Dragon souls and shout words issue.

[metal_and_blood]

I recently picked up fire breath shout ( i forgot where i found it, think it was the quest to get the shard of the Companions legendary axe.) as well as the entire three word combo for throwing your voice shout when i stumbled on one of the wooden masks protected by a dragon. It seems abosrbing that dragon's soul didn't activate fire breath, nor did killing two dragons after in the wild activate it or the voice throw shout. Could it be because I picked those up before going to high hrothgar and finishing that quest and am just screwed? Is it maybe a bug because its on xbox360? Am I just a noob and missing something altogether?

 

[Rayven]

You need to spend a soul to activate each word of the shout if you don't specifically have someone "share the knowledge of the word" with you.

Go into your magic menu just like you were going to assign a shout to your quick key. I'm not sure the exact combo on an Xbox. On the list on the right, scroll down to "Shouts" and select that. Then you should see the shout list. Some may be greyed out, so to speak. Some may be white but if you just hold the cursor on them, you'll see not every word has been activated. For those and the greyed out ones, check on the bottom of the screen when they are highlighted, about a third from the left and you should see it pop up to unlock the shout (with whatever key is appropriate on the Xbox). You'll get a confirmation to "Spend soul?" The amount of souls you have available should be on the lower right of this screen.

Welcome to the forums!

 

[metal_and_blood]

Ok, I checked that, and its telling me it requires three dragon souls, I know I've killed at least two since learning those words. Does this mean I need to find and slay another dragon? I've looked in my inventory and i have only common and lesser soul gems, and dragon bones. I know I probably sound like a huge noob, but considering I've only had the game for about a week and have just been screwing around on my own, technically I am, lol.

 

[Rayven]

No worries about sounding like a newbie. None of us were born knowing how to play the game.

To unlock the shouts, you don't need soul gems or bones and such in your inventory. It's a totally separate thing. It operates more like a spell. The only component you need is one dragon soul to spend. How many souls does it say you have in the lower right of your screen? Have you gone to High Hrothgar yet?

 

[metal_and_blood]

I figured it out, it was showing I had 3 dragon souls, I thought it meant I needed three to unlock something.
Thank you, I have that part down now at least.

 

[Rayven]

You're welcome. I'm glad it's all worked out. Let us know if you need further help!