The Mind of Madness

Overview
"Dervenin wants me to talk to his master about returning from vacation. To do so, I need to gain entrance to the Pelagius Wing of the Blue palace."

- The Dragonborn

The Mind of Madness is a quest in Skyrim involving a Daedric Prince Sheogorath. Dervenin wants his master Sheogorath to return from vacation. At the end of the quest the player is rewarded with the unique item Wabbajack.


 * Characters involved: Anger, Confidence, Dervenin, Erdi, Falk Firebeard, Goat, Elisif the Fair, Little Pelagius, Pelagius the Mad, Pelagius's Flame Thrall, Pelagius's Frost Thrall, Pelagius's Storm Thrall, Pelagius the Suspicious, Pelagius the Tormented, Self-Doubt, Sheogorath, Sultry Maiden, Una

Quick Walkthrough

 * 1) Listen to Rumors at The Winking Skeever in Solitude about a man wandering the streets around the Blue Palace.
 * 2) Speak to Dervenin wandering around Solitude and agree to help him.
 * 3) Go to the Blue Palace and get a key to the Pelagius Wing by talking to Erdi in the servants quarters, or if you are thane, speak to Falk Firebeard.
 * 4) Walk through the Pelagius Wing until being transported into Pelagius’ mind.
 * 5) Speak to Sheogorath and complete the three curing tasks:
 * 6) For paranoia: Shoot the two men on the opposite side of the arena.
 * 7) For night terrors: Shoot the sleeping Pelagius and then the creature that spawns until he finally wakes up.
 * 8) For anger issues: Shoot Confidence twice to enlarge him then shoot his attackers to shrink them.
 * 9) Speak to Sheogorath, receive the Wabbajack and be transported back to the Blue Palace.

Entering Pelagius Wing
Dervenin requests that the player help his master to return from "vacation." He explains that the player can find his master in the Pelagius Wing at the Blue Palace. Because this is locked talk to one of the maids and tell her that Falk asked the player to clean up the area and she will present the key. If Falk likes the player well enough (for example, after acceptinig The Man Who Cried Wolf), then Falk will present the key.

Enter the Pelagius Wing and proceed to the second floor. Walk down the hallway and the player will automatically transport into Pelagius' mind.

Pelagius Mind
After arriving in Pelagius' mind, the player will be facing Sheogorath and Pelagius who are having a tea party.

Sheogorath is a Daedrc Prince, more exactly, the Daedric Prince of Madness. Once Pelagius leaves, talk to Sheogorath. He will tell the player that the only way to leave Pelagius' Mind is to "treat" it. To assist the player, Sheogorath presents the Wabbajack. The glade around the table has three stone portals with paths leading to where the player will treat sections of Pelagius' Mind.

Paranoia
From his earliest years, Pelagius was very paranoid. To fix this part of the mind, go through the northwest portal. Follow the path to arrive at a stonework arena with two Storm Atronachs fighting and 3 men (two have helmets) on the opposite wall. Make sure to stand by the quest arrow the whole time. Sheogorath explains that you must make the player’s monster win. Do not use the Wabbajack on the battling Atronachs. Simply shoot the two men on the opposite side of the arena. The men then turn into wolves and kill the man in between them. This resolves the situation and cures the paranoia. Return to the tea party area.

Night Terrors
Pelagius has had nightmares all his life. To help fix this part of his mind, go through the northeast portal and find a sleeping Pelagius. Make sure to stand by the quest arrow the whole time. Shoot Pelagius with the Wabbajack to make a creature appear. Then shoot it to turn it. Keep repeating this and Pelagius will eventually wake up. Once Pelagius gets up out of bed, the Night Terrors section is over.

There is a chest in this area that appears during the fights against the creatures, though it will not open no matter what you do. this is because even though it resembles a chest it is still the creature by lore and coded to be an event not a chest.

Anger issues
To help Pelagius with his anger issues, go through the southeast portal. Make sure to stand by the quest arrow the whole time. Use the Wabbajack on the little guy named Confidence to make him grow big. Then use the Wabbajack on the attackers to make them smaller. Continue doing this until Sheogorath speaks again. At the end, Pelagius is finally ready to love himself (but continue hating everyone else). Return to the tea party glade.

Home
Once done, return to Sheogorath. He will give the player the staff and send the player back to the Pelagius Wing of the Blue Palace. Down the hall to the stairs and at the end, visit the cellar,there is a skill book "Surfeit of Thieves." In the cellar, there are two crates holding up a chain. A candle on one and "Surfeit of Thieves" on the other.


 * Detailed video walkthough available here

Bugs

 * The Wabbajack will not work on the attackers, making the quest impossible to finish. This can be fixed by making sure to hit Pelagius first, instead of anger. (tested on PS3 and Xbox)
 * During the quest if the player is attacked by the flame atronarch the players head can lock at an unpleasant angle. Continuing with this bug creates clipping and body part issues where the players foot can get stuck in a door but still allow the player to move and the player can get forced under the floor. (Saving, quiting and loading appears to resolve this issue.)
 * A dragon seems to spawn for some players.
 * Rushing through the pelagio wing to the teleporter seems to glitch the loading.
 * Sometimes when you talk to Sheogorath after completing the three tasks he will say you can go but you don't get transported back to the Pelagius Wing, to fix this talk to him again.
 * Una and Erdi may not be in the Blue Palace and the waypoint is pointing at Falk Firebeard, who won't let you in the Pelagius Wing no matter what you try. (completing The Man Who Cried Wolf, and delivering the Horn to Shirine of Talos allows you to gain Falk's trust and get the key unless you've asked him for the key previously.)
 * After walking into the hallway with the red carpet the game may freeze. The hallway is supposed to teleport the player to Sheogorath.(on PC aswell)
 * Punching Pelagius at the beggining of the Night terrors section wakes him up, but he immediately goes back to bed.

Behind the Scenes

 * The quest itself is a parallel to that of the popular novel by Lewis Carroll entitled "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," (Commonly shortened to "Alice in Wonderland") where Alice is instructed by The Mad Hatter to do several menial tasks while he has a tea party.
 * The conversation between Sheogorath and Pelagius III proves that the Hero of Kvatch did indeed embrace their role as the new Prince of Madness just as Haskill and Jyggalag foretold.
 * Further on the theory of Sheogorath being the Hero of Kvatch, Sheogorath mentions a "Fox" and "severed heads". The Fox could be a little hint towards the Gray Fox. The severed head could be a little hint towards Mathieu Bellamont's mother's head. The severed heads could also be random severed heads.
 * After the first conversation, Sheogorath will say "Do you mind? I'm doing the fishstick..." This may be a reference to the bethesda forums, where new members used to be greeted with 'A Fishy Stick'.