Oblivion's Tome of Unlife - Where Spirits Have Lease Quest, Lore, Theories, Analysis EXPLAINED!

In today's video, we discuss The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion's horror and supernatural side quest, Where Spirits Have Lease. The quest begins by speaking to a man named Velwyn Benirus in Anvil. Velwyn offers to sell the player his recently deceased grandfather's manor for a cheap sum of gold. The player accepts, is given the key and the deed, and Velwyn travels off to The Imperial City. Upon going to sleep, the player is awakened by attacking ghosts. The player heads downstairs and discovers a note and a skeletal hand. The note details that the previous owner, Lorgren Benirus, Velwyn's grandfather, was practicing necromancy and ultimately shunned by the community. He says that he created a hidden magical room to perform atrocities and was eventually slain by the Mages Guild. His body was never recovered however. Through the help of Velwyn and facing off against a supernatural threat like no other, the player completes the quest and stumbles upon a powerful, evil book called the Tome of Unlife. It is here that we theorize where this book came from, what it actually does, who it belonged to, and how strong one could have become if this book was used by the wrong people. Don't forget to like, comment and subscribe!
#elderscrolls #oblivion #lore #gaming #quest

[@hody.8381]

To be fair, the Mages Guild probably should've done more than just hide his skeletal hand in a jar and put it on top of a cupboard. You'd think with someone as powerful as Lorgren, they'd at least put some seals around the jar or something.

[@ABardsBallad]

😂 very true! I’m surprised they didn’t look into it further or anything of the sorts!

[@Shishomuru]

Oblivions mages guild we're a bunch of morons so...

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

@@Shishomuru absolutely. The best way would probably to take the hand apart and spread the pieces across all parts of the mages guild. That way anyone who would try to resurrect Lorgren would have to infiltrate/rob in every single town.

[@pipzchan]

Love seeing a resurgence of popularity of Oblivion on KZbin and seeing your channel grow

[@ABardsBallad]

Thank you for being a part of it all! :) I’m really happy that others feel the same way about this game that I do! :)

[@anttitheinternetguy3213]

The real boom was in 2017, around The Time when the autism cat series started. I have Been so thrilled that Oblivion has stayed relevant all this Time!

[@TheFlowerday96]

@@anttitheinternetguy3213 Oblivion will never be forgotten

[@xChaosFlower]

I remember playing this quest for the fist time. I was a young teen at the time. I don't know what it is, but Oblivion's ghosts and zombies creep me out. When I first went to sleep and woke up to the ghosts, I just ran since I couldn't fight them and was too freaked out. Doing this quest was terrifying. Lorgren's voice was so creepy and his boss fight was tough. The icing on cake was that the door didn't automatically open when I killed him and I panicked. I thought there was a key on his body or a secret hatch somewhere. When I found none, I thought it was a glitch and did the quest over again and had the same result. It took me a solid 30 minute to figure out that you can just open the door. There's my two Septims on the quest.

[@ABardsBallad]

I was in the same boat! They nailed the spooky factor for this one and it really creeped me out!

[@159tony]

Mannimarco is both a lich and a god. All the endings in daggerfall are canon and manninarco in daggerfall is a powerful lich.. he ascenda to godhood as the shade of the revenant. His ascension made the creation of black soul gems possible.. the necromancers moon is a celestial event that HE created. The reason why there is still another one on nirn in oblivion is a continuity error.. he is not supposed to be a high elf anymore but a lich.. but he is supposed to be two thanks to the dragon break. One lich, one god.

[@ABardsBallad]

Yeah I think they didn’t really put much thought into him as a character for Oblivion. For ESO, they were maybe hoping that we’d have forgotten about him and how underpowered he was a few games ago

[@VoodooTrashPanda]

Is it the same Mannimarco in Oblivion? Pardon my lack of research, I haven’t done the mages quest in oblivion since I was probably 13 or 14. I do remember references to the king of worms and whatnot, but is it possible that he’s just a really big fan of the Lich or God and took on his name? Or is it truly just more dragonbreak weirdness that I am yet to comprehend?

