Blood's Honor

Blood's Honor is a quest given to you by Kodlak Whitemane after he finds out about Aela the Huntress and The Dragonborn's conflicts with the Silver Hand and you have completed at least two misc. quests you can receive from Aela the Huntress.

Kodlak Whitemane wants The Dragonborn to help him get rid of his Lycanthropy by getting the heads of the Witches that tricked The Companions.

Speak to Kodlak Whitemane
Aela The Huntress tells The Dragonborn that Kodlak Whitemane has found out about their conflicts with the Silver Hand. She says that Kodlak wants to speak with The Dragonborn.

Collect a Glenmoril Witch's Head
After talking to Kodlak, you will be given a map marker for the location of the witches. The witches reside in a cave called Glenmoril Coven near Bilegulch Mine in the southwest corner of Skyrim. Upon entering the cave there will be several witches sporadically placed in the mine. The first one will be very close to the entrance.

(Optional) Wipe out the Glenmoril Witches
(SPOILERS) While the quest only requires you to kill one of the Witches, it may benefit you to kill more. Later on after curing Kodlak of Lycanthropy, you may cure yourself as well (should you wish) provided you had acquired a second head. The radiant quests for the Companions afterwards requires two heads where Farkas and Vilkas wish to be cured as well. The fifth head is unused as Aela will choose to remain a werewolf.



Kodlak
(SPOILERS) When you return to Whiterun things will be different and you will notice several citizens gathered around near the stairs leading to Jorrvaskr. Halfway up the stairs, you will find both Torvar and Aela the Huntress next to dead Silver Hand members. When you enter the building, Vilkas will seek you out and ask you where you were in the time of need. In your absence, the Silver Hand attacked Jorrvaskr, managed to kill old Kodlak and take off with all the fragments of Wuuthrad. You will find Kodlak’s dead body near the central fireplace, with Farkas and Njada Stonearm kneeling next to him. Vilkas will claim that his death will be avenged, which will end the quest and immediately start the next one, Purity of Revenge.

Bug
When you enter Jarrvaskr, Vilkas will not talk to you, which makes it impossible to end the current quest, and to start the next one.

If Njada Stonearm is killed before this quest, it becomes uncompletable due to her background dialogue.

Forever Mourning Bug
This is a bug that can prevent further Companions quest advancement. When returning from killing the witches, the adventurer will enter Jorrvaskr and find the aftermath of a battle where Kodlak has died. Vilkas will seek you out as normal and complete this quest. However, he will then enter into a relaxed state without giving you the next quest, Purity of Revenge. Several other Companions will enter a permanent mourning state.

Note: In addition, some extra jobs obtained from the Thieves Guild will not be doable, as some of the houses get barred up with wooden stakes during the attack that you never see. For example, a "Burglary Job" obtained from Vex to grab three things from someone's house will be incompletable, but you can always quit a job you don't want to do. It will also fail to show up on the map when selected.

The state of permanent mourning can be broken. If you attack a companion they should all get up and attack you. At this point you should sheath your weapon to yield. This should enable interaction with the companions again. If they do not accept your yield then you should run away and fast travel far away as soon as you can. Once you do this you should wait for a day or two before returning. You should be able to speak to the companions again and get missions from them. Unfortunately, despite enabling interaction, this still does not seem to allow you to begin purity of revenge.

Solution #1 - For adventurers who have not cleared Driftshade Refuge or completed the quest to find the Helm of Winterhold.

WARNING: If you are an achievement seeker, using console commands on the Steam version of the game will render achievement unlocks unattainable.

You may get the bug if you have the quest to retrieve the Helm of Winterhold for the Jarl of Winterhold, under misc quests, but have not completed the quest to retrieve the Helm. Load up on invisibility potions and sneak through the Refuge (killing no one), retrieve the Helm, and return it to the Jarl. Then return to Whiterun and Vilkas  should give you the next quest, Purity of Revenge.

''NOTE: You don't need to sneak or use invisibility potions in Driftshade Refuge. I ran through full speed ignoring everything until I got the helm and ran out. Turned the quest into the Jarl and THEN went to kill the witches. This wont work if you have already killed the witches and got the message to return to Kodlak. As long as you do NOT talk to Vilkas and finish Blood's Honor, you can repair the glitch in this fashion.'' -Correction- this CAN be done if the witches have been killed already and you HAVE NOT returned to Whiterun. Sneak through to retrieve the helm and return the Helm of Winterhold to the Jarl of Winterhold in order to complete the quest. After the quest is complete make your return to Jorrvaskr, and Vilkas should give you the next quest, Purity of Revenge. (Xbox). Confirmed x3 on Xbox 360. **** This also worked on PS3, I was detected twice inside Driftshade Refuge but I hid long enough for the enemies to go back to patrol mode.

