The Way of the Voice

The Way of the Voice
High Hrothgar situated on the slopes of the Throat of the World.
Quest Giver	Balgruuf the Greater
Location	High Hrothgar Ivarstead
Prerequisite	Dragon Rising
Next Quest	The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller
Faction	The Greybeards
Reward	Second word of Unrelenting Force shout (Ro) Word of Whirlwind Sprint shout (Wuld)
Type	Main quest
Quest ID	MQ105

Not to be confused with Way of the Voice.

"The Voice is worship; Follow the Inner path; Speak only in True Need"

―Emblem X at the Throat of the World

The Way of the Voice is a quest available in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in which the Dragonborn must journey to High Hrothgar to meet with The Greybeards to learn the Way of the Voice.

Background

The Greybeards have summoned me to their monastery of High Hrothgar on the slopes of the Throat of the World. They seem to have learned of the mysterious power I gained when I killed the Dragon outside Whiterun.

Objectives

1. Speak to the Greybeards
2. Demonstrate your "Unrelenting Force" Shout
3. Speak to Arngeir
4. Learn the Word of Power from Einarth
5. Demonstrate your "Unrelenting Force" Shout
6. Learn the Word of Power from Borri
7. Demonstrate your "Whirlwind Sprint" Shout
8. Speak to Arngeir for further training

Walkthrough

The Shout

After the completion of "Dragon Rising," a powerful shout will be heard from the mountains close to Whiterun. Upon talking to Jarl Balgruuf, it is revealed that the shout was uttered by the Greybeards, summoning the Dragonborn to High Hrothgar. The Jarl (after a heated discussion between Proventus Avenicci and Hrongar) will suggest that the Dragonborn should travel to High Hrothgar, so that the Greybeards can educate them in the Way of the Voice.

Going to Ivarstead

The first stage of this quest is to travel to Ivarstead, in The Rift. The safest way is to travel via a route south from Whiterun, beginning at the destroyed Helgen, staying on the main road and heading east through the mountains, passing by Haemar's Shame and the Alchemist's Shack. Alternatively, they could follow a route north, around the mountain, but this may present some challenges to low-level player characters (Valtheim Towers, Ruined Toll and Wispmother's Well, Trolled Stormcloaks Darkwater Overhang).

Once in Ivarstead, cross the bridge and travel up the "7000 steps" to reach High Hrothgar. Before doing so however, talk to some of the villagers as they can provide some information about High Hrothgar. One in particular, Klimmek, will request that they deliver some supplies to High Hrothgar, by placing them in the offering chest located just outside of the building. Doing so will reward them with a leveled amount of gold when they return to let Klimmek know they finished the errand.

The 7000 steps

One should be careful when traveling up the steps, as there is an array of enemies that could be encountered, including a (fixed) frost troll and other random leveled enemies such as ice wolves, snow bears or ice wraiths. If the Dragonborn is at a higher level, they can also come across a dragon. The Frost Troll can be difficult to defeat for a lower leveled Dragonborn and there are a wide range of different strategies which could be used when confronting it, including:

