If you’re like me, you can’t stand the Oblivion Remastered lockpicking mechanic. And yes, it is a skill issue – it’s tedious and difficult, and frankly, it’s just not very fun. The good news is that there’s an item that solves all your problems. The Oblivion Remastered Skeleton Key is a Daedric item you can get as a quest reward at any point in the game. This item makes it so that your lockpick can never break, which means you can technically auto-attempt every lock in the game. Yes, it trivializes it, and yes, this is still an improvement over actually doing the minigame.
Read on to find out how to get the Skeleton Key in Oblivion Remastered and make lockpicking much less frustrating. You don’t need to be part of any Oblivion Remastered guild questline to complete this one – it’s completely standalone.
Head to the Nocturnal Shrine
First off, you’re going to want to head to the Nocturnal Shrine, which is located slightly north-east of Leyawiin. You can see its exact location in the image below.
Once here, interact with the Shrine, where you’ll be given a quest by the Night Mistress, Nocturnal, and your journey to getting the Oblivion Remastered Skeleton Key will begin. The task is simple: retrieve the stolen Eye of Nocturnal. To Leyawiin we go!
Locate Weebum-Na and Bejeen
Head to Leyawiin and speak to any of the guards in town. Ask them about “Leyawiin,” not the “Eye of Nocturnal” option. This will reveal that the Argonian couple Weebum-Na and Bejeen have been bragging about stealing the artifact, so it’s time to head to their house. This will be marked on the compass at this point, so it’s hard to miss.
When inside the house, speak to Weebum-Na and confront him about the Eye of Nocturnal. He’ll deny any involvement in the thievery.
After speaking to Weebum-Na, hide in any shadowy area of their house. I’ve found that sneaking close to the front door works consistently for this. The pair will begin to speak about the Eye of Nocturnal and reveal that it is hidden in Tidewater Cave. The Oblivion Remastered Skeleton Key is almost in reach.
Head to Tidewater Cave
Although it’ll be marked on your map, Tidewater Cave is found south of Leyawiin. Head there, and once inside, take a left turn at every opportunity. You shouldn’t have too much trouble clearing the enemies from this one. As you continue to take left turns, you’ll eventually find a submerged pathway through the cave. Go under the water, and you should find the Eye of Nocturnal. Take it.
Now, simply head back to the Nocturnal Shrine and interact with it again to get the Skeleton Key in Oblivion Remastered. This item shouldn’t take you more than 20 minutes to get, but it can save you a lot of frustration if you do choose to do it early in the game. It’s particularly useful if you want to do the Oblivion Remastered Thieves Guild questline, where you’ll be doing lots of lockpicking.
Oblivion Remastered Skeleton Key Console Command
In theory, you don’t have to do the Nocturnal quest to get the Skeleton Key in Oblivion Remastered at all. You can use console commands instead by opening the console with the tilde key (~). Just enter the following command:
- player.additem 0000000b 1
This will add the Skeleton Key to your inventory without needing to complete the quest. Beware, though – use of the console disables achievements in Oblivion Remastered on PC.