Quick Look
1.Set Odahviing free
2.Talk to Odahviing
3.Reach Alduin's portal to Sovngarde
4.Enter Sovngarde
In Depth
In order to free Odahviing, talk to the Whiterun Guard standing on
the second floor. (There is a stone staircase near where the Jarl is
standing) After a short section, the guard will release Odahviing for
the Dragonborn. You can also pull the chain to release the dragon
yourself without talking to the guard.
Upon arriving at the temple courtyard, you'll encounter two dragons,
and multiple Draugr Wights and Deathlords. Battle your way through them
to enter the temple complex. (Alternatively, if you have a high enough
sneak skill, it is possible to sneak past all enemies, including the
dragons. For lower-leveled players or players with low sneaking skill,
it is also possible, though tedious, to scale the mountain beside you as
high as you can go, and jump along the mountainside until you reach the
temple. At this point you can drop down and sneak through the
Snowberries at the base of the mountain.)
The first puzzle in Skuldafn
is to open two doorways. The puzzle is made up of three pillars, each
separated by a wall, and a switch between the pillars and the doorways.
Each pillar has three pictographs: bird, snake and whale. On the walls
beside the two outside pillars are matching pictographs for those
pillars. The west pillar is a whale, east is snake. Set the outer
pillars so that the pictographs face each other. E.g., snake faces
snake. Above each doorway are more pictographs. Above the east doorway
is a bird. This way leads to a treasure chest but little else. Above the
west doorway is a snake, which leads to the destination. Face the
pictograph on the central pillar that matches the desired door to face
north, toward the doors. Pull the lever to open door. (In simple terms;
while standing at the switch seeing bird-bird-bird will open the "bird" door and bird-snake-bird will open the "snake" door)
The second puzzle, is whale-snake-bird. (Upper level left, middle
lower level, upper level right) Note: Whirlwind sprint from the platform
can bypass the puzzle
You will eventually reach a puzzle door guarded by a leveled draugr
or dragon priest who carries the diamond claw needed to open it. The
answer to the puzzle is fox, moth, dragon (top to bottom - the answer is
also written on the diamond claw itself if you check your inventory).
Don't forget to get the storm call word of power from the word wall.
Before you enter Alduin's portal to Sovngarde you must kill a Dragon Priest, Nahkriin.
Be warned, this Dragon Priest can be tough if you don't take the fight
to him, and also there are two dragons nearby, so try not to engage all
of them at once. When you reach the top of the stairs he will notice you
and make his way toward his staff. It's best to start your assault
immediately. He doesn't attack until he gets his staff so get to him
quickly and use the shout Slow Time then do as much damage as possible.
After Nahkriin grabs his staff he'll turn around to face you. Be careful
with this one as his staff does 50 Lighting damage per second. Any
Lighting resistance potions or enchanted apparel you have would be
useful now. He doesn't start off with full health so if you jumped on
attacking him before he grabs his staff you should be able to dispatch
him in short time. He can also be pushed off the ledge, and will fall to
his death. After defeating Nahkriin, pick up his staff and activate the
Dragon Seal. It is possible to quickly run inside the portal without
engaging the priest and skip the battle entirely.
