Content

• To step
• Method 1 of 4: Prepare to get rid of a premium
• Method 2 of 4: Pay off the premium
• Method 3 of 4: Go to jail
• Method 4 of 4: Using your Thaneship
• Tips
• Warnings

This wikiHow shows you how to get rid of the prize on your head in one of Skyrim's Holds. There are three most common ways to get rid of a premium; pay him off, serve your prison sentence, or use your Thaneship to get rid of it.You can also kill any eyewitnesses or, if you are a member of the Thieves Guild, resort to bribery.

To step

Method 1 of 4: Prepare to get rid of a premium

1. Understand how to get a prize on your head. Committing a crime, however minor, in front of at least one person or domestic animal will put a bounty on your head. If a guard from the Hold where you committed the crime (s) catches you, he will stop you. At such a moment you have the opportunity to submit to the law, to try to talk yourself out or to defend yourself.
   • It is not advisable to fight because of the large number of guards that will attack you and many people will die (which in turn leads to a higher bounty).
2. Kill all eyewitnesses. If you just got a prize on your head, you may still have the option to kill all witnesses to the violation (including animals, bandits, and civilians).
   • Once you've left the Hold where you got the bounty, you can't kill the eyewitnesses to prevent this from happening.
   • Be careful not to make too much noise. If you kill a human eyewitness in full view of someone else, the result can be a snowball effect where your bounty goes up as you walk the streets killer.
3. Stop the guards' reaction to a crime just committed by you. If you have committed a crime in full view of a watchman, he can attack you. You can stop him by putting your weapon away.
   • This will not always work. If hiding your weapon doesn't stop the guards from attacking, you'll need to leave town and return to it at a later date.
4. Check the Hold where you have a prize on your head. You can find a list of Holds - with the bonuses you may have accumulated in the different Holds - in the menu:
   • Consoles - Click on Start (Xbox) or on Options (PlayStation), go to it GENERAL STATStab, scroll down to it CRIMEsection and view the bonuses you have accumulated in the different Holds.
   • PC - Open the menu, scroll to it GENERAL STATStab, scroll down to it CRIMEsection and view the bonuses you have accumulated in the different Holds.
5. Check the amount of your premium. There will be a number to the right of the name of each Hold; This is the amount, in gold pieces, that is on your head.
   • If you see a 0, you have not incurred a premium in the Hold in question.

Method 2 of 4: Pay off the premium

1. Make sure you have enough gold with you to pay off the premium. If you want to pay off the premium, make sure you have at least the right amount of gold with you.
   • If you plan to bribe the guards through your options as a member of the Thieves Guild, you will need additional gold.
2. Keep stolen goods safely away. As soon as you pay off a premium, all items you have stolen will be confiscated. To avoid having to steal the items back, you should put all the stolen items you have at home in a chest.
   • The names of stolen goods are in red and have "Stolen" in front of them, making them easy to find in your inventory.
3. Enter the Hold. Go to the city that has awarded a prize for your capture.
4. Find and talk to a guard. Once in town you must approach a guard (or wait for a guard to approach you).
   • In some cases, just entering the city will be enough for a guard to speak to you.
5. Make it clear that you want to pay off the premium. Select You caught me. I'll pay off my bounty. in the dialog box.
   • If you are a member of the Thieves Guild and have completed at least one Guild mission in the Hold where you have a bounty on your head, you have the option to opt for the Bribeoption. This will cost you more money than paying off your premium alone, but you will not lose the items you stole.
6. Let the guards frisk you. If your bounty exceeds 10 gold, you will be put in the local prison and any stolen items that you have not stored elsewhere will be confiscated by the guards. Your premium is also deducted from the amount of gold you have with you.
   • If you have bribed the guards, you will not lose any stolen items.

Method 3 of 4: Go to jail

1. Under what circumstances it is better to go to prison. Jail is an alternative for you if you don't want to pay off the premium. Unfortunately, while you are in jail, your progress to the next level of skill will be reduced.
2. Store stolen items somewhere. As soon as you pay off a premium, all stolen items that you have with you will be confiscated. To avoid having to steal them back, keep any stolen items you have with you in a chest at home.
   • Stolen items are preceded by the names of "Stolen", so you can easily find them again.
3. Enter the Hold. Go to the city that has put a prize on your head.
4. Find and talk to a guard. Once in town you must approach a guard (or wait for a guard to approach you).
   • In some cases, a guard will approach you as soon as you enter the city.
5. Indicate that you want to go to prison. Select the answer I submit. Take me to prison. when an answer is expected from you.
   • Going to prison does not require you to pay your bounty, but this choice will reduce your progression to the next level of certain skills.
6. Are you serving jail time or escaping. You can serve your prison sentence by sleeping in the bed in your cell. You do this by walking to the bed and clicking the indicated button. As soon as your character wakes up, his prison sentence is over.
   • If you want to escape from prison you have to crack the locks on your way. Stolen items will be in an evidence chest somewhere in jail; crack the lock on this chest to get those items back.
   • After your character wakes up, you will be led to the front of the prison building, you will get your belongings back (except the stolen property) and you will be released with no price on your head.
   • Successfully escaping prison does not limit your progress to the next level of certain skills.

Method 4 of 4: Using your Thaneship

1. Make sure you are the Thane in Hold where you have a prize on your head. If you have not yet completed the quests associated with obtaining your Thaneship in the Hold in question, you are not the Thane and this method will not work.
   • If you are the Thane, residents of the Hold in question will call you Thane in passing.
2. See if you can use being Thane as an excuse. Under the following conditions, they will turn a blind eye because you are the Thane:
   • Your bounty must be less than 3,000 gold pieces.
   • You shouldn't have used being Thane as an excuse before.
3. Enter the Hold. Go to the capital of the Hold in which you have a prize on your head.
4. Wait for a guard to speak to you. This should happen almost immediately, but you can speed up the process by speaking to one of the patrolling guards yourself.
5. Select the "Thane" answer. As soon as the guard tells you that you have a bounty open, you must select the following answer in the dialog box: I'm the Jarl's Thane. I demand you let me go at once..
6. Remember, you can only use this excuse once. If you are ever held again in the same hold because of a bounty, the excuse that you are the Thane will not be an available option in the dialog box.

Tips

• When you are put in the cell, you are stripped of all your weapons and pieces of armor, which are put in a chest that is in the part of the prison where the guards' quarters are; however, you will still be able to use your learned spells.
• Tied weapons (e.g. Bound Sword, Bound Ax and Bound Bow) are very useful when you are in prison without weapons.
• If you are a member of the thieves guild, the guards will take you to jail and search, but without taking the Skeleton Key from you. This makes escape a lot easier.

Warnings

• By serving your prison sentence, you lose progression to the next level of certain skills. The longer your imprisonment, the more progress you lose. Prison sentences longer than a week will make you lose progress to the next level of all skills.
• By escaping from prison you increase the price on your head.