Skyrim:Daedric Quests

Daedric quests are quests given by the Daedric Princes, usually with a Daedric Artifact as a reward. Daedric quests are not considered side quests.

Most Daedric quests also have an associated "pointer quest", a miscellaneous quest objective that leads you to the actual Daedric quest. It is not always necessary to obtain the pointer quest before starting the Daedric quest; in some cases, you can start the Daedric quest by simply visiting the related shrine or other location where a Daedric worshipper can be found.

Most Daedric quests can only be removed from your active quest list upon successful completion. However, a few of the quests can be failed, which usually occurs if you kill the quest giver. For example, you can kill Silus Vesuius upon entering his home, resulting in the failure of Pieces of the Past.

Daedric Quest	Prince	Level Req.	Reward		Pointer Quest and/or Shrine Location
The Black Star	Azura	1		Azura's Star or The Black Star	Visit the Shrine of Azura Shrine of Azura, south of Winterhold, east of Sightless Pit, on the peak of a mountain
Boethiah's Calling	Boethiah	30		Ebony Mail	Investigate the Boethiah cultist Sacellum of Boethiah, east of Windhelm Stables
A Daedra's Best Friend	Clavicus Vile	10		The Rueful Axe and/or Masque of Clavicus Vile	Speak to Lod in Falkreath Haemar's Shame (quest cannot be started at the shrine)
Discerning the Transmundane	Hermaeus Mora	15		Oghma Infinium	Elder Knowledge or Scroll ScoutingDG Septimus Signus's Outpost far north of Winterhold
Ill Met By Moonlight	Hircine	1		Savior's Hide and/or Ring of Hircine	There is no pointer quest or shrine; speak to Mathies in Falkreath about the death of his daughter or to Sinding in Falkreath Jail to start this quest
The Cursed Tribe	Malacath	9		Volendrung	Largashbur, an Orc stronghold west-southwest of Riften
Pieces of the Past	Mehrunes Dagon	20		Mehrunes' Razor or gold	Visit the museum in Dawnstar Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon, far east of Morthal, stairway up the mountain just past Stonehills
The Whispering Door	Mephala	20		Ebony Blade	Ask about Balgruuf's strange children
The Break of Dawn	Meridia	12		Dawnbreaker	Statue to Meridia, west of Solitude
The House of Horrors	Molag Bal	1		Mace of Molag Bal	Speak to the witchhunter about the abandoned house Markarth, Abandoned House
The Taste of Death	Namira	1		Ring of Namira	Investigate the Hall of the Dead
Trinity Restored Blindsighted Darkness Returns (part of Thieves Guild)	Nocturnal	1		Skeleton Key during Darkness Returns, which is exchanged for Nightingale blessings at the end	Twilight Sepulcher
The Only Cure	Peryite	12		Spellbreaker	Find Kesh at the Peryite Shrine Shrine to Peryite, northeast of Markarth, northwest of Karthwasten
A Night To Remember	Sanguine	14		Sanguine Rose	Participate in a drinking contest with Sam Guevenne
The Mind of Madness	Sheogorath	1		Wabbajack	Investigate the man wandering the streets near the Bards College Solitude
Waking Nightmare	Vaermina	1		Skull of Corruption or a Follower	Dawnstar

Achievements

Achievements related to Daedric quests are:

• Daedric Influence (10 points/Bronze) — Acquire a Daedric Artifact
• Oblivion Walker (30 points/Silver) — Collect 15 Daedric Artifacts
  • It is possible to miss the Oblivion Walker achievement. To receive it, you must not simply complete 15 Daedric quests, but must also choose the quest endings that give you Daedric Artifacts.
  • Quests which do not simply result in you receiving one artifact are:
    • Those which can be completed without receiving an artifact: A Daedra's Best Friend (The Rueful Axe does not count as a Daedric Artifact), Pieces of the Past, and Waking Nightmare.
    • Those which can be failed: Discerning the Transmundane, Pieces of the Past, The House of Horrors, and The Taste of Death.
    • Those where an NPC can die before giving you the quest: A Daedra's Best Friend and The Whispering Door.
    • Blindsighted: the Skeleton Key does not count as a Daedric Artifact for these achievements.
      • The Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch, version 4.3.2, fixes this bug.
    • Ill Met By Moonlight: both the Savior's Hide and the Ring of Hircine count as Daedric Artifacts, and both can be obtained at the same time.
  • You do not need to possess the artifacts to increment the achievement counter; just choose the ending that results in the quest adding to your artifacts total. However, all but one of the quests have the increment scripted to taking possession of an artifact. The exception is The Cursed Tribe, where the quest ends but the artifact is placed in front of you rather than in your inventory. You do not need to keep the artifacts once you have them, though they can be used to verify which quests have been completed "correctly".
  • The game tracks the number of Daedric Artifacts and the number of completed Daedric quests separately. The only relevant statistic visible in-game is the number of "Daedric Quests Completed" (under "General Stats" in your journal). Since the quest statistic is incremented even if you complete a quest without receiving the artifact, it may not reliably indicate your progress toward the Oblivion Walker achievement.
  • Auriel's Bow^DG also counts toward these achievements, despite the fact that it is an Aedric, not Daedric, Artifact, and is therefore tied to the plane of Aetherius, rather than the planes of Oblivion.
  • Although Black Books^DB are artifacts associated with Hermaeus Mora, they do not count toward these achievements.
  • Daedric Artifacts added through the Creation Club do not count toward these achievements. These include the Bittercup^CC, the Bow of Shadows^CC, the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal^CC, Goldbrand^CC, Nerveshatter^CC, the Ring of Khajiit^CC, Scourge^CC, Shadowrend^CC, the Staff of Sheogorath^CC, the Sword of Jyggalag^CC, and Umbra^CC.
    • The Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch, version 4.2.3, addresses this issue. However, it is only fixed for content within the patch's purview (the three artifacts from free Creation Club content: Nerveshatter^CC, the Ring of Khajiit^CC, and the Sword of Jyggalag^CC).