Skyrim talk:Battle for Windhelm

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Battle music never stops[edit]

There appears to be a bug related to this quest where the battle music never stops after it's finished. Google shows it to be a fairly common problem, so something about it should be added. 82.125.106.79 08:04, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

I have something similar to this. There is battle music constantly playing yet there are no Stormcloaks or Imperials or even any Citizens. The whole city is on fire still. When I enter the city it says You must help the soldiers defend the city before you can enter. I reloaded a previous save but it ended the same. Kimi the Elf 08:58, 31 December 2011 (UTC)
I also encountered the music bug and Ulfric and Galmar's corpse bug. The battle music persisted even after I fast-traveled to solitude. So I paused the game to search for a fix online and when I got back, it was back to normal and playing the town music thankfully. (ZekunD 12:53, 6 January 2012 (UTC))
When Galmar wouldn't go away, I used the same trick suggested for when you bring back the sapling of the Gildergreen and the old dead tree won't go away -- I clicked on him in the console and issued the command markfordelete. Then I saved and reloaded my save, and he was gone for good. This only works on the PC, of course. --174.6.51.17 08:14, 4 February 2012 (UTC)
I had the Bug on my PS3 today, I ignored it, fast traveled and entered a dungeon for another quest, after approaching a battle and defeating all opponents the battle music stopped as usual. My idea was that maybe the trigger to stop the music is missing/not working in the script after killing Ulfric, so I took another trigger. Saved me any reload routine. May be worth mentioning in the Bug section. --85.180.19.85 22:42, 7 February 2014 (GMT)
It used to be on this page, but was moved to Skyrim:Glitches#Sound because it can occur in situations other than just this one quest. --Xyzzy Talk 01:20, 8 February 2014 (GMT)

Note about "various people" in room upstairs[edit]

I attempted to recreate the situation in the Notes section where a room upstairs contains "various people' after Ulfric is killed. After trying many different combinations of entry/exit and timing with General Tullius and Legate Rikke, I was completely unable to recreate this. The only time anybody reappeared in the Palace of the Kings was after exiting and re-entering the Palace at least twice through any door. I suspect that the author of that note just happened to catch the Palace staff respawning at just the right time following the confrontation with Ulfric. Maybe this only occurs on a particular game platform. I was only able to test it on the PC. Xyzzy 18:15, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for checking that out, Xyzzy. Since you weren't able to recreate it and no one else has confirmed anything either way, I'm going to go ahead and move it here.
* After killing Ulfric, Tullius and Rikke will go outside to have a speech with the legion. Go outside the palace then immediately go back to the Palace of Kings again. Now, go to Palace of the Kings Upstairs, there will be a long alleyway with intersection of four doors. The second door on the right side of the second intersection will be full of various people.
If anyone else finds anything, then it'll probably have to go under the bugs section later on. eshetalk 17:23, 1 April 2012 (UTC)
I'm not a regular poster to the wiki, but I just finished that quest (PC) 3and found people in the room upstairs. I re entered the Palace during Tullius' speech and went upstairs, down the hall and into the second door on the right. There were about ten people in it, all named NPCs with the Stormcloak faction. I wrote down their names, however they are the same people that can be found in the main hall after Tullius leaves, i.e. Anuriel, Jarl Skald, Jarl Laila Lawgiver etc. and including Captain Lonelygale, who has a line of dialogue as he exits the palace shortly after. I suspect that new copies of these named NPCs are spawned here with new AI packs at the completion of the Imperial quest and released when Tulius leaves after his speech. 24.67.37.143 00:32, 6 April 2012 (UTC)miker
I can confirm this. An entire group of people are gathered there, all ready to get downstairs when the quest ends. Not sure it's a bug - could just be simple game mechanics, but a fun discovery all in all. --Krusty 22:41, 14 April 2012 (UTC)
I also can confirm "various people" upstairs (on 360, and I went immediately after killing Ulfric and before going outside for Tulius' speech). They tended to be angry and insulting when I talked to them, particularly Jorlief. They are all essential and cannot be killed. They are poorly armed, so this is probably a good place to rampage, attack all of them, and safely increase your armor skill without risk of killing valuable NPCs. Wooga 22:34, 5 August 2012 (UTC)
I can confirm that this does happen (xbox) these "various people" seem to be the jarl's that had to step down and their various helpers. User Dark-Dollie Feb.22/13 — Unsigned comment by 50.98.25.219 (talk) at 21:51 on 22 February 2013
For me, on PC, there are 9 people there, all talking about traitors — Unsigned comment by ‎85.228.97.199 (talk) at 15:26 on 29 April 2013

