Skyrim talk:Ebony Warrior

Sovngarde

When he dies he says he is going to sovengarde but he is redguard i thought only nords went to sovengarde? — Unsigned comment by Hikut (talk • contribs) at 13:10 on 8 December 2012

Most likely it's just an oversight as Redguards DO NOT go to Sovngarde.. --Arkhon (talk) 18:31, 9 December 2012 (GMT)

Then again, to paraphrase him, he's done just about all in his power that he thinks can be done. No more challenges, no more quests, no more villains. He may not be a Nord, but if all his boasting was true, then IMO, he's damn well earned the right to go to Sovngarde. Spiegel1 (talk) 18:48, 9 December 2012 (GMT)

I still disagree. In Redguard mythology they go to the Far Shore (Aetherius) with Tu'whacca (similar to Arkay) being the god who is trying to assist them. Sep, on the other hand, is a crazy god who's preventing people from reaching the Far Shore. There's also reincarnation involved in all of this. I don't wanna go deeper into details but the Redguard view of creation has more in common with the Elven tradition than that of other humans, who view the mortal plane as a blessing. In conclusion, the "Redguard Sovngarde" is called "Far Shore". --Arkhon (talk) 19:18, 9 December 2012 (GMT)

Bethesda probably just had to pick some race for him and decided on a Redguard for whatever reason. Maybe it's because Redguards are frequently called the best fighters in Tamriel or maybe they just flipped a coin to decide. In any case it is really just a minor oversight. RIM (talk) 19:28, 11 December 2012 (GMT)

1) Could he not just be a Redguard that believes in Sovngarde? 2) He's a Redguard because, well, "Ebony Warrior" refers to more than just his armor. LoveWaffle (talk) 22:56, 11 December 2012 (GMT)

(←) Maybe just two sentences in the notes section: "Despite being a Redguard, the Ebony Warrior awaits Sovngarde after death" and "The Ebony Warrior is the only non-Nord NPC capable of using Dragon Shouts." (talk) 09:16, 12 December 2012 (GMT)

I have to say, there's some circumstantial support for #2, that the race is a sort of joke. The line about Sovngarde and the fact that he uses Dragon Shouts are both things commonly seen in Nords. Regardless of whether they left this evidence intentionally, it does give reason to believe that the choice of his skin was done with a particular intent. However, the intent could've been to take advantage of the Redguards' skill set, not their skin color. I'm not sure we should say anything about it on the page. Minor Edits^{Threats•Evidence} 23:46, 11 December 2012 (GMT)

"1) Could he not just be a Redguard that believes in Sovngarde?" I don't think so, even if he would believe in Sovngarde instead of Far Shore, after his death he would go to Far Shore anyways... Sovngarde is a Nordish mythology. It's like saying that Christians would go to the Muslim Jannah if you understand my point. Personally I believe that his Sovngarde phrase same as the use of shouts is another Bethesda's lore fail. --Arkhon (talk) 16:56, 15 December 2012 (GMT)

Actually, no, that's not a great analogy because belief = power in TES. We have no idea how the various afterlives actually work- Skyrim is our first glimpse at a non-Daedric afterlife- but we know enough to say that Sovngarde is not "just for Nords", it's for people who Shor considers sufficiently like a Nord to let into his hall. There's no reason not to believe that, say, a Redguard raised by Nords in Skyrim and brought up to respect Nordic tradition would not get a chance at Sovngarde. You could say there is also no reason to assume he would, but it's certainly not as definitive as you are suggesting.

This is a rather controversial topic on the official lore forums, though, and it seems like every few weeks there's a new thread about it. Personally I agree with the suggestion above, make a note of it without trying to push any kind of spin one way or another. TC01 (talk) 18:10, 16 December 2012 (GMT)

I suspect he'd be able to go to Sovengarde. Players of non-Nord race are told by Tsun that they'd be welcomed back to Sovengarde at the end of their days (even if the player is a werewolf destined for The Hunting Grounds, or a vampire, who'd probably normally end up in Coldharbor at death, I suspect). It's probably a matter of belief over culture/ race. But then, it could be that the player is dovahkiin... and perhaps the Ebony Warrior is one too (there have been many throughout history, he's a non-Nord able to use shouts, and the Greybeard DID SAY it was not for them to know if there were any others at this time). — Unsigned comment by 76.164.151.180 (talk) at 23:36 on 12 January 2013‎

