Ahtar in Solitude is supposed to give you a quest to kill a bandit leader, after which he can become your follower, I talked to him and he doesnt give the quest however, i have not completed the lights out quest, so whats the problem?

Sort of a bump, since I have the exact same issue and I see no responses to this post.

I have accepted but not attended to the Lights Out! quest, and I have completed all the other Solitude quests. I have never been to Broken Oar Grotto, so presumably the bandit leader therein is still alive. Yet when I approach Ahtar, he has no dialogue option to trigger his quest. I want the completionist aesthetic, but I also plan to take his axe once he's a willing follower.

Anyone with a console command or workaround to trigger his (radiant) quest?

Thanks!

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Ahtar

They mention a couple things which may lead him to not offer you the quest in question.

Their site was the first place I checked. Like I stated, I haven't been to Broken Grotto, completed Lights Out!, or killed Captain Hargar. My only guess is that possibly merely accepting Lights Out! may cause the conflict, but I have no confirmation of this.

It says even by hearing about broken oar can break it, so accepting a bounty from falkreath or the tavern owners, you don't necessarily have to even complete it or go there.

Ugh...

How the heck do you circumvent that?!

Thanks for the replies, man.

I think you have to have foreknowledge to avoid taking the quest or speaking with those who will tell you about it, which is a shame for those who only have their first playthrough and don't want to spoil things by resorting to wiki.

sometimes if you have other "go and kill a bandit leader" quests, you cant get any more of the same kind.

Yeah, if you have another "kill the bandit leader" quest you have to finish that one first. I had one from the guy in Windhelm I had to finish before I could recruit Ahtar.

By way of follow-up...

I have no pending "kill the bandit leader" quests, finally wrapped up Lights Out! and killed Capt Hargar. Figured I'd try one more time with Ahtar. I tried talking to him in his home, on the street, and in the dungeon - all to no avail. The only difference I noticed is that I had a dialogue to tell him I took care of the Blackblood Marauders, and he offered a thankful response. Still no option to follow, nor can you pickpocket his axe (which makes sense, given it's size and the fact it's his equipped weapon).

Oh, well. If a new fix comes to light, especially with the CK being released, hopefully someone will post it.

Thanks for all responses.