Gjalund Salt-Sage is a Nord sea captain and the owner of the Northern Maiden, the ship that links Skyrim with Solstheim (Dragonborn). He has been sailing the Sea of Ghosts for close to twenty years and runs supplies and passengers out to Raven Rock. He is a practical man who mostly wants to get paid and avoid trouble – which is a shame, because trouble has found him anyway.
Where to find them
Gjalund is usually aboard his ship at the Windhelm Docks. After a crossing, he and the Northern Maiden wait at the Raven Rock docks for the return trip.
Quests
In Dragonborn, the masked cultists who attack you came over on his ship – and Gjalund has no memory of the voyage at all. Spooked by the lost days, he refuses to go back. You can change his mind by paying double (500 gold), persuading him, or intimidating him; he then sails you to Raven Rock straight away.
Services
After the first trip, Gjalund carries you between Windhelm and Raven Rock for 250 gold each way. You can save the coin by using the fast travel arrow at the edge of the Skyrim and Solstheim maps instead. If you are over-encumbered, he may take your gold without actually moving you, so lighten your pack first.
Personality & relationships
He used to fish the waters around Solstheim and did well at it, until ash from Red Mountain fouled the sea. Without his supply runs to Raven Rock he says he would probably have sold the ship and moved back to Riften. Some locals, like the Redoran Guard, say his name with a soft English ‘j’.
He has a long-standing arrangement with Adril Arano. In one scene he arrives with supplies but has to charge double because the East Empire Company raised its prices again; Adril promises to raise it with Lleril Morvayn, and Gjalund kindly tells him to pay when he can.
Good to know
He shares his name with a former Jarl of Whiterun, but the two are not the same man.
Details checked against community wiki articles and the Skyrim/DLC game files, written in our own words.
