Download Hints

Get quick and convenient access to just the hints you need for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, without staying on our website. Just download a free trial version of our UHS Reader software and a copy of these hints. You will get the same gradual hints you see here -- unlike ordinary cheats or a walkthrough that can spoil your game.

You can also buy the full version of the UHS Reader for Windows or macOS. For just $14.95, you get full access to hints for hundreds of games and 1 year of free updates. You can also search, decode, or print an entire game's worth of hints at once.

Ask the Author

If you have questions about a puzzle that aren't answered anywhere in these hints, you may contact the author.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Hints

Seeking Your Roots

  • 1 of 11: This quest will start any time you harvest a nirnroot plant, which can be done in many places across the gaming world, but the person you have to talk to about the nirnroot lives in Skingrad, so I count the quest as starting there.
  • 2 of 11: See the lists below for all of the places nirnroot can be found.
  • 3 of 11: If you get a piece of nirnroot and talk to some alchemists, they'll refer you to Sinderion, who can be found in his own personal cellar inside Skingrad's West Weald Inn.
  • 4 of 11: Even if you don't have any nirnroot yet, you can talk to Sinderion about it to start the quest.
  • 5 of 11: Ask him about the Elixir of Exploration to learn that he can start making them after you bring him 10 nirnroots.
  • 6 of 11: Go get 10 or more, then ask him about the elixir again to get him started on it.
  • 7 of 11: 24 hours later, he'll be ready to give you one free Weak Elixir of Exploration (Fortify Health 20 points and Night-Eye for 300 seconds) and sell you five more of them at a discount. (And more of them will appear in his inventory later.)
  • 8 of 11: Go get 20 more nirnroots, then return for the same sort of routine, this time getting a Moderate Elixir of Exploration (the Weak Elixir effects plus Fortify Fatigue 20 points for 300 seconds).
  • 9 of 11: 30 more nirnroots will get you a Strong Elixir of Exploration (the Moderate Elixir effects plus Fortify Blade, Blunt, Destruction, Restoration, and Sneak 5 points each for 300 seconds), and 40 more after that will get you a Grand Elixir of Exploration (the skill fortifications are double that of the Moderate Elixir).
  • 10 of 11: After that, you can sell nirnroots to Sinderion in groups of 10 for 250 gold per group.
  • 11 of 11: NOTE: You can't make potions from nirnroot unless your Alchemy skill is 100 or you have some unrefined greenmote from the Shivering Isles expansion.