Skyrim - Is Worshipping Mehrunes Dagon Worth It?

when i walk the earth again the faithful among you shall receive your reward to be set above all other mortals forever as for the rest the weak shall be winnowed the timid shall be cast down the mighty shall tremble at my feet and pray for pardon such of the words of mehroom's day gone scribed upon the pages of the mysterium's arxes in the deserts of rust and wounds but those who possess this tome of great and evil power are far and few between and aegon's message will only be clear to those with the knowledge of the daedric language for those unwilling or less committed to understanding the daedra the wisdom of dagon may be studied from mankar cameron's rare but more accessible series of writings the mythic dawn commentaries these philosophical tomes were the soil from which the oblivion crisis could bloom inspiring individuals from across cyrodiil to lend their efforts to the most devout cult of dagon's cause the mythic dawn cult desired nothing more than to bring dagon into nirn so he could destroy its current form and liberate the occupied lands from the aedra his followers truly believed the message of the xarxes that they would eternally be set above the rest of mortal kind for their efforts menkar cameron not just an author but a mage of near unparalleled power would guide this plan to fruition his faithful followers were promised eternal afterlife in a realm of his own making a heavenly paradise where they would be forever rewarded the shallow teachings of the divines respect for the cycle of life and death it would appear so meager to the mythic dawn cultists of the late third era mangkar's paradise was real and in death they really would go there for eternity living forever has proven quite a motivating call to action over the history of the elder scrolls universe and if you really don't want this wild journey we call life to come to an end perhaps joining a cult in worshiping dagon is something you'd consider what's going on ladies and gentlemen my name is michael and welcome to fudge muppet today we ask the question is worshiping mehrunes dagon worth it it is a question that many citizens of tamriel have pondered throughout the eras but only a brave few will ever take up such a commitment in this video we'll be exploring the benefits and risks of worshiping the daedric prince of destruction and ambition taking into account various aspects of law as well as a role-playing perspective that considers who you might be in the elder scrolls world but first let's get an idea of mehrunes dagon himself and go over what this forearmed fiend is all about ask any of tamriel's citizens who mehrunes dagon is particularly after the third era and they'll all know his name he is seen primarily as the prince of destruction which he has an insatiable hunger for and is associated with natural disasters like floods earthquakes storms and fires some natural disasters have even been tied to cultists communing with dagon while his destructive nature is an important aspect we shouldn't overlook miron's dagon's sphere also encompasses revolution energy ambition and change straight out of the flaming gate we can see that worshiping dagon is not worth it unless you have something you really want in return that doesn't mean you'll get what you want either it's just that dagon is not the kind of daedra you would follow long term without some sort of desire to either take part in one of his grand plans or conspiracies or unless you have some strong ambitions that align with dagon's fear that you'd be willing to risk your life and perhaps even your soul to have him help you with when the leader of the veiled heritage high kin lady estri wanted to supplant her sister-in-law queen ehren and take her power she came crawling to dagon for support once her plot was exposed and her supporters crushed to be imbued with a taste of his true power she offered her very own soul all she wanted was the power to rule and so dagon agreed to help is swapping your soul for power something you'd consider if so dagon may be for you if you're just a commoner of the older scrolls universe or even a daedric enthusiast looking for a cult to join there are other safer avenues to consider despite all daedric worship being somewhat risky stick to the nine divines if you can help it or if you must worship a daedra perhaps azura or her scene would be more fitting depending on your personal inclinations dagon on the other hand is far more dangerous to associate with and will not hesitate to turn on his followers whether he considers them weak unworthy or simply wants to test their metal contact with him has been said to lead to the death of the contra and everyone else in the vicinity due to this you're going to want to know what you're doing you may not be teaching yourself to speak fire in three nights like mankar cameron but if you're not at least knowledgeable in dealing with daedra worship might not end up worth it for you there's a story in the last year of the first era involving a dunma witch misled into seeking vengeance on her former lover the duke of mournhold calling upon dagon to destroy this city her wishes