How to Return the Skeleton Key to the Ebonmere in Skyrim

Last Updated: March 29, 2019

You’ve just finished “Blindsided” in the Thieves Guild main quest line. You’ve killed the traitor Mercer, grabbed the Eyes of the Falmer, and finally have the Skeleton Key in your possession. The next quest, “Darkness Returns” involves returning the Skeleton Key to the Ebonmere – thereby restoring the luck the Thieves Guild lost when it allowed the Skeleton Key to slip through its fingers. But how exactly do you go about returning the Skeleton Key to its rightful place?^{[1]
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Steps

1
Use the Skeleton Key to your heart’s content. Do note the Skeleton Key is a useful tool for dealing with locked doors or chests. It will never break will make it easy for you to find any lock’s sweet spot without wasting too much time fiddling around. This is useful for players who have not invested many points developing their Lockpicking skill or simply don’t like Skyrim’s lockpicking mechanics. However, returning the Skeleton Key to the Ebonmere is permanent, and you will no longer be able to use it in the future. Keep this in mind before entering the Twilight Sepulcher.
2
Enter the Twilight Sepulcher. The Twilight Sepulcher is west of Falkreath. If you have no quick travel points near the Sepulcher, take a carriage to Falkreath and simply walk west until you reach the entrance to the Sepulcher. It is located near a small waterfall and is marked by two prominent pillars near the sides of a mountain. Once you enter the Sepulcher, talk to a ghostly apparition, a Nightingale Sentinel, who will direct you to the Pilgrim’s Path to the Ebonmere and will warn you of the dangers you will face ahead.
- Keep questioning the apparition about the Pilgrim’s Path, and he will give you the optional goal of retrieving Nystrom’s Journal. A quest marker leading to the journal will appear, and reading it will give you some warning about the tests you will face.
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3
Deal with the Sentinels in the First Test. Go deeper into the first area of the Pilgrim’s Path, and you will be confronted by hostile Sentinels. You can sneak past them if you wish, or you can defeat them in combat to pick up some useful loot in the process. This is a straightforward area, but do be mindful of pressure plates as well as being ganged up on by multiple Sentinels.
- Do note that creating any light, from torches or magical means, will attract the attention of the Sentinels in this area, especially on a darkened staircase in this section of the Pilgrim’s Path.^{[4]
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  Research source} Cast a spell or drink a potion to invoke the Night Eye effect to see better in the dark. Or simply cast your lesser power of you rolled a Khajiit during the character creation process.
- Remember that you can draw the attention of Sentinels using your bow and arrows. Shooting an arrow will cause the Sentinels to investigate the area where your arrow hit, giving you a short window of time to sneak past before they start looking around and return to their original posts.
4
Stick to the shadows in the Second Test. There will be pitch-black areas and brightly lit areas in this part of the Pilgrim’s Path. Standing in the brightly lit areas will cause your health to rapidly deplete, so stick to the shadows and make your way across the area. Just keep your eyes open and proceed slowly to avoid accidentally stepping into the light. Dash back to the shadows if you find yourself caught in the light.
- Proceed cautiously through this area, as there are multiple tripwires that will unleash poisoned darts if tripped. Be especially mindful when moving up or down stairs, as these are where three of the four tripwires are located. The only tripwire not near a staircase can be found just before crossing a wooden bridge.
5
Give the gift of darkness in the Third Test. This part of the Pilgrim’s Path will lead you to a statue of Nocturnal. She desires an offering of darkness, which in this case means extinguishing the two stone torches on her sides. You can do this by moving behind the stone torches and pulling the chains located there. Once both torches are extinguished, a hidden passage will open and lead you to the fourth test.
6
Show your thieving skills in the Fourth Test. You have two choices here. You can choose to take the direct path, which will involve evading multiple traps, or you can go the roundabout way, which involves unlocking a door and dealing with two Sentinels.
- If you choose to brave the traps, then time your dashes to avoid the swinging pendulum blades. Be careful at the end of the pendulum trap though, as that is where a pressure plate is located. Triggering it will cause spears to stab out from multiple points, so jump over or around it to avoid being skewered. Opening the door at the end of the pendulum trap will also trigger a battering ram, so back up from the door the moment you open it and wait for the battering ram to recede before moving on.
- If you choose to unlock the door, you will have an easy time doing so thanks to the Skeleton Key being in your possession. You will also have to neutralize the Sentinels along your way, which could be a good or bad thing depending on how eager you are for some more combat.
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Discover the Skeleton Key’s potential in the Fifth Test. Moving forward, you will eventually encounter a dead-end where the only choice you have is to drop down into a pit with no obvious exit. Jump down and wait for about 25 seconds. The Skeleton Key will activate and cause the floor to break away, causing you to conveniently fall down right on the Ebonmere lock. Activate the lock, and you will have returned the Ebonmere to its rightful place.
8
Become an Agent of Nocturnal. Once you’ve returned the Skeleton Key, Nocturnal will appear and congratulate you in her own unique and taunting way. Karliah will appear later and explain to you what it means to become an Agent of Nocturnal, with the powers that come with being one. You can choose to be one of three kinds of Agents: the Agent of Strife, the Agent of Shadow, or the Agent of Subterfuge.
- To become the Agent of Strife, step on the circle with a full moon on it. This will give you a lesser power in which you can drain the life force of a target once a day.
- To become the Agent of Shadow, step on the circle with a crescent moon on it. This will grant access to a lesser power where you will turn invisible while sneaking. You can use the power once a day, and the effect lasts for two minutes. As long as the power is active, you will always go back into stealth whenever you sneak.
- To become the Agent of Subterfuge, step on the circle with a half-moon on it. This will allow you to use a lesser power that causes everyone near you to fight each other for thirty seconds.
- Do note that you can choose to become a different agent once a day. This will allow you to pick the power that you need the almost every 24 in-game hours.

Community Q&A

Question

Which nocturnal role should I use?

LEAH.HAWKINS

Community Answer

It depends on your build; if you have a sneaky character, you might want the agent of stealth (which means when sneaking, you become invisible for 120 seconds). A mage might want agent of subterfuge, which allows you to cloud the judgement of an NPC for 30 seconds, causing them to fight on your side; but a warrior may choose agent of strife, which allows you to absorb 100 points of health from a target. (All of these can only be used once a day.)