The Volkihar Dungeons (Dawnguard) are the old, abandoned parts of Castle Volkihar, sealed off from the living quarters where the Volkihar Clan holds court. They include the Volkihar Undercroft, the East and North Towers and the sprawling Volkihar Ruins, and they are very much not empty. You come here with Serana to dig up her mother’s secrets.
What you’ll find
- Undercroft – once an escape tunnel, with an old cistern Serana remembers as smelly, and a dumping spot for corpses dropped from the thrall cells above. Expect death hounds, a feral vampire and a giant frostbite spider guarding the lever that lowers the courtyard drawbridge.
- Courtyard – overgrown graves, fungi and deathbell, plus a giant moondial that needs the Crescent, Full and Half Moon Crests to work. Serana says Harkon hated it for being too peaceful.
- East Tower – a few skeletons, loose coins and jewels on the floor.
- North Tower – more skeletons, sometimes a gargoyle, two chests, and a crushed skeleton with a deer head carrying a silver necklace and gold bars.
- Ruins – nearly as big as the keep, with dining halls, bedrooms and a chapel with a broken statue of Mara. Skeletons, death hounds and gargoyle brutes roam in packs, and the gargoyles like to pose as statues.
- Valerica’s Study – a two-level room with a small library, an alchemy lab and the portal to the Soul Cairn.
Quests
You explore the dungeons during Chasing Echoes and reach the Soul Cairn from the study in Beyond Death. After siding with the vampires in Kindred Judgment you can clear the path to the courtyard, and Valerica can be talked into coming home and replanting it.
Notable items
- Vampire Royal Armor and Vampire Boots on a shelf near a bookcase toward the end of the ruins.
- Valerica’s Journal beside the table of bones in the study, plus bone meal at the alchemy lab.
Tips
Treat every statue as a suspect; the gargoyles really do love an ambush. The study has a door to the Castle Volkihar Balcony that doubles as a fast travel point, handy for coming back later. Some players report the drawbridges resetting and enemies respawning on a return visit, so don’t assume the way back is clear.
Details checked against community wiki articles and the Skyrim/Dawnguard game files, summarised in our own words.
