Is Glarthir really just paranoid?

[Dayve]

This post will contain spoilers for a side-quest (not main-plot related at all) in the city of Skingrad. If you've never done it and don't want it spoiled then move along.

So in Skingrad there's a Wood Elf named Glarthir. When you go to the city he seeks you out and says he needs help but that he's being watched so he can't talk in the street. He asks you to meet him behind the great chapel at midnight. If you begin asking around town about Glarthir people will say he's the town eccentric - harmless. If you sleep or wait after asking people about him the commander of the city guard will come to you and threaten you (in the tone of his voice) and tell you to stay away from him and to notify the guards if he asks you to do anything "strange".

So Glarthir wants you to follow 3 people who live on the same street as him. He's convinced that they're part of a great conspiracy against him and are watching him all day. He asks you to follow them all day and catch them watching him, then report back to him.

At first I thought Glarthir was just paranoid schizophrenic (I have a paranoid schizophrenic in my family and I recognize the behaviour and the way they think) because when I followed the first woman, nothing happened. She simply went to her vineyard and worked all day. I went to Glarthir and reported to him that she was not following/watching him.

The second guy I followed was doing the same, except from a distance I saw another fellow creeping up behind him, then creep away. He then shouted "Thief! Guards!". Could this have been a secret meeting between the two, where they briefly exchanged information about Glarthir, but made it look like a pickpocketing incident? Alas, I had to report I found nothing.

The third guy I followed was the most interesting. He worked on the vineyard all day, went for lunch at 12pm, went home, then went out to his vineyard again in the evening and back home again. Whilst following him home at night I was suddenly arrested by a guard! He claimed I had stolen items in my inventory. But I didn't! I hadn't stolen anything! I believe the conspirators against Glarthir knew I was following them and planted stolen goods on me so I couldn't continue following the third guy and he could meet with another conspirator and conspire against Glarthir (and now me).

I told Glarthir I had no information for the third time. I wanted Glarthir to give me more time to follow the people (who I was now sure were part of a conspiracy due to strange goings on when I was following them) but Glarthir began attacking me with an axe, saying I was working for the conspirators. I had no choice but to defend myself and thus kill him (he wouldn't yield).

I got Glarthir's house key from his dead body (because I am a knight and will not use lockpicks as it is beneath me) and searched his house to see if I could find anything. I found notes about how the third guy I followed (Davide Surilie) buried something at his vineyard, but when Glarthir went to dig it up he found only disturbed earth - someone else had already dug it up. I went to see for myself, and I found many disturbed patches of earth at the Surilie farm. I believe Davide to be the chief conspirator! He is spying on Glarthir and leaving information buried on his vineyard for the Mythic Dawn to dig up and take!

All the Wikis say Glarthir is genuinely paranoid and nobody is conspiring against him or watching him, but I believe now that they are based on what I saw and what happened to me (especially me being framed for theft while following Davide).

What do you think? Has anybody found any information about this? I will have justice for Glarthir.

[Riflas]

Publicado originalmente por Dayve:

Publicado originalmente por Riflas:

Look around the ceiling.

Can't find anything about it. I know there's a forgotten note in the Skingrad house, but it's nothing to do with Glarthir.

Sorry... my personality level is 10. Ignore me.

[Squidbob Spongepants]

I completely think Glarthir was not paranoid. I think that because the guard found out, he alerted the others, thus we don't see much of their misdeeds.

I've always wanted to RP as being on his side. One of my favourite quests actually, though I don't like to finish it. I enjoy the spying.

[deuceyd]

Are you guys roleplaying? Can't tell whether this is a serious discussion or not... I didn't know you could have items "planted" on you in Oblivion.

[Valden21]

Since this topic has been revived, here's my take: Glarthir is paranoid, and there are people after him, but he's got their identities screwed up, and his focus is on the wrong group. I think he stumbled upon the Mythic Dawn's plans, but he doesn't truly realize it's them, and instead thinks it's members of some other group. There are sleeper members of the Mythic Dawn in Skingrad, like every other city in the game (except for New Sheoth, of course), and it's likely he stumbled on a conspiracy between two of them. In essence, he knows too much.