Strategies

1. Frost trolls, like any other type of troll, have a weakness to fire. Using weapons which have a fire damage enchantment can give them an advantage, as well as using fire-based destruction spells. The shout Fire Breath could also be used, as a word for it can be gained early on in the Companions storyline, during the quest "Proving Honor." Alternatively, they could summon a flame atronach, a spell which can also be learned early on, which would also expose the Troll's weakness to fire. Lastly, the Flame Thrall spell, which can be acquired by leveling Conjuration to level 90 or so, will summon a permanent Flame Atronach.
2. Trolls can deal a substantial amount of damage, but most of it can be avoided by tactically falling back when one sees the troll raising his arms or preparing a power attack. If they need to heal, they can sprint away; the troll will not generally outrun them. Similarly, using a shield to block the troll's attacks can also be effective, but does depend highly on timing.
3. Being a Nord, one can use Battle Cry to make the frost troll flee for 30 seconds, giving enough time to run to High Hrothgar.
4. It is possible to scale the rocks just before the troll, allowing them to use ranged attacks to safely eliminate it (using a bow with a fire enchantment would give a significant advantage, however, they could use ranged destruction spells including Fireball or Firebolt whilst following the same strategy).
5. Using a horse to simply sprint past the Troll. Shadowmere is the best candidate for this strategy.
6. It can be killed by long distance arrows from the entrance to the ravine it lives in. Go into stealth mode and stand at the entrance to the ravine and shoot at the troll when you can just see it on top of the right cliff of the ravine. For each successful hit you get a % damage bonus for being in stealth mode so it should take less than 10 arrows to kill the troll. The troll may shift left or right a little in which case adjust your aim, but you are too far away for it to come after you.
7. Another strategy is using the Unrelenting Force shout and then sprinting away while the troll is stunned.
8. A final strategy, for those lower leveled Dragonborns is to retreat down the stairs. The character who is meditating at the statue will then come to help and defeat the troll. While the troll is preoccupied fighting, it is also possible to slip past it without having to physically defeat it.
9. If all else fails, one can lure the troll up to High Hrothgar using the Whirlwind Sprint shout to briefly move faster. Get the troll to follow you into the monastery, and the Greybeards will defeat it very quickly.
10. You can just scale the rocks to the left of the ravine altogether, and you’ll never be detected at all.
11. Animal Allegiance may help to calm the beast, while the Bosmer can use their racial power Command Animal to achieve the same effect.

The temporary effect Voice of the Sky can be gained whilst traveling up the steps, by reading the ten etched tablets along the path. A short distance after the troll encounter is High Hrothgar, and the next stage of the quest.

High Hrothgar

Once the Dragonborn has made it up the 7000 steps they will arrive at High Hrothgar. Go inside and they will be approached by four members of the Greybeards, but only one will talk: Arngeir. He will ask the Dragonborn to demonstrate their abilities. Use one of the Shouts on Arngeir, the Shouts cannot hurt them. After speaking to Arngeir, the Dragonborn must demonstrate their newly learned word of power for Unrelenting Force on three spectral forms. Then go to the High Hrothgar Courtyard to learn and demonstrate the Whirlwind Sprint shout. After that, Arngeir tells them their training is complete. He will then task the Dragonborn to travel to the Nordic ruins of Ustengrav to recover the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller to be permitted to learn the final Word of Unrelenting Force from the Greybeards, starting "The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller."

Journal

The Way of the Voice – MQ105
ID	Journal Entry
8	Objective 10: Speak to the Greybeards
10	The Greybeards have summoned me to their monastery of High Hrothgar on the slopes of the Throat of the World. They seem to have learned of the mysterious power that I gained when I killed the dragon outside Whiterun. Objective 10: Speak to the Greybeards
30	The Greybeards summoned me to their monastery of High Hrothgar on the slopes of the Throat of the World. I spoke to Arngeir, one of the Greybeards, who believes that I am "Dragonborn", which means I am especially gifted in the use of the Voice. They have offered to help me learn to use my new abilities. Objective 20: Demonstrate your "Unrelenting Force" Shout
50	Objective 25: Speak to Arngeir
58	Objective 30: Learn the Word of Power from Einarth
80	Objective 40: Speak to Arngeir for further training
100	Objective 50: Demonstrate your "Unrelenting Force" Shout
120	Objective 60: Learn the Word of Power from Borri
140	Objective 70: Demonstrate your "Whirlwind Sprint" Shout
160	The Greybeards summoned me to their monastery of High Hrothgar on the slopes of the Throat of the World. Their leader, Arngeir, recognized me as "Dragonborn", and taught me more about my new Voice powers. After passing several tests, they sent me on one final trial, retrieving the legendary Horn of Jurgen Windcaller. Quest complete

Trivia

• The Way of the Voice is a lifestyle practiced by the Greybeards. They spend their entire life meditating and practicing to use power words.
• Apart from the Dragonborn, nobody is born able to easily pick up the Voice.
• Ivarstead will be automatically added to the map once the quest is started.
• There are two hunters who when asked claim that they climb most of the way up the 7000 Steps and meditate on the emblems every couple of years.
• When the Greybeards shout after the dragon is killed, they say "Dovahkiin," which is "Dragonborn" in dragon tongue.
• If the Dragonborn has already learned a word/two words to the "Whirlwind Sprint" shout, Arngeir will say, "I see you have already begun to learn the Whirlwind Sprint shout. Master Borri will teach you - "Nah"/(Kest, if the Dragonborn has already learned two words) - the second/final word of Whirlwind Sprint." Borri will then proceed to teach the Dragonborn the next word in the shout.
• When the Dragonborn goes out to the courtyard, Wulfgar may be heard using the Clear Skies shout.
• If the Dragonborn has unlocked the Slow Time shout, they can get through the gates with it; the objective will be finished as usual.

