Picking up the Lost Legends book while playingThe Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrimautomatically triggers the quest Forbidden Legend. To complete it, the player must journey to three dungeons to acquire the pieces of an amulet, then head to a fourth dungeon to reforge it. Doing this grants the player a unique item known as the Gauldur Amulet.
InSkyrim, The Gauldur Amulet provides a pretty hefty buff, raising the player’s Health, Magicka, and Stamina by 30 points each. However, the origins of this special trinket tell a dark tale. In it, three brothers’ desire for power led them to commit unspeakable acts.
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The Life and Death of Arch-Mage Gauldur in Skyrim
Gauldur was a wise and powerful mage who lived during the First Era. As therenowned Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold, people from all across the land went to him for counsel, even Ysgramor’s descendants. With Gauldur’s standing, he amassed enough wealth for his family to live comfortably, with a sterling reputation to boot. However, the Arch-Mage’s three sons — Jyrik, Mikrul, and Sigdis — were dissatisfied with the life they had. They felt as if they were living in their father’s shadow. As such, Gauldur’s children grew to resent him and sought the power and stature that he had.
One day, Jyrik, the eldest son, discovered the source of their father’s immense power. Its source was themysterious amulet that Gauldur never took off. Having learned this, Jyrik went to his younger brothers, and the three conspired to kill their father while he slept. Afterward, they’d take the mysterious amulet and divide it among themselves. Suffice to say, the brothers succeeded.
The Gauldur sons took their fallen father’s amulet and broke it into three separate pieces. Even with its power divided, the trinket imbued the brothers with fearsome strength. Drunk on their newfound capabilities, the brotherstraveled to the surrounding villagesand ravaged them, killing the innocent civilians in their path.
Geirmund’s Quest to Defeat the Gauldursons
The devastation drew the attention of High King Harald, who ordered Arch-Mage Geirmund to pursue the frenzied Gauldur brothers. With powerful battlemages at his back, Geirmund battled the three and ultimately had the upper hand as the brothers fled the scene. Still,the Arch-Mage did not relentand pursued the patricides across the land of Skyrim.
Geirmund first confronted Mikrul Gauldurson, who had fled to the ancient burial ground of Folgunthur, near Solitude. The two forces fought a tireless battle for three days and nights until Geirmund’s party finally overpowered Mikrul and sealed him in the barrow with the Ivory Claw. Next, Geirmund found Jyrik Gauldursonin the crypts of Saarthal. Like his father, Jyrik was also a magic user and managed to defeat 10 of Geirmund’s most powerful mages. Luckily, Geirmund also bested Jyrik, and sealed him in the tomb, like his brother.
Finally, Geirmund sought out Sigdis Gauldurson, who thenchallenged the Arch-Mage to a duel. Geirmund accepted, and the two did battle. Without help from the rest of his party of battlemages, Geirmund and Sigdis were evenly matched. As a result, both combatants fell in battle. The High King then ordered that a tomb be built for the defeated Arch-Mage — Geirmund’s Hall.
With the Gauldursons dealt with, Arch-Mage Gauldur was laid to rest in Reachwater Rock, a cave close to where his home once stood. When the burial was completed, High King Harald decreed that the names of Gauldur and the Gauldursons wereto be stricken from Skyrim’s history. This was to prevent anyone from seeking out the fragments of the mysterious amulet and awakening the restless souls of the Gauldur brothers.
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Seeking Out the Forbidden Legend
Despite High King Harald’s decree, it’s clear that the story of the Gauldur family was not eradicated completely. After all, the Lost Legends book chronicles a short summary ofGauldur’s so-called Forbidden Legend. It is unknown when the book was written, but it contains snippets about some of the legends of Skyrim, and was authored by a “Talsgar the Elder, Archivist of Winterhold.” Interesting to note is that the Lost Legends book mentions how it could have been High King Harald who ordered the death of Gauldur, out of jealousy of the Arch-Mage’s power. However, this is proven false by an elf named Daynas Valen.
Daynas Valen is a mage who made it his personal mission to uncover the secrets of the Forbidden Legend and take Gauldur’s mysterious amulet for himself. As per his journal, Valen came to Skyrim all the way from Cyrodiil, where hemanaged to acquire the Ivory Clawfrom a collector in Bravil. With the claw in his possession, Valen boarded a boat to Skyrim, where he planned to go to Folgunthur.
During the ride, Valen prepared a synopsis of the Gauldur legend, which he proclaimed was “the truth of the tale.” It’s unclear where or how he acquired this knowledge, but the notes suggest that the topic is something he’d been researching for the entirety of his life. Unfortunately, Valen would never live to see his goal realized as the player can find his corpse in Folgunthur, where he waslikely overpowered by draugr.
At this point, it’s up to the player to lay this legend to rest. Defeating each of the Gauldursons will allow the player to acquire fragments of the Gauldur Amulet. Once they have all three fragments, the player canjourney to Reachwater Rock. There will be an ancient decree on the pedestal near the entrance, imploring those who explore the cave to turn back and “let this place be forgotten forever.”
Still, should the player choose to push forward, they will have todefeat all three Gauldursons again, one at a time. After doing so, Arch-Mage Gauldur’s spirit will burst forth from the tomb to banish his sons from the mortal plane. And as thanks, he will reforge the Gauldur Amulet and present it to the player. Thus concludes Gauldur’s Forbidden Legend — forbidden no more.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrimis now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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