That mission doesn't work. It's broken. I LOVE Skyrim, my favorite TES so far but why doesn't it work? Now I have that [censored] serial killer sitting inside my Windhelm house, stealing my unique weapons and fighting me each time I step into my house. He's not killable. The most awesome house in Skyrim is [censored] in my game. Now I have to worry about my wife, Ysolda. That [censored] is just about to kill her.
Anyone else encountering this? That's not the first bug I had in this quest.

I'm surprised you were able to purchase it as a house with the murderer still at large.

Blood on the Ice and Hjerim have a number of problems. From my understanding Bethesda has been focusing on technical problems for the past month but will start working on quest-related bugs in January.

I had the same bug. Hoping the January patch fixes this and many many many many other quest bugs.

I had this exact same problem. I'm sorry, but there is no solution other than going back to an old save. There are several questlines that are very buggy and have no real solution. The only thing you can do is know about them beforehand and create a new save.

I just had the killer arrested. But I didn't get an option from the jarl to purchase the house. Probably because I haven't helped enough people.

The 2 times I did this quest I had no bugs (guess I was lucky).

What I noticed in this quest is if you dont find all evidences, it will not progress, even tough the journal may mislead you into thinking you found all evidences: "Viola" panflets, necromancer amulet, and butcher diary, I think viola doesnt even show up if you dont pick the panflet and read it.

Anyway maybe I was just lucky, but I was confused I had brought calixto the amulet, he acused the court mage of necromancy and I couldnt confront the mage or progress in the quest, then I returned to the house and picked the panflet, witch led me to viola, and then let me confront the court mage, and progress into the quest.

I dunno, I had the pamphlets and only one diary and it was enough to progress the quest. Although, during the quest I couldn't access the hidden room because the cabinet wouldn't open.

I didn't even read the first post because of how many other threads on this topic there are.

I experienced a bug as well, though I did create a new save file before going through the entire quest line. The player can make progress by talking to the court mage and pointing out about the amulet, even though he has not picked it up! As my goal was the Necromancer's Amulet, I had no way of turning the strange amulet into the Necromancer's Amulet after completing the quest.

This quest is actually considered one of the most bugged in the entire game. I thought I was supposed to buy the keys to the house to get inside to figure out the crime (which is what I did). Its wasn't until later that I found out I wasn't supposed to be able to do that.

I can't even get it to start.

had the same yesterday, and can say its a bit bugged, but u can still complete the quest.

i had bought the house before i finished the quest. and becouse i didnt know the location yet i tried to search....
infact all u need to do is talk with:...


.... The only problem is, i got a nice house now, but all the blood and the ritual things are still there, even after upgrading the house so u have all the stuff

true quest is a bit broken, but u can still finish it.

I could complete it twice by consulting online walkthroughs.. It works as intended if you do everything in the strict step-by-step order. It's idiotic but I think it's one of the better quests of the game...

There is a separate bug which requires you to buy the clean up the mess option before you buy the other home furnishing options. With this option listed at the bottom usually, most people miss it or do not buy it first.

I still can't even get the quest to start OR buy the house yet. Sigh

same cant get the quest to start. ive tried triggering it before i joined imperials or storm cloaks also after compleating the storm cloaks quests ect...i have avoided the dark brotherhood aswell so that one girl is still alive. ive pickpocketed the key and tried to go in to trigger it with no luck. ive traveled before and after joining the stormcloaks at keast 10 times always checked after dark... i really have no idea how to force this thing to trigger. i read someplace that if youfollow the wrong person at the beginning of the game it makes it so you can never trigger the quest.... if thats the case that stinks cause with no cheats no glitching and no book im level 58 with quite few maxed skills as i did mostly side quests for my first 45 levels , not sure id like to replay so much of the game due to 1 broken quest..

The killer corpse was still in the market in the very same spot in which I stopped him dead after 60 days. I had to use the console to make him disappear

If you're on PC, you can use the console to deactivate it permanently. I had to use this workaround also for the scripted guards in Markath who won't go away once the quest there is over and for Skjor of the Companions Guild who won't stay dead for good.

Lots of undead in Skyrim, for sure!

Buggiest quest in the game. On the one playthrough I've done that I started the quest on, it ended up with Calcelmo (or whatever the dude's name is) as an essential character in Hjerim, running out and getting knocked down repeatedly whenever I entered the house. The quest was giving me no objective - no descriptive statement, or quest marker. So much derp.

i've done the mission three times with a little help to avoid bugs:

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Blood_on_the_Ice

if you go at the end of the page you can see all the bugs of the mission. my advice is to follow all the steps of the mission immediately when the mission being active.

however your bug is this:


(XBOX 360 Version / PC Version) Purchasing http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Hjerim before midway through Blood on the Ice will drop you in the above timeline just after the murder scene in the graveyard involving Calixto. You will not be able to kill http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Calixto_Corrium to catch the killer. After you talk to Jorlief in jail and he tells you to patrol the streets, http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Calixto_Corrium will run into Hjerim and will attack you whenever you enter. You will not be able to kill him, but he will stop attacking you if you do enough damage to kill him. Attacking him a second time will cause a bounty which will be removed if you subdue him. The quest is incompletable after this bug. Workaround for this Bug: Console Command "setstage ms11 150" will complete the step "catch the killer". After you talk to Jorlief to complete the Quest, Calixto Corrium is gone.


i hope this helps.

I bought the house before starting the quest. It was offered to me after progressing far enough through civil war quest. I went to investigate my house street seeing I couldn't but furnishings for it yet. Got the quest by the graves on my way to the house. Investigated all evidence inn the house (got the notes, amulet, both diaries and saw the alter). Then talked to Viola, then the Jarl's assistant and turned on the evidence. He immediately went and arrested the court wizard. It was boring and took a total of maybe ten minutes. Now my house is upgraded and mildly awesome, just wish all the weapon racks and displays work. Most of them don't work and it ruins the house.

I can't even buy the house

the wizard is innocent the quest is not finished-lol