sharifdontlikeit: None of the walkthroughs I've read can make sense of this, and I'm worried it's a problem with my version of the game itself ...
Basically I'm in Heart of Winter, which I got to through the original game, with leveled-up characters. Things are going fine--I've killed everything on the Burial Isle, solved the mystery of the werewolf, exposed the assassination plot, spoken to the guy at the barbarian camp gate about Wylfdene, gotten Wylfeden's insignia from the Burial Isle, and located Hjollder on the isle.

The problem is that when I talk to Hjollder, even though I have the insignia he never asks me about it. He just says there's nothing that can be done, and the only option for me is "Perhaps the spirits on this isle can tell me something." It's like the game doesn't realize I have the amulet, or something.

Has anyone run into this problem? What should I do??

Dreamteam67: Not sure if this is the answer, but in the caverns on the burial isle, there is a dialogue with one of the shrieking maidens that needs to be completed I think. She is sort of towards the middle-lower left of the map, and she guards the tomb of Wolfdyne. I think you need to bring something to her iirc so than she/he can rest in peace.

Hickory: Do you get the option to tell Hjolder that Wylfdene isn't his king? If I recall correctly, that's where the option comes in to show him proof, ie. the tribal insignia.

sharifdontlikeit: No, all I got was the option to say that Wylfdene tried to kill me, and only the first time I saw Hjolder. Now it's just "There must be something we can do" or "We want to return to Kuldahar now," and if I go with either of those I can say "Are you just going to give up and die" or "Look we've been looking for you a long time we're not just going to let you die," and then he says no, and my only option is "Perhaps the spirits on this isle can tell me something"

Hickory: Looking at the dialog files, it seems that the trigger is a variable called 'Know_Soul', so you could try setting that, and then talk to Hjolder again. Open the console and type:

GETYOURCHEATON:SetGlobal("Know_Soul", "GLOBAL", 1)

sharifdontlikeit: Sorry, how do you 'open the console'? Thanks! I hope this'll work .. otherwise I worry my whole 200-hour game is toast because I can't return to Kuldahar or move forward at all ...