Dark Brotherhood The Dark Brotherhood is an infamous faction of assassins that are spread across all of Tamriel . Working as both a business and a cult , the Brotherhood was feared across Tamriel . Many knew of its existence , and those who did chose to tolerate it , in fear of meeting their own demise . History . Second Era . Founding . The Dark Brotherhood originally sprung from a religious order called the Morag Tong , who worshipped the Daedric Prince Mephala . Mephala encouraged the Morag Tong to commit ritual murders . At this time , the Order was discarded as obscure cultists due to the lack of leader in their group . This was all to change with the coming of the Night Mother . The Night Mother was the supposed lover and partner of Sithis . It was widely believed that the Night Mother was the source of the doctrine dictating how the Morag Tong ( and eventually the Dark Brotherhood ) worked as a group . Some actually thought the Night Mother was the Daedric Prince Mephala , in the form of a mortal Dunmer woman . Some time after 2E 324 , the last living Night Mother resided in Bravil . The Night Mother bore Sithis five children , who she then killed so that their souls could go to the Dread Father . The act was considered too cruel , so she was killed and her house burned . Thirty years later , an unnamed man heard voices in his head , not from Sithis , but the Night Mother herself . He became the first of many Listeners to come . The first known mention of the Dark Brotherhood was the journal of Blood Queen Arlimahera of Hegathe , written in 2E 412 . Arlimahera wrote that her family had employed the Brotherhood since her grandfather ' s time . Third Era . During the events of Warp in the West , the Dark Brotherhood was active across Tamriel . Their existence was accepted and widely ignored . During this time , the Dark Brotherhood worshiped the Daedric Prince Mephala as their leader , not Sithis . This was probably caused by the then - recent split from the Morag Tong . During the late Third Era , the Morrowind Dark Brotherhood headquarters were located not far from the city of Mournhold . Their local leader , an Imperial known as Severa Magia , called herself a Night Mother . She lived in Ald Sotha . Oblivion Crisis . During the Oblivion Crisis , the Dark Brotherhood was infamous and very well - known throughout Cyrodiil and the rest of Tamriel . Within Cyrodiil , the Brotherhood was situated in Cheydinhal , specifically the Cheydinhal Sanctuary . During this time , the Listener , the highest - ranking member of the Dark Brotherhood aside from the Night Mother herself , was Ungolim , a Wood Elf who lived in the town of Bravil . The Listener heard the words of the Night Mother and , from her lips , the Listener received assassination requests in the form of prayers by potential employers , marking how contracts were initiated and fulfilled . Each night he would visit the statue of the Lucky Lady . Unknown to all but the Listener and select members of the Black Hand , the statue of the Lucky Lady was actually the entrance to the Night Mother ' s Crypt . Fourth Era . Recession . Since the Oblivion Crisis , the Brotherhood had been fighting for survival . They had lost virtually all influence within Tamriel and had resorted to doing petty murders within Skyrim . On the 27th of Sun ' s Height in 4E 188 , the city of Wayrest was lost to corsairs , and by the 5th of Last Seed of the same year , the Wayrest Sanctuary was raided and destroyed by corsairs . There were no survivors . On the same day , the Black Hand ordered the Corinthe Sanctuary closed , and its members sent to the Cheydinhal Sanctuary in Cyrodiil . By the 27th of Hearthfire in 4E 188 , the situation in Bravil grew ever more threatening . The city had erupted in violence , due to a war of control waged by Cyrodiils two largest skooma traffickers . By the 1st of Sun ' s Dusk of the same year , the statue of the Lucky Old Lady was destroyed , and Alisanne Dupre , the Listener , left her private residence to guard the Crypt of the Night Mother . Rasha , the Speaker , sent Garnag and Adronica to aid in the crypts defense , but on the 21st of Sun ' s Dusk , Garnag returned alone with the stone coffin of the Night Mother . The Crypt of the Night Mother had been raided , with Adronica cut to pieces and Alisanne Dupre burned alive in a storm of mage fire . On the 4th of Evening Star in 4E 189 , Rasha declared himself the Listener , claiming the Night Mother had spoken to him . He could not , however , name the Binding Words , so Cicero killed him . By the 10th of Sun ' s Dawn in 4E 190 , there were only three people left in the Cheydinhal Sanctuary : Cicero , Garnag and Pontius . On the 16th of Rain ' s Hand in 4E 191 , Pontius was killed , and on the 29th of Last Seed of the same year , Garnag was presumably killed . Dragon Crisis . At the beginning of the Dragon Crisis in 4E 201 , the Dark Brotherhood was led by Astrid . Under her leadership the Five Tenets were discarded , breaking with the traditions and culture of the previous two eras when the Brotherhood was operated as a cult as well as a business . The Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim was reduced to a single sanctuary , located just outside of Falkreath . Delayed Burial . The Night Mother ' s coffin traveled with The Night Mother ' s Keeper , an eccentric jester named Cicero . The wagon Cicero was using to transport the coffin broke down near Loreius Farm . Innocence Lost . Rumors of a child who ran away from Honorhall Orphanage were quickly spread throughout Skyrim . The child was rumored to be Aventus Aretino . Curious of the rumors , the Dragonborn traveled to the Aretino Residence in Windhelm and found Aventus performing the Black Sacrament . Thus , a contract was now made to kill Grelod the Kind , the hated owner of Honorhall Orphanage . The Dragonborn traveled to Riften and entered the orphanage , killing Grelod , to which the orphans cheered . Aventus rewarded the Dragonborn with the Aretino Family Heirloom . With Friends Like These . . . . After some days , the Dragonborn received a mysterious note with an imprint of a black hand and the words " We Know " written beneath it . Sometime after receiving the note , the Dragonborn slept . Shortly later , the Dragonborn woke up in an abandoned shack , located in the marshes of Morthal . A Dark Brotherhood assassin , Astrid , was in the cabin as well . She revealed that the Dark Brotherhood was aware of the murdering of Grelod and were pleased with it , but since Aventus Aretino performed the Black Sacrement , the contract for killing Grelod the Kind was for the Dark Brotherhood , and the Dragonborn stole that contract . Astrid demanded that a debt had to be paid for the kill that was stolen from them . She kidnapped three other people and brought them to the shack , along with the Dragonborn . Astrid told the Dragonborn that there was a contract out on one of them , and that the Dragonborn had to figure out who to kill . The Last Dragonborn either killed one , two , or all three of the people , and then Astrid made an invitation for the Dragonborn : to come to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary in Falkreath and become a member of the Dark Brotherhood . Destruction of the Falkreath Sanctuary . After poisoning and killing Emperor Titus Mede II , Commander Maro intercepts the Dragonborn ' s escape and reveals the slain Emperor was just a double , and that a traitor within the Brotherhood have informed him of the hit in exchange for their safety . Maro goes back on his words , however , and proceeds to send his men to destroy the Falkreath sanctuary . Fighting through the destruction , the Dragonborn survives the onslaught by hiding in the Night Mother ' s coffin . Being rescued by Babette and Nazir , the Dragonborn then discovers that Astrid herself is the traitor , who then apologizes for double - crossing them and pleads that the Dragonborn kills her . The Dragonborn becomes the leader of the Brotherhood after Astrid ' s death . Post - Hail Sithis ! The remaining members of the Brotherhood are relocated to the Dawnstar Sanctuary , after the sanctuary was acquired in The Cure for Madness . The only survivors of the Falkreath sanctuary onslaught are Babette , Nazir , Cicero ( if he is spared ) and the Dragonborn , now the Listener and leader of the Brotherhood . After the new hideout is furnished by Delvin Mallory , several generic Dark Brotherhood Initiates will appear as followers . Radiant contracts can be acquired from the Night Mother . Culture . Purpose . The Dark Brotherhood had always been an organization with the purpose of assassination and professional killing . They were the harbingers of death and executors of silent , covert assassinations . Besides working in the field of assassinations , the organization itself was a clandestine operations group . The Brotherhood ' s divine purpose was to serve The Dread Lord and follow his desires , which they achieved through the word of the Night Mother . The Order ' s leaders and assassins would sometimes take several concise , lengthy steps to complete an assassination attempt . For example , during the Fourth Era , when the Dark Brotherhood attempted the assassination of Emperor Titus Mede II , they went through many phases in order to complete the assignment , including the assassination of Vittoria Vici , Gaius Maro , and even the Emperor ' s personal chef , the Gourmet . Influence . Throughout the second and third eras , the mention of the Dark Brotherhood would cause both Men and Mer to shudder where they stood . Commoners and noblemen alike feared and loathed them . With multiple sanctuaries across Tamriel full of trained , hardened assassins , the Brotherhood had influence in every province on every level . Their ongoing feud with the Morag Tong and territorial dispute over Morrowind led the two factions to wage war on each other . By the events of Dragon Crisis , the Brotherhood ' s influence had dropped dramatically ; their influence on Tamriel was all but non - existent after Corsairs conducted multiple raids on their sanctuaries on the 5th of Last Seed in 4E 188 . It was unknown how many sanctuaries outside Skyrim , if any , survived the raids , be they destroyed or ordered closed by the Black Hand . It was thought that during the Fourth