Every Daedric Prince in The Elder Scrolls universe brings with it Daedric Artifacts to earn as well as memorable quests. Skyrim's Daedric quests are no exception to this rule. Fan-favorite Daedric Princes such as Sheogorath and Mehrunes Dagon have returned in this installment with their own agendas.
Sheogorath is the most interesting of the bunch. After the conclusion of the Shivering Isles DLC for Oblivion, many fans wonder about the character's past and his goals. No matter what has occurred between games, it is clear that there is much more than meets the eye to the Prince of Madness. Here are ten weird facts about Sheogorath in Skyrim. Spoilers for Oblivion's Shivering Isles DLC are in this article.
10 Competes With Other Daedra
Part of what makes Sheogorath so powerful is how insane the Daedric Prince is. His strange mindset and thought process has allowed Sheogorath to best the strongest of Daedra, that is if the "Sixteen Accords of Madness" are to be believed.
Examples of this include Sheogorath causing Hircine's Lycanthropic Daedroth to maul itself to death by using a songbird, showing strength over Vaermina by making one of her worshippers unable to see her nightmares, and Sheogorath even tricked Malacath into killing one of his own kind. Not even the Daedric Princes can outsmart Sheogorath's insanity.
9 Tea Party Reference
Players first encounter Sheogorath in Skyrim during a tea party. The structure of this tea party seems awfully similar to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with Sheogorath taking the place of the Mad Hatter. Considering both are known for their insanity, it was likely that Bethesda was inspired by the tea party scene when making this quest.
8 Threw A Moon At Vivec City
Fans of Morrowind might remember a strange rock floating above Vivec City named Baar Dau. This rock is actually a moon that Sheogorath threw at the city during the Second Era.
Why did he do this? It's due to the Chimer/Dunmer migrating to Morrowind and constructing the Tribunal Temple. Once the Dunmer were finished with the temple, they decided which Daedric Princes were to be trusted. Molag Bal, Malacath, Mehrunes Dagon, and Sheogorath were considered troublesome and deemed part of the "Four Corners of the House of Troubles." Sheogorath took the news rather hard and called the city of Vivec a "mockery of the heavens."
Baar Dau was then tricked by Sheogorath to slam into Vivec City, but Vivec himself was able to stop the moon from crashing into Vvardenfell. Sheogorath and Vivec both made a deal to keep the moon afloat, which would ultimately be made void by the Nerevarine's actions in Morrowind. Despite the city's best efforts, the moon fell on Vivec City as planned and caused the eruption of Red Mountain right after the events of Oblivion.
7 Fishy Sticks Reference
During the quest "The Mind of Madness," Sheogorath will sometimes mention he's doing the "fishy stick." Most fans know about his obsession with cheese from the Shivering Isles expansion, but what is this fishy stick he's referring to?
It's not a random line; this is actually a reference to an inside joke in the Bethesda forums. One member of the forums would reward users with an image of a pirate holding a fish stick. Users caught on to this practice to such a degree that Bethesda noticed it. The developers have had references to fishy sticks in each of their mainline Elder Scrolls titles since Morrowind.
6 Sheogorath's Name
Khajiit in The Elder Scrolls universe sometimes refer to Sheogorath as "Sheggorath," short for "Skooma Cat." This is close to the name Shoggoth that appears in H.P. Lovecraft's various books. It wouldn't be the first time that Bethesda would reference Lovecraftian material in their games.
While that is speculation amongst fans, what is known is Sheogorath's name is a derivative of Ted Peterson, the co-creator of The Elder Scrolls franchise. Developed as Peterson's alter ego, the name of Sheogorath is a corruption of his full first name Theodore.
5 He Invented Music
If the "Myths of Sheogorath" book is to be believed, Sheogorath birthed the concept of musical instruments in The Elder Scrolls universe.
According to the book, Sheogorath and a young woman were listening to a bird singing when the woman commented on how beautiful the song was. Sheogorath agreed, but he knew that mortals had no way to match their tune. He then tore the woman apart and used her body parts to make instruments. Tendons were used as strings for a lute while her bones were used as flutes. Should this be believed, this is when music was born.
4 Multiple Artifacts
Image from Nexus Mods
Nearly every Elder Scrolls fan knows of Sheogorath's Wabbajack Daedric Artifact, but do fans know the other Artifacts Sheogorath has? He is the creator of the infamous Wabbajack alongside the likes of Ruin's Edge, Gambolpuddy, the Everscamp, and an enchanted fork named the Fork of Horripilation.
Some of these Daedric Artifacts compete with other Daedric Prince's iconic items such as Sheogorath's record of insane people's knowledge named the Folium Discognitum, a direct competitor to Hermaeus Mora's Oghma Infinium.
3 Wylandriah Is Close To Sheogorath
Riften's court wizard seems to be particularly close with Sheogorath and, more specifically, the Shivering Isles. A note near her laboratory mentions her request for Greenmote from the College of Winterhold.
This is a resource that only exists in Sheogorath's realm, so it makes sense why the College of Winterhold couldn't fulfill her request. Mortals that enter the Shivering Isles typically don't escape, and those that do turn insane. Is this why Wylandriah is so forgetful and has such strange dialogue? Regardless, Wylandriah must have close ties to Sheogorath to escape the realm with her knowledge intact.
2 Was Once Jyggalag
Image from SPARTAN22294 (DeviantArt)
As revealed in the Shivering Isles expansion for Oblivion, players eventually learn that Sheogorath is both himself and another deity named Jyggalag. This is supposedly due to Jyggalag being one of the most powerful Daedric Princes to ever exist. Jyggalag's strength was so great that it made other Daedric Princes jealous.
To keep Jyggalag under control, the Daedric Princes worked together to curse the Prince with an alter ego that stands against everything Jyggalag stands for. They named him Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness. Even though Jyggalag was returned to his full Daedric status at the end of Shivering Isles, he does not make a return in Skyrim for unknown reasons.
1 Sheogorath Is Oblivion's Protagonist
Yes, the player character from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is Sheogorath in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This is thanks to the Shivering Isles DLC in Oblivion where the player needed to "mantle" the role of Sheogorath and become the Prince of Madness to stop Jyggalag from taking over the Shivering Isles.
Not only does Sheogorath crown the Champion of Kvatch as the new Sheogorath, but evidence can be seen in Skyrim itself with Sheogorath constantly referencing events in Oblivion during "The Mind of Madness" quest.