Ebony Blade (Skyrim)

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The Ebony Blade Is a Two-Handed sword in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It very much resembles a katana, a sword used by ancient samurai throughout history.

Locations
The Ebony Blade can be obtained from the quest "The Whispering Door".

Characteristics
This weapon comes with a 10 point life leech and can be upgraded by slaying friendly NPCs (i.e., someone you've completed a favor for, completed a task for, or won over during any type of quest). For every two such characters killed the weapon increases in power, adding two to the strength of the life leech effect up to the maximum of 30.

Contrary to its classification, this weapon benefits only from One-Handed damage item enchantments. For example, the Armsman perk(s) will affect its damage value. The mystery of this perk mismatch is only deepened, since a character with a properly filled Two-Handed perk tree and an untouched One-Handed can still perform decapitations with the Ebony Blade.

Using the Ebony Blade can benefit characters who want to continue leveling up through weapon advancement but have maxed out their one-handed weapon skill. The weapon allows for a character to train the two-handed weapon skill without sacrificing damage or having to change gear. However, for characters that use two-handed weapons normally, this weapon is a poor choice because of its skill/perk mismatch.

In total, the weapon behaves as a Two-Handed item with the following exceptions:


 * 1) It benefits from One-Handed damage effects from enchants and potions and does not benefit from Two-Handed damage effects from enchants and potions.
 * 2) It benefits from One-Handed weapon perks and not Two-Handed weapon perks with regard to quantitative changes to attacks. i.e., changes to damage and the cost of power attacks from the one-handed perks effect the Ebony Blade.

This unique behavior may or may not be a glitch, see commentary below and talk. Investigation of the game code has confirmed that the weapon shares template data from both One-Handed and Two-Handed swords leading to this mix of traits, see talk.

Its life leech enchant is not limited by charges; it has an unlimited charge.

The weapon itself resembles an Akaviri Dai-Katana and cannot be upgraded with the Arcane Blacksmith perk.

Background
The Ebony blade was rewarded to the Hero of Daggerfall sometime after the War of Betony. The blade was around, since the time of the Eternal Champion. It is also believed that the Eternal Champion himself once wielded the blade.

During the Oblivion Crisis, it is often said that the mighty Hero of Kvatch himself wielded this Daedric Artifact of Mephala. Some say that the Hero had to complete an indeed gruesome task given by Mephala, to acquire this demonic blade. If this story is really true, we may never know.

The legend says that, "The Ebony Blade, sometimes called the Vampire or the Leech, resembles an ebony katana, and its power is very dark indeed. Every time the Ebony Blade strikes an opponent, part of the damage inflicted flows into the wielder as raw power. The Blade itself may not be any more evil than those who have used it, but at some point in its history, a charm was cast on it so it would not remain with any one bladesman for long. The wizard who cast this charm sought to save the souls of any too infatuated by the Blade, and perhaps he was right to do so."

Upgrading

 * First way: You have to kill NPCs you did quests for. You can either go on a killing rampage in a town or select your victims one by one.
 * Second Way ("Victimless"): [PC] This way only requires one friendly NPC. Simply kill him/her with the Ebony Blade and resurrect them by clicking on them in the console and typing "resurrect" (without the quotes). Repeat until the Whispering Lady tells you that the blade has returned to its full glory (around 10 times).
 * Instead of using console commands, you can just kill 1 person who likes you, and reanimate them with "Dead Thrall." Because "Dead Thrall" doesn't turn them into ash when they die, the NPC can just be repeatedly killed the required number of times. This should also work for consoles. Confirmed on 360, and PC (tested on patch 1.4.21.0.4) . (Needs confirmation PS3.)
 * If you do not have "Dead Thrall," you may be able to reduce the amount of victims by using other reanimation spells on NPCs you have killed. (Confirmed PS3)
 * Incidentally, the other Daedric Shrine quests often provide numerous opportunities to upgrade the Ebony Blade. Boethiah's quest involves both slaying a companion (one charge) and the cult leader who gives the quest upon investigation (second charge). If you choose to obtain Mehrune's Razor at the end of 'Pieces of the Past,' Silus counts towards another charge. The same applies to Hircine's quest, should you choose the Savior's Hide instead of the Ring of Hircine.
 * Mercenaries and followers are also easy ways to add charges. Foes that you best in gambling brawls often become followers immediately thereafter, and mercenaries can be hired for 500 gold.
 * For PC players, another way to cheat and empower the blade without negatively effecting NPC relationships is to find NPCs like bandits to set to a relationship rank of 3 or higher via the console and then kill them. This is the only way for a player who wants to maintain an unblemished "good guy" radiant story set to empower the blade. Otherwise, such as with the resurrect method, effected NPCs and their affiliations are liable to maintain the negative mark against the player resulting in, among possible other changes, greetings such as "Every time I see you my blood boils." and "What do you need you miserable wretch." etc. (Does not happen with every NPC, I killed Benor and resurrrected him ten times and the only reaction I got was: "If you try to hurt me again, I will have to kill you")
 * Another charge can be obtained by killing the blind bandit in White River Watch. Just tell him you are who he thinks you are first. It should give you a charge (it did for my game) since he thinks you're telling the truth.
 * Another way of doing this is by finding a beggar within the town, giving them a single septim, then immediately killing them. This counts as a 'quest'/like status with them, and will give you a charge.

Bugs

 * When trying to place the Ebony Blade on a weapon rack or weapon plaque, it may "fall off" immediately. After this, the same happens to any other "greatsword," such as a Dwarven Greatsword or a Glass Greatsword. Exiting the area does not seem to fix this either. The only fix appears to be loading a previous save.
 * This seems to be a way to "drop" Red Eagle's Fury from your inventory indirectly.
 * The Ebony Blade, though it uses a two-handed mesh file, uses the template for a one-handed weapon, resulting in improper sound files, attack speed, damage, weight, perk benefits, impact force, and stamina usage.
 * Bethesda has not confirmed whether the blade is intended to be one-handed or two-handed, and is currently a mismatched amalgamation of the two.
 * Adding to the belief that the skill mismatch is intentional is an associated armor glitch: While taking melee damage while holding the Ebony Blade and wearing full Heavy Armor, the Light Armor skill levels up. (confirmed 360). It is unknown if it levels both skills or only the Light Armor skill; tested with a character at max Heavy Armor.
 * If this weapon is placed in a display case it doesn't get placed in the middle of the case but instead it is placed further to the right and the handle sticks out of the side of the case. This can be very annoying if you wanted to display it.
 * Finishing the quest "The Whispering Door" and obtaining the blade may cause any subsequent saves to be corrupted and not load afterwards. Since it's unknown if it's the quest or picking up the blade itself that causes the corruption, it's advisable to create a save file at the beginning of the quest, before unlocking the locked door at the end of the quest, and before picking up the blade(tried this on PC saving before as well as after and had no issues loading previous save games, or alternate character saves after unlocking the door AND after picking up the sword. Console issue only?).
 * It is possible to obtain the blade by attacking a child resting nearby and having the child open the door by "herding" the child into the door, then use telekinesis to bring the blade towards you (You might have to use unrelenting force on it first). This will not even start the quest and may actually bug it.
 * There seems to be a bug where the Ebony Blade will not charge when you kill your spouse. (Confirmed on PS3, needs confirmation on Xbox 360 and PC.)
 * When leveling the Ebony Blade using the 'Dead Thrall' method, killing the NPC directly via melee damage may cause them to freeze in their location upon being reanimated. (confirmed on 360, needs confirmation on PC and PS3)
 * If put on a display of any sort, when you come back to your house it will be on the floor.