[@159tony]

@@VoodooTrashPanda it is but i would like to believe the oblivion one is just an incompetent body double. Because the real mannimarco still on nirn is a skeletal lich. But yes, it is in fact canon that there exists two mannimarcos. One lich, one god called the shade of the revenant

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

@@159tonyI vaguely remember Mannimarco in Daggerfall being a decent person. Sure, evil wizard and all, but he gives quests and that means something. And then the dragonbreak, because --Bethesda had no idea what they're doing-- ehhh ---Kirkbride is crazy-- mhhhh time and space are wonderous.

[@TwilightRogue15]

I love this quest so much. It's one of my favorites in the whole game. I honestly wish it was longer, but I can see that annoying other players, so it's probably just the right length for such a quest. It gives it time to ramp up and really unsettles the player the first time. I love slow, creeping horror that ends in a big way. The very first time I played this, I beat the ghosts, but was then beaten pretty badly. I could have just healed up, but I figured I could just sleep it off for an hour. In the same bed. That was a mistake, but one I'm glad I made. It really set the tone well.

[@ABardsBallad]

I agree! I really like this quest too and wish it was longer! They did an excellent job with the build and up and the suspense!

[@alext9320]

When I was a kid, this quest scared the dickens out of me. There's something about undead in Oblivion; whether ghosts, zombies, or wraiths that even to this day just does not sit right with me. Even with this quest finished, I could never use this house. Doesn't help that the house magically gets its facelift at the end, which never gets explained, and that expansive basement remains. I just couldn't bring myself to sleep in that bed again.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

They really nailed the uncanny vibe with Oblivion. Yes, the faces are inconsistent with Morrowind and Skyrim, and I'm all for making them less potatoy, but the undead are just spooky.

[@katiemckinney9456]

I like to think that the house getting repaired and redecorated at the end of the quest was one last act of gratitude by the spirits Lorgren enslaved. By destroying Lorgren, we freed them from his control. And as thanks for our actions, they fix up the home for the Hero of Kvatch before finally passing on.

[@negativedumpster9778]

I've never been bothered by the skeletons, ghosts, wraiths, or even the liches. But the zombies disturbed me to _no end_ as a kid. Even now, I still don't like having them around. Their rotted appearance, their shambling walk, their mangled faces, the horrific noises they make, the fact that they _don't even wear clothes..._ To this very day, I still refuse to buy a _single_ "Summon Zombie" Spell or Scroll. Skeletons are fine, ghosts and wraiths are doable. But zombies? Fuck. *THAT.* Edit: Fixed some typos.

[@burge117]

I will never forget this mission 😂 Just about scraped together 5,000 septims, went to sleep and ambushed by ghosts 😅 My magic was awful and I had no silver or enchanted weapons on me so basically ran out screaming. Came back eventually to finish what turned out to be an amazing quest 😊

[@TheLastRaven]

Excellent quality. Oblivion vids are a rarity but a welcome one. Thank ye kind sir!

[@ABardsBallad]

Thank you for the support and the kind words! :)

[@Max_Kar]

Bro i beg of you, dont stop uploading, I'm loving EVERY SINGLE one of these amazing videos. The only way is up!! 🎉

[@ABardsBallad]

With that level of support how can I stop? :) I really appreciate the kind words and the channel is only ramping up from here! :)

[@riften1229]

These videos are really well fleshed out. I'm a fan.

[@ABardsBallad]

Thank you for the continued support! :)

[@negativedumpster9778]

God, the Order of the Black Worm. Ever since I was a kid, those guys freaked me out to no end. The mutilated corpses they leave strung up in their lairs, their habit of turning those who displease them into zombified Worm Thralls, the flat-out psychotic things they say, their sheer _brutality_ (Best seen in their attack on Bruma's Mages Guild building), and worst of all, their usage of _black soul gems._ In Skyrim, it's revealed that people who get trapped in black soul gems are transported to a hellish dimension where they are forced to spend the rest of eternity in a state of limbo. As a result of that last part, I make a point of only capturing the souls of necromancer adepts whenever I use a black soul gem. I mean, these guys are _creating_ black soul gems, and by extension dooming innocent people to a fate worse than death; so, it seems only fitting to use their own weapons against them, and leave them to the fate they were going to inflict on so many others.