Can we really call him a Redguard, because when i killed him his body looked more jet-black than the light-dark brown color of most Redguards skin. And with the whole controversy over him going to Sovngarde and being able to use shouts; i don't think we can say his race is Redguard until we can look at it on the PC. TheFences (talk) 23:08, 22 January 2013 (GMT)

His race is indisputable, he is a Redguard. Data has been extracted to the PC (the format precludes actual playing of the DLC) and this is been checked. Any disputes about his talk of going to Sovngarde are for the forums. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 23:16, 22 January 2013 (GMT)

This topic is (now) unrelated to the content of the article, and more suited to the forums. Please feel free to continue the discussion there. This topic is now closed.

Perks?

I'm really curious as to what perks this guy has. I know he has disarming bash, that was annoying. — Unsigned comment by 75.157.164.100 (talk) at 00:33 on 9 December 2012

He has over just over 35 perks according to game data:

— ABCface^◥ 23:23, 11 December 2012 (GMT)

Umbra reference?

This whole quest seems pretty similar to how you get Umbra in other games. Mainly morrowind where an NPC in all ebony armor asks you to beat and kill him in battle and those NPC's tend to be above average in strength.. just a thought AzureKing (talk) 02:24, 9 December 2012 (GMT)

I think that the Ebony Warrior just represents an answer to all the players who were complaining that after reaching a certain level there's no worthy enemies in Skyrim. --Arkhon (talk) 18:31, 9 December 2012 (GMT)

Umbra in Morrowind was clad in Orcish armor, the one in Oblivion was in Ebony. That being said, I do think this quest is a callback to Umbra from Morrowind, particularly since the DLC is packed full of callbacks to Morrowind and Bloodmoon. LoveWaffle (talk) 22:48, 11 December 2012 (GMT)

Hm, I was thinking he was more of a reference to Gaenor. Gaenor was equally "difficult" to defeat and wore a set of Ebony as well. Sedrethi (talk) 17:45, 2 January 2013 (GMT)

However, Gaenor wasn't an honourable warrior looking for death. Gaenor was an annoying little fetcher who threw a hissy fit because you wouldn't give him all your gold... and his toughness was ENTIRELY due to his having a ridiculously high Luck score. ~ SotiCoto (talk) 20:23, 1 February 2013 (GMT)

I think from what I read on Umbra from Oblivion, that the Ebony Warrior might be connected to umbra like a relative of some sorts not sure but it also said something about Umbra's sword. It possesses the user and makes there own name Umbra so maybe, I'm just wondering that the Ebony Warrior is also connected to the sword. — Unsigned comment by ‎ 108.253.77.97 (talk) at 04:12 on 4 March 2014

I did a search of all dialogue records in Skyrim, and I didn't find any reference to Umbra. In the absence of evidence, this is just speculation, and better suited to the forums. --Xyzzy ^Talk 05:40, 4 March 2014 (GMT)

Reflect Blows perk glitched?

I just tried to kill the Ebony Warrior with my 2 handed Daedric Armored warrior build, and triggering his Reflect Blows perk OHKO's me every time, even though I'm armor capped and using Bones of the Earth and Secret of Protection. Apparently Reflect Blows doesn't consider armor rating or any other damage reductions. With these powers, his attacks on me don't do much damage. --24.92.180.9 21:08, 8 January 2013 (GMT)

Yup, I had that happen too. Dual-wielding Daedric swords that have a damage rating of over 700 each and sometimes when I take a swing at him, before my attack even connects, I just die. According to the Heavy Armor page, this is not how the perk is supposed to work, so I'm wondering if it's a glitch, something else causing the effect (unlikely), or if his perk is markedly different. Either way, it certainly is noteworthy that damage from reflect blows ignores all damage reductions. --BlackhawkXIII (talk) 02:20, 15 February 2013 (GMT)

