Umbra Sword (Morrowind)

"The Umbra Sword was enchanted by the ancient witch Naenra Waerr, and its sole purpose was the entrapment of souls. Used in conjunction with a soul gem, the Sword allows the wielder the opportunity to imprison an enemy's soul in the gem. Naenra was executed for her evil creation, but not before she was able to hide the Sword. The Umbra Sword is very choosy when it comes to owners and therefore remains hidden until a worthy one is found."

- Umbra Sword entry in Tamrielic Lore

The Umbra Sword was an enchanted blade created by the witch Naenra Waerr in an unknown Era. The sword possessed the ability to ensnare the soul of any living creature it encountered, trapping that soul within a Soul Gem. While this was the sword's primary enchantment, it also seemed to possess a form of sentience, that was either implemented by Naenra herself, or developed over time.

History
When her creation was discovered, Naenra was slain, though she managed to hide the sword before her execution. Eventually, the Umbra Sword would be found, and thus begin its long history of bloodshed. At length, the sword came into the possession of an Orc, a warrior who in taking the sword also decided to take its name, calling himself Umbra, after his weapon. It is unknown if this was the first instance of a warrior taking the sword's name, yet it is highly plausible that it was not. The Orc Umbra went on to become one of the fiercest warriors of his day, slaying any and all enemies that challenged him. Eventually he became weary of his success, wishing for nothing more than a noble warrior's death. He hid for a time near the city of Suran, in the mountains of Morrowind. There he was discovered by an adventurer, who may or may not have been the Nerevarine, who consented to duel him and grant him his warrior's death. Somehow, through time, the sword ended up in Cyrodiil in a Bosmer woman's hands.

Powers
The Umbra Sword is capable of capturing a creature's soul upon killing it, provided that there is an appropriate Soul Gem to capture the soul in. Beyond this, it would seem that the sword garners some strength from the souls of those it kills, regardless of the presence of a gem.

The two individuals known to have used the sword after its creation both took the name Umbra after the blade. It would seem that the sword exerts some power over its wielder, influencing them to kill in an effort to satiate the blade's thirst for souls. In the case of the Orc warrior, it appears he was able to break the sword's hold on him and tire of his career of killing. In the case of Lenwin, however, the sword consumed her almost completely.

The sword Umbra has a base attack of 28. Once you reach the skill level of expert in Armorer you are able to raise Umbra's attack to 33, effectively making Umbra one of the most powerful swords in Oblivion.

Using Azura's Star in conjunction with Umbra makes the pair a soul capturing team to behold.

Trivia

 * In Morrowind, the sword is a claymore, where in, the sword is a longsword. The two are the same in appearance, however, despite Oblivion's different Ebony look.
 * The sword can be given to the Mournhold Museum of Artifacts in Tribunal either for free or for a sizable profit.
 * Despite what it does to the NPCs that wield it, the sword will never affect the player character's mind.
 * In Latin, Umbra means shadow.

Appearances

 * The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (First appearance)
 * The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion