Reviewed by Barry Little - April 27, 2007

ESRB Rating: M (Mature 17+)

“High Chancellor Ocato! This…is a surprise—and an honor, of course.”

The last thing Jaiden Delen expected was a visit to her retreat at Frostcrag Spire from the High Chancellor escorted by four Imperial Battlemages. Two remained nearby, while the other two stood watch outside the Spire’s entrance.

“The honor is mine,” the High Chancellor said with a warm smile. “The Elder Council extends its gratitude and compliments for a job well-done at Sundercliff Watch. Once again, you’ve done Cyrodiil and the Empire a great service.”

Jaiden had secured the fearsome Daedric artifact Mehrunes Razor, and killed most of the Drothmeri Army. No doubt the nest of vampires in the Varsa Baalim Ayleid ruins beneath Sundercliff Watch sent any survivors to a fate worse than death. The rouge Telvanni Battlemage Frathan Drothan sought to use Mehrunes Razor and his army to destroy the Imperial Empire and their allies in Morrowind. He was also responsible for her false imprisonment before she was eventually set free by the late Emperor Uriel Septim at the onset of the Oblivion Crisis. Jaiden’s only failure—and disappointment—was that Drothan didn’t die at her hands. Msirae Faythung, disgraced champion of the Daedra Prince of Darkness and Destruction, Mehrunes Dagon—who doomed him to an existence as “living statue” for all eternity to stand guard over Mehrunes Razor, savagely killed Drothan as soon as he tried to retrieve the powerful Daedric weapon—and nearly did the same to her.

Ocato marveled at the design of the Spire. Jaiden could tell that he was impressed, perhaps even a little envious. “Would you care for refreshment after your long journey, High Chancellor—some wine perhaps?”

“Oh…no thank you,” Ocato said, turning his attention back to Jaiden.

Since Ashante and the Knights of the Nine were already on an undisclosed mission “of great importance” for the Elder Council in Northern Cyrodiil, whatever brought Ocato to Jaiden’s door must have been extraordinary.

“So, High Chancellor. What brings you to my humble abode?” Jaiden asked.

“Well, a…situation has developed in Bravil. In the middle of the Niben Bay, to be specific…”

The official expansion to the 2006 Game Of The Year, The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles takes you into the Oblivion realm of madness ruled by the Daedric Prince, Sheogorath who is seeking a mortal champion to save his realm from annihilation by a mysterious, destructive force.

You can play Shivering Isles with an existing character or create a new one. If you start off with a new character, you must exit the Imperial Sewer after completing the tutorial level at the beginning of the game, where you are given one final opportunity to make changes to your character before entering the outside world. Either way, after a day has passed, your trusty quest journal will pop up and interrupt whatever you happen to be doing at the moment, and notify you that a Strange Door has opened in the middle of the Niben Bay near the town of Bravil. If your character doesn’t have an enchanted item or spell that permits water walking, well…I hope you’re up for a good swim.

That door happens to be a tiny island with a gigantic, stone head of a man with three faces joined at the eyes. The mouth in the middle face is stretched open with a shimmering pool of light at its center—a portal of some sort. But your character won’t be able to pass through just yet—at least not until the lone Bravil Watchman guarding it eliminates a crazed and homicidal Dunmer (with or without your help) that suddenly emerges from the Door to the Fringe. You learn from the Watchman that anyone who comes though the portal comes out violently insane (definitely not a good sign). He’s there on “mop up” duty as well as warning anyone not to enter.

The Khajiit backed away from Jaiden as if she were an apparition from Oblivion.

“No! Go away! I’m not here!”

Although Jaiden’s Dreadweave armor and weapons made her look intimidating and perhaps even a bit sinister, she could detect more than just fear in the Khajiit’s eyes. There was madness there as well.

 “I’d stay back from that door if I were you,” the Watchman warned Jaiden as he examined the body of the slain Dark Elf who had just tried to kill them both. “Nothing that’s gone in has come out right.”

Jaiden turned away from the Khajiit cowering before her, realizing she wasn’t going to get any information out of her.

A voice that suddenly came from nowhere and everywhere angrily thundered, "UNWORTHY, UNWORTHY, UNWORTHY! Useless mortal meat! Walkin’ bag of dung!”

