Because I have not been able to.im on the PC BTW.I get to the part where it syas to follow the clues you find in hjmier,which then leads you to get advice from Jorleif who tells me to talk to viola giordana who just isnt around.also it doesnt check off that I asked Jorleif for advice,even though I have.just me or is this a bug?

try becoming thane of windhelm, i did that and it worked out.

I had no problems doing that quest. If it helps, I was on version 1.1(PC) at the time. I don't even know how to become thane of Windhelm, so that's not the issue.

Yes, multiple times on many chars. I haven't experienced ANY bugs in this game that everyone else seems to be qqing about.

On the xbox.

Oh im not complaining,just curious.TBH,this is the first bug I have ever come across and im 150 hours in

This is a common bug, on my main character this quest is literraly unstartable, Bethesda should have really put in a manual start.

I have managed to start it on my assassin character, my spellsword, spellwarrior and ranger but not warrior; you can the imagin frustration that causes since Hjerim is the best place for any warrior character.

Blood on the Ice is probably the buggiest quest in Skyrim, so if this is the only problem you've encountered you can consider yourself lucky. You're on PC, so I assume there's a ton of solutions waiting to be googled

I completed this quest without bugs.

I couldn't get the quest to trigger with my first character. Haven't tried it yet with my second character.

thanks guys

I think the main thing that was my problem was not picking up all of the evidence from the house. I left it in the house and the quest bugged.

Can't you go back in and get the rest of the stuff?I did and according to my journal the quest completed.I haven't tried to buy the house yet.

Ive tested this method 3 times on 3 different characters. First two times I finished stormcloaks quest first, the third time recently I completed imperials questline. After speaking with the current jarl I get access to buy the house. I talk to steward and he gives me the option to buy, so I do.

I go to the house, as soon as I enter Blood on the Ice starts.

I investigate all investigation targets: mead bottles, pots and pans, both wardrobes and shelf, secret room altar all on first floor. Bed in bedroom.

I make sure to take a butcher flyer and the amulet along with the two personal journals of the butcher.

I find Viola and tell her about the journals I found.

I ignore her advice and then head to confront the alleged killer himself.

After finding out the real killer from the accused, he sets up a plan to patrol the marketplace at night to catch the killer.

Around 10 pm I go to market and kill the killer in the act.

I raid the body and tell the steward who praises me.

I buy 'clean up murderers mess' first THEN I buy the rest of the decorations.

Clean house, fully decorated the only bug I get is the amulet being stuck in my inventory which is not a big deal and can be fixed on PC I believe. Small price to pay to finish a quest in a matter of 5 minutes for one of the best house in the game.

Because I did not get assistance from Joreleif, no weapon racks work, except for the dagger racks.

I thought I was stuck, as 'get advice' didn't happen, but a half a day or so after the first time we spoke, Viola had a new topic she didn't have before, and the rest was fine from there.

Yeah..the quest marker thing confused me..just follow the blood on he ground and you can complete it.

The asking for advice part didn't function for me, I just followed the blood trail and the quest worked subsequently.

Finished it on multiple characters on the PC. Viola walks around the city in the daytime -- you'll have to go find her. Sometimes she's in her house.

mines bugged as [censored] to. i've talked to viola, calixto, jorleif, and the court wizard guy. nothing will get he quest back on track. calixto never ever leaves his house or lets me in his museum. i have to break in then he freaks out. i've tried waiting for an hour for an entire day to see when he comes out. never does. this quest is a joke and i'm disappointed in bethesda for this one.

Quest success on this one is not easy. It's not that the quest can't be done, it's that somehow the quest stages are screwy and you can do things out of order

The objective 'Ask Jorleif for advice' never does check off, nor does he actually have any to give. As for Viola: during the day she can often be found wandering around town, if you tag the quest in the journal it will show you where she's at.

I've never had a problem with this quest and I've completed it with three different characters over the last two patches. Worst thing I've faced is getting it to start, but it has always eventually started for me.

Xbox 360

I finished it on 360 on my first character. Other than not being able to get rid of the stupid necklace thingy, I never experienced any bugs while doing it. Other than the fact that I caused one of the main characters in the quest to kill themself before I started it that is. But, that was easily solved with a few lockpicks and a whole lot of patience.

Why doesn't Bethesda allow us to drop/abandon quests? In this game and Fallout 3 anyway...

I'm a bit annoyed by being tricked into taking evil quests and not being able to abandon them or kill the NPC that gives them. :\

Also note, if u join the DB and kill Nilsine shattershield before you buy this house, chances r you are bugged. because Nilsine and her mother tova are vital characters in Blood on the ice, and tova will commit suicide if you kill nilsine.

I couldn't see the supposed blood on the ground to follow at all, but otherwise it worked fine.

I finished it without problems.