Bugs

This section contains bugs related to The Way of the Voice. 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

The objective "Speak to Arngeir" may not register as complete. If the Dragonborn has spoken to Arngeir, make sure to exit out of the small door down the stairs in front of Arngeir out into Skyrim. Sometimes when turning around and exiting out the big double doors, it will not register as completed. This can be easily fixed by re-entering the building and using the other exit (though sometimes this does not work either). Also may not register as complete if the Dragonborn climbs the south side of the mountain and do not enter through the front of the building. A similar bug will appear in which the dialogue with Arngeir will progress to the point where Einarth should give the Dragonborn his "essence," after learning the word Ro. However, the Greybeards have not gathered, and Einarth will not respond if found by the Dragonborn. This does not appear to be an issue if a character progresses straight from killing the first dragon in Whiterun to High Hrothgar — the conflict seems to stem from completing a certain quest prior to entering High Hrothgar. In the absence of any documented fixes, players experiencing this bug are advised to use the console command setstage mq105 60 to 120, incrementing by fives. The Dragonborn should talk to Arngeir when necessary to ensure that this has completed the quest objectives. After learning Ro, the Greybeards will shout Fiik Lo Sah to summon targets, however they may not appear. To fix this, right after they've shouted Fiik Lo Sah, the Dragonborn should open the item menu and close it again immediately. After closing the item menu, the target should appear. If that does not work, try exiting the door and re-enter. On PC, the console can be used to finish the quest by typing setstage MQ105 160 which will complete it. Sometimes, the targets summoned with Fiik Lo Sah don't register as hit with Unrelenting Force, and this part of the quest becomes stuck at 0/3 completion. This can be skipped with the console command setstage MQ105 90 which will allow the quest to progress past this point. Similarly, if the Dragonborn moves around in the room while demonstrating Unrelenting Force Shout, the targets may not react to it. To solve this, stand next to Arngeir and use the shout on the targets. If the Dragonborn uses Whirlwind Sprint with Master Borri when he passes through the gate, they can walk through it, whether it is open or closed. Sometimes, the Dragonborn is unable to learn the word of power from Borri. On PC follow these steps to complete the quest and get the Shout: Open the console and write setstage mq105 115 and press enter. Leave the console and talk to Arngeir. Open the console and write setstage mq105 140 and press enter. Leave the console and talk to Arngeir again. Open the console and write player.teachword 2F7BB and press enter to learn the Whirlwind Sprint Shout. Arngeir and Borri may freeze after demonstrating Whirlwind Sprint. The quest may still be completable and the Dragonborn can return the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller later on, but it will make completing the next quest impossible. When the Dragonborn is told to use Whirlwind Sprint, they do not actually have to do so, as the objective will complete if they simply walk through the gate. After learning the next word in Whirlwind Sprint from Borri (if the Dragonborn already knows one or two words), Arngeir will still say, "Approach Master Borri and he will gift you his knowledge of 'Wuld,'" even if "Wuld" is not the word being learned. The Greybeards may gather to teach the 'Wuld' shout, but Arngeir will not join them. He does not move, but when spoken to will say, "First you Wulfgar will teach you Wuld" (?). While in this state, The Dragonborn cannot turn in either the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller or the Blades quest after Alduin's Wall. This may be a result of trying to turn in the quests together. Arngeir cannot be pushed into place, but will move if attacked, so he is not stuck in the floor. Leaving and returning to the area has no effect.

Achievements

	The Way of the Voice Complete "The Way of the Voice"
Points	20
Trophy

Appearances

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim