Skyrim:Hern

Hern (RefID: 0001982E)
Location	Falkreath Hold
House	Half-Moon Mill
Race	Nord	Gender	Male
Level	10	Class	Lumberjack
RefID	0001982E	BaseID	0001367B
Other Information
Health	225	Magicka	80
Stamina	80
Primary Skills	Smithing, Two-handed, Alchemy, Enchanting, One-handed
Race Details	Vampire, Undead
Morality	Any Crime	Aggression	Unaggressive
Voice Type	MaleCommonerAccented
Faction(s)	CrimeFactionFalkreath; FavorExcludedFaction; HalfMoonMillFaction; JobLumberjackFaction; TownHalfMoonMillFaction

Hern

Hern is a Nord lumberjack who owns and operates the Half-Moon Mill with his wife, Hert. He is one of the targets of the Dark Brotherhood, and will not appear until the quest to kill him is started.

Hern wakes up at 8am and immediately heads to the mill to work until 7pm, only having a small break to eat at 6pm. The remaining hours of the day he will spend just wandering around the mill until midnight, when he will have a last meal before going to bed.

He wears a set of scaled horn armor with matching boots. He also carries a steel war axe, a key to the millhouse and a selection of lower-class items and gold.

Related Quests

• Kill Hern: Kill Hern, a reclusive vampire.

Quest-Related Events

Kill Hern

Like with most targets of the Dark Brotherhood, you may also have a word with Hern before killing him. When you approach him, he will greet you very eerily with the words:

"Well now. What have we here? A lost little lamb?"

Topic	Dialogue	Response
Assassin versus vampire. A fight for the ages.	"Ah, so the Brotherhood has come for old Hern, has it? Well then, let us meet as equals."	Turns hostile
I know what you are, nightspawn.	"Well then, you won't be leaving here alive!"	Turns hostile
(Remain Silent)	"Hmph. Don't say much, but there's a strange aura about you. You walk in the shadow of death... Leave here. Leave here and never return."	Walks away

If you walk away instead, approaching him again will have him warn you:

"You really don't want to be loitering here, stranger."

Unused Dialogue

Hern was supposed to have some eerie greetings similar to his wife if you talked to him outside the related quest. However, since he only spawns during said quest, this dialogue will never be heard:

"Oh my, a guest!"

"Please, make yourself at home!"

"Lone travelers can find these woods a little treacherous."

"We've been looking for someone to join us in a hunt."

Gallery

• 

  Without Dawnguard installed

Notes

• In the base game, Hern's design appears to be unfinished, as his face complexion, hair color, as well as his eye, nose, and mouth shapes are all marked as "default", rather than getting customized.
  • With the Dawnguard add-on installed, Hern's appearance gets slightly altered, getting a normal complexion, and dark blond hair, as the default setting made his hair a dark black originally. He also gets a new nose shape, but his mouth and eye shape retain their default setting. He now also uses a different eye texture.
• Even though Hern is a vampire himself, he will still become hostile towards you if you are a blood-starved vampire.

Bugs

• Hern never sleeps because the only available bed is incorrectly owned by RiverwoodSvensHouseFaction.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 2.1.2, fixes this bug.
• Neither Hern or Hert have any vampiric spells or abilities.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch, version 3.0.7, fixes this bug.
• Hert has both her own plus Hern's work schedules, so they interfere trying to run the sawmill.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch, version 4.1.8, addresses this issue. Only Hert has the ability to buy and sell, so she must run the sawmill. Move the HertChopping package to Hern instead, and remove his HernSawmill packages.