Join the Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim
A clandestine circle of shadowy assassins, the Dark Brotherhood represents a grimmer side to Bethesda’s Skyrim. Adding to the element of mystery prevalent throughout the murderous group’s quests, the game’s designers have made entry into the Brotherhood somewhat convoluted.
Contents
Steps
Innocence Lost
- Acquire the miscellaneous quest, “Talk to Aventus Aretino.” This quest will be added to your journal once you talk to an NPC who tells you about Aventus, a boy in Windhelm who has been trying to summon the Dark Brotherhood. There are a few different ways to start this quest.
- Continually talk to city guards.
- Speak with inn or tavern keepers and ask if they have heard any gossip.
- Talk to the orphans at Honorhall Orphanage in the city of Riften.
- Set “Talk to Aventus Aretino” as your active quest. Doing so will set a waypoint on your compass and make it much easier to find him. Under the miscellaneous section of your quest journal, highlight and select “Talk to Aventus Aretino.”
- Go to Aventus’ house in Windhelm. You have a few options for getting there.
- Travelling on foot is the most adventurous and you can find alchemy ingredients along the way.
- Outside of most major cities, you can buy a horse for a faster trip.
- Book passage in the back of a carriage, usually found in the same area where you would buy a horse.
- You can also fast-travel to Windhelm if you have been there before.
- Speak with Aventus. He will give you a quest to kill Grelod the Kind at Honorhall Orphanage.
- Go to Honorhall Orphanage in Riften. You can travel there by any of the methods in Step Three.
- Kill Grelod the Kind.
- If you kill her while inside the orphanage, the orphans will cheer for you.
- As long as you do not attack anyone else in the orphanage, killing Grelod is not considered a crime.
- Return to Aventus’ house and tell him the good news. One to three in-game days later, a courier will deliver a note to you. All it says is, “We know.” written beneath a black hand, the symbol of the Dark Brotherhood.
- Sleep in a bed. This can be done in any usable bed in the game. Upon waking up, you will find yourself in an abandoned shack with Astrid, the leader of the Dark Brotherhood, and three tied-up captives.
With Friends Like These…
- Talk to Astrid, who will tell you to kill one of the captives. You can kill one, two or all of them.
- You can speak with the captives and listen to their stories.
- Kill whomever you think deserves to die. Your decision has no impact on gameplay.
- Speak with Astrid. She will congratulate you and comment on your decision of which captive(s) to kill, and then instruct you to meet her at the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary.
- Go to the Sanctuary, where you will be made a full member of the Dark Brotherhood.
Tips
- Start using your sneak skill early, as many subsequent Dark Brotherhood quests rely on stealth.
- If a lot of time passes after completing “Innocence Lost” and the courier still hasn’t delivered the letter from the Brotherhood, try waiting in the same place for twenty four hours.
Warnings
- Do not kill Astrid. Killing her initiates the quest "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!" and makes joining the Dark Brotherhood impossible.
- There is a certain bug that prevents you from buying a house in Windhelm, and it happens sometimes when "Innocence Lost" is started. Killing Grelod could fix it, but there is also the chance the house will never be purchased, making it impossible to become a thane. Try becoming the thane first, then visiting Aventus later.
