This page offers a guide on how to complete In the Shadow of Time, which is a quest within the Sebastian Sallow Relationship quest line in Hogwarts Legacy. During this quest, you’ll learn the Imperius Curse - Imperio - which is the second of the Unforgivable Curses that you can choose to learn with Sebastian.

Here’s some quick links for key parts of this quest that you can jump to:

• How to Start In the Shadow of Time
• Skull Door Puzzle
• Should You Learn Imperio?
• Skull Door Puzzle 2
• Relic Choices
• Ominis Gaunt Choices
• Solomon Choices

How to Start In the Shadow of Time¶

This quest unlocks at least Level 17, and/or when you’ve completed In the Shadow of the Study and In the Shadow of Discovery.

You’ll get a letter from Sebastian prompting you to visit him at some catacombs. The catacomb in question is just southeast from Feldcroft, and if you haven’t been in this area of the map, the quickest floo flame to travel to will likely be Feldcroft. When you arrive at the catacomb, Sebastian will reveal that there is a relic hidden within the catacombs that could be the key to healing his sister, Anne. When you’re ready, head on into the catacombs.

Where to Find the Relic¶

As you enter the catacombs, you’ll be faced by a couple of large spiders in the first room. They will scale with your level so shouldn’t be too hard to fight off. There are a number of enclosed stone tombs around the room - use Accio to pull on the metal handle of the tombs to reveal some treasure behind them. There are several of these throughout the catacombs, with some proving useful for the quest, some containing treasure and some being empty. In this room, the one in the back near the fire contains a gear chest. You should also use Wingardium Leviosa to drag the large box over to the other side of the room, where you can climb up into another chamber and grab a collection chest.

When you’re done looting, use a fire spell to clear the cobwebs blocking the path beneath the archway. Continue heading along the path and you’ll come across a whole bunch more spiders. Spiders will sometimes burrow into the ground but if you catch them using Flipendo you can do a huge amount of damage to them. If you get poisioned by the Venomous Scurriour spider, make sure to use a Wiggenweld Potion to clear the poison effects to stop you from taking further damage.

Once you’ve cleared this room of spiders, cast Depulso on the set of doors to swing them open. In this small area, you’ll find a few more spiders that will be of a slightly higher level than your level. But if you manage to defeat them, you’ll be rewarded with several gear chests in the area. Don’t forget the chest hidden behind some cobwebs in the corner (use Confringo to clear them).

Once you’ve cleared out this room of all its treasure, head back up to the main area and follow the path down to a new room.

Skeleton Door Puzzle¶

In this next area, you’ll be required to open up a door covered in skulls. Firstly, pick up the note near where Sebastian is standing at the center of the room, then speak to him about the contents of the note. He’ll then ask you to get to work on finding a way through this room.

First, you’ll want to pull out every single tomb using Accio. Some of these tombs will drop some skeletal remains onto the floor. You need to find three sets of these remains - there are two sets inside these tombs, and one set in the center of the room.

Use Accio to grab the skeletal remains and drag them over to the door. Release your Accio spell and the skeletons will pile up. Do this again with the other two sets of skeletons and the door will open up.

Before we continue down into the catacombs though, there’s an extra skeletal puzzle that’ll yield some great treasure!

First, use Depulso on the rubble on the left side of the room - this will create an opening for you to pass through. Continue along the tunnel until you reach a room covered in Devil’s Snare. Your goal is to make a bridge across the pit of Devil’s Snare. All along the walls of this room are tombs you can open using Accio. You’ll need to find two sets of skeletons within the tombs. We were able to open all but one of the Accio tombs from the safety of the ledge. But we did need to jump down into the pit to get closer to the furthest tomb on the left side - which also happened to contain skeletal remains.

To avoid taking damage from Devil’s Snare, use Lumos to scare it away temporarily. Then, when you’re close enough, open the tomb and climb back up. Accio both sets of skeletal remains and drop them at the skull podiums on the ledge. This will create a gross skeleton bridge for you to cross.

On the other side of the bridge, use Depulso to swing open the door and follow the path into an enclosed room. Here you’ll find another collection chest, and two gear chests. Once you’ve finished looting, pull the block out of the wall using Accio and it’ll lower the wooden beams, allowing you to drop down into the room with Sebastian again.

Head through the skull door you opened earlier and it will prompt Sebastian to ask you another rather serious question - Would you like to learn the Imperius Curse?

Should You Learn Imperio?¶

As with the Crucio quest, In the Shadow of the Study, you’ll get the choice to learn Imperio or not. Imperio is a powerful unforgivable curse that gives you control over the enemy. When used in combat, the enemy will stop fighting for a brief period of time.

If you choose not to learn Imperio right now, you’ll get another opportunity later in the quest to unlock it.

