Morrowind's Daedric quests actually feel like you're making a deal with the devil

[ScrollsOfTamriel]

Been replaying Morrowind again and I just finished the Boethiah quest (the one where you have to betray your followers), and it hit me how different these feel compared to Skyrim's Daedric artifact hunts.

In Skyrim you show up, the Daedra explains what they want, you do the thing, you get the artifact. It's transactional. But Morrowind's Daedric quests actually make you complicit in something morally weird. Like with Boethiah you're not just fighting cultists - you're actively betraying people who trust you, and the quest forces you to engage with that. Same with Mephala's quest where you're basically manufacturing drama and murder for her amusement.

I think it's because Morrowind doesn't hold your hand about whether this is a good idea. Skyrim's quests usually have some framing where the Daedra is clearly evil and you're just collecting loot. But in Morrowind you're just... doing the thing. The journal entries don't judge you. Nobody warns you off. You either commit to the betrayal or you don't, and if you do, that's on you.

Has anyone else noticed this? Or am I reading too much into it. The Skyrim Daedric quests are still fun but they feel way more sanitized once you've done Morrowind's versions.

 

[EbonyWarrior]

You're not reading too much into it at all. Morrowind's Daedric quests genuinely feel like you're negotiating with something alien and potentially dangerous, whereas Skyrim's are more like... fetch quests with a dark aesthetic slapped on.

The Boethiah one is the perfect example because yeah, you have to actually betray your followers. Not trick some cultist who's obviously evil, not solve a puzzle - you pick someone who trusts you and stab them in the back. And the game just lets you do it without any moral handholding. Compare that to something like Boethiah's Calling in Skyrim where you're basically just killing people who are already hostile to you anyway. It's mechanically similar but tonally completely different.

I think part of it is that Morrowind's quest design in general was less about making you feel heroic. The Daedric artifact quests fit into that - they're not rewards for being clever or strong, they're consequences of making a deal with something inhuman. Mephala's quest especially, where you're just creating chaos for entertainment value... that's genuinely unsettling in a way Skyrim rarely goes for.

That said, I don't think Skyrim's approach is necessarily worse, just different. Skyrim wanted to be more of a power fantasy where you're the hero of every story. But yeah, once you've felt the actual wrongness of Morrowind's Daedric quests, Skyrim's versions do feel a bit hollow. They're still fun to do, but they don't stick with you the same way.