Horkers are bulky, walrus-like animals that haul themselves out onto the frozen shores of northern Skyrim and the island of Solstheim. Locals hunt them for their meat and tusks, and most adventurers meet their first horker while trudging along the coast, usually because one of them has started bellowing a warning in their direction. They are not especially dangerous on their own, but a whole herd can still ruin a low-level hero’s afternoon.
On land a horker is a lumbering creature that is easy to outpace, yet in deep water it becomes surprisingly quick and hardy. Horkers live in small herds of roughly three to five animals. Rather than charging on sight, they turn towards an intruder and roar until the visitor backs off. Keep pushing, or harm one of them, and the entire herd joins in, raking at you with their three big tusks. Badly wounded horkers often try to escape. Despite spending their lives beside icy water and carrying plenty of blubber, they have no special protection against frost.
Where to find them
Look for horkers wherever cold water meets the shore. Plenty of them sprawl across the ice floes of the southern Sea of Ghosts, along the northern edge of Winterhold, and on the coasts of The Pale, Hjaalmarch and Haafingar. Across the water, they are also a fixture of the coasts around Solstheim.
There is also one named, unusually large horker: Lord Tusk, a larger, named horker that lives on Horker Island.
Notes
- Cooking: horker meat is the base for the Horker Loaf, Horker Stew and Horker and Ash Yam Stew, the last of which belongs to the Dragonborn add-on.
- One tusk only: even though every horker sports three tusks, the body only ever yields a single one.
- Trophies (Hearthfire): with a homestead such as Lakeview Manor, Windstad Manor or Heljarchen Hall you can build two horker trophies for the trophy room. The Mounted Horker Head takes one leather strip and two horker tusks, while the full-body Horker needs a Large Base, two tusks and one straw.
Because horkers rarely charge without warning, a careful hunter can usually choose the moment to strike, which makes them a fairly safe source of meat and tusks once you have a bow or a few spells.
