Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon

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Location ID
MehrunesDagonShrine Mehrunes01

Not to be confused with Lake Arrius Caverns.

The Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon is a Daedric shrine in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The shrine is dedicated to Mehrunes Dagon, the Daedric Prince of Destruction, Change, Revolution and Ambition. The door to the interior of the shrine is sealed, and the site devoid of any worshipers, until Silus Vesuius' tasks are completed. In order to gain access to the interior of the shrine, the quest "Pieces of the Past" must be completed by either killing Silus Vesuius or sparing his life.

Regardless of whether the Dragonborn kills Silus Vesuius, Mehrunes Dagon will summon leveled Dremora to attack them. If they are killed their bodies contain a Key to Mehrunes' Shrine and the Dragonborn can gain entrance.

Geography[]

Nearby locales[]

The shrine is situated midway between The Lord Stone and Skyborn Altar, a Dragon Lair. There is a path leading up into the mountains, just west of Hall of the Vigilant, which has a stone marker and leads steeply in a south westerly direction towards a set of steps leading to the shrine.

Alternate paths and cliffs[]

There is also another path directly south of Fort Dunstad leading in a westerly direction. This path has no markers. It winds up into the mountains, and near the peak it does a hairpin turn around a giant rock plinth.

Notable items[]

Gold
Skill Book (Enchanting): Catalogue of Armor Enchantments
Unique weapon: Mehrunes' Razor (can only be acquired from: "Pieces of the Past")
Spell Tome: Firebolt
Gold Ingots
Ebony Ingots
Dragonplate Armor/Dragonscale Armor (if leveled and Dragon Armor crafting is unlocked)
Enchanted equipment
Ebony Armor *
Daedra Hearts
Daedric Weapons
Soul Gems

*At the end of "Pieces of the Past," confirmed only at high levels, Daedric items are rare drops from the Dremora.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

The existence of old Mythic Dawn tapestries hanging within the inner sanctum suggests it may have been a Mythic Dawn sanctuary or safehouse around the time of the Oblivion Crisis.
Behind the shrine is an unlit brazier in which some valuable loot can be found, including potions, enchanted weapons, and Soul Gems.
The Dremora can be used to obtain sizeable quantities of Daedra hearts, because they respawn after an in-game week.
The loot found within the shrine also respawns, allowing the Dragonborn to make a quick profit by selling some of the loot.
The two Dremora that patrol the exterior of the shrine will only spawn after "Pieces of the Past" has been completed but may also spawn in similar time to the shrine's loot. This is yet to be confirmed as a bug.
A good way to tell if the loot and Dremora have respawned is to not fast travel to the shrine itself, but to fast travel to the nearby Lord Stone. The reason is because the bandits respawn at the same time the Dremora do. If the bandits are not there, it is not likely that either the Dremora or the loot inside have respawned either. The good thing about doing this is that experience is gained and the timer is not reset for the respawn on the Dremora and loot within the shrine.
All items dropped in the shrine will remain there.
This shrine is a good way to get gold and ebony ingots, as there are a number of them in the shrine and they respawn after some time.
At higher levels, Dremora may wield glass weapons or better with powerful enchantments that can deal an extra 30 or more points in fire damage.

Bugs[]

This section contains bugs related to Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon. Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following:

Please reload an old save to confirm if the bug is still happening.
If the bug is still occurring, please post the bug report with the appropriate system template 360 / XB1 , PS3 / PS4 , PC / MAC , NX / PS5 , XS , depending on which platform(s) the bug has been encountered on.
Be descriptive when listing the bug and fixes, but avoid having conversations in the description and/or using first-person anecdotes: such discussions belong on the appropriate forum board.

Click to see the list of bugs encountered
When turned into Dead Thralls, the Dremora at the shrine may go missing, randomly reappearing some time later, often hostile with a reset inventory, (keys to Mehrunes' Shrine included) and attacking any characters in the vicinity. The Dremora and/or loot inside the shrine will not respawn if you come back before a week's in game time. Upon reentering the shrine before a week has passed, the timer will reset, forcing you to wait another week without entering the shrine before they will respawn. A gold ingot on the left side of the shrine by the chest will often fall partially through the floor. The ingot is still visible, but it cannot be taken. Note: If Silus is killed instead of accepting the quest "Pieces of the Past," the Dragonborn will no longer be able to ever access the shrine. Since there is a necessary key to access, and only Silus' quest enables the access of the shrine, one will not be able to access the shrine nor be able to get the achievement/trophy of attaining all Daedric artifacts. The only possibility of reverting this is starting a new character and not killing Silus, or going to an earlier save when Silus is alive. Sometimes the Dremora never respawn, albeit very rarely. Sometimes the attacking Dremora are unarmed, making a fight against them easy for the Dragonborn. If the player dies to the Dremora or leaves the shrine for 2–5 days without getting a key, the Dremora will despawn, This bug is extremely rare (0.03% chance) and can be fixed by returning to an earlier save. PS3 If the player discovers the shrine before starting Pieces of the Past, then Silus will simply stand at the shrine and not move. This may also occur if a cave bear attacks the player at the shrine's base. PS3 (Fix) Revert to a save before discovering the shrine. Very rarely after fast traveling and entering the shrine, the game will freeze on the load screen and the game won't resume until you restart it.

Appearances[]

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim