Skyrim:Thane of Whiterun

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Gain the title of Thane of Whiterun. Quest Giver: Vignar Gray-Mane Location(s): Whiterun Prerequisite Quest: Battle for Whiterun Concurrent Quest: Making Friends and Influencing People Reward: Title of Thane, Blade of Whiterun Disposition: =3 (quest giver) ID: Favor253

Regain your thaneship

Quest Giver

This is a radiant quest; however, unlike most of the other thane quests, you can only receive it when Vignar Gray-Mane is Jarl of Whiterun. If Balgruuf is the jarl, you can only become Thane of Whiterun by completing Dragon Rising.

Quick Walkthrough

1. Assist the people of Whiterun Hold.
2. Purchase Breezehome.
3. Return to the jarl for your reward.

Detailed Walkthrough

This is an umbrella quest for several other quests that must be completed if you wish to become Thane of Whiterun. In order for Vignar to be jarl, you have to have completed Battle for Whiterun for the Stormcloaks. Completing this quest befriends him automatically.

Speak with the jarl and he will ask you to assist the people of the hold. You must assist five people in the hold, usually by completing favor quests for them. Note that many of the quest givers are non-essential NPCs, so their deaths would result in a loss of potential quests to complete. If they die after you assist them, they still count towards your Thane status. You can also befriend merchants if you have the Investor perk by investing in their stores.

You must also purchase Breezehome, which costs 5,000 gold, if you have not done so already. Simply purchasing it is enough, there is no requirement to decorate, although it becomes more useful if decorated.

Whiterun Favor Quests

Highlighted quests can be easily completed without any skill use. If any citizen offers multiple favor quests, only the first completed one will count towards Thaneship.

Quest Giver	Giver Location	Quest	Objective(s)
Alfhild Battle-Born	Battle-Born Farm	Gather Wheat: Get paid to gather crops. (radiant)
Faendal	Riverwood, Faendal's House	A Lovely Letter: Use a forged letter to resolve a love triangle.	Deliver Faendal's letter to Camilla (Optional) Tell Sven about Faendal's letter Talk to Faendal
Hod	Riverwood, Hod and Gerdur's House	Chop Wood: Get paid to chop firewood. (radiant)
Sven	Riverwood, Sven and Hilde's House or Sleeping Giant Inn	A Lovely Letter: Use a forged letter to resolve a love triangle.	Deliver Sven's letter to Camilla (Optional) Tell Faendal about Sven's letter Talk to Sven
Lemkil	Rorikstead, Lemkil's Farmhouse	Gather Wheat: Get paid to gather crops. (radiant)
Reldith	Rorikstead, Cowflop Farmhouse	Gather Wheat: Get paid to gather crops. (radiant)
Severio Pelagia	Pelagia Farm	Gather Wheat: Get paid to gather crops. (radiant)
Adrianne Avenicci	Whiterun, Warmaiden's	Greatsword for a Great Man: Adrianne asks you to deliver a sword to Proventus Avenicci, her father.	Deliver the sword to Proventus Avenicci
Amren	Whiterun, Amren's House	Dungeon Delving: Do a favor by retrieving an item from a bandit hideout. (radiant)	Find Amren's Family Sword inside <Alias=Dungeon> Return Amren's Family Sword to Amren
Andurs	Whiterun, Hall of the Dead	Andurs' Arkay Amulet: Retrieve Andurs' Amulet of Arkay from the catacombs.	Recover Andurs' Amulet of Arkay Return the amulet to Andurs
Brenuin	Whiterun, The Bannered Mare	Quest all Beggars Have: Take pity on a beggar. (radiant)
		Argonian Ale Extraction: Brenuin longs for the taste of Argonian Ale. Can you steal some for him?	Steal the Argonian Ale Give the Argonian Ale to Brenuin
Carlotta Valentia	Whiterun, Carlotta Valentia's House	A Few Words with You: Do a favor by talking to someone about a problem. (radiant)	Talk to Mikael about Carlotta Tell Carlotta that Mikael is taken care of
Farengar Secret-Fire	Whiterun, Dragonsreach	Salt for Arcadia: Farengar asks you to deliver some frost salts to Arcadia.	Give the Frost Salts to Arcadia
Hulda	Whiterun, The Bannered Mare	Chop Wood: Get paid to chop firewood. (radiant)
Lars Battle-Born	Whiterun, House of Clan Battle-Born	Bullying Braith: Convince Braith to stop bullying Lars.	Convince Braith to stop bullying Lars
Ysolda	Whiterun, Ysolda's House	Rare Gifts: Do a favor by finding a rare item. (radiant)	Bring one Mammoth Tusk to Ysolda
Uthgerd the Unbroken	Whiterun, Uthgerd's House	Fight! Fight!: Prove your strength by wagering on a fist fight with another. (radiant)

Note that completing Erik the Slayer does not count towards this objective, as it does not affect anyone's disposition.

Whiterun Stores

Investing 500 gold in certain stores will count towards Thaneship if you have not befriended the store's owner by other means. If the original owner dies and you had already invested in their store, you [can / cannot ^{[verification needed]}] also befriend their replacement.

Merchant Name	Store Name	Store Location	Merchandise
Alvor	Alvor and Sigrid's House	Riverwood	Blacksmith
Lucan Valerius (Camilla Valerius)	Riverwood Trader	Riverwood	General; sells Blue Mage Robes, several Spell Tomes
Adrianne Avenicci	Warmaiden's (Outside)	Whiterun	Blacksmith
Ulfberth War-Bear	Warmaiden's (Inside)	Whiterun	Blacksmith
Arcadia	Arcadia's Cauldron	Whiterun	Apothecary
Belethor	Belethor's General Goods	Whiterun	General
Elrindir	The Drunken Huntsman	Whiterun	Armor, Arrows, Food, Tools, Weapons
Farengar Secret-Fire	Dragonsreach	Whiterun	Spells

Other Quests

The following quests also increase the disposition of citizens of Whiterun, and therefore count towards this objective:

• The Blessings of Nature: Restore the Gildergreen for Danica Pure-Spring.
• The Golden Claw: A shopkeeper wants you to retrieve his family heirloom from a bandit.
• Missing In Action: Rescue a missing Stormcloak supporter from the Thalmor.

Reward

After helping five inhabitants and purchasing Breezehome, the journal tells you to return to the jarl. The reward, the Blade of Whiterun, is a random, leveled, enchanted blade. There is a 50% chance that it will be a sword (one-handed), and a 50% chance it will be a greatsword (two-handed).

Quest Stages

Thane of Whiterun (Favor253)
Stage	Finishes Quest	Journal Entry
10		Objective 10: Purchase a house in Whiterun
20		Objective 15: Return to <Alias.ShortName=QuestGiver>

• The following empty quest stages were omitted from the table: 0, 15, 25, 200.

Notes

• Any text displayed in angle brackets (e.g., <Alias=LocationHold>) is dynamically set by the Radiant Quest system, and will be filled in with the appropriate word(s) when seen in game.
• Not all Journal Entries may appear in your journal; which entries appear and which entries do not depends on the manner in which the quest is done.
• Stages are not always in order of progress. This is usually the case with quests that have multiple possible outcomes or quests where certain tasks may be done in any order. Some stages may therefore repeat objectives seen in other stages.
• If an entry is marked as "Finishes Quest" it means the quest disappears from the Active Quest list, but you may still receive new entries for that quest.
• On the PC, it is possible to use the console to advance through the quest by entering setstage Favor253 stage, where stage is the number of the stage you wish to complete. It is not possible to un-complete (i.e. go back) quest stages, but it is possible to clear all stages of the quest using resetquest Favor253.