were granted but not everyone can have the know-how of an exiled witch of high rock skeffington coven so if you're not much of an expert it may not be worth it simply because there's a solid chance you'll end up dead i suppose you could see worship is worth it if you simply wanted to take part in some kind of end of the world type conspiracy and don't care if you perish in the process you might die from an enemy of this daedra of which there are plenty or even dagon himself even if you shower him in praise and have every intention of helping him take his pieces of the past quest in skyrim as an example where he asks the dragonborn to kill silas in order to receive his reassembled razor while not a devout worshiper of dagon silas was quite impressed with dagon and the mythic dawn so much so that he decided to dedicate an entire museum to them remember this is a cult that almost destroyed tamriel as we know it helping dagon to break the barrier between oblivion and mundus silas says his ancestors were in the cult and even that he is directly related to one of the agents who was sent to assassinate uriel septum vii in the imperial city sewers he considers the museum his family legacy and is utterly absorbed with fascination for dagon's artifacts and the paraphernalia of this cult who served him he even says the mythic dawn's importance our importance to history cannot be denied i'll see everyone in tamriel remember that for a moment we held the fate of the world in our hands for good or ill when you retrieve the pieces of the razor for him he says our master craftsmen are nothing compared to the perfection of the daedra look at how it shines and yet all of this admiration is not enough when bringing the pieces to dagon the prince of destruction explains that your quest has been an amusing game to witness but only one of you shall be rewarded and he will not declare a winner while there is a pawn on the board you are ordered to kill silas with dagon declaring he and his family have served their purpose regardless of whether you choose to kill silas or spare him dagon will still give you one final challenge sending to dramora after your head and laughing dagon also doesn't give you a chance to disagree to the terms and conditions he demands you kill silas and take your rightful place as his champion or he will crush you he clearly sees silas and his family who were cultists who would have given up their life for daegon as mere resources for his own agenda after being gifted his daedric artifact mehrunes razor he even refers to you as a worthy tool and asks that you fill the world with destruction in his name if you try to assert your independence and say you'll use the razor as you see fit he says you are but a tool of my ambitions mortal never forget that and that's how he talks to a dragonborn imagine being a regular cultist at some hidden forest shrine if it isn't clear by now worshipping dagon is incredibly dangerous and he doesn't have to see you as an enemy to have you killed and can constantly test your worthiness he is not a daedra like azura that you can simply suck up to shower in admiration and pray to fall into favor with like most daedric princes he is also quite selfish and i think this individualistic element is something many people forget about with the daedra it's easy to see their sphere and think that if you have a goal that aligns with it the related daedric prince will help you but these powerful spirits are not so mindless and in the case of dagon it is possible to have some grand plan that would fit perfectly into his sphere of destruction or revolution which he still refuses to help you with dagon is known for many events of his own undertaking and his motives are not always clear take the murder of sotha sil's family and his youth one day his family awake to find their town burning to the ground vivec saves sophia sill but the rest of house sotha dies daegon's reason for doing this is quite mysterious was it just for fun so the seal and his sister are thought to have traveled to a forbidden area near their town sometime prior to dagon's destruction perhaps this place was sacred to dagon and this was a form of punishment we just can't know or did daegon see the immense potential inside sotha sil and knew his family must be killed to send him on his path to eventually displacing the three good daedra and perhaps even creating the clockwork city the clockwork city was made with the intention of perfecting what sotha viewed as a flawed aedric creation so the still wanted to reshape the world which is something that fits well in today's gone sphere though sothosil also aim to unify competing forces and destroy the danger in doing so so it's hard to know the real reason behind the event of course there's also dagon's oblivion crisis there's the events of the elder scrolls online blackwood dlc where dagon is assisted by worshippers in merging his realm of the deadlines with nirn and of course we cannot forget his failed invasion of the battle spire though jay garthan is said to have secretly offered again a deal with that in return for dagon wiping out farns rival battle mages even still this only proves