The Cursed Ring of Hircine is obtained during the quest "Ill Met by Moonlight," from the werewolf Sinding, who is imprisoned in Falkreath. Sinding murdered a girl at the lumber mill whilst unable to control his actions in werewolf form. He stole the ring to control his transformations, but Hircine, angered by the theft, cursed it to do the exact opposite. The Dragonborn is given the option to take ownership of the Ring of Hircine and be cursed, with the intention of returning it to Sinding's master.
Effect of the Curse[]
The ring cannot be unequipped normally, although lycanthropic wearers of the ring have a 10% chance to turn into a werewolf when it is placed on their finger, which will in turn remove it. This ring does not bestow the power of transformation at will, which is obtained only through the Companions questline, begun in Jorrvaskr in Whiterun. To keep the cursed variant, the unequipped cursed ring can be given to a follower before completing the quest.
"Uncursed" Ring of Hircine[]
The "uncursed" ring is granted to the Dragonborn by Hircine; who removes the curse, at the end of the quest "Ill Met by Moonlight." Choosing to help Sinding allows the Dragonborn to receive the ring once they leave the cave, but if Sinding is killed and skinned, the Savior's Hide is received instead.
Effect of the ring[]
Equipping this ring grants werewolves unlimited transformations. Upon use of the ring's power, the Dragonborn will assume their Beast Form, and after the bloodthirst has depleted, will transform back to their original form. The Dragonborn can then simply re-equip the ring and re-use the power to transform into a werewolf again.
Usage[]
Equipping the uncursed "Ring of Hircine" will cause a power of the same name to appear in the Powers section of the Magic tab, activated in the same way as any other power. Note that it does not affect the standard Beast Form power, which only functions once a day regardless as to whether the ring is worn or not.
If the Dragonborn has never contracted or has already cured their lycanthropy, the ring has no effect. But, as of patches 1.3 and 1.4, the ring may be used even after being cured (details needed - presumably it works just once, and then only if it was equipped at the time of cleansing?).
If the Dragonborn is a vampire, the ring cannot be unequipped and simply takes up the ring slot until it is removed by Hircine himself. The Dragonborn cannot change into a werewolf using the Cursed Ring of Hircine if they are currently a vampire.
Giving the ring to a follower or a Companion Circle member does not give them the ability to turn into a werewolf.
If the Dragonborn is already a werewolf, the cursed ring of Hircine can be unequipped, even without finishing the quest.
Hircine's Ring, Cursed Hircine's Ring, and Savior's Hide can all be acquired if the Dragonborn has already removed the cursed variant from their inventory. They can leave it in a chest to retrieve later, then after completing the quest "Ill Met by Moonlight" and the proper ring is given by Hircine, the Dragonborn can re-enter the quest area and kill Sinding, causing the Savior's Hide to be given to the Dragonborn as well. The Dragonborn then reclaims the cursed ring from the chest, therefore gaining all three items.
Bugs[]
This section contains bugs related to Hircine's Ring (Skyrim). 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 see the list of bugs encountered
The Dragonborn can kill and skin Sinding in his jail cell before he escapes, but Hircine will not talk to them when they slay the great beast.
360 PS3 Sinding will sometimes reappear in his jail cell if the Dragonborn chooses to take the Ring. They can then kill and skin him, allowing them to have both the ring and the Savior's Hide.
Wearing the Ring of Hircine and the Savior's Hide can crash the game on Legendary difficulty.
If they kill and skin Sinding, the Dragonborn may then encounter him several times traveling the road between Riverwood, Whiterun and Solitude. Guards and the like do not attack him despite the fact he remains in werewolf form.
360 Once completing the quest by helping Sinding and receiving Hircine's Ring, Sinding will walk all the way back to Falkreath and reenter in his jail cell. If the Dragonborn tries to talk to him, all he says is, "Never thought I'd see you again."
360 If the Dragonborn uses the full shout of Fire Breath on Sinding right after he turns to a werewolf before escaping, and he dies, they can turn into a werewolf, kill the guard in the room, wait twenty-four hours as a werewolf, and then Hircine's Ring may be unequipped.
PS3 If the Dragonborn attempts to clone the ring via the mannequin glitch, both will no longer work.
PC 360 PS3 If the Dragonborn is dual wielding swords when they transform, the sword may not disappear from their waist.
PS3 If the Dragonborn is dual wielding weapons (daggers, swords, war axes, or maces) that are enchanted when they transform, their claw attacks will have the effect of whatever their weapons were enchanted with, and the effects will not use up any magicka of the enchanted weapon in the process, thus making their werewolf form much stronger.
Sometimes, if the Dragonborn has their weapons out and transforms, the weapons will be shown on their claws but will give no extra damage.
Sometimes, when using the Hircine's Ring when the Dragonborn howls, they might use fire breath instead of their current totem.
If the Dragonborn is wearing the Ring of Namira and receives Hircine's Ring from Sinding, they will forever be able to feed off of bodies and obtain +50 health and +50% health regeneration.
If Beast Form is used while wearing the ring, the ring can be removed, along with all other items. This breaks the quest restrictions of the ring and allow it to be equipped and unequipped freely.
When the ring is equipped, it may not come off, resulting in random transformations into a werewolf.
360 PS3 If the Dragonborn was cured of lycanthropy, had obtained and saved the ring originally, then asked to be turned back into a werewolf by Aela in the Dawnguard add-on, the ring may no longer work.
Sometimes, after the Dragonborn has killed and skinned Sinding after obtaining both the armor and ring, Sinding may still appear in the Grotto.
Sometimes when using the Hircine's Ring, the game may freeze.
In a very rare glitch, the animation of reading an Elder Scroll may play when equipping the ring.
PC When talking to Hircine after either helping or hunting Sinding and receiving Hircine's Ring, the Dragonborn is able to quickly cancel the conversation, then talk to Hircine again before he disappears and use the alternate chat option to receive a second Ring. A second ring serves no purpose other then for decoration or sale.
While having the cursed version of the ring equipped, if the Dragonborn rides a horse, the ring can cause a random transformation while still mounted. They are able to move and attack as a werewolf like normal, however the camera remains stuck on the horse.
Since only one ring can be equipped at a time under normal circumstances, one cannot add the bonus from any one of Majni's unique rings onto transformations triggered by Hircine's ring.
