Books

Voracious readers will be pleased to learn that a wealth of knowledge is located in dozens of different books. These fall into one of six general categories: Skill Books, Spell Tomes, functional books, common books, notes and journals, and Black Books of Hermaeus Mora.

Skill Books

When read, these books increase one of your skills by a single point. There are five different Skill Books associated with each skill (meaning 90 different book titles), but there are multiple copies of each book (usually 3 to 5 each), bringing the total number of Skill Books to well over 400. However, you only receive a skill increase the first time you read any particular title; rereading that book or any of its copies has no further effect. This means you can only use Skill Books to increase each skill by a maximum of five points.

For example: Those interested in the Sneak skill should look for Three Thieves (four copies), 2920, Last Seed, v8 (four copies), Sacred Witness (four copies), Legend of Krately House (three copies), and The Red Kitchen Reader (five copies). This means there are 20 Sneak Skill Books and five points you can add to your Sneak from reading the first copy you encounter of each tome.

Spell Tomes

Spell Tomes are books of magic with the sigil of their school embossed on the front cover. When you read them, the book is consumed and you instantly learn the spell it contained. If you later find another copy of the same Spell Tome, sell it, as it isn’t of any use to you anymore. You can purchase Spell Tomes from a few select vendors, the Court Wizards in each of the major Hold capitals, and the mages of the College of Winterhold. You can also find Spell Tomes randomly in dungeons.

Functional Books

Functional books describe actual locations, legends, or mysteries to be discovered in the wilds of Skyrim. When read, they add locations to your world map and might trigger a quest or objective related to the contents of the book. There are seven of these types of books, each with several copies. Once you’ve read one copy, you never need to read another copy of the same book, as the information is identical.

Common Books

There are a wide variety of other books in Skyrim. They provide stories, histories, advice on battle, fiction, and many other types of reading material to add a little flavor to your adventure. Many of these books provide interesting asides to locations you visit. However, none of these books grant you any kind of bonus; they are simply there to be read. Across Skyrim and Solstheim, there are 263 different books to read (or collect, if you like). Some are quite common, while others are rare and valuable.

Notes and Journals

In addition to books, there are a wide variety of notes and journals used throughout your adventure to convey shorter or more personal messages, from the important to the trivial. Some are given or found during quests, while others can be picked up in houses and dungeons. Quest notes are listed in the appropriate quests, while most other notes simply aren’t important enough to be tracked in this guide. But they’re all worth a read, if you have the time.

Black Books and Apocrypha Powers

On the isle of Solstheim, you may come across one of seven Black Books—tomes of forbidden knowledge that transport you into the realm of Oblivion controlled by the Daedric Prince Hermaeus Mora. This realm is known as Apocrypha. Two of these are found and used as part of the Dragonborn Main Quest.

The other five are located in specific dungeons across the island and can be found through normal exploration (even before the Dragonborn Main Quest). For example, the Black Book: Filament and Filigree can be found in Kolbjorn Barrow.

If you are on Solstheim (and not Skyrim), and you aren’t engaged in combat, reading a Black Book will transport you to the book’s corresponding Apocrypha realm. If you are not on Solstheim or are in combat, the book doesn’t work.

Each book takes you to a specific Apocrypha realm (a dungeon you can explore). While all seven of these dungeons are known as “Apocrypha,” they are all distinct areas. For clarity, this guide has subtitled each distinct area with the name of the book that sends you there. For example, when you read Black Book: Filament and Filigree, you are transported to a specific part of Apocrypha. You cannot move into areas served by other Black Books.

Consult the Apocrypha section of the Solstheim Atlas for further details, and search out Dragonborn Main Quests and Solstheim Side Quests for more information on these locations.

Upon arriving in Apocrypha, you receive a quest to finish the Black Book you’ve just read. Exactly what happens next varies depending on the book you opened (which you can open as many times as you like by accessing it in your inventory). The variations are as follows:

• For the Main Quest book Waking Dreams..., you read the book as part of Dragonborn Main Quest: The Temple of Miraak, but you don’t obtain a quest because Miraak confronts you and throws you out of the realm. You can’t complete this book until you do so as a part of Dragonborn Main Quest: At the Summit of Apocrypha.
• For the Main Quest book Epistolary Acumen, you read the book as part of Dragonborn Main Quest: The Gardener of Men. Completing it is required by that quest.
• For the other five books, you receive the corresponding Solstheim Side Quest (named the same as the book) as a reminder that you need to complete it.

When you appear in Apocrypha for the first time, you are confronted by an apparition of Hermaeus Mora, who beckons you into the realm, explaining it a little more clearly. This occurs only once.

As you progress through each Apocrypha realm, specific checkpoints are invisibly set as you complete certain actions or events. If you leave the realm and return, you will arrive at the last checkpoint—you don’t have to start all over again. These checkpoints are never seen or known, but you’re likely to appear just after the chapter you’ve reached in a previous exploration.

To leave Apocrypha and return to Solstheim, you can:

• Die. Dying in Apocrypha simply transports you out; it doesn’t actually kill you.
• Read any Black Book in your inventory.
• Complete the Apocrypha realm, reach the Reward Book, claim your reward, and then interact with the Reward Book again to leave.

When you leave Apocrypha, you return to Solstheim exactly where you were when you read the Black Book.

At the end of each Apocrypha realm, you will find a Reward Book. There are large tomes matching the name of the book you read to enter the realm. Interacting with the book opens it, causing three orbs to emerge, each representing a power or ability that the book can bestow.

Each book has a specific and distinct set of rewards. Some are passive abilities that are always “on” while you have them. Some are powers, which you can use only once a day. Some are lesser powers, which you can use as often as you like.

Once you select a reward, interacting with the Reward Book again will return you to Solstheim. However, since you can always read the Black Book in your inventory to return to Apocrypha, you can return here and choose a different power whenever you want. You can have only one power from each book at a time.

Dragonborn Black Books and Apocrypha Powers List

The following table shows the rewards for each of the seven Black Books available in Apocrypha.

Black Book: Epistolary Acumen

Black Book: Waking Dreams

Black Book: Filament and Filigree

Black Book: The Hidden Twilight

Black Book: The Sallow Regent

Black Book: The Winds of Change

Black Book: Untold Legends

Apocrypha Fonts

In Apocrypha, you can find sculptures with blue and green orbs set into them. Interacting with them will fully restore your Magicka or Stamina, respectively. You can use each font only once per visit to Apocrypha.