how you probably need to be one of the best mages to ever live as is the case with thon to feel somewhat safe using dagon as your weapon instead of the other way around then again there are fates worse than death perhaps even worse than some kind of claim of your soul followers of the mythic dawn who were promised that afterlife in mankar cameron's realm of paradise would actually be subject to imprisonment and torture some would simply be tormented and hunted in the gardens unable to truly die others would be trapped in cages and dipped in lava but they too could not truly die they did seem to feel all the pain associated with it though and would definitely feel like they got the short end of the stick this pain would be eternal if it were not for the champion of cyrodiil saving the day but the occurrence of such saviors are not something one wants to rely upon when making religious decisions due to this be very careful about what kind of afterlife you are promised and by who i can't help but feel that you're safer going along with aims given to you directly by dagon himself if safety can even be quantified with activities such as these also consider that dagon can be fair sometimes in the elder scrolls online there's a quest called the emperor's secret in which dagon allows you to leave his realm alive through a portal but only after you proved yourself by defeating his follower doombringer eschel however while this may make him seem somewhat honorable he could just have easily decided to kill you in anger it's the unpredictability of his judgment that you need to keep in mind and it's what makes worshipping him quite a dangerous not worth it activity for most that said you are more likely to have a better outcome going along with dagon's aims than pleading that he assists you in personal matters however even if you do succeed in having him agree to help you you better be ready to give him something significant in return there's a story of a witch of eastmarch kranvard frostfinger who sacrificed 13 innocents to dagon in a single night prompting the daedric prince to briefly open a portal from the deadlands to skyrim unless you're very willing to just do immoral tasks like this with no questions asked to get what you want you should forget about worshiping dagon entirely the question of whether or not it's worth it to worship mehrunes dagon can often be reconsidered with potential requests of his in mind for example is it worth essentially blowing up a whole castle or city killing many innocent people as a result and severely hurting any survivors just to get what you desire such actions might weigh on your conscience and dagon would not be fond of those who waver in their devotion to his plans don't forget that destruction is a main aspect of his sphere and you're unlikely to just sidestep things like sacrifices invoking natural disasters such as storms or earthquakes or unleashing daedra upon your foes just because you solely wanted to focus on a revolution dagon is not boethiah if you wanted some behind the scenes plan filled with deceitful betrayals and cunning manipulation dagon is not your best option his style even if there can be elements of secrecy and conspiracy to begin with is well depicted in the mythic dawn commentaries where it is said dagon threw down lig and cracked the face of this adjacent realm and a great rebellion rose up and pulled down the towers such willingness towards violence is to be expected of you being a capable warrior mage or even an archer i suppose can help with this as combat prowess will help you stay alive from any threats he sends your way it will also help with any individuals or groups that want to hunt you down or any foes you must face while fulfilling a request of dagons i also think he is more likely to view you as worthy if you have already proven yourself in battle and developed headstrong traits such as being someone who would never flee in battle if this sounds like you and you're willing to get your hands dirty for what you want then your chances are far better than those of a groveling peasant that is of course unless you're leading some kind of peasants resistance against the domineering noble class who treats your kind poorly daegon might decide it would be fun to flip the status quo on its head so your chances are better but still far from guaranteed this prince also has a bitter rivalry with molag bao so would be more likely to help you if you had been subject to cruelty at the behest of bao and came to him with a plan for revenge or maybe you were exiled from a settlement for daedra worship and wish to bring about a catastrophic landslide from the mountain right beside it dagon may ask for a sacrifice and few to set the town buildings aflame after which he causes large masses of rock to break free and crush the town just remember it could backfire your body could become pulverized by rocks in the process as your well-being simply isn't his priority there are no oaths or assurances you'd fully trust to keep you safe when dealing with this deity so i definitely prefer to be a capable fighter if i were to purposefully get mixed up with the lord of blood and flames