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When you walk into Solitude for the first time, there is a Nord being executed for helping Jarl Stormcloak escape.

Is it possible to save this man from being executed?

Perhaps more importantly, is it useful to save him? (Or is he scripted to die?)

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I was wondering this too. If not at least you can steal the amulet off of him. –  Steve Robbins Nov 14 '11 at 23:42
I still have to go there, I'll see what I can do... Challenge accepted. –  Tom Wijsman Nov 15 '11 at 1:32
Not sure about Roggvir, the guards like to kill him quickly when interrupted. In Markath, though, the lady is able to be saved. Attack the guy too early and the guards attack you, too late and she dies. I shouted at the guy and the guards swarmed him, saving the woman. –  user14358 Nov 15 '11 at 1:38
Not positive, but it seemed that every NPC was giving me the "This person is busy" message when I tried to talk to them. But maybe attacking would have done something? –  TM. Nov 15 '11 at 1:59
@TM.: Yes, I have tried over and over but my level / skills / equipment is not high enough to be effective, I could possible lower the difficulty but I saw enough to be sure that it's possible. –  Tom Wijsman Nov 15 '11 at 2:46

8 Answers 8

up vote 23 down vote accepted

Yes, you can save him, but its not useful in any way or form. He is very weak, and will die in 1 hit. As soon as you start attacking the guards, he will try to run away, causing other imperial guards in the city to take him down with 1 arrow.

If you do manage to kill the 3 guards fast enough, then you can interact with him, but there's no dialog. All he says is "hmm", "huh", "what do you want (insert race)?" etc.


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It's not 100% true, it will die anyway if he's not damaged by anyone. It's automatically. –  Leandro Mar 22 '12 at 14:19

Looking at the scene Captain Aldis and Ahtar will do whatever they can to kill Roggvir, but Captain Aldis will try to hit Rogvir first when you interrupt the execution. So, you first need to prevent Captain Aldis from killing Roggvir by walking over the ledge in the bottom right of yx's screenshot (this will not trigger the scene, allowing you to interrupt earlier) and simply hitting him, then hit Ahtar afterwards.

Then Roggvir will be able to run away which gives you time to kill both Captain Aldis and Ahtar. Make sure you that you keep both Captain Aldis and Ahtar in place or kill the one that goes for Roggvir. Combine a companion, potions, shouts and other items in your strategy to be more effective.

Contrary to what yx writes, I have not seen imperial guards kill him. Only Captain Aldis and Ahtar where trying to chase and kill him, my companion managed to slow them down while I was following Rogvir and he was kneeling on the stairs where I had to wait for Ahtar to actually come and kill him. This was of course not the best place as I got overwhelmed there, keeping the action near the execution place is the best you can do in order to stay alive. It requires some practice though.

Please note that you will get a 1000 gold bounty on your head for murder, given that he does nothing useful in return it is not worth it to save him from getting executed. In the end, you might even be killing two persons that might be more valuable than the one you are trying to save...

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That's weird. I followed him the first time I attempted this when he ran away and clearly saw a random imperial guard in the city take him down with an arrow. Perhaps he was aiming at me and he was simply caught in the crossfire? –  z ' Nov 15 '11 at 2:54
it could be that during my first attempt, I didn't bother killing the captain, I just hit them once each to get their attention then tried to follow Roggvir to safety since I was curious if he had a destination in mind. Maybe the fact that he was hostile to the captain had something to do with it. –  z ' Nov 15 '11 at 2:57
@yx.: Quite possible, I always saw Aldis/Ahtar go and kill him while the guards ignore his presence. One time he sat on the stairs and another time he ran into a door, so his destination seems random but I'm not sure. Anyway, it was fun, but sadly a waste of time. Tried to capture a video for YouTube, but my character is not good enough to actually make him survive... –  Tom Wijsman Nov 15 '11 at 2:58

I killed all the guards around him with the help of my companion (Lydia). I started off by sniping the guy to his right before the "ceremony" began. Once he was "saved" he didn't tell me anything useful just grunts and "hmmmm?" Then, out of nowhere, he just randomly died where he stood.

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Yes, but the game will kill him automatically, without reason. Try this:

It hapenns on the same way, I tried it.

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You can try and save him without getting the 1000 Gold Bounty on your head. To do so, you have to transform into Werewolf-Form, then shout so that everybody runs away scared.. If you manage not to be seen when go into Werewolf-Form or turn back to normal, no bounty will be on your head and you saved a life that day. :)

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It's possible, but it's kind of useless. I glitched him and he ran off and disappeared in thin air, I'll say he's saved :D

Now I have to use the console to spawn the item I was supposed to loot.

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How did you glitch him? If he runs away he just hides somewhere, if you don't stop the guards they will find and kill him. So, either him or his body should still be somewhere around to pickpocket or loot... –  Tom Wijsman Nov 15 '11 at 3:02
no, he really was glitched, he ran off and disapeared in thin air.... he was 4 feet infront of me.... Also, Can anyone tell me the name of the people on the block next to roggvir?? I am making sure I did not kill anyone important lolol –  ben Nov 15 '11 at 3:23
Did he enter a house by accident? Then they do disappear, other than that I still don't understand the glitch given that he doesn't disappear in every try here unless he enters a house... –  Tom Wijsman Nov 15 '11 at 3:37
No he was in the middle of the street... not a door or anything... disapeered without fading, you know how they fade when they go into a building, i have no idea why he glitched –  ben Nov 15 '11 at 3:51

I actually succeeded in saving him a few minutes ago. I used a paralyzing poison on an arrow to shoot the executioner from the steps leading up to the stage.

All the other combatants focused on me, giving Ragvirr time to escape. I followed him and watched him run in a building, then surrendered and paid the 40 gold fine.

Unfortunately, afterwards I went to speak to his family and they all acted as if he had been executed, so it seems no matter what you do, Ragvirr technically dies.

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I have tried to "save" him a number of ways. Even when he doesn't glitch and disappear, he will randomly die. I held all the guards in the hallway with him cowering behind me while I kept them knocked down with ice-storm spam, but he always dies before they are all dead. He was not hit by an arrow or my AoE.

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UESP mentions he's scripted to die: even if you do everything right, he'll just drop dead. –  user3389 Jan 24 '12 at 21:33

protected by Raven Dreamer Nov 16 '11 at 3:16


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