Era , the Dark Brotherhood ' s influence was on the rise again , with guidance from their Night Mother , in the far north of Skyrim . Religion . The religion of the Dark Brotherhood focused on the worship of Sithis . Sithis , also known as the Dread Lord or the Dread Father , was the representation of the Void . Aside from Sithis , all members of the Brotherhood revered their unholy matron , the Night Mother , who served as their source of contracts . Listener s and Keepers were intimately connected to the matron and would defend her with their lives ( as in the cases of Cicero and Alisanne Dupre ) . The Dark Brotherhood was also known to have worshiped Daedric Prince Mephala during the earlier periods of their existence . This was most likely because of their relation to the Morag Tong , a religious order from Morrowind who committed assassinations and murders in the name of Mephala . The Brotherhood split from them some time in the Second Era . Regulations . The Five Tenets . The Five Tenets are the rules and morals the Brotherhood followed up to and during the Oblivion Crisis . If a member broke or neglected to follow one of the Tenets , they were threatened with expulsion from the Brotherhood or worse . There are five tenets in all , and they are as follows : The Tenets were abandoned during the Fourth Era under Astrid ' s leadership . Hierarchy . The Dark Brotherhood was an organized guild of assassins ; they were composed of a governing body , along with several smaller sections and groups . The Black Hand . The governing body of the Dark Brotherhood was called the Black Hand . It was composed of five members : four Speaker s ( Index , middle , ring and little fingers ) and a Listener ( thumb ) . The Listener telepathically listened to and received commands from the Night Mother , relaying them to the four Speakers . The Speakers would then issue the commands and initiate the contracts to be completed by the Brotherhood ' s assassins . Each Speaker had their own personal assistants called Silencer s , which were the " nails " of the Black Hand . Silencers could be deployed to complete contracts and eliminate any target ( s ) that they saw fit . The Silencers qualified as members of the Black Hand , but their existence was kept secret from the rest of the Dark Brotherhood . Recruitment . As the Dark Brotherhood was a shadowy , mysterious organization of assassins spread out over most of Tamriel , the identities of its members were generally unknown by the organization as a whole . The Brotherhood ' s methods of recruiting were shadowy in nature and clouded in mystery . However , it was known that the Brotherhood did not just blindly accept new recruits and members ; a person who wished to join the Dark Brotherhood had to first be noticed by the Brotherhood and demonstrate his or her skills in sneaking and assassination . When a person committed murder , a Speaker would approach the killer and ask them to join the Dark Brotherhood , and if the offer was accepted , the killer would be given a formal , organized contract with a specific target to kill . Argonian s born under the sign of The Shadow underwent training in stealth and combat as Shadowscales . This training also enabled them to transfer to the Dark Brotherhood . The Dark Brotherhood was known to recruit serial killers . When a continuous string of murders was committed in cold blood with no arrest , the Brotherhood would initiate an investigation to discover what happened , find the killer , and potentially recruit him or her . Contacting . Contacting the Brotherhood to order an assassination involved performing the Black Sacrament . This ritual included creating an effigy of the intended victim out of actual human body parts and continuously stabbing it with a dagger rubbed with the petals of the Nightshade flower . The following plea must be whispered while stabbing the effigy : " " Sweet Mother , sweet Mother , send your child unto me , for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear . " " The Night Mother then relayed the plea to a Listener , who in turn informed a Speaker to send an assassin to the client . Once the ritual was complete , the one who performed it would be met by the Brotherhood representative . Known sanctuaries . Cyrodiil . Cheydinhal . The Cheydinhal Sanctuary was the primary headquarters of the Dark Brotherhood in Cyrodiil . Situated in the basement of an abandoned house beneath the surface in eastern Cheydinhal , the Sanctuary could be accessed through a trap door in the well behind the house . The Sanctuary contained five rooms : the main hall , the living quarters , the training room , Ocheeva ' s Room and Vicente ' s Room . Bruma . The Dark Brotherhood had a sanctuary in Bruma . It was destroyed sometime before 4E 186 , and everyone within the sanctuary aside from Cicero was killed . Cicero escaped and relocated to the Cheydinhal Sanctuary . Gold Coast . The Gold Coast sanctuary was located north of the cities of Anvil and Kvatch , and south of Sutch , at the foothold of the then - structure Varen ' s Wall . It was managed by Speaker Terenus and Astara Caerellius around 2E 582 . The location was discovered