who ran ahead with the loot. Fight or sneak past them and continue into the temple. You will see a bandit pull the wrong lever and get skewered by poisoned darts, which introduces the first pillar puzzle. The answer is shown by the carvings above: set the pillars, from left to right, to Snake, Snake, Whale. Once the gate opens, grab the Pickpocket skill book Thief from the table just beyond it.
Cut Arvel down
Follow the cries for help to a web-filled chamber. A large wounded frostbite spider drops from the ceiling to protect its catch: Arvel the Swift, stuck fast in the web. After the spider dies, Arvel promises to share what he knows about the claw and the door if you free him. Of course, the moment he is loose, he bolts. You can kill him right away, since he pauses briefly after dropping to the floor, use a Calm spell to hold him in place, or let the draugr and spike traps further ahead finish him. Either way, loot his body for the Golden Claw and Arvel’s Journal.
Find the secret of Bleak Falls Barrow
Beyond the web chamber the crypts begin, full of draugr and traps. Pull the chain next to the gate with running water through it, and continue until you reach the door down to Bleak Falls Sanctum. Watch for a swinging axe trap guarded by two draugr. Eventually an iron door opens onto the Hall of Stories, a long vault lined with murals, where the ancient Nords prepared their dead for the journey to Sovngarde.
At the end of the hall waits the claw door. Inspect the claw in your inventory and look at its palm: the symbols are bear, moth and owl, from top to bottom. Rotate the outer, middle and inner rings to match, then activate the keyhole to insert the claw. The door opens onto a huge cavern with a Word Wall that teaches the first word of Unrelenting Force. While you learn it, a Draugr Overlord climbs out of his tomb. Defeat him and take the Dragonstone from his body.
Bring the claw to Lucan
Climb the stairs to the left of the Word Wall and pull the handle to open a hidden passage. It leads to a one-way exit, with a chest and some mountain flowers in the last room. Head back to Riverwood and hand the claw to Lucan (or to Camilla) to collect your reward.
Rewards
- Leveled gold from Lucan
- Camilla Valerius becomes a possible marriage partner
- First word of Unrelenting Force from the Word Wall
- The Dragonstone, needed for the main quest
Tips and notes
- The Dragonstone weighs 25 and cannot be dropped, stored or handed to a follower until you deliver it to Farengar Secret-Fire in Whiterun. Handing it in pushes the main story forward and changes the world quite a bit, so low-level characters may prefer to leave it on the Overlord’s corpse and come back later.
- Finishing this quest also completes the objectives of the main quest Bleak Falls Barrow, and the other way around.
- A chest with leveled loot hides upstream behind the Word Wall: follow the stream to the right of the wall and climb up behind it.
- A small cave on the lake side of the mountain, above some mammoth skeletons, leads to a shrine at the back of the sanctum, but a stone door that only opens from the inside blocks the way in.
- The claw officially belongs to Camilla, so it becomes yours if you marry her.
- Steal the claw back after returning it and Lucan will send hired thugs after you.
- As long as you keep the claw, the Riverwood Trader stays open around the clock. Once it is returned, the siblings thank you every time you walk in.
- The quest fails if both Lucan and Camilla die before you return the claw.
