Lore:Staff of Sheogorath

The Staff of Sheogorath, a powerful Daedric artifact, is the symbol of the Daedric Prince of Madness. It contains the power of the Shivering Isles, and is needed to assume the title of Mad God and sit upon the Throne of Madness.

The Staff is the namesake of Sheogorath. In its traditional appearance, the Staff is a simple walking stick, often with an eyeball attached to the top. During each Greymarch, the Staff's power waned and it became a useless twig. This marked the beginning of Sheogorath's transformation into Jyggalag.

History

The Staff played an essential role in Sheogorath's attempts to halt the Greymarch in 3E 433. He had planned to give his champion the Staff, so that they could take the title of Mad God and command enough power to defeat the Prince of Order. This plan failed when the Staff's power died and Sheogorath disappeared to join the forces of Order as Jyggalag. Haskill, the Mad God's chamberlain, sent the champion to speak with Dyus of Mytheria in a desperate attempt to reform the Staff. Dyus was able to create the physical shell of the Staff, although he required two precious items to do so. The eye of Ciirta, a woman who had seen the secrets of the realm during the previous Greymarch and who dwelled in the Howling Halls, plotting her revenge against Sheogorath and his "treachery"; and a screaming branch from the Tree of Shades, one of the oldest trees in the realm, which feeds from the waters of the Grove of Reflection. With these two items Dyus created the Staff anew, which took on the appearance of a rough stave.

The Staff did not contain the divine essence of the realm, and it needed to be soaked in the Font of Madness before it would truly become the Symbol of Madness. However, the Font had been taken by Order. It was rumored that a traitorous duke of the realm had poisoned the Pools of Mania and Dementia, which fed the Tree of Madness, although whether this was Syl or Thadon is debated. The Champion cleansed the Fountainhead and imbued the Staff with Madness, allowing them to ascend to the title of Mad God. In a final battle on the palace grounds, the Champion defeated Jyggalag and his curse was ended. The Champion was allowed to remain as the Mad God, Ruler of the Shivering Isles. The Staff of Sheogorath could now command the power of the Prince of Order, and is known to have the ability to stop time.

In 4E 201, Sheogorath pinned a note to a wooden keg in The Retching Netch, a cornerclub in Raven Rock on the island of Solstheim. The note proposed a combat trial, offering the Staff of Sheogorath to whoever used the Fork of Horripilation to kill two specific Bull Netches on the island in single combat. The Last Dragonborn accepted the challenge and killed the netches, retrieving Ciirta's Eye and a Branch of the Tree of Shades from their corpses. The Dragonborn then combined these components into the Staff of Sheogorath using two Heart Stones and a staff enchanter developed by Master Neloth. This specific staff could not stop time, but bore a powerful paralysis enchantment.

Gallery

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  Sheogorath with the Staff (Daggerfall)

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  Statue of Sheogorath with the Staff (Morrowind)

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  Sheogorath's Staff (Shivering Isles)

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  Dyus' Staff of Sheogorath
  (Shivering Isles)

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  Staff of Sheogorath
  (Skyrim Creation Club)

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  Sheogorath with the Staff (Legends)

Notes

• The Staff of Sheogorath appeared in the Shivering Isles expansion for TES IV: Oblivion and the Staff of Sheogorath Creation for TES V: Skyrim Special Edition, although Sheogorath has been depicted with a cane in both TES II: Daggerfall and TES III: Morrowind.
• Residents of the Shivering Isles have been known to exclaim "by the staff".

See Also

• For game-specific information, see the Shivering Isles and Skyrim^CC articles.