This page details the Season Unending main story Skyrim quest, including how to negotiate a peace between the Stormcloaks and Imperials at the High Hrothgar peace council.

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Season Unending, Skyrim.

Quest Overview¶

1. Convince all parties to attend a truce negotiation

2. Return to High Hrothgar for the negotiations.

3. Take your seat at the negotiating table.

4. Negotiate the treaty.

How to Gain a Temporary Truce Between Stormcloaks and Imperials¶

This quest will occur during The Fallen main quest. As part of that quest, you need to secure a temporary peace between the Stormcloaks and the Imperials, by request of Jarl Balgruuf of Whiterun. He is unwilling to allow a dragon to be lured to his city without the guarantee that the Stormcloaks or Imperials won’t take advantage of the situation for their own military gain.

After speaking with Jarl Balgruuf at Whiterun, you’ll need to speak with Arngeir at High Hrothgar. You will find him either inside the main area of the temple, one of the side rooms where he’s probably reading or sleeping, or outside in the courtyard. Arngeir will note that the Greybeards have never involved themselves in the petty politics of the realm, but they are willing to do their part because Paarthurnax is helping you.

Where to Find Tullius and Ulfric, and How to Convince Them¶

Arngeir will ask you to speak with Ulfric, the leader of the Stormcloaks, and General Tullius, leader of the Imperial legion in Skyrim. Your task is to ask each of them to meet at High Hrothgar, where they will attend the peace council. It doesn’t matter who you speak with first, so you can go either way. You’ll find General Tullius at Solitude, in the northwest of Skyrim, and Ulfric Stormcloak at Windhelm, in the northeast.

You’ll find General Tullius in the fortified castle at Solitude, and Ulfric Stormcloak on his throne in the Palace of the Kings. In terms of what you need to say to convince both General Tullius and Ulfric Stormcloak, it doesn’t actually matter all that much. If you exhaust all the dialogue options with each, they will eventually agree to attend the peace council, regardless of your choices or skill in speech.

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(1 of 6) You’ll need to speak with Jarl Balgruuf to determine whether you need to secure a peace, depending on whether you’ve completed a civil war quest line.

What to Say at the High Hrothgar Peace Council¶

Once you’ve convinced both General Tullius and Ulfric Stormcloak to attend the peace council at High Hrothgar, you can go there and meet with everyone. When you first enter you’ll notice that Esbern and Delphine have also turned up, uninvited. They exchange words with the Greybeards and make the case for their presence, which the Greybeards eventually accept. The knowledge and experience of both Esbern and Delphine with dragons is too great to dismiss, even for a Greybeard.

After the scene between the Greybeards and the Blades, you’ll be asked to enter the council room and take your seat. The council will only begin once you’ve taken your seat at the table. What follows is an exchange mostly between Ulfric and Tullius, but first you’ll need to decide whether to support the dismissal of a Thalmor named Elenwen. Ulfric is infuriated by her presence, and insists that either she goes or he goes. However, it doesn’t actually matter what you say here, so just go with your own instincts in terms of what you think about the Thalmor.

Now that the presence of Elenwen has been dealt with, Ulfric and Tullius will have much to say to each other. Their dialogue will eventually lead to your own input being required. Ulfric will demand that the Stormcloaks be given Markarth, but not for nothing. You’ll need to decide whether Markarth is worth trading for Riften or Dawnstar. Again, it doesn’t matter which you choose, since Tullius won’t be pleased regardless of your choice.

After the Markarth trade, Esbern will step in to provide some context about the severity of the situation. What follows will be a series of demands from either side, and this is where you’ll need to be careful if you haven’t yet completed a civil war quest line. To make it simple, think of it in this way: if you plan to support the Stormcloaks, don’t give over any territory to the Imperials. And if you plan to support the Imperials, don’t give any territory over to the Stormcloaks.

At the end of the peace talks, you’ll be taught the Dragon Call shout. This will be required to summon the dragon Odahviing to Whiterun during The Fallen.