() I am quite late to the party, but I can confirm this on the ps3 version also. The persons are Jarl Skald, Unmid Snow-Shod, Bulfrek, Jod, Jarl Laila Law-Giver and Anuriel. All saying that they hoped the wild would take me and what not. For me it triggered when I went outside after the fight, talking to both Rikke and Tullius, going inside the castle hall and downstairs, back and upstairs. 85.81.108.2 18:28, 13 April 2016 (UTC) ktg

Catapults at the Imperial Camp[edit]

I can verify the existence of three catapults in the Imperial Camp to the south-east of Windhelm during the siege of the city. They can apparently be fired and reloaded indefinitely, and the shots fired do not seem to do anything that might influence the siege. --Gigano 19:16, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

I was able to fire them as well, but only if I returned to the camp after being sent to Windhelm by Legate Rikke, but before receiving General Tullius' orders in front of the gates. If I returned after receiving the orders, the catapults were present, but disappeared within seconds of my arrival. In both cases, I fast traveled to these locations. I also didn't see any apparent reduction in defenses or increase in damage to the city by repeated firing of the catapults. Xyzzy 03:37, 2 April 2012 (UTC)
They're there, and can be fired, but are merely there as a gimmick - just like the catapults inside Whiterun during the Stormcloaks attack. --Krusty 13:42, 2 April 2012 (UTC)
I can also verify that the catapults appear and can be fired. I have put up a photo with them in it here. They are not in the Eastmarch Imperial Camp as was formerly stated but in the newly formed Windhelm Military Camp. I am not sure that this was why the VN tag was added, however. Coronus 05:23, 16 April 2012 (UTC)

Questline not registering as completed properly?[edit]

I've completed the Civil War questline for the Imperials now, but I'm not sure whether it's completed properly. On my statistics page, it says "Questlines Completed: 0". Also, people still talk and act as if there is still a civil war going on, and I have the miscellaneous quest "Report to the Jarl of Whiterun" stuck in my quests.

I've experienced all of these things before on a different save file. Is this a bug, or did Bethesda really overlook the fact that a player might actually get to the end of the Civil War chain? :S

I'm on the Xbox360 version, up-to-date as of 03/April. 90.217.81.66 14:30, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

My guess is that with the miscellaneous quest in your quest log the game doesn't register that you completed it. --2dum2live 13:47, 30 June 2012 (UTC)

Hadvar Bug Fix Doesn't Work[edit]

Right, I've completed the civil war plotline for the Imperials, got back to Whiterun, and just as it says in the Wiki Hadvar has popped up and follows me around everywhere. Problem is the fix detailed in the Wiki doesn't seem to work. I've tried to do what it said - saved while standing as close to him as possible and loading from then - but he just won't go away. Is there another way around this? I'm on Xbox so can't use the console. Athelstan 15:33, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

There is a more detailed bug fix on Hadvar's page. Make sure you are saving and reloading in Whiterun or Windhelm. Another thing that may help is if you completely restart your system before reloading. I am a PC user, so I am not too familiar with the workings of an Xbox, but on the PC I need to close the game to desktop to get it out of the ram. You would probably want to do something equivalent with the Xbox. You could also try completing Honor Thy Family like Hadvar's page suggests. If all else fails, there are ways of transferring Xbox saves onto the PC and making console changes before changing it back to the Xbox. Coronus 03:43, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

Reward weapon[edit]

