Skyrim Black Books Guide: Solstheim Locations and Powers
Where to find all seven Black Books on Solstheim, how to survive Apocrypha, and what each reward power actually does.
Hermaeus Mora runs the strangest library in Tamriel. His Black Books are scattered across Solstheim in the Dragonborn add-on, and every single one yanks you into Apocrypha, his plane of endless green muck and floating tomes. Each book pays out a lasting buff for your build, and better yet, you can swap those rewards around whenever you feel like it. Here's where all seven sit, how to live through the trip, and which picks are worth your time.
Starting Dragonborn
The whole Solstheim story kicks off on its own. Once you've started the base game quest "The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller" (the one where you fetch the horn from Ustengrav), your next daytime visit to a major hold city gets interrupted. Two cultists walk up, ask if you're really the Dragonborn, and then attack the moment you answer. They like ice spikes, flames, and summoned flame atronachs, and they jump you in the middle of town, so guards and random citizens tend to pile in. Try to drag them toward a gate so nobody important catches a stray fireball.
Search one of the bodies for the Cultists' Orders note. It points you at Windhelm's docks, where a ship called the Northern Maiden is tied up. Her captain, Gjalund Salt-Sage, is confused about how he even got here, and he won't sail back for free. Your first crossing comes down to a speech check: persuade him, intimidate him, or hand over double fare at 500 gold. After that first ride, every trip between Windhelm and Raven Rock costs a flat 250 gold, which is cheap for how much time it saves.
Raven Rock is where the book hunt starts taking shape. Talk to Adril Arano at the docks, poke around the Earth Stone, and a Telvanni wizard named Neloth will point you at the Temple of Miraak in the center of the island. That temple holds your first Black Book, Waking Dreams. Reading it drops you into Apocrypha for a short scripted chat with Miraak himself, and he tosses you straight back out. Don't worry, that's supposed to happen.
One rule to remember: Black Books only open on Solstheim. Try reading one back in Skyrim and you get a message about "a vision of Solstheim swims before your eyes and then is gone," plus a little screen shake and nothing else. Also, each book you pick up auto-starts its own short quest the first time you read it, so you'll always have a marker telling you what to do inside.
Locating Every Black Book
Seven books, seven spots, and three of them have a dragon priest standing over the exit. Here's the full set:
| Book | Where | How you get in | | --- | --- | --- | | Waking Dreams | Temple of Miraak | Main quest "The Temple of Miraak" | | Epistolary Acumen | Nchardak | Main quest "The Path of Knowledge" | | The Winds of Change | Bloodskal Barrow | Side quest "The Final Descent" | | Filament and Filigree | Kolbjorn Barrow | Side quest "Unearthed" | | The Sallow Regent | White Ridge Barrow | Just walk in and fight | | Untold Legends | Benkongerike | Just walk in and fight | | The Hidden Twilight | Tel Mithryn | Walk in, head upstairs |
Waking Dreams
Comes with the story, so there's no way to miss it. You grab it near the end of the Temple of Miraak, and it stays with you for the rest of the add-on. Its real payoff, a perk reset, only unlocks once you've fought your way back to it during "At the Summit of Apocrypha." More on that in the rewards section.
Epistolary Acumen
Sitting in the Dwemer ruin of Nchardak, east of Tel Mithryn, and the main quest sends you there with Neloth tagging along. The book is sealed in a glass case in the old reading room, and getting the steam back on means chasing down control cubes. You need five total: Neloth hands you one, three more are scattered through the flooded workshop (taking some raises the water level, so expect swimming with Dwarven spiders and one very cranky centurion), and the last one sits behind spinning blade traps. Grab all five, fire up the boilers, and the case pops open.
The Winds of Change
Start "The Final Descent" by talking to Crescius Caerellius inside Raven Rock Mine. The mine tunnels drop you into Bloodskal Barrow, where Gratian's old greatsword, the Bloodskal Blade, is your key forward. The famous door puzzle works like this: power attacks with the blade fire red energy beams, sideways power attacks shoot horizontal beams, and straight ones shoot vertical. Match the beam to each glowing red fissure on the door until they're all cleared, then hit the centered crack dead-on. Past that, the dragon priest Zahkriisos guards a word wall, and the book waits on a stand just beyond him. You walk out with a Dragon Aspect word, Zahkriisos's mask, and the sword itself. Not a bad haul for one mine.
