Lost Legacy Skyrim: Complete Guide to Finding and Completing This Hidden Quest

Skyrim’s packed with hundreds of quests, and it’s easy to miss some of the smaller, tucked-away side missions, especially ones that don’t come with a flashy journal notification or a persistent NPC hounding you across half of Tamriel. Lost Legacy is one of those quests. It’s a minor mission added by the Dragonborn DLC that most players walk past without a second thought, but if you’re a completionist or just hunting for extra loot and XP, it’s worth tracking down.

This isn’t a main story beat or a faction questline. Lost Legacy is a straightforward fetch quest tied to Hob’s Fall Cave, a bandit-and-necromancer-infested dungeon on the northern coast. The quest giver, Orthus Endario, is easy to overlook in Windhelm, and the trigger item can sit in your inventory for hours before you realize it’s connected to anything. But once you know where to go and what to grab, it’s a quick loop with decent rewards for mid-level characters.

This guide covers everything: how to start the quest, a full step-by-step walkthrough, rewards, common bugs, combat tips, and the lore context behind it all. Whether you’re troubleshooting a stuck quest or just trying to figure out who Orthus Endario even is, we’ve got you covered.

What Is the Lost Legacy Quest in Skyrim?

Lost Legacy is a miscellaneous side quest introduced in the Dragonborn DLC. It’s a simple fetch mission: retrieve a collection of family heirlooms from Hob’s Fall Cave and return them to their original owner, Orthus Endario, a Dunmer living in Windhelm.

The quest is short, usually takes 15 to 20 minutes if you’re at the recommended level, and involves clearing a small dungeon, grabbing a few specific items, and hauling them back for a reward. There’s no branching dialogue, moral choices, or faction consequences. It’s pure dungeon crawling.

What makes Lost Legacy easy to miss is the trigger. Unlike most quests, you don’t get it by talking to an NPC first. Instead, you find a Writ of Sealing inside Hob’s Fall Cave (or occasionally as random loot), read it, and that points you toward Orthus. If you clear the dungeon before picking up the writ, you might never realize the quest existed.

The quest is available on all platforms (PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and even the Switch version) as long as you have the Dragonborn DLC installed. If you’re running the Special Edition or Anniversary Edition, it’s included by default.

How to Start the Lost Legacy Quest

Starting Lost Legacy requires two things: finding the Writ of Sealing and then locating Orthus Endario in Windhelm. Here’s how both steps break down.

Finding the Writ of Sealing

The Writ of Sealing is a note that triggers the quest. It spawns in one of two places:

• Hob’s Fall Cave: The most common location. It’s usually found on a table or shelf near the necromancer boss at the back of the cave. If you’re clearing the dungeon for the first time, you’ll likely stumble across it naturally.
• Random loot: Occasionally, the writ can appear as random loot in other dungeons, on bandit corpses, or in treasure chests. This is rare but possible.

Once you pick up the writ and read it, a quest marker appears pointing you toward Windhelm. The note itself is short, it references Orthus Endario and mentions family items stored in the cave.

Locating Orthus Endario in Windhelm

Orthus Endario lives in Windhelm, specifically in the house called Hillside Terrace in the Gray Quarter. If you’re not familiar with Windhelm’s layout, the Gray Quarter is the eastern section of the city where most of the Dunmer population lives. Hillside Terrace is tucked behind the main plaza, near the Temple of Talos.

Orthus doesn’t have a unique dialogue tree or merchant services, he only exists for this quest. Talk to him after reading the writ, and he’ll explain that his family’s heirlooms are locked inside Hob’s Fall Cave. He’ll ask you to retrieve them and offer a reward for your trouble.

If you’ve already cleared Hob’s Fall Cave before talking to Orthus, no problem, the items will still be there waiting for you to grab.

Step-by-Step Walkthrough: Completing Lost Legacy

Here’s the full loop from start to finish, broken into manageable chunks.

Traveling to Hob’s Fall Cave

Hob’s Fall Cave is located on the northern coast of Skyrim, directly east of Winterhold and northeast of the Shrine of Azura. If you’ve discovered Winterhold or the College, fast travel there and head east along the shoreline. The cave entrance is marked by a small stone archway and a couple of barrels outside.