I've played the Imperial campaign multiple times and every time the reward weapon is a leveled sword with a health absorb enchant. Has anyone received a different enchant on the weapon? 24.156.216.144 18:54, 3 June 2012 (UTC)

I've just finished the campaign again, and I got a Daedric Sword of the Vampire (Absorb 25 points of health). I think that only the sword type changes not the enchantment type. — Unsigned comment by ISASPTM (talkcontribs) at 06:45 on 21 June 2012

General Tullius does not appear at gates at Windhelm[edit]

I have just started this quest, and when I arrived at the destination arrow, nobody is at the gates. It's just a hovering arrow over an empty spot. When I go back to solitude though, I find the General in the castle where you get most of your quests from him with his sword drawn. I don't know how to get past this and continue with the quest. I am not happy with this bug and I would appreciate it if there was a way to fix it, it's a little bit upsetting because I can't proceed with the game, I have resorted to self-harming. — Unsigned comment by 166.147.123.152 (talk) at 20:22 on 2 July 2012

What platform are you playing on? If you're on PC, you can use commands listed on the Console page to advance the quest. Do you have earlier saves that you can load, from before your were given this quest? You could also leave and complete some other quests, then come back to this one. Skyrim is full of reports of glitches that end up fixing themselves over time. --XyzzyTalk 00:26, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

Tullius citing the Emperor[edit]

To quote a part of Tullius' speech at the start of the battle: "The Emperor will be paying close attention to what happens here today." Funny to hear this if you finished the Dark Brotherhoods questline before. Might this be a bug, or has good ol' Titus Mede II a son that's appointed Emperor right away? 84.82.119.44 11:18, 21 July 2012 (UTC)

I've seen the devs place dialogue that changes based on quest progress, but maybe they missed this one. It is possible that they planned on a successor that hasn't been shown yet, but a bug? Not in the true sense, no. At worst, an oversight in continuity. --XyzzyTalk 14:41, 21 July 2012 (UTC)
There could have been an heir or a Potentate that had been planned or chosen, or he could be referring to the Elder Council. All three would function pretty much the same as an Emperor. Alternatively, he could have been referring to the future Emperor--after all, there would be records of what was said so that it is preserved, and it would be an important matter for the next Emperor to look at. It could be an oversight, or it could be that the dialogue fits in with any situations I offered. Vely►t►e 15:05, 21 July 2012 (UTC)
It is not an oversight, there is already a new Emperor. If you join the Legion before the DB, he says for the glory of the Emperor Titus Mede II. If you join after, it says only for the glory of the Emperor, lets assume a new one was chosen.--Br3admax 02:20, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

Ulfric's body[edit]

Is there any way to fix the bug where Ulfric and Galmar's bodies don't disappear, or, if there isn't, could someone tell me a convenient, out of the way place to hide them, so they aren't just laying out in the open? Augster101 01:25, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

I hid them in the fireplace of the Kitchen. If you are on PC, there is probably a command to remove them - Emoboy64 02:04, 19 August 2012 (UTC)
Ulfric and Galmar's bodies can be resurrected with the Ritual Stone ability and led to another part of the World to be shouted out of the map or hidden somewhere else. — Unsigned comment by 101.170.213.68 (talk) at 21:48 on 30 April 2013‎

Can we backstab the imperials?[edit]

What happens if I decide to "save" Ulfric by turning on Rikke/Tullius, hacking them up when they confront Ulfric? Is it possible to save him from execution? --Nv4dispbluescreen 08:25, 3 September 2012 (UTC)

This sort of question is better suited for the forums. You could try it yourself & see what happens, then post the results on this talk page. It may be noteworthy enough for the article. Xyzzy (talk) 11:15, 3 September 2012 (EDT)
Okay, tested it with "setessential 0" help (otherwise Rikke and Tullius would be immortal anyway) and Ulfric, after killing them, accepts my yield and just goes on to talk about generic war-related stuff. "We gotta retake Pale from the imperials." or "The jarl is waiting for a message from white run." All the doors are locked and there is no way to get out again, but Ulfric also doesn't get any special dialogue even though he killed Rikke and Tullius, so it's useless to backstab them. Porting out of the palace with a "player.moveto" command reveals that Windhelm cannot be entered any longer because all the entrances are locked and the keys do not exist... --Nv4dispbluescreen (talk) 10:45, 17 September 2012 (GMT)