The startled Watchman spun and raised his shield, sword at the ready—he didn’t know for what, and wasn’t sure he wanted to. Jaiden on the other hand stepped closer to the portal. There was something familiar about that voice. Though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, there was a brief rumble of thunder. Then the voice spoke again. This time it sounded amused.

“A nice effort though. A shame he’s dead. These things happen.”

Jaiden and the Watchman looked at one another, then the dead Dark Elf. The voice roared again without warning.

“Bring me a champion! Rend the flesh of my foes! A mortal champion—to wade through the entrails of my enemies!”

The Watchman was starting to get edgy, bracing himself as if he expected an army of homicidal maniacs to come charging through the portal at any second. “How did I end up getting this post…” he muttered.

Jaiden placed her hand on the hilt of her axe as she stepped up to the shimmering door of the portal. Its energy made her body tingle all over, inside and out. “I’m going through,” she said over her shoulder to the Watchman. He looked at her as if she were as crazy as the dead Dunmer lying at his feet.

“Really! Do come in! It’s lovely in the Isles right now. Perfect time for a visit,” the voice rumbled like a passing storm once more.

“It’s your funeral…” the Watchman warned her.

Jaiden took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and stepped through…

Entering the Door to the Fringe leads to you a small, somewhat nondescript room where you’ll meet Haskill, Chamberlain to Lord Sheogorath, the Daedra Prince of Madness. If you’ve performed the “Whom Gods Annoy” or “Sheogorath” Daedric quests in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, you’re probably already familiar with Sheogorath and his penchant for entertaining himself by playing all kinds of crazy, mischievous pranks on mortals.

You learn from Haskill that while the Door to The Fringe is a portal to Sheogorath’s realm of the Shivering Isles in Oblivion, it is not an Oblivion Gate for the purpose of invasion. No Daedric “Rules of Engagement” concerning the mortal world have been violated in the opening of the portal, Haskill insists. In fact, he tells you that it poses no threat to anyone—though some of the more unfortunate individuals who have chosen to enter would probably beg to differ—if they were still sane. The door is, in Haskill’s words, an invitation. Accepting it is the first step you’ll need to take to find out why Sheogorath has gone through the trouble of opening a portal to Cyrodiil in search of a champion.

Jaiden glanced apprehensively over her shoulder at the portal back to Cyrodiil, half-expecting it to be gone. She was relieved that it wasn’t. She turned in time to see Haskill fade from view in front of what she thought was the door that was the exit to Sheogorath’s realm. Suddenly, the room grew brighter.

Shafts of shimmering, blue-white energy burned through the walls as the entire room dissolved into thousands of multi-hued butterflies that swarmed around her then flew away. When she opened her eyes and lowered her arms, she was greeted with a breathtaking and surreal sight. A world of rolling hills, strange fauna and giant mushroom trees spiraling from and snaking over the earth, huge tendrils twisting towards a nebulous, pastel sky. Battered cobblestone roads lined with intricately-carved, stone columns twisted their way through the terrain like a cooked smile with broken teeth.

As soon as the name “Sheogorath” left Haskill’s lips, if she were smart, she would have gone right back through that portal to Cyrodiil and advised High Chancellor Ocato to issue a permanent quarantine on the Door to the Fringe. But as a roguish-but-wise Argonian in Leyawiin once said to her, “I never learned anything by being smart.” Ready for anything (she hoped), Jaiden set out along the path from the portal to find the Prince of Madness—and some answers.

The Fringe is isolated from the rest of the Shivering Isles and surrounded by a huge stone wall, like a fortress. You’ll come across several ruins before reaching the little town named Passwall. The road that runs through Passwall leads directly to the Gates of Madness guarded by the Gatekeeper. Anyone blessed by Sheogorath can pass through the Gates of Madness unscathed. Unfortunately, that little detail seems to have slipped his twisted little mind before inviting you in.

You arrive in Passwall just in time to witness the Gatekeeper slaughter a band of adventurers. Standing close to fifteen feet tall and weighing God knows how many tons, the Gatekeeper looks like a cross between Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein and Toby Hooper’s Leatherface—and is ten times meaner than the both of them combined. Did I mention that the keys to the Gates of Madness are sown up inside the Gatekeeper’s body, and that he’s impervious to practically all of your weapons and spells?

