Ebony Blade (Skyrim)

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

Location
The Ebony Blade is obtained in Mephala's Daedric quest "The Whispering Door" which can be initiated by speaking with the barkeep Hulda at The Bannered Mare in Whiterun. When asked about rumours, a miscellaneous objective will be received to " Ask about the Jarl's strange children." The Dragonborn must be level 20 or higher to receive this quest and must have completed the main quest "Dragon Rising". The entrance to the room that holds the weapon is locked and requires a key that must be later pickpocketed from either Jarl Balgruuf the Greater or Farengar Secret-Fire. Another option is to kill Farengar and take the key from his corpse. The key will not appear until the quest is started.

Characteristics
This weapon comes with a 10 point life leech and can be upgraded by slaying friendly NPCs (e.g., 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 increases in power, adding 2 to the strength of the life leech effect (up to the maximum of 30). It becomes very powerful after being fully upgraded. It is one of the most powerful swords in the game as its leech ability keeps the Dragonborn's health at full.

Contrary to its classification, this weapon benefits only from One-Handed damage item enchantments. For example, the sword only benefits from One-handed perks such as the Armsman perk. It only increases your Two-Handed weapon skill. 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, enchantments, potions and does not benefit from Two-Handed damage effects, enchantments, or 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 affect the Ebony Blade.
 * One-Handed perks: Armsman (damage increase), Fighting Stance (power attacks cost less), and Bladesman (swords cause critical hits).
 * Two-Handed perks: Devastating Blow (standing power attack yields decapitation), Great Critical Charge (sprint power attack yields double critical), Sweep (side power attack yields hit all in front of the player) and Warmaster (backwards power attack yields paralysis)

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 enchantment 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. This is explained by the "Admonition Against Ebony" which states that even the fires of the Skyforge could not melt or destroy it, also stating the sword's immunity to heat or normal forging/smithing techniques.

As a result of these traits, the weapon is possibly a reference to the Katana in the Japanese legend "Muramasa" being a two handed katana, that steals life from its victims.

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

It is often said that the mighty Hero of Kvatch himself wielded this Daedric Artifact of Mephala during the Oblivion Crisis. Some say that the Hero had to complete a truly gruesome task to acquire this demonic blade. Whether this story is true, we may never know.

Legend has it 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

 * The Dragonborn needs to kill ten friendly NPCs. Every two kills causes Mephala to speak to them.
 * First way: Kill NPCs quests were done for.
 * Second Way ("Victimless"): 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.
 * Instead of using console commands, the player can just kill 1 person who likes the character 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. (Tested on patch 1.4.21.0.4).
 * If "Dead Thrall" isn't in the player's possession, he may be able to reduce the amount of victims by using other reanimation spells on NPCs he has killed.
 * One can also use the Ritual Stone instead of Dead Thrall. Simply kill your follower, use the Guardian Stone's power, kill again and wait 24 hours then repeat. You will gain little bounty if done somewhere safe. However, keep in mind that the Ritual Stone does not last as long as Dead Thrall.
 * 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 the Dragonborn chooses 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 the Dragonborn choose the Savior's Hide instead of the Ring of Hircine.
 * Mercenaries and followers are also easy ways to add charges. Foes that are bested in gambling brawls often become followers immediately thereafter and mercenaries can be hired for 500 gold.
 * 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)
 * Another charge can be obtained by killing the blind bandit in White River Watch. If the player tells him he is the one he thinks he is, it should give him a charge since he thinks the truth is told (does not work on 1.3.7.0).
 * Another charge can be gained by killing 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.
 * 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 the player a charge.
 * Dogs that are following you will count towards the charges. (Tested and confirmed on Meeko and Vigilance. Unconfirmed for stray dogs)
 * If you have no love for the orcs, or don't care either way, you can, upon retriving the Forgemaster's Fingers, simply slaughter everyone in at least two of the four (I believe) strongholds including the miners. Preferably Dushnikh Yal and Narzulbur since Mor Khazgur has a potential mate (if you really care) and Largashbur has the quest for the daedric artifact Volendrung. This strategy sates that blade's appetite really quickly.
 * If you kill Amaund Motierre at the End of Hail Sithis Questline after he tells you where your cash is, his death will count as a Charge towards the sword.
 * One cannot kill Dark Brotherhood Initiates to get Charges.
 * An easy way to get 8 or so kills towards the maximum upgrade is to kill everyone in the Bards college, after completing their task. This will however cause you to get a large bounty in Solitude.

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. (Fixed with Skyrim 1.4 Patch)
 * This seems to be a way to "drop" Red Eagle's Fury from the player's inventory indirectly.
 * As detailed above, 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. 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, albeit it will 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 (Shout at them, attack someone, etc.). 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 finally asking them to take him to jail should get him transported 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. This can be very annoying if the player 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?).
 * There seems to be a bug where the Ebony Blade will not charge when the player's spouse is killed. (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. (needs confirmation on PC and PS3)