Obtaining a house after Battle of Windhelm[edit]

Moving this from "Notes about various people in room upstairs" section:

This happened to me on the PC as well. How do we fix this so we can buy a house?65.96.253.56 01:28, 17 March 2013 (GMT)

If you are asking about Hjerim, then it is bugged, as Captain Lonely-Gale never takes over as steward. You could try using console commands to raise Jorleif's disposition towards you high enough for him to offer to sell to you. --Xyzzy Talk 19:56, 29 April 2013 (GMT)

Possible bug fix?[edit]

I got the bug where the battle doesn't actually start in the city and where killing the Stormcloaks gives you a biunty. I managed to get a temporary fix and I feel this could be added to the article.

What I did was head straight to the Palace of the Kings. When I entered cinematic mode, I used the console to kill the people attacking us and head to Ulfric. Everything proceeded as noraml after that. Only problem was that were Free-Winter entered the palace, the Legate and Tullius began attacking them! If anyone has a better solution, please let me know. — Unsigned comment by 121.217.238.172 (talk) at 02:23 on 9 August 2013

Open Last Exterior Gate?[edit]

Ok so I did the Imperial questline normally, got up to Windhelm, Tullius gave his speech, then we entered the city. Here's where it gets weird: There are only about 10 Stormcloak soldiers, they don't respawn, they are only found at the entrance and the forge area, and for some reason I get a weird objective: Open the Last Exterior Gate. Well here's what's wrong, I go outside the city, random Imperial Soldiers are attacking nothing, and the objective points to nothing. Anyone have a solution, I play in on 360 if that helps. MJ The Unrelenting (talk) 21:22, 11 October 2013 (GMT)

If things aren't spawning, try just heading to the Palace of the Kings. Hopefully once you get there the scripts will sort themselves out and it'll work right. --Morrolan (talk) 01:02, 12 October 2013 (GMT)
Ok despite the weird happenings the confrontation between Galmar, Ulfric, Tullius, Rikke, me, and my followers ( I glitched to get the 2 initiates, Cicero, Delphine, Esbern, and Jenassa, for some reason they accompanied me in the battle) happened normally. I just reloaded, and this isn't a one-off: The soldiers don't respawn, but now Rikke enters the battles, all my followers are gone, and the Open the Last Exterior Gate objective doesn't appear anymore. I'm afraid my ability to post a third time in this section is nearly impossible as my phone glitches out when I'm editing a long talk page. Still playing on 360. MJ The Unrelenting (talk) 02:08, 12 October 2013 (GMT)
Ok posting for the third time (which surprises me, all I had to do was zoom out lol) and I found a fix, I just waited for all the Imperial Soldiers to go through the gates after Tullius' speech, then I used the gate. The soldiers now respawn and I can now have an epic sunset battle between two armies in an ancient city :D MJ The Unrelenting (talk) 02:18, 12 October 2013 (GMT)

Solution to invincible Ulfric and Galmar glitch[edit]

Here's the 'glitch,' as described on the page: "After finishing the battle outside the Jarl's palace, enter the Jarl's palace as normal. All doors lock, then General Tullius speaks to Ulfric. When they stop talking, Ulfric and Galmar will attack only the Dragonborn while Legate Rikke and General Tullius draw their swords but otherwise remain still. Both NPCs can then be forced into submission state but will not die or allow a conversation to start. If Ulfric fails to see the Dragonborn he will go upstairs despite all doors being locked."

