The Golden Claw quest is bugged. HELP

[urdefmad]

i cant return the golden claw. i already finished the entire quest, cleared the cave. the last option in quest line is to return the claw to its owner. (which is lucan). im beside him but i cant return it to him. i googled and many people have this problme. how do i fix it?

[WoogieMonster]

I'm not familiar with this glitch, so I need to look it up. When you go to return the claw, you should walk in on him arguing with his sister about the robbery. When they finish, talk to him about the argument and that leads to you giving him the claw.

It may be possible that the argument not happening could break the quest. If the sister is missing or dead, or if you manage to somehow approach him when they are not together.

I'm only guessing because as I said I've not heard of this glitch before.

[MushroomStamps]

Originally Posted by urdefmad

i cant return the golden claw. i already finished the entire quest, cleared the cave. the last option in quest line is to return the claw to its owner. (which is lucan). im beside him but i cant return it to him. i googled and many people have this problme. how do i fix it?

Were you able to get the Dragonstone at the end of the cave? Have you tried to load the save when you got it, or just left it before going to Lucan?

Sometimes, either reloading a previous save or going out and coming back into a building will reset things. (no idea why but it works that way sometimes)

Other than that, the only solution would be to reload a previous save before you entered Bleak Falls and try doing the whole quest again (I know you don't want to do that but may be last resort)

Another thing to try is you have it, is to load a save before you actually got the Claw and go from there.

Good Luck

[WoogieMonster]

Okay I found it. It seems people are getting the quest to find the claw directly from Lucan before the Dragonborn questline sends you to retrieve the Dragon Stone.

The claw itself is the key to a puzzle door. Until you retrieve the Stone by using the claw to open the door, the claw itself is tagged as a quest item.

Some people who run into this problem say they have been ignoring the Dragonborn questline to level up before the dragons appear. If that is what you have done, it's why you can't return the claw yet, you've got conflicting quests.

[SirAndy]

Originally Posted by WoogieMonster

Okay I found it. It seems people are getting the quest to find the claw directly from Lucan before the Dragonborn questline sends you to retrieve the Dragon Stone.

The claw itself is the key to a puzzle door. Until you retrieve the Stone by using the claw to open the door, the claw itself is tagged as a quest item.

Some people who run into this problem say they have been ignoring the Dragonborn questline to level up before the dragons appear. If that is what you have done, it's why you can't return the claw yet, you've got conflicting quests.

I don't think that's the case. I did just that, ignored the main quest completely and i still managed to get the claw, clear the dungeon and bring it back to Riverwood. This all worked without a glitch and without ever talking to the Jarl of Whiterun.
The door the claw opens stayed open for me, so even if i need to return at some point, i should be able to just go through without the claw.

I think the key is that you need to open that door and clear the dungeon before you return the claw to Riverwood.

[MushroomStamps]

Originally Posted by WoogieMonster

Okay I found it. It seems people are getting the quest to find the claw directly from Lucan before the Dragonborn questline sends you to retrieve the Dragon Stone.

The claw itself is the key to a puzzle door. Until you retrieve the Stone by using the claw to open the door, the claw itself is tagged as a quest item.

Some people who run into this problem say they have been ignoring the Dragonborn questline to level up before the dragons appear. If that is what you have done, it's why you can't return the claw yet, you've got conflicting quests.

I can see this happening. If so, then @OP, see if you can drop the claw and pick it back up see if the game sees it as a quest item or not. If you can do that, then talk to Lucan again to see if he gives you dialogue for the quest to retrieve it.

[MushroomStamps]

Originally Posted by SirAndy

I don't think that's the case. I did just that, ignored the main quest completely and i still managed to get the claw, clear the dungeon and bring it back to Riverwood. This all worked without a glitch and without ever talking to the Jarl of Whiterun.
The door the claw opens stayed open for me, so even if i need to return at some point, i should be able to just go through without the claw.

I think the key is that you need to open that door and clear the dungeon before you return the claw to Riverwood.

This too^. But if Lucan won't take it back or not give you the option to, then that indicates the Claw isn't flagged as a quest item yet.

[SirAndy]

Originally Posted by MushroomStamps

This too^. But if Lucan won't take it back or not give you the option to, then that indicates the Claw isn't flagged as a quest item yet.

Or it is still a quest item because the door needs to be open for the Whiterun quest? Trying to drop it would answer that question.

The OP mentioned he cleared the dungeon, so i would assume he opened the puzzle door.
If so, then this sounds like a bug. Not sure what to do in that case other than to load a previous save.