Skyrim:Ebony Blade Victims

The UESPWiki – Your source for The Elder Scrolls since 1995
Jump to: navigation, search

This page is a guide to charging the Ebony Blade, with suggestions that are highly subjective. The page looks to include enough NPCs for any type of character, but will not include every possible NPC. Details of why they are suggested will include spoilers.

If you wish to have an NPC included, please discuss it on the talk page first. Any NPCs added without discussion will be subject to removal and placed on the talk page.

Reanimating an NPC with a spell, power, or staff on any of the below named NPCs allows them to be killed again, with subsequent killings still counting towards powering the blade.

Respawning NPCs[edit]

  • Randomly encountered Stray Dogs will charge the blade if you ask them to follow you before slaying them.
  • Should you have the Dragonborn DLC and arrived on Solstheim. Head towards Kagrumez after acquiring at least four resonance stones and complete the first trial (see The Kagrumez Gauntlet for details). Upon completion, the gate on your left will open up, going through the gate you will encounter a lever near a shelf of Dwarven metal ingots, pull it! A Steadfast Dwarven Spider will spawn and be available as a secondary companion. Recruit the spider then kill it, the game will count this as a charge for the blade, afterwards move further down the corrider to a locked gate with a pattern on it. Go back to the main room, enter the pattern with the resonance stones and then complete the second trial. Afterwards, the locked gate will open. Another lever will be presented, upon pulling a Steadfast Dwarven Sphere will spawn, just like the spider it can be recruited as a companion, do the same thing you did to the spider and you will receive the second charge. After this, exit Kagrumez and wait twenty-four hours, re-enter the building and go back to the companion rooms, the dwarven companions will respawn, kill them and receive another two charges. Rinse and repeat until the blade charges are maxed out.

Quest Kills[edit]

These NPCs must be killed to complete the related quest.

Dark Brotherhood[edit]

Daedric[edit]

  • The follower you bring for the quest Boethiah's Calling, since the follower must be killed and you do not have to use the Blade of Sacrifice. Not all followers count. Check your follower's page to see if they have a quest to complete e.g. Uthgerd's Fight! Fight! (this will raise their disposition).

Side Quests[edit]

  • Saadia can be killed without repercussions just after the quest In My Time Of Need when siding with the Alik'r, as she is removed from the game if you side with them.

The Chief of Thirsk Hall (Dragonborn)[edit]

It is unknown if the two Nords who will return from cleansing the Beast Stone, namely Herkja and Sirkjorg are valid targets.

It is also unknown if Elmus' favor quest will affect these results in any way. The author of this section did the favor quest before The Chief of Thirsk Hall, and requires more information and input of others, specifically from those who did not.

While four characters here are valid for charging the Blade, it may be difficult to land the last hit on the four Nords in the chaos, especially at higher difficulties. Thus, Mass Paralysis should be used to paralyze all combatants, including the allied Rieklings, to ensure that you can always land the last blow, and hence the charge.

Enemies[edit]

These NPCs lead questionable lives (dependent on your outlook) or turn hostile at some point.

Thalmor[edit]

  • Ondolemar, provided you have previously completed Search and Seizure. There are no repercussions to killing him if you can do so quietly. Ondolemar is difficult to kill without incurring a bounty. This must be done before the Stormcloaks take Markarth, at which point he will be killed off-screen.

Cannibals[edit]

Other[edit]

  • Hroggar, provided you have sold him firewood before you enter Alva's house. If you have done so, he may not be hostile to you when you enter. He is involved with the death of his family and is enthralled to a Vampire (though not one himself), although he may be under a spell and he returns to normal life after Laid to Rest. Unfortunately, if he survives this quest his disposition drops considerably (to -2 "Foe") and he may even attack you anyway. Using the Ebony Blade to kill him at this point will not count, and even selling him more firewood won't work. You'll need to kill him earlier, in Alva's house, after having improved his disposition by selling him firewood (and possibly, sneaked in undetected so as to murder him before he turns hostile.)
  • Lemkil, provided you have completed his Gather Wheat quest by selling him cabbage, leeks or potatoes. He beats his two daughters Britte and Sissel, worrying the townsfolk. He may even ask you to assault them for him through the Scare my Enemy quest. Following his death, Britte and Sissel will be relocated to Honorhall Orphanage and become available for adoption.
  • Jaree-Ra and his sister Deeja during the quest Lights Out!. Extinguishing the beacon will instantly improve their stance towards you, but they will betray you anyway and will be hostile to you.
  • Tilisu Severin can be killed during the quest Served Cold. Confront her while waiting in the tomb to catch the would-be assassin but tell her to carry on (i.e. don't let on that you're spying). Kill her and her daughter once you're given access to the Severin Manor to investigate for clues.

NPCs[edit]

These people lead normal lives and mostly serve as possible replacements for other NPCs.

  • Some market stall vendors have a low amount of gold, thus making them redundant. Only a few of these have quests to make them friendly; listed below are a few examples:
  • There are other traders and NPCs that live in rural areas that are rarely visited, thus they will be less missed. Some examples are listed below:
  • Most NPCs who ask you to gather crops, chop wood or mine ore are viable. Few of them are marriageable or involved in a quest (check their personal pages first). Some innkeepers are needed to start quests, so it is advisable to leave them be. Listed below are those who are subject to special circumstances;
  • Drunks and Beggars often make good targets, as gaining their favor only requires a small amount of alcohol or gold, and most towns will have at least one of either.
    • Beggars may be less preferable than drunks, as giving them a coin bestows upon the player the "Gift of Charity," which gives the player a 10-point boost to persuasion - with improved trading prices to boot - for one real-time hour, making them useful at all levels and for all playstyles.
  • If you have the Investor perk in Speech, any merchant you have invested with becomes a viable target for the Ebony Blade. Many merchants have backup merchants who will take over their shops when they die; in fact, if you kill a merchant who is the same gender as you and that merchant is replaced by an opposite-gender merchant, then you will gain the benefits of the Allure perk in that store from then on in addition to charging the blade.

Notes[edit]

  • A good way to determine whether or not an NPC is considered a "friend" is to listen to how they greet the player. People that say things like "You've been a good friend to me" or "It's a fine day with you around" are all viable targets for powering up the Ebony Blade.
  • Relationship is not reset or erased when NPC dies, so one can charge Ebony Blade with only one eligible NPC by repeatedly killing and raising that NPC with Dead Thrall, Ritual stone power or one of the reanimation staves (other reanimation spells will turn corpse to dust after first reanimation). One eligible NPC - Follower sacrificed to Boethia - will not work this way.
  • Combining the power of the Aetherial Crown and the ritual stone can enable the blade to be charged to maximum capacity with only one body within minutes. Taking the crown on and off removes the 24 hour waiting period for the ritual stone. There is an Argonian shipwreck marauder Jaree-Ra, who solicits your assistance putting out the Solitude lighthouse and subsequently betrays you and leads you to his sister, Deeja. Both make easy candidates for this. Deeja will turn on you anyway, and since you have done them a favor the kill counts as a "betrayal", as noted earlier on this page.