on top of being a capable fighter worship of daegon is more likely to be worth it for you if you're some kind of ambitious tyrant or at least aspiring to be one someone ruthless with a long-term plan daegon would enjoy who is no stranger to bloodshed has put their life on the line many times before and isn't one for moralizing if you've got knowledge on the daedra and how to deal with them or a loyalist court wizard who can help even better imagine a house carl of skyrim who developed a romantic bond with a court wizard and convinced her to help him in his aspirations of becoming a thane together they built an elaborate scheme that started with having him granted the position of thane then over the following years the court wizard slowly poisoned the yal's mind with magic until he began to act irrationally and was hated by his people the two would leverage this for the now thane to end up usurping his throne and taking the position of yahl finally they would pull off some grand plan that involves making the current hiking of skyrim look incompetent people from all over skyrim would be rallied to different battles and wars and ultimately after much bloodshed this house call turned thane turned warlord would be crowned high king of skyrim much of the plan may involve elements of betrayal and manipulation more fitting of boethiah but the bloodshed and revolution aspects would please aegon the next step even more so seeing the new high king and his trusty court wizard lead the people of skyrim against the empire and push them out of the province before launching a full-scale invasion into cyrodiil with every intent of claiming the white gold tower and ushering in a new age of man dagon might get behind such an ambitious revolution especially considering that he is not particularly outcome dependent people say that he failed in the oblivion crisis and while he was defeated at the temple of the one his crisis would lead to the weakening of the empire the rise in the dominance of the thalmor and the third old myriad dominion the great war the civil war in skyrim and so on tamriel was tipped on its head and the timeline forever altered so if you're a person willing to honor daegon's requests and do whatever it takes to get what you want while being capable of actually being the catalyst for timeline changing events like this dagon may be willing to open some oblivion gates to assist in your efforts and weaken the enemy after all whether you succeed or fail may not matter too much to him so long as you shake things up and cause destruction i guess this makes it subjectively worth it in niche circumstances where you're just hell-bent on having it your way and will accept no other outcome except death while dagon would accept worship from someone of any status or race so long as you prove yourself worthy it's worth considering that it's likely something you'd have to keep hidden too the elder scrolls world is a violent one and having people know that you worship a daedric prince who has tried to invade tamriel more than once and is frequently involved with destruction and death could attract a dangerous type of attention we don't know that much about all the ins and outs of the lore in all parts of tamriel but a book found in valenwood in the elder scrolls online says that worship of dagon is illegal in many districts and using a ritual to commune with him is punishable by death another text talks about worship in morrowind which i'll get into soon but basically worship puts you at risk of being hunted so if you're going to worship dagon there's a good chance you won't be sharing your truest self with people close to you like family or friends and definitely not society at large if at least just to avoid trouble i can imagine suspicious townsfolk plotting the murder of a dagon worshipper in their village for fear they will bring destruction upon their homes and livestock after all according to thwarting the daedra may ruins dagon by flaminus octo dagon followers have been known to not only incite disasters but exhibit a sick fascination with setting buildings animals and people on fire it's also worth considering that even if the worship of dagon was entirely legal all of the actions stemming from it probably aren't the requests that you'd end up taking part in to satisfy him would land you in jail pretty much anywhere with acts like destruction of property and murder not tolerated by the various legal systems across tamriel also other groups in tamriel exist to destroy necromancers the undead daedra and followers of the daedra such as skyrim's vigilance of standard so you'd always have to be watching your back to make sure there's no pious group of holy exterminators looking to smite you from the face of nirn the fighters guild or a faction like it could also be paid to wipe you out that said there are some cultural exceptions where worshipping the father of cataclysm himself has different connotations this can make it much safer or at least more tolerated if you were born in one of the reachmen clans of southwestern skyrim then worshiping dagon could be more appropriate the reachmen can worship all kinds of daedra though not