Consider this: the books aren't his library. The books are the lure that draws in the minds of men and mer, seekers of knowledge, but the true library is the inky black ocean that lies underneath. If we look at his appearance and at the tendrils specifically that he summons and uses they look like they're made of ink, perhaps constructed from all the knowledge he's stolen over the millennia. If that is indeed the case, then the true danger is getting grabbed and drawn down into those depths, never to re-emerge again. One's mind and memories become part of the library, drawn in by the promise of forbidden knowledge. Of course, that's all just speculation.

“Hermaeus Mora learns fascinating new ways to skin a Horker and you become the second most powerful Dragonborn to ever live.” -Master Neloth

21:06 I just realized why it took so long for Hermeaus to take the skaals knowledge because they keep entombing their bodies in stahlrim which is literally divine ice 🧐

This is definitely my favorite Daedric Prince in Elder Scrolls. He gives you so much useful knowledge, only demanding few sacrifices. This guy definitely know what happened to Dwemer.

This was my favorite Skyrim DLC. Lovecraftian af. So cool that Herma plays on the Lovecraft quote, “The oldest and most primal fear is the fear of the unknown.”

In Doctor Who, there is an entire planet that's a library. In the episodes, they refer to this library as "a great big forest" because the books are made from wood. Perhaps Herma Mora is the woodland man because his woods are the library of Apocrapha

I think Hermeaus Mora's need for a dragon born to collect and harvest dragon souls is more in line with the established lore of the dragons and how they share knowledge. Their souls. When a dragon is killed there is no body to decompose, just bone. And when Alduin resurrects dragons so too do their memories return. Since Hermeaus Mora cannot access this dragon souls and memories passively as he normally does with other races, thus the use of the dragon born. For Hermeaus Mora it's like getting access to the forbidden part of a library. And knowledge of Akatosh, since the dragons are born timeless and of himself. Kind messed up in a way. "I (Hermeaus Mora) will use your (Akatosh) creation to slay your spawn to gain knowledge of you."

I think another aspect in the rivalry between Hermaeus Mora and Vaermina is that they both collect memories and could be fighting over who gets to keep them.

It’s an interesting analogy that Vivek uses for being a god. It almost sounds exactly like playing a video game, while playing u are “awake” within that worlds time but u are still awake within the real world (in which u are very busy). When u die or log off, it doesn’t matter how long u wait in the real world cause time will not have moved in the game when u log in or awaken

Mora has a lot of references to HP Lovecraft stories. The Wood Man is a reference to Shug Niggurath of the Wood and its 1000 young. Mora's 'young' are his servants in Apocrypha The underwater sense of Apocrypha is R'leyth which is Cthullu's home. People that get fully ensnared by Mora are transformed into the tentacle face monsters. In HP's novels it is the hope of the Cult of Cthullu to be transformed into bodies that can't die. The Lurkers are the Deep Ones who hope for Cthullu to once again awaken. The book with Elf Skin and Black Books is clearly a parallel to the Necronomicon.

The idea that the memories of departed souls reside within the waters of the mortal plane (a strange parallel to how Daedra, when their forms are destroyed, are cast upon the waters of Oblivion until they can reform) has aaaaaaaaall sorts of interesting implications. When you drink water, you are refreshing yourself with the echoes of lives past. When you cry, you release some small part of a moment that is too great for your soul to fully contain. And Skyrim, land of ice and snow, is also the land of frozen echoes of the past... home, also, to snow from the Throat of the World which never melts -- memories forever sealed away. Poetic, but it goes to show just how much room to play there is with this tidbit of lore.

Another interesting thing regarding Herma Mora and Ysgramor is the theory that Ysgramor was a dragon. While this is unlikely due to seeing him in Sovngarde, I find it more likely the Ysgramor was the first true Dragonborn, he himself ignorant of that fact. It would explain Herma Moras obsession with Ysgramor, and in failing to acquire him, setting his eyes and tentacles on Miraak next

My idea for the brain jars. It's when someone realizes they did not in fact want the forbidden knowledge they learned and asks hermaeus to "take it away"

I had the oghma infinitum in my inventory when I entered apocrypha for the first time, and master mora's greeting was downright warm.

I love ol' Herma-mora. Just straight up Yogg-Sothtoh. also my favorite line is related to Mora, "Sounds like a bargain to me. Hermaeus Mora learns some fascinating new ways to skin a horker and you become the second most powerful Dragonborn that ever lived."

