The Ratway is the tunnel system beneath Riften – the city under the city, as the guards like to say. It leads to the base of the Thieves Guild and shelters a crowd of lowlifes and other castoffs. Sooner or later every Dragonborn comes down here, whether to join the guild or to find a certain paranoid old Blade.
What you’ll find
- Five sections – the Ratway itself, The Ragged Flagon (the guild’s tavern), The Cistern (the guild headquarters, joined to the Flagon), the Ratway Vaults and the Ratway Warrens.
- Enemies – lowlifes and skeevers, mostly weak, plus the always-hostile Drahff and Hewnon Black-Skeever.
- Gian the Fist – his corpse carries the Gloves of the Pugilist, the only Fortify Unarmed item in the base game.
- A grim garden – on the way to the Flagon, a root-filled room with a bloody stump, a basket, a dead lowlife and an iron battleaxe. Draw your own conclusions.
- Drawbridge lever – in the first section; lowering the bridge gives you a quick exit.
Quests
- A Cornered Rat – after the Thalmor dossier in Diplomatic Immunity, Delphine sends you here to find Esbern. Brynjolf may first want help with A Chance Arrangement; then you reach the Flagon, push through Thalmor-patrolled tunnels in the Warrens and knock on a heavy metal door. Talking Esbern round leads into Alduin’s Wall.
- Retrieve Dravin’s Bow – Dravin Llanith of Merryfair Farm wants his bow back; it lies in the lowest room of the Ratway Vaults.
Notable items
- Pickpocket skill book Beggar, at the end of the Ratway.
- Gloves of the Pugilist (from Gian the Fist).
Tips
The entrance is near Honorhall Orphanage: take the stairs right of the eastern door, go left across the water, left again from the short walkway, then the first right. Reaching the drawbridge lever normally means the long way round, but Whirlwind Sprint zips you straight across. Once you’re a full guild member, a ladder in the Cistern takes you straight up into town – no more skeever small talk.
Good to know
A Speech check to talk Drahff and Hewnon out of attacking was cut, so they always fight – and their bodies never disappear, a lasting monument to bad decisions.
Details checked against community wiki articles and the Skyrim game files, summarised in our own words.
