Hey guys and girls I was doing some Daedric quest in Oblivion the other day when Hermaeus Mora said something interesting. I've been playing this game since it came out but this is the first time i actually tried to dissect what he said. He said "You have served me well, and I am pleased. I give you this, the Oghma Infinium. Knowledge given by me to Xarxes is recorded within. Read it, and gain knowledge of yourself. Go now. Learn, and remember." I thought Xarxes was only part of a title for a book. Thats how Martin makes it sound anyway, but Hermaeus Mora makes it sound like a person that existed. So i looked up the name on the Elder Scrolls wiki and the imperial library. The wiki didnt help much but the library gave me a list of links. I went through some of them like this one here Theories on The Mysterium Xarxes: http://www.imperial-library.info/fsg/drekkusarticle1.shtml.
And this other one called Translating the Mysterium : http://www.imperial-library.info/fsg/kikaiarticle1.shtml

But those links talk more about the contents of the book and not the person Xarxes.
So my question is this ,and this is really for the lore buffs, is xarxes a person who existed at one point in time or is it just a name of book that Mehrunes Dagon wrote? I have to say that what Hermaeus Mora said certainly makes me think he was an actual person. On a side note I find it hard to believe that Mehrunes Dagon could write anything that had any substance to it. Even the great Divayth Fyr said " he knew nothing and understood nothing"
Thanks for the replies in advance.

You'll be amazed by what you find when you do a search. From the http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/varietiesoffaith.shtml:

Thanks so much! But in a way that begs the question. If he is a god why would he need Hermaeus Mora to give him info? Being a god wouldn't he already have that information? Or is Mora saying he gave that information to Xarxes so that he would record it for him? Being a scribe thats what he would do right? Just need a little clarification.

A bit of thread necromancy here, but Hermaeus Mora is the Deadra of Knowledge (in general, I think. I may be wrong) Whereas Xarxes is simply concerned with ancestry and secret knowledge. Maybe it was a Mutual trade?

Hermaeus Mora's sphere is obscure. He's the Daedra of 'forbidden' knowledge, whatever 'forbidden' means. Probably not the "Keep Off The Grass" sense. He has been described in one source as being formed from left-over discarded concepts that weren't used in the creation of Mundus, so 'forbidden' may carry connotations of 'impossible' in that spooky Lovecraftian sense. He's also described as the Harvester of Men and a scryer of the 'tides of fate', and said to have a definate effect on time.


Some have suggested that Xarxes actually is Hermaeus Mora, or another aspect of the Daedric Prince. I'm not sold on that yet, but that the two would have dealings is interesting in itself since we don't hear about the Daedra and Aedra cooperating much.

You mean as in the jygallag-sheogorath sense, or maybe the trinimac-malacath sense, or someting else?

Xarxes : Elvish God of Knowledge, comparable to Jullianos.

Hermaus Mora : Demon of Knowledge, supposedly made out cast away ideas from Mundus. Says allot about the quality of it.

Mysterium Xarxes: Artifact Book made by Mehrunes Dagon, given to Mankar Camoran. The name might mean as much as unexplained history.

Oghma: Wife of Xarxes. Made from bits of history.

Oghma-Infinium: Artifact Book from Hermaus Mora. If Oghma is made of history. Then Oghma Infinium might contain every other bit of history, even stuff that never happened. So perhaps not so much given to Hermaus Mora as it was cast out.