Seen bits and pieces of answers to this, and I was hoping for some clarity.

Obviously, Civil War and some MQ spoilers may follow.



My POV: as a good guy, but also a completionist, I don't want pick a side in the civil war ('cuz they both sides have glaring negatives/detriments), but it seems that if I negotiate a truce during the main quest (Season Unending) I'll miss out on at least three major things that my completionist self would want.

If you don't do the Civil War questline, you cannot get:

• Hjerim, the house in Windhelm, refurnished (it remains empty) and its housecarl, Calder
  
• the Ebony Claw (the only one that would be missing from a complete collection of the claws)
  
• one of the power words for the Slow Time dragon shout

Jeez. Am I missing out an anything else?

And also, re: the claw and the word wall, is there a way to obtain these things (without using the console on PC) - i.e., does Korvanjund ever open up for full exploration later in the MQ (like, after negotiating the truce), or will I never get the claw and shout contained therein?

Thanks.

If you like, you can at least get the word wall and claw and then roleplay "disillusionment" with the war. Heh.

The civil war questline, which is pretty cool.

@Korr: sure, but incomplete/failed journal entries/quests are maybe even worse (for my aesthetic sensibilities) than missing out on the claw and shout

@patti 345: huh?