Dead Thrall

Dead Thrall
School of Magicka	Conjuration
Skill Level	Master (100)
Effect	Reanimate a dead body permanently to fight for you. Only works on people.
Magicka Cost	618
Spell Tome	Purchase
Tome ID	000A26F9
ID	0007E8DF

Dead Thrall is a master-level Conjuration spell in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Casting it raises the dead body of most humanoid beings of level 40 and under to "permanently" fight alongside the player. The thrall follows and defends its master until banished, killed, or turned. Occasionally the thralls will vanish, even if within eyesight, or when entering certain areas they may not follow, but they may show up again later, even if you are on the other side of Skyrim. Unlike other reanimation spells, thralls that die will not turn to ash and may be raised again. If the conjurer has the Dark Souls perk, the thrall will be raised with an extra 100 hit points; however, once these are spent they are not recoverable unless the thrall dies and re-enthralled.

Spell Tome

Attributes

• Weight: 1
• Value: 1270
• See Spell Tome for a complete table of spell tomes, their descriptions, and their values.

Acquisition

• Phinis Gestor sells this spell after the completion of the Conjuration Ritual Spell.
• After entering Apocrypha in The Elder Scrolls V: Dragonborn, it is possible to find the tome at the table next to the Black Book.

Equipment

Upgrading the thrall's equipment may increase its effectiveness.

Thralls will use any weapon given to them as long as the weapon matches its proficiencies. For instance, mages will prefer to continue using their spells and wielding staves rather than equipping powerful melee weapons. Most thralls, regardless of proficiencies, will also use the shields given to them, provided they have a free hand available. However, thralls are much more picky about the armor/clothing they will wear.

Here are the details:

• Thralls will equip whatever armor they die in. The armor given to them must be the specific item; it cannot be a duplicate (e.g. if a thrall spawned with an Iron Helmet, it will only wear that Iron Helmet and will not equip any other Iron Helmets found in the game). An exception is reanimated Forsworn, who will use any Forsworn Armor dropped by other Forsworn. If gear is given to the follower, then the follower is killed and enthralled, they will continue to wear whatever they had while alive, but fast-traveling will de-equip the gear, so this is of limited use.
• Thralls from Northwatch Keep may replace their Glass Armor with Elven Armor looted from other Northwatch Guards.
• Afflicted thralls may change their armor when moving to a different cell. They may equip lower level armor when moving to a new cell.
• Thrall equipment may be improved. To do so, loot the desired gear from the thrall's corpse. Modify the gear as desired through enchanting and smithing. Return the gear to the thrall's corpse, and reanimate it. The thrall will equip the gear upon leaving the current cell.
• Thrall gear may be reset by removing all the equipment, reanimating the thrall, then moving to a different cell. The thrall will generate a new set of equipment from the list of possible gear with which they can spawn. Note that this gear may be different from what they previously had. This trick may be used to re-enchant thrall equipment, obtain better versions of leveled gear a thrall may have equipped, or duplicate rare equipment.

• Thralls will not equip items in slots that were left empty when they generated their gear.
• Renaming thrall gear when enchanting it will simplify keeping track of unique equipment.
• Any enchantments on the armor or clothing will interfere with and negate the Dark Souls perk. Consider whether enchanting a thrall's equipment is worth the loss of the 100 health gained from that perk.
• If the thrall dies after the first time it has equipped enchanted gear, when it is reanimated the enchantments will not take affect even though the thrall still has the gear equipped. To remedy this, every time the thrall dies, loot the enchanted gear, and then give it back to them, allowing them to re-equip it.
• Replace the weapon into the inventory of any character that has dropped it and that will be the subject of the thrall spell, otherwise the character will not pick it up unless in battle.

Notable Thralls

The characters listed below are thralls that have been deemed exceptional in some way by the community. The first three sections deal with thralls of different class, and the final covers thralls that retain their vocal clips upon death. All thralls listed here are able to be thralled at any level unless otherwise noted. Some of the named NPCs listed have unique abilities, while others are effective and easy to find.