Secret tip: if you can pickpocket either his cuirass, bracers, gauntlets, or helmet, you won't have to worry about his reflect blows perk. Dragon Guard (talk) 19:54, 24 July 2013 (GMT)

If you're playing on a higher difficulty the damage is multiplied accordingly. I thought it was funny when all these people with their overpowered weapons kept killing themselves against the EB and couldn't figure why, but this breaks him as far as being a good melee battle . 68.33.72.213 18:43, 19 March 2014 (GMT)

bad tip

in the quest page it says hes vulnerable to fall damage but in this it says hes immune which one is right?50.142.207.159 18:10, 16 February 2013 (GMT)

There is the beginnings of a discussion about these "facts" on the quest's talk page. Continue and/or contribute any findings there to prevent duplication. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 18:14, 16 February 2013 (GMT)

Location of the Ebony Warrior before going to Solstheim

I was already level 81 maxed out before Dragonborn, so as soon as I installed DB, the Ebony Warrior appeared at my doorstep in Whiterun, telling to meet at the "last vigil". I did this immediately, before travelling to Solstheim. In this case, he was to be found in Skyrim, approximately south from Yngol Barrow, high on a steep mountain ledge. 85.90.168.196 17:03, 8 March 2013 (GMT)

The UESP already states that he is always found in Skyrim, either in a major hold capital or at the camp site named Last Vigil in Skyrim (and thus never in Solstheim), so I am not sure what you are pointing at here? —MortenOSlash (talk) 08:46, 9 March 2013 (GMT)

It seems to me that the phrase "he will track you down" in the 2nd sentence is a little imprecise. It gives the impression that, like a courier, he will follow you around until he can challenge you. Instead he seems to lie-in-wait on a major city thoroughfare until you get close, and then he will approach you. In my case he was waiting half-way between Candlehearth Hall and the Palace of the Kings in Windhelm. Since I was fast-traveling between the cities, the inside front-gate of Windhelm was not close enough for the trigger for him to approach, so I didn't see him until I went looking. In the case of Whiterun it may be that the point-of-waiting is near the front-gate which is why he approaches as soon as fast-traveling in, or walking through the front-gate? Vasudaprime (talk) 09:57, 19 July 2013 (GMT)

I think the use of that phrase is more of a figure of speech than a description of game mechanics. If you can discover what the exact method is that the game uses, feel free to rephrase it. He approached me as soon as I stepped out of Breezehome after entering it the first time since I installed DB. I was level 95 at the time. --Xyzzy ^Talk 16:56, 20 July 2013 (GMT)

He appeared from thin air as soon as I walked out of Breezehome in Whiterun. He is only scripted to appear once you are in a Hold city, and have met the requirements for the quest. Does that help? Dragon Guard (talk) 19:11, 20 July 2013 (GMT)

Several Dragonborns?

Just noticed that the Greybeards say "Whether you are the only Dragonborn of this age, we do not know." This makes it possible that he is an Dragonborn, and offers an alternate explanation on why he talks about going to Sovngarde. --195.139.121.224 03:18, 4 August 2013 (GMT)

It is possible, but without direct evidence that he is a Dragonborn, it is just speculation. Use of the Thu'um and speaking of Sovngarde are not unique to a Dragonborn. --Xyzzy ^Talk 05:02, 4 August 2013 (GMT)

He's not a Dragonborn because he doesn't absorb dragon souls. -99.186.225.51 16:53, 11 November 2013 (GMT)

Doesn't absorb souls? That is scripted NPC behaviour. Only the Dragonborn can absorb souls. In-game, of course.

Anyway, if you want to talk more about the Ebony Warrior being a Dragonborn, take it to the forums. DG^{Any Questions?} 17:07, 11 November 2013 (GMT)

how do you know? did you see him kill a dragon? miraak can absorb souls. — Unsigned comment by ‎ 174.26.44.76 (talk) at 04:04 on 2 February 2014

If you can lead the Ebony Warrior to a dragon and get him to kill it, then you can see if he will absorb dragon souls. Barring that, as has already been stated, any other speculation is best discussed in the forums. --Xyzzy ^Talk 06:25, 2 February 2014 (GMT)

Headless bug - moved from article

Upon looting, the Ebony Warrior has no head.