Option for PC users who HAVE killed the witches and returned to Whiterun but HAVE NOT retrieved the Helm: Go to the Refuge and run through it without attacking (I left my follower in Whiterun to be safe). Enemies will engage, but with enough health, stamina, and armor you should be able to run through without dying. It may take a few tries to learn the layout well enough. Retrieve the Helm and run out, then travel to Winterhold and return the Helm. Travel to Whiterun, find Vilkas and initiate a conversation. Open the console (~) and type "setstage c05 1", press enter and close the console. Vilkas should join you and Purity of Revenge will automatically start. This method worked on PC version 1.3.10.

Option for PC users who HAVE killed the witches and returned to Whiterun but HAVE NOT retrieved the Helm (If you have regained Winterhold in the Reunification of Skyrim): Since Jarl Korir has been driven out and replaced, he will not accept the helm and will instead talk about how he was driven from his home. Travel to Whiterun, find Vilkas and use the console command "setstage c05 1", press enter and close the console. Vilkas will join you and Purity of Revenge will automatically start.

Solution #2 - For adventurers who have cleared Driftshade Refuge and completed the quest to find the Helm of Winterhold

Wait for 32 days before killing ANY witches for "Blood's Honor". Driftshade Refuge will still read as "cleared" on the map, but the enemies inside will have respawned at this point, allowing the quest "Purity of Revenge" to start as normal when you complete "Blood's Honor".

''Note: Waited 32 days right AFTER killing the witches then reported to Vilkas in Whiterun, and "Purity of Revenge" started like normal. Confirmed on PS3 and Xbox 360. Confirmed on PC''

Note: When killing the witches then reporting back the 32 day workaround will not work and they will quite literally be in Forever Mourning until an update is released so follow above instructions exactly.

Soultion #3 (FOR PC ONLY) - For adventurers who have cleared Driftshade Refuge and completed the quest to find the Helm of Winterhold

Console Command fix:

To reset Driftshade Refuge, enter the console and type "resetinterior driftshadesanctuary01" and then "resetinterior driftshadesanctuary02" to reset the dungeon. Note, this only affects the dungeon once you enter drift shade refuge, not once it is typed, so to complete the reset you must enter the dungeon.

Once you enter the dungeon, type "setstage c05 00" to start the quest for revenge. Alternatively, reset the dungeon, travel there to cause the reset to load, and then complete Blood's Honor allowing the quest to begin normally.

Fast travel to Driftshade Refuge, enter the building and find the Silver Hand leader. He is the only enemy in full plate armor. Open the console, click the deceased enemy and type "resurrect". This will bring the enemy back to life. Do not attack him, instead leave the building.

Once outside, open the console and type 'player.setstage c05 0'

''Note: Ref ID of Silver Hand Leader in my game was 0006a99c. You may be able to resurrect him without looking through the entire dungeon for his body. Try typing 'prid 0006a99c' followed by 'resurrect' in console, please confirm if this worked for you.'' -> Confirmed. (Confirmed again - thought I couldn't target him by typing prid 006a99c, I had to find the body and actually resurrect him. But after doing that, the quest functioned as it should have and I didn't have to type in anything but the resurrect.)

New Note: I just happened upon Driftshade and cleared out the enemies. I had the quest to get the Helm of Winterhold from the wreck of the Pride of Tel Vos instead. I went ahead to the ship and got the helm, delivered it to the Jarl, then used the 'prid 0006a99c', 'resurrect', then outside typed 'setstage c05 0' and the quest 'Purity of Revenge' immediately started. I do not think you need to wait the 32 game days as described in Solution #4 below.

Solution 4 PS3 For those who have not received the helm of winter hold quest or cleared driftshade refuge. Complete the witch quest, but do not turn it in. Go to driftshade and get the helm without killing anything. Turn the helm into the jarl, then go turn in the witch quest, you will then be able to proceed.

Solution #4(this happened to me and none of the other solutions made sense because I had already completed all of the Imperial quests before I even talked to the Jarl of Winterhold) - If you happened to just stumble upon Driftshade and clear it out, you will have to wait the 32 game days for the NPC to respawn.

Weight of Witches Head
(Spoilers) For the duration of the Companion quests (until the Dragonborn becomes Harbinger), the Glenmoril Witch Heads are quest items and therefore like quest items they are weightless in your inventory. Upon curing Kodlak, their quest item status will be removed, and each will attain their stated weight of four pounds and can be dropped/stored as normal items.