Hey gamers, how's everyone doing? Hope you're all doing great! My adventure in Hogwarts Legacy continues and this time we're heading somewhere that already sounds dangerous just by its name — the Forbidden Forest. If you remember from the last post, after everything went down in the grotto with Apollonia Black's private hideout, we ran into the ghost of Richard Jackdaw. This guy sold the Black family ring that poor Scrope was desperately hoping to recover, which meant delivering some pretty bad news to the little elf. But Jackdaw didn't leave us completely empty-handed. He told us he knows where the missing pages from the book we found for Professor Fig are — they're somewhere in the cave where he died, deep inside the Forbidden Forest. And he promised to meet us at the forest's edge and guide us there himself. So here we are. Quest is called Jackdaw's Rest, and let me tell you gamers, this one is a serious adventure.
Before you head out, make sure your spell bar is fully loaded and that you have Incendio equipped without fail. You're going to need it more than almost any other spell in this quest. If you have Wiggenweld Potions stocked up, even better. This is one of the longer and more combat-heavy quests in the game up to this point, so going in underprepared is a recipe for a lot of frustration. You've been warned.
Following Richard Into the Forest
So you arrive at the edge of the Forbidden Forest at night — Jackdaw apparently prefers the nighttime, which makes complete sense for a ghost — and there he is, waiting by a large tree just where he said he'd be. You talk to him and then the follow-along section begins. Following Jackdaw through the forest is a slow, atmospheric walk and there's something genuinely eerie about trailing a decapitated ghost through dark trees at night. The forest itself looks incredible in this game — all dense fog, twisted roots, and that green ambient light filtering through the canopy. Avalanche Software really nailed the look and feel of what the Forbidden Forest should be.
As you follow Jackdaw, keep an eye out for a new Floo Flame in the East North Hogwarts Region — you'll pass right by it and you'll want to activate it so you have a fast travel point in case you need to come back. But here's the thing about Jackdaw: at a certain point he stops and decides he's gone far enough. He doesn't want to go any deeper because the cave where he died is exactly where he lost his head — literally — and apparently that's just a bit too much to handle even as a ghost. Fair enough, honestly. So he gives you the password you'll need to enter the cave — "intra muros" — tells you to look for a stone birdbath near his grave, and leaves you on your own from there. Classic Jackdaw. Gets you halfway there and then chickens out.
The First Encounter: Goblins and Then Spiders — So Many Spiders
You continue through the forest on your own following the quest markers, and the first real fight of the quest actually isn't spiders — it's Ranrok's goblin loyalists. You find Jackdaw's grave next to a glowing lake, approach the stone birdbath, whisper the password, and boom — ambush. A group of goblins swarms you right at the entrance to the tomb. These guys can hit hard especially in groups, so use everything you've got — Expelliarmus to disarm them, Levioso to break shields, Incendio for the ones with red magical barriers. Once you clear them out you can actually breathe for a second and enter Jackdaw's Tomb properly.
And then the spiders begin. Oh boy, the spiders. This tomb is absolutely infested with Thornback Spiders of all sizes — Scurriours, Shooters, Hatchlings, and later even Matriarchs. The first thing you'll run into inside is a locked door sealed with three rune switches that you need to hit with Basic Cast quickly to open. It's a mechanic the game introduces here as a sort of tutorial, but the later versions of this same puzzle get significantly trickier with the runes hidden in less obvious spots. Once you crack the first door, part of a stone bridge snaps into place and you push forward. There are webs blocking passages throughout these tunnels and Incendio is the fastest and most satisfying way to deal with them — burn the web, kill whatever spider comes out of it, move on. It becomes a rhythm pretty quickly.
My honest recommendation for this section: do not try to conserve spells. Go all in with Incendio at every spider encounter because these things are genuinely resilient for what they are, and they have a nasty habit of spawning behind you when you're not looking. Keep rotating, keep burning, and keep an eye on your minimap for the red indicators showing enemies coming from unexpected directions. Some of the Thornback Shooters will hang back and pelt you from a distance while the Scurriours rush you up close, so try to deal with the ranged ones first whenever possible.
Investigating the Cave Where Richard Jackdaw Died
As you push deeper into the tomb, the dungeon opens up considerably and it stops feeling like just a tunnel crawl. There are platforming sections where you need to use Accio to pull floating platforms toward you and chain together jumps across gaps — genuinely satisfying to figure out and navigate. There are hidden paths off the main route that contain chests with loot and extra resources, so if you're the type who likes to explore thoroughly rather than rushing the main objective, this place rewards that playstyle generously. I grabbed every chest I could find and came out of there with a solid haul of gear and gold.
The rune door puzzles also escalate nicely as you go deeper. The first one basically holds your hand and shows you exactly where the three runes are. The second one has them a bit more spread out and one is tucked underneath the path you just crossed — you won't see it unless you look. The third one has a rune hidden around a corner behind the gate itself, which trips up a lot of people. The key is to always activate your Revelio before approaching any locked gate because it highlights the rune positions even when they're out of line of sight. Once you get all three, another section of the ancient bridge snaps together and you move forward.
The cave itself has this incredible visual design that really communicates how old and forgotten this place is — stone columns half collapsed, water dripping everywhere, ancient magic still buzzing in the walls. You can feel why Jackdaw got in way over his head following that map in here. This was clearly never meant to be found by a regular student looking to impress a girl.
Still Haven't Found the Pages — But We're Close
After all the spider fights, all the rune doors, all the platform puzzles, and all the exploring, you finally reach the chamber where Richard Jackdaw's remains are supposed to be. And this is where I'm going to leave things for today, because right at this point the quest shifts into something even bigger that deserves its own dedicated post. What I can tell you is that Jackdaw's remains are there, and the missing pages should be right there with them. But of course nothing in Hogwarts Legacy is ever as simple as just walking up and picking something off a dead body. There are more enemies waiting, more surprises ahead, and what comes after finding the pages opens up a completely new mechanic in the game that changes things significantly.
So gamers, Jackdaw's Rest is one of the most complete and entertaining quests I've played in Hogwarts Legacy so far. It's got exploration, combat variety, puzzle solving, platforming, and a dungeon that actually feels expansive and worthwhile to move through. We're getting closer and closer to unraveling the real mystery behind this whole ancient magic storyline. Stay tuned because the next post is going to be a good one. See you there!