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Hero of Skyrim achievement in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Hero of Skyrim

Capture Solitude or Windhelm

Hero of Skyrim0
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How to unlock the Hero of Skyrim achievement

  • VahliyaVahliya
    13 Nov 2011 15 Nov 2011 11 Aug 2012
    CAUTION: If you can't fight for a faction this is most likely due to you following the main quest line before siding with a faction.

    Just continue and make a peace treaty (Main Quest) between the Legion and the Stormcloaks.
    - If you side with the Stormcloaks then Markarth must remain an Imperial city and you will be guided to take Fort Sungard fairly early on. After capturing the fort the achievement will pop.
    - If you side with the Imperials then Riften must remain a Stormcloak city and you will be told to capture Fort Greenway.
    Upon completing the main quest the two dominant factions will reignite the war once again allowing you to gain your achievements.


    To join the Legion travel to Solitude and enter Castle Dour and speak to General Tullis.
    To join the Stormcloaks travel to Windhelm and enter the Palace of the Kings and speak to Ulfric Stormcloak.




    This achievement is for following either side's story-line and capture the opposing
    side's capital. Which is either Solitude or Windhelm depending on who you side with.



    I'm not being lazy here it's just that there are many variables to the quest lines that would make this guide far too unorganized

    Legion Questline;
    http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Imperial_Legion#Quests

    Stormcloak Questline;
    http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Stormcloaks#Quests


    If you leave a negative please leave a comment so I can improve this guide.

    Guide not helping? View 2 more guides for this achievement.

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    BigmanArielAbused Ginger x and JRL NINJA if you attack and bring galmar to his knee when he gets back up the dialogue will pop up. more info on bugs here :

    Just change into the Stormcloak Cuirass before talking to him. You can then change back after recieving your goal.
    When first starting "Liberating the Reach" step, if Galmar Stone-Fist will not give you the quest initiating dialog simply type "SetStage CWMission07 10" in the console to forward past his dialog and start the Compelling Tribute quest.
    If you talk to Galmar Stone-Fist and he does not give you the conversation option "Reporting In" in order to start the quests, you can try the following: keep hitting him until you get a 40 bounty, run away then fast travel to Windhelm and pay the bounty off. Wait or sleep for 24hrs. Then travel back to the camp. Paying the bounty should reset the dialogue options. Or if your sneak is high enough, simply sneak behind Galmar and use a power attack. He will go down on one knee and when he gets back up he will have the dialogue option with no aggros.
    If that fails then you can try to pickpocket him, not sure why but this worked for me
    If the above simple solutions don't work, I came up with a alternative solution after many hours of trying. It worked 100% of the times I tried it. If you mess up one step, the whole thing won't work.

    Move your horse far away from camp
    Hit Galmar until he is on his knees. Then keep hitting him so he takes a long time to get up. Make sure no other guards aggro you.
    While Galmar is down, use beast form to transform into a werewolf. You should get no bounty for doing this. If you get a 1000 bounty, it means Galmar got up before you finished transforming or someone else saw you transform.
    Wait until Galmar Aggros you.
    Kill Galmar again
    Run far away (in the opposite direction of your horse -- if your horse aggros, the whole thing doesn't work)
    Wait 1 hour until beast form ends and fast travel back to camp
    Reporting In option should now be available. If its not available on the first try, exit the conversation and try again.

