The Black Star ( Quest ) The Black Star is a quest available in . Background . Many years ago , Malyn Varen was exiled from the College of Winterhold for pursuing questionable research with soul gems . Malyn was trying to find a way to prolong his spirit , and he believed that storing his soul inside the Daedric artifact , Azura ' s Star , would prevent him from dying . Unfortunately for him , one of the properties of the Star was that black souls — the souls of sapient , mortal beings — could not enter it . As such , he began experiments to modify the Star ' s properties so that it would accept black souls . The further Malyn progressed toward this goal , the more Azura tormented him . The artifact slowly drove Malyn insane , causing him to hear voices and see people that were not there , and eventually murder one of his students . After this , he was exiled from the college , collected a band of followers , and continued his research at Ilinalta ' s Deep , an abandoned Imperial outpost that had mostly collapsed into the adjacent lake . There , he continued his work , eventually succeeding in capturing his own soul inside the modified Azura ' s Star and achieving a state of immortality . Walkthrough . To receive this quest , the Dragonborn must first talk with Aranea Ienith at the Shrine of Azura , south of Winterhold . She will say that Azura has chosen the Dragonborn as her champion , and that they must find " an elven mage who can turn the brightest star to the darkest night . " Head to Winterhold . Once there , there are a few options to gain the identity of the " elven mage " : When talking to Nelacar , he will not give up the information readily , so one must intimidate , persuade , or bribe the necessary information out of him . He will say that his mentor , Malyn Varen , was experimenting with Azura ' s Star , and that the last known location of Malyn was Ilinalta ' s Deep . Ilinalta ' s Deep can be found west of Riverwood , near and to the north of The Lady Stone . There is a trap door atop a partially submerged tower that leads into the underground complex . Ilinalta ' s Deep . After entering , the Dragonborn should go past the shackled skeleton and enter a flooded room with a partially open doorway on the left . They must go through the doorway and down the subsequent hallway . Following the hallway is a small room containing a skeleton and the first of many conjurers ( necromancers at higher levels ) found throughout the dungeon . In the next room are two more conjurers , and a skeleton lurks in the room on the left , which contains some Food and a potion of waterbreathing . The door on the right leads to the next area , with a conjurer , a skeleton , and a dead wolf , which will be raised from the dead if the mage is alerted . The underwater passage behind the waterfall on the left leads to a hidden room with a chest and the Alteration skill book , " Breathing Water " , floating near the ceiling . The right - hand passage in the next room leads to two conjurers and a skeleton . There is a small sleeping quarters to the left , as well as an arcane enchanter , an alchemy lab , and several useful pieces of loot . The door on the right has an apprentice lock , with a chest and some potions on the other side . At the end of the next passage is a high - level conjurer , on the far side of a flooded depression that cuts across the room . There is a partially submerged stairway on the far right side of the depression that can be used to approach the conjurer from the safety of the water . Under the water near the stairs is a door with an adept lock . Loot on the other side includes a chest containing a spell tome , potions , and . Back in the partially flooded area , there is an altar with a leveled soul gem on the right and a pull chain on the left that raises the bridge across the water that was just crossed . A door on the left leads to a passage containing a cupboard and an apprentice - locked door on the right that opens onto a small room with a couple of potions and alchemical ingredients . Up the stairs on the far side of the room is a barred door . The protagonist must activate the bar to move it and go through the door to come onto a small landing area overlooking the first room of the dungeon . Following the landing to the right and through another door leads to the final section of the dungeon , Ilinalta ' s Deluge . The Dragonborn should then follow the path down to reach an area with two conjurers . There is a chest , and quite a few potions and soul gems scattered throughout this room and the smaller one to the right . The passage to the left leads down a path , through another door , and into a room occupied by a conjurer and a skeleton , with cages along both walls . Through the door at the end of the room is a set of stairs opening onto a medium - sized room with a high - level conjurer and four skeletons . There is no loot in here , so the Dragonborn should continue straight up the stairs to the left . In the room at the top of the stairs , Malyn Varen ' s skeleton sits peacefully in a chair , with the Broken Azura ' s Star at its feet , his grimoire on the floor next to his chair . Also in the room is a chest with a leveled amount of loot . With the Broken Azura ' s Star in hand , the dungeon can be exited via the ladder that leads to the ceiling . Cleansing the Star . There are now two options to fix the Broken Azura ' s Star : Speaking to the desired person , with the Broken Azura ' s Star in hand , will begin this final step . Whichever option is chosen , the Dragonborn must enter the Star to cleanse it of Malyn Varen ' s soul . The former is warped out of the Star several seconds after defeating the latter ' s soul inside , regardless of the status of Malyn ' s three Dremora henchmen . Once Malyn ' s soul has been defeated , the Dragonborn is pulled out of the Star , thanked , and given either a working Azura ' s Star by Aranea Ienith , or the Black Star by Nelacar . The former can trap only white souls ( those of non - sapient creatures ) while the latter , according to Nelacar , can trap only black souls ( the souls of sapient beings ) . In reality , however , The Black Star can hold either white or black souls , just like a black soul gem . Additionally , bringing the Star to Aranea makes her available as a follower . While giving the Star to Nelacar does not provide a companion option , The Black Star has the advantage of a much more abundant source of grand souls , as all black souls are of the grand level . Meanwhile , only white souls from exceptionally powerful monsters such as the mammoth , are grand souls . Giving the Star to Nelacar also opens up another merchant , as he will afterwards sell Mage Robes , spell tomes , soul gems , and the occasional staff .