Helgen

It was one of the only Friendly settlements located in Falkreath Hold, apart from the City of Falkreath itself and Half-Moon Mill. Other settlements can be added as the Dragonborn progresses through the Story line, e.g. Stormcloak / Imperial camps.

Helgen is the very first place the player will experience once the game has started.

Background
Helgen was a thriving town and keep on the southern border of Skyrim with Cyrodiil. Before its destruction by Alduin, the Keep was controlled by the Imperial Army.

On the 17th of Last Seed, 4E 201, Helgen was attacked and destroyed by Alduin, which allowed the Dragonborn to escape the execution. The named residents of Helgen, besides Haming, are not seen again after the escape, it is assumed that they either perished during the attack or were led to safety by the Imperial troops. A few in-game days following the events, a small group of bandits will occupy the ruins of the town, (the lock on either gate must be picked, or one of the bandits can open it ). The damage caused by Alduin's attack will be evident, with most of the town razed to the ground, and burnt corpses lying amongst the ruins. The bandits are led by a bandit chief, their gear is randomized. Bottles of Mead with Juniper Berry may be found in the upstairs of the ruined tavern, (accessed by jumping down from the gap in the Tower's wall), if the Dragonborn returns.

It has a few distinguishing features; a wall, which is unusual for smaller towns, when certain Hold Capitals do not have a wall. It also has a large keep, which is unusual for anywhere but forts and walled Hold Capitals. It is possible for Helgen to have been the Imperial Second Chain in power in Skyrim, behind Castle Dour.

Related quests

 * Unbound

Characters

 * Gunnar
 * Ulfric Stormcloak
 * Hadvar
 * Ralof
 * Vilod
 * Matlara
 * Torolf
 * General Tullius
 * Dragonborn
 * Ingrid
 * Imperial Captain
 * Imperial soldier
 * Stormcloak soldier
 * Elenwen
 * Thalmor soldier
 * Alduin

Known Survivors

 * Ulfric Stormcloak
 * Hadvar
 * Ralof
 * General Tullius
 * Dragonborn
 * Imperial Soldier
 * Stormcloak Soldier
 * Elenwen
 * Thalmor Soldier
 * Hamming

Behind the Scenes

 * In Swedish, "helgen" means "the weekend". However, the Swedish counterpart is pronounced "heljen".
 * In Norwegian, "helgen" means both "the weekend" and "saint". The latter being the most probable name.
 * As with Norwegian, "helgen" means "saint" in Danish.

Trivia

 * The Mead with Juniper Berry is most likely a reference to the comment which Ralof makes during the cart ride into Helgen at the start of the game; "I wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with Juniper berries mixed in."
 * If the Dragonborn stands in front of General Tullius too long while Alduin is attacking he will shout "Run, you idiot."
 * South of Helgen is the boundaries to Cyrodiil, which is an impenetrable gate which can only be passed via console commands.
 * Helgen appears to be Skyrim's counterpart to Oblivion's Kvatch. Both were destroyed at or near the beginning of the game by the main antagonists of their respective games.
 * Helgen means "the weekend" in Swedish and Norwegian.

Bugs

 * Sometimes in the opening cinematics the gates of Helgen will shut causing the cart in front of the players cart to halt, causing the player's cart to collide with it. The carts will then shake and possibly be flung in random directions. To fix, restart the game.
 * Occasionally, the horse pulling the cart the Dragonborn is riding in may start swaying around in the air, still attached to the cart, causing it to stop moving and therefore stopping the first quest from progressing.
 * Alduin may sometimes attack, yet the people carry on as normal, standing around talking. No known fix apart from restarting the game.
 * Sometimes during the execution cinematic, Alduin may behave like a normal dragon and flies around the skies around Helgen but doesn't attack causing the game to stop, there is no known fix for this other than restarting the game.