The Night Mother is the spiritual head of the Dark Brotherhood, also known as the Unholy Matron, the Shrouded Lady and the Mistress of the Void. In Skyrim she is a mummified body in an iron coffin with a ghostly voice, and she only speaks to one person: the Listener. Guess who that turns out to be.
Where to find them
Her coffin is brought to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary near Falkreath by her devoted keeper, Cicero. Later in the questline she rests in the Dawnstar Sanctuary, where she hands out ongoing contracts.
Quests
She is part of The Silence Has Been Broken and several other Dark Brotherhood quests. In Whispers in the Dark, Cicero pleads with her coffin as usual, and she finally speaks, but to you rather than him. She names you the Listener, sends you to Volunruud to meet Amaund Motierre, and gives you the phrase Cicero has waited years to hear: “Darkness rises when silence dies.”
In Death Incarnate she offers you refuge inside her coffin and then sends you to Astrid. Once Astrid is gone, she declares that the Brotherhood lives on through you, orders you to finish the contract on Emperor Titus Mede II, and tells you to update Nazir before meeting Motierre in Whiterun. After the deed on the Katariah in Hail Sithis!, she confirms the Emperor is dead and hints that the work is only beginning.
From then on, in The Dark Brotherhood Forever, praying children keep the contracts coming. She points you to clients such as the Nervous Patron in Windhelm or the Wary Outlaw in Riften, with the instructions always the same: take the gold, kill the target.
Personality & relationships
She’s cold, cryptic and utterly sure of herself. Cicero worships her and tends her body, yet she pities him and refuses to talk to him because he isn’t the Listener, which drives the poor jester half-mad. She sees the Brotherhood as her family and calls its members her children. Cicero mentions trying to win over Festus Krex and others on her behalf.
Good to know
Technically she isn’t a real NPC at all: the game treats her as a talking activator and an inanimate object with dialogue attached. She can’t be harmed.
Details checked against community wiki articles and the Skyrim/DLC game files, written in our own words.
