NordOfSolitude
New Member
Been replaying Dragonborn and it hit me - every other Daedric quest in Skyrim feels like you're outsmarting or tricking the Prince. You steal Mehrunes' Razor, you break Molag Bal's hold on people, you trick Sanguine into a prank war. But Hermaeus Mora? That thing gets exactly what it wants no matter what you do.
You go into Apocrypha to stop Miraak and the Daedra just... collects you both. Miraak gets trapped forever, sure, but you're basically signing a contract the moment you open a Black Book. And the worst part is the game doesn't really treat it like a loss. You walk out with neat spells and everyone's like "thanks for saving us." Nobody in Solstheim seems to care that you just became property of an eldritch god.
Compare that to like, the Wabbajack quest where you're basically pranking Sheogorath, or even Boethiah's Calling where you're just killing someone and taking their stuff. Those feel like actual victories. But Apocrypha? You're walking through that place thinking you're the protagonist and you're actually just another book in the collection.
Does anyone else feel like the ending glosses over this way too much? Or am I reading too much into it?
You go into Apocrypha to stop Miraak and the Daedra just... collects you both. Miraak gets trapped forever, sure, but you're basically signing a contract the moment you open a Black Book. And the worst part is the game doesn't really treat it like a loss. You walk out with neat spells and everyone's like "thanks for saving us." Nobody in Solstheim seems to care that you just became property of an eldritch god.
Compare that to like, the Wabbajack quest where you're basically pranking Sheogorath, or even Boethiah's Calling where you're just killing someone and taking their stuff. Those feel like actual victories. But Apocrypha? You're walking through that place thinking you're the protagonist and you're actually just another book in the collection.
Does anyone else feel like the ending glosses over this way too much? Or am I reading too much into it?