Why Elder Scrolls Blind You If You Actually Read Them

In the world of Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls, characters worship deities known as Aedra and Daedra, but the titular Elder Scrolls themselves are said to predate both of those groups. No one knows who created the Elder Scrolls in the world of The Elder Scrolls, but over the years many different people and factions have attempted to use them to gain insight, forbidden knowledge, and power. Unfortunately, reading the Elder Scrolls in The Elder Scrolls games has an unfortunate side effect – it can turn people blind.

Elder Scrolls have been featured in multiple Elder Scrolls games throughout the years, including both The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Players could even collect these powerful magical objects themselves, usually as part of the game’s main quest chain. However, no matter how much access the games allowed players to have, it never really lets them unlock the Elder Scrolls’ true power. In the lore of The Elder Scrolls, there’s a very good reason for this.

The Elder Scrolls, if viewed by someone with no knowledge of magic or the true meaning behind its runes, won’t look like anything important. If someone was to actually attempt to decipher an Elder Scrolls’ true meaning, however, they could run the risk of losing both their eyesight and their minds. According to Effects of the Elder Scrolls, a fictional written historical account of interactions with the Elder Scrolls over the years which can be found at the library in Skyrim’s College of Winterhold, monks who practice and teach themselves over a lifetime to read the Elder Scrolls can learn great wisdom and deep truths about the universe, but the act of learning will also eventually keep them from reading ever again.

Reading The Elder Scrolls Will Eventually Blind You Forever

In the world of The Elder Scrolls, the people who devote their lives to studying Elder Scrolls are called The Cult of the Ancestor Moth. These monks, according to Effects of the Elder Scrolls, “become gradually more and more blind, but receive greater and more detailed knowledge.” While being blind makes life more difficult for the monks, the book continues to say, “As they spend their waking hours pondering the revelations, they also receive a further degree of mental fortitude. There is, for every monk, a day of Penultimate Reading, when the only knowledge the Elder Scroll imparts is that the monk’s next reading shall be his last.“

Members of The Cult of the Ancestor Moth “typically withdraws to seclusion in order to reflect upon a lifetime of revelations and appoint his mind for reception,” before they embark upon their final reading of an Elder Scroll. The Effects of the Elder Scrolls states that, “Upon this final reading, he is forever blinded as sure as those Unguarded ones who raced to knowledge. The Illuminated one, though, has retained his understanding over a lifetime and typically possesses a more integral notion of what has been revealed to him.“

Monks of The Cult of the Ancestor Moth know this is the eventual result of their thirst for knowledge, and yet they continue the search anyway. While simply glancing at an Elder Scroll will not blind someone, attempting to actually learn, read, and understand the ancient wisdom on the text is too much for a single mind, and these monks believed that sight was an agreeable tradeoff. As Effects of the Elder Scrolls describes, “The Moth priests remain aloof about these matters, taking the gradual debilitation that comes with reading as a point of pride. May this serve as a useful starting point for those hoping to take up such study.“

About The Author

Christopher J. Teuton
(694 Articles Published)

Christopher J. Teuton is an author, game developer, film director, and producer based out of Savannah, GA, in the United States. Owner of Filthy & Free Publishing. When not working on his various projects, acting as Screen Rant’s gaming editor, or spending time with his family, Christopher J. Teuton mostly enjoys playing with dogs and climbing on trees.

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