Haelga

"If word got out that I'm practicing my Dibellan Arts in Riften, they'll run me out of town."

- Haelga

Haelga is a Nord who lives in Riften, where she runs Haelga's Bunkhouse with her niece, Svana.

Background
According to her niece, Haelga is a very loose woman who slept with three men in one month. Her reputation is further justified with contextual evidence from her bedroom: a bed with shackles, a shelf full of stamina potions, a horker tusk and leather strips underneath her bed, a jar of honey and more leather strips on the dresser, The Lusty Argonian Maid Vol 1 and Vol 2, a bottle of Falmer Blood Elixir (which Brynjolf says will allow one to "make love like a sabre cat"), as well as a shrine to Dibella, a deity that Svana claims she worships too much. Haelga wears an Amulet of Dibella and there is also a note on her store counter from a "Secret Lover."

When visiting her for the quest "Taking Care of Business," she can either be beaten in a brawl, or bribed with her Dibella statue. Alternatively, the debts from Bersi Honey-Hand and Keerava can be collected first - when she is talked to, she will pay her debt without a fight.

Her niece, Svana, asks the Dragonborn to retrieve three Marks of Dibella from men she has slept with in the miscellaneous quest: Caught Red Handed.

If the Dragonborn kills her niece, Haelga will flee the bunkhouse. When she comes back, she states she is too upset to talk.

Taking Care of Business
When asked to pay her debts, Haelga will refuse. The Dragonborn can either steal her Dibella Statue and blackmail her to pay or win a fight with her during a brawl.

Caught Red Handed
Svana will ask the Dragonborn to collect Haelga's marks of Dibella from the men she slept with.

Conversations
Svana "Aunt Haelga, why do you...demean yourself with these people you barely know? They show no real love for you." Haelga "Its only a bit of fun. You're a lovely young thing, you should try it sometime." Svana "No! I'm saving myself for someone special. Someone who loves me dearly." Haelga "You mean Sibbi? You must be joking! All he wants to do is bed you and be done with it. You may as well get it over with and let him." Svana "You're wrong! Sibbi and I are in love and you're just jealous."

Quotes

 * "This heap of matchsticks is what everyone calls Haelga's Bunkhouse. Can you stay here? No. The Bunkhouse is for the working man, not some sort of a luxury inn for tourists."
 * "What? How... where did you get these?"
 * "I don't know why I bother."
 * "New around Riften? Take my advice. Stay at the Bee and Barb... the Bunkhouse isn't for you."
 * "Oh, it's you. Come to extort more from me?"
 * "Huh? Oh. Sure, whatever. I prefer Dibella's teachings myself."
 * "Of course not. You expect me to take care of it by myself? My niece Svana helps me with the chores. She'd be more help if she kept her head out of the clouds. She's been with me ever since her parents were killed by bandits and she was dropped in my lap."
 * "There's a College in Winterhold that teaches magic. It's very secretive, though, and you know how people hate secrets. The Jarl's court wizard was taught there. That one's full of secrets."
 * "You looking for something or what?"
 * "No, don't tell me. I don't want to know. Look, we need to keep this quiet... between you and me, okay. No one else needs to know about it. If word got out that I'm practicing my Dibellan Arts in Riften, they'll run me out of town."

Trivia

 * Even though her niece, Svana, hates her, she'll still send hired thugs after the culprit for killing "her dear Haelga."
 * Despite Haelga claiming to practice the "Dibellan Arts" out of religious devotion, such practices are considered immoral by most followers of the Nine Divines, and are not practiced or condoned by actual priestesses of Dibella, who, like most people of Tamriel, can marry, but remain celibate until then.
 * Sometimes Haelga will not be at the bunk house late at night; if Bolli's house is checked, they will be found sleeping together. They also share a table every night at The Bee and Barb.
 * A letter addressed to Haelga mentions Haelga wearing Daedric boots during intercourse, but there are no Daedric boots anywhere in Haelga's Bunkhouse.
 * There is a jar of honey found in her bedroom. This jar of honey is one of the only two in Skyrim without installing downloadable content.
 * If the miscellaneous quest given by Svana has been started and the Dragonborn tries to confront Haelga with the marks after speaking to her about the bounty from Taking Care of Business, but before collecting her bounty, she will repeat the "blood from a stone" dialogue. This can be fixed by following the steps in the quest to collect her bounty without killing her. (See the "Taking Care of Business" quest page.)
 * She will sometimes flirt with male characters regardless of race.
 * In a random occurence with Grelka in the Riften market area, Grelka will tell Haelga that her leather harness has arrived from the Khajiit caravan. Grelka asks what it is for and Haelga's response is "It is a religious thing."
 * If the Dragonborn is married to Haelga through console commands, she has a special dialog option that allows conflict to be avoided during "Taking Care of Business."
 * Despite giving tokens to her lovers, each of the three men she's been with actually have a low opinion of her; Indaryn says that she would not "be worth the hassle" he would go through with Maven about his connection to Haelga, Bolli insists that she "slipped something" in his drink, and Hofgrir says that she's "crazy" and "out of control."

Appearances


Haelga Хельга (Skyrim) Haelga