Soul Gem (Skyrim)

Soul Gems are naturally-occurring magic stones that house the souls of the dead. Used for enchanting weapons and armor at an arcane enchanter or for recharging previously enchanted weapons, soul gems come in various sizes and strengths: petty, lesser, common, greater, grand and black. Capturing souls in soul gems is typically done with the Soul Trap spell of the Conjuration school of Magicka, or with a weapon that has received such an enchantment. With the exception of Azura's Star and The Black Star, using a filled soul gem always destroys it.
==Acquisition==
Soul gems can be obtained by slaying mages, magically-affiliated enemies, by purchasing them from magic shops and court wizards, mining geode veins or found as randomized loot in containers.
===Mining===
In Blackreach, the Dwemer underground realm, there are geode deposits. These yield soul gems with random values ranging from petty to black soul gems.
===Purchasing===
Filled and empty soul gems can be purchased from general goods merchants, court magicians and some members of the College of Winterhold. Filled gems are three to four times the price of empty ones.
===Dungeon loot===
*In Dwemer ruins, most Dwarven automatons contain soul gems, ranging from petty to grand. They may or may not be filled.
*Vampire lairs
*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 another member of the college.
*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.
*The enemies in the Soul Cairn always drop soul gems, ranging from petty to black, which may or may not be filled.
*The chests found at the top of the guard towers near the Riften Stables always possess a random unfilled soul gem.
*In , the realm of Apocrypha has numerous empty and filled soul gems, ranging from petty to black. They can be found on tables and in pods.
==Mechanics==
===Soul trapping===
Trapping souls in soul gems requires the conjuration spell Soul Trap or a soul trap enchanted weapon. 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 exists in the inventory, the soul is captured by a higher-capacity gem. If there is no empty gem large enough, the soul is lost.
An example of a weapon enchanted with the ability to capture souls is the Mace of Molag Bal. In , souls can be captured by activating a soul fissure in the Soul Cairn, so long as an empty soul gem is in the inventory. Activating a soul fissure will fill the highest level blank soul gem available.
===Bound weapons===
Bound weapons such as the bound sword or bow can automatically soul trap attacked enemies if the Conjuration perk Soul Stealer has been taken.
===Soul size===
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 mammoths (grand) or giants (greater).
Humanoid races possess grand souls, but can only be trapped in a black soul gem or the Daedric artifact the 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 in standard gems.
==Types==
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.
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.
Warped Soul Gem 	0.5 	0 	0 	For the quest Arniel's Convection. Cannot hold souls.
Wylandriah's Soul Gem	0 	0 	3000 	For the quest Hunt and Gather. Can only be used for recharging.
==Souls==
The following are creatures that give souls:
===Petty Souls===
Chicken
Cow
Deer
Dog
Draugr
Elk
Fox
Frostbite Spider
Goat
Horker
Mudcrab
Rabbit
Skeever
Skeleton
Slaughterfish
Wisp
Wolf
===Lesser Souls===
Alpha Wolf
Ash Hopper
Bear
Chaurus
Draugr Overlord
Draugr Wight
Falmer
Falmer Skulker
Flame Atronach
Gargoyle
Giant Frostbite Spider
Horse
Ice Wolf
Ice Wraith
Restless Draugr
Sabre Cat
Spectral Warhound
Snowy Sabre Cat
Spriggan
Troll
Venomfang Skeever
Werewolf
Wounded Frostbite Spider
===Common Souls===
Ash Spawn
Cave Bear
Chaurus Reaper
Curalmil
Draugr Scourge
Draugr Scourge Lord
Falmer Gloomlurker
Falmer Nightprowler
Falmer Shadowmaster
Frost Atronach
Frost Troll
Gargoyle Brute
Hagraven
Hulking Draugr
Lurker
Riekling
Snow Bear
Seeker
Spriggan Matron
Udefrykte
===Greater Souls===
Chaurus Hunter
Draugr Death Overlord
Draugr Deathlord
Giant
Storm Atronach
Wispmother
Spriggan Earth Mother
Burnt Spriggan
===Grand Souls===
Ash Spawn Immolator
Corrupted Shade
Daedra
Dragon Priest
Draugr Death Overlord
Draugr Deathlord
Falmer Warmonger
Gargoyle Sentinel
Guardian Saerek
Guardian Torsten
Mammoth
Riekling Charger
==Black Soul Gems==
In addition to the creatures above, black soul gems can be used for gathering souls from:
*Any character, hostile or otherwise, from any of the ten playable races.
*Dremora
*Vampire
*Forsworn Briarheart
*Soul Fissures
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.
==Trivia==
*The soul gem designs appear similar to aura quartz, special quartz crystals that are put in a high temperature vacuum and have had either gold, titanium, iron or other metals fused on in powdered form. It gives the crystal different colors of metallic sheen, varying from transparent to opaque.
*Outside of inventory, mousing over a soul gem does not reveal whether the gem is filled or not.
*If you get a message saying that you do not have a large enough soul gem to capture a soul, despite having an empty grand soul gem in your inventory, it means that you are trying to catch a humanoid soul, which requires a black soul gem.
==Bugs==
* Soul gems that have been self-filled (using the Soul Trap enchantment or spell) can lose their souls when dropped or stored in containers. They also will not stack (i.e. each one appears separately in inventory). This happens regardless of whether the soul is the "proper" size for the gem (e.g. a common soul in a common soul gem).
**The only workaround for this is to keep all self-filled soul gems in inventory. Despite claims to the contrary, this has not been fixed in any patch.
==See also==
*Soul Trap
*Enchanting (Skyrim)
==Appearances==
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de:Seelenstein (Skyrim)
es:Gema de alma (Skyrim)
fi:Soul Gem (Skyrim)
fr:Gemme spirituelle (Skyrim)
pl:Klejnot duszy
ru:Камень душ (Skyrim)
Category:Skyrim: Enchanting
Category:Skyrim: Miscellaneous Items