Skyrim talk:Shalidor's Insights

Walkthrough Error

I just tried the method given in the walkthrough and can report that it does NOT work. I found the campsite mentioned, but the only thing in the chest located there was a suit of armor - no books whatsoever. In fact, the quest marker for this quest points me to the Temple of the Divines in Solitude. It says the book is located somewhere in the basement, behind a locked door (key required). — Unsigned comment by 130.63.254.150 (talk) at 05:00 on 13 November 2011

I also have the quest marker pointing me to the basement where i need a key to get past the door. However when i read on other sites , they speak of a cave and stuff.. Our quest might be bugged? — Unsigned comment by 85.30.166.203 (talk) at 14:12 on 15 November 2011

I have the same problem. I've looked all over the internet for an answer and ive found nothing. i think ours are bugged — Unsigned comment by 75.117.131.144 (talk) at 03:42 on 23 November 2011

START THE QUEST "THE WOLF QUEEN AWAKENED" YOU WILL TALK TO A GUY NAMED STYRR AND HE WILL GIVE YOU THE KEY — Unsigned comment by Ncarrier58 (talk • contribs) at 06:31 on 23 November 2011

To clarify the above... I also received the quest marker pointing me to the basement of the temple in Solitude that can't be unlocked without a key. I already know from another playthrough that the only way to get in is to talk to Falk Firebeard and accept the quest to clear out Wolfskull Cave, do so, then wait for a courier to deliver another note from Falk to start the next quest which will get you into the basement. If I didn't already know this I would be banging my head against a wall right now. They really should have been more careful about what dungeons they send you to in this quest. 71.163.235.35 23:03, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

No marker on quest

OK, this is my third time running this quest, however, this time I was not given Urag's scribbles and no quest marker is showing up. 24.156.216.144 19:38, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

Same problem. — Unsigned comment by 75.72.221.82 (talk) at 07:58 on 16 January 2012

I had this happen to me twice. (repeating it with no directions) I believe that the insights pop up random, one time i found it in a chest on the emporers ship. RANDOM and another i found it in....checking in bonechill passage. The emporers ship is, quest related to DB which is what led to the thought that the insights are possibly a fixed percentage of finding it. bearhiderug 05:15, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

Fellglow Keep

I got the quest and it points to Fellglow Keep, where you also have to retrieve the three stolen books. But, suprise, there's a pointer, but now book. --Irian 14:36, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

I've got the same :( — Unsigned comment by 89.156.206.100 (talk) at 23:01 on 4 December 2011

Snow Veil Sanctum

I got this quest and its pointing to Snow Veil Sanctum but you cant get into Snow Veil Sanctum before starting another quest. Now the problem is that you have to be in the thieves guild to get that quest(as far as I know). — Unsigned comment by 93.197.244.227 (talk) at 13:53 on 6 December 2011

I also got directed to Snow Veil Sanctum. Is it worth noting on the page that this is another problem dungeon like Ysgramor's Tomb? ThaneAquidneck 10:37, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

Morvunskar

This quest took me to Morvunskar. I was a bit baffled because when I entered I heard combat and even received a Destruction skill increase when I hadn't even engaged in combat. I made my way downstairs, clearing any MOBs on the way until I discovered what looked like a Draemora in black and glowing red armor battling a few mages near the quest chest. After he killed off the mages I snuck up to him and it turned out to be Sanguine. I couldn't pick-pocket him nor could I attack him. He wasn't hostile to me. I proceeded to loot the quest chest to progress the quest and left him in the basement where I found him.

Sanguine randomly walks those halls killing all hostile NPC after you have comepleted his daedric quest. Kimi the Elf 08:24, 19 December 2011 (UTC)

Destruction

When everything's done - I get "destruction 3 added" when I talk about translation, but the skill doesn't improve and I get no new items. — Unsigned comment by 62.221.56.166 (talk) at 18:09 on 9 December 2011

The reward can be 3 scrolls or an increase in one of your magic skills (need confirmation). Check your scrolls. — Unsigned comment by 189.35.104.239 (talk) at 07:34 on 15 December 2011

I confirm the increase of a magic skill. I just returned a book and got an increase of my destruction skill. — Unsigned comment by Tipttt (talk • contribs) at 17:14 on 13 January 2012

How many insights should you get?