Theory about the forest association: Memories are stored in the water and knowledge on paper. A tree has its roots steeped in memory and it's branches etched with knowledge. A forest is a reservoir of memories and a future treasure trove of knowledge yadda yadda. Apocrypha also having flying scrolls above, like leaves in the wind, and being rooted in the inky water below is also very tree-like.

I was playing skyrim and right outside of whiterun I see hermaeus mora spying on me, it's very far in the distance but you csn see his little green blob dissappear and reappear, totally freaked me out

Wait... I just noticed something at 20:34 : "Hermaeus Mora taught her how to sever her ties to Oblivion and bind herself to Mundus." This sounds very much to me like what Lorkhan did. Binding himself to Mundus, although on a much larger scale in his case. The "sever one's ties to Oblivion" part sounds even more like Lorkhan if you believe Mankar Camoran's claim that Lorkhan is, or was, a Daedra. So, could Hermaeus Mora be somehow related to Lorkhan ? Perhaps Septimus Signus had good reasons to think he would find the Heart of Lorkhan inside that Dwemer vault.

I just got my boyfriend into TES and have recommended every single one of your videos for him to watch, but I will DEFINITELY put this one on the top of the list for him, he is such a knowledge buff and so incredibly booksmart, even though he only has around 10 hours of gameplay, I already know that Hermeaus More will be his favorite Daedra!

I can't help but feel like there is a connection between his name translating to forest/wood and one of his nicknames being "The Gardener of Man"

I would also like to note that dragons are not mortal, so there is the possibility that their memories and knowledge are not deposited into the waters, but held with them in the meta-physical streams of time, somewhat inaccessible to Herma Mora, and so requires that unique ability of the dragonborn to be able to absorb them, and their knowledge, something that they canonically do as said in game, to then get these souls, and thus their knowledge and memories. Also, just a random thought, the dragonborn is like a hyper specific, ultra soul gem.

I hope we get a game that focuses on Vaermina as the main daedra to get emphasis, I would love to know more about the Prince of Dreams relationship to the dreaming Godhead

Herma Mora is probably my absolute favorite deity in the Elder Scrolls Universe. I love the idea of his whole existence being based around the acquisition of forbidden knowledge. Just thinking of all the things he knows about everyone and everything throughout history.

My absolute favorite prince out of all of them. I still remember the first time I played through Skyrim before the DLC came out, and he appeared as just a big blue orb at the cave entrance. Then playing the game again after the DLC came out and being so astonished by how much they changed his appearance for that same interaction. As soon as I saw that, I knew this storyline was going to be incredible. I've always been interested in hermetecism, and the problematic HP Lovecraft, so to see the merging of these two themes in a single questline was so fun. (Not sure of the same two themes have been conjuntively explored in other games like it was here, since Skyrim is the only ES game I've played 😅🤷)

To tie into the Woodland Man thing: The Celts have a forest God, Herne or Cernnunos. I would love to investigate further on Hermaeus Mora's ties to Azura, particularly into how it links to Khajiit lore.

I always considered the Mora part referring to forests was how books are made and pages being considered leaves. Books and knowledge are often associated with deities of wood and forests. The Celtic god Ogham which the Oghma Infinium shares etymology with is such a deity.

Hermaeus Mora (IMO) existed before Akatosh, before time, thus he experienced the universe before things have been put in chronological order and that is why he is the daedric prince of fate. He knows all possible outcomes, but not which one will come to pass. Also, it would make sense if he was created from the throwaway ideas from when the "gods" were created, not mortality.

I have been researching the hermetic principles and history and you really nailed a lot. This is very thought-provoking and I have to say in a weird way you have helped me with my research of real life history and furthered my interest in these games. Thank you.