[@ABardsBallad]

I was the same way! They always freaked me out and it always spooked me knowing what they were doing to people and their recently deceased bodies! I like your idea with the black soul gems! It’s a good way to enact revenge on them!

[@bEtHeSdA_LAME_sTuDi0s]

I just trauma flashback to the mages guild quest where you have to catch them during the particular moon cycle by the fissure dungeon 😂 it was right next to the other super annoying makes guild dungeon for a quest, vahtacen

[@eliwoodnguyen1505]

Bethesda dropped their balls in Skyrim, undead creatures and nexromancy in skyrim r lame, weak, bland and has no individuality

[@Christ_Enjoyer]

Loving the videos man. Top notch quality.

[@ABardsBallad]

Thank you for the kind words and support! :)

[@GeoShed]

This quest used to scare the SHIT out of me as a kid, and I LOVED it. I know Oblivion is no horror game, but damn did it hit different back in the day.

[@ABardsBallad]

😂 I was the exact same way! It still gave me a bit of a spook from all of the anticipation while doing it! Definitely a top tier quest! :)

[@bEtHeSdA_LAME_sTuDi0s]

Bethesda has always had occult overtones to their works. So many in this game and ES in general but a lot in fallout too. The voice acting for the lich in this quest was really good too. Definitely a spooky quest especially back in 2006 when I was in middle school 😂

[@johnl1784]

I found your channel yesterday and its so awesome to still see someone do Oblivion videos and some of the best quality ones ive ever seen thanks

[@ABardsBallad]

I really appreciate the support and the kind words! I’m really glad that other people still enjoy this game as much as I do 17 years later!

[@bEtHeSdA_LAME_sTuDi0s]

Oblivion junkie and just found your channel. This quest was very well written for a side quest. I feel anvil needed it though as i think overall as a port city it was under utilized

[@ABardsBallad]

I agree! Anvil definitely needed a little more attention given to it!

[@insertusername9755]

Ah yes, quest to start, but not to finish if you want guaranteed infinite farm of grand souls from the ghosts (about pc lvl 19 they have grand souls and respawn).

[@ABardsBallad]

I didn’t think about that angle! Very interesting actually!

[@TheShannonagains]

This is one of my favorite quests and player homes in all of elder scrolls; that basement is amazing and I always look forward to it when I do a new playthrough of the game!

[@jrh1899]

Love these well articulated Elder Scrolls videos. Glad to see someone doing oblivion content, keep up the good work!!

[@ABardsBallad]

Thank you for the support! :) I’m glad people are still enjoying Oblivion after all these years!

[@alexandermiller6583]

So awesome to see your channel grow bro!!

[@ABardsBallad]

I appreciate the support! :) thank you!

[@FreshBarn]

Favorite quest/ storage place.

[@VoodooTrashPanda]

This brings back so many good memories. Oblivion was my first entry into an open world RPG. It’s hard to put to words the elated feeling of freedom and immersion I got when my cousin warned me about durability as I was admiring the physics of smacking a bucket around with the “starting” katana. Anvil was the second town I went to after joining the Chorrol Mage’s Guild. I was selling all the alchemy equipment and had enough money to buy the manor. I love spooky themes, so it turning out to be haunted and having an entire story around it was incredible. Added to the fact I had just gotten my first enchanted weapon (Red Wave cutlass) from the haunted ship in the harbor. It made Anvil my favorite city, being able to supplant Chorrol was a feat. It may or may not be the best quest in the game. But it’s certainly one of my favorites. I always kept the tome and Cutlass on me to remember Anvil.

[@michaelclark6941]

Mannimarco is supposed to be powerful, but he's always a pushover...Also, it feels like they never put much thought into his story, because it's just "first lich and immortal".

[@ABardsBallad]

It was very confusing when reading up on his lore! There were different endings and different fates that he had gone through in every game he’s featured in! For a big antagonist in 3 games you’d think they’d give it a little more thought!

[@michaelclark6941]

@@ABardsBallad I bet in 6 we kill him again. I'd like for him to at least have a formidable undead army this time though.

[@aliciagreen5411]

Awesome video. I just subbed this week 🥰

[@ABardsBallad]

Thank you for the kind words and the support! I really appreciate it! :)

[@braddarkstar]

Personally I love anvil. And when I play I consider the House there as a holiday home

[@ABardsBallad]

I really enjoy the city as well!

[@Matt-md5yt]

Glad you covered this one. You get a nice house out of it at least

[@ABardsBallad]

The cheapest and arguably second nicest too! :)

[@aardvarkartichokey467]

Yippee, new video :)

[@ABardsBallad]

Glad you like them! :)

[@Nohhbahdi]

@<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1012">16:52</a> lol or your could just Deck him in the shnoz! (Fists hurt ghosts, and unarmed playthrough is fun. :] )

[@ABardsBallad]

That is true too! A little left hook and right uppercut will to the trick!

[@thehonoredone2361]

If I was a necromancer I would try to get a bunch of skeletons to do thriller. Everytime I wiped out my enemies.

[@ABardsBallad]

😂 I like the idea!

[@eliwoodnguyen1505]

Ok mister Worm

[@codymcgrath2.3bviews3secon7]

I remember first playing this quest as a kid, before knowing any glitches to make money or about barter or any mechanic to quickly make money, selling literally everything I had and doing quest after quest to get the 5K for the house. Cleared the ghosts out with a ton of difficulty but I remember after getting killed in the basement by Lorgren I was too scared to try to kill him again and didn’t finish this quest for probably a year 😂

[@user-vt6fx3vx4w]

Same thing happened to me bro 😂 I was scared af of the ghosts in the house, then to see Lorgren just took me out 🤣 it’s crazy how the times have changed, cos no game/movie makes me feel like that anymore - slaughterfish and clearing oblivion gates used to scare the crap out of me too!

[@codymcgrath2.3bviews3secon7]

Slaughterfish we’re the worst I remember doing the lake Rumare quest and bottling it because I was terrified of the slaughterfish randomly appearing and attacking me. Same fear as you with the oblivion gates especially the first one in Kvatch 😂

[@ABardsBallad]

😂 very relatable! As as kid I remember not even getting passed the ghosts in the house when you first wake up!

[@codymcgrath2.3bviews3secon7]

Amazing to see how a lot of people had the same reaction as me when they were kids😂

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

It's so funny when people say Skyrim is glitchy and alchemy and enchanting is broken in it. Those people never played Oblivion or Morrowind. Oblivion has a super easy duplication glitch and alchemy in Morrowind is even more broken than in Skyrim. No you don't need a restoration loop. You just make a potion that increases your intelligence for 1 second, because time stands still when in your inventory. Or you lower your stats to get super cheap training and just wait for the effect to wear off. And you can obviously make yourself perfectly invisible for a second and steal stuff without needing to put baskets over heads. Or you buff your strength so high, you don't need Kagrenac's tools to beat the heart, if you just oneshot it before the script can reset it's health. It starts at 1000 health and once per frame it gets reset to 5000. So if you do more than 5000 damage with one attack..... You can even use a command spell on the heart and if you have an NPC that offers travel, you can travel and take the heart out of the chamber.

[@BittyBeptum]

Let’s go 🙏

[@ABardsBallad]

Thank you for the continued support! :)

[@theonlybilge]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1260">21:00</a> 1. ESO isn't canon 2. It's directly stated what happened to Mannimarco, and it all happened in Daggerfall. All but one of the endings of Daggerfall are canon, despite being mutually exclusive. It was then that Mannimarco became both the Necromancer's Moon and gd of necromancy, and also remained on Nirn as a mortal.

[@marcusostgard5957]

Bit late to comment, but ESO absolutely is canon.

[@Sworddeath727]

by the time I did this quest my ghosts where wraiths, even less fun then ghosts

[@ABardsBallad]

Oh yeah those will definitely be a lot tougher!