Filament and Filigree
The long one. Ralis Sedarys stands outside Kolbjorn Barrow, southeast of Raven Rock, begging for dig money. You fund him in stages: 1,000 gold, then 2,000, then 3,000, then 5,000, with about three in-game days of waiting between each stage while a courier brings you his letters. Every visit, the draugr have murdered the miners again and you clear the place out a little deeper. The book sits in a circular room partway through the final excavation, and the dragon priest Ahzidal waits at the very bottom. Bring patience and a decent stash of healing, because that last fight is rough up close.
The Sallow Regent
White Ridge Barrow, up in northern Solstheim, east of the Stalhrim Source. No quest needed, just walk in. The place crawls with reavers, draugr, and a whole spider zoo: albino spiders, flame-cloaked spiders, jumping flame spiders, all of them bred by a lunatic named Merilar Rendas. Kill her, loot her notes, and keep going. There's a word wall for Cyclone in there, the Imbuing Chamber for crafting spider scrolls if you like toys, and the dragon priest Dukaan watching the path to the book. The chapter inside is the darkest of the bunch, so come prepped with light (details below).
Untold Legends
Benkongerike is a riekling-infested cave southeast of Saering's Watch. Smash your way through the little blue pests and their mounted ice brood, work through the Great Hall, and solve the animal pillar puzzle with Eagle, Whale, Whale, Snake. The word wall in the back teaches another word of Cyclone, and the Black Book sits just past it. There's a fun side grab in here too: a stack of Lusty Argonian Maid copies in a tent hides a Telekinesis spell tome underneath.
The Hidden Twilight
The easy one. It lives in Neloth's tower at Tel Mithryn, upstairs in his private quarters, sitting right next to the staff enchanter (the only one in the entire game, enchanters take note). You'll be at Tel Mithryn during the main quest anyway since "The Path of Knowledge" starts with recruiting Neloth. Ride the weird floating elevator up, snag the book, and you're done. Neloth doesn't seem to mind, which tracks for a guy who reads these things for fun.
Surviving Apocrypha Chapters
Every book opens its own little slice of Apocrypha, and each slice is split into chapters. You move between them by activating big books on pedestals, and a few chapters are skippable or can be done out of order, so if a route looks like a loop, it probably is. The final book always sits at the end with three glowing green orbs floating above it. Touch an orb, get your reward. Touch the book's edge instead and you go home.
The sea is the big killer. That black-green water is toxic, and falling in will end you in seconds. Even hugging the shore is risky, because tentacles whip out of the water at anything standing too close. The Become Ethereal shout makes the liquid harmless while it lasts, which is a neat trick for crossing flooded sections. It does nothing against the other hazard, though.
Darkness is hazard number two. Some books, The Sallow Regent especially, have patches of pure dark that chip your health away the whole time you stand in them. Any light source stops the drain: a torch, Candlelight, Magelight, all of it works, and floating wisp lanterns drift along set paths like moving safe houses. Candlelight is the best pick since it follows you and doesn't hog a hand.
Then there's the staff. Seekers are the floating robed librarians, and they're annoying more than deadly: they cast damaging spells, spawn illusion copies of themselves, turn invisible, and teleport around the room. High Seekers are just meaner versions. Lurkers are the real problem. These hulking fish-things hit like trucks in melee, spit tentacle goo that roots you in place, and stomp a mass of damaging tentacles out of the floor. At low level, a Lurker can two-shot a squishy build, so kite them and keep healing handy.
A few comforts exist. Containers called pods and vessels hold books, soul gems, scrolls, and occasional gems worth grabbing, and the wall-mounted Fonts of Magicka and Fonts of Stamina refill those pools for free, so spend freely. Even losing is forgiving: if you get dropped in Apocrypha, you don't die. You collapse, get a "you can't continue fighting" message, and wake up back on Solstheim. And you're never trapped either. Activating the same Black Book you entered through sends you straight home, even mid-chapter. Use that to bail out if you wandered in under-leveled or out of potions.
The Waking Dreams run works a little differently since it's the finale. Before the last stretch, you have to unlock the remaining words of the Bend Will shout with dragon souls, then use it to take Miraak's own dragon for a ride to the summit. In the fight itself, Miraak goes ethereal and eats a dragon soul to fully heal the first three times you hurt him badly. Just keep working him down until Hermaeus Mora gets bored and ends it personally.
