Skyrim talk:The Gardener of Men

Storn does nothingEdit

I encountered a bug during the end of this quest. When Storn has been handed the book and walks up to the town center, he says the final line "I'm ready for whatever the master of this foul book has in store for me" (or something) and then nothing. He just stands there for ever. When I try to talk to him, he says something like "I'm in the All-Makers hands now" or something, and Frea just tells me to stfu when I talk to her, and the entire quest is stuck. I had already completed the quest to cleanse the stones before beginning this one, so he started complying right away.
I've tried reloading to earlier saves, waiting, going elsewhere, going out of the cell, going inside, attacking him, killing him, disabling and enabling him, all with no effect what so ever. I've never had Frea with me as a follower, although I have passed the speech check necessary to recruit her.
Anyone know what causes this bug/how to fix it/related console commands to further the quest/anything at all? Jyggorath (talk) 17:44, 6 February 2013 (GMT)

There's a mod that fixed this problem for me currently on the Nexus called "The Gardener of the Men Bugfix". Best of luck, :) - Nashbem (talk) 00:20, 8 February 2013 (GMT)

I found a solution. I was using the mod "New Animation Pack", and many animations in the dlc was bugged (the floating in Tel Mithryn, dragon riding animation, Miraaks death scene, and this). When I disabled it, it fixed everything. Turns out a lot of people with animation mods like new animation pack, death animations, AP, momos acrobatics, catwalk, etc, have the same problems. Jyggorath (talk) 15:17, 8 February 2013 (GMT)

Ah well, see, us "old hands" with Dragonborn for XBox wouldn't have known about that problem, no wonder we couldn't help you! :-) – Daric↝talk 00:06, 9 February 2013 (GMT)

Found the reason to this, scenes are played dialog per dialog. so in the case that a scenes stop just get the person who missed its line to say it. here you just have to talk to frea, she'll respond: be silent. then continue the scene. oh btw please edit this if you so desire, dont know the protocols for submitting stuff here and im just tryin to be helpfull. -CounterClockwise — Unsigned comment by 46.9.22.47 (talk) at 00:15 on 14 July 2013 (GMT)

Book Attacking Storn bug?Edit

This edit was made by 184.66.10.176 at 05:41, 8 December 2012, adding the following bug to the page:

• There appears to be a bug regarding the Black Book and Storn, where Storn will simply be attacked by the book, and the main plot line will not progress. It seems to be related to losing Frea, or having her die at some point. Causes and rectifications are currently unknown.

I removed the above from the article for now. I was about to try shortening and rewording the bug, but I'm a little confused by what it's supposed to mean. The Black Book was attacking Storn? If the user who added this (or someone else who has experienced the book attacking Storn) can clarify this, please do. Otherwise, I don't believe it belongs on the quest page. — ABCface^◥ 03:43, 7 February 2013 (GMT)

To me it seems like they are referring to the point where Storn is in the centre of the village, and has just opened the book. Tentacles reach out of the book and hold him in place. It may even be a similar bug to the one in the section above. --Enodoc (talk) 11:55, 7 February 2013 (GMT)

Ah, that makes sense. So maybe rewording it to refer to Hermaeus Mora attacking Storn from the book would be better then? If that's the case, I think it's safe to do that and move it back. — ABCface^◥ 16:35, 7 February 2013 (GMT)

"Second" most powerful Dragonborn?Edit

When Neloth tells you this, does he refers to Miraak, or maybe to Tiber Septim? — Unsigned comment by 201.89.241.183 (talk) at 10:24 on 7 February 2013‎

It's unclear. He may even be referring to someone else that we've never heard of. I think he probably means Miraak though. --Morrolan (talk) 01:00, 22 February 2013 (GMT)

Chapter 3 descriptionEdit

If you choose to get off at the closest platform, you will be greeted by a lurker and two seekers....The last and farthest platform contains two seekers and a pod full of loot with a font of magicka hanging on either side.

I'm level 35 and for me the closest platform held a single Lurker Guardian. It was no challenge at all, since it could be easily be sniped from the starting platform and seemed incapable of fighting back. The second platform had two seekers and the pod of loot, but it also had black soul gems and no less than three skill books on the tables to the left and right. 174.6.51.17 23:58, 5 March 2013 (GMT)

Black Book bugEdit

The Black Book at the end turned out to be completely dead. The animations for the powers appeared, but clicking on them or the book itself had no effect. I had to commit suicide and return by reading the Black Book again before I could choose a power. 174.6.51.17 00:36, 6 March 2013 (GMT)

This is a problem with the PC version, that creates flawless savegames, but shreds some memory contents now and then (especially when you haven't saved for a time, or fast-traveled a lot). There's no way to fix it, afaik, except for the way you did it. (wurstmann) 92.224.34.87 11:08, 10 March 2013 (GMT)

I encountered the same problem in the PC version as original poster, I accidentally found a way to proceed without leaving the area.