with the typical approach that other cultures do they view many of the daedra in a much more positive light and see them as playing an important role in everyday life worship is also viewed differently seen as more of a give and take relationship reachmen form agreements with the daedra for assistance with everyday tasks and challenges and are known to perform rituals involving blood and dancing to call upon particular deities different clans can have a strong preference for one daedra above others and therefore if you were part of a clan who worshipped dagon then worshiping him could be worth it for you if you were truly immersed in their culture as a whole the daedra teach the reachmen to be strong and test them with the challenges and trials of their spheres malacath sends orcs ogres and trolls to test their might her scene teaches them to be cunning and strong namira is a spirit of darkness and endings but also rebirth a powerful force in the natural world and then there's mehrunes dagon who is still recognized as a prince of destruction but is also highly venerated for his sphere of ambition the rich folk live under harsh conditions and are always striving to improve ambition has never been lacking in their culture and this drive to aim higher leads some to turn to the lord of ambition who they do not view as so sinister compared to other cultures in tamriel if you weren't born into one of their clans i can understand your aversion to taking part in their rituals but if you were born into it then it's probably worth it for you if not purely just from a societal perspective if being a reachman is all you know and you've been taught to weigh the ambition side of degon's fear as more important then subjectively you'd probably see benefit in worship violence is a natural accepted part of life in the reach and therefore any trials undertaken for dagon would be undertaken with a subjective fondness for the prince in mind deities in the elder scrolls universe often manifest in a way in which they are perceived or venerated by a culture and therefore i can only assume dagon would manifest to them as more of a testing god and any challenges he throws their way would be honorably accepted perhaps you'll attempt to have him help you seize the ruby throne der karak the black drake style for you and your people once again but being born into a tribe in a particular area of skyrim is quite a niche example what if you were simply born in morrowind would it be worth worshiping the master of razors then well as i mentioned earlier it's still quite dangerous but there is more nuance to it the dunmer pantheon contains the three good daedra azura boethya and mafala as well as the four corners of the house of troubles these daedra are malakath mehrunes dagon molag bao similarly to the reachmen these daedra are considered to be testing gods who make sure the dark elves are strong malakath is said to test the dunmer for physical weakness molag bao tries to upset the bloodlines of houses and ruin unmagine pools and shea gorath the king of madness tests the dhanma for mental weakness as you might expect dagon is still the god of destruction but tests the dunmer's will to not only survive but persevere through tough conditions he can even be said to represent the inhospitable land of morrowind itself which is quite fitting considering its lava rivers and overall hot climate due to this you will find that dagon worship is more popular here than in other provinces such as skyrim and you'd find it easier to find a group of worshippers to join out in the wilderness however while finding a community of dagon worshipers might be easier in morrowind and there may be a different cultural interpretation of testing within dunmer culture mainstream society would still not approve nor would the law at least in the third era the book titled the house of troubles chronicle of the daedra who decided not to submit to the tribunal states that worshipping any of the four corners is against the law and practice of the temple by ancient temple law and custom and also by imperial law the lives of witches and warlocks are forfeit and imperial garrisons join ordinators and buoyant armageddons of the temple in tracking down and destroying these foul covens in the wilderness refuges and ancient ruins where they conceal their profane worships this was written during the time of the elder scrolls iii morrowind when the empire was far stronger than today and you can see that worship was also not tolerated in the empire even before the oblivion crisis and while this crisis has changed much since then and the tribunal has fallen replaced by the reclamations i can't help but feel that dharma worship of these kinds of dangers such as dagon would still not be popular that said the great houses likely don't have the resources to go hunt down cults by the time of elder scrolls 5 skyrim in the same way meaning worship would likely be safer at least from other mortals but that doesn't necessarily seal the deal of it being worth it let's not forget the deadly nature of dagon himself you'd still want to be somewhat deranged or just absolutely willing to die or have your soul