Elder Scrolls Lore » Discussions


Umbra - Is there hope of seeing it again?

  • March 8, 2013

    For my love of the sword Umbra I went researching as to what happened to it after the events of TES IV: Oblivion. Where was it? Where was my favorite sword?! And this is what I found from the UESPwiki.

    "Once the sword arrived in Vile's realm, Umbra escaped and cut away some of the Prince's power for itself. Umbra took the form of a dark being, in the shape of a man but with eyes like holes into nothing. The Prince did not want Umbra to escape with his power, so he changed the walls of his realm, essentially trapping Umbra there. Using his stolen power, Umbra was able to conceal himself in one of the cities at the edge of Vile's realm, fearing that Vile would return him to the sword. In the early Fourth Era, Umbra was attracted to the influx of souls coming from the rift in the realm caused by the first ingenium, which held Baar Dau aloft above Vivec City. Casting a fortune, Umbra learned that the rift would one day become wide enough to throw the Umbra Sword through, lessening the threat posed by Vile. That day came when the ingenium was destroyed; Umbra threw the sword to Mundus, while at the same time Sul and Vuhon, two Dunmer responsible for the ingenium, were sucked through into Clavicus Vile's realm.

    Umbra took them captive, and in return for his life Vuhon promised to build a new ingenium, which would tear a piece of Vile's realm away and let Umbra "escape", in a sense. Umbra agreed, and the two created Umbriel, a floating city powered by souls. Umbra fused with Vuhon and placed their joined soul into the new ingenium. Vuhon then began to call himself Umbriel, and ruled the floating city. The city of Umbriel was called to Tamriel circa 4E 40 by Chief Minister Hierem and the An-Xileel, who had gotten in touch with the city via the Hist, who in turn had made contact with the related sentient trees which ran the ecosystem on Umbriel. Hierem had promised use of the White Gold Tower to separate Umbriel from Vile's realm, but Vuhon first went north to the ruins of Vivec City, fearing that the Umbra Sword may be used to trap Umbra.

    However, when Sul and Prince Attrebus Mede arrived at Scathing Bay on Vvardenfell in search of the Umbra Sword, it was nowhere to be found. The sword had already been retrieved by the minor House Sathil eight years previous. Without Umbra stabilising the sword, it drove whoever touched it insane. Elhul Sathil had been the one to recover it, and had been driven into a killing frenzy. He was chained down and brought back to Castle Sathil on Solstheim. Once there, he regained possession of the sword and would not relinquish his grip. His father, Lord Hleryn Sathil, constructed a dungeon to hold his son until a cure could be found. Elhul stopped eating after the first year, and his father spent years reading up on the sword. Sul and Attrebus Mede eventually tracked down the sword, and were locked in Elhul's prison by Niraj Sathil, who feared the sword. The two defeated Elhul, who had become skeletal and impervious to pain, and used the sword to teleport to Vile's realm.

    With his power stolen by Umbra, Vile and his realm were weakened. The Prince tried to take the sword, but he couldn't handle it without Umbra stabilising it. Attrebus negotiated with Vile, and agreed to free his lost power in return for passage to the Imperial City. Sul and Attrebus found their way into Umbriel, and Sul wielded the sword in battle against Vuhon. It had no effect on him, as his soul was in the ingenium. In a final battle beside the ingenium, Attrebus was forced to wield the Umbra Sword and plunged it into the machine. This separated Umbra from Vuhon, trapping Umbra in the sword and mortally wounding Vuhon. With the veil over Umbriel destroyed, Clavicus Vile could enter. The Prince possessed Attrebus and used the Umbra Sword to stab Sul. Sul punched Attrebus and returned him to normality, before jumping on the orb of the ingenium with the sword still embedded in his chest. This turned his body and the Umbra Sword to smoke, likely destroying the artifact for good."

    Is there still hope for the sword, or is it gone for good?

  • March 8, 2013

    I take it you never played Morrowind or Oblivion. "I hope we never see Umbra again... durpy dur" not funny.

  • March 8, 2013

    I'm pretty sure it was destroyed for good. But maybe Clavius Vile reclaimed it before it was destroyed. You never know...

  • March 8, 2013

    That's the thing, there's no way to know for sure. Just not knowing is killing me. In TES 4, Martin destroyed a deadric artifact as a piece to build the portal to Mankar Camoran's "paradise". "The ritual will consume [the deadric artifact's] physical form. It won't be seen again on Tamriel for many years." Could this be the case for Umbra?

    Also, Umbra had claimed a piece of Clavicus' power for himself. If Umbra was destroyed, was Clavicus' power destroyed as well?

  • March 9, 2013

    Oh I want that tough fight against Umbra again, preferably the Morrowind style with a better system, for example a tough warrior in powerful gear and wielding Umbra that's travelling around Skyrim in hope to find someone to take the challenge and finally relieve him from his burden. That would be awesome.

  • March 9, 2013

    I was imagining fighting the "essence" of Umbra where it could involve different stages, in different spheres of existence on a cosmological scale. By battling the "essence" of Umbra you would be subduing and subjugating it to your will, taming it to your call alone. This would be quite a feat, something not even Clavicus Vile could achieve. I think this could make a very good quest story.

  • March 17, 2013

    unbra was one of the best swords. i wish it was in skyrim.

  • March 17, 2013

    clavicus vile's power would return to him. this could very well be the case for umbra. good point.

  • Tim
    Member
    April 28, 2013

    I just forge a daedric sword and enchant it with soul trap and then name it Umbra, problem fixed

  • Member
    January 23, 2014

    Ha ha. This is funny.

    Have you read the book? particularly the Lord of Souls?

    Vile said something there that was funny to me. I may be misquoting but in essence he said that if your arm got separated from you and took a name of its own, would you still entertain it knowing that its really your arm and not another being entirely?