The Way of the Voice

The Way of the Voice

Quest Giver	Jarl Balgruuf the Greater
Location	High Hrothgar Ivarstead
Prerequisite	Dragon Rising
Next Quest	The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller
Reward	Ro (Second word of Unrelenting Force Shout), Wuld (First word of Whirlwind Sprint shout)
Faction	Greybeards
Type	Main Quest
QuestID	MQ105

The Way of the Voice is a quest available in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

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.

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 caused 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.

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. Alternatively, they could follow a route north, around the mountain, but this may present some challenges to low-level players (Valtheim Towers, Wispmother Pass, Trolled Stormcloak Cave).

Once in Ivarstead, cross the bridge and travel up the “7000 steps” to reach High Hrothgar. Before doing so however, talking to some of the villagers 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.

One should be careful when travelling 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. The Frost Troll can be difficult to defeat for a lower leveled and there are a wide range of different strategies which could be used when confronting it, including:

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 learnt early on, which would also expose the Troll’s weakness fire.
Trolls can deal a substantial amount of damage, but most of it can be avoided by tactically falling back when one see 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.
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.
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).
Another strategy is using the Unrelenting Force shout and then sprinting away while the Troll is stunned.

The temporary effect Voice of the Sky can be gained whilst travelling 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 you 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 the Shout on Arngeir, the Shouts cannot hurt them. After speaking to Arngeir, they must demonstrate their newly learned Word of Power 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.

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.
There are two Hunters who when asked claim that they climb most of the way up the 7000 steps every couple of years.
When the Greybeards shout after you kill the dragon, they say “Dovahkiin” which is “Dragonborn” in dragon tongue.

Bugs

The objective “Speak to Arngeir” may not register as complete. If you have spoken to Arngeir, make sure you exit out of the small door down the stairs in front of Arngeir out into Skyrim. Sometimes when you turn around and exit 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 (some players report this does not work either). Also may not register as complete if you climb 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 player his “essence,” after learning the word Ro. However, the Greybeards have not gathered, and Einarth will not respond if found by the player. 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 -> 120, incrementing by fives. Talk to Arngeir when necessary to ensure you’re completing the quest objectives.
There’s also another bug you might encounter right after you’ve learned Ro. When you are going to test it, the greybeards summon targets for you by shouting Fiik Lo Sah. The bug lies in the targets, as they do not appear. To fix this, right after they’ve shouted Fiik Lo Sah, you should open your item menu and close it again. After you close the item menu the target should appear. If that does not work, try to exit the door and re-enter. If you run into these bugs on the PC you can use the console to finish the quest by typing

setstage MQ105 160

which will complete it.

If you move around in the room while demonstrating your 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 you use Whirlwind Sprint with Master Borri when he passes through the gate, the Dragonborn can walk through it, whether it is open or closed.
Sometimes, you are unable to learn the word of power from Borri. There is no known solution to this.
Arngeir and Borri may freeze after demonstrating Whirlwind Spirit. You may still complete the quest and return the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller later on, but it will make completing the next quest impossible.

Appearances

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (First appearance)

Achievements

	The Way of the Voice Complete “The Way of the Voice”
Points	20
Trophy

Skyrim Main Quests
Act I	Unbound • Before the Storm • Bleak Falls Barrow • Dragon Rising • The Way of the Voice The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller
Act II	A Blade in the Dark • Diplomatic Immunity • A Cornered Rat • Alduin’s Wall • The Throat of the World Elder Knowledge • Alduin’s Bane
Act III	Season Unending • The Fallen • Paarthurnax • The World-Eater’s Eyrie • Sovngarde Dragonslayer • Epilogue

Elder ScrollsThe Way of the Voice