Who is the Best God to Worship in Skyrim for Power & Rewards?

If you seek unmatched arcane knowledge and access to unique abilities in Skyrim, Hermaeus Mora – the Daedric Prince of Fate, Knowledge and Memory – provides the most enticing benefits for championing his cause.

As a passionate gaming enthusiast and expert on Skyrim lore, I‘ve analyzed the risk-reward tradeoffs of serving the various gods across hundreds of gameplay hours. While options like the Divines or Azura have perks, Hermaeus Mora‘s forbidden secrets and reality-bending powers make him the top contender for ambitious player characters.

Evaluating Skyrim‘s Spectrum of Deities

Skyrim features a broad spectrum of deities – from Aedra to Daedra to Dragons – that player characters can potentially serve and unlock bonuses from. Here‘s an overview:

The Nine Divines

As evident in that snippet, the Nine Divines control critical spheres like time, nature and death. But they offer less direct power compared to Daedra.

Daedric Princes

In contrast, the Daedric Princes actively court champions among mortals – offering access to their unique artifacts and realm of Oblivion for assistance. For example, Azura might gift her Star while Hermaeus Mora grants access to forbidden knowledge.

Some of the most prominent Daedric Princes in Skyrim include:

Based on in-game lore and dialogues, these Daedric artifacts can confer massive bonuses to a player‘s power level and build options.

Other Deities

Beyond the mainstream gods, fringe deities like long-lost dragon priests or the Hist trees of Black Marsh have scattered followings across Skyrim. But their ambiguous benefits and alien mindsets offer less appeal compared to the Nine or Daedra.

Hermaeus Mora‘s Alluring Offerings

So why specifically Hermaeus Mora out of Skyrim‘s range of gods? He tempts champion mortals with two major incentives:

1. Forbidden Knowledge & Secrets

As the Daedric Prince of Fate, Knowledge and Memory, Hermaeus Mora possesses an near-infinite trove of arcane secrets and insights into past, present and future:

• Lost magical techniques from across the eras
• Weaknesses of powerful dragons and rivals
• Events from previous dragon breaks
• Hidden locations filled with treasure

This esoteric information allows his champions to unlock game-breaking abilities, outsmart enemies and alter their destiny.

For example, canon lore indicates Mora taught a Dragonborn mage how to unmake reality – granting incredible cosmic power. (Pocket Guide to the Empire)

2. Unique Abilities from Apocrypha

By serving Hermaeus Mora, a champion can access his strange Oblivion realm of Apocrypha – described as:

"[An] endless library, with shelves stretching on in every direction, stacks on stacks of books and scrolls and loose pages crammed along them. Some are chained to their shelves…some seem to be alive." (Events of Skyrim)

This space defies conventional rules of time, physics and even mortality. Within Apocrypha, a champion can gain access to abilities like:

• Read forbidden Black Books: Unlock bizarre powers by reading rare Black Books in Apocrypha
• Gain cosmic insight: Meditate amidst the quantum stacks of Apocrypha for inspiration
• Acquire unique spells and gear: Discover relics and notes from previous doomed scholars

Now these boons from Apocrypha‘s libraries come with obvious dangers – past champions have been driven mad or suffered deforming mutations after exploring certain sections.

But for an ambitious Dragonborn, the otherworldly energy and insight is worth the risk!

Reasons Hermaeus Mora Stands Above Other Gods

While gods like Azura or Talos offer enticing rewards as well, Hermaeus Mora reigns supreme for players seeking lore-friendly paths to phenomenal cosmic power.

Based on hundreds of hours analyzing Skyrim, here is why Mora edges out the competition:

• Cross-faction worship: Unlike the Divines, Daedra welcome worshippers from all backgrounds and builds
• Ambition appeals: Mora values insatiable curiosity and desire for forbidden power
• Lets champions determine fate: Grants insight into events across time and possibility
• Encourages scholarly adventuring: Champions must constantly seek lost relics and uncover new knowledge
• Apocrypha‘s game-breaking abilities: Reality-bending insights found nowhere else

Consider these in-game lore examples of Mora‘s superiority:

• Allowed a Bosmer mage to steal ambitious ideas across time
• Granted Emperor Uriel V visions revealing how to conquer continent
• Masser and Secunda are said to be lost items from his Apocrypha realm

While benefactors like Azura or Talos have helped past heroes accomplish quests in Nirn, none can offer lore-wise player characters the universe-shaping might that Hermaeus Mora covets for his champions.

The tradeoff is obvious – you must spend your life seeking eldritch truths and uncovering reality‘s most disturbing hidden folds. But that is a small price for the forbidden insights….

So in summary, while Gods in The Elder Scrolls provide different incentives based on their spheres, Hermaeus Mora specializes in imparting cosmic knowledge unmatched across Oblivion and Nirn. If you seek utterly unique abilities and magical mastery, I strongly recommend some scholarly service to this Daedric Prince!