Markarth is the city of blood and silver, located to the far west of the map of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. It’s tucked in the mountains of the Reach, making it an ideal place to settle down for its natural defense. However, while it can protect its residents from the elements and foreign invaders, the same can’t be said about what goes on inside.
Skyrim’s Markarth is already plagued by political conspiracies and premeditated killings, stemming from the impending Forsworn uprising and the Thalmor presence within the city. Though, even worse, the city is also victim to the fickleness of daedric princes. One of them can be encountered in the quest “A Taste of Death.”
‘The Taste of Death’ in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
To trigger this quest, the player must travel to Markarth in Skyrim, then head to Understone Keep and find Brother Verulus. The Priest of Arkay will be guarding the door to the Hall of the Dead, and he’ll tell the player that no one is allowed inside, as the bodies seemed to have been eaten — bones snapped and flesh chewed off. To continue the quest, the player must bribe, intimidate, or persuade him to let them in. Once inside, they’ll find a woman named Eola sneaking around the hall.
Eola’s voice will sound throughout the hall as the player steps inside, speaking to the Dragonborn as if they hungered for human flesh. “You see the dead and your mouth grows wet,” the strange woman says. Soon, Eola reveals herself to the player, insisting that she’s a friend and can be trusted. She then explains that she’s a worshipper of the daedric prince Namira, who accepts cannibals without judgment.
Should the player choose to go along with Eola’s wishes, she’ll ask them to travel to Reachcliff Cave then disappear. Alternatively, Skyrim’s Dragonborn can simply kill her, though this will fail the quest. After making a decision, the player can then return to Brother Verulus and tell him that the Hall of the Dead is safe.
Namira — Daedric Prince and Lady of Decay
Namira is the daedric prince of dark, shadowy spirits. She’s also associated with repulsive creatures that cause mortals to retch in disgust — insects, slugs, and the like. Her plane of Oblivion in The Elder Scrolls is known as the Scuttling Void, from which no mortal has ever returned. As such, very little is known about her realm of Oblivion. However, the Khajiit refer to it as the “Dark Behind the World,” which stays true to Namira’s connection to darkness.
Most notably, however, Namira is known as the Lady of Decay and is worshipped by the cannibals of Tamriel. That said, this was only fully showcased in Skyrim. In Oblivion, Namira’s daedric quest simply had the player cleansing a nearby Ayleid ruin so that her followers could “wallow in their misery” in perfect darkness. In contrast, undertaking her related quest in Skyrim allows the player to become a cannibal — and they’re apparently not the only one hungry for flesh in Skyrim.
The Cannibals of Markarth
When the player travels to Reachcliff Cave, Eola will request that they kill off the Skyrim draugr roaming inside. Once this is done, she’ll prepare a feast to welcome the Dragonborn into their special group. Before that, however, she asks that the player lure Brother Verulus to Reachcliff Cave as a “fresh kill for the main course.” The player must then travel back to Markarth and recruit Verulus as a temporary follower.
Though Eola gives the Skyrim player some gold to pay the priest, successfully persuading him yields an interesting answer. In trying to convince the Priest of Arkay to come along, the Dragonborn will hint that there would be plenty of treasure to split. This piques Verulus’ interest, and he mumbles that the jarl probably won’t notice if he left for a little while. It seems the benevolent priest is quite the materialist, and he isn’t exactly opposed to robbing from ancient Nordic burial grounds.
Once Verulus and the player arrive at the main chamber of Reachcliff Cave, the priest’s demeanor changes. Eola tells him to lie down to rest and Verulus obeys without any fuss. This gives the player the opportunity to meet the people who’ve arrived for the feast. There are some named Skyrim NPCs with little backstory to them, but there are also some familiar faces.
First is Hogni Red-Arm, whom the player can buy meat from as they enter Markarth’s marketplace. Speaking to him during the feast prompts him to joke about “the bloodiest beef in the Reach” before cackling. Next is Banning. Stationed right outside the city walls, Banning is known for training and selling war dogs, including the lovable Skyrim pet, Vigilance. He simply tells the player that there’s a reason why his hounds are so eager to bite people. He even has a miscellaneous quest where he asks the player to deliver “spiced beef” to the jarl for his attack dogs.
Finally, there’s Lisbet — the general goods merchant of Markarth. The current owner of the Arnleif and Sons Trading Company, Lisbet’s story is that her husband, Gunnar, died five years prior due to a Forsworn attack. However, in the presence of Namira’s coven, she hints that it wasn’t the Forsworn of Skyrim that killed Gunnar, remarking that “he had such good taste.” With her husband’s death, Lisbet “inherited” the shop.
To complete the quest, the player must simply kill Verulus while he’s asleep and take a bite from his corpse. This will prompt Namira to speak to the Dragonborn, rewarding them with her daedric artifact in Skyrim, the Ring of Namira. It increases the player’s Stamina and allows them to feed on corpses, which buffs Health and Health regeneration. It also makes it possible for other NPCs to make the humorous comment, “Ugh. Your breath is foul. What've you been eating?”
Alternatively, the player can turn on the coven, failing the quest but saving Verulus. This also bars the player from acquiring the Ring of Namira. Regardless of what the Dragonborn chooses, the revelation gives a whole new meaning to Markarth’s title, “the city of blood and silver.”
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