Mages

These thralls will use destruction spells and readily wield staves you give them. Some will even conjure allies using their own spells.

Name	Location/Quest	Level*			Stamina	Magic Resistance	Enchantable Items	Notes
Orchendor	The Only Cure	40 (max)	625	430	205	100%	2	Teleportation spell Corpse does not reset Ideal thrall; very strong and immune to most magic
Malkoran	The Break of Dawn	40 (max)	500	460	25	55%	1	Shade spawns upon death 120 armor Does not moan Body may reset after quest is complete. Every time the shade dies it yields a bone meal and 250 gold
Kornalus	Harmugstahl	40 (max)	500	410	50	30%	1	120 armor
Sild the Warlock	Rannveig's Fast	40 (max)	?	?	?	?	1	Uses extremely powerful magic Very high health Corpse does not reset
Sebastian Lort	A Daedra's Best Friend	40 (max)	234	231	25	25%	1
Vampires	Broken Fang Cave, Shriekwind Bastion, etc.	48**	843	413	294	50% frost resistance {C {C}50% weaker to fire	1-2	Affected by Necromage perk**
Master Vampires	Broken Fang Cave, Shriekwind Bastion, etc.	42**	669	414	257	50% frost resistance {C {C}50% weaker to fire	1-2	Affected by Necromage perk** Can keep vocal clips
Master Conjurer	Hob's Fall Cave	40+	500	460	Unknown but at least not low; prefers weapons	30-55%	1	120 armor Name may change to "Master Necromancer" upon reanimation
Forsworn Ravager	The Reach (on the ruins of Karthspire Camp)	?	?	?	?	?	1	"Ice Princess" rapidly shoots Icy Spears & conjures a Frost Atronach Wears full set of Forsworn Armor
Sulla Trebatius	Alftand Cathedral (Near the end with Umana)	10-30	391	222	197	0	3	Uses mostly fire magic Comes with enchanted Imperial Sword Wears Imperial armor, boots, and bracers Has many perks (Agumented Flames, Bladesman, Fighting Stance, Recovery, Regeneration, Respite, Tower of Strength). Heals himself.
Arch-Curate Vyrthur	Touching the Sky, after Auriel's Chapel.	15-75** (PC x1.2)					3	Does not moan! Corpse rarely resets Necromage perk** allows use up to PC level 42. Casts frost and shock magic, Frost Atronach. Wears Ancient Falmer Armor.

Melee

These thralls generally have good armor and use melee weapons effectively. They will also use ranged weapons given them when fighting at a distance.

Name	Location/Quest	Level*			Stamina	Magic Resistance	Enchantable Items	Notes
Krev the Skinner	Gallows Rock, in The Silver Hand quest.	28 (max)	497	40	258		4	Gender is radiant can be male or female Better in heavy armor
Champion of Boethiah	Boethiah's Calling	38 51 (max)	533	198	174	10% 50% fire resistance	3	Equips Ebony Mail (136) Level 38 when PC level less than 58 Is more skilled in Light Armor rather than Heavy Armor.
Chief Yamarz	The Cursed Tribe	20 (max)	1271	114	50	0	4	Equips full set of Orcish armor (228) Over 1,200 health if the player kills the Giant.
Northwatch Guard	Northwatch Keep	36 (max)	565	170	190	0	4	Equips full set of Glass armor (169)
Forsworn Ravager	The Reach	34 (max)	447	116	182	35%	4	Equips full set of Forsworn armor Will dual wield (most of the time), meaning that it will never stop attacking because it will be unable to block. Sprints to get in range of targets. Has the Savage Strike perk.
Dremora Markynaz	Atronach Forge	36 (max)	435	50	190	0	None	Retains vocal clips 170 armor
Thalmor Soldier	Diplomatic Immunity	36 (max)	565	120	190	0	4/5	Equips full set of Elven/Glass armor Corpse does not reset (Only those found during Diplomatic Immunity)
Bandit Chief	Dungeons, Camps, etc.	28 (max)	497	25	258	0	4/5	Equips full set of Steel Plate armor whether he/she was killed w/o a helmet, gauntlet, etc.
Redoran Guard	Old Attius Farm	?	?	?	?	0	5	Does not moan. Equips full set of Bonemold Pauldron Armor, including sheild. Body does not reset. (Only the corpse found at Old Attius Farm)

Archer

These thralls use ranged weapons more effectively. They will switch to melee weapons in close quarters.

Name	Location/Quest	Level*			Stamina	Magic Resistance	Enchantable Items	Notes
Northwatch Archer	Northwatch Keep	36	565	170	190	0	4	Equips full set of Glass armor (169) Archery (100) Does not have Power Shot, Ranger, nor Quick Shot perks.
Forsworn Ravager	The Reach	34	447	116	182	45%	4	Equips full set of Forsworn armor Archery (87) Has Power Shot, Ranger, and Quick Shot perks.
Thalmor Soldier	Diplomatic Immunity	36 (max)	565	120	190	?	4	Equips full set of Elven or Glass armor Corpse does not reset (only those found in the quest Diplomatic Immunity)

Retain Vocal Clips

These thralls do not switch to the standard moans and groans of reanimated corpses. They instead continue to use the unique vocal clips they had in life.

Name	Location/Quest	Level*			Stamina	Magic Resistance	Enchantable Items	Notes
Ancano	The Eye of Magnus	32+	?	?	?	?	2	Corpse does reset
Arondil	Yngvild	?	?	?	?	?	?	Does moan
Astrid	Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!	?	?	?	?	?	None	Corpse does not reset
Cicero	The Cure for Madness	40	375	115	245	0	None	Will dual wield Dances randomly
Elenwen	Thalmor Embassy	?	?	?	?	?	2	Killable after Season Unending
Galmar Stone-Fist	Palace of the Kings	?	?	?	?	?	4	2H
General Tullius	Castle Dour	?-40+	?	?	?	?	3	46 armor
Legate Rikke	Castle Dour	?	?	?	?	?	?	Corpse does reset Does moan
Skjor	The Silver Hand	?-40+	?	?	?	?	2	Does moan
Velehk Sain	The Midden Dark	4	?	?	?	?	2	Body does not reset
Ulfric Stormcloak	Palace of the Kings	?		?	?	?	3	Will use shouts Only 6 armor
Wyndelius Gatharian	Shroud Hearth Barrow	Radiant (1-25)	35-441	100-294	50-150	?	2	Looks like a ghost Corpse resets
Septimus Signus	Septimus Signus' Outpost	1	50	50	50	?	1 (Boots)	The quest Discerning the Transmundane may have to be done for this to be possible. One must push Septimus away, with Unrelenting Force, from the Oghma Infinium pedestal before he gets turned to ashes and then kill him.
Krag	Nchuand Zel
Erj	Nchuand Zel Armory
Stromm	Nchuand Zel Living Quarters
Reaver Lord	Brodir Grove, Haknir's Shoal, Nchardak, Wreck of the Strident Squall, Damphall Mine, Bloodskal Barrow	28	?	?	?	?	4	Wears full Nordic Carved Armor
Staubin	Nchuand Zel Control
Hefid the Deaf	The Ratway Warrens	3	50	50	50	?	2 (Iron Dagger and Ragged Robes)	She will only moan if you run into her. Other than that she just frequently keeps repeating her dialogue when she was alive: "Ha ha ha ha! No! Never find me!" and variations of "Inkpot. Stone. Bucket. Book. Knife.", "Bucket. Knife. Book. Inkpot. Stone. No, no, no." and "Knife. Yes. Book. Yes. Bucket. Yes. Inkpot? No."
Master Conjurer	Hob's Fall Cave	40	500	460	?	30-55%	1	120 armor Name may change to "Master Necromancer" upon reanimation

*Levels with (max) mean the thrall will scale with the Dragonborn up to a maximum of that level. Levels without (max) mean the thrall is set at that level.

**Vampires can be thralled above the level 40 cap of Dead Thrall if the Dragonborn has taken the Necromage perk found in the Restoration tree. This perk affects all spells that target vampires including Dead Thrall. With this perk all versions of vampires found in the game are thrallable except Volkihar Master Vampires (level 53). Of note are Volkihar Vampires (level 48) and Master Vampires (level 42), the two highest level natural candidates for thralls in the game.

Useful console commands

• openactorcontainer 1 - lets one place and take items without having to kill and resummon the thrall, it will not allow taking their base equipment.
• disable, enable - lets one reset their base items, they will lose what ever base items they had before even if it was enchanted.
• resurrect - revives the thrall and also resets their items to base.
• player.moveto <refID>- Teleport to the thrall's current location, useful for when they disappear after fast traveling. The ref id can be found by opening the console and clicking on the thrall.
• prid <refID>, moveto player - Teleport the thrall to the player's current location.
• tai - Shuts off their AI effectively freezing them in place. (Use again to turn their AI back on.)
• resetai - Resets their AI. In conjunction with tai, this will allow stopping them from fighting with followers and other thralls.
• getlevel - Checks the name and level of the creature.
• dispelallspells - Dispels all non permanent active effects which includes Dead Thrall. Useful if the Dragonborn does not have any dead thralls but the active effect still persists.
• setlevel 1000,0,1,80 - By using that command, will make the selected NPC (tested and confirmed working on Dead Thralls) level up with the player. I.E.: Tested on a thralled Forsworn Briarheart which was lvl 38, and after the command jumped up to lvl 41 (same level as the Dragonborn). Also works for thralling a higher than lvl 40 NPC, by lowering the lvl with this command, thralling, then setting the NPC to level up accordingly.

Uses

• If the player gets caught trespassing with a thrall, paying off the fine will cause the player to be teleported out of the cell. The thrall will then advance to the next tier of its character type, provided it has one (e.g. a level 42 Master Vampire will become a level 53 Volkihar Master Vampire.) This can only be performed once per thrall, and thralls that advance beyond the Dead Thrall level cap cannot be reanimated if they die.
• The player may use a Dead Thrall as storage for an unlimited amount of items. To do this, one must simply kill the thrall, and when searching their body, fill it with the items that to be carried. To retrieve the items, one must bring the thrall back to life and kill him again to unpack the items. A single torch placed in their inventory provides a handy light source as they will light up when out of combat situations.
• Since Dead Thralls can summon creatures using a staff in the their inventory, the player can have a larger group of allies to aid them in battle.
• Just like other followers, a single high quality arrow placed in the Dead Thrall's inventory allows them to fire an unlimited number of arrows of that type, increasing their archery effectiveness, and allowing the player to recover the arrows.
• Unlike followers, Dead Thralls will level-scale with the world. This means that it's possible to re-animate a dead thrall, and then they level up to 40, and when they die, it's not possible to re-animate them. However, many potential candidates are level-capped and will not scale past 40.
• If, for whatever reason, a follower dies, it's possible to raise them as long as their level is not greater than 40. After zoning, they will not wear the apparel that was given them before their death; however, if they are a Blade, their default spawn apparel will be the Blades full armor set, which may be upgraded and enchanted. Of note is the fact that these Blades' bodies do not reset.
• With a Dead Thrall following, most other characters, from kids to traders, will make negative comments regarding the spell by giving warnings to stay away or about using a dangerous spell. These comments/warnings do not appear to affect any quest or trading dialogs.
• Vampiric players will find that they can choose to skip the process of equipping their thralls with better armor or weapons entirely by using the following techniques. These tricks will function effectively even on the Master difficulty setting. This is useful as Dead Thralls can be very unreliable when transitioning from location to location, furthermore the process of equipping them with enchanted items is unreliable as well.
  • Illusion spells (Call to Arms, etc) will be 25% stronger if the player is a vampire, greatly improving thralls. The player must have the Illusion school perk Master of the Mind to use the beneficial illusion spells on their Dead Thralls.
  • The Restoration school perk Necromage will not only improve the players active effects by 25%, but it also augments beneficial illusion spells by another 25% (50% total) when used on Dead Thralls.
  • Potions which improve Illusion spells improve the power of the spells, and not the duration. An Elixir of Illusion will add an additional 100% power to beneficial illusion spells, whereas player created potions can be even stronger. When used to cast Call to Arms, thralls become powerful enough to survive against the majority of enemies in the game.
  • In some ways, it is inferior to temporary reanimating spells, in as much as it will only reanimate humans, and elves, excluding Falmer, whereas Revenant, for example, works on not only Falmer, but many animals too.

Trivia

• Sometimes when a mage reanimated by the player is attacked, it will summon an atronach. The atronach will register as an enemy, causing it to attack the summoner. Once it kills the corpse, it will disappear, having effectively killed itself.
• This can be cast on Ulfric Stormcloak after he is killed at the end of the civil war missions.
  • It is also possible to get General Tullius and Legate Rikke as thralls. Just make sure to complete the Civil War questline before reaching level 40.
• Dead Thralls, either one's own or raised by enemies, often moan "Thank you.", "Freedom." etc. when being destroyed. This also applies to other lower-level spells of the same type. Rarely, Dead Thralls will beg "Free... me." after being used for some time.
• Hold Guards may attack the Dragonborn if they see him/her using this spell in a city.
• Dead Thralls can't regenerate their health and are immune to healing spells. That means they can't be healed by the player and the only way for them to restore their health is to use healing potion given to them.
  • Another way to help thralls regain health is to give them weapons enchanted with "Absorb Health" ability.
  • If the Dragonborn decides to side with the vampires during the Dawnguard questline he/she may purchase two spells which allow the healing of undead, Heal Undead and Necromantic Healing from a vampire in Castle Volkihar.
  • Necromantic Healing can also be found in Dimhollow Crypt if The Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard addition is installed.
• Dead Thralls can be used as "walking trunks" and torch bearers. Putting a torch in their inventory will cause them to light it up under low light conditions whenever not in a combat situation, which also acts as something of an early warning system.
• Dremora Caitiffs and Churls found at the Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon can be made into thralls.
• If The Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard is installed, and the Dragonborn sides with the vampires during the Dawnguard questline, if the Vampire Cattle in Castle Volkihar are killed and reanimated, they can be fed on anywhere. However, feeding in a city will get the Dragonborn a bounty.
• The effect actually lasts for 47951 hours, the equivilent of 5 1/2 years. So unless you ran the game continuously for 5 1/2 years, the effect is truly permanent.
• Ysolda under the influence Dead Thrall instead of fighting escapes.