Hermetic - "From Medieval Latin hermeticus, irregular derivation of Hermes Trismegistus, the god and mythological alchemist, said to possess a magic ability to seal treasure chests so that nothing could access their contents"

Regarding Fragmentae Abyssum Hermaeus Morus, I wonder about the analogy at work. Hare are prey animals - actually, they're the ARCHETYPAL prey animals, while foxes obviously have associations with predators, cunning, and ironically being tricksters. It is interesting to me that the archetypal prey animal tried to advise Ysgramor, while the archetypal trickster animal interceded. It should also be noted that both the hare and the fox gave the same answer to Ysgramor - the stag is in the vale. They were both technically correct and leading him to the same quarry. Given the relationship of Shor/Lorkhan with Aurbis, or rather the dichotomy of Anu and Padomay, it seems fitting that the hare, which perhaps represents Anuic ideals, is prey, while the fox, which represents Padomaic ideas, is predator, and that in true trickster fashion, we are misled into thinking that the fox is not the trickster, when in representing Shor it is the archetypal trickster of the monomyth, Lorkhan - and the trick is that the Shor told us nothing that we didn't already know from Herma-Mora. The stag awaits in the Vale. This evokes Watership Down to me. Indeed, there's obvious thematic similarities, in the Watership Down creation myth the sun is a god who created the creatures, and the hares were multiplying and outnumbering everyone so the sun gave all of the other animals unique qualities to make them predators to the hare. When it came time to bless the prince of hares and his people, the prince hid from the sun and tried to deceive it, and so the sun blessed the prince with speed and cunning to evade the predators, rather than the means to fight and overcome them. It's interesting to imagine that this is what Herma-Mora represents: in the war of metaphors that is Elder Scrolls, there is one who does not pit his metaphor against others, but instead thru cunning seeks to avoid the war altogether.

I feel like Mora is the repository of all things ejected from Sithis. Brought from the darkness by his brother sisters and hidden from Mortals in his libraries. Knowledge is often considered binding and perhaps hermaus Mora binds akatosh with The Forbidden Knowledge pulled from chaos and bound onto page and thus constricting the dragon God to travel one path with fate.

_I last received a whisper from him six months ago. Before then, it had been five years, and three before that. His thoughts are no longer intelligible in any language. Perhaps he is still in Apocrypha, lost but happy, in a trap he refuses to escape. Perhaps he slipped between the stacks and passed into the Madhouse of Sheogorath, losing his sanity forever._ _I would save him if I could._ *_I would silence his whispers if I could._*

He doesn't understand himself and that's why he collects all the knowledge that exists

The Miraak/Alessia "first dragonborn" problem actually has another solution that doesn't involve wacky time travel. Obviously, Miraak's existence was a retcon by Bethesda because they don't care about existing lore, but when pressed about it, Pete Hines gave an answer that basically said Miraak and Alessia had different kinds of "dragonborn" powers. Extrapolating from that, Hines's answer is implying there are different kinds of dragonborns. Miraak and the Last Dragonborn are one kind -- I call them "dovahkiin" or "dragon slayer" dragonborns as their power is the ability to absorb the souls of slain dragons -- and the various dragonborn emperors and empresses are a different kind, what I call "Aka" dragonborns, as their power was to light the Dragonfires.

It would make sense that Mora would want to steal power from Akatosh, since he's essentially Akatosh's evil Daedric counterpart.

Mirrak wasn't saved by Hermaous, he was kidnapped and added to his library. Once Mirrak had plans and was able to leave apocrypha, Hermaous didn't want to lose his knowledge being free so he killed Mirrak and replaced him with us. We aren't Hermaous Moras champion, we are his prisoner. Even if we can walk free unlike Mirrak, he is watching us constantly to see what we see and learn what we learn

The dragon souls theory falls in line with my personal head canon. I always choose the "I'm not your servant" type dialog options and avoid using dragon souls to respec my skills. In my opinion you can't harbor "fantasies of rebellion against" a Daedric prince if you have the free will to resist their temptations.

Great video, Scott! Spot on with the Hermes Trismegistus connection.

Semester at uni just started, really appreciate some good elder scrolls lore on my ears when I find time to relax. Thank you!

I’ve only just started playing Skyrim, but Hermaeus Mora instantly became my favorite Daedric Prince

Mora likely wishes to have the souls of dragons to gain their knowledge and understanding of the Thu'um and the meaning of it's words, such as how Paarthurnax mentions that dragons have a deeper understanding of yol than mortals of fire, or mortals of fade than dragons of feim And perhaps the way he "refunds your perks" is by using the soul of the dragon, AKA fragment Alduin/Akatosh, to turn back time only for the Last DB

2:42 Fudgemuppet: "Ur means primitive." Dagoth Ur: "What a grand and intoxicating innocence!"

FUDGEMUPPET: PLEASE do a video on All The Meme/Joke/Comedy Characters of The Elder Scrolls Series and it would be great if it was a podcast video.

