Skyrim:Ebony Blade

Daedric Artifact: Ebony Blade (0004a38f) (lore page)
Type	Two-handed Greatsword
Editor ID	DA08EbonyBlade
Statistics
Damage	11
Damage	11		{{{health}}}
Speed	1
Speed	1	Reach	1
Weight	10	Value	2000
Tempering	Not possible
Tempering	Not possible	Perk
Enchantment
Absorbs the life essence of your foes. Strengthened by the blood of deceit. Ebony Blade Absorb Health, 10–30 pts for 1 sec
Charge/Cost = Uses		NA/NA=Infinite

Ebony Blade

The Ebony Blade is a Daedric artifact found during the quest The Whispering Door. It is an artifact of the Daedric Prince Mephala. Essentially, it is a nodachi (with the speed, length, and reach of a standard, one-handed sword) with designs similar to normal ebony weapons.

Upon obtaining the artifact, Mephala bids you to unlock the blade's true potential by murdering your close friends (typically, those you have done favors for). For every two such NPCs that are killed with the blade, Mephala will speak to you, and the blade's Absorb Health effect will increase by 4 points. After a total of ten people are betrayed, the absorb health effect will max out at 30 points per hit, and won't become any stronger.

Suggestions for charging the Ebony Blade can be found here.

Related Quests

• The Whispering Door: Investigate Nelkir's story of a Whispering Lady behind a locked door.

Powering the Blade

Mephala will speak to you after the blade has been powered up to the next level using the blood of deceit, to congratulate you on your progress. The line of dialogue that she uses is random.

• "Excellent work, child."
• "I can feel their heartbreak swelling in my blade."
• "Their tears shine the ebony to a sharpest gleam."
• "Ah, the blood of deceit is a nourishing flow."

When you have claimed your tenth and final victim, Mephala will be overjoyed and speak to you one last time: "At last, my blade is returned to its full glory. Now go forth, child. Continue your tiny subversions against the orders of trust and intimacy."

Notes

• Although any NPC with a relationship value of 1, 2, or 4 will power up the blade when slain with it, some are more suitable than others. To minimize the repercussions of enhancing the blade, it is often beneficial to choose targets with replaceable functions, such as the owners of mills and mines, or those who must be slain during particular quests.
  • A good way to determine whether or not an NPC is considered a "friend" is to listen to how they greet you. People that say things like "You've been a good friend to me" or "It's a fine day with you around" are viable targets for powering up the Ebony Blade.
  • An NPC's relationship value can be determined by the use of the console command player.getrelationshiprank <actor ID>, or alternatively click on the NPC so that their RefID is showing and enter getrelationshiprank player.
• You can check your current progress towards enhancing the blade by entering the console command sqv da08ebonybladetracking and looking at the "FriendsKilled_var" line.
• The boosted absorb health effect functions based off a perk. As normally only the player has the perk, any followers given the Ebony Blade will only be able to use its base stats.
• A second Ebony Blade (item ID 000ea29c, DA08RealEbonyBlade) is included in Skyrim, though it cannot be obtained without the use of the console. This version of the Blade allows you to attack NPCs without having them become hostile. This effect matches the description of how Mephala says the Blade should function once it is sufficiently powerful. Murders using this blade will still give you bounty if you are witnessed.
• Though every other Daedric artifact weapon is able to be improved through smithing, the Ebony Blade is missing the required data to be tempered at a grindstone. It is also missing a classification for weapon material, preventing it from benefiting from Smithing perks. This is perhaps explained by Admonition Against Ebony which states that " ...Not even the hottest fires of the Skyforge could melt it ..." indicating that the Ebony Blade is immune to the effects of heat from any source. The sword has infinite magic uses and does not require recharging, which is some compensation for the lack of physical damage increases.
• Despite Farengar being allegedly aware of the Blade, you can actually sell it to him.
• You don't need to power up the Ebony Blade in order to gain the Oblivion Walker achievement.
• The Test Vorpal Sword, added by Dawnguard, reuses the Ebony Blade as its base.
• Hendraheim^CC contains a special holder for this item.

Bugs

• The Ebony Blade is wielded in two hands, but is considered a one-handed sword rather than a greatsword. This means that it gets the benefits of a generic two-handed weapon, such as using and training the Two-handed general skill level, but also benefits from all the One-handed perks that apply to one-handed swords. Specifically, its damage, weight, weapon reach, sound files, impact force, and stamina usage are all configured to One-handed skill values. It also receives damage bonuses from Fortify One-handed enchantments on your gear.
  • The Official Skyrim Patch, version 1.9.26.0.8, addresses this issue. It changes the weapon's type to greatsword, and changes its type keyword from sword to greatsword. Note that the weapon retains all of its other old values - it still has the reach, speed, etc of a one-handed sword. However, the changes mean that it now behaves in all ways that interact with skills, perks, etc as a greatsword would.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch changes the weapon to behave like an Ebony Greatsword in all respects, except for its weight, which is changed to 12.
• Both versions of the Ebony Blade can be placed upon a weapon rack, but neither will stay there. This may result in the loss of the blade when it falls off into unreachable areas.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 2.0.4, fixes this bug.
• If the Ebony Blade is confiscated before killing ten friends, it will reset to its original version.
  • This will always happen during Diplomatic Immunity.