Candlehearth Hall is the inn of Windhelm, and it is the very first building you see after stepping through the city gate. For the locals it is a warm refuge from the snow, the war and everything else, best enjoyed with a mug of cold mead. Come for a bed, a meal or a sellsword – and stay for one of the darkest murder mysteries in Skyrim.
What you’ll find
- Elda Early-Dawn owns the place and rents out the beds.
- Nils runs the kitchen, while Susanna the Wicked serves the tables.
- Luaffyn handles the music as the resident bard.
- Stenvar, a sellsword who can be hired as a follower.
- Adonato Leotelli, a writer who wants his book delivered to Giraud.
- The upper floors double as the home of Tova Shatter-Shield, who plays a part in the Butcher investigation.
- If Falkreath ends up with the Stormcloaks during Season Unending and the Legion later retakes it, Dengeir of Stuhn and Tekla are exiled here.
Quests
- Blood on the Ice – after Susanna is killed on her way home from work, the guard and the steward ask you to hunt the Butcher. The trail runs through the nearby cemetery, to Tova and eventually to the key for Hjerim, her late daughter Friga’s home.
- Deliver Adonato’s Book to Giraud – a simple courier job for the resident author.
- Mourning Never Comes – if you kill Nilsine Shatter-Shield for Muiri, Tova takes her own life upstairs, leaving a letter behind. A sobering reminder that Dark Brotherhood contracts have consequences.
Notable items
An adept-level strongbox sits on one of the cupboards – worth a look if your lockpicks are feeling lucky.
Tips
Stop by in the evening: Calixto Corrium drinks here at night, which helps if his shop is locked during the murder quest. Stenvar is there if you want a hired blade, and the inn sits so close to the gate that it makes a handy base for exploring Eastmarch. Just maybe don’t walk anyone home through the graveyard.
Good to know
The building was once the home of a warrior named Vundheim. When he died in 4E 38, his son Deroct lit a candle above the hearth in his memory – and it has never gone out since, which is where the inn’s name comes from.
Details checked against community wiki articles and the Skyrim game files, summarised in our own words.