Fudge muppet slowly dropping videos out. Fills me with joy, keeping his lore telling ways sharp ready for the next elderscrolld

Something I was surprised wasn't mentioned is that dragon souls contain all the knowledge of the dragon that owned them. This is why you use dragon souls to learn shouts. Arngeir explains this to the Dragonborn

Hermaeus Mora, Hermes of the Forrest, Hermes of the world tree, the all seeing eye in Mimir's well, Hermes of the Moirai, the web of Mephala is the root-branches of the Tree - eye, the bind of world-strings, the 9th of Her 8, Hermes Mortal, Hermes of Death

A big question that comes to mind every time your videos talk about dragons is *why* they or by extension dragonborns so often become corrupted by the pursuit of power. Paarthurnax himself said it was deeply ingrained in a dragon's nature to dominate others. Even their combat is a literal form of debate where they are essentially imposing their will over others. It really makes you wonder. Is it just Akatosh's innate desire to create order, or is this somehow tied into Mo-lag Bal? Either way I'm curious.

never played skyrim, but i find such exposition of his complex lore very stimulating.

33:35 I’ve never heard Hermaeus-Mora’s voice before. I… I was not expecting that.

You have absolutely outdone yourself with this vid. Much praise!!

The quality of the video (both in the abstract and pixel sense) is absolutely amazing - it’s like watching a documentary filmed in apocrypha 😂

Please continue this!!! The original daedric Prince video series Is my favorite out of all your content And I would love to see updated videos on the lot

Hermaeus Mora, Xarxes, and Juhnal walk into a room; "Should we... divide by Zero"? *Ends the Aurbis*

I always took morag tongs "forester guild" meaning to be the dunmers own variation of the term. If you think about it, the morag tong helps to serve the peace within resdayn, cleaning out the country through legal writs. From their perspective, it's their own way of having sheriffs. Just my thoughts

The concept of gods and time in the Elder Scrolls universe makes me think of us when we play videogames. From our character's perspective, a few month's worth of adventure might just be an all-nigther for us. In-game time means nothing to us because we can nullify or revert progress in the blink of an eye, even restart the campaign whenever we so desire. And those of us who have already completed the game knows what will happen, whereas our character remains in happy ignorance, trapped in a cycle that only we are intimately aware of. From the character's perspective, we (the player) live both in the past and future. The thing with videogames is that they are still very limited in the sense you can only do things within the confines set by the developers. Imagine a sufficiently advanced and complex game where you can alter the campaign each time you play, with an AI that keeps adapting to your choices. That's what I think Hermaeus Mora tries to do; to alter the fabric of universe by messing with time and fate. He can anticipate the future because chances are he already witnessed it all, but as with before, time-wise, he is both in the past, present and future. Just like us. Subsequently, every character we play is both their own individual and a part of us. The "chosen one" of every cycle is really just a puppet for a "divine being" to control experience that universe through them. Truth be told, there can be a repeated pattern here; world inside of a world, inside of a world. If the Elder Scrolls had been made with the technology from, say, 50 years into the future - would it be akin to a parallel universe? If our characters gained some form of self-awareness and sentience beyond our control, would it still be ethical to "control" them? Or are we akin to their souls, where without us they are no different from ordinary NPCs in auto-mode? And what does that say of ourselves and our world IRL? Are we in a simulation too? And how far does that rabbit hole go?

I do wanna expand on your forest and knowledge connections. It's extremely common to equate the universe and all it's knowledge to that of a deep dark woods, and there's even sayings like "to plant the seeds of knowledge/doubt," there's also references where they compare the unknown and knowable not only to a forest but also the ocean, that is infinite in size and depth. And they often call knowledge that humans attain as islands, little spots in these oceans where you can stand and understand, but still can't see across the ocean or the depths. I think there's a huge reason and connection to reallife analogies in how they chose to represent and mythologize Herma Mora

Excellent video. I think about the parallel of Herma-Mora being a trickster to the Nords, while Shor/Lorkhan is a trickster to the Altmer. Mora attempted to trick the Ysgramor, and in whole the nords, into becoming elves. Shor/Lorkhan tricked the Elnophey into becoming mortal. I don’t think there’s any connection there but it’s an interesting idea I haven’t seen shared.

