The Pale Lady begins like a bog-standard task — find a stolen sword in a bandit-filled cavern. It’s the classic Skyrim quest format, but as the player progresses through the desecrated crypt, they’ll find that there’s more to this story than just a regular stolen sword.
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Arriving at Frostmere Crypt
Frostmere Crypt is an ancient Nordic burial ground southwest of Dawnstar. Should the player happen across it in their travels, they’ll find a group of bandits attacking a woman named Eisa Blackthorn. Should she survive the assault, the player can talk to her, and Eisa will explain that she used to run with the group holed up in the ruins. That is, until a friend of hers stole their boss’ sword. Exasperated, she’ll then tell the player that she’ll be leaving.
Entering Frostmere Crypt quietly, the player will hear two bandits talking about Eisa’s escape and the theft of the sword. Their conversation reveals that the thief’s name is Ra’jirr. The bandits will also comment that Ra’jirr is crazy and was always dragging Eisa into trouble. After Skyrim players take care of the bandits, they can also find a bounty note on the table — an order from a man named Kyr, the bandit leader. It asks that the bandits kill Eisa and Ra’jirr on sight.
Sword Theft and Hallucinations
Continuing into the depth of the crypt, the player will hear more bandits conversing. One group will be talking about how they’ve never seen Kyr this angry before. Meanwhile, another will note that they felt something off about the ruins. Moving away, the player can find Kyr’s room, where he keeps a log of recent events. His entries paint a clearer picture of what went on in Frostmere Crypt leading up to Ra’jirr’s theft.
Kyr’s Log reveals that Eisa and Ra’jirr only recently joined up with the bandit group in Frostmere Crypt. Additionally, it seems the group is undertaking an excavation project within the ruins. Kyr writes that he assigned Eisa to the digging team and Ra’jirr to the raiding party. In a later entry, he talks about some sort of breakthrough. The excavation team had found an entire forest in the depths of the cavern. An ancient monument stood in the center of the chamber, a sword on display atop it. Kyr took it for himself.
In the next entries, Kyr starts mentioning that Ra’jirr has been acting strangely since they found the forested chamber, muttering to himself and botching the raiding operations. Ra’jirr had also been begging to borrow the sword — something Kyr didn’t take kindly to. Eisa tried to cover for him, but Kyr knew better.
Another room close is where the player can read through Eisa’s Journal as well as Ra’jirr’s Note. While the journal contains a sequence of events identical to what Kyr had written in his log, there’s one detail worthy of note. Eisa had also noticed that Ra’jirr was acting weird. Though unlike in Kyr’s Log, she writes that Ra’jirr started talking to himself about a Pale Lady. Eisa seems to recognize the Pale Lady as the entry also reads that she’s “one of those swamp women who steal children away at night.”
Ra’jirr’s Note is no doubt the most chilling account of the events. It gives the player a look into what he was experiencing. In the parchment, Ra’jirr reveals that he’s been having visual and auditory hallucinations of a woman — the Pale Lady. And even when he sleeps, she never leaves his mind and haunts his dreams. Clearly, Ra’jirr is at a breaking point as he writes that he must return the sword as it will “shut her away forever.” Before long, the sword would be stolen away.
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The Pale Lady of Skyrim
After getting up to speed about the sword-stealing incident, the player must progress further into the cavern. By the time they reach the forested chamber in Frostmere Crypt, they’ll find a severely wounded Kyr. He’ll cough and splutter about Ra’jirr and his sword but soon die. In the center of the chamber, the player can find Ra’jirr fighting the Pale Lady. Note that Ra’jirr will have to die regardless of how the quest progresses, as he is hostile towards the player.
By now, the player will be given a choice. They can either take the sword from Ra’jirr and place it back on the altar, which effectively puts the Pale Lady to rest, or simply kill her. Placing the sword on the altar will cause the Pale Lady to disappear. That said, removing the sword will summon the Pale Lady again. Thus, if Skyrim players want the unique sword, they have no choice but the kill the Pale Lady.
Once the player has made their decision, the quest ends. However, it leaves more questions than answers. For one, the true nature of the Pale Lady is never really explained, and the quest does not delve into why the Pale Lady was in Frostmere Crypt or why her existence was tethered to the blade. Perhaps Skyrim’s in-game books and texts can elucidate more on the matter.
Much like Eisa’s description, the book “Lost Legends” says that the Pale Lady wanders the northern marshes of Skyrim and steals lost children away. It also mentions the spirit’s missing daughter, whom she seeks but will never find. Finally, it compares the Pale Lady to an ancient figure named “Aumriel,” a mysterious entity that Ysgramor’s descendants fought for decades before finally succeeding in sealing them away. It’s also worth noting that the Pale Lady comes in the form of a wispmother, a rare enemy found in Skyrim. In the book “Wispmother: Two Theories,” it is theorized that these strange spirits are either undead sorceresses or elemental manifestations borne out of the snow and mist.
Perhaps the Pale Lady is the spirit of a mother who dedicated both life and the afterlife to finding her child, or maybe she is an ancient evil sealed away by the legendary line of Nord warrior. These lost legends may also speak of nothing but tall tales, and the Pale Lady could just be another fearsome creature in the freezing land of Skyrim — nothing more. Whatever the case, The Pale Lady quest does an excellent job of unsettling any Skyrim player.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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