I encountered a rather strange but somewhat convincing glitch, maybe, that happened in Solitude.

When I entered Solitude to head to the Blue Palace, nothing strange had happened then. I was going to Folk Firebeard to start a quest and then head off to where I needed to go after that. After passing under the bridge-like structure that seperates the homes of Solitude from the markets, I ended up being targeted by four to five Solitude guards. I never stole anything in plain sight where anybody can call the guards and I didn't attack anybody before they started attacking. Funny thing about this was that these Solitude guards where attacking me while one guard was just standing at the main door to exit Solitude like it was nothing. I didn't want to fight them, so I took off.

I returned to Solitude after I completed the quest hoping they weren't waiting for me. When I entered Solitude, everything was fine, but when I entered the Blue Palace, four to five Solitude guards started attacking me again. I was hoping to claim my reward from Folk Firebeard in the middle of it and suprisingly I did. After I did talk to Firebeard, I was about to leave...when I noticed Jarl Elisif, her armored bodyguard, Firebeard, and a couple others attacking the guards!

Other people in the palace just ran away while the fight was going on. Not every guard in the palace was in the fight. Again, there was that one guard that stood in one place like it was nothing! I didn't want to attack the guards if I wasn't a criminal, so I provided assistance to the good fighters by healing them using restoration spells. They eventually won and I wasn't anyones enemy after that.

I was sure that this was a glitch, but for some reason, I wanted to talk to Firebeard to see if everything was alright. I noticed he had some extra dialogue and I chose "What is wrong with the Jarl?." He replied by saying that the Jarl was scared that assassins might be after her, so she locked herself in her room. When I walked upstairs to talk to Firebeard about what happened during the quest while being attacked, I noticed that Elisif wasn't there, until she came from somewhere with a greatsword in her hands.

Could those guards have been assasins?

Could it be a coincedence?

This was somewhat fun and suprising to me. Has anyone had something like this happen to them or similar?

The guards might be assassins. Something you should know, though, is that what you're describing is part of a cut content quest actually. You must have a mod, or some improbable glitch, that re-enables the quest.

I thought I would actually be doing a bit of guarding or start another quest when I selected "Sounds like she could use a bodyguard. I could do that." but nothing was added to my quest journal. I was playing the 360 version of Skyrim when this happened.

Have you by any chance completed the "Gourmet/poisoning" part of the DB quest line? I had some strange guard behaviour in Solitude after that myself.

I've had a similar glitch in Whiterun. No bounty, enter the city, nothing happens.

Go into Dragonsreach and all hell breaks loose! Balgruuf, Proventus, Irileth and Farangar attack.

Run out into the city and the guards don't turn a hair!