Blade of Woe (Skyrim)

The Blade of Woe is a unique one-handed dagger carried by Astrid, the leader of the Dark Brotherhood.

Acquisition

 * It can be obtained as a reward upon completion of the quest "Death Incarnate".
 * Alternatively, it can be obtained by defeating Astrid in the Abandoned Shack and looting it off her body during "With Friends Like These...".
 * Pickpocketing Astrid with the Misdirection perk also works. Using this method can result in a duplication of the blade. If the Dragonborn finishes the quest line to join the Dark Brotherhood (as opposed to destroying it), it will be granted by Astrid, even after previously stealing it.

Smithing
The Blade of Woe can be upgraded with the Arcane Blacksmith perk at a grindstone without any ingots whatsoever. Nonetheless, it benefits from the Steel Smithing perk, which doubles the improvement.

Usefulness
Higher attribute-wise than the Daedric dagger, the Blade of Woe is exceptionally strong.

The dagger's enchantment has only six base charges. The amount of charge consumed by striking with the dagger lowers as the skill level of Destruction increases, assisting magic-based classes. It is actually possible to make the weapon use no charges by equipping four items with a 25% Fortify Destruction effect for a total of 100% reduction.

The enchantment itself is very weak compared to the potential of one crafted by the Dragonborn. With an Enchanting skill of 100, without using potions that fortify Enchanting, an Absorb Health enchantment can do up to 20 damage and have many more charges available.

Trivia

 * Skyrim's Blade of Woe's appearance is dramatically different from its counterpart from . It more closely resembles Sufferthorn, as it not only has a similar shape, but it also damages Health as well.
 * Small specks of dried blood can be seen along the upper part and tip of the blade.
 * It has the highest base damage for a dagger in Skyrim, but with installed, it is the same as the dragonbone dagger.
 * Using the  command on the console to find the ID of the Blade of Woe will bring up three results, one being for the enchantment on the blade itself, while the other two are for the actual item. The first of these is no different than the one gained at the end of "Death Incarnate", and absorbs 10 health per hit. The second absorbs 20 health per hit. The ID for the stronger version of the Blade of Woe is.
 * Due to its small number of charges the Blade of Woe's enchantment can almost be fully charged with merely a Petty Soul Gem (Skyrim).

Bugs

 * The dagger has a slower attack speed than that of a sword, though it maintains the weight and damage expected of a dagger.
 * If the Dark Brotherhood quest line is completed after the main quest line is completed, the Blade of Woe may be irretrievable.
 * It may reappear at the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary beside Astrid's corpse making it possible to get two without pick-pocketing.
 * Sometimes the Blade of Woe will appear in the wall to the left of Astrid.
 * The command  can be used to take it anyway.

Appearances


Klinge des Wehklagens Hoja de la aflicción (Skyrim) Клинок Горя