Elden Ring Thops' quest - Location, how to complete and rewards

Elden Ring features numerous side quests players can be tasked to complete through interactions with various NPCs. The Liurnia of the Lakes region has a roster of colourful and insightful NPCs that can provide much assistance to the Tarnished en route to mending the Elden Ring.

Thops is one of these NPCs you can encounter through exploration as he asks for your assistance to help him find his way back to the Raya Lucaria Academy. This guide will detail where to find this NPC, how to complete his quest and the rewards you can earn upon completion.

Where to find Thops in Elden Ring?

Thops is a student belonging to the Raya Lucaria Academy and serves as a vendor NPC and quest giver. Players can locate him resting on a bench at the Church of Irith, south of Stillwater Cave in Liurnia of the Lakes, to begin his side questline.

After finding Thops, he’ll ask for a small donation which you can proceed with before he introduces himself to the Tarnished. He’ll share that he has studied in sorceries, for which, exhausting all dialogue will reveal that he needs a Glintstone Key to return to the Academy.

This triggers the start of his questline, which tasks you in finding an Academy Glintstone Key so that he may resume his studies. While we have detailed the location of one of these Academy Keys, one more can be found inside the Academy.

As such, before accepting Thops’ quest, it would be advised to learn any of the sorceries he has in stock. Thops offers the following sorceries available in exchange for Runes:

• Glintstone Pebble: 1,000 Runes
• Glintstone Arc: 1,500 Runes
• Starlight: 2,500 Runes

How to complete Thops’ quest in Elden Ring?

After unlocking the doors to the Raya Lucaria Academy and obtaining any of the sorceries Thops has in stock, you can begin locating the remaining Glintstone Key. If you have yet to discover all the Sites of Grace inside the Academy, you can fast travel to the South Raya Lucaria Gate Site to begin.

From the South Raya Lucaria Gate Site of Grace, follow the path and enter the Academy grounds and turn left, where you’ll find the Schoolhouse Classroom and Debate Parlor Sites of Grace. If you have done some exploring before accepting Thops’ quest, travel to the Debate Parlor Site of Grace.

There is a Great Enemy Boss, Red Wolf of Ragadon, nearby the Schoolhouse Classroom Site of Grace that will prevent you from progressing further inside the Academy. Defeating this boss will award you 14,000 Runes and access to the courtyard adjacent to the Debate Parlor.

Once inside the Debate Parlor, travel north from the Debate Parlor Site of Grace up a flight of stairs that leads you into a courtyard. To the left of the courtyard is a broken staircase where they are a few enemies in the surrounding area.

Head up the stairwell across from the broken staircase and turn left to drop down into the area below. There are more enemies to be found in this area, but you’ll need to go up the stairs and wrap around the left corner to find a corpse hanging on the balcony.

Jump off the balcony onto the rooftops and continue traversing towards the edge, where you can find a ladder on the right side of a building. Once you have climbed up the ladder, you’ll encounter more enemies along the pathway, which you can take the path to the right and drop down onto the rooftops below.

You’ll need to drop down three more times before finding a balcony on your right side. Following this path takes you to the Imbued Sword Key before heading back on the same path where you can find a ladder going down.

Ahead is a circular rooftop with a few enemies patrolling the rooftops, which you can take care of. Jump onto the circular rooftop and traverse across the rooftop to your right, where you can find an open window.

Enter through the window and walk across the wooden beams where you can find a chandelier hanging beneath the beam. Drop down onto the chandelier where you’ll find a corpse as looting it will give you the second Academy Glintstone Key.

You can fast travel to the Lake Facing Cliffs Site of Grace to hand the key to Thops at the Chruch of Irith and receive the Erudition Gesture. Exhausting all dialogue with Thops where he’ll leave the church and resetting the area will spawn a teardrop Scarab that drops the Ash of War: Thops’ Barrier when defeated.

You can continue to progress with the main questline at the Academy, where you can find Thops once again. Fast travel to the Schoolhouse Classroom Site of Grace, exit through the door behind you, and turn right to find Thops dead by a desk.

Thops’ quest rewards in Elden Ring

After finding Thops’ body inside the Academy, you can loot his body to acquire various items. These are the items you’ll receive from Thops:

• Thops’ Bell Bearing
• an Academy Glintstone Staff
• Thops’ Barrier sorcery (not to be confused with the Ash of War of the same name)

You can offer Thops’ Bell Bearing to the Twin Maiden Husks, which you can find when visiting the Roundtable Hold. This concludes Thops’ side questline, with which you can continue exploring the Academy and completing the main questline where you’ll have to defeat Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon.

We like to thank the YouTube channel Games from Mars for the complete walkthrough on completing Thops’ quest and finding the remaining Academy Glintstone Key in Elden Ring.

Featured image courtesy of YouTube / Games from Mars.