Daedric Quests (Skyrim)

Daedric Quests are tasks performed for Daedric Princes. Their appearance has become somewhat customary for games in The Elder Scrolls series, and have returned in.

Many of the quests are given when the Dragonborn discovers the Prince's shrine. Some Daedric Princes, however, will not give their quests from their shrines. These quests can, instead, be found at specific places.

These Princes are Azura, Boethiah, Clavicus Vile, Hermaeus Mora, Hircine, Malacath, Mephala, Meridia, Molag Bal, Namira, Peryite, Sanguine, Sheogorath, Vaermina, and Mehrunes Dagon. Nocturnal does not give any quest, rather she plays a major role in the Thieves Guild questline. The Skeleton Key is a Daedric artifact which belongs to her and can be gained through the Thieves Guild questline, but does not contribute to the Daedric Influence or Oblivion Walker achievements/trophies. The only Prince that has no artifact or presence in Skyrim is Jyggalag (Although Jyggalag is technically Sheogorath).

Azura: The Black Star
The quest at Azura's Shrine asks the player to retrieve the defiled Azura's Star, an 'infinite' soul gem that has appeared in other games. The Dragonborn must recover Azura's Star from Ilinalta's Deep and, upon success, will have two options: A) bring it back to Azura's shrine, or B) bring it to Nelacar, a resident of the inn at Winterhold, who helped earlier in the quest.

Either choice will require the player to enter the Star and defeat the necromancer that is defiling Azura's Star from within. If the player brings Azura's Star to Azura, they will be rewarded with the purified variant of the Star, which can only absorb the souls of lesser creatures. Bring the Star to the necromancer that helped the player, and they will be rewarded with the Black Star, which can absorb the souls of NPCs. (The souls of NPCs count as Grand-level souls).

Level Requirement: None.

Boethiah: Boethiah's Calling
The Ebony Mail is a variation of the Ebony Armor chestpiece. The quest requires that the Dragonborn sacrifice one of their followers after which Boethiah will speak to the player and her followers. She commands the Dragonborn and her followers to fight each other to the death, with the last man standing having the honor of completing a task in her honor. The task is to hunt down and kill her champion, at Knifepoint Ridge, taking the Ebony Mail from him and wearing it thus making the player her new champion.

Level Requirement: Level 30

Clavicus Vile: A Daedra's Best Friend
The Masque of Clavicus Vile is a Heavy Armor helmet, which is given by Clavicus Vile after returning the Rueful Axe. The quest begins in Falkreath after acquiring the task of luring out a stray dog the Blacksmith is interested in. Upon finding the dog, to the player's surprise, it talks.

He then leads the Dragonborn to Clavicus' Shrine at the back of Haemar's Shame. Clavicus agrees to take back Barbas (the dog) if the player collects the Rueful Axe from Rimerock Burrow and returns it to him. After acquiring the axe, he offers a deal: to let the Dragonborn keep the axe if the player kills Barbas with it. If the player chooses not to kill Barbas, he or she will receive the Masque of Clavicus Vile instead. Note: The Rueful Axe does NOT count as Vile's Daedric artifact.

Level Requirement: Level 10

Hermaeus Mora: Discerning the Transmundane
The quest Discerning the Transmundane awards the Dragonborn with the Skill Book, the Oghma Infinium. To begin this quest, the player must go to Septimus Signus' Outpost (It doesn't matter whether you visit the outpost during the main quest or not; it will not hinder the player's progress in either case). After recovering the Lexicon Signus gave to the player and transcribing it, Septimus will give the Dragonborn the essence extractor which must be used to gain samples of the blood of the Falmer, Bosmer, Dunmer, Altmer, and Orsimer.

However, one can not collect blood from those who suffer from vampirism even if they are the correct race, this could be because their blood is not pure. Upon doing this, return to Septimus who will unlock the Dwemer lockbox to reveal the Oghma Infinium. However, upon the Infinium being revealed, Septimus tries to take it and is immediately disintegrated by Hermaeus Mora (who appeared earlier in the quest). Hermaeus Mora then allows the Dragonborn to take the Oghma Infinium, which will allow the player to choose to increase all of the Mage, Thief, or Warrior skills by 5 points each.

Note: A glitch has been found for the Oghma Infinium allowing the player to read it several times, thus leveling up as much as they please. (see Oghma Infinium Exploit section) fixed as of 1.9.

Level Requirement: Level 15

Hircine: Ill Met By Moonlight
The quest Ill Met By Moonlight awards the Dragonborn with either The Savior's Hide or Hircine's Ring. To begin this quest the player must travel to the jail underneath the Falkreath's Guard Barracks and speak to Sinding. He'll give you Cursed Ring of Hircine. The player must then go to Bloated Man's Grotto and choose to either kill Sinding for the Hide or spare him for the Ring.

Note: Both reward items (The Savior's Hide and the Ring of Hircine) can be retrieved following these steps. First, when you begin the hunt, Sinding will speak to you. You must select the option to spare his life. Next, after you have killed all the hunters, speak to him. After the quest complete notification has appeared, kill him. DO NOT SKIN HIM YET. leave his dead body alone. Go outside and Hircine will speak to you, select the option "I failed to bring down Sinding" and wait for the dialogue to finish. You should now have the Ring of Hircine, with the curse removed. Now go back in the cave and find Sinding's body. Skin him, and Hircine will appear again. After the dialogue, you now have both The Savior's Hide and The Ring of Hircine.

Level Requirement: None

Malacath: The Cursed Tribe
To obtain Volendrung the Dragonborn needs to approach the orc stronghold Largashbur. There, a female orc called Atub requests assistance with lifting a curse from the settlement. The first part of this sidequest requires Troll Fat and a Daedra Heart. This quest eventually leads to killing a leader of the giants and then either killing or letting the orc chieftain die. Sometimes the quest may mess up if there is a dragon attacking largashbur. If the Dragonborn kills the dragon and absorbs its soul Atub will stand frozen and will be unable to interact.

Level Requirement: Level 10

Mehrunes Dagon: Pieces of the Past
Mehrunes' Razor is the dagger from Oblivion that was previously used by the Mythic Dawn. It can be obtained by completing a simple chain quest. The first part of the quest involves visiting with a descendant of the assassins of Uriel Septim VII, Silus, who runs a small museum dedicated to the Mythic Dawn. It holds several items from Oblivion: the Commentaries, Mythic Dawn outfit, the sheath to the Razor, and the page from the Mysterium Xarxes. The first portion of the quest has the Dragonborn gathering the pieces to Mehrunes' Razor. After that the player must then meet Silus at the Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon, speak to Mehrunes Dagon himself, and kill Silus to complete the quest and earn the reward.

Level Requirement: Level 20

Mephala: The Whispering Door
Asking Hulda the bartender at The Bannered Mare in Whiterun about rumors turns up gossip about Jarl Balgruuf's son, Nelkir. Talking to the Jarl reveals that Nelkir is troubled and he asks the Dragonborn to speak to him. Nelkir explains that a door in the basement is telling him secrets. Going to the door, a voice orders you to open it. Nelkir will explain that the Jarl and Farengar Secret-Fire are the only people who have keys. The player must pickpocket the key from one of them in order to gain entrance to the door. Inside the player will find an Ebony Blade, along with a book providing a warning to whoever uses the weapon.

The quest then completes, however, Mephala will explain that the weapon needs to be recharged with the Blood of Deceit in order to increase it's power. This will require the player to kill friendly NPCs - for every two NPCs killed by the Dragonborn, the weapon increases in power, adding 4 to the strength of the Absorb Health effect (up to the maximum of 30); killing 10 friendly NPCs will therefore max out its power.

Level Requirement: Level 20, completion of main quest 'Dragon Rising'.

Meridia: The Break of Dawn
Dawnbreaker, a one-handed enchanted sword, can be obtained by speaking to Meridia at the Statue to Meridia and completing her quest. This is a simple quest that requires the Dragonborn to find her beacon, and then to "lead Meridia's light" through the dungeon underneath her Shrine. In order to do this, the player must activate pedestals with little glowing balls of light, in sequence throughout the dungeon.

