Xbox 360 Can't find Aela or join the Companions (bug)

[jab0]

In "Take Up Arms" Vilkas wants you to bring a shield to Aela. My quest pointer leads to Jorrvaskr, where she is not, and when you enter the building the quest pointer moves to an area outside Whiterun near some giants. When you leave Whiterun the pointer is back on Jorrvaskr, and so back and forth like that.

She is not in either of these places, yes I'm certain. Also, I never encountered the Companions fighting a giant at the farm outside Whiterun as most of the guides say. I simply entered Whiterun and randomly went into Jorrvaskr to start the quest. Maybe that has something to do with it?

Does anyone know where Aela might be hiding or a way to fix the glitch? I've played to level 35 since starting that quest in the beginning and haven't seen Aela anywhere. Only solution I've seen is using the command line on the PC version.

 

[SirMackingtosh]

The only idea I have is to go to Pelgia (not sure of the spelling) Farm right outside of Whiterun. She might be there waiting to talk to you. If not, try waiting in the feasting hall for long periods. I think all of the companions pass through there.

 

[Dagmar]

This sounds very similar to a bug associated with some Solitude quests. This solution may or may not work but if it does work for anyone who encounters this bug please post back here to let us know. Your first step is to glitch under Whiterun. As a precaution you should make a dedicated saved game before trying this. Go to the Gray-Mane house and face the south side exterior wall of the house:

Running against the wall will cause a physics glitch that drops you under Whiterun which will look something like this:

Now turn northwards lined up at the Hall of the Dead like so:

Go forward until you're underneath the start of the steps up to the Hall of the Dead and turn a bit westward and you can see a gap in the city wall right where my crosshair is lined up:

Go towards the gap in the wall. You'll notice that you are rising towards above ground Whiterun but don't worry you'll drop down before you get to the gap in the wall:

Exit Whiterun and you'll find that the outside looks a bit different:

From there follow your quest marker. Hopefully it will take you to Aela in the land of underneath Whiterun Hold and you can give her her shield to complete the quest. You can get out of underneath Whiterun Hold by fast traveling anywhere.

 

[Valgrimm]

This works. Glitch under Whiterun and head to where Aela is. Punch her and lead her to somewhere you think will be accessible when you reload and all of the environment loads. Yield to her and fast travel to a nearby location. With any luck, Aela with be walking back to Jorvasskr, so big thanks to Dagmar.

 

[Imperial765]

I had to do the above "underground" glitch twice before Aela gave the dialogue about Farkas showing you around. Then the quest updated, so I fast travelled to Whiterun and entered Jorvasskr and the bug was complete fixed. So glad I found this post, it's a game saver for me!

 

[FegoryGrenn]

This sounds very similar to a bug associated with some Solitude quests. This solution may or may not work but if it does work for anyone who encounters this bug please post back here to let us know. Your first step is to glitch under Whiterun. As a precaution you should make a dedicated saved game before trying this. Go to the Gray-Mane house and face the south side exterior wall of the house:

Running against the wall will cause a physics glitch that drops you under Whiterun which will look something like this:

Now turn northwards lined up at the Hall of the Dead like so:

Go forward until you're underneath the start of the steps up to the Hall of the Dead and turn a bit westward and you can see a gap in the city wall right where my crosshair is lined up:

Go towards the gap in the wall. You'll notice that you are rising towards above ground Whiterun but don't worry you'll drop down before you get to the gap in the wall:

Exit Whiterun and you'll find that the outside looks a bit different:

From there follow your quest marker. Hopefully it will take you to Aela in the land of underneath Whiterun Hold and you can give her her shield to complete the quest. You can get out of underneath Whiterun Hold by fast traveling anywhere.

This helped me a lot I was stuck on "Bring Aela her shield".

Thank you. Just waiting for Aela to finish being busy, then she had a weird conversation with me about whether I could win a fight. Say yes etc. Then she says something about finding where the yelps live. I then went back towards Whiterun while still in the glitch world (use the map, you head east basically). The task completed as I got near and I then was on the "Follow Farkas to your quarters". When this happens, I recommend you fast-travel to the real world, e.g Dragonsreach and then continue as normal. The quest arrow should lead you back to Jorrvastr.