Bugs

Click to show

Transforming into a Werewolf will immediately kill the player's Dead Thralls. Casting Dead Thrall will result in a 24,000 hour active effect called: "Reanimate Thrall," which will not be removed if the thrall is lost when it is killed or replaced. The only known way to remove this effect is by casting an elemental cloak spell such as Frost Cloak or by being arrested and serving the jail time, or when using The Elder Scroll in the main quest. Sometimes the aforementioned spells don't work, but can still be fixed by using Beast Form. While this "ghost thrall" effect is active, NPCs will comment as if the Dragonborn has a charged spell.  PC   The Console command "player.dispelallspells" will fix the long active effect issue. The player must select himself before using the command. In order to do this, sometimes the player has to use his ID (or use the mouse to select himself) in order for that code to work. WARNING: THIS MAY REMOVE YOUR OTHER USEFUL ACTIVE EFFECTS Loading certain areas may cause persistent and repeatable crashes to the desktop due to poor Dead Thrall pathing. If this happens when loading a new area, try summoning a short-term summons, wait until it expires, then try loading again. Casting any of the elemental cloaks on oneself may immediately kill any active thralls. While fast traveling, thralls may disappear. This may be fixed by loading a quick save and retrying. Sometimes if they disappear they will reappear much later when fast traveling. This can also happen when not fast traveling, such as if the thralls get bugged under the level. Summoning temporary creatures, such as the Dremora Lord, doesn't seem to free disappeared thralls as it would have if they were present. When one has no creatures summoned, the thralls will eventually return. The thralls may also simply become stuck in a cell, and not transition with the player rather than disappearing. They will not follow the player out of these areas if it occurs, forcing the player to kill them or seek new thralls. Unrelenting Force may be able to push them out of these stuck locations, if still alive. Another possibility is that the missing thrall had just died without reason in the cell that was left. Go back to that cell and there will be the dead body of the thrall that can be resurrected again. Sometimes the body may be under the cell itself (this is the most common case that makes some players think their thralls has disappeared entirely), thus only console commands like "player.moveto <Thrall's refID>" or "tcl" can help to reach it. Waiting may sometimes cause missing thralls to reappear. The Statue to Meridia may cause thralls to disappear unless the player kills them before placing her beacon at the shrine. If a player has two Dead Thralls that are of the same type (such as two Bandit Chiefs), one will be lost when the player travels between areas. Thralls will lose the graphical reanimation aura upon leaving the cell in which they were reanimated. Thralling bodies from the civil war is possible as long as the spell is cast quickly enough; however, it is almost certain that they will disappear but still be in the active effects list. Sometimes killing a thrall inside a location, then leaving and returning to the location, the thrall that was killed may be alive and hostile. Thralls that have died will sometimes remain with the player, appearing as living NPCs whenever the player fast travels. They can be spoken to, pickpocketed, or killed, but otherwise have no interaction with the player.  PC  Some thralls will not level up with the player and are stuck at the level they were first encountered by the player. However, this bug will only affect NPCs that have their level fixed at a certain level.  360   Thralling an NPC that has died from fall damage causes them to walk in place, unkillable and untouchable.  360   Dead Thralls might disappear from the last saved game if one dies before reloading it – no fix found as of yet apart from reloading earlier save. Further research shows this mostly tends to affect quicksaves.  360   Also noticed that while they might disappear from the game in above bug, or if they get stuck, the player can summon new thralls, and they will reappear later. Unlimited Glass Armor and/or Elven Armor can be obtained if a Northwatch Guard is looted, reanimated, and moved through a loading screen. In the new area, they will respawn their default armor. With Thrall, this can be repeated. Sometimes when a body is raised, they will say a standard phrase immediately after casting Dead Thrall on them. E.g. A Hired Thug may say "We've come to teach you a lesson." but it will not act on it's words. Some quests in The Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard require the player to leave his/her thralls behind and go through the quest alone. However, thralls do not die and simply walks back to the places they belonged to when were alive, or where their bodies were first found (if thralls started dead in game). If one remembers those places, go there after the quest and thrall will rejoin the player. But if the place thrall is traveling to is far enough they could be only half-way after the quest is completed, thus only console commands like "player.moveto " can help find them.  360   When transitioning between zones, Dead Thralls who are vampires will turn hostile and need to be re-killed and re-thralled in order to restore their loyalty. Enthralled then killed Dremora may come back to life with their original hostility in the new location if you leave and fast travel back. Thralls such as hired mercenaries that transfer a letter of inheritance and gold when killed can be repeatedly killed to gain multiple amounts of gold.  360   If the Dragonborn dies in a cave and then reloads their save to when they entered the cave, the thrall(s) will be stuck outside the cave, this can be fixed by exiting and they re-entering the cave.

Appearances

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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