I think I'm having a problem with all the optional College quests appearing at least twice now that I've become Archmage. The quests I completed before becoming archmage only happened once. Now I'm finishing off some of the ones I didn't do they seem to be happening at least twice - the only one I've actually done twice hasn't respawned again - yet! Can someone please confirm that this quest is only supposed to happen once? Alonella 19:51, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

Confirmed as repeatable (on PC). I noticed the dialogue option was still there to ask about "special books" and got the quest for a second time. Simple search and return to (I guess) a random dungeon. Reward first time: 3 Alteration scrolls, second time: 3 Conjuration scrolls. ComaDivine 10:36, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

The second time you get this quest it says "He's asked that I atempt to find another copy for him." There are also four or maybe more different rewards you can get from this repeatable quest.--64.126.90.132 18:07, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Mzulft

Yeah I got it sending me to Mzulft which seems to be conflicting a bit with the College of Winterhold questline. I need to get in further then you can without the quest since it doesn't seem to let you into the last zones until then. So I now have to do the College quests for a while to get this side quest done. Luckly afterwards I don't have to return to multiple locations... Lord Eydvar 06:11, 25 December 2011 (UTC)

Fellglow Keep

Got through Fellglow Keep, fighting mages. Got to a room where there is an arrow pointing to the ground but no "Shalidor's writings." I was still able to complete the "Hitting the Books" quest though. — Unsigned comment by 50.99.170.62 (talk) at 02:29 on 7 January 2012

That happened to me as well. I completed "Hitting the Books" and came right back to the Keep. The chest with "Shalidor's writings" was then there.75.80.42.181 00:07, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

Also found at Secunda's Shelf

Was in a chest behind the bonfire at Secunda's Kiss (identified as Secunda's Shelf in the local map.) — Unsigned comment by Iroh (talk • contribs) at 08:34 on 22 February 2012

Marking this quest on place pages

Is it necessary to add this quest to a page's related quests section? It seems unnecessary, since this quest has so many locations. --Velyanthe 01:06, 20 March 2012 (UTC)

That's a very good question for which I haven't seen any definitive answer. There are already lots of "radiant" quests listed as related quests on place pages. Should we limit listing related quests to only place pages that are necessarily involved in the quest? What if the place has a 50% chance of "hosting" a quest? Might we ultimately aim for every place page to list every possible quest? I think it's an issue that deserves discussion on the "quest/place" monster topic on the CP page, unless the issue has been settled somewhere I'm not aware of. Maybe it's something we should tolerate as a mess for now? --JR^{Talk E-mail} 03:42, 20 March 2012 (UTC)

This issue never really reached consensus, and it keeps being brought to my attention repeatedly. Since I've already tried picking up that conversation once, I won't say anything again there now, but it is an issue which should be resolved. This quest was just added to another place page a few minutes ago, one of 150 possible locations... ABCface^◥ 10:24, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

I undid that new one. Radiant quests should only be added to guaranteed locations, as in where you get them from, this quest can send you to 153 locations, total amount of 'Boss' chests. The Silencer 10:29, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, I was going to remove it myself but you beat me to it. :) Also, the related conversation I was referring to can be found here if you're interested. ABCface^◥ 11:10, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

No quest reward or completion confirmation

I completed the quest up until Urag told me to return in a few days while he translated the text. I didn't return for several weeks, and when I finally asked him he gave his line about passing the knowledge along, but I received no quest reward (no scrolls and no increase to a magic skill) and no confirmation in any way that I had completed the quest. I tried loading previous saves, and still got the same result. My Conjuration and Illusion skills are already at 100, might the game have tried to give me an increase to one of those skills as a reward? 1337stephen 15:10, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

That sounds like a reasonable guess. Given all the info above, there are obviously a lot of unknowns with this quest. We'll have to keep gathering info and try to put it together later, or see if there are any fixes in upcoming patches. --JR^{Talk E-mail} 00:18, 7 June 2012 (UTC)

