Septimus Signus

"Septimus is clever among men but he is but an idiot child compared to the dullest of the dwemer"

- Septimus Signus

Septimus Signus is an Elder Imperial living in isolation at an outpost north of the College of Winterhold.

Authorship
As a mad expert on the Elder Scrolls, Septimus wrote the book, Ruminations on the Elder Scrolls, which attempts to describe the nature of the prophetic scrolls with obscure metaphors. He wrote the book while he was still a member of the College of Winterhold, departing after having read one of the Scrolls and becoming irrevocably mad.

Isolation
Looking for Dwemer Artifacts, he wandered out on the small glacial islands north-west of Winterhold. Here, he proceeded to attempt to access a Dwemer contraption. He was believed to be driven insane by his own genius, and the long periods away from people, although he admits reading the Elder Scrolls caused his madness.

Elder Knowledge
After speaking to Paarthurnax atop the Throat of the World, the Dragonborn learns that an Elder Scroll is needed to learn Dragonrend, a powerful Thu'um created by mortals for the purpose of knocking Dragons from the sky.

Urag gro-Shub supplies the Dragonborn with reading material on the Elder Scrolls, one of which is the book authored by Septimus. Suspecting that he is the most likely to know where an Elder Scroll may be, the Dragonborn locates him north of the College of Winterhold, at an outpost.

Finding him there, he sends the Dragonborn to Alftand with a Lexicon, a device created by the Dwemer that allows one to safely transcribe the text of an Elder Scroll without going blind or insane.

Discerning the Transmundane
Septimus believes that the Heart of Lorkhan is held within the Dwemer Oculory, but the Oghma Infinium is what is actually inside. The blood of a Dwemer is needed to open the contraption, but since there are no more Dwemer, Septimus says that the blood of every other Mer race will suffice, thus the blood of an Orismer (Orc), a Falmer, a Bosmer, an Altmer and a Dunmer must be collected.

Exiting the outpost reveals that Daedric Prince, Hermaeus Mora, seeks the object within the Dwarven Mechanism and has only tolerated Septimus' involvement with it because it served his own plot. The Dragonborn can choose to aid Hermaeus or decline the Lord's offer. Neither option directly affects the outcome of unlocking the mechanism.

Once acquiring and giving the blood samples to Septimus, he opens the contraption in his outpost and is extremely disappointed to not see the Heart of Lorkhan. He then disintegrates into a pile of ash as he approaches the Oghma Infinium. The Dragonborn can then take the Oghma Infinium.

Quests

 * Elder Knowledge
 * Discerning the Transmundane

Trivia

 * The name Septimus Signus is derived from Latin. In Latin, the neuter form "septimum signum" means "the seventh sign." His name may be inspired by the seventh seal, also translated sign, which appears in the Book of Revelation 6:1 in the Latin Vulgate: "unum de septem signaculis." "One of the seven seals/signs."
 * Skooma can be found in his cupboard where he keeps his books.
 * His ramblings seem to indicate that he believes the Heart of Lorkhan is within the Dwemer lockbox

Bugs

 * He may not disintegrate after approaching the Oghma Infinium.
 * Solution: using the console command kill on Septimus proceeds the quest.
 * If an item is taken after his death he may send hired thugs after the Dragonborn.

Appearances


Септимий Сегоний