Ice Wraith (Skyrim)

"Ice Wraiths form out of pure ice and air. They're terrifying"

- Game Informer

Ice Wraiths are swift, elemental spirits of ice and snow in. They move quickly and use powerful frost attacks.

Combat behavior

 * Ice wraiths are fast and can hit the Dragonborn hard at lower levels.
 * They're nearly invisible when viewed head-on during a snow storm, like those encountered on the slopes of the Throat of the World.
 * Ice Wraiths are easily dispatched with fire-based spells (such as Firebolt) or with flame enchanted weapons.
 * They do not have much health, but their small icy bodies that blend in with white backgrounds combined with fast movement mean that they are difficult to hit, especially with arrows.
 * They have lesser souls that can be soul trapped.
 * It is possible to contract the disease Witbane if hit by an ice wraith.

Locations

 * The Midden (which is below the College of Winterhold).
 * The Serpent Stone.
 * Throat of the World (this occurs due to level scaling. At low levels, wolves will be present instead).
 * Near Pinefrost Tower.
 * Hags End (summoned by a hagraven boss).
 * Bonechill Passage.
 * Shalidor's Maze (in Labyrinthian).
 * Weynon Stones.
 * The ice covered areas of Solstheim.
 * The Ice Wraith is also able to be encountered randomly mostly in snowy areas due to its nature.

Quests

 * The Dragonborn must defeat an ice wraith on the island of the Serpent Stone to be initiated into the Stormcloaks.

Trivia

 * The Wispmother claims that ice wraiths are in fact not creatures at all, stating that they are actually elemental manifestations rising out of Nirn itself.
 * This is also suggested by the fact that in Hag's End, two appear to be summoned by a hagraven, (they may also have been teleported as the hagraven teleports twice to different chambers with the same exact animation as the summoning animation).
 * In a conversation with Marise Aravel it is discovered that Nords usually hunt ice wraiths for initiation rituals.
 * Often, the Dragonborn may confuse an ice wraith by circling around an obstacle keeping it on the opposite side.
 * While the name wraith may imply they are undead, they are not, in fact being elemental spirits of ice and snow (similar to how spriggans are elemental spirits of the forest). The fact that ice wraiths are not undead beings is further confirmed by their immunity to Detect Dead, Turn Undead and Sun Fire spells whilst simultaneously being able to be detected by Detect Life spells.
 * If a creature such as a bear ends up standing on top of one, the ice wraith may toss it quite a distance, often killing it.

Bugs

 * Upon killing an Ice Wraith, instead of disintegrating into a pile of ice, the Ice Wraith may fall to the ground, intact. If this happens, it may not be able to be moved or looted. When it can be looted, the cursor must be on its head. (If it can be looted, it can be moved, but not lifted, again, only by the head.)
 * Upon death, the remains of the ice wraith don't always lie on the ground, but rather, float in midair sometimes many feet above the Dragonborn's head making them difficult-to-impossible to loot.
 * There is a glitch to where a lifeless ice wraith may spawn under the player's feet.  It takes place at Kagrenzel if the Frost Trolls are shouted down the hill with Unrelenting Force.  A message will appear saying "was equipped" and "was unnequipped".  It is difficult to unnequip the ice wraith, after doing so, it will disappear, but its smoke will remain present.