How Many Black Books Are There in Skyrim? (Locations and Use)

The Daedrice prince Hermaeus Mora created Black Books and hid knowledge and powers forbidden for humankind.

Reading a Black Book will pull the reader’s life force to Apocrypha, the realm of the Daedric prince Mora.

It is also said that the readers who can read the book without becoming mad are granted immense powers.

There are seven Black Books in Skyrim, scattered over Solstheim. You can find the books by completing quests for NPCs and exploring the dungeons in Solstheim.

Keep reading as we’ll talk more about all the book’s locations, acquisition methods, and the powers that they offer,

Table of Contents

Epistolary Acumen

Starting our list with the Black Book: Epistolary Acumen. To find this book, you’ll need to complete The Path of Knowledge quest for Neloth.

You can find the dark-elf wizard either at the Earth Stone or in the main building in Tel Mithyrn.
Speak with Neloth and mention the Black Book to receive its quest. He’ll tag you along to go and look for the book in Nchardak.
Nchardak is a Dwemer ruin that is partially filled with water. You’ll have to make your way to the lower level of the ruins by draining the water.
To drain the water, you’ll have to solve a puzzle where you must collect Blue Control Cubes.
Once you have four Blue Control Cubes, use them on the Boiler Control Pedestals to complete the puzzle.
Head back to the entrance room and collect the Black Book.

Next, read the book to teleport yourself to Apocrypha. Here, you have to kill Lurkers and Seekers and do some platforming until you can finally collect the powers from the Black Book.

You can pick one of the three given perks that boosts your shouts.

Dragonborn Force adds damage to your Unrelenting Force.
Dragonborn Flame summons a fire wyrm from your enemies’ corpses.
Dragonborn Frost traps your enemies in ice.

Filament And Filigree

Unlike other Black Books, the Filament and Filigree book is buried deep down the Kolbjorn barrow. Getting this book can take a while, as you’ll be excavating and fighting off the undead most of the time.

So, you can start looking for this book in conjunction with the rest of the Black Books.

To get started,

Head to Kolbjorn Barrow, which is located on the southeastern side of Raven Rock.
You’ll find Ralis Sedarys at the site. Speak with him and start the Unearthed questline. Here, you’ll be essentially funding his excavation project, make sure that you have at least 1000 gold coins in your inventory.
Leave the place and return to the excavation site after 24 in-game hours. You should see a few miners working at the site.
Speak with Ralis again, and he’ll ask you to re-visit after a few days. Keep visiting the site every few days until you get a courier message.
Now, head back to the excavation site and clear all the Draugrs in the Barrow.
After then, you’ll need to wait again for a few days. Remember to check back every other day until a courier revisits you. Clear the dungeon again. You need to repeat this entire process a couple of more times.
You have to face the Dragon priest Ahzidal on your last encounter in the barrow.

After defeating him, you will have access to the Black Book: Filament and Filigree. Read the book to teleport to its realm and learn its power.

Like the rest of the Black Book, this book also grants you three different powers.

The Secret of Arcana ensures that spells don’t use Magicka for half a minute.
The Secret of Protection will make you stronger against enemies by taking only half the damage.
The Secret of Strength gives you unlimited stamina while using your power attack, lasting for 30 seconds.

The Hidden Twilight

You’ll find this book locked behind a room in Neloth’s quarter at Tel Mithryn. To get access to the locked room, you’ll have to complete a few quests for Neloth.

First, speak with Neloth and take on the quest to find Verona.
After finding out that she’s dead, you’ll need to find him a new steward. Speak with Drovas Relvi in The Retching Netch and ask him to become a steward.
Next, you’ll need to kill a Forsworn Briarheart for Neloth.
Speak with Neloth again; this time, he’ll instruct you to eliminate Ildari in the Highpoint tower. Upon completion, Neloth will be pleased and then will give you access to the room with the Black Book.

Once again, read the book and solve the puzzle to gain its powers. The three powers you get from the book are Mora’s Agony, Mora’s Boon, and Mora’s Grasp.

Mora’s Agony will summon poisonous tentacles.
Mora’s Boon will fill your Health, Magicka, and Stamina to their max.
The Mora’s Grasp will stop enemies for half a minute.

The Sallow Regent

Getting the Sallow Regent Black Book is relatively easy. Here, you won’t need to take on any sort of quests from NPCs, and instead, the book can be found by clearing a Nordic Ruin.

Go to the White Ridge Barrow and make your way toward the end.
On your final encounter, you’ll have to face the Dragon Priest, Dukaan. After defeating him, you’ll find the Black Book on a pedestal.

Read the book to venture into its realm. The powers you’ll get from this Black Book are Seeker of Might, Seeker of Shadows and Seeker of Sorcery.

The Seeker of Might increases your combat and smithing skills.
The Seeker of Shadows improves your alchemy and stealth skills.
Finally, the Seeker of Sorcery makes your spell-casting efficient and also improves your enchanting.

The Winds of Change

To get the Black Book: The Wind of Change, you will have to complete the Final Descent questline from Crescius Caerellius.

To get started, speak with Crescius Caerellius in the Raven Rock Mine.
Descent into the mines to fetch his journal. You’ll also find the Bloodskal Blade beside the journal. Pick up the weapon, as you’ll need it to unlock the stone gate.
Next, equip the Bloodskal Blade and power attack at the marks on the wall. Do a horizontal slash on the horizontal mark, whereas a vertical slash on the vertical marks.
Keep progressing through the dungeon till you encounter another dragon priest, Zakriisos.

Defeat him, and you’ll get access to the room with the Black Book: The Wind of Change.

The book offers powers such as Companion’s Insight, Lover’s Insight and Scholar’s Insight.

The Companion’s Insight ignores any damage you do to your followers.
The Lover’s Insight gives better prices and increases damage against the opposite gender.
The Scholar’s Insight offers an additional level while improving skills.

Untold Legends

Like the Black Book: The Sallow Regent, you won’t need to take upon any quest. You can get this book as a reward for clearing a cave.

First, head into the Benkongerike cave. Progress through the cave till you see the Word Wall.
In the same room, at the left of the Word Wall, you can find a passage heading upward. Head toward the passage and find the Black Book: Untold legends on the pedestal.

This book will grant you powers such as the Black Market, Secret Servant and Bardic Knowledge.

The Black Market summons a Dremora merchant.
The Secret Servant summons a butler.
The Bardic Knowledge summons a drum to increase stamina regeneration for you and your followers.

Waking Dreams

Finally, we have the Black Book: Waking Dream. You’ll find this book as you progress toward the end of the Dragonborn campaign at the temple of Miraak.

Complete the questline ‘Temple of Miraak’ to access this book.

This book has one of the unique abilities allowing you to refund all the perks in a skill tree. Each reset will cost you a soul of a dragon.

Note: If you’ve chosen the wrong power upgrade, you can change it by rereading the respective book.

How to Use Black Books?

Getting the book itself won’t grant you powers, though. You’ll have to read it while you’re at Soltheim for it to work.

Upon reading, it will teleport you to Apocrypha’s realm. Here, you’ll have to solve puzzles and kill enemies like Lurkers and Seekers to get the final reward.