I noticed that someone changed the bug I posted to being unconfirmed. Did I misunderstand the criteria? I thought that when one person reported the bug and someone else also reported having that bug, that was enough for a confirmation tag. The original poster had it happen to him, and then it happened to me, so if I had the criteria right, then it does warrant the confirmed tag. PS4 SE if that makes a difference.. No Mods ever. The only magical skill I had at 100 at that time was Enchanting, although I had reset Conjuration and Alteration. Besides, it seems to me that if you're supposed to get a reward which can be either scrolls or a skill increase, and the game tries to give a skill increase but the code doesn't check to see if a skill increase can be given at all, that in itself is a bug. And reloading didn't change anything. I tried at least ten times and never got a reward of any kind. I even closed the program, waited a few minutes, restarted the game, and tried again with no success. And I checked Scrolls, Books, and Misc categories. Valeria (talk) 15:03, 21 July 2020 (UTC)

You're correct on that, I've restored the confirmed status. -MolagBallet (talk) 18:33, 22 July 2020 (UTC)

Tested something usefull

I was curious as to when is your reward chosen so I made a little test. I saved before the quest started, before i picked up the book, before I gave the book to the orc and before claiming the reward. The first time I got a conjuration skill boost. I reloaded the latest save 2 times and it gave me the same thing. I reloaded before giving away the book and it gave me 3 scrolls. This means that unless the randomness gave me three times the same thing in a row the reward is decided when you hand over the book. Now, this is usefull in that you can exploit this knowlegde to get the reward you prefer by saving before handing over the book and reloading until you get what you want. Just to make sure someone else should make the test again for the "claim your reward" moment a few times to make sure it wasn't just me before adding this to the article's Notes. Pizza_Boy 20:04, 24 June 2012 (UTC)

I've tested it some more, I'm pretty certain of it. I'll add a note.Pizza_Boy 22:34, 24 June 2012 (UTC)

Page Rewrite Removed Bugs and Workarounds

I'm curious why the rewrite of this page didn't move the known bugs to the appropriate bugs section. I realize the contributors are volunteers and taking personal time to update the page to fit the SRQRP guidelines, however an update removing known bugs and workarounds (which Bethesda will more likely than not ignore and never fix) is contradictory to updating the quality contents of the article. I will make changes hopefully in lines with the SRQRP to add this content back. --71.196.137.227 04:07, 25 June 2012 (UTC)

Apologies to the prior editor of this page; the bugs and workarounds were removed in the April 21 edit. Though prior comments noted moving the radiant quest bugs to each location's page do to the numerous options, it seems this quest has enough issues to merit having bug information listed here. Again, I apologize if my edit angered anyone, but perhaps links to the different locations' bug pages may be more appropriate for the more common issues (or even a common page for radiant quest bugs with said links). My concern is how this quest is related to the numerous bugs; I'll leave it to the community to decide. --71.196.137.227 05:48, 25 June 2012 (UTC)

I can't get the Shalidor's Insights: Magicka Scroll

I want the Magicka Scroll, but no matter how many times I reload, I always get one of the different schools of magic or a skill increase. Is there a reason for this? And how can I get the scroll I want? Also, I'm on the PS3 so console commands won't help. — Unsigned comment by Brock144 (talk • contribs) at 15:47 on 30 June 2012

I experienced the same thing, I've done the quest multiple times and never obtained the magicka scroll. Maybe something related to Dawnguard, I didn't have this problem on my previous playthrough (Dawnguard free)... Plectrius (talk) 16:26, 22 September 2012 (GMT) Plectrius

Same here, except I can't seem to get Destruction either. I only ever get Alteration, Illusion, Restoration, or Conjuration (my magic skills are maxed). I do have Dawnguard installed, which I guess might make a difference, though I never tried to get these scrolls before I had Dawnguard, so I don't know. Then again, guy who created this topic can't have had Dawnguard when he created it, so it seems unlikely that Dawnguard is to blame. Playing on Xbox. Username12345 (talk) 02:08, 13 October 2012 (GMT)

Wolfskull Cave

The quest sends me to Wolfskull cave... I have the pointer but it leads me to an empty space... no chest, no books, no nothing.. — Unsigned comment by 109.99.70.96 (talk) at 08:49 on 20 October 2012‎

Have you done the quest The Man Who Cried Wolf? The standard boss chest in that cave doesn't exist during that quest, and the second half of the cave is only accessible if the quest has been started. — ABCface^◥ 16:26, 20 October 2012 (GMT)

Hitting the Books Bug: Possible Explanation and Workaround ??

