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it would be interesting if miraak had initially refused any offers of power from hermaeus mora.he’s not stupid after all. he knows damn well that daedra usually don’t have the best intentions of mortals at heart—and even if one did, that doesn’t mean that things will turn out well for the mortal in question. when the woodland man first appears before him, miraak wants nothing to do with him. no wisdom could be worth ruin. no secret could be worth enslavement.he might think that was the end of things at first. might speak to his congregation on the wickedness of daedra so that they too may know to the danger that lurks around them. trust in his willpower to keep him strong. trust in his wits to keep him safe.he’s not stupid. but he isn’t as smart as he thinks he is either.have you ever stumbled across something that you maybe weren’t supposed to? found an abandoned journal. overheard a private conversation. discovered an incriminating stain or mark or sad little object that has just as little business being where it is as you have business being there to find it in the first place. something that you shouldn’t know. something you wish you didn’t know.but now you do know.and have you ever wondered, after reading your new journal or skulking about to find more private moments or go through places that you had never before thought to be so suspicious, what else is there that you don’t know, that you might know if only you were there to find it?you would lose your trust in those around you very quickly. you would lose your trust in yourself. how could you not have realized what was happening before you found yourself at the wrong place at the right time? could you ever have realized it? could you have lived the rest of your life not knowing?when the woodland man comes, miraak refuses his offers. he does not know that they are not optional.he does not know that the princes of knowledge knows him better than he knows himself.he does not know that the prince of secrets would have just the right ones to tell in order to bring everything crashing down.he does not know that the prince of fate has been playing him like a lute from the very beginning.he does not know.but he’s not stupid.what must miraak have learned, frea says, to turn against his masters?he never had a choice.