The dungeon itself is filled with Draugr and Wraiths, and is somewhat complicated to navigate. At the end the player will have to defeat a powerful Necromancer, Malkoran, who apparently defiled her Shrine. Upon defeating him, the Dragonborn will retrieve the sword, Dawnbreaker, and receive Meridia's blessing.

Level Requirement: Level 12

Molag Bal: The House of Horrors
The Mace of Molag Bal can be found in the city of Markarth. Once walking through the main gate, outside of the "Abandoned House", a Follower of Stendarr will ask you if you have seen anyone entering or leaving. Going through the conversation will trigger the quest "House of Horrors". Once this is complete the player will be rewarded with the Mace of Molag Bal.

Level Requirement: None

Note: If you do not enter the house right when the Follower of Stendarr talks to you, you won't be able to do the quest and therefore it will be stuck under your objectives forever. (This is wrong. I've had 6 accounts and never went into the houst the first time, but waited for a while.)

Namira: The Taste of Death
To begin the quest go to the bartender in the Silver-Blood Inn or talk to Priest Verulus at the Understone Keep Hall of the Dead entrance. Something has been eating the dead and he needs someone to investigate, he gives you a key. You will then meet Eola in the Hall of the Dead in Markarth, she will accuse you of being a cannibal, and then ask you to meet her at Reachcliff Cave.You have to clear the cave of Draugr.

Afterwards Eola will have you bring a priest, Verulus from Markarth to the shrine. Once there you will have to kill Verulus and eat his flesh. Namira will then speak to you and grant you her ring. The Ring of Namira grants the user with 50 extra points of Stamina and feeding on corpses grants a bonus to health regeneration.

Level Requirement: None

Peryite: The Only Cure
Upon finding the shrine, Northeast of Markarth, speak to Kesh the Clean. He will ask you to bring a silver ingot, a Deathbell flower, Vampire Dust and a flawless ruby. Once you have those items talk to him again to have him make the incense. Inhale the incense to begin talking to Peryite. He will ask you to travel to Bthardamz and kill an elf named Orchendor. After you slay him return to Peryite and claim Spellbreaker from him.

Level Requirement: Level 10

Sanguine: A Night to Remember
This quest gives Sanguine's Rose which is a staff that summons a Dremora for 60 seconds to fight by your side. This quest can be prompted by entering a drinking contest with a mage in a bar/tavern named Sam Guevenne, found at the closest tavern when you turned level 14. Upon finishing the Drinking Contest you will wind up in Markarth, useful if you haven't discovered the location yet, however the player ends up either having to find or getting approached by random people in the game most of the time causing an inconvenience to the player as they will sometimes be asking for money as reparations for what the player did as a result of the drinking contest.

Level Requirement: Level 14

Sheogorath: The Mind of Madness
Wabbajack is a staff, given by the daedric prince of madness, Sheogorath. The Mind of Madness quest is started in Solitude when talking to an apparently insane homeless man, named Dervenin, who tells you his master is on vacation in the Pelegius wing of the castle (Note: If you cannot find Dervenin, you can go to the "Winking Skeever" and ask the Bartender if he has heard any rumors. He will then tell about a weird old man walking Solitude. However, you should be able to find him near Blue Palace).

When you investigate, you are transported inside the mind of the mad king Pelagius. There, you find Sheogorath who offers you a bargain: escape Pelagius's mind, and he will return. At the completion of the quest, he gives you the Wabbajack, a staff that, when cast, transforms the target into another creature, summons a minor creature to attack the enemy, summons a lightning cloud and, in one case, completely destroyed the enemy, scattering coins all around, and more.

Level Requirement: None

Vaermina: Waking Nightmare
Speaking to Erandur, a follower of Mara, in the Windpeak Inn in Dawnstar will begin a quest to end the nightmares, Waking Nightmare, which involves a visit to the Nightcaller Temple.

Follow all the quest updates, defending yourself, until you reach the end scene as Erandur casts a spell to destroy the Skull of Corruption, a Daedric weapon which has been causing the nightmares.

Here you can kill Erandur as Vaermina commands and take the Skull for yourself, or let him complete his spell to destroy the Skull. In the latter case, he can become a follower. If you kill Erandur you get the Daedric artifact Skull of Corruption.

Level Requirement: None