There’s no nearby fast travel point unless you’ve already discovered the cave itself, so expect a short hike. The area is cold, so frost resistance gear or potions help if you’re playing on Survival Mode.

Navigating the Cave and Defeating Enemies

Hob’s Fall Cave is a two-section dungeon: the main cave and a secondary area called Hob’s Fall Grotto, accessed through a tunnel at the back.

Enemies inside include:

• Bandits (levels 1-25): Standard melee and archer types. Nothing special.
• Necromancers (levels 8-30): The real threat. They summon atronachs and undead, and their spells hit hard if you’re underleveled.
• Skeletons and Draugr (various levels): Raised by the necromancers. Low health but can swarm you.

The cave layout is straightforward. Enter, fight your way through the initial bandit group, then descend into the grotto. The necromancer boss is usually near the back, surrounded by summoned minions and a few bandit allies. Many players opt for stealth archery builds to pick off enemies before the necromancer can start summoning, but melee bruisers work fine if you focus the caster first.

Retrieving the Requested Items

The items Orthus wants are all found in Hob’s Fall Grotto, the second half of the dungeon. Look for:

• Aegisbane: A unique warhammer. It’s a leveled weapon, so its stats depend on your character level when you pick it up. It deals frost damage and has a chance to paralyze on hit.
• Family heirlooms: These are generic “Endario family” items, usually a few pieces of jewelry or trinkets scattered on tables and in chests near the boss area.

Aegisbane is the main prize here. It’s not top-tier compared to endgame artifacts, but it’s solid for mid-level two-handed builds. The frost damage is useful against enemies weak to cold, and the paralyze proc can clutch tough fights.

Grab everything marked as quest items (they’ll have a red icon in your inventory if they’re tied to Lost Legacy), then head back out.

Returning to Orthus Endario for Your Reward

Once you’ve got the items, fast travel back to Windhelm and find Orthus in Hillside Terrace. Hand over the heirlooms, and he’ll thank you with:

• Gold (amount varies by level, usually 500-750 septims)
• Aegisbane (you keep it)
• A small amount of XP

That’s it. Quest complete. Orthus doesn’t offer any follow-up missions or services, so this is a one-and-done deal.

Lost Legacy Quest Rewards and Benefits

The main reward is Aegisbane, a leveled unique warhammer with frost damage and a paralysis enchantment. Here’s the breakdown:

• Base Damage: Scales with your level (anywhere from 20 to 25 base damage)
• Enchantment: 15 points of frost damage, 2% chance to paralyze for 3 seconds
• Weight: 25
• Value: ~1,200 septims at max level

Aegisbane isn’t meta. It’s not going to replace a fully smithed and enchanted Daedric warhammer or a unique artifact like Volendrung. But for mid-level characters (levels 15-30), it’s a solid weapon that doesn’t require grinding smithing perks or hunting down rare materials. The frost damage synergizes well with Frost enchantments and the Augmented Frost perk in the Destruction tree if you’re running a hybrid build.

The paralysis proc is RNG-dependent, 2% is low, but when it hits, it’s a free crowd control that can save you in tight spots. Just don’t build your combat strategy around it.

Beyond the weapon, you get a decent chunk of gold and the satisfaction of clearing a dungeon that’s easy to overlook. If you’re a completionist, Lost Legacy is one more check on your quest log. Plus, Hob’s Fall Cave has decent loot tables, potions, soul gems, and random enchanted gear, so the trip is worth it even without the quest.

One note: Aegisbane can be disenchanted if you want to learn the paralysis enchantment, but that destroys the weapon. Most players keep it as a trophy or secondary weapon rather than breaking it down.

Common Issues and Troubleshooting Tips

Lost Legacy is a simple quest, but like most Skyrim content, it’s not immune to bugs. Here are the most common issues and how to fix them.

