The side quest In the Shadow of the Study has quite a few puzzles that you will have to go through in order to complete the quest and learn Crucio. You’ll have to use a few specific spells along with your big brain to succeed.
I’ll take you through a full walkthrough of In the Shadow of the Study.
Opening Slytherins Door
To open Slytherin’s door, you will need to light all three braziers using Confringo. There are two located right next to each other, and the other third brazier is down the other hallway. You will need to light them up together and quickly. If you don’t light them up quickly enough, they will extinguish.
Once they are all lit, you will be able to enter the door next to Ominis.
Deciphering Slytherin Locks
You will then be able to explore down the hallway and find Noctua’s note. Cast Reparo on the broken rubble and speak to Ominis about his ability to speak parseltongue and open the door.
He will then open the door to the next section.
Here you will notice Slytherin locks. These require you to match a specific combination of the two symbols. If you fail to match them properly, the snake will lunge at you and cause you to take damage.
Thankfully, the code to match the symbols is close by. Look at the door next to you for the correct symbols. You can reference the image to see what I mean.
There is a short amount of time before the snake lunges at you, and you will have to rely on your memory (or a picture) to enter the correct symbols.
The first door will open up once you have put the proper symbols in. You can go through the door and collect another one of Noctua’s notes.
Right next to the note is another Slytherin lock. This one is connected to a door symbol you can’t access yet. Leave the room and go to the door that you have to crawl under. There will be another Slytherin lock to open.
The image above has the symbols you need to open the next Slytherin lock. Enter the symbols and go through the door to collect the next note from Noctua.
There will be other things in this door as well, including a chest for some gear.
Once that’s all done, you’ll have to head back into the first room you unlocked and enter the symbols from the final door. The image below has the symbols.
Proceed through the door and collect the final horrifying note left by Noctua.
The only way out is to cast the Crucio curse on someone. You will have to speak to Sebastian and Ominis to continue.
How To Learn Crucio in Hogwarts Legacy
After exhausting the option of having Ominis cast the Cruciatus Curse, you will have to talk to Sebastian Sallow again. He will inform you that he does know the spell and can cast it to save all your lives.
It is here where you will have the option to learn this unforgivable curse. Unlike most other spells, you don’t actually need to learn Crucio. These spells are considered unforgivable and are not required to do any missions. Instead, this choice can help you become a dark wizard.
If you choose the first option, “I don’t want to learn the Curciatus Curse,” you won’t learn the spell. If you choose the second or third option, you will learn the spell.
The main difference between the two other options is whether or not you want it to be cast on you or on Sebastian.
Should you cast Crucio on Sebastian or Yourself?
If you were to cast Crucio on Sebastian, he would go through excruciating pain. After the spell is complete and you escape the trap, Sebastian will say, “That pain – I would’ve done anything to make it stop, but I’ll survive. Let’s keep moving.”
Likewise, if you were to allow Sebastian to cast it on you, you would go through an extremely similar process. The quote almost being the same.
In the end, the choice doesn’t make much of a difference. Although, what heartless monster would let Sebastian go through that?
Search the Slytherin Scriptorium
After going through the now unlocked door, walk forward, and you will enter the Scriptorium. On the desk in front of you will be the Slytherin Spellbook. Pick it up.
Note: there is also a field guide page there as well. Use Revelio to reveal it.
Give the book to Sebastian to look at.
After a short conversation, you can leave the room and complete the quest.
There is a note at the back near the exit that reveals a little bit too much of how, um, wizardist(?) Salazar Slytherin was. Referencing the basilisk he put in the school, that would be awakened by someone who shared his view on “pure” blooded wizards. Interesting read.
Maybe Slytherin has a bit of a rough past.
Anyway, that’s it for this walkthrough. Hope it helped!