[Squidbob Spongepants]

Publicado originalmente por deucey d:

Are you guys roleplaying? Can't tell whether this is a serious discussion or not... I didn't know you could have items "planted" on you in Oblivion.

I seem to find you on every post on Oblivion xD Always before or after my comment xD

I roleplay. You're right, no plantable items. But it's fun to imagine :D

*spongebob rainbow* imaginaaaation

[Dayve]

Publicado originalmente por deucey d:

Are you guys roleplaying? Can't tell whether this is a serious discussion or not... I didn't know you could have items "planted" on you in Oblivion.

I do roleplay in RPG's, of course. However I was not roleplaying when I made this thread. Those things genuinely happened.

1. Whilst observing one of the people Glarthir asked me to spy on, I witnessed another character sneak behind him, stop for a moment, then sneak away. Then people started shouting "THIEF!" (not at me, at the guy I saw sneaking).

2. Whilst spying on another person for Glarthir, the guards aprehended me for stealing. I hadn't stolen anything in the entire game. Seems like some kind of conspiracy to get me locked up so I couldn't continue to watch people.

[deuceyd]

I was actually just wondering if the OP was roleplaying or not or if he actually had an item planted on him because to my knowledge that doesn't happen and the the wikis knowledge also it seems http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Paranoia

"Whilst following him home at night I was suddenly arrested by a guard! He claimed I had stolen items in my inventory. But I didn't! I hadn't stolen anything! I believe the conspirators against Glarthir knew I was following them and planted stolen goods on me"

Whether or not Glarthir's paranoia was justified or not I guess only Todd knows.

-Edit: "Whilst spying on another person for Glarthir, the guards aprehended me for stealing."
Ah, so I guess thats the big twist. Turns out YOU were the paranoid one lol. Either a bug, or you actually just stole something on accident and didn't know... as for the AI developing some grand conspiracy against you, highly doubtful. The AI is more concerned about filthy mudcrabs and word from the other provinces, trust me.

[Dayve]

Publicado originalmente por deucey d:

I was actually just wondering if the OP was roleplaying or not or if he actually had an item planted on him because to my knowledge that doesn't happen and the the wikis knowledge also it seems http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Paranoia

"Whilst following him home at night I was suddenly arrested by a guard! He claimed I had stolen items in my inventory. But I didn't! I hadn't stolen anything! I believe the conspirators against Glarthir knew I was following them and planted stolen goods on me"

Whether or not Glarthir's paranoia was justified or not I guess only Todd knows.

-Edit: "Whilst spying on another person for Glarthir, the guards aprehended me for stealing."
Ah, so I guess thats the big twist. Turns out YOU were the paranoid one lol. Either a bug, or you actually just stole something on accident and didn't know... as for the AI developing some grand conspiracy against you, highly doubtful. The AI is more concerned about filthy mudcrabs and word from the other provinces, trust me.

Well it's no wonder the AI is more concerned about mudcrabs. Dreadful creatures.

However, I find it strange that this only ever happened to me when spying for Glarthir. At no other point in the game have I ever been arrested for stealing something when I hadn't stolen anything.

[deuceyd]

Mudcrabs and scamps are major players in Tamriels economy, they have been fooling you all since the third era.

[DrNewcenstein]

The assumption throughout is that you actually did have stolen goods on you, and the guards arrest you for that. The reality is, you have been falsely accused and wrongfully imprisoned. There's nothing in the Evidence Chest, and if some stolen item does appear in your inventory, it's a scripted event that triggers the "Stop Thief!" force greet from the guards.

While you can't access your inventory directly when locked in a dialog event, you can via console. That will show if anything's flagged as stolen, although not where it came from. You would have to examine the Scripts for that quest.

It's not so much a Bug as it is a random chance to further fuel the mystery.


It's been years since I did that quest, but IIRC, there is a different set of outcomes than stated in the UESP wiki. I think you have to follow each one for more than just the one "Report to Glarthir" prompt. He freaks when you're not back the next night, but when you deliver your report, he gets back on track.
Or something. Can't recall now, but I know I was experimenting with a bunch of different variations on quests like that. I used a similar method to get the Brotherhood of Steel and NCR to work together at Hoover Dam in New Vegas. You have to get certain pieces of the puzzle in place at the right time.

