Daedric Princes are some of the most interesting characters in The Elder Scrolls lore. These beings have lesser Daedra that fight in their image and hold untold power in their plane of Oblivion. Instead of being minor lore figures, players get to interact with these beings in each Elder Scrolls game.
Hermaeus Mora is one of the most interesting Daedric Princes that received major attention in Skyrim's Dragonborn DLC. Players get to visit Apocrypha and witness the sheer amount of knowledge this Daedric Prince holds. As with most characters in the franchise, there is much more to Hermaeus Mora than meets the eye. Here are ten intriguing facts players never knew about Hermaeus Mora in Skyrim. This article contains spoilers for Skyrim's Dragonborn DLC.
10 Stares At The Player Camera In 3rd Person
Whenever players speak to Hermaeus Mora, as long as the Dragonborn DLC is installed, he will appear as a mass of tentacles with an eye that tracks the player. This eye will stare at the player like normal when the game is played in first-person. Switching to third-person will cause Hermanus Mora to stare at the player camera instead, not the character model. Either Bethesda forgot to fix this issue or it's an intended feature that shows that Hermaeus Mora can break the fourth wall.
9 Oghma Infinium Is Skyrim's Necronomicon
Skyrim's Oghma Infinium has a unique texture that appears to be made out of the flesh of each mortal race. It's a fitting detail considering the quest "Discerning the Transmundane" requires players to harvest each race's blood.
This detail becomes even more interesting when players consider its parallels to H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraftian horror frequently mentions the Necronomicon, an ancient tome with forbidden knowledge that is described as a book bound with the skin of mortals. Considering Hermaeus Mora's tentacled appearance, it isn't a stretch to assume that Bethesda was heavily inspired by H.P. Lovecraft when developing this character.
8 Wretched Abyss Is Different Based On DLC
During "Discerning the Transmundane," players get to speak to Hermaeus Mora in his Wretched Abyss form. Since Skyrim has been out for so long, most players remember his appearance looking no different from his appearance in Dragonborn.
However, he actually looks different if players don't have Dragonborn installed. He appears as a dark purple void instead of the tentacle mass that most fans recognize. Strangely, Hermaeus Mora will still appear as "Wretched Abyss" instead of "Hermaeus Mora" as the DLC shows.
7 Unique Quest Dialogue
While on the subject of "Discerning the Transmundane," Bethesda considered what would happen if the player obtains the Oghma Infinium after completing the Dragonborn DLC. Dialogue between the Dragonborn and the Daedric Prince is completely different if the DLC has been completed beforehand.
Hermaeus Mora will mention the player successfully defeating Miraak and how much stronger they have become since the DLC. His dialogue is much less condescending than normal after the player is deemed Hermaeus Mora's champion.
6 Siphons Knowledge With Tentacles
Telepathic powers aren't needed for Hermaeus Mora to extract information from mortals. During the Dragonborn DLC, the Daedric Prince is seen using one of his tentacles to impale a Skaal. While impaled, Hermaeus Mora siphons the mortal's knowledge while slowly killing them. Once all of the information has been extracted, the mortal dies. The tentacles that surround Hermaeus Mora and Apocrypha aren't just for show.
5 Transforms Mortals To Seekers
Most Daedric Princes create lesser Daedra in their image to fulfill lesser tasks. Hermaeus Mora has lesser Daedra of his own in the form of Seekers and Lurkers but their upbringing is much more interesting.
Based on "The Doors of Oblivion" book that can be found in Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls Online, players can read a short tale of a mage that enters Apocrypha and slowly becomes insane. The longer they stay inside the plane of Oblivion, the more incomprehensible their messages become. Due to the mage's fascination with books and how Seekers can read books while non-aggressive, it seems that Hermaeus Mora draws mortals to Apocrypha to turn them into his personal Seekers. It would also explain why the Black Books bring mortals to Apocrypha.
4 Hermaeus Mora Is An Orc NPC
Credit to TheEpicNate315 for the image.
Only NPCs can talk in Skyrim. Objects are unable to initiate conversations. This seems like a random fact until players realize that Hermaeus Mora isn't a character. When looking at the tentacle mass in the Creation Kit, players will find it's an object and not an NPC. How exactly can Hermaeus Mora speak then?
Bethesda created a unique Orc NPC named "Hermaeus Mora" that plays all of the Daedric Prince's lines. The audio is not coming from the tentacle masses but an Orc speaking outside of the map. This also applies to any object that speaks, like Azura's statue.
3 Originally Portrayed As A Crab Monster
A few areas in the Dragonborn DLC show a strange shrine depicting a totem covered in eyes with crab arms stretching out from its backside. It fits the Lovecraftian setting Bethesda was taking inspiration from, but this is no random totem.
This crab monster is actually what Hermaeus Mora was depicted as in past Elder Scrolls games. Daggerfall, Morrowind, and Oblivion all portray Hermaeus Mora in this fashion instead of the tentacle appearance he takes in Dragonborn.
2 Hermaeus Mora Is One Of The Most Powerful Daedric Princes
Michael Kirkbride was one of the main lore writers for past Elder Scrolls titles. While he wasn't involved with the development of Skyrim, Kirkbride still writes lore for the franchise in his free time. Since he is considered by many to be the founder of Elder Scrolls lore, most hardcore fans take any material he writes as canon.
One of these lore entries is a written book named "Imperial Census of Daedra Lords," a short synopsis that explains the origins of each Daedric Prince. In it, the Imperials describe Hermaeus Mora as one of the oldest Daedric Princes that was "born of thrown-away ideas used during the creation of mortality in the Mundus." Assuming this is true, it would explain why Hermaeus Mora is the Daedric Prince of knowledge and memory.
1 Apocrypha Has Every Book That Will Ever Be Written
It is no secret that The Elder Scrollsuniverse has deep lore that can sometimes be inconsistent. Some things have been accidentally retconned or redacted in future titles. Most considered this to be the case in The Elder Scrolls Online when Zenimax included books from Skyrim in the Second Era.
Surprisingly, this isn't an oversight at all. Loading screen tips and lore in The Elder Scrolls Online mention that Hermaeus Mora is all-knowing and has books that exist during any point in time even if they haven't been physically written yet.
What does this have to do with Skyrim? Since ESO is canon, this means that Apocrypha is filled with books from every timeline that did and will ever exist in The Elder Scrolls universe. The franchise's biggest secrets could very well be answered in a book in Apocrypha that no one has found yet.