Contract: Kill Anoriath

Contract: Kill Anoriath
Anoriath in the marketplace in Whiterun.
Quest Giver	Nazir
Location	The Drunken Huntsman Whiterun Whiterun Hold
Prerequisite	Sanctuary
Faction	Dark Brotherhood
Reward	250–750
Type	Dark Brotherhood contracts quest
Quest ID	DBSideContract08

For other uses, see Contract.

"The wood elf may run a stall in the city, but he retreats to the plains outside Whiterun to hunt. Kill him there, and no one will bear witness..."

―Nazir

Contract: Kill Anoriath is a quest available in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The Dragonborn must assassinate Anoriath, a Bosmer archer and merchant residing in Whiterun who manages a stall in he city's market selling meat goods.

Background

I must kill the archer Anoriath, who can usually be found at his food stall in Whiterun, or hunting in the plains outside the city. I may use any means at my disposal. When I am done, I am to report back to Nazir at the Sanctuary and collect my reward.

Objectives

• Kill Anoriath
• Report back to Nazir

Walkthrough

The quest starts when Nazir gives a contract for killing Anoriath to you as part of the Dark Brotherhood questline. Nazir can be asked the following question:

Tell me about Anoriath. "The wood elf may run a stall in the city, but he retreats to the plains outside Whiterun to hunt. Kill him there, and no one will bear witness..."

Killing Anoriath

Shadowing Anoriath allows the Dragonborn to discover his daily patterns, which include the following:

• At night, Anoriath goes to bed in a room in The Drunken Huntsman in Whiterun.
• During daylight hours, Anoriath is at one of the market stalls selling food items.
• Sometimes Anoriath takes a hunting trip in the plains outside Whiterun.

Strategies

• Occasionally, Anoriath can be found hunting outside Whiterun, where he can be killed without witness. However, the timing of these hunting trips is not predictable.
• At night, Anoriath goes to bed in a room in The Drunken Huntsman; however, as soon as the Dragonborn enters, Elrindir is wary and follows the Dragonborn, rendering them unable to get a silent kill. This may be avoided by moving fast enough. The Dragonborn can leave the door open until they are just about to kill him, then shut it and perform the kill, then quickly open it again to avoid the owner approaching to witness. Alternatively, sneaking in without being detected is possible. The Dragonborn can also go behind Elrindir until well hidden, then cast a Frenzy spell on Anoriath and let Elrindir do the work of killing him (which causes no bounty).
• There are several locations around Whiterun that, with a high enough Sneak skill, provide enough cover for the Dragonborn to snipe Anoriath without being discovered:
  • At the top of the two streams flowing down from the Gildergreen plaza to the marketplace below.
  • Behind The Bannered Mare, on the north side of the building between it and some rocks. Note, however, that there is a Guard Barracks nearby, so any patrols in or out of the barracks may become witness.
  • When Anoriath retires to The Drunken Huntsman after closing his stall for the night, many of the buildings in the Plains district (including Breezehome, Warmaiden's, and the Drunken Huntsman itself) offer cover from which the Dragonborn may snipe him as he walks down the street.
• If the Dragonborn is Thane of Whiterun, they can invoke this status to make guards cancel the bounty.
• If the Dragonborn is a werewolf or Vampire Lord, they can simply use their respective transformation to attack and kill Anoriath without a bounty, no matter the witnesses. If the Dragonborn has also purchased Breezehome, this can provide a safe location to transform from.
• If speaking to Anoriath directly, the Dragonborn may choose to threaten "I am the predator and you are my prey." As with several other Dark Brotherhood targets, Anoriath may then attack the Dragonborn, allowing them to kill him in self-defense (provided he struck first). The guards might even intervene and kill him themselves. However, this method does not always work, because sometimes he won't attack, instead repeatedly remarking how "disturbing" you are.
• With high Sneak and decent Pickpocket skills, it is possible to sneak into The Drunken Huntsman at night (using the entrance away from Elrindir's counter), thus avoiding initial detection and preventing Elrindir from following. It might be easier to first open the door to Anoriath's room, then leave the building and sneak back in to finish the job. The quietest way to then dispose of Anoriath is to reverse pickpocket a powerful poison onto him as he sleeps, using the Poisoned perk. If one poison is not enough, more than one type of poison can be used at the same time, including a weakness to poison potion as well. After he has been poisoned, an Invisibility potion can be used (a potion is better than a spell since it is quiet) to slip out after he dies, never alerting Elrindir (or anyone else) in the process. This is more expensive than using 1 arrow, but it is a sure way to prevent all possible bounties.
• Sneaking in while he is asleep using the door next to the bedroom (as above) also allows the Dragonborn to hide next to the other bed, then shoot him with an arrow, then sneak out again. Alternatively, with the Assassin's Blade perk, a single hit with a dagger while he's sleeping will do the job.

Confronting Anoriath

You have the option of confronting Anoriath, though this is not suggested as killing Anoriath in public will likely result in a bounty. The options are as follows:

I am the predator. You are my prey. "Is that so? We shall see, villain. We shall see!"

Only cowards hunt animals. True game walks on two legs. "Are you... threatening me? Walk away fool. It's not worth it."

(Remain silent) "Well now, you are a strange one. You remind me a bit of myself, when I'm stalking a deer. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that..."

The first option will make him hostile, the other two will end the conversation.

Conclusion

After returning to Nazir, the following dialogue is initiated:

"Hmph. No arrows protruding from your skull... Can I assume Anoriath is dead, then?"

Anoriath is dead. "Ah, so the hunter came to know the fear of the hunted, hmm? Your payment, my friend. Well done."

Reporting the success to Nazir will grant the promised reward of a leveled amount of gold:

Level(s)	Gold
1–9	250
10–19	400
20–29	500
30–39	600
40+	750

Journal

Contract: Kill Anoriath – DBSideContract08
ID	Journal Entry
10	I must kill the archer Anoriath, who can usually be found at his food stall in Whiterun, or hunting in the plains outside the city. I may use any means at my disposal. When I am done, I am to report back to Nazir at the Sanctuary and collect my reward. Objective 10: Kill Anoriath
20	Objective 20: Report back to Nazir
200	Anoriath is dead, and I have collected my reward from Nazir at the Sanctuary. Quest complete

Trivia

• Killing Anoriath will fail any Thieves Guild quest (e.g. The Numbers Job) targeting The Drunken Huntsman; any such quest must, therefore, be completed and redeemed before making the kill.
• If Anoriath is killed while in his bedroom at The Drunken Huntsman, Amren may enter the room, saying: "What's done, is done."
• After Anoriath is killed, Elrindir may greet the Dragonborn in an irritable manner, saying "Something you need, you miserable wretch?"
• Of course, once Anoriath is killed, you can no longer buy meat from him since his booth now remains unattended.

Bugs

This section contains bugs related to Contract: Kill Anoriath. Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following: Please reload an old save to confirm if the bug is still happening. If the bug is still occurring, please post the bug report with the appropriate system template  360  /  XB1  ,  PS3  /  PS4  ,  PC  /  MAC  ,  NX  /  PS5  ,  XS  , depending on which platform(s) the bug has been encountered on. Be descriptive when listing the bug and fixes, but avoid having conversations in the description and/or using first-person anecdotes: such discussions belong on the appropriate forum board.

Click to show

360   PS3   There is a glitch with this quest making it unable to be completed. After Anoriath is killed, when reporting back to Nazir, he simply says, 'You worry about the contract, I'll take care of things on this end.' At this point, the dialogue to move on never occurs. No reason has been found for this yet. The fix for this bug is by completing the "Hail Sithis!" quest, collecting the reward, then meeting Nazir at the Dawnstar Sanctuary.  360   PS3   After performing a stealth kill on Anoriath while he is sleeping in The Drunken Huntsman, his brother Elrindir randomly appears and turns hostile. This only seems to happen whenever the door is closed.  360   There is a glitch that shows him near a Mammoth basin on the world map, but the compass leads to Whiterun. From inside Whiterun there is an arrow for him very far away (outside the city walls but within the same local space as the Dragonborn). So far there is no fix for this on the Xbox.  360   When killing Anoriath, even if hidden, the guards will attack. They will accept no yields and will attack until the Dragonborn is dead, thus making the quest impossible to complete. No fix has been found for this.

Appearances

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim