Lucan Valerius, Proprietor of the Riverwood Trader, Riverwood, Whiterun Hold.
Tell me about the first time you saw the Last Dragonborn.
Ah, yes, that would have been...25th of Last seed, 201, I think. A week after that dragon destroyed Helgen. We recently had a robbery and my sister Camilla and I were arguing about what should be done. She wanted to go after the thief, and I thought that was a damn foolish idea that would get her killed. And then Odvild walked in the door.
I guess my first impression of her was incredibly underwhelming. She was wearing a cobbled together mess of Imperial and Stormcloak armor, looked like she hadn't slept for a fortnight. She also seemed like she was having pain in her knees and elbows. From the number of wolf pelts on her back I suspected she had contracted rockjoint and was trying to work through it rather than resting it off or asking for help. Otherwise, she looked like an ordinary Nord woman, not too tall, dirty blond hair, blue eyes.
She asked if she could sit down a moment and of course, I offered her a chair and a bit of soup. I said, "You look like you've been through Oblivion and back!" And then Odvild told us of the dragon attack on Helgen, the first we knew about it. A boy had been running around the previous week claiming he saw a dragon fly over, and until that moment I thought it was pure foolishness. No longer. She said she had escaped with her life, that the blacksmith's son had helped her escape, and that she was staying with him at his house for the time being. She said she had only a few septims from helping in the lumber mills, that she was hoping to sell some pelts and get back on her feet.
And then she asked me the strangest question. She asked, "Do you happen to have any spell books?" Of course, I had no idea I was speaking to the future archmage! I thought, a Nord mage? Most of the locals are so afraid of any magic besides alchemy, not like in Cyrodiil. Besides, she didn't look at all scholarly enough to learn them. But I had a few laying around, so I showed her and she asked if the pelts would be enough of a trade for them. Well, to be honest I was happy to be rid of them, so I traded her the lot. The pelts at least I could sell to Alvor or trade down to Whiterun. After the business was done she relaxed a bit. I asked, "So, are you with the Legion or the Stormcloaks?" In that moment, all the the tension came back into her, like she was ready for a fight. I said, "No no, it's fine, Whiterun Hold is neutral territory! I was only curious." She relaxed again and said that when she fled Helgen she took what she could get for protection, and that she was glad to have it when the wolves attacked on the road. I didn't know until later that she and Alvor's boy fought their way out of Helgen through a score of Stormcloaks.
It was at this point that she started to fall asleep where she was sitting. It wasn't even midday. I guess I felt sorry for her, so I offered to pull out a rug and let her sleep in front of the fire for a while. She declined and said a chair would suit her well enough. I just didn't want her to fall asleep halfway back to Alvor's house. If she was a friend of their clan, then I'd never hear the end of it were she hurt. In any case, she drifted off, and my sister and I started talking about the thief again. Well, she woke up and asked about the theft. I told her about the golden claw. [Here Lucan set the claw down before me. It is clearly of a different era and cast entirely in gold in the shape of a dragon's claw, same as the description from the biography.] Said that a thief came in the night and took it, and only it. I've had the claw ever since we moved to Riverwood 40 years ago. We found it while digging the foundation for the store. It was a luck charm, still is, and a symbol of the Riverwood Trader. I told her that the thief ran off in the direction of the Bleak Falls Barrow, up the mountain.
Well, she had this gleam in her eyes. I recognize it now for what it is, excitement. She said that she'd go reclaim the claw for us, and I could hardly believe it! She left the shop, and a month went by until we saw her again. She walked in with a bag of ancient Nord weapons and tomb goods and the golden claw in her hand. She also looked in much better health, better rested, no longer sick. She said that the thief was fast but he wouldn't be bothering us anymore. It wasn't until I had read the biography that I learned she had cleared Bleak Falls Barrow of zombies and bandits in the process and that the claw was a key to a special door. I thought she had just caught up to him on the mountain slope!
Soon after that she moved out of Alvor and Sigrid's and into the Sleeping Giant. She would come in every now and then with old armor and weapons and various other trinkets. I tried to tell her that I'd take anything she brought me but there wasn't much call for it so I couldn't pay much. Most Nords won't even look at ancient tomb goods, even gold or siver ones, without making the sign against the evil eye. I said, "Odvild, you should really take this ancient stuff to Whiterun and trade it to a major caravan", and she would always tell me, "Lucan, I'd rather drop it here with you for nothing than haul it down to Whiterun to trade it, or worse, sell it to that greasy Breton."
Eventually she moved out of Riverwood and down into Whiterun, got married. I didn't see much of her after that, but I always enjoyed a visit. We heard about her adventures of course, and read the biography.
Did she visit at all before her disappearance?
Yes, actually. About a half year before she was believed missing. This was long after the war. She said she had some unfinished business in Markarth, something about going back down into the Blackreach. I told her to be careful. Never heard from her after.
What do you think happened to her?
She died, probably. I don't really want to think about it. I'm not a follower of the Nord ways, but I'd like to think she completed her mission and was taken up into Soverngard like the Nords believe. A much more fitting end than, well...I'd prefer to talk about something else.
What was your general impression of the Last Dragonborn?
Odvild was...many things. She was certainly strong, and courageous. But she was also simple and single-minded. She would get it in her head to do something and nothing could persuade her otherwise! It was always just like with the claw. There would be a dragon attack, or vampires, or sightings of ghosts or ghouls from a tomb, or some great staging in the war and she would rush off to help. She was always helping, and always asking for so little. She saved Riverwood from at least three dragon attacks in my memory, she saved my life directly more than once, my sister's life several more times, fool that she is. And don't listen to those people in the cities who say she was nothing but a liar and a thief that didn't care about anything but power and money. She had a heart of gold, purer than this claw. After the war when things started to settle down I wrote her into my will, said, if something happens to me and Camilla and her son doesn't want it, then Odvild could have the Riverwood Trader. Even if she didn't run it, I knew it would be in good hands. But now...I know at least her wife and daughter are alright. They came with Odvild to visit when Lucia was of age, hiked up to Bleak Falls Barrow and went out to the rebuilding effort in Helgen. Odvild was very happy with them but family life was never enough, she was always looking for the next adventure, which I suppose was the end of her...I'm sorry, I don't feel like talking anymore.
[Lucan refused to comment further.]