Mehrunes Dagon is the Daedric Prince of destruction, revolution, change, energy and ambition, and the villain behind the Oblivion Crisis two hundred years before Skyrim. The Dunmer count him among the four bad Daedra of the House of Troubles. In Skyrim his presence is smaller but no friendlier: a shrine southeast of Morthal and a voice that treats everyone, including you, as a pawn.
In Skyrim
His quest is Pieces of the Past. A collector, Silus Vesuius, hires you to recover the scattered pieces of Mehrunes’ Razor so they can be reforged at the Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon.
Once the pieces are on the altar, Dagon speaks up. Silus and his family have served their purpose, he says, so kill him and take your place as champion. Do it and you get the Razor, along with instructions to fill the world with destruction in his name. Refuse and Dagon takes it as betrayal and sends trouble your way. Before you leave he promises one final challenge, with a laugh that does not inspire confidence. He is also not shy about reminding you that you are only a tool of his ambitions. The Razor is listed on our Daedric artifacts page.
Lore
Dagon has tried to conquer Tamriel again and again since the First Era. His cultists claim Tamriel is really a plane of Oblivion that belongs to him, though that is their idea, not his. He destroyed Mournhold at the end of the First Era before Almalexia and Sotha Sil drove him off, helped Jagar Tharn during the Imperial Simulacrum, and attacked the Battlespire. In the Oblivion Crisis his Mythic Dawn cult killed Emperor Uriel Septim VII and his heirs, and Dagon himself walked into the Imperial City until Martin Septim merged with Akatosh and banished him, consuming the Amulet of Kings in the process.
Good to know
- His artifacts include the Mysterium Xarxes and Mehrunes’ Razor.
- Sotha Sil once bargained with eight Princes, Dagon included, not to answer mortal summons during Morrowind’s war with Cyrodiil, though it did not hold.
- He is usually pictured as a huge four-armed, red, horned figure.
- Spare Silus and Dagon makes it clear he does not take refusals well.
Details checked against community wiki articles and the Skyrim game files, written in our own words.