Luckily there is a way—several actually—in killing the Gatekeeper. Talk to Passwall’s handful of townsfolk for clues. They pretty much stay in the same vicinity so you won’t have to go running all over the place looking for them. You’ll find them both interesting and a bit “odd” compared to the majority of Elder Scrolls characters you’re used to dealing with. Given the circumstances, that shouldn’t be a much of a surprise.

Once you’ve found a way to slay the Gatekeeper without loss of life and limb (not necessarily in that order), you can retrieve both keys from his body that will allow you into the Shivering Isles. Haskill will pop in (literally) and give you the lowdown on choosing which door in the Gate of Madness to unlock and enter. Everything in the Isles—including the Isles—is a reflection of Sheogorath’s own split psyche. One door leads to Mania, the other to Dementia. Both live up to their names from the flora, landscape and weather, to the settlements and people. Mania is cheerful to the extreme, a world of bright, wild saturated colors (think Alice in Wonderland). The folks that live there give the word “eccentric” a whole new meaning. Dementia is drab and foreboding (think Sleepy Hollow and the Headless Horseman). The psychological state of its denizens leans towards the darker (and more violent) side of madness. You’ll even find that the same species of creatures share the physical characteristics of their respective part of the realm—though they are no less dangerous regardless of their appearance.

It doesn’t matter which door you enter so much as what you get when you do. Entering the Isles through the door of Mania grants you the Blessing of Mania spell with a Frenzy attack against opponents up to Level 12 in a 30 foot radius for 30 seconds. If you pass through the door of Dementia, your character is given the Blessing of Dementia spell that demoralizes opponents up to Level 12 in 30 feet for 10 seconds. The capital of the Shivering Isles is New Sheoth, and consists of Sheogorath’s Palace (your destination), and the towns of Bliss and Crucible. The same north-south division of the Isles between Mania and Dementia also applies to these two districts of New Sheoth. Bliss is located on the Mania side, Crucible on the Dementia side, with their respective architecture and peoples sharing the same traits as their counterparts in the settlements of New Sheoth. Even New Sheoth’s temple—the Sacellum Arden-Sul—is divided. Naturally, the folks in Bliss aren’t too fond of the ones in Crucible (and vise-versa).

Like the Oblivion gate realms in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the only way to get around in the Shivering Isles, is on foot. The terrain and frequent encounters with hostiles would make travel by horse nearly impossible, and its life-span extremely short. As always, once you’ve discovered enough locations, you can get around much quicker by fast-traveling.

Law enforcement is divided between two distinct Daedra warrior castes who serve Sheogorath. The Aureals or “Golden Saints” protect and enforce the law in Mania and Bliss. The Mazken or “Dark Seducers” do the same in Dementia and Crucible. Both are as unique in their appearance as they are in temperament. The Golden Saints, named after their gold skin and matching heavy armor and weapons, are haughty and contemptuous. The purple-hued Dark Seducers with their gunmetal gray light armor and ebony weapons are more spiritual, sociable and tolerant. The only thing the Dark Seducers and Golden Saints have in common besides their steadfast animosity for one another is their fierce loyalty and devotion to Sheogorath—and that their ranks are almost totally comprised of females (males in both groups play a minor or subordinate role in any military activities).

While we’re on the subject of keeping the peace, breaking the law in the Shivering Isles isn’t much different than in Cyrodiil. If you get caught engaging in any illegal activities, you have three options:

That last option is where it gets…”interesting.”

The penal system in the Shivering Isles works a little differently than it does in the mortal plane of Cyrodiil. First, there are no jails. Lawbreakers are stripped of all of their belongings, given the usual prison-wear (tattered shirt, pants and sackcloth sandals), and tossed in a cell located in a multi-level dungeon. You can stay in the cell and serve out your sentence. Or you can leave the cell and fight your way out of the dungeon, with no more than your character’s skills and whatever meager (and I do mean meager) resources (weapons and healing) you can scrounge up. If you can survive all the leveled enemies and nasty booby-traps, you can retrieve your belongings from an evidence chest near the front entrance, and leave. The crime you committed will be wiped clean from your slate. Should you choose to fight for your freedom, you’ll find it quite a challenge whether your character is Level 5 or 50.

