The Gardener of Men is a Dragonborn main quest that finally puts you face to face with the Daedric Prince behind Miraak. With the Black Book Epistolary Acumen recovered from Nchardak, you read it and plunge into Apocrypha, where Hermaeus Mora offers the rest of the Bend Will shout. His price is something only the Skaal shaman can give.
How to start
The quest begins right after The Path of Knowledge, once you and Neloth have reached the book in the Nchardak Reading Room. Read it; Neloth cheerfully asks you to greet Hermaeus Mora for him.
Walkthrough
Chapter I
If this is your first visit to Apocrypha, Mora appears to welcome you and explain how to leave; his words depend on whether you finished Discerning the Transmundane. Use the scrye to unroll a bridge to a moving tunnel. Ride it to the platform on the north wall, activate the scrye there to unroll a bridge west, step back into the tunnel and cross to the western platform. The large book there is the door to Chapter II.
Chapter II
The scrye at the north end of the tunnel opens a larger room where Seekers and a Lurker attack. Beat or avoid them, then use the scrye on the east side under a Font of Magicka to open the western gate and climb to Chapter III.
Chapter III
Climb the stairs past more Seekers to another Font of Magicka. In the next moving tunnel, a scrye opens the gate; a Seeker waits at the south end, and the tunnel bends east. Leave by an unrolling bridge with a Lurker on the far side, head north through another moving tunnel to a scrye that opens a round room with a tentacle lashing out of a pool, then go south past more Seekers to Chapter IV.
Chapter IV: Hermaeus Mora
A scrye unfolds the chamber holding Epistolary Acumen. Open it and Mora appears as a mass of eyes and tentacles. He makes clear that all Miraak knows came from him, and that even dragons bow to Miraak’s Voice. Miraak has served him well but grows restless, so a more loyal champion might suit him. He teaches you the second Word of Bend Will, but the final Word has a price: knowledge for knowledge. The Skaal have kept their secrets from him for ages, and he wants their shaman sent to him.
Choose a power and return
Three glowing orbs rise from the book; pick one ability (see Rewards). Read the book again to return to Nchardak. Neloth is impressed you still seem sane, finds the deal a bargain and heads back to Tel Mithryn to look for more Black Books.
Miraak’s ambush
Outside Nchardak the dragon Krosulhah attacks on Miraak’s orders. After you kill it, a spectral Miraak may appear and steal the dragon soul for himself.
The secrets of the Skaal
Go to Skaal Village and find Storn Crag-Strider meditating outside his hut. If Cleansing the Stones is not done, he first asks you to cleanse the stones. Otherwise he recognises the old enemy the Skaal call Herma-Mora. The secrets are ancient shaman lore about how the Skaal speak to the wind and listen to the earth; Mora wants them only because he hoards knowledge. Storn decides the time has come, as Skaal tradition foretells a day when the secrets must be given up. He takes the book, and Frea begs him not to, calling it evil. He answers that this is the only way to free Solstheim from Miraak’s shadow, and she stands by him.
Storn’s sacrifice
As Storn reads, the book rises into the air and tentacles burst from its pages to impale him. Hermaeus Mora gloats that the Skaal have finally yielded their secrets, then keeps his side of the bargain and grants you the last Word of Bend Will, declaring you will become either Miraak’s worthy rival or his successor. Storn dies, and the quest ends as At the Summit of Apocrypha begins. Frea runs to her father, tells you he gave his life so you could destroy Miraak, and orders you not to fail. One by one the villagers come to say farewell to their shaman.
Rewards
- The remaining Words of Bend Will: the second from the book, the third once Mora has the Skaal’s secrets.
- One ability: Dragonborn Force (Unrelenting Force does more damage and may disintegrate enemies), Dragonborn Flame (a Fire Breath kill spawns a fire wyrm that fights for you for 60 seconds) or Dragonborn Frost (Frost Breath encases foes in ice).
Tips and notes
- If you die in Apocrypha before meeting Mora, Neloth tells you to read the book again until you reach its end.
- Having read the Oghma Infinium changes how Mora greets you.
- If Frea is your follower, she leaves when you return from Apocrypha but keeps occupying the follower slot until the main quest is done. Dismiss her before reading the book, or catch her in Skaal Village and dismiss her before you speak to Storn.
- The quest name comes from the Hermaeus Mora entry in the Imperial Census of Daedra Lords, a text by Michael Kirkbride.