Choosing Book Rewards
Every book except Waking Dreams offers three choices, and they sort into three kinds. Passive abilities run constantly once picked, no button press needed. Greater powers are once per day. Lesser powers recharge fast enough to use repeatedly. Knowing which is which matters a lot for picking well.
The always-on abilities
Epistolary Acumen rewires your shouts. Dragonborn Force makes Unrelenting Force hit harder and can outright disintegrate enemies, Dragonborn Flame spawns a fire wyrm from anything your Fire Breath kills (it fights for you for 60 seconds), and Dragonborn Frost turns Frost Breath into an ice-jail that locks foes in place. Force is the popular pick, but Frost is sneaky-good against melee brutes.
The Sallow Regent hands out flat 10% boosts. Seeker of Might raises combat skills and Smithing, Seeker of Shadows covers stealth skills and Alchemy, and Seeker of Sorcery cuts spell costs and pumps Enchanting. Sorcery is the famous one, because cheaper spells plus stronger enchants feeds straight into the classic enchanting-alchemy power loop.
The Winds of Change is quality of life. Companion's Insight stops your own attacks, shouts, and destruction spells from ever hitting your followers, which anyone who's fried Lydia with a stray fireball will appreciate. Lover's Insight gives +10% damage against the opposite sex plus 10% better prices from them. Scholar's Insight doubles skill book gains to two levels per book. For most builds, Companion's or Scholar's beats the situational Lover's.
The once-a-day powers
Filament and Filigree gives 30-second burst buffs. Secret of Strength makes power attacks cost zero stamina, Secret of Arcana makes spells cost zero magicka, and Secret of Protection halves all incoming damage. A mage popping free-casting for 30 seconds can delete a boss room, so Arcana is the standout for spellcasters.
The Hidden Twilight is Mora's personal toolkit. Mora's Agony plants a field of writhing, poisonous tentacles. Mora's Grasp freezes one target between Oblivion and Tamriel for 30 seconds, harmless but also untouchable, so use it to bench a scary enemy while you clean up its friends. Mora's Boon is the crowd favorite: a full restore of health, magicka, and stamina on demand. Free panic button, once a day, no spell slot needed. Hard to argue with that.
The repeatable summons
Untold Legends summons helpers. Bardic Knowledge calls a spectral drummer that plays for 300 seconds and speeds up stamina regeneration for everyone nearby. Black Market conjures a Dremora merchant for 15 seconds, which sounds too short to matter until you're deep in a dungeon with an inventory full of loot. Secret Servant brings a Dremora butler, also for 15 seconds, with 148 points of carry capacity to offload your junk. Since these are lesser powers, you can chain them far more often than once a day. Black Market is the practical pick, Secret Servant if you're a pack rat.
Waking Dreams
No orbs here. Instead, you get the single best service in the add-on: stand in the green glow at the end and you can reset any one skill tree, refunding every perk point spent in it, for the cost of one dragon soul. Blew 40 levels of perks on two-handed before falling in love with spellswords? One soul fixes it.
Changing Powers Later
Nothing here is permanent, which is the best part. Only one reward per book can be active at a time, but you can re-read any book on Solstheim, walk its Apocrypha run again, and grab a different orb. Swapping is free and unlimited, so experiment. With six power books plus the perk reset, you can have six Black Book rewards running side by side.
The chapters do reset their enemies each visit, so a swap run means fighting back to the end pedestal. With the short books that's a couple of minutes. The exit works both ways too: touch the book at the end, or activate the book you entered through, and either one drops you back on Solstheim right where you left.
Two books need special handling after the main quest. Epistolary Acumen gets handed to Storn Crag-Strider during "The Gardener of Men," and Waking Dreams ends up with him as well. Once events play out at the Skaal village, you can loot both off his body, or receive Epistolary Acumen from Frea afterward. Without grabbing them back, no shout upgrades or perk resets for you, so don't skip the pickup. All the books stay quest items in your inventory regardless, weightless and un-droppable.
Two more things worth knowing. Learning the secrets of any five Black Books pops the "Hidden Knowledge" achievement, so completionists only need five of the seven. And the perk reset stays open forever: re-read Waking Dreams any time you like, and as long as you've got a spare dragon soul, you can rebuild a skill tree. Miraak's death alone pays out five to ten souls, which is a decent respec budget to start with. Farm a dragon or two after that and you can rebuild your whole character on a lazy afternoon.