Quest Won’t Start or Orthus Won’t Appear

If you’ve read the Writ of Sealing but the quest marker doesn’t appear, or if Orthus Endario isn’t in Windhelm, try these fixes:

• Check your active quests: Open your journal and make sure Lost Legacy is toggled as active. Sometimes the quest registers but doesn’t auto-activate.
• Wait 24-48 in-game hours: Orthus is on a schedule. If he’s not home, wait or sleep for a couple of days, then check again.
• Verify you have Dragonborn DLC installed: Lost Legacy requires the Dragonborn expansion. If you’re on a vanilla Skyrim install, the quest won’t trigger.

On PC, you can force Orthus to appear using console commands:

prid 0401A683

moveto player

This teleports Orthus directly to you. Use it as a last resort.

Items Not Spawning in Hob’s Fall Cave

If Aegisbane or the family heirlooms aren’t showing up, it’s usually because:

• You picked them up before the quest started: If you cleared the dungeon earlier, the items might already be in your inventory or stored in a chest at home. Check your warhammer collection and misc items.
• Dungeon hasn’t respawned: Skyrim dungeons reset every 30 in-game days. If you cleared Hob’s Fall Cave recently, wait a month (in-game) before revisiting.

For PC players experiencing persistent loot bugs, the Unofficial Skyrim Patch often resolves missing item issues.

Quest Stuck or Won’t Complete

If you’ve grabbed the items but can’t turn in the quest to Orthus:

• Drop and re-pick up the quest items: Sometimes the game doesn’t register that you have them. Drop Aegisbane and the heirlooms, leave the cell, then come back and pick them up again.
• Reload a previous save: If the bug persists, reload a save from before you grabbed the items and try again.
• Console command workaround (PC only):

setstage dunHobsFallQST 200

This force-completes the quest. You’ll still get the rewards, but use it only if other fixes fail.

Best Character Builds and Strategies for Lost Legacy

Hob’s Fall Cave is a mid-tier dungeon, but the necromancers can be rough if you’re underleveled or running a squishy build. Here’s how to prep.

Recommended Level and Equipment

Recommended level: 15-25. Below 15, the necromancers will shred you with summons and frost spells. Above 25, the dungeon becomes trivial.

Gear recommendations:

• Frost resistance: Necromancers love ice spells, and the cave is cold. Equip a Resist Frost enchantment (ring, necklace, or shield) or chug a Resist Frost potion before engaging.
• Magic resistance: General magic resist (like the Lord Stone or Agent of Mara buff) helps mitigate all the spell spam.
• Soul gems: Bring filled soul gems if you rely on enchanted weapons. The necromancer fight can drag out if you’re not one-shotting minions.

Builds that excel here:

• Stealth archer: Pick off bandits and skeletons from range, then sneak-attack the necromancer before they summon reinforcements.
• Two-handed warrior: High DPS to burn down the necromancer fast. Pair with heavy armor and a healing potion spam strategy.
• Destruction mage: Fire spells wreck necromancers and undead. Fireball or Incinerate will clear grouped enemies quickly.

Avoid pure conjuration builds unless you’ve got high-level summons. The necromancers will match your atronachs, and fights turn into messy summon-vs-summon slugfests.

Combat Tips for Hob’s Fall Cave Enemies

Against necromancers:

• Prioritize them first. Ignore bandits and summons until the necromancer is down.
• Use Unrelenting Force or shield bash to interrupt their casting.
• If you’re melee, close the gap fast. Necromancers are squishy but deadly at range.

Against summons (atronachs, skeletons):

• Don’t waste resources fighting them unless they’re blocking your path. Summons despawn when the necromancer dies.
• AoE spells like Chain Lightning or Fire Cloak clear groups efficiently.

Against bandits:

• Standard tactics. They’re filler enemies. Stealth kills, power attacks, or quick spells all work.

One cheese strategy: kite enemies back toward the cave entrance. The narrow tunnels force them into single file, making crowd control easier. Skyrim’s AI struggles with tight corridors, so you can funnel and AoE them down.

Lore and Background: The Story Behind Lost Legacy

Lost Legacy doesn’t have deep lore compared to major faction quests, but there’s some flavor text worth digging into.

Orthus Endario is a Dunmer exile living in Windhelm’s Gray Quarter, the segregated section of the city where dark elves settled after the Red Mountain eruption destroyed Morrowind. His family heirlooms ended up in Hob’s Fall Cave because bandits and necromancers raided his estate (or his ancestors’ estate, the timeline is vague) and used the cave as a hideout.