When I killed him and looted his body, he had a head, as shown in this image I uploaded. If others are finding him headless, then it can be added back to the article as a confirmed bug, but it may have just been a one-off glitch for the editor who added it. --Xyzzy ^Talk 06:42, 15 February 2014 (GMT)

I believe it might be related to this bug described on the Heavy Armor page: "When wearing an ebony helmet in third person, you may notice that your character's shadow does not have a head". I wonder if it is related to this other bug described on the Ebony Warrior's page: "Ranged attacks that should strike his head will instead pass through him with no effect, due to his hitbox not covering his body above the shoulders".--201.14.217.12 06:53, 10 April 2014 (GMT)

Fall damage

I've killed him many times with fall damage. He hit the ground , slid for a while and died when he stopped. 68.33.72.213 18:55, 19 March 2014 (GMT)

Looks like this needs more in-game testing. --Xyzzy ^Talk 00:17, 20 March 2014 (GMT)

The Ebony Warrior has plenty of glitches and unfair advantage. So just make the fight even use a small one,but if your dead set on killing him without one Fus,Ro,Dah him off a cliff. (It works) — Unsigned comment by 54.197.76.83 (talk) at 06:53 on 1 November 2014‎

He had about 5% of his health left, and I used Unrelenting Force on him. After he stopped moving in the fall animation, he died. He was only moved several meters by the shout. DRAGON GUARD^(TALK) 18:40, 17 October 2015 (UTC)

Pickpocketing the Ebony Warrior

Although he has that unique perk that reduces your chance of success by 110%, you can get around this with a maxed out skill and sufficient Fortify Pickpocket effects. I was able to steal his arrows, potions, amulet, ring, boots, helmet, and even his gauntlets. There's also a chance to steal his shield, but it's harder than the rest. His armor and boots are the hardest of all, but still possible. This is a good way to weaken him before the fight, especially since his Reflect Blows perk won't work if he's not wearing a full set of armor. FrozenWolf150 (talk) 07:58, 9 August 2015 (UTC)

I added a bug regarding what happens if you pickpocket all his equipment off him. If you manage to steal everything, he will spawn at the Last Vigil with a new set of his armor, but no weapons. If you steal everything, save, reload, and attack him in the city, there's a chance a new set of armor will appear on him the moment he turns hostile. I tested this several times and the same thing happened each time. On the plus side, this is a good way to get a second set of his armor when you kill him at the Last Vigil. FrozenWolf150 (talk) 19:50, 21 August 2015 (UTC)

Spawning a new set of armors shouldn't be regarded as a bug, since almost any NPC will spawn a default set of outfits when none is in their inventory, and weapons aren't part of outfits in creation kit. Ifoolb (talk) 14:37, 30 April 2018 (UTC)

Is this article really still a stub?

It seems to have the same sections and about as much detail as the article for any NPC of similar importance in Skyrim. Is there something specific it's missing, that I could work on, or was the "stub" tag left on by oversight?

Saint invective (talk) 17:10, 28 August 2015 (UTC)

Ebony Warrior as Ebonarm

Could the ebony warrior be Ebonarm from Lore:Ebonarm? — Unsigned comment by 2.91.92.254 (talk) at 03:19 on 7 January 2017 (UTC)

No. Ebonarm is a God and cannot be killed, whereas the warrior wants to be killed and have his soul sent to Sovngarde. Ebonarm is described as having flowing red-blonde hair, and his shield has a red rose on it. The warrior has short black hair and a standard ebony shield with no markings. There is no evidence to say who he is, and speculation should be kept to the forums. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 19:13, 7 January 2017 (UTC)

Not in Sovngarde?

So either because of an oversight or because he just doesn't go there, I noticed the Ebony Warrior's name isn't on the list of people who reside (or can reside) in Sovngarde on it's artice. Can anyone confirm if he appears there after he dies? — Unsigned comment by 98.28.235.254 (talk) at 00:14 on 16 June 2017

He does not. This isn't really evidence against his belief that he will appear here as there are hundreds of believers that do not appear should they be killed beforehand. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 23:31, 15 June 2017 (UTC)

Ebony Warrior doesn't spawn.