Hermeaus Mora lives in a literal Sea of Knowledge

Okay, this just blew my mind. I've always thought the book shelves in Apocrypha were a bit underwhelming, considering they're supposed to hold the secrets of the universe. But knowing that the real library is not the books, but the vast, endless inky sea is awesome. Plus, even with the Black Books, the actual book part is normal, the special thing is the swirling magic ink.

Man... I just finishid the video, and... I consider myself an expert of the TES lore [insert "I'm a bit of a scientist myself" meme] and I'm impressed at how all you've said is very convincing, I agree with almost all of what you proposed. Thank you for this video, it was very enjoyable to watch.

Nice to see I'm not the only one who noticed the parallels with Hermes and the hermetic school. Digging a bit deeper Hermes (aka. Hermes the thrice born) is also associated with and thought to be the same person by some of thoth the Egyptian God scribe of knowledge and all things mystical and occult in nature.

The first time i read lore books about hermaeus in morrowind and Oblivion i was hooked. Definitely my favorite daedric prince. Apocrypha coming to eso after all this time has been great.

it's strange how mora getting dragon souls seems so terrifying until you realize he's just gonna use it for more knowledge. He doesn't have any goals of ruling Mundus or destroying Aurbis, he just wants to know things. He'll do terrible things for knowledge, but hey he just wants to know stuff

Great video man, the cinematography alone is spectacular

This was such a interesting video, Hermaeus Mora is one of my favourite Daedric princes, so fascinating 😄

Man, this is the best stuff to fall asleep to. You have such a soothing voice! I really enjoyed listening to you :) thanks for this video :D

Akatosh: My creation, the dragonborn!! HM: Cool, I'll take 2!

I never noticed that Miraak has slight scoliosis in his hip. His right side is a tad bit higher than the left. I would know, mine does the same.

I suspect the use of "hermetic" in that Jhunal snippet was written with the misunderstanding that it's the adjective of _hermit._

I can imagine Jyggalag going to Hermaeus Mora's realm and them arguing about organization of the books.

This video was absolutely spectacular man I am so impressed by your deep knowledge of elder scrolls and your ability to teach the lore in such an entertaining and easy to understand way you truly put in the work on these videos I love your channel and all you do man thanks for this

Hermeaus Mora being so tied to the concept of forests makes a ton of sense in hindsight I suppose. Forest/Tree of Knowledge = a Library/Book.

Thanks for explaining the lore

This was a great video and I'd love to see a series like this!

I like how zero summing is essentially figuring out youre a video game character and 4th walking yourself out . While chim is like Deadpool , you’re aware of the 4th wall but you retain yourself .

I think Ahzidal's obsession with knowledge making him go mad with it may have proven to be exactly what Hermaeus Mora was looking for, and Ahzidal wasn't even worshipping him. Guy learned from worship of Juhnal first, then Xarxes (he was so smart among the Clevermen of Saarthal that he went to the Snow Elves, and others, for their magics, making him the first human to truly master any Elven magics) He left his own family for knowledge for quite some time, and probably regretted it a little since Saarthal would get yeeted before he returned, his family supposedly killed (well, the term "dead or gone" was used, maybe they were taken prisoner) Interestingly, he went to the Snow Elves for even more knowledge, after the Night of Tears, likely meaning the Snow Elves didn't kill or want all Nords/Nedes in Skyrim dead, only Saarthal, and were even willing to teach him more since its not every day that Elven Wizard's meet a human with 200 IQ for magic. Then Ysgramor comes back and boom, uses him as a Mage to help thwart and kill the Snow Elves, that Ahzidal would now betray for (supposedly) murderering his family. Be careful who you teach, otherwise you sadly get the Snow Elf treatment 😥

I mean all I'm really hearing from this is that Herma be the nerd of the group. Dagon: So should we invite herma to the party? The rest: NO! Are you nuts he's just gonna talk about books an ask people if they know anything about Skall weaving techniques! Molag Bal: Yeah dude that incel ain't even funny when he's drunk and he doesn't even drink that much. Mephala: Yeah total vibe killer! Lets not tell him about Saturday. Meanwhile, Herma's like: I feel like there's yet even more information being kept from meeeeee! :((((((

"So below as above" is a fascinating thought process (which I misunderstood the phrase originally and went down a mental rabbit hole)

Thanks again for another great video guys. Keep up the great work.

