I'm playing a two-hander, heavy armor, barbarian Orc. She just finished Sybil of Dibella and Agent of Mara and she finished Forsworn Conspiracy/Nobody escapes from Cihdna mine. She's also working through the Companion quest (just got Beast Power but nobody saw her transform, she hid in the underforge, and she's never used it since). Needless to say, there's a lot of travel among Riftin, Whiterun, Markarth and home (Windstad Manor).

She was walking across the plains to the west of Whiterun when a Thalmor patrol attacked her on sight. I checked, and she's got a 1000 bounty but I don't know why or from which hold. None of the guards in Markarth, Whiterun or Riftin are hostile to her on sight.

I'd like to clear the bounty (though it might be fun to wipe out some Thalmor patrols first) but other than just going to each major city and turning herself in, what can she do? I don't think there's a way to tell from your journal what crime you committed, is there? She has no assaults.

Thanks!

Are you certain it's an active bounty and not just your total? Your crime menu will list the Hold in which you have the bounty.

The Thalmor may sometimes attack on sight anyway.

To be honest, I'm not sure though I know there's a 'Total Lifetime Bounty' right? I think that's 1040 currently which seems right. Isn't there some sort of 'active' bounty listing? I'll have to double check but I know for certain there's no Hold listed. I was looking for that so I could figure out what to do.

The Thalmor group didn't have a prisoner, either. I have seen such groups fighting Stormcloaks in the wild but these guys were on their own.

I've never had a 1000 bounty before.

correct me if I am wrong, but attacking Thalmor that are Initially unhostile can result in a Bounty..

Have you been doing any "Elf Slaying" as of late?

No, no, no! I learned the danger of that practice ages ago.

Ther are a min of two listings...

Total Lifetime Bounty xxx

Largest Bounty xxx

Then, if you have a bounty in a hold it will be listed first, with the associated hold.

Rift Bounty xxx

Total Lifetime Bounty xxx

Largest Bounty xxx

If you only show the total and largest then you have no bounty. The Thalmor that attacked are the random hostiles that roam about. They have no prisoner. I'd bet you are looking at the "largest" bounty.

woo whoo! Mystery solved, thanks. Th

woo whoo! Mystery solved. I believe what you describe is what I saw - total and lifetime. There was no hold listed though I'll double check. But this begs the question - how did my PC incur and clear a 1000 bounty? I guess it doesn't matter.

Man, those hostile Thalmor are a bunch of jerks; they just murder Skyrim citizens in the wilderness for no reason and without warning?

Chances are you hit someone in a scuffle, by accident and they started attacking you. When you killed them, it listed the bounty and then removed it as you killed the last remaining witness.

Well, I'll tell you, that's not how I play, but it is totally possible. I recently got the Bloodskal blade which throws an energy bolt after a power attack and hit. It's kind of chaotic, the bolts are delayed and often miss the target and can hit others. There were several situations (the start of The Cursed Tribe comes to mind) where the blade ended up damaging an ally and things got messed up (couldn't start the quest) so I reverted. This must be an artifact from those do-overs.

Oh.. I was just throwing that out as an example. I have had followers use an AoE spell and aggro an ally, only to end up in a big fight against me. At that point, if you can't calm them then death is inevitable.

EDIT :

I mean, for whatever reason you had to have killed someone somewhere. And when you did, they were the last witness. I've also incurred this, by sniping an innocent from a great distance. Thinking they were the bad guy.

EDIT 2:

Oh.. I missed that part. If you did hit someone by accident and had to revert to a previous save. Then the incurred bounty would not be active in that save.

You get a 1000 bounty when you get thrown into Cidhna Mine. Because the guards blamed you for a murder you didn't commit. Work, work, work. When you escape, your new buddy clears things up for you, but the bounty remains on your record.

I completely spaced that!

After a point in the main quest,isn't there Thalmor Justicars that are random encounters that attack you on sight ?

They're not tied to any trigger. I've been attacked by them straight out of Helgen.

So that's how I got it and it cleared, thanks this helps. I'd never done that quest before so I didn't realize this was going on.

I haven't started the main quest! I think, however, the Thalmor were labeled Justicars. I'm not sure. Maybe they just start to patrol at a certain level? My PC was at 29 when it occurred. Regardless, just attacking and killing unarmed citizens is really out of line, it's essentially genecidal.

Justiciars are the official enforcers of the terms of the White-Gold Concordat, specifically enforcing the ban on the worship of http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Talos. They can be http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:World_Interactions#Thalmor_traveling_on_the_road wandering the countryside accompanied by Thalmor Warriors. You have the option of talking to them and discussing various topics. Telling them that you worship Talos, support freedom of religious belief, or lingering too long near one will provoke them into attacking you. They can either be http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Thalmor_Justiciar#Thalmor_Warriors or http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Thalmor_Justiciar#Thalmor_Wizards, and will be equipped as such.

That is true. However, I can testify, form an encounter as recently as Saturday, that there are a band of three Justicars ( no warriors ) that will AoS with no warning or choice of dialog. All without even starting the CW questline or visiting the Graybeards in the MQ.

So clearly, this was the random encounter and it has nothing to do with the 1000 bounty. The bounty was from the Cihdna mine quest. I still don't know why they were automatically hostile, there was no dialog. It was 2 or 3 in the morning near the road leading to Fort Graymoor. The PC had just finished the last section of the Book of Love quest at Gjukar's Monument and was walking back to Riftin.

Whatever the cause, this is yet another reason I can't believe people play dead-is-dead. I mean, you haven't done anything wrong in this situation but get killed anyway. Those guys are tough at level 29 on Master. I think the spell caster reduced my PC's 300ish health to almost zero with two shock spells.

Right - this is my scenario exactly. It doesn't help that this particular build has almost no magic resistance (pure fighter with only the Healing spell allowed). Also, no enchanting in this build so any destruction magic abatement apparel has to be part of loot. The end result, you get your butt handed to you in the middle of the night, you restart at the previous save and run waaaaaaaay the heck out of your way.