UESP Forums

Hi there.

I just started a new game (currently level 34) and I've encountered a weird bug/glitch.

I didn't want to adopt a child early in the game and avoided the Arretino boy. However, Dorthe's parents died in a dragon attack right after I purchased Breezehome, and I thought "What the h**l; I'll adopt her".

After I killed Astrid I went to Honorhall Orphanage to talk to Constance, and I was pretty surprised to see Dorthe there. Her dialogoue was "almost" normal; "Papa! You're back!" etc., but she would also say "Mama...." and "I hate it here!" The dialogue options were all normal; I could tell her to go home, do her chores, go to bed. When I told her to go home she said "Yes, Pa...", but she never went back to Breezehome. She is stuck in Honorhall.

I tried adopting Runa, no problem there, but when I came back to Breezehome both Runa and Dorthe were there. It seems like I have to adopt another child to get Dorthe back. Is there any way to fix this?

Before I forget; I have Nexus multiple adoptions installed.

Update:

I bought Vlindrel Hall in Markarth, went to Honorhall, told Dorthe that it was time to move. She came with me, but she would still (in Markarth) say things like "I hate it here. I... I wanna go home" and "Are you going to adopt one of us?". I told Lucia I could adopt her and she came with me to Markarth. Dorthe stopped complaining when Lucia came.

Argh, this "bugs" me...

Well, given that I haven't heard about anyone having this problem with standard Skyrim, and you have the Nexus Multiple Adoptions mod installed, it seems very likely that is the source of your bug! Especially if you installed it after adopting Dorthe!

Did you have enough room in Breezehome for a child? (i.e. you'd bought the Child's Bedroom instead of the Alchemy Lab?).

I'm not sure there's anything that anyone here can do, unless they happen to be familiar with that game mod. You could try uninstalling it to see if the game fixes itself, but obviously you should keep backups of your save in case the game simply breaks further. Also, I admit to being a total n00b about mods owing to playing on Xbox 360 - this is just what I've heard PC players suggest when people had problems with mods before.

This sounds like one of those built in vanilla Skyrim glitches that can't be fixed other than by starting a new game. Frustrating I know, been there done that over and over again.

I started the game after I installed the adoption mod, but the mod can of course still be the problem here.

Dorthe "works properly" after I adopt an additional child, so I don't think I'll start a new game. I would probably have done so at level 17, but not at level 34.

BTW, is Lemkil in Rorikstead some kind of protected NPC? He always survives dragon attacks, but it is easy to kill him with a bow. I wanted to adopt one of his daughters (Sissel), because she gets beatings from both her father and sister. But it seems like I have to kill him myself, since the dragons always fail. I wonder if this is some kind of joke from Bethesda; Lemkil is an anagram for "Kill Me".