@fudgemuppet your video on the god-head actually put me in an existential crisis once.

You’re out here making some fantastic content

Another great video! Mora is my favourite Daedric Prince.

Nice to see mods I use in a video

Isn't total Knowledge what Jyggylag had? Does that mean Jyggylag and Herma mora share similar spheres? If Jyggylag was a threat to all other daedric lords, was this one such way he threatened herma mora?

Delightful, hema mora is my favorite deadric prince. Is there any relation between the skeleton key and hemaus moras realm. Both allowing you to access expertise that previously unobtainable

The channel I’ve been binging for weeks uploading a new video? Yes please!

More of this! Thank you!

The lore authors are so prolific. Elder scrolls lore seemingly never ends and even naming schemes are in depth

Another interesting theory could be that Hermeus Mora is infact two daedra sharing a single portfolio. Herma/Hermeus and Mora being two entities under a single title much akin to the relationship between Akatosh and Auriel, especially considering its portfolio includes being a trickster God. This would help explain how distinct ut is to have relations with both land and sea, the woodlands and depths both are associated with the deeper you go the darker it gets.

It never fails to blow my mind how many things have roots in or references to hermeticism.

28:00 This concept also remotes to hermeticism, the first principle that the universe is mental in nature. In the philosophy, the mind of "The all" or "The One" is what creates reality, which is not truly "real", only a mental creation of this entity. This also appears in HP Lovecraft lore with Azathoth, our universe being just his dreaming.

Loved the video! Hermeus Mora is my favorite Daedric prince

ESO introduced so much amazing HM lore with Necrom

Jyggalag: I have a library of knowledge you can never know. 😏 Hermaeus Mora: Noooo!

An interesting fact I'll add from the possible real world inspiration for the name, the name Ogma is the name of the Celtic God of Knowledge. Just figured I'd share that :)

Great theories and background info to Herma Mora

A wonderful well though out video as always. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Hermaus Mora is a fascinating Deadra and the last Id want to tango with.

it's interesting that Shor takes the form of a fox. are foxes seen as servants of Shor?

From what I understand, Michael Kirkbride is a self proclaimed Thelemic Gnostic; and while I probably don't know nearly as much about TES lore as I do about Thelema, Gnosticism, and Hermeticism, I can definitely say this: It cannot be understated enough how important of a figure Hermes is in all three of those religions, along with Alchemy (which we all know is the secret to infinite power in many TES games.) If Hermaeus Mora is based on Hermes Trismegistis, then he is actually the Monad, or the universal mind of creation. Think of a seed planted in Mundus, that grows into a tree of life so powerful and massive that it bends back on time itself create its own existence, and that is the mind of Hermes Trismegistis. He knows all truths, all untruths, all potentialities and every impossibility at all times and with perfect vividness. His mind is the primordial waters in which he grows, his roots are guarded by a three spiders that spin their webs with the fate of all existence, and those spiders are him. In Hermeticism, Hermes is believed to be the Aeon, a being that exists as the catalyst for all interactions, as he is the scribe and messenger of all things. He literally embodied the passing of the mantle from Uranus, to Cronus, to Zeus, as well as any potential successors. According the the Kybylion, this belief is said to originate from his connection to the Egyptian Thoth, who was also the god of scribes and alchemy. They believed that the mind of Thoth contained a chemical formula so potent that it produced the light of Ra's solar disk, which took the form of three protector goddesses and the all seeing Eye of Ra that resided over all of creation. In Thelema, He is Babylon and Akasha, Shiva and Parvati, Indra and the Veil of Maya. He is Saturn, The Green Man, The Beast, The Baphomet, Lord and Guardian of the Threshold and the blind wanderer of all liminal space. He is Sophia and Yaldabaoth, the polymorphous god Abraxas, and the Barbelo the unknowable Father Goddess. Within his mind, all things are unified, nothing is omitted, all ideas are roles to play, all boundaries are an illusion to be broken. Anyway, IMO, that's probably the forbidden knowledge that Hermaeus Mora holds, as well as the reason for Kirkbride leaving Bethesda and writing C0DA. Shit gets pretty unhinged when you get to the Thelemic side of things.

Someone else probably made the connection, but if water is memory, then what are trees if not living sponges? Hermaeus Mora's connection to forests could be tied to this; just as forests soak in and thrives on great quantities of water, he takes in a great deal of memories and the knowledge within them.