by defected member The Black Dragon and was planned to be attacked by the Order of the Hour , but after the Vestige killed their leader , Primate Artorius , the threat had ended . By 3E 433 , no trace of the sanctuary remained . Skyrim . Falkreath . The Falkreath Sanctuary was the Brotherhood ' s Skyrim headquarters at the beginning of the Fourth Era . It was also the location of the Night Mother ' s Crypt for the earlier part of the Fourth Era . The Falkreath Sanctuary was ransacked and many of its occupants killed in 4E 201 by Penitus Oculatus agents . Dawnstar . The Dawnstar Sanctuary was one of the Dark Brotherhood sanctuaries in Skyrim ; it was said to be one of the oldest of the Brotherhood ' s sanctuaries in Skyrim . By the Fourth Era , the sanctuary had been abandoned and had not been occupied for over a century . After the destruction of the Falkreath Sanctuary , the Dawnstar sanctuary became the headquarters for the Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim . The sanctuary was then renovated and once again put to use . Delvin Mallory of the Thieves Guild helped in the restoration process . A torture chamber was added to the sanctuary , as was the Night Mother ' s Crypt . High Rock . The Brotherhood held one sanctuary in the province of High Rock , which was in Wayrest . On the 27th of Sun ' s Height in 4E 188 , Corsair s besieged Wayrest , and the city was lost . On the 5th of Last Seed in 4E 188 , the news that the Wayrest Sanctuary was destroyed by the corsairs reached Cicero at Cheydinhal Sanctuary . The destruction of Wayrest sanctuary left only three active sanctuaries : Cheydinhal , Falkreath and Corinth . Black Marsh . A sanctuary in Black Marsh was located between the swamps between Blackwood and Murkmire . It was run by Speaker Arawen , though it was purified by the Black Hand as they sent Silencer Lyra Viria to execute the inhabitants . Green - Venom - Tongue and the Vestige later visited a number of years after the purification in 2E 582 , though only found Dark Guardians and lost spirits . Using a unique resin , they witnessed Lyra assassinate all the members and report to Speaker Arawen at the shrine of Sithis . Elsweyr . The Dark Brotherhood ' s sanctuary in Elsweyr was in the city of Corinthe . On the 5th of Last Seed in 4E 188 , as the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuaries across Tamriel were being destroyed and / or abandoned , as the Dark Brotherhood was collapsing and their entire world was crumbling all around them , the Black Hand ordered the closing of the Corinthe Sanctuary . Morrowind . A number of Dark Brotherhood assassins attempted to set up base at the ruin of Ald Sotha in 3E 427 , though were stopped by the Morag Tong . The same year , more Dark Brotherhood members resided in the ruins of Old Mournhold , though were also exterminated . Similar organizations . Morag Tong . The Dark Brotherhood was formed as the result of a split from the Morag Tong , a religious order that dealt in some of the customs that the Brotherhood is infamous for . This split happened some time in the Second Era . The Morag Tong were worshipers of Daedra , specifically Mephala . In the early years of the Morag Tong , the faction was disorganized , and thus never committed murders or assassinations of high - value targets or people of importance . However , their ways of spreading influence changed with the rise of the Night Mother . Murders would be committed by the group because it was believed that with every murder , Mephala would become stronger . The murders of important people and powerful men were seen as what strengthened Mephala the most . This belief is said to have originated in 2E 324 . In this year , the Potentate Versidue Shaie was murdered in his palace , in the present - day kingdom of Senchal in Elsweyr . The Night Mother wrote the words " MORAG TONG " on the wall with the victim ' s blood . Unlike the Morag Tong , which was strictly a religious cult , the Brotherhood served as both a cult and a business . Shadowscales . In Black Marsh , the homeland of the Argonian race , there lived a group called the Shadowscale s . They were highly trained assassins trained in the arts of stealth and assassination from birth . One had to be born under the sign of the Shadow to become a Shadowscale . During the events of , Veezara claimed he was the last remaining member of the Shadowscales . During the quest , The Cure for Madness , Veezara was injured by Cicero , nearly dying in the process . Thieves Guild . The Dark Brotherhood had a strong connection with the Thieves Guild , and despite their differences in purpose , ethics and ideas and policies , the Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild have always had a good connection between each other . This is especially true with the Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild in Skyrim . Delvin Mallory of the Thieves Guild and Astrid of the Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim have had a good relationship with each other in friendship and in business . See also . For more detailed information on the Dark Brotherhood in a specific game , please see the following :