Calixto Corrium is an Imperial who runs Calixto’s House of Curiosities in Windhelm, a little private museum stuffed with oddities he and his late sister Lucilla gathered on their travels around Tamriel. For a couple of coins he will happily walk you through the collection. He is also, spoiler alert, the man the whole city is whispering about: the killer known as the Butcher.
Where to find them
He is usually found inside the House of Curiosities, waiting for visitors. He also turns up as a bystander at the murder scenes in the quest Blood on the Ice, and during the climax of that quest he lurks in the Stone Quarter market at night.
Quests
Blood on the Ice – Calixto is standing around at the scene of Susanna the Wicked‘s death and claims he saw someone run off, but he offers nothing useful. Later, after you search Hjerim and find a strange amulet, the guards send you to him for an expert opinion. He calls it the Wheelstone, an heirloom supposedly carried by the court mage, offers you 500 gold for it, and helpfully adds that Wuunferth the Unliving is rumoured to dabble in necromancy. Every word of that is a lie meant to point you at the wrong man. What you decide to do with the amulet affects whether you can end up with the Necromancer’s Amulet yourself.
If you blame Wuunferth, Jorleif has him locked up – and then a fresh body turns up anyway, with Calixto once again among the onlookers. Either way, Wuunferth eventually predicts where the killer will strike next and sends you to the market at night. There Calixto goes after his final target, who can be Nilsine Shatter-Shield, Jora, Hermir Strong-Heart, Idesa Sadri or Arivanya. The guards don’t react, so it’s on you to stop him. If he gets away he flees to Hjerim, where the case ends in a fight.
Services
For 2 gold he gives a guided tour of his prize pieces: a set of ancient Nordic embalming tools, the Book of Fate (blank for you, which is either deeply worrying or meaningless), Ysgramor’s Soup Spoon, which is very clearly a fork, and the Dancer’s Pipe, whose magic word he almost says out loud before catching himself. You can repeat the tour as often as you like.
Personality & relationships
On the surface Calixto is warm and chatty, proud of his collection and convinced his sister would be happy to see it making people smile. Townsfolk seem to like him: guards trust his eye for odd trinkets, and Jorleif thinks he is merely a bit odd. His journals tell another story. Losing Lucilla broke him, and he turned to an old necromantic ritual in the hope of bringing her back, killing young women of Windhelm for the parts it needs. Among the dead are Tova Shatter-Shield‘s daughter Friga, whose death gave him access to Hjerim, and Fjotli, daughter of Hillevi Cruel-Sea. In his writings he sneers at the city guards and at the mages of the College of Winterhold, and even claims his victims should be grateful. He also quietly tears down the warning notices that Viola Giordano pins up around town.
Good to know
- He carries a key to a locked chest in his shop. Pickpocket it and you’ll find embalming tools and one of his journals before the quest even points at him.
- His friendly chats with Elda Early-Dawn about rare rings and dragon scales read very differently once you know the truth.
Quick facts
- Race: Imperial
- Gender: Male
- Level: 8
- Class: Rogue
- Status: Killable
- Found in: Windhelm
- Services: Guided tour of the House of Curiosities (2 gold)
- Base ID: 0001414A
Also in Windhelm
Captain Lonely-Gale, Coldhearted Gravedigger, Dalan Merchad, Desperate Gambler, Elda Early-Dawn, Faryl Atheron, Grimvar Cruel-Sea, Helgird, Hermir Strong-Heart, Hillevi Cruel-Sea, Idesa Sadri, Jora.
Race, level, class and factions read from the Skyrim game files; story details checked against community wiki articles and written in our own words.