The Legend of Red Eagle ( Quest ) The Legend of Red Eagle is a quest available in . Overview . Red Eagle was a hero of The Reach who refused to yield when Hestra came to conquer . He made a deal with a hagraven , in which he sacrificed his humanity in exchange for success against the Imperial invaders . His spirit lives on in a tomb south of Karthspire , where he waits for his sword to be returned so that he can lead his people again . In this quest , the Dragonborn is tasked with returning the sword , then fighting him . It begins with a miscellaneous quest to " Find Red Eagle ' s Sword . " It can be obtained repeatedly , simply by reading " The Legend of Red Eagle " . It may be completed multiple times , but the Dragonborn will only face Red Eagle himself once . Detailed walkthrough . Head to Red Eagle Redoubt . The cave entrance is labelled on the map as " Red Eagle Redoubt . " The cave entrance leads to a tunnel , where several Forsworn are found . Down the cave path are three Forsworn near the beginning of the cave . There may be two or three more as the Dragonborn proceeds . There is a chest hidden underneath the stairs about halfway to the top . After the enemies are defeated , the quest continues at the iron doorway to Red Eagle ' s Ascent . This doorway exits to a series of stairways on the outside of the mountain . Exit to Red Eagle ' s Ascent . On the Ascent , the Dragonborn will be attacked by two more Forsworn . Afterwards , following the side of the mountain to the right will lead to the Sundered Towers ( to the left are a Forsworn mage along with several more Forsworn ) . Climbing the mountain ( easy enough to do by using some stamina and jumping in the right spots ) will lead to another Forsworn mage in a tent who will summon a frost atronach . Four to six more Forsworn come out to help her , but they can be taken down easy if she is finished off first . Defeat the Forsworn Briarheart . At the entrance to the Sundered Towers is a Forsworn Briarheart wielding Red Eagle ' s Fury and carrying the Red Eagle Tower Key . Take both items . There are no more Forsworn to be found in the tower . On to Rebel ' s Cairn . Rebel ' s Cairn can be reached by climbing Red Eagle Tower , then dropping the drawbridge by pulling the chain , crossing to the other tower , going down and through the iron door with the door bar , and then going across the fields . This is easiest done by following the quest marker . Once inside , Red Eagle ' s Fury will open the cave wall . Down the tunnel is a fight with Red Eagle . Fight Red Eagle . Upon stepping on the seal on the floor , Red Eagle will awake and summon four Skeleton archers when he gets out of his coffin . The archers do not have to be killed — they will automatically collapse a few seconds after Red Eagle is slain . Strategies to Defeat Red Eagle . Before stepping on the seal , setting out a Fire Rune spell in the center of the last set of stairs ( the one Red Eagle will come down first ) will cause him great damage when he awakes . Running back up to where the cave wall was opened will avoid damage to the Dragonborn . With a follower , Barbas , and a summoned Flame Atronach , the easiest way to defeat Red Eagle is to let them do all the work . It is possible to just watch from where the wall was opened . The Dragonborn ' s team will take out the skeletons first and then start working on Red Eagle . The spell can be re - cast every time the Flame Atronach dies . By this time Red Eagle should be at least half way dead . He can be finished off at that point . Another way to fight Red Eagle with little risk is to have a follower good at fighting while possessing high sneaking and good archery abilities . Having the Power Shot perk is useful as each shot has a 50 % chance of staggering Red Eagle for a couple seconds . Sneaking into the room , awakening Red Eagle , and shooting arrows at him while pulling back will start off the damage to him . The follower will likely charge into combat , and Red Eagle and the skeletons will target the follower since they cannot find the Dragonborn . Shooting arrows at Red Eagle while he fights the follower will continue to hurt him . At some point , Red Eagle is likely to critically hurt the follower , who will go down to one knee . Red Eagle and the skeletons won ' t finish him off but instead start looking around for the Dragonborn . He can continue to be shot until he dies . Even if he spots the Dragonborn and starts toward them , he should be almost dead by this point , and using the Unrelenting Force shout will push him away . Once Red Eagle is Dead . However Red Eagle is killed , once he has been finished off , the Honed Ancient Nord Greatsword of Burning can be looted from his corpse . Behind his coffin there is a chest and some shelves containing loot . This chest is also one of the possible locations for the quest item needed for " Shalidor ' s Insights . " On the way out , Red Eagle ' s sword can be retrieved from the pedestal that opened Red Eagle ' s tomb . The weapon has transformed from Red Eagle ' s Fury to become Red Eagle ' s Bane . It is no longer a quest item .