Once you reach Sheogorath’s palace, you’ll find the Prince of Madness and Haskill waiting for you (even the palace décor reflects the split/dual nature of Sheogorath’s madness and that of the Shivering Isles). Unlike the towering, destructive and satanic Mehrunes Dagon from Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, meeting Sheogorath for the first time is almost a pedestrian experience. With the exception of his gaudy attire and creep-show demon eyes, Sheogorath could easily pass for a 16^th century Scottish nobleman in speech and physical appearance.

Sheogorath doesn’t seem too upset that you’ve killed his Gatekeeper to get in to see him. Mostly because, you’ll remedy that halfway through the main quest. And you’ll gain some new powers from the new Gatekeeper and his creator. Sheogorath, in fact, is so happy to see you, he could “tear out your intestines and strangle you with them!” There are times when you’ll find Sheogorath’s moments of clarity and rationality offset by his sudden, rambling outbursts of lunacy and thinly-veiled threats to use his omnipotence to inflict serious bodily harm upon you, entertaining. Sometimes you may even find it annoying. While there’s little doubt that he’s definitely “out there where the buses don’t run,” like any deity, he’s not to be trifled with or taken lightly.

Once the preliminary meet-and-greet is over, it’s time to get down to the business at hand. At the end of every era in Sheogorath’s realm, a mysterious, destructive force known as the Greymarch, brought on by the equally mysterious Daedric Prince of Order—Jyggalag—destroys everything in the Shivering Isles—forcing him to rebuild it all over again. This cycle undoubtedly grows tiresome—even for an all-powerful Daedric Prince. So you’ve been drafted to become his champion to help stop Jyggalag and the Greymarch. Obviously you’ll need to complete a series of quests for Sheogorath to do that. Not only will you be rewarded for your efforts, but your character will rise in rank and stature within Sheogorath’s Court of Madness, which brings more than a few perks along with it.

The main quest in The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles forces the player to make choices—or more accurately, alignments—with either the House of Mania or the House of Dementia. These choices cause the storyline of the main quest to branch off into different directions, though the only real difference are the rewards you receive and the allies you gain. The final outcome of the fight to stop Jyggalag and the Greymarch from annihilating the Shivering Isles will be the same, regardless.

In Oblivion, your character could be good, evil or somewhere in-between, which affected the factions you could join, your enemies, allies, and overall, how “difficult” your “life” in Cyrodiil was, when dealing with friendly/neutral NPCs—and the law. On the other hand, an evil character—or one with a large bounty over his or her head and more than a few infamy points, had a lot of good deeds and reforming to do, before tackling the quest in The Elder Scrolls IV: Knights of the Nine. In the Shivering Isles, your character will walk and often cross the line between saint and sinner with alarming regularity. And that line gets increasingly blurred along the way.

Naturally, many of the Shivering Isles quests have a dark, twisted side. In the quest called “A Better Mouse Trap”—the very first one given to you by Sheogorath—you are charged with restoring Xedilian with the Resonator of Judgment. Xedilian appears to be one of many ruins in the Shivering Isles. But it is really a trap designed to lure uninvited and unwary adventurers who have found “other ways” into Sheogorath’s realm, to their death—or insanity. Once you bring the facility online, you are immediately put into the position to choose whether a band of adventurers who have just found their way in, are driven mad and live their lives as “permanent residents” of the Shivering Isles—or die on the spot.

At the end, you’re entitled to whatever gear, loot and items your victims were carrying. And you get what is undeniably one of the coolest weapons in The Elder Scrolls IV: Shiver Isles or any of the Elder Scrolls IV title to date—an enchanted sword with a lethal split-personality called Dawnfang/Duskfang. During the day, the sword transforms to Dawnfang with a Level 15 Fire Damage on-strike enchantment. At night, it transforms into Duskfang with a Level 15 Frost Damage on-strike. Here’s the cool part: each “version” of the sword becomes more powerful when the lives of 12 enemies are claimed with it. As you leave Xedilian, you have the first of what will be many encounters with Jyggalag’s "Forces of Order" shock troops—the inhuman Knights of Order.