82.181.108.122 added the following to the article under the last bug on the list (as of this post):

This may be because the boss chest is relocated to the Ritual Chamber during Hitting the books. Finish the mission and wait for the dungeon to respawn items, after that the boss chest should be on the marker. Note that this will render the upstairs inaccessible so loot it beforehand.

I've moved it here because the word "may" is unclear. Is this speculation, or a statement that this sometimes occurs? Can anyone add information or comments about the post? --JR (talk) 06:48, 15 February 2013 (GMT)

Possible locations in Solstheim if Dragonborn is installed

List of possible locations in Solstheim: — Unsigned comment by Ufd43765 (talk • contribs) at 03:10 on 3 March 2013‎

One is located in Vahlok's Tomb. Vahlok's Tomb is located south of the Skaal Village, and east of Kagrumez. It can only be accessed after the quest Lost Legacy has been started. Before the quest A New Source of Stalhrim has been completed, the entrance is covered with blocks and rubble, and the location is unmarked.

At the end of the dungeon you'll find it in a large chest next to Vahlok's coffin. — Unsigned comment by 108.222.182.109 (talk) at 16:15 on 9 May 2014

The quest may also point to Damphall Mine. — Unsigned comment by 220.255.1.45 (talk) at 13:15 on 31 August 2015

He won't take the book

I got back to the college with the book at the time that Ancano began his blocking of the orb. The orc won't take the book. When I try to activate him he just says "Do you think Ancano knew all along what the eye was capable of?" He says it every time. I even continued doing some of the orb stuff including clearing the anomalies from Winterhome. He still won't activate properly. Hopefully this will clear up and I will eventually be able to turn in the book. 71.131.130.9 19:34, 16 September 2013 (GMT)

As noted on the quest page for The Staff of Magnus, several of the optional quests for the College can't be continued until that quest is over. So finish The Staff of Magnus, and you should be good. If that doesn't work, complete the following quest. Ending the main College questline should definitely do it. — ABCface^◥ 23:56, 16 September 2013 (GMT)

It sent me to Bonestrewn Crest

And there isn't a marker at all, I had to kill an elder dragon and I looked in the chest and there was nothing — Unsigned comment by 216.145.131.160 (talk) at 02:07 on 17 March 2018

The only thing to do is to load a save from before you took the quest. It can send you anywhere with a boss chest, and the only chest at Bonestrewn is the boss chest, so if it isn't inside it then you have a bug. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 18:15, 17 March 2018 (UTC)

Marker at Thalmor Embassy

My quest marker is in the Thalmor Embassy, so I waited until Diplomatic Immunity to go get it. However, at all stages of the Diplo quest the marker pointed to somewhere I wasn’t. When indoors it pointed outside, when outside it pointed inside. I tried to get to it a dozen different ways, but no luck. Eventually I gave up and completed, and now the marker still points to the Embassy. Seems bugged. — Unsigned comment by Belgarim (talk • contribs) at 20:55 on 1 May 2019

Unless you are using mods it definitely isn't at the Embassy or the escape cave. There are two requirements for the place, be a dungeon and have a boss chest, and neither has either. Without mods, this sometimes happens but usually with doors you've been through before, then the marker's quest pathing gets a bit lost and asks you to go through a door, then back the other way. Have you tried using Clairvoyance (though it might just point you back to the Embassy)? If you're on PC you could also try adding the item or advancing the quest through the console. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 21:43, 1 May 2019 (UTC)

clairvoyance did the trick. It was in a cave that stretched under the Embassy. Shadowgreen Cavern. Thanks.Belgarim (talk) 03:07, 3 May 2019 (UTC)