The Altar of Thrond is a grim little landmark on Solstheim, added with the Dragonborn expansion. You’ll find it west of the Temple of Miraak and south of Moesring Pass, right next to the mouth of the Altar of Thrond Cave. Come for the ore, the loot and a fight with three very old acquaintances; stay only as long as your nerves allow.
What you’ll find
- The altar itself – just to the right of the cave entrance. A sacrificial victim lies on the blood-stained stone, ringed by a half-circle of candles. Subtle, it is not.
- Three unique hagravens – Isobel, Ettiene and Fallaise wait at the end of the cave passage. They are the only real enemies here, but three hagravens at once is plenty.
- A lived-in camp – a table with an apothecary’s satchel facing the passage, a fire with a cooking pot, and a shelter holding a bedroll, an alchemy lab and two more satchels.
- A barrel near the pot with some gold, a coin purse and a pickaxe on top – handy if you forgot yours.
- Shelters up the slope – one with a locked chest and an arcane enchanter, another higher up with a chest, and a third chest tucked into the rocks on the way to the last shelter.
- Ore veins – two of quicksilver ore, one of silver ore and one of moonstone ore.
Quests
The cave is one of several possible targets for the radiant quests Ancient Power, Shalidor’s Insight and Wind and Sand, so you may well end up here on an errand from someone else. It is also a possible spot for one of the Rings of Blood Magic.
Notable items
- Possible Ring of Blood Magic
- Three chests, one of them locked, plus the satchels and coin purse in the camp
- A pickaxe for the ore veins
Tips
Clear the hagravens before you start looting, because rummaging through satchels with three angry bird-witches behind you is a poor life choice. Once they are down, the cave turns into a tidy little workshop: you can brew at the alchemy lab and enchant upstairs without walking anywhere else. Grab the pickaxe from the barrel and mine all four veins on the way out – quicksilver and moonstone are worth the extra swings.
Good to know
The three sisters are returning faces from Bloodmoon. They were once witches of the Glenmoril Wyrd who came to Solstheim to help people cure their lycanthropy, but somewhere along the years they turned into hagravens. Good intentions, questionable retirement plan.
Nearby
Closest places on Solstheim covered on TamrielSaga: Frostmoon Crag, Mount Moesring, Temple of Miraak, Moesring Pass, Snowclad Ruins.
Map position and editor ID read from the Dragonborn game files; details checked against community wiki articles and summarised in our own words.