claimed while bringing about destruction for a revolution of sorts or grand revenge to make it worth it for you personally i'll put it this way if doing something really dangerous was just made more accessible and less likely for authorities to catch you that doesn't necessarily become a reason that you should do it unless you already wanted to casting our gaze to other parts of tamriel we find that mei runes daegon's depiction as destructive is actually quite consistent in elsewhere dagon is simply known as mehrunes and is depicted as a kitten born of fatima's second litter but don't let this depiction fool you into thinking his capacity for ruin is at all diminished in the words of clan mother and easy maroons you are the jar kijit for what is more destructive than a kitten mirroons fell to molag after choosing to explore the great darkness rather than the many paths there he was tortured until the creation of the world in the chaos molag's wife freed maroons who then used his destructive nature as a weapon against the lunar lattice khajiit cultists following maroons have been called sour sore bottom cats always muttering about fire and ground quakes sound familiar some of these so-called maniacs known as the claws of dagon had a destructive plan in elsewhere during the second era involving the use of daegon's deadland hammer to summon iron atronachs they took over dark pool mine in the south west of northern elsewhere with the size of the cult surprising even kg local to the area this cult was described by one kijitas just wandering around chanting hissing at each other and never sleeping they were also fascinated by their ritual flames and their catastrophic plot was said to have the potential to put all of elsewhere at risk one well-known khajiit a powerful warlord named darloch bray is known to have worshipped mehrunes back in the 5th century of the first era his anequine conquests stretched his influence far and wide though while his reign was described as glorious other accounts say life under his rule was terrible and full of brutality based on all of this i can't imagine worshiping daegun as a khajiit would be particularly any more or less worth it than being in the other provinces of tamriel if you're some power hungry warlord who wants a nothing more sure you could give it a try if you're ruthless enough if you have any doubts you have what it takes it's probably best to steer clear down in black marsh dagon hasn't been shown to be all that different to the rare groups who do revere him the sulzan tribe of naga argonians considered him the true egg child of sithis and have quite a one-sided view of argonian religion embracing the darkest cruelest beliefs and scorning the rest as weakness this hostile group of fanatics is not only fierce and thirsty for blood but also xenophobic despising anyone who isn't part of their large tribe unfortunately they don't keep to themselves either they kidnap unsuspecting victims including fellow argonians for use in sacrificial rituals they would love nothing more than to bring dagon into tamriel one note from a cultist talks about feeding an idol with the blood of many bodies whose screams will please the spirit of destruction and continue until the spirit arrives they want to bring forth dagon so that he will burn fields and fill the swamps with blood and sow chaos wherever he touches again unless you have some specific desire to be a part of a destructive bloodthirsty sacrificial cult worship of dagon probably won't be worth it for argonians either so what kind of character do you roleplay do you think that the benefits of worshipping him outweigh the risks for you like many of the daedric princes getting involved with a daedric prince particularly one who loves destruction and revolution is definitely a dangerous undertaking if you're going to play with fire just make sure you're a pyromancer if you know what i mean you do not want to get burnt by mehrunes dagon as a follower you'll want to really consider exactly what you're looking to gain and be very careful of where you want to end up being positioned if you want to win long term no one stays on top forever grasp the ins and outs of what you're getting yourself into and exactly where to limit yourself if you want to succeed and that ladies and gentlemen brings us to the end of this video on whether worshiping mehroon staycorn is worth it social media links are in the description as is a link to our patreon and our fudge muppet merch if you're looking to support the channel and get an awesome looking t-shirt my name is michael and i look forward to nerding out with you again very soon [Music] you

Channel: FudgeMuppet

Views: 169,122

Keywords: skyrim, fudgemuppet, elder scrolls, skyrim worth it, is it worth it, oblivion, morrowind, skyrim lore, elder scrolls lore, mehrunes dagon lore, daedric prince lore, skyrim daedric princes, elder scrolls v skyrim, elder scrolls iv oblivion, fudgemuppet skyrim, skyrim is it worth it, skyrim is mehrunes dagon worth it, skyrim mehrunes dagon, mehrunes razor, mehrunes razor quest

Id: o1_awL7HgQQ

Length: 29min 0sec (1740 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 18 2021