The Writ of Sealing he references is a legal document that locked the cave to prevent further looting. Why Orthus never retrieved the items himself is never explained, but given that he’s an elderly, non-combat NPC living in a hostile city, it tracks that he’d hire an adventurer instead.

Aegisbane, the quest reward, has no unique lore. It’s not tied to any named hero or historical event. The name suggests it was meant to fight against “aegis” or shields, but mechanically it’s just a frost warhammer with a paralysis enchant. Some players speculate it was a ceremonial weapon for House Endario, but there’s no in-game text confirming that.

The dungeon itself, Hob’s Fall Cave, is a generic bandit hideout repurposed by necromancers. There’s no named boss, no unique backstory, and no connection to the main Dragonborn DLC plot. It exists purely as a self-contained side location.

If you’re interested in other dark elf questlines, Windhelm has several tied to the civil war and racial tensions between the Nords and Dunmer. Lost Legacy doesn’t intersect with those, but completionists will appreciate the extra excuse to explore the Gray Quarter.

Related Quests and Dungeon Locations to Explore

If you enjoyed Lost Legacy, or if you’re just hunting for similar low-commitment side quests and dungeons, here are some worth checking out.

Related quests:

• Masks of the Dragon Priests: Hob’s Fall Cave isn’t tied to this questline, but if you’re hunting unique weapons and dungeon crawls, collecting all eight dragon priest masks offers way more challenge and better loot.
• Daedric artifact quests: Missions like “The Black Star” or “Ill Met by Moonlight” offer unique rewards and branching choices, making them more engaging than fetch quests like Lost Legacy.
• Dungeon radiant quests: The Companions, College of Winterhold, and Thieves Guild all send you to random dungeons. Hob’s Fall Cave can appear as a target location for some of these.

Nearby dungeons:

• Winterhold College: Just west of Hob’s Fall Cave. If you’re in the area, knock out the College questline for access to powerful destruction spells and the Archmage’s robes.
• Shrine of Azura: Southeast of the cave. Not a dungeon, but it triggers the quest “The Black Star,” which leads to one of the best soul gem rewards in the game.
• Alftand: Southwest of Winterhold. A massive Dwemer ruin tied to the main story. Way longer than Hob’s Fall Cave but packed with loot and lore.

Other hidden or missable quests:

• The Wolf Queen Awakened: Another short, easy-to-miss side quest in Solitude. Similar structure to Lost Legacy, grab an item, clear a dungeon, get a reward.
• Kyne’s Sacred Trials: A hunting quest that sends you across Skyrim. Low combat difficulty but requires exploration.

For players who enjoy collecting unique enchanted weapons, Aegisbane fits nicely alongside other niche artifacts like the Skull of Corruption or the Blade of Woe. None of them are best-in-slot, but they’re fun trophies to display in your player home.

If you’re modding your game, community-created quest expansions often add depth to minor NPCs like Orthus Endario or expand dungeons like Hob’s Fall Cave with new bosses and loot. The Cutting Room Floor mod, for example, restores cut content and fixes bugs in vanilla quests.

Conclusion

Lost Legacy isn’t going to blow your mind. It’s a straightforward fetch quest with a modest reward and minimal story depth. But that’s also its strength. Sometimes you just want a quick dungeon to clear, a new weapon to add to your arsenal, and a few hundred septims without committing to a 10-hour faction questline.

The quest is easy to miss if you’re not paying attention to random loot drops or exploring the northern coastline, but once you know where to go, it’s a clean 20-minute loop. Aegisbane is a solid mid-game weapon, Hob’s Fall Cave has decent loot, and completionists get another quest off their backlog.

If you run into bugs, Orthus not spawning, items missing, or the quest getting stuck, most issues have workarounds, especially on PC with console commands. And if you’re just here for the dungeon crawl and don’t care about the quest itself, Hob’s Fall Cave is worth clearing on its own for the XP and loot tables.

Whether you’re hunting every last side quest or just stumbled across the Writ of Sealing and want to know what it’s about, now you’ve got the full rundown. Happy looting.