    The quest can also bug at the "Report to Ulfric Stormcloack" after you take over The Rift. Kill all of the other storm cloaks and beat Ulfric down to his Knees, he should come back up and still be calm and allow you to complete the rest of the mission if he is hostile, you could use a calming spell or voice of the emperor other wise just leave and try it again (Xbox 360 & PC) - The method of striking Ulfric until he falls to his knees seems to fix this bug for PS3. Can also simply report to Ulfric in the Palace of the Kings in Windhelm without the quest marker (PS3). Worth trying for PC.
    Another way the quest can bug is that when you first accept the freelance missions after taking Whiterun, Galmar seems to cease to exist. He leaves Windhelm for the camp near Falkreath and is no longer in the Palace of Kings, but when you travel to the Falkreath Stormcloak Camp only the default commander is there and the quest tracking icon is centered a few feet off the ground in the middle of camp. Obviously without Galmar there you can't report in to him. The solution is simple. Just wait some time or fast travel to a location and back, and he should be back, at least on Xbox 360.
    There is another bug in which there is no marker, and at the location of the camp, there is nothing.(Xbox 360)
    1st Note: To methods above, simply knocking him to his knees one time will make the "repoting in" option available. this can be done from sneak mode, or standing, you can continue to knock him to his knees without bounty, but one time should make it work.
    2nd Note: If the quest gets stuck at another point e.g. after Liberate Hjaalmarch, search for Rebellion Camps for Galmar Stone-Fist. After talking to him, you'll get your reward and a new quest. (After Hjaalmarch, he is found above Dragon Bridge, in Haafingar Stormcloak Camp.
    If you negotiate the truce while you are undergoing the "Liberation of Hjaalmarch" step, or any later step, and you give the Rift to the Empire, a bug may occur after completing the main quest where the step shows as completed and no further options appear. To fix this, go to Windhelm and talk to Ulfric, who will give you new orders to liberate the Rift.
    (xbox 360) I had trouble reporting in to Galmar for the "Liberating the Reach" mission also. Before fast traveling from Windhelm to be greated by and angry Galmar. I payed a small bounty to the Gaurd in the Palace of the Kings in Windhelm and talked to Ulfric a little. When I returned to the storm cloak Reach camp I was able to report in with no problems.
    During the Liberate Skyrim Mission for Falkreath, I went to the Stormcloak camp with Galmar Stone-Fist missing from the tent, with the quest arrow pointing to a tiny snow pile outside of the tent. I need help fixing this bug please, or else I cannot finish the Civil War. (Xbox 360 confirmed)
    Posted by BigmanAriel On 28 Mar 12 at 01:12
    Koning86i did not join any side, before finishing MQ. Markath and Riften have now switched sides so to speak.

    This means i will not be able to finish the civil war questline and hence the achievements?

    That would be pretty stupid imho, since you have to negotiate the peace treaty no matter what. Who cares when you choose a specific side....
    Posted by Koning86 On 23 Oct 12 at 14:01
    LadyKillerinaThumbs up!
    Posted by LadyKillerina On 01 Sep 13 at 00:12
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    Hero of Skyrim
    Capture Solitude or Windhelm

    This achievement is gained when you take the city of Solitude or Windhelm. To start the chain of quests you must either side with the Stormclocks (rebels) or with the Legionaires. this achievement should pop up after you capture the city and kill their leader. Its a fairly long but easily gained achievement.

    it has come to my attention that if you have your wife in either one of the towns and you attack that town that nothing will happen to your family
    Showing most recent comments. View all comments.
    Beck1110I chose the Stromcloaks but can not get this achievement to pop, I've tried doing it 3 times now and still nothing =( Anyone else having problems with capturing Windhelm?
    Posted by Beck1110 On 21 Nov 11 at 09:01
    HorrorPastry@Beck1110 - This achievement is for the final battle in the civil war storyline, so if you sided with the stormcloaks then capturing Solitude is the final mission. The battle for windhelm is only a mid-storyline mission if you side with the rebels.
    Posted by HorrorPastry On 24 Nov 11 at 14:32
    Beck1110Ah ha - Thanks for that :)
    Posted by Beck1110 On 25 Nov 11 at 09:06
  • Mobius EvalonMobius Evalon
    20 Dec 2016 04 Jan 2017 04 Jan 2017
    This achievement is the third and final in a series of side missions.

    There are a lot of spoilers contained within, because extensive RPGs like this have so many interlocking facets that it takes careful explanation to detail exactly where things can go wrong. Attempting to be unspecific in the pursuit of avoiding spoilers ultimately means you're going to stumble past the point of no return and never realize it.