After making your choice, you’ll be greeted by a couple of spiders. If you did choose to learn Imperio, it’s a great opportunity to try the spell out (poor spiders!). If you do not have Imperio, you can just fight them normally with your other offensive spells and control spells like Levioso and Arresto Momentum.

On the left hand side of this room, you’ll also find a set of stairs down into a Spider Lair - another great opportunity to use the Dark Arts. Use Confringo to clear the webs then go ham on the spiders! There are a fair few in here, so it can be good to manage them by using Imperio. Once the spiders are dealt with, you can use Accio on some tombs in the back room to collect some chests. Then, on the side wall you’ll find a breakable wall that you can blast through using Depulso. In this secret room you’ll find a nice gear chest!

After clearing out the spiders and looting the room, head back into the main room and open the door using Depulso and continue along the path.

Skull Door Puzzle 2¶

In the next room you come into, you’ll have another skull door puzzle. Same as last time, you need to find three sets of skeletal remains and use them to open the door. There’s one set on the side ready to use but the other two sets are hidden behind stone barricades in the room. To open specific barricades, you’ll need to use Accio to pull on the stone blocks above. Each stone block has a symbol below it. To open each of the stone barricades, you’ll need to pull on two specific blocks that match the symbols on the barricade. For example, one of the stone barricades has a z-shape and three swirls on it. Find the blocks that correspond to these symbols and use Accio on them, then it’ll open up to reveal a set of skeletal remains.

Repeat this on all three barricades and you’ll get the skeletal remains required and a treasure chest.

After using the skeletal remains to open the door, continue down the path into a room swarming with spiders. There’s a whole bunch of them and Imperio really can come in handy here. In addition, Crucio is a powerful spell that also does a lot of damage over time - if you’re gonna be bad might as well lean into it right?!

Once you’ve dealt with all the spiders yet again, head to the back of the room to discover the relic!

In the Shadow of Time - Relic Choices¶

Next up you’re gonna have a whole series of choices to make regarding the relic and whether to use the Imperio curse. When you first find the relic and tell Sebastian, you also find a note saying that no one should touch it.

Here you’ll get the following options:

• “We should leave relic alone.”
• “We need that relic.”

Whether you tell him to leave it or agree that you should take it, Sebastian will decide to take the relic. This guy is relentless! Once you’ve spoken about the relic, you’ll find that Ominis has somehow followed you guys into the catacombs - naturally, he really isn’t happy!

In the Shadow of Time - Ominis Gaunt Choices¶

Next, you’ll be forced to make a decision regarding how to deal with the displeased Ominis Gaunt. There are some minor differences to the starting dialogue here depending on if you told Sebastian to take the relic or not, but there are no actual consequences at this point.

Your first choice is whether or not to side with Sebastian or Ominis regarding the relic:

• “Very well. Let’s talk with Sebastian.” - If you choose this option, you’ll promise to stop any further meddling with the dark arts and Ominis will agree to let you and Sebastian leave with the relic.

• “I cannot side with you. Sebastian’s right.” - Choosing this option starts you on a path to using Imperio on Ominis to let you and Sebastian leave. If you choose this option and then change your mind, you can say “Never mind” and it’ll revert to the outcome listed above. If you don’t change your mind, you will cast imperio on Ominis and command he wait in the catacombs until you and Sebastian leave.

After dealing with Ominis in whichever manner you choose, you’ll need to path all the way back through the catacombs (no short cuts or hidden exits, I’m afraid) and head back to Feldcroft. You won’t be able to travel to Feldcroft by any other means except walking/running with Sebastian.

As you approach Feldcroft, you’ll find it’s been attacked by goblins. You’ve fought enough goblins to probably know that using spells like levioso, accio and depulso can be handy for manipulating their movements and getting powerful spell combos. In this instance, Imperio would also work well to manage the fight as there’s a fair few goblins to defeat!

Quickly fight them all of them off and you’ll then trigger a cutscene in which Anne is nearly killed by a goblin - only for Sebastian to use imperio on the goblin and command it to kill himself instead. Both Anne and Solomon witness this and Sebastian’s uncle is horrified and basically disowns his nephew.

In the Shadow of Time - Solomon Choices¶

After speaking to Sebastian about his use of the Imperius Curse, you’ll be prompted to speak to Solomon Sallow on Sebastian’s behalf.

He is very mad that Sebastian would use an unforgivable curse and you can say the following to him:

• “Sebastian saved his sister.”
• “Sebastian went too far.”

Whichever you pick, the outcome will be the same - Solomon wants Sebastian to never come round to Feldcroft again and if he hears that either of us have used such Dark Arts again he’ll snitch on us to the Headmaster. Thus concludes the second Unforgivable Curse quest!

Can You Use Imperio on Students?¶

The answer is no - just like Crucio, this spell cannot be used outside of the presence of enemies so it’ll just get cancelled if you try to use it in Hogwarts. Sorry evil-do-ers, no getting other students to do your bidding!