Why does Hermaeus Mora feel like the only Daedra who actually wins

[NordOfSolitude]

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?

 

[EbonyWarrior]

nah you're onto something real here. the difference is that Hermaeus Mora is the only one who basically wants you to succeed. every other Daedric quest is you either stealing from them, tricking them, or just... doing your own thing and they're annoyed about it. but Mora? it's setting up the whole scenario specifically to get you in that library.

the thing that gets me is that Miraak was already trapped there. Mora didn't need you to beat him - it already had him. so why pull you in at all? because it wanted to see if you'd be worth keeping around. and you prove you are by beating Miraak and absorbing his power. you're literally demonstrating your value as a collection piece.

i think the game glosses over it because the Dragonborn DLC was always more about the lore angle - Apocrypha, the Black Books, dragon history - than the moral cost of the quest. compare that to something like the Wabbajack quest where Sheogorath is messing with you the whole time and you're clearly in on the joke, or even Boethiah's Calling where at least you know you're doing something genuinely dark. with Mora it's just... yeah you won, here's your spells, move on.

that said, i'll take "accidentally became a Daedra's favorite" over what Morrowind did with some of those quests. at least Skyrim's Daedric stuff is coherent. but yeah, Hermaeus Mora might be the only Prince who actually comes out ahead in their Skyrim questline.