Brynjolf (Skyrim)

Brynjolf is a Nord thief and a member of the Thieves Guild in Riften. Brynjolf is currently the second-in-command at the Thieves Guild, below only Mercer Frey, the current Guildmaster.

A Chance Arrangement
Brynjolf is first encountered upon entering the Riften Marketplace for the first time. He approaches the Dragonborn and offers to let them in on a job on which he is working. If they accept, he tells them to find him in the Riften market between 8 AM and 8 PM the next day, thus starting the quest.

The next day, Brynjolf is found manning a stall in the market. He says that he will create a diversion. While everyone is distracted, the Dragonborn must break into the stall belonging to Madesi, steal his ring, and place it into Brand-Shei's pocket without getting caught. The ring is under the stall inside a locked strongbox, not in the display case.

If the Dragonborn is successful, after Brand-Shei is arrested, Brynjolf will happily say that he found the right person for the job. He then directs the Dragonborn to the Ratway, an underground tunnel system underneath Riften, explaining that there is a tavern there called The Ragged Flagon, and if they can get to it, they can join his organization. If the Dragonborn fails to plant the ring, they will still be asked to go to the Ragged Flagon and join the Guild.

Upon reaching The Ragged Flagon, Brynjolf will be impressed. He will then introduce the Dragonborn to Mercer Frey, and induct the Dragonborn into the Thieves Guild.

Thieves Guild questline
Brynjolf helps the Dragonborn by providing information and advice for future jobs.

During the main line of quests for the Thieves Guild, Brynjolf and the Dragonborn become Nightingales, like Guildmaster-turned-traitor Mercer Frey.

After the Thieves Guild main questline, Brynjolf can be found wandering around the cistern and the flagon. Due to a bug, when spoken to, he will say that he has important things to do and will talk sometime later, rather than speaking his scripted post-quest dialogue.

Under New Management
Brynjolf will nominate the Dragonborn to be the Guildmaster after the completion of the city influence jobs given by Delvin and Vex, and also give them the Tribute Chest Key and the Amulet of Articulation.

Trivia

 * He is voiced by Robin Atkin Downes.
 * Upon entering Riften, if the quest "A Cornered Rat" is active, a Khajiit assassin will follow the Dragonborn, making stealing the ring and framing Brand-Shei without anyone knowing impossible.
 * When in combat, he will say, "So, it's to the pain then?" This is similar to dialogue from The Princess Bride during the confrontation between Westley and Humperdinck.
 * Unlike the Dark Brotherhood quests, where one has a choice to join or kill Astrid, the Dragonborn is expected to become a thief and complete the Thieves Guild storyline. There is no alternative questline. Because Brynjolf is necessary for the Thieves Guild storyline, he is not only marked as essential, but he is also invulnerable to damage should he be attacked. Using the console to make him non essential does not change this. The only way to kill him is to use the console to set his essential value to 0 and then also use the console to damage him to death. This will destroy the Thieves' Guild questline, however. Brynjolf is no longer invulnerable to damage after the "Under New Management" quest is complete, but he is still essential.
 * To bypass the Thieves Guild questline entirely, the Dragonborn can continue the main questline where he or she is sent to talk to Brynjolf, but without talking to him (and being required to frame an innocent man for the information needed to find Esbern). This is accomplished simply by going to the Bee and Barb and speaking to Keerava the barmaid to continue the quest "A Cornered Rat."
 * Brynjolf says something different depending on how many septims the Dragonborn is holding:
 * If the Dragonborn has little money, he says, "Running a little light in the pockets, lad/lass?" Likewise, if the Dragonborn has an abundance of septims, Brynjolf says, "Never done an honest day's work in your life for all that coin you're carrying. Eh, lad/lass?"
 * He will use his "Never done an honest day's work" line and claim to be able to tell such things about people, even if the Dragonborn has done plenty of honest work.
 * When given Gallus's journal, Brynjolf is able to read the Falmer text without the accompanying translation notes from Calcelmo.
 * He can be exploited as an extra follower. When Karliah introduces the Dragonborn to Nightingale Hall, she will enter it herself. Brynjolf, however, is scripted to follow the Dragonborn into the hall. As long as the Dragonborn does not enter Nightingale Hall, Brynjolf will follow and fight, however he will not sneak and will only repeat two lines of dialogue, (with the exception of in-combat dialogue).
 * He has slightly different dialogue in a few places if the Dragonborn is the leader of the Dark Brotherhood. When asking him how to handle collecting the debts' during "Taking Care of Business," he will say not to kill them mentioning that "This isn't the Dark Brotherhood, we do things differently here." Normally he would say that it is "bad for business."
 * For an unknown reason he has left his satchel in the market in Riften.
 * Unlike most Nords, who speak with a Scandinavian-sounding accent, Brynjolf speaks with more of a Scottish accent. This is most easily noticed when he addresses the Dragonborn as "lad" or "lass." This is also implied in Irkngthand when he says "We can take the high road or the low road" a reference to the song "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond."
 * If one wishes to avoid Brynjolf the first time they enter Riften, thus not having the "Listen to Brynjolf's scheme" misc. quest in the quest log, come in through the meadery (thus also avoiding Maul and his automated Thieves Guild dialogue) and as soon as in the city, begin using the Forge at the The Scorched Hammer. It does not matter if anything is made, but as things still happen around the Dragonborn when using Smithing equipment, Brynjolf will approach the Dragonborn and speak his opening line two to four times before wandering away to his stall and beginning to tout his Falmer Blood Elixir, where it will then be safe to stop using the forge. Talking to someone will not have the same effect; he will wait until the conversation is exited and then force dialogue, thus starting the Thieves Guild questline.
 * If one starts the Thieves Guild questline, Brynjolf is never seen in the marketplace again, suggesting he was selling the Falmer Blood Elixir to raise money for the Guild.
 * If Sapphire is attacked and killed while she is talking to Shadr, even while sneaking and undetected, no one will care except for Maul and Brynjolf, who will find and attack the Dragonborn, even though they are hidden. Since Maul is essential (but can still be downed) and Brynjolf is invulnerable to all attacks, this will result in an endless fight. If one desires to kill Sapphire, it is best to wait until she enters the Bee and Barb, where she can be killed with a sneak-attack.
 * If dialogue is exited when he is trying to speak to the Dragonborn, he will angrily say, "I can take a hint lad/lass. Come talk to me when you're ready to get your hands dirty." This will give the "Listen to Brynjolf's scheme" miscellaneous quest.

Appearances


Brynjolf (Skyrim) Brynjolf Бриньольф Brynjolf Brynjolf