In the “Understanding Madness” quest, Sheogorath tasks you with meeting Syl, the Duchess of Dementia who oversees Crucible; and Thadon, the Duke of Mania who is in charge of Bliss. Syl is a tyrannical, ruthless and dangerous paranoid psychotic who suspects everyone under her charge is out to get her—and for once, she’s right. She appoints you as her “Grand Inquisitor” and orders you to find those behind the conspiracy to assassinate her. You’re to bring along Herdir, who is in charge of the House of Dementia’s dungeon and torture chamber, and use his unique “talents” (an extremely nasty shock spell) to “persuade” your suspects to talk. Failure to find the conspirators is not an option, unless you want to experience the royal torture chamber first hand. Once you find the guilty party, Syl gives you a ring-side seat to the execution, which she personally supervises. As a token of her gratitude for your service, not only does she allow you to live, but you gain the title of Courtier of the House of Dementia—and a nice, enchanted bow named Ruin’s Edge that casts a random spell on strike.

Although both are Bosmers, the Duke of Mania is the 360° opposite of Syl. Thadon is laid back to the point of being “eloquently incoherent.” And no wonder: he’s a strong believer in “mind-altering recreational substances.” Thadon is particularly fond of one highly-potent and dangerously addictive substance called Felldew. But I’m getting ahead of myself a bit here.

Thadon wants you to fetch something for him called the Chalice of Reversal from Dunroot Burrow—one of the many root tunnels you’ll encounter in the Shivering Isles. After a little chat with the court mage, you learn that the retrieval of the Chalice is "a test for you as much as Thadon,” as she puts it—somewhat more helpfully than Thadon’s drug-induced ramblings, if you read between the lines.

Dunroot Burrow is a huge, multi-leveled Elytra nest. The Elytra are the indigenous insect life of the Shivering Isles. Very big. Very anti-social. Certain Elytra found only in Dunroot Burrow carry the Felldew substance in their bodies, and have a very distinct appearance compared to other Elytra. Interestingly enough, the entrance to Dunroot Burrow is sealed by a special membrane barrier. You can only pass through the barrier by ingesting Felldew. Do you see where this is going?

See, killing the lone “Felldew Elytra” near the entrance of Dunroot Burrow and ingesting the Felldew isn’t the problem (OK, ingesting the Felldew—small problem. Fighting a huge, vicious bug with some nasty tricks up its…antennae—big problem). It’s what the Felldew does after you get inside the nest. Felldew Euphoria wears off rather quickly with damaging side-effects on your character’s attributes and health. So you need to ingest more Felldew to ward off the side-effects, but the Felldew Euphoria doesn’t last quite as long as it did the last time.

Now your situation becomes painfully clear as your race against the clock to find the Chalice of Reversal as the Felldew continues to erode your character’s primary attributes—and health at an alarmingly growing pace. Not only is it easy to get lost and impossible to sneak past all of the Elytra in the nest without a fight—which becomes increasingly difficult thanks to the nasty effects of Felldew Withdrawal—but the “Felldew Elytra” become scarcer as you move deeper into the nest. And when you finally reach the Chalice and think you’re out of harm’s way—you aren’t! Appropriately entitled “Addiction,” this is one of the most harrowing and unforgettable quests in the game. And after all you’ve been through, as soon as you place the Chalice of Reversal in Thadon’s hands, he appoints you “Courtier of Mania with all of its entitlements. Which is to say, none.”

Guess who made my “You’ll-know-payback-when-you-see-it” list…

Sheogorath has decided that it’s time to replace one of the Dukes in his realm, and guess who has the job? Seems like there’s a quest or ritual for just about everything in the Shivering Isles, and “retiring” a Duke is no different. You’ll have to choose which Duke literally gets the axe so you can take their place (all in favor of getting Thadon whacked say “aye!”).

With Syl, it’s a straightforward assassination. Given her eternal paranoia and loyal cadre of Dark Seducers watching her back, if you were thinking “easier said than done,” you’re absolutely right. Bumping off Thadon is the safer choice (at least for you, anyway). You’ll need to get him to overdose on Greenmote, another one of his favorite drugs, which will make his heart explode if he overdoses on it (works for me). Of course, Thadon may be a dope-head, but he’s no idiot (alright, that’s debatable). You’ll need to do a little detective work to find out where to obtain and use the required Greenmote to send his Duke-ship on his last high. A pumped-up sneak skill and enchanted jewelry or clothing that will cast a chameleon spell upon your character will definitely help. The only thing that the Golden Saints in Thadon's employ dislike more than mortals, are the ones they catch trespassing.