Ancarion is a High Elf Thalmor wizard who has quietly set up camp on Solstheim in the Dragonborn DLC. His secret assignment: obtain the Skaal’s sacred technique for forging Stalhrim, ideally without anyone noticing. Subtle he is not. He greets visitors with threats and treats every conversation as a favour he is graciously granting you.
Where to find them
He waits aboard a ship moored at Northshore Landing, backed up by a group of Thalmor underlings. He is carrying the Stalhrim Source Map, which is exactly the thing you have come for.
Quests
Ancarion is the final hurdle in A New Source of Stalhrim, the quest that begins with the disappearance of the Skaal smith Baldor Iron-Shaper. Bring up the map and he admits his mission is secret, then threatens to silence you to keep it that way. You have a few ways out:
- Persuade (Speech 50): tell him the blacksmith will never talk. He concedes the venture is going nowhere, agrees to leave the island and hands over the map.
- Intimidate: threaten his life. If it lands, he decides no weapon is worth dying for and gives you the map to pass on to the smith.
- Make a deal (Speech 75): offer to sell him Stalhrim gear once Baldor has taught you the craft. He hands over the map, trusting your greed rather than you, and stays on as a buyer.
- Fight: any failed persuasion or intimidation turns him and his men hostile, and the map has to be taken by force.
Services
If you strike the bargain, Ancarion becomes a merchant hungry for Stalhrim weapons and Stalhrim armor. He starts with 1,000 gold, but his purse empties over time and eventually leaves him with nothing to pay you.
Personality & relationships
Arrogant, impatient and fond of reminding you that you are alive only because he allows it. He dismisses Baldor as a dullard and clearly sees the Skaal as a resource rather than people. Even when you deliver as promised, his praise is grudging: he admits he wasn’t sure you would hold up your end. His combat taunts lean heavily on how many people he has already killed.
Good to know
The deal route keeps the map in your hands and gives you a buyer, but it also means selling the Skaal’s sacred craft to the Thalmor. Let your conscience, or your roleplay, decide.
Details checked against community wiki articles and the Skyrim/DLC game files, written in our own words.