[@josephrockholt5840]

If you know eso lore you know that he is very much not as strong as Manimarko.

[@ABardsBallad]

He is not! That leads me to believe he could be an imposter, or just underdeveloped backstory from 2006!

[@cunnyfunt3923]

my go to oblivion home

[@ABardsBallad]

After this quest, it’s a really nice house to live in!

[@jarrettgarcia3980]

I first played this quest when I was like like 10 and I couldn’t figure out that the vase had something to do with the quest I kept walking past it got mad I couldn’t figure out what to do then just left and never finished the quest

[@theonlybilge]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="64">1:04</a> What other continents?

[@TheFlowerday96]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1076">17:56</a> They must have made the quest before they did the mages guild. Lorgran calls Carahil a he....shes not a guy. Always bugged me.

[@ABardsBallad]

I noticed that in my research and when playing through! Very interesting!

[@TheFlowerday96]

@@ABardsBallad I honnestly noticed it on my second playthrough. Because I was doing the quest for the mages guild in Anvil. And needed a better player home.

[@ODSTlonewolf257]

Call me crazy, but maybe Carahil is a family name? Perhaps her ancestor was the male mentioned.

[@TheFlowerday96]

@@ODSTlonewolf257 That could be a possibility. But im never sure if BGS made elves older than humans in the game

[@TheFlowerday96]

@@ODSTlonewolf257 Im just glad its not like High Guardian Spice 🤣

[@jeffreywiggins3502]

Hearing those housing numbers is strange. The housing market in hammerfell is brutal, way more 0's than the imperial capital.

[@ABardsBallad]

😂 tougher market out West!

[@dextermorgan5397]

I think i used to have a house there !

[@ABardsBallad]

It’s a great spot!

[@nicpete492]

My feet stink

[@Stolenvalor420]

The quest in quest-tion am I right

[@imonke5303]

Wish we could have became a lich

[@ABardsBallad]

It would’ve been really cool!

[@XxxKefkaxxX]

Cyrodiil real estate licensing is slack af

[@ABardsBallad]

That’s where all the foreign investors make it big!

[@DrNatemiester]

Second!

[@ABardsBallad]

Appreciate the support! :)

[@a-nus]

Hiw do you consistently mispronounce nanes that are said repeatedly in game? Its across all of your vuds

[@ukaszfiuk2719]

Every time someone call Oblivion "cities" "city", i cringe. Those are like one street, 4 houses and a park (and why build wall around the park, only Bethesda would know), not cities.

[@ABardsBallad]

That is indeed what a city is! We’re used to crazy big infrastructure today but for the times (or elder scrolls times) those are what cities are!

[@Seacrits99]

What a terrible take

[@Seacrits99]

What a terrible take

[@N7mudkip]

Be grateful for a 2006 game that has this level of detail and genuinely good/unique design for its cities. Skyrim’s towns were a huge step back

[@ukaszfiuk2719]

@N7mudkip Oblivion's design is not bad, it's abhorrent. Those are the worst cities in the entire series, i would say the worst in any video game ive ever played. Skyrim's cities (5 big ones), even if small, are much, much better in terms of design (unique) and layout (sensible). Oblivion's architecture is repeatable, uninteresting and often simply stupid. And cities makes no sense. Nah dude, Bethesda in 30 years of Elder Scrolls designed 0 genuinely good cities. Daggerfall cities looked like shit. Vivec was designed like shit, Imperial City was designed like shit and there were no cities in Skyrim. Wanna see something to be grateful for? Go see Khorinis, that was a city. Novigrad, another one.

[@Malentor]

This game is too goofy to be even remotely scary. Good attempt, though.

[@joetheman74]

At least install the character overhaul. It's 2023 and your still playing with potatoes. For shame.

[@ABardsBallad]

I like playing with potatoes!

[@ShrexyGuy]

Imagine needing texture upgrades to enjoy a game. Such a normie member of Gen Z

[@xBINARYGODx]

not that it REALLY matters to the content you provide here, but what the f@ck are the settings you are using? Start a go fund me for a better gpu, please.