How to Join the Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim

Quest 'Innocence Lost'

Get a miscellaneous quest called 'Talk to Aventus Aretino'. This quest will be added to the journey after you talk to the NPC, who will tell you about Aventus - a guy in Windhelm who tried to summon the Dark Brotherhood. There are a few different ways to start this quest.

Talk continuously with the city guards.

Talk to the inn or tavern keeper and ask if they've heard any rumors.

Talk to orphans at the Honorhall Orphanage orphanage in the city of Riften.

Set 'Talk to Aventus Aretino' as your current quest. This will show the target on the compass and help you find him more easily. Under the Miscellaneous section of your quest log, highlight and select 'Talk to Aventus Aretino'.

Go to Aventus' house in Windhelm. You will have to break the lock on the house (Novice level only). Here are a few options for migration.

Walking is the most adventurous and you can find alchemical ingredients along the way.

Outside of most major cities, you can buy horses to get around faster.

Buy a seat in the back of a carriage, usually found in the same place where you buy your horse.

You can also fast travel to Windhelm if you've been there before.

Talk to Aventus. He will give the quest to kill Grelod the Kind in Honorhall Orphanage.

Go to the Honorhall Orphanage in Riften. You can move there by any of the methods in step 3.

Kill Grelod the Kind.

If you kill her while in the camp, the orphans will cheer you on.

As long as you don't attack anyone else in the orphanage, killing Grelod is not a crime.

Return to Aventus' house and tell him the good news. After one to three days (in-game time), the postman will bring you a short letter. The content will simply be: 'We know.' (We know), above it is a black hand - the symbol of the Dark Brotherhood.

Sleep on the bed. You can sleep on any bed available in the game. After waking up, you will find yourself in an abandoned house with Astrid - leader of the Dark Brotherhood - and three tied prisoners.

If you are not transported to the abandoned house, wait a few days in the game and sleep again.

Mission 'With Friends Like These…'

Talk to Astrid, who will ask you to kill one of the prisoners. You can kill one, two or all three of them.

You can talk to the prisoners and listen to their stories.

Kill anyone you think deserves to die. Your decisions do not affect in-game interactions.

Talk to Astrid. After congratulating you and commenting on your decision to choose a prisoner to kill, Astrid will instruct you on how to meet her at the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary.

Go to Sanctuary, where you will be initiated into the Dark Brotherhood.

From now on you can accept assassination deals for money (usually a few hundred gold coins).