Online:Heart's Grief

Stronghold: Heart's Grief (lore page)
Worldspace
Discoverable	No
Dungeon	No
# of Zones	1
Occupants
Balefire the Implacable Guardian Daedroth, Harvester, Seducer Cutthroat, Seducer Deadeye, Seducer Nightblade, Seducer Predator, Skeletal Battlemage, Titan, Winged Twilight
Quest Chain
Main Quest
Location
Coldharbour
Solo Instance
Solo Only	Yes
Loading Screen
Molag Bal's macabre palace serves also as a fortress and as a temple to himself. In all of Coldharbour, no place is more feared.

Molag Bal awaits in the Garden of Ruin

Heart's Grief is Molag Bal's palace and the most feared place in all Coldharbour. Every time you die, the health of enemies in Heart's Grief is reduced.

Related Quests

• God of Schemes: Use the power of the Amulet of Kings to defeat Molag Bal.

Prisoners

These NPCs will always be prisoners here due to their failures in the Main Quest:

• Duchess of Anguish
• Mannimarco

Depending on which quests you have completed, several people can appear in the vestibule. They are bound and can be interacted with.

• Aelif (after Will of the Council)
• Aera Earth-Turner (if you kill her during Concealed Weapons)
• Faolchu (after The Fall of Faolchu)
• Fildgor Orcthane (if you kill him during Songs of Sovngarde)
• Javad Tharn (after The Den of Lorkhaj)
• Prince Naemon (after Striking at the Heart)
• Septima Tharn (after To Walk on Far Shores)

You can choose to set any of them free or leave them there. If freed:

• The Duchess of Anguish attacks you at once.
• Aelif offers to help you against Molag Bal, but Molag Bal turns her into a Bloody Skeleton who will fight you.
• Aera Earth-Turner begs for a merciful release, and thanks you for it before dissolving into a pile of green slime.
• Fildgor Orcthane scornfully says that releasing him has gained you nothing, and tries to walk away, but is assaulted and killed by the spirits of two Orcthane Berserkers, who will disappear after cutting him down.
• Faolchu attacks at once.
• Septima Tharn is cut down by an Ancestor Spirit.
• Javad Tharn thanks Abnur (despite Abnur having advised you to leave him where he is) and then dissolves in a puddle of green slime.
• Prince Naemon cries out and is immediately re-frozen into a solid ice statue.
• Mannimarco mocks you, saying that future generations will pay for your weakness before disappearing.

Heart's Grief

Exterior

The exterior of the palace

You will arrive in front of a metal door that leads to Coldharbour, which is impassible. The path leading up to the palace is surrounded by black rock cliffs. two small contingents of Dark Seducers stand guard in the middle of the courtyard. A Daedric Titan named Balefire the Implacable Guardian guards the palace's front entrance. As you approach, he rears up on his hind legs and growls, causing two blue portals to appear on either side of him. A Winged Twilight emerges from each portal when you enter combat. Behind Balefire lies a black staircase which splits off at the first landing, giving you two paths that lead to the same location: the fortress's front foyer. Large chains connect the overhang above the stairs and the staircase itself. There is a backpack off to the side, on the ground below the staircase, to the left. The path leading up to the front door, while not claustrophobic, is certainly oppressive.

Heart's Grief Vestibule

Heart's Grief Vestibule

A statue of Molag Bal sits in the front foyer, its base set aflame to give it the illusion of being laden with burning corpses. Instruments of torture surround this small room's perimeter. The doorway ahead opens into the vestibule proper, where devices are set up in neat rows, lining the hall. This is where Molag Bal tortures those who have displeased him greatly. In the devices on the sides of the room, you'll find traitors from questlines past. The centerpiece of Molag Bal's collection of failures is Mannimarco himself, who is being whipped by a cadre of torturers consisting of four Skeletal Battlemages. A Titan flies down to greet you as you descend the staircase from the entrance.

Aera Earth-Turner is in the first device on the left. Aelif is next to her, Javad Tharn is in the next one, and the Duchess of Anguish is last in line. Faolchu is in the first device on the right, Prince Naemon is in the next one, then Fildgor Orcthane, and Septima Tharn is at the end of the row.

Several crates, trunks and urns are scattered off to the side, at the exit and in the torture chamber. Another burning statue of Molag Bal is located near the vestibule's exit.

Path of Woe

Path of Woe

A long, dark hallway filled with pipes. A Harvester awaits you at the bend.

Seat of Tyranny

The Shattered Temple

The Shattered Temple

This is where the ritual to imbue you with the might of Akatosh is performed. It resembles a mortal temple. Gargoyles on pillars surround a round dais. You will make your way down the stairs to the southeast to blast open a wall and traverse the next locale.

The Blighted Causeway

An imitation of the Imperial City's architecture. Molag Bal will acknowledge you once you step through the ruined fortress wall. He summons a Seducer Deadeye, Cutthroat and Predator to dispose of you, but you'll make quick work of them, as you're imbued with Divine power. Two Predators, Two Seducer Cutthroats, one Nightblade and two Deadeyes await you up the next flight of stairs. Two Predators, a Cutthroat, a Nightblade and two Deadeyes await you further southwest, up the hill. One Daedroth, three Seducer Predators, two Cutthroats, and two Deadeyes are standing in front of the fortress wall you will destroy to reach the next area.

The Broken Court

Here, Imperial architecture melds with Coldharbour's scenery. Jagged rocks, glowstalk plants and ashen grass grow amid the bricks. Two Seducer Predators, two Nightblades, three Cutthroats and four Deadeyes await you behind the fortress wall. You will use the Aedric Command synergy to form a bridge over the chasm to the southwest, just ahead. Five Daedroth, three Seducer Deadeyes and two Predators await you on the other side of the bridge. Several containers can be looted on the balcony just to the right after you cross beneath an archway that looks like it came right off of City Isle. Four Daedroth, two Seducer Cutthroats and three Deadeyes wait for you up the next flight of stairs. A backpack lies around the corner to the right at the top of the staircase they're standing on. You'll have a clear view of Molag Bal at the top of the stairs which fades as you climb down the hill to the south, where you'll face one Titan, three Daedroth, three Seducer Nightblades and three Deadeyes. You'll destroy the fortress wall at the base of the hill to enter the Garden of Ruin.

The Garden of Ruin

The Garden of Ruin consists of a field of ash partially flooded with Azure Plasm. Black boulders peek up from the plasm like vile blooms. Molag Bal stands atop a rocky platform to the north.

Maps

Exterior

The Vestibule and the Path of Woe

Seat of Tyranny

Gallery

• 

  The statue at the Vestibule's entrance

• 

  The way the Shattered Temple used to look

• 

  The Shattered Temple

• 

  The Blighted Causeway

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  The Blighted Causeway

• 

  The Blighted Causeway

• 

  The Blighted Causeway

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  The Broken Court

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  The Garden of Ruin

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  Killing an enemy with Divine power

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  Blocking with Divine light while empowered by the Amulet of Kings