Neoseeker : The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim : The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim FAQs : The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Dead Thrall FAQ

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Dead Thrall FAQ

by stuckinmypants   Updated to v1.34 on

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THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS FAQ

Some NPCs named in the sections below are part of the story. Some sections describing said NPCs, quests, or areas are also spoilers.



Special Thanks To GameFAQs user masterpug53. Your helpful information and posts on thralls inspired me to create this FAQ.


Also Thanks To:

  • GameFAQs user Cast_Supremacy for bringing Rigel to my attention.


  • GameFAQs user metatrongrhm1 for:
    • Correction of thralls possible enchantments
    • Correction regarding any enchanted pieces affecting the Dark Souls perk, not just Fortify Health.
    • Idea about noting any special loot that respawns on thralls.


  • GameFAQs user David for an absolute ton of great suggestions and feedback.


  • GameFAQs users Smackdowner1, carl8000, IamI3rian, for finding permanent items, and especially thekosmicfool for the big amount of work for finding and testing the permanency of items for the Permanent Corpse Exploit.



  • UESP for a ton of helpful information. All NPