I was so impatient to see Markarth, it was so beautiful in the trailers... and as I was approaching, a "Markarth guard" attacked me on sight! I run past him (not kill him) and the whole town is hostile by default, people, horses, dogs... what did I do wrong? I didn't kill anyone near Markarth.

You must have done something in that hold that was bad enough for them to just attack you on sight. Try hitting one, then putting your weapon away. That works for me most of the time, it triggers the surrender and they’ll go through they’re little talk about “You’re a bad person, time to pay”

This happen to me when I killed an imperial courier in the middle of nowhere. Guards are still psychic apparently.

Lots of gamers are in this predicament, haha. One of my characters probably has a bounty easily over 10k. Am playing it out with this character (not reverting to prior save) regardless of the consequences. It's only one city....wanna see where this all leads bug or no bug if I eventually have to kill every guard here.

What race are you?

If you're an Imperial you can run up to a guard, use voice of the emperor, and then talk to him about your crimes.

It's weird because I traveled from Whiterun to Markarth especially to see it the first time and I didn't kill people on the road. The first guard outside town starts shooting arrows at me, there's no dialogue option.

Yep. Sounds like you picked up a bounty of some sort in that town. :yes: Either that or you're a full blown vampire, got caught feasting on someone as a vampire, tried to stroll into town in full werewolf form, or someone in the town previously witnessed your transformation into a werewolf....

Check your cirme stats in the General menu to see what your crime rating is in that particular hold.

Either way, you're going to have to pay the bounty fine to clear your record. Keep in mind that the fines and ultimate penalties (jailtime and skill degradation) will be less severe If you're skilled in the art of persuation (eg bribing the guards) or a member of the Thieves Guild.

edit: I just reread what you posted here:


have you already sided with a faction in the civil war? If so, was it with the Stormcloaks? It suddenly occured to me that this might be the case. If so, then imperial faction which owns the city would naturally take offense to your person

They wont talk to you while theyre engaged in combat, but if you put away your weapons and use voice of the emperor they should talk to you.