[55Arri]

Much like the person who started the thread, I too have a paranoid schizophrenic family member. My game went roughly the same so far, but I noticed the third dude Glarthir told me to watch talked about him to an NPC. Forgot exactly what he said, but it was something that implied negative feelings towards him. Despite this, if you befriend him, he will say Glarthir is a good neighbor.

Someone mentioned that the wiki doesn't talk of a plot against Glarthir, but aren't wiki pages made and edited by anyone? This means that some things could be left out of the wiki page.

I went to skingrad just to get a sweetroll when I happened upon this quest. I found it very fun at first, but the deeper you dig, the more questionable things get.

I am still remaining neutral as to weather I believe there really is a conspiracy against Glarthir, but I'm definitely leaning towards it being real. There is too much solid evidence.

I guess it could be explained by the Oblivion NPC's just being so jank, but I don't know about that. Seems a little fishy... Even for Oblivion NPC's.

Although I believe the NPC thief was just NPC's being their dumb self, because good npc's will loot things from others.

However, I must note that when watching the lady, someone did try to pickpocket her. When killed it said he only stole bread though... Still odd how many people's experiences happened to be odd in similar, or even sometimes, identical ways.

Very intrigued by this. It's Currently 1:18 am where I am, and I cannot stop researching about this.

[Dayve]

Publicado originalmente por AppleSausage421:

Much like the person who started the thread, I too have a paranoid schizophrenic family member. My game went roughly the same so far, but I noticed the third dude Glarthir told me to watch talked about him to an NPC. Forgot exactly what he said, but it was something that implied negative feelings towards him. Despite this, if you befriend him, he will say Glarthir is a good neighbor.

Someone mentioned that the wiki doesn't talk of a plot against Glarthir, but aren't wiki pages made and edited by anyone? This means that some things could be left out of the wiki page.

I went to skingrad just to get a sweetroll when I happened upon this quest. I found it very fun at first, but the deeper you dig, the more questionable things get.

I am still remaining neutral as to weather I believe there really is a conspiracy against Glarthir, but I'm definitely leaning towards it being real. There is too much solid evidence.

I guess it could be explained by the Oblivion NPC's just being so jank, but I don't know about that. Seems a little fishy... Even for Oblivion NPC's.

Although I believe the NPC thief was just NPC's being their dumb self, because good npc's will loot things from others.

However, I must note that when watching the lady, someone did try to pickpocket her. When killed it said he only stole bread though... Still odd how many people's experiences happened to be odd in similar, or even sometimes, identical ways.

Very intrigued by this. It's Currently 1:18 am where I am, and I cannot stop researching about this.

It has been 5 years since I made this thread, I've done the quest a couple more times since then and I still believe there's some conspiracy against Glarthir. I just can't prove it.

[Valden21]

I think it's what I mentioned earlier: he's just confused and paranoid. The Mythic Dawn is just one of the many groups he mentions in his notes, but they're the only ones that still exist. I think he stumbled upon the Mythic Dawn by accident, and he just thinks they're focused on killing him. He doesn't actually know what their true plans are, but the fact that he knows of their existence makes him dangerous to them. The people he names aren't actually Mythic Dawn sleeper agents, but because of his paranoia, he THINKS they are.

[Dayve]

Publicado originalmente por Valden21:

I think it's what I mentioned earlier: he's just confused and paranoid. The Mythic Dawn is just one of the many groups he mentions in his notes, but they're the only ones that still exist. I think he stumbled upon the Mythic Dawn by accident, and he just thinks they're focused on killing him. He doesn't actually know what their true plans are, but the fact that he knows of their existence makes him dangerous to them. The people he names aren't actually Mythic Dawn sleeper agents, but because of his paranoia, he THINKS they are.

Nonsense! You're a Mythic Dawn sleepy agent too!

[arottweiler]

If there was more to the story it would have been identified and documented in the UESP entry long ago. He wasn't a prominent figure so there would be no reason for a conspiracy against him.

One of the more unsettling endings to a quest though. A mod that beefs out the quest and adds various ways of completing it would be interesting.