Soul Gems are used for enchanting weapons and armor at an Arcane Enchanter or recharging previously enchanted weapons. After using a soul gem, (with the exclusion of Azura's Star and The Black Star), it is destroyed.

Contents 1 Acquisition 1.1 Mining 1.2 Purchasing 1.3 Dungeon loot 2 Mechanics 2.1 Soul trapping 2.2 Bound weapons 2.3 Soul size 3 Types 4 Souls 4.1 Petty Souls 4.2 Lesser Souls 4.3 Common Souls 4.4 Greater Souls 4.5 Grand Souls 5 Black Soul Gems 6 Trivia 7 See also

AcquisitionEdit

MiningEdit

In Blackreach, the Dwemer underground realm, there are Geode ore deposits. These drop soul gems of random values ranging from petty to black soul gems. They tend to follow the leveled algorithm.

PurchasingEdit

Filled and empty soul gems can be purchased from General Goods Merchants (Skyrim), court magicians and some members of the College of Winterhold. Filled gems are three to four times the price of an empty one.

Dungeon lootEdit

• In Dwemer ruins, most Dwarven Automatons drop soul gems, ranging from Petty to Grand gems. They may or may not be filled.
• Vampire Lairs, (in vampire lairs Black Soul Gems might also be found.)
• Nordic ruins
• There are also a number of soul gems that can be found at The College of Winterhold, most of which cannot be taken without stealing. Becoming Arch-Mage revokes this crime, unless the Soul Gems are owned by an NPC.
• During a quest for Drevis Neloren, one to three free, empty Soul Gems of any size can be obtained.
• Several unmarked locations on the world map.

MechanicsEdit

Soul trappingEdit

Trapping souls in Soul Gems requires the Conjuration spell Soul trap or a Soul Trap enchantment. Killing an enemy with the spell cast upon them or using the enchantment draws their soul into one gem of the appropriate size. If no gem of the appropriate size or greater exists in the inventory, the soul is lost. An example of a weapon enchanted with the ability to capture souls is the Mace of Molag Bal. In The Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard, souls can be captured by activating a Soul Fissure in Soul Cairn, so long as an empty Soul Gem sits in the inventory.

Bound weaponsEdit

Bound weapons such as Bound Sword or Bound Bow can automatically soul trap attacked enemies if the Conjuration Perk, "Soul Stealer", has been learned.

Soul sizeEdit

Soul size is determined by enemy type. Generally, smaller or lower-leveled creatures possess Lesser, Petty, or Common souls, such as Foxes, Falmer, or Chaurus. Larger or higher-leveled creatures possess Greater or Grand souls, such as a Mammoth (Grand) or Giants (Greater).

Humanoid races (Men or Mer) possess Grand souls, but can only be trapped in a Black Soul Gem or the Daedric Artifact Black Star, which is obtained through the quest of the same name. Falmer, Draugr and Rieklings are an exception, as their souls may be captured by standard gems.

TypesEdit

Soul gems are separated into types based on the capacity they can carry. The soul gem types are petty, lesser, common, greater, grand and black.

Name	Weight	Value	Capacity	Trappable souls
Azura's Star	0	1000	3000	Can hold any soul, excluding those of Humanoids. (e.g. Argonians, Khajiit, Men, Mer, etc.)
The Black Star	0	1000	3000	Is said to only hold souls of Humanoids, but in fact can hold any soul.
Petty Soul Gem	0.1	10	250	Can hold creature souls below level 4.
Lesser Soul Gem	0.2	25	500	Can hold creature souls below level 16.
Common Soul Gem	0.3	50	1000	Can hold creature souls below level 28.
Greater Soul Gem	0.4	100	2000	Can hold creature souls below level 38.
Grand Soul Gem	0.5	200	3000	Can hold any soul, excluding those of Humanoids
Black Soul Gem	1	500	3000	Can hold any soul, including those of Humanoids.
Soul Gem Fragment	0.1	5	0	Cannot hold souls.

SoulsEdit

The following are creatures that give souls:

Petty SoulsEdit
Chicken
Cow
Deer
Dog
Draugr
Elk
Fox
Goat
Horker
Mudcrab
Rabbit
Skeever
Skeleton
Slaughterfish
Wisp
Wolf

Lesser SoulsEdit
Alpha Wolf
Bear
Chaurus
Draugr Overlord
Draugr Wight
Falmer
Falmer Skulker
Flame Atronach
Frostbite Spider
Giant Frostbite Spider
Horse
Ice Wolf
Ice Wraith
Restless Draugr
Sabre Cat
Spriggan
Troll
Werewolf
Wounded Frostbite Spider

Common SoulsEdit
Cave Bear
Chaurus Reaper
Curalmil
Draugr Deathlord
Draugr Scourge
Draugr Scourge Lord
Falmer Gloomlurker
Falmer Nightprowler
Falmer Shadowmaster
Frost Atronach
Frost Troll
Hagraven
Riekling
Snow Bear
Spriggan Matron
Udefrykte

Greater SoulsEdit
Draugr Deathlord
Giant
Storm Atronach
Wispmother
Burnt Spriggan

Grand SoulsEdit
Corrupted Shade
Daedra
Dragon Priest
Draugr Death Overlord Archer
Falmer Warmonger
Guardian Saerek
Guardian Torsten
Mammoth
Riekling Charger

Black Soul GemsEdit

In addition to the creatures above, Black Soul Gems can be used for gathering humanoid souls such as:

• NPCs (A character, not necessarily hostile, from any of the 10 playable races)
• Bandits
• Fire Mage
• Forsworn
• Ice Mage
• Necromage
• Necromancer
• Pyromancer
• Storm Mage
• Vampires

TriviaEdit

• If a soul of a small size has been trapped in a large soul gem, the gem can be dropped and then picked up. The gem will then be empty.
• Stolen charged soul gems cannot be used to recharge magical weapons^{[citation needed]}.
• The Azura's Star will retain any trapped soul if dropped, however it will not be destroyed when used, so using a smaller soul for random enchantment will clear it, and give some enchanting experience.
• After a Black Soul Gem is used, the soul used is sent to the Soul Cairn, a plane of Oblivion where only the dead and the undead can exist (under normal circumstances).

See alsoEdit

• Soul Trap
• Soul Gem (Oblivion)
• Enchanting (Skyrim)

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