    The entire civil war questline will not suffer any foreseeable problems up to the campaign quest Alduin's Bane, where you must get an Elder Scroll and read it at a time wound at the Throat of the World. There is a quest called Season Unending that takes place concurrently with the next story quest, The Fallen, which for reasons unbeknownst to me makes War Hero missable if completed but does not affect the entire rest of the civil war questline. Therefore, the appearance of the quest Alduin's Bane means that you need to direct your full attention to the civil war and complete the War Hero achievement before doing any more campaign missions. Hero of Skyrim can be done at any time because the civil war will pick up right where it left off after you complete the campaign.

    The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimTaking SidesThe Taking Sides achievement in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim worth 12 pointsJoin the Stormcloaks or the Imperial Army
    This achievement technically begins all the way at the beginning of the game. Right after the dragon attacks Helgen and interrupts your execution, you can either follow the Imperial soldier Hadvar or the Stormcloak Ralof. This choice does not permanently slant your decision from the get-go, but the NPC you choose does give you a quest marker to go join their side of the civil war. You can still join the other side, and it seems the only difference of your choice of NPC at this point is that Hadvar becomes essential and frequently joins you for civil war missions if you follow him out of Helgen and later choose to be Imperial.

    You still have to actually pick a side despite what you chose above. To make it easier for you, both sides are exactly equal in terms of quest rewards and their effect on the game world. To join the Imperial Army, head to Castle Dour in Solitude and speak to General Tullius, who will direct you to Legate Rikke. To join the Stormcloaks, go to the Palace of Kings in Windhelm and speak to Ulfric Stormcloak, who will send you to Galmar Stone-Fist. Each will have an initiation task for you to complete, both ending in an oath of loyalty to the faction and the Taking Sides achievement.

    The only significant change in the game world after choosing a side is that the other side considers you an enemy. Approaching camps or forts owned by the side you did not choose will cause soldiers to yell at you and warn you to leave, and will attack if you do not.

    Regardless of the side chosen, you will have to travel to Korvanjund to obtain a relic called The Jagged Crown, then deliver a message to Whiterun shortly before being tasked with repelling an attack on the city from the opposite faction.

    The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimWar HeroThe War Hero achievement in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim worth 14 pointsCapture Fort Sungard or Fort Greenwall
    At this point, both sides will task you with taking a series of forts. I believe it is five total forts that must be taken with the third one being Fort Greenwall for the Imperial Army or Fort Sungard for the Stormcloaks. There is absolutely nothing special about these particular forts as compared to the rest of them you're required to sack, except that you receive the War Hero achievement for completing the quest.

    The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimHero of SkyrimThe Hero of Skyrim achievement in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim worth 43 pointsCapture Solitude or Windhelm
    At the end of the civil war questline, you will finally take the base city for the opposing faction. You will attack Windhelm if you are Imperial and Solitude if you are Stormcloak.

    There will be infinitely respawning enemy soldiers as well as tons of wooden barricades littered about to stall your progress. The barricades can be destroyed if you're not feeling like running the rat maze the enemies have set up for you. Your goal is the keep for the opposing commander, being Castle Dour in Solitude or Palace of the Kings for Windhelm.

    A short cutscene will play as the commander of the faction you chose attempts to talk down the commander of the faction you didn't. It never succeeds and you are put into combat with the opposing faction's lieutenant and commander. The lieutenant must die (Galmar Stone-Fist if you're Imperial, Legate Rikke if you're Stormcloak) and you have to beat on the commander until they fall to the ground (Ulfric Stormcloak if Imperial, General Tullius if Stormcloak.)

    At this point you are given the option to perform the death blow on the enemy commander regardless of which side you choose, and if you choose not to do it yourself then the opposing commander does it for you. The civil war is now over and and you receive the Hero of Skyrim achievement at this point.
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