It appears that the three flames coming out of the book are physically displaced. I was able to use any of them while looking a little above them from the third perspective. -- HellRider (talk) 20:27, 5 July 2013 (GMT)

I got this too, and solved it by turning around, activating the Chapter III book nearby, transporting to Chapter III, then turning around and going back to Chapter IV. The final Black Book worked after that. — Unsigned comment by 98.255.246.44 (talk) at 06:29 on 5 December 2013 (GMT)

Had this same issue on the xbox. I hadn't read about the solution about attacking the book with a spell, so I don't know if that would've worked for me. I reloaded the autosave from when I entered Chapter IV, and went through the conversation with Hermeus Mora again, and it worked fine. 70.53.71.131 02:10, 14 March 2015 (GMT)

Hermaeus Mora conversation bug?Edit

When i talk to Hermaeus Mora after opening the Epistolary Acumen he will not finish the conversation. He says 1 or 2 sentences and i should get a respond option right? No, it stops i cannot do anything i force quit through console and i go back. This time i get a respond option and when he finishes it happens again, i can press tab this time to go back and restart the conversation but it keeps happening over and over. He won't finish. Any help? — Unsigned comment by 84.193.7.43 (talk) at 18:08 on 24 March 2013 (GMT)

Nasty bugEdit

On my first trip to Chapter 1 my character fell through the bridge and died. She ended up back with Neloth and read the book again. This time she went to Chapter 1 AFTER she was supposed to learn the second shout but had not learned it. Went through to the end of Apocrypha, learned the next shout, the second, and was stuck. No dragon, no nothing. Sniffles (talk) 11:49, 25 March 2013 (GMT)

No shouts are learned during Chapter 1, so you can't have missed one. Assuming you are referring to Epistolary Acumen, you only learn one shout, the second word of Bend Will, and you learn this directly from Hermaeus Mora at the end of Chapter 4. There is no dragon in Epistolary Acumen; you do however get attacked by one on leaving Nchardak.

Alternatively, you may have got your books muddled and progressed to the end of Waking Dreams instead of Epistolary Acumen. At the end of Chapter 6 of Waking Dreams, you learn one word of Dragon Aspect from a word wall, and that's it. When you return to Waking Dreams during the final quest, At the Summit of Apocrypha, there is then a dragon by the word wall, but you must have finished Epistolary Acumen and The Gardener of Men first. --Enodoc (talk) 18:44, 25 March 2013 (GMT)

Odd Black Menu GlitchEdit

After reading Epistolary Acumen and starting the Gardener of Men I had entered Apocrypha and activated the first Scrye, after proceeding through the short twisting tunnel I jumped out of the tunnel to get to the second Scrye. However I missed the jump and I plunged into the murky poison lake. The twisting tunnel passed over my head and pushed me under the surface of the lake, afterwords my screen went completely black and my health began to drain rapidly. I decided to let the poison kill me so I could restart the book. However, after reappearing in Nchardak I found that whenever I entered the menu my screen would turn black, after leaving the menu the game would return to normal. I could still access and use the menu unimpeded and the issue was fixed after reloading a few saves. ( Xbox version ) — Unsigned comment by 72.228.140.157 (talk) at 04:02 on 8 August 2013 (GMT)

Constant Damage Health effect?Edit

During the quest, when I came back to E real world, I could not fast travel. I get the message that I am taking health damage, but there is no effect listed. Is this a bug, or a side effect of the dragon shout enhancement? Or something else? And how doI get rid of it? FMPhoenixHawk (talk) 10:52, 29 December 2013 (GMT)

Did you step in the black water at some point? Try returning to Apocrypha then stepping in the waters until you "die". Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 12:33, 29 December 2013 (GMT)

A few times. However, returning via a different black book fixed the problem. Weird at the effect hangs around like that. FMPhoenixHawk (talk) 13:22, 29 December 2013 (GMT)

BUG Storn Continually attacked by Hermaeus Mora through the bookEdit

As noted in the bugs section there is a bug where Storn is continually attacked by Hermaeus Mora through the book. I encountered this on the Switch. At the point where you meet Neloth, I had Frea as a follower. Upon following Neloth to Nchardak, Frea disappears. Oncompleting the book chapters and returning to Storn she is absent but people behave as if she is still there. However when Storn reads the book, he stands with the tentacles through him but nothing else happens. I fast travelled back to Nchardak where Neloth was still standing outside. Then the word of power was learned and the quest completed. On returning to the Skaal village, Storn is now lying dead with the villagers saying their goodbyes. Again they turn towards and speak to the absent Frea as if she's arrived back with me. — Unsigned comment by 2.28.34.52 (talk) at 01:50 on 11 October 2018 (UTC)

Thanks for confirming! --AKB ^{Talk Cont Mail} 01:50, 11 October 2018 (UTC)

Added the craft/object interaction bug and a workaround for progressing the quest.Edit

As someone else has also stated the issue with the Black Book and Hermaeus Mora not finishing his lines, I have added that bug to the buglist along with a fix I have found. Full credits go to the people who wrote the fix in Skyrim:The House of Horrors.