Viola Giordano is an Imperial living in Windhelm, and she’s the town’s self-appointed detective. While the guards are busy with the war, Viola is busy with the Butcher: she wrote the Beware the Butcher! flyers pinned up around the city and warns everyone she meets to watch their back. Not everyone appreciates it. Some locals see her as a busybody who pokes into other people’s business.
Where to find them
She lives in her own house in Windhelm and spends her evenings at Candlehearth Hall.
Quests
In Blood on the Ice, ask her about the Butcher and she says she’s been hunting him for months with no help from guards or citizens. Show her a flyer found in Hjerim and she insists on searching the place with you, and she’s the one who spots that a cabinet looks odd. Once you read the journal hidden there, she names Wuunferth the Unliving as the obvious suspect and advises taking the evidence to the steward rather than confronting him.
She also appears in That Was Always There. Revyn Sadri asks you to sneak her gold ring back into her house, which needs a master-level lockpick or her key, lifted from her pocket. Hand the ring to her in person instead and she rewards you, then vows to get Revyn’s taxes doubled or even tripled.
Follower & marriage
Viola is one of Skyrim’s marriage candidates.
Personality & relationships
Her favourite target is Captain Lonely-Gale, a retired ship captain still mourning his wife. She keeps pushing him with dating advice, invitations and theories about how snow settles near the murder sites. He complains about her to Elda Early-Dawn and asks you whether Viola sent you. Her ring reaction and her suspicion that the noisy Dark Elves might be behind the killings show she shares some of the city’s prejudices.
Good to know
She can sometimes freeze up while investigating Hjerim, which may stall the quest.
Quick facts
- Race: Imperial
- Gender: Female
- Level: 4
- Class: Citizen
- Status: Killable
- Found in: Windhelm
- Base ID: 00014129
Also in Windhelm
Voldsea Giryon, Wuunferth the Unliving, Adelaisa Vendicci, Adisla, Adonato Leotelli, Ambarys Rendar, Angrenor Once-Honored, Arivanya, Aval Atheron, Belyn Hlaalu, Bolfrida Brandy-Mug, Brunwulf Free-Winter.
Race, level, class and factions read from the Skyrim game files; story details checked against community wiki articles and written in our own words.