The page has no solutions listed, so I checked a few other sites. They suggested to simply reload from a save point before entering the Palace, or before starting the quest. Neither of these work. What I found the issue to be was that this glitch isn't a glitch at all; it's just the games way of keeping Ulfric alive after the main quest Season's Unending. I'll run through the order in which I completed the quests to clarify what I mean by this. First, I completed all of the Reunification of Skyrim quests besides the last two (Battle for Fort Amol and Battle for Windhelm). I then advanced through the main questline.

The game registered that I had advanced too far in the civil war questline for Seasons Unending to be played, so it 'skips' it. After completing a few more main quests, but not all of them, I returned to the civil war questline and encountered the 'glitch' as described above. Suspecting that Seasons Unending was playing a part in the issue, I reloaded a previous save point from before I started the Battle for Windhelm quest and played through what remained of the main questline instead. After completing the main questline, the 'glitch' disappeared and the Battle for Windhelm fight against Galmar and Ulfric proceeded as it should. This would imply that, even if Seasons Unending is skipped due to far progression in the a civil war questline, Ulfric and Galmar will still be protected by the game flagging them as essential NPCs. Since this is not technically a glitch, should it instead be moved to the "Notes" section in the article? Excuse the excessively long message, just wanted to describe it in detail and make it clear... >> — Unsigned comment by 70.199.131.17 (talk) at 10:52 on 9 November 2013

I can confirm this. I had the same bug, and asked Whiterun's Jarl to trap Odahviing when the Reunification of Skyrim was already at Regaining Eastmarch, which skipped Season Unending. And in the Windhelm battle Ulfric and Galmar were invincible, and Tullius and Rikke just stood there. I reloaded to an earlier save, did not ask Whiterun's Jarl about trapping Odahviing, and instead progressed the Reunification of Skyrim quest as usual, and I was able to kill Ulfric as intended. 42.117.50.51 17:24, 15 December 2013 (GMT)
This would definitely be considered a glitch or bug, since it prevents normal game progression. I will add this as a bug fix to the article. Thanks for the confirmation. --Xyzzy Talk 20:16, 15 December 2013 (GMT)
I have the same problem, and I've also already asked Whiterun's Jarl to trap Odahviing. My last load is after i talked to legate rikki after I've regained Eastmarch so that doesn't go that well..
Now I don't know what to do. I've been looking for a long time for this problem and this is the first time I ever see something about it and I'm so glad. But does anybody know how I have to fix this because I can't go back to a earlier stage
(eastmarch is already taken). Thanks for the help and I hope I'll have an answer for this :) — Unsigned comment by 213.118.212.148 (talk) at 12:11 on 5 February 2015

My adopted child appears in Windhelm after the battle[edit]

After the battle was over and Ulfric was dead, and before leaving the city, I did some exploring. I entered Candlehearth Hall (by picking an expert lock) and just inside the door was my adopted daughter Sofie. She treated me like her adopted parent with normal dialogue. We had moved from Whiterun to Solitude ages (maybe 20 levels) ago, so no idea why she's here. All the other normal NPCs were there as well, but all upstairs (Sofie was downstairs just inside the door). I fast traveled to home (Proudspire Manner) and sure enough she was there (with my other adopted daughter Runa). Then I fast traveled back to Windhelm and Sofie was not there. Anyone else have this happen? --72.76.130.10 16:54, 25 September 2014 (GMT)

It happened to me as well. But, Sofie was living in Windhelm, remember? Maybe she's meant to come, because there's been a war where she grew up. Might be a glitch, but how come it's only Sofie? Not the other kids? I think it's meant to happen. If not, it doesn't pose much of a problem though, she goes home when you go. — Unsigned comment by 121.79.228.117 (talk) at 02:16 on 2 April 2017‎
I realise this is a bit of a necropost, but I also encountered this bug. Sofie was in Candlehearth Hall during the battle as well as after, and remained there until Windhelm reset to its "non-siege" state. She still gave the same dialogue as if she was in Solitude, which was her home at the time. Although many NPCs run and hide in stores and inns during a siege, this seems like an oversight and I highly doubt that this is meant to happen. I also noticed that Sofie is in the WindhelmCandlehearthHallFaction. I'm not certain, but I would guess that Sofie (even though she's normally found in the part of Windhelm that's blocked off during the battle) has some sort of script to make her hide in Candlehearth Hall during the battle that's supposed to only trigger when she's not adopted. O-a11y Talk 21:18, 1 August 2020 (UTC)

