Ivarstead is a quiet little village at the foot of the Throat of the World, roughly halfway between Riften and Whiterun. It’s the last stop for pilgrims before the Seven Thousand Steps up to High Hrothgar, so every Dragonborn passes through sooner or later. It is the only town in Skyrim that isn’t on a major road between two hold capitals, and the locals will tell you exactly how boring that is.
What you’ll find
- Vilemyr Inn – run by Wilhelm, with food, drink and a bed. It’s also the only place to buy or sell anything in town.
- Fellstar Farm – Boti buys leeks, wheat, cabbage and potatoes (though no leeks are grown in the village). With Hearthfire, its grain mill turns three wheat into a sack of flour.
- Temba Wide-Arm’s Mill – Temba pays 5 gold per piece of firewood you chop.
- Klimmek’s House and Narfi’s ruined house.
- Shroud Hearth Barrow, an old barrow just outside the village.
- Its own guards – rare for a town outside a hold capital.
- A river full of fish and blue and orange dartwings, a Nirnroot by the riverside west of the inn, and deer, bears and rabbits in the woods.
- With Hearthfire: a clay deposit southeast of Narfi’s house and a stone quarry west of it.
Residents
Bassianus Axius, Barknar, Boti, Fastred, Gwilin, Jofthor, Klimmek, Lynly Star-Sung, Narfi, Temba Wide-Arm, Wilhelm and the village guards. Many of them grumble about wanting to leave.
Quests
- Climb the Steps – Klimmek wants supplies delivered to High Hrothgar.
- Lifting the Shroud – starts with a chat with Wilhelm at the inn.
- The Straw that Broke – Wilhelm asks you to find out what’s troubling Narfi.
- Grin and Bear It – Temba wants ten bear pelts.
- Bounty quests from Wilhelm and woodcutting jobs from Temba.
- The Way of the Voice passes through on the road to High Hrothgar.
- Also linked: The Book of Love (Fastred and Klimmek), the Dark Brotherhood contract on Narfi, Discover Svidi’s Whereabouts, Help Wylandriah and Smuggler’s Run (a mead keg for Wilhelm).
Tips
There are no merchants beyond the inn, so stock up before you climb. If you can’t fast travel, the quartermasters at the Rift Imperial Camp to the south or the Rift Stormcloak Camp across the lake to the east are the closest resupply. Chopping wood for Temba is easy early-game pocket money. A troll’s lair lies nearby in the direction of Riften, marked by two dead Stormcloaks carrying a note – go prepared.
Good to know
In the First Era the village was known as Hillgrund’s Steading. After you start Alduin’s Bane, you can watch Alduin circle the peak from town, and after the main quest Odahviing may be seen flying around the mountain.
Nearby
Closest places covered on TamrielSaga: Shroud Hearth Barrow, Pinepeak Cavern, Honeystrand Cave, Geirmund’s Hall, Alchemist’s Shack.
Location data (hold, map position, editor ID) read from the Skyrim game files; details checked against community wiki articles and summarised in our own words.