Elder Scrolls
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Elder Scrolls

For other uses, see Blade of Woe.

The Blade of Woe is a unique dagger carried by Astrid, the leader of the Dark Brotherhood. Its enchantment absorbs 10 points of health.

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, hence failing the quest "With Friends Like These..." and starting "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!."
  • Pickpocketing Astrid with the Misdirection perk or during the quest "With Friends Like These..." 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[]

The Blade of Woe is exceptionally strong, with higher base damage than a Daedric dagger and on par with the Dragonbone Dagger of lower weight. However, the enchantment itself is very weak compared to the potential of one crafted by the Dragonborn.

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.

Trivia[]

  • Skyrim's Blade of Woe's appearance is dramatically different from its counterpart from Oblivion. 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. However, if Dawnguard is installed, it has the same base damage as the dragonbone dagger.
  • Using the help 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 000964C9.
  • Due to its small number of charges, the Blade of Woe's enchantment can almost be fully charged with a petty soul gem.

Bugs[]

This section contains bugs related to Blade of Woe (Skyrim). Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following:

  1. Please reload an old save to confirm if the bug is still happening.
  2. If the bug is still occurring, please post the bug report with the appropriate system template  360  /  XB1  ,  PS3  /  PS4  ,  PC  /  MAC  ,  NX  /  PS5  ,  XS  , depending on which platform(s) the bug has been encountered on.
  3. Be descriptive when listing the bug and fixes, but avoid having conversations in the description and/or using first-person anecdotes: such discussions belong on the appropriate forum board.
  •  PC   360   PS3   The dagger has a slower attack speed than that of a sword, though it maintains the weight and damage expected of a dagger.
  •  PC   360   PS3   If the Dark Brotherhood quest line is completed after the main quest line is completed, the Blade of Woe may be irretrievable.
  •  360   The Blade of Woe's enchantment may change from "absorbs 10 points of health" to "absorbs 20 points of health."
  •  PC   360   PS3   It may reappear at the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary beside Astrid's corpse making it possible to get two without pick-pocketing.
  •  PC   360   PS3   Sometimes the Blade of Woe will appear in the wall to the left of Astrid.
    •  PC   The command tcl can be used to take it anyway.
  • If mounted on a weapon rack, the Blade of Woe may ascend until it becomes irretrievable.

Appearances[]

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