Unkillable Commanders (fixed?)[edit]

The "Notes" section says that camp commanders remain unkillable after completing the Civil War questline, but I think this was fixed in USKP 1.2.3, or perhaps earlier.68.207.127.192 05:56, 1 October 2014 (GMT)

This appears to be correct, I'll update the article accordingly. Thanks for posting about it! — ABCface 01:33, 2 October 2014 (GMT)

Windhelm Legionnaries[edit]

After defeating Ulfric and speech of General Tullius, listening legionnaries does not disappear. They stay there and just wait. Of course there are town guards plus those guys. — Unsigned comment by 77.46.100.45 (talk) at 10:54 on 26 August 2015

Fix I just found for the Brunwulf not appearing bug:
OUTSIDE the Palace of the Kings
PRID 1B117 [enter]
Moveto player
Talk to him
Immediately fast-travel to the Palace
Leave for a day
Return to the Palace.
For me, this procedure had him in the palace, then on the throne, without having to incur any bounties. — Unsigned comment by 97.40.131.20 (talk) at 23:02 on 7 April 2017

Rikke and Tullius not moving or talking[edit]

As soon as I enter the palace, I'm locked in place for a cutscene, but the "cutscene" never starts because Rikke and Tullius never initiate dialouge. They just stand in front of me with their swords out. I've saved and reloaded but to no avail.— Unsigned comment by 107.242.113.55 (talk) at 03:24 on 28 March 2020 UTC

Deceiving the Herd[edit]

After killing one of the infinitely respawning Stormcloak soldiers during the battle, the quest Deceiving the Herd suddenly started. There was no description in the quest journal, and only a single objective, which instructed me to plant the Incriminating Letter on the Stormcloak soldier's body. Since I didn't have the letter in my inventory, this obviously wasn't possible (although I'm curious what would happen if I did have the letter). The soldier's body disappeared quickly and the quest marker moved to point towards another soldier, who was still alive. Once he was dead and his corpse faded, the quest marker moved to another random soldier, and so on. I reloaded an earlier save, and the same thing happened. Once I entered the Palace of the Kings, the quest failed and was moved into the completed section of the quest journal. My character had completed the Dawnguard questline on the side of the Volkihar Vampires, and I suspect you wouldn't encounter this bug if you sided with the Dawnguard. Although this bug could likely be a one-off, I thought I might as well post it here in case anyone else has experienced it. O-a11y Talk 21:18, 1 August 2020 (UTC)

commanders marked as essential[edit]

///Contrary to post-quest dialogue indicating that you can raid Stormcloak Camps to further help the Legion, the commanders of these camps will still be marked as essential after the quest.///

Fixed years ago in Unofficial patch, add this to the info pls 188.126.89.77 07:43, 20 July 2021 (UTC)

Saves won't load after I finish Civil War[edit]

So when I beat the Civil War quest and take Windhelm for the Empire.

From that point forward, all my saves appear to be corrupted or something. When I load a save made after the completion of Civil War, I'm met with a black screen + music. I cant quit, only restart pc. I tried to replay it, made new saves, no help. It works till I quit program, after new launch all saves after ulfric death arent working.

Tulius and rest of imperials will not enter Palace of Kings[edit]

The Battle for Windhelm starts and Tulius will give his speech. He and the rest of the soldiers will enter the city and start fighting. Most of the Imperial soldiers will make their way through the city while fighting as normal, but Tulius and Rikke will constantly stop progressing and just stay put in a battle stance. Sometimes shouting at them or shield bashing them will get them to move a little further. I can usually coax them as far as the Palace doors, but they will just stop there. Ive tried console commands to force them into the palace, but they walk right back out and wait in the plaza.