Skyrim Walkthrough: Hitting the Books

You obtain the quest "Hitting the Books" from the Arch-Mage, after completing the Under Saarthal quest.

Since Tolfdir is not available, you get asked by Mirabelle Ervine to look into information on the object we found in Saarthal by talking to Urag gro-Shub in the Acanaeum

You can enter the Arcanaeum through the Hall of the Elements. Talk to Urag behind the desk and tell him you want to learn about something you found in Saarthal. He will tell you he can't help since his books got stolen by Orthorn when he went to Fellglow Keep with the others who left the college. Apparently, one of the volumes Orthorn stole has the information you need.

If you look at the quest journal, it has been updated: "I've been asked to find more information on the object found in Saarthal. Urag suggested that useful books may have been stolen from the Arcanaeum by Othorn, a former apprentice at the college. His last known location was Fellglow Keep." You will also have something that shows how many of the three stolen books you have recovered.

NOTE: I would advise bringing Lydia with you if you are not above level 10 when starting this quest as there are a number of difficult opponents. It would also benefit you to have a ward spell since you will be fighting mostly mages during this quest.

Ancano will ask you some questions as you leave. Answer his questions and leave the college. Head to Whiterun, leave via the main gate, and travel East to Fellglow Keep (it's past the Honningbrew Meadery and White River Watch).

NOTE: It would be a good idea to pay attention to the books that are scattered throughout Fellglow Keep (not just the ones you need) because there are many spelltomes as well as books that increase skills.

Apparently there is a main door which is locked and requires a key, but you can find a door in a ruined tower which you can get in by. I believe this door is the one that is marked with a quest marker when you have this quest active.

Work your way through the flooded caverns. Go east, then south, kill a mage and 2 spiders, then head NE and arrive at a room with some cells. Activate the levers to release the imprisoned vampires, then keep going NE to another chamber with jail cells where a mage will release wolves at you. Once you have killed the mage and wolves, talk to Orthon through the bars and tell him you are here for the books.

He will tell you that if you free him, he will help you find the books. Free Orthorn by activating the middle lever. Open the wooden door and go down the stairs. Orthon will help you fight a group of mages after which you need to climb up the stairs, go to the end of the corridor and turn left. Open the door to Fellglow Keep and head NE towards the Fellglow Keep Ritual Chamber. There is basically only one path you can take which will bring you through multiple rooms with a number or opponents. Make sure that before you get to the Ritual Chamber, you kill the mage who has the Fellglow Keep Key (should be the last person you kill before getting to the door to the Ritual Chamber). Go through the wooden door to the north and climb up the stairs to the Ritual Chamber. Be ready to fight when you enter because the Caller inside is quite a powerful mage for this stage of the game.

You will find the Caller inside this room. At some point in the conversation you have no choice but to tell her you are not leaving without the books. Fight her, kill her and take the three stolen books (these all should have quest markers to show you where they are). Loot the caller for the Ritual chamber key and enter a small room nearby with lots of treasures. Then exit down through the grate on the floor. Raise the bar and open the wooden door. Use another door to exit to Skyrim. Fast travel to the College of Winterhold and go the the Arcanaeum to return the books to Urag.

This complete the quest "Hitting the Books" and unlocks the next quest in the College of Winterhold series, "Good Intentions"

Liberal Arts "Education"

I have been annoyed lately about the fact that a liberal arts education has, like so many other things, become simply a means to an end. So many employers these days like to see that a potential future employee is well rounded and is able to learn about many different things. I can certainly respect this outlook on the part of employers, but it bothers me that a liberal arts education has become so commonplace that it really means almost nothing now.

Now that a liberal arts education is almost expected from many employers and so many liberal arts colleges and university exist, the education itself seems to be much less impressive. Sure, we all still have to take a history class and a math class and a science class and an english class no matter what we majored in, but did anyone actually learn anything in those classes? It seems like the college curricula are now set up so that people can take the required classes, get through it with a descent grade, and still not really learn anything. What really bothers me about this is that people who do this get to claim they got the same liberal arts education that I did when, in fact, they didn't. I took all those classes and committed myself to getting as much out of them as I could. I actually did get a liberal arts education whereas many other people just get to say they did.

It also bothers me that we call the typical college education, an education. I know that this is being picky and most people will probably disagree with me, but this is my blog, not yours. :) What bothers me about the typical college experience being called an "education" is that it seems like the typical experience is really more of "technical training" than it is an "education."

Again, I know this is nit picking, but it seems an important distinction to me. When I think of "education" I think of people learning about something for the sake of learning about it rather than to meet some other end. The way college education is treated these days seems to be much more along the lines of technical training. People come out of college with a very specific set of knowledge based on what they want to do after graduation having either never really learned or at least not really caring about the other things they encountered during their education.

For the record, I have absolutely no idea what could or should be done to fix what I see as a problem with this terminology and such. I simply get annoyed about the way life is and the fact that nothing ever works out in an ideal manner. So many good ideas exist out in the world (like liberal arts education…….and communism) that never actually work in the real world (at least not long-term) because people find ways to corrupt everything good. Hmmm, this could probably move into being a rant about idealism and the corrupt fallen world we live in, but that's a subject for another day.

Basically, I hate it that I actually got a very well-rounded, liberal arts education and someone else can graduate and claim the same thing, when really all they got was technical training for their specific field of interest. (fyi, I haven't actually read the book shown at the right, but I like the title)