At the end of the final battle, the Daedric Prince of Fate was the one that killed Miraak instead of you. So why did he needed your help in the first place? if he didn't want Miraak to leave than he could had just killed Miraak right after he got the secret from Storn or he could had just killed Miraak way before you even showed up in the first place.

You did have to fight Miraak for some time. So perhaps the Daedric Prince couldn't act until he was weak enough for an easy strike. Or perhaps he felt no need to kill Miraak unless you were strong enough to replace him.

Either he needed you to weaken him, or he wanted to trick you into becoming his servant.

Who knows? Daedric Princes' motives are often unknown. He might've wanted to lure the DB into his service, he might've been entertained by the thought of the DB and Miraak fighting in his realm, he might've wanted Storn to willingly give up the knowledge instead of taking it by force, even though he killed Storn anyway.

He didn't need your help, he just wanted the secrets of the skaal so he cooked up this whole thing to fool you into being his next pawn.

I don't think he would "need" the PC's help. My guess is he wanted to see if his new Champion is on par with his old one.
That's the battle with Miraak, and why he won't lay a red carpet for you in Apocrypha, even if you express your cooperation.

Skaal secrets.

Hermaeus Mora didn't lose anything from the entire quest. He got a new servent who proved more powerful than his old one and he finally got the skaal secrets, he even got the satisfaction of killing his traiterous servent

He was afraid of Miraak.

Clavicus Vile mentions the Dovahkiin is close to his level in strength. Alduin mentions even Daedra fear him.

Something about Dragons puts them on a similar level to Daedric Princes, the Dragonborn has the soul of a Dragon. It isn't too far fetched to assume that Hermaeus Mora didn't want to risk directly engaging Miraak until you had weakened him, and simply used that angle to manipulate himself a new servant and gain the Skaal secrets.

Alright, then why did he need our help to obtain the secrets of the Skaal? He could have appeared before the shaman at any time, teleported him to Apocrypha, and forced the secrets out of him quite easily.

Daedric Princes absolutely love messing with mortals, but if Herma's appetite for knowledge of so strong, you'd think he would have taken matters into his own hands instead of waiting around for hundreds, if not thousands of years for us to come along.

Daedric Princes can't interfere or invade the mortal world directly. Mehrunes Dagon tried to do that, and look what happened to him?
They can leave baits and such, but they can't directly kidnap or kill a mortal on their own whim.
For example, Herma could have left a Black Book near the Skaal, but if no one was ever tempted to open it on their own, there'd be nothing he could do. Which was probably the case.

Much like the Shivering Isles. Sheogorath says something regarding this [I don't remember his exact words] , "Oh but my dear, I'm not invading or interfering with the mortal world, I simply opened a portal. Whether one wants to enter or not is their own decision. I'm not forcing anyone."

Yup daedra princes dance around the rules to try and get mortals to do stuff for them.

Could this be the reason??



It was later revealed that Miraak, the First Dragonborn, had learned his secret powers from Hermaeus Mora in exchange for a life of servitude in the Apocrypha. By the return of the dragons, however, Miraak had largely abandoned his master and decided to return to Tamriel by way of Solstheim. After raising an army of cultists and attempting to kill the recently revealed http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dovahkiin, Miraak bewitched much of the populace of Solstheim and forced them to build otherworldly structures around the All-Maker Stones on the island, which would be used to increase his power and provide a conduit to return to Tamriel. The Last Dragonborn tracked Miraak's activity to his http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:Temple_of_Miraak and inside found a http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Black_Book, an artifact of Hermaeus Mora. The Dragonborn destroyed Miraak's influence on the island and entered the Apocrypha through the Black Books, meeting Hermaeus Mora himself. Mora told the Dragonborn that he was growing tired of using Miraak as a servant, and offered the Dragonborn the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:Bend_Will he provided to Miraak, in exchange for an important piece of knowledge. This knowledge was the ancient religious traditions and powers of the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Skaal, who had faithfully kept it from Mora for generations. The Dragonborn had to convince the spiritual leader of the Skaal, http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:Storn_Crag-Strider, to give up the knowledge, which killed him as it was removed from his body. His end of the bargain fulfilled, the Dragonborn gained the new shout from Mora and went back into the Apocrypha to face Miraak. Upon defeating him, Mora appeared again and expressed his disappointment with Miraak, transferring his status to the Last Dragonborn.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Hermaeus_Mora

Wrong. You play Oblivion?

This ^^
Martin Septim (along with our character's help) sealed shut the crack (caused by Dagon) in the magical barrier between Oblivion and Mundus, thus forcing the Daedric Princes to abide the rules of engagement with Mortals. Check out the Elder Scrolls Lore.

Mora needed us for the same reason people need us for dragons.

Anyone can kill them, the problem is with them staying that way.

I'll have to agree with this. Same with Boethia wanting you to kill her champion or any other Daedric prince. You have to be worthy of the title first.

I have a hard time imaging that either of the Dragonborn are anywhere near Herma Mora in power, especially within his own realm. I think he used the PC to kill Miraak for 1) Entertainment and 2) Ensure he'd have a powerful and worthy champion for the future. He could've easily killed Miraak whenever he wanted, but with the PC he managed to get a fresh new servant, watched a good fight between 2 dragonborn, and got the secrets of the Skaal.

Yeah honestly this is my opinion as well. As you said HM could have easily killed miraak but choose to let the DB fight so yeah he wanted to test this new DB that appeared and get the secrets of the skaal.

I wonder where Miraak got the idea that the Dragonborn's soul could provide the necessary means to escape Apocrypha.

Maybe from Hermy himself. lol

Herma: "Yo Miraak, lemme tell you how to be stronger than me should you ever seek to leave my service"

Miraak: "this is too legit to quit!"

Could have been. Never know. Hermy was getting tired of Miraak, and what better way to get the Dragonborn involved after all the years that Miraak has been with Hermy, than to have a few hints thrown at ya.

I think it's pretty much the same reason why Hermaeus Mora needed the Dragonborn to replace Septimus.

^^This