A Dragon Soul is the soul of a Dragon in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. They are used to unlock and upgrade various Dragon shouts, and in the Dragonborn DLC, they can be used to regain perks from perk trees, enabling them to be spent on different skills.

Although words of the Dragon language can be learned from Word Walls without Dragon Souls, Dragon Souls are required to unlock and then upgrade them.

Dragon Souls are absorbed by the Dragonborn immediately upon slaying a Dragon.

In The Elder Scrolls V: Dragonborn, Miraak can steal dragon souls and prevent the Dragonborn from absorbing them.

UseEdit

The number of Dragon Souls on hand can be found in the Magic tab of the Character Menu (in the bottom-right-hand corner). They are kept until they are spent unlocking or upgrading a Thu'um. All new dragon shout words other than the ones given to the Dragonborn in the main storyline need to be unlocked before they can be used. To do so, acquire a dragon soul, then select the word in the Magic tab and press the respective unlock key.

If Miraak is defeated, Dragon souls can be used to return all perks in a skill tree at the cost of one dragon soul. This can be done at anytime provided dragon souls have been obtained.

TriviaEdit

• The souls of Durnehviir, Odahviing, Alduin and dragons at Apocrypha are impossible to be absorbed by the Dragonborn.
• If the Dragonborn is not near a dragon when it dies, he/she may not be able to absorb the Dragon Soul.
• Killing Miraak causes his body to burn up like a dragon's, which releases 8 souls, plus those he has stolen.

BugsEdit

•  PC   360   PS3  Some dragons may not burn away after dying, thus allowing no dragon soul to be absorbed.
•  PC   360   PS3  If the Disintegrate perk is unlocked, using a shock spell may result in the dragon turning into ash and never giving a soul.
•  PC   360   PS3  If a dragon's corpse falls into water, Miraak cannot absorb the soul.^DB