Ebony Blade (Skyrim)

The Ebony Blade is a Two-Handed weapon found in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It resembles an Akaviri Dai-Katana.

Background
The Ebony Blade is an ancient artifact that has changed hands many times over the years. It is believed that the Eternal Champion himself once wielded the blade when it was discovered in Valenwood. Later it was rewarded to the Hero of Daggerfall sometime after the War of Bretony. In the late Third Era the Hero of Kvatch was granted the blade by Mephala's.

Acquisition
The Ebony Blade is obtained in the Daedric quest The Whispering Door, which can be initiated by speaking with the barkeep Hulda at The Bannered Mare in Whiterun after level 20.

Enchantment
This weapon starts with a 10 point Absorb Health enchantment that can be increased by slaying friendly characters (i.e. someone whose favor has been completed, or someone who's been won over during any type of quest).

For every two such characters killed, the weapon's Absorb Health enchantment will increase by 4 points. Killing ten friendly characters will maximize its power, granting a maximum of 30 points Absorb Health per hit.

It's Absorb Health enchantment is not limited by charges; it has an unlimited charge. This makes this weapon ideal for followers, especially if followers are used as damage sponges. Housecarl's deserve a special mention here as well, given their perfect stat distribution to utilize the blade and take hits.

Smithing
The blade cannot be upgraded. This is possibly explained in Admonition Against Ebony which states that "Not even the hottest fires of the Skyforge could melt it; indeed the coals themselves seemed to cool when it was placed within.", revealing the sword's immunity to heat or normal forging/smithing techniques.

Weapon classification
Contrary to its classification, this weapon benefits only from One-Handed enchantments and perks. However using the weapon increases the Two-Handed weapon skill.

The blade behaves as a Two-Handed weapon with the following exceptions:


 * It only benefits from One-Handed damage effects, enchantments, potions.
 * 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 affect the Ebony Blade.

This unique behavior may or may not be a glitch. 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.

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

Potential Kills
Several potential targets are listed. Their deaths will count as a charge towards the sword.

Characters

 * Any beggar - giving them a single septim to gain favor, then killing them.
 * Mercenaries and followers. Characters that are bested in gambling brawls often become followers immediately thereafter and mercenaries can be hired for 500 gold.
 * Dogs that are followers. Tested and confirmed on Meeko and Vigilance.
 * Orc Strongholds - Upon retriving the Forgemaster's Fingers, simply slaughter everyone in at least two of the four strongholds including the miners.
 * Amaund Motierre - killed at the end of Hail Sithis! after he reveals where the gold is.
 * Betrid Silver-Blood during the quest The Forsworn Conspiracy. Killing her before her inevitable death will grant a charge, after which the Dragonborn can try yielding and paying the fee, then continue with the quest.
 * Jaree-Ra and Deeja during Lights Out!.

Daedric Quests

 * Boethiah's Calling - involves both slaying a companion (one charge) and the cult leader who gives the quest upon investigation (second charge).


 * Pieces of the Past - If the Dragonborn chooses to obtain Mehrune's Razor, Silus counts towards another charge.
 * Ill Met By Moonlight - Killing Sinding, should the Dragonborn choose the Savior's Hide instead of the Ring of Hircine.
 * The Taste of Death - The Dragonborn has to kill Brother Verulus at the conclusion of the quest.

Exploits

 * This way only requires one friendly NPC. Simply killing him with the Ebony Blade and resurrecting him by clicking on him in the console and typing "resurrect" (without the quotes) also works. Also the command "player.placeatme xxx " (xxx is the NPC's ID) works with a friendly NPC. TAKE NOTE: If 10 of the same NPC's are resurrected all together nothing happens. They will just walk back to a door and head back for their house.
 * Instead of using console commands, the player can just kill 1 person who likes the character and reanimate them with Dead Thrall or the Ritual Stone. Because these power dont turn them into ash when they die, the NPC can be repeatedly killed the required number of times. (Tested on patch 1.4.21.0.4).
 * 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?" (Does not happen with every NPC)

Trivia

 * There's a second Ebony Blade which can be found on the PC through the use of the console by writing "coc qasmoke" (without quotes) which weighs 2 more units and has the effect, "Victim does not treat an attack with this weapon as assault."

Bugs

 * 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.
 * 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. However, it also levels up the Heavy armor skill.
 * Guards will both comment about the dragonborn using two-handed weapons and one-handed weapons, since the sword is considered as a two handed weapon while also being a one handed weapon.
 * It is possible to obtain the blade without meeting any requirements to start it (before level 20 or doing the main questline requirement). Using a Wooden Bowl and Whirlwind Sprint glitch, the player can enter the room and retrieve the blade. (See Bugs Section of Whirlwind Sprint for exact details.)
 * However, once inside, the player might notice that the Whispering Door (the actual thing that speaks) is actually a dresser hidden behind the door. This poses an immediate problem of getting back out. If the Dragonborn goes on the left side of the dresser and places the Wooden Bowl so that it is resting at an angle on the door hinge, he can glitch back out, though it may take more than one try.
 * (Needs testing PS3, 360, PC) An alternative to the above is to get a guard's attention by committing a crime. While guards are coming after the player, quickly glitching through the door and getting the blade then stepping back near the Whispering Door so the guard activates the dialogue to convict the player of his crime and to be taken to jail can get one out.
 * 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.
 * 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?).
 * 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. (needs confirmation on PC and PS3)
 * On PS3, if used after a Bound Weapon, the Ebony Blade may go into the position that a Bound Sword/Battleaxe is summonded in. However, it will then be sheathed and brought out again.