When my character reached level 82 from smithing jewelry, The Ebony Warrior never spawned at any city, does the city need to respawn for The Ebony Warrior to spawn?Werewolfvampirre (talk) 00:53, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

No, it doesn't. The ebony warrior should simply appear. It's based on changing your location, though, so if you only stayed in the same location to raise your level, that may explain why he didn't appear. Try going indoors and back out, or hop around from one major city to another, then back again. If he still doesn't appear after that, try just Waiting for a couple of days and see if that does it. – Robin Hood  ^(talk) 02:28, 25 September 2018 (UTC)

Strange,because I leveled up to level 84 in Raven Rock and fast traveled to Whiterun, then Solitude, Then Markarth,Then Windhelm And finaly Riften. I even waited 4 days in Windhelm, 2 days in Bleak Falls Barrow and slept 5 days in Raven Rock, but he never appeared. I eventually got annoyed and just used the console to select him, enable and movetoplayer. He fortunately had the same dialogue and the quest started as usually.Werewolfvampirre (talk) 17:48, 30 September 2018 (UTC)

Stealing his equipment

All of his equipments can be taken from him before fighting him by using following method. At first you must enter sneak mode, after you become completely hidden, use 3 words of Unrelenting Force shout against him then use Mora's Grasp power( Quiet Casting perk is required), wait until he stands up, quickly pickpocket him( Perfect Touch perk is required). At this point, you are able to take any item from him regardless of pickpocket chance.

I'm moving this recent addition to the talk page because it seems like it's taking advantage of an exploit. Thoughts? --Xyzzy ^Talk 23:18, 11 October 2020 (UTC)

His Armor Rating and Damage Reduction Percentage:

Can someone verify the following calculations:

Since he likely has a skill of 100 in heavy armor and the perks Well Fitted and Matching Set, but no Juggernaut perk points, he should have the following Displayed Armor Rating:

128*1.4*1.25*1.25 = 280

(96*1.4*1.25*1.25=210 if he doesn't have his shield equipped)

This should result in a Damage Reduction Percentage of:

280*0.12%+5*3% = 48.6%

(210*0.12%+4*3%=37.2% without shield)

If that is correct, it might be useful to add the following line to the page: "His ebony armor, heavy armor skill and perks provide him with an armor rating of 280 (210 without shield), which results in a physical damage reduction of 48.6% (37.2% without shield)." — Unsigned comment by 92.105.87.3 (talk) at 04:29 on 21 July 2021 (UTC)

Disarm Shout

This has been marked as a question that needs to be answered.

The article says that the warrior uses the Disarm shout, given that the disarm page says that it only works on enemies up to level 30, and you have to be level 80 to even spawn this guy, does he have a special version of Disarm? Or does he just use a shout destined to fail?51.187.191.248 10:42, 10 August 2022 (UTC)

• He appears to have the regular disarm shout: DisarmShout "Disarm" [SHOU:00070981] and regular UForce, no others. I don't see anything in his scripts, nor the DLC2 perks and shouts, related to Disarm, so it's only use against the player must be on lvl<31 followers. Someone mention if he tries to use it directly on the player. I'm not 100% confident in this answer until I take a look at his quest's scripts, which appears to also be what provides him with his own DLC2EbonyWarriorPickPocketMod perk that's not directly in his list of perks.
  • Okay, I did go ahead and try to take a look. Unless the .psc files were decompiled incorrectly, I don't see anything in any of the 3 ebony warrior scripts that do anything to the Disarm shout, nor even applies the mentioned Ebony Pickpocket Perk, despite there being a Reference to it as a in the quest. So, still not at 100% certainty. 99.179.145.178 20:21, 7 October 2023 (UTC)

Ebony Warrior Has Only 50% Poison Resistance

Ebony Warrior has no Snakeblood so Poison works on him. 50% Poison Resistance from his race is not enough to stop a fork poisoned by a jarrin root concoction. Due0covid21 (talk) 08:15, 12 November 2023 (UTC) — Unsigned comment by Due0covid21 (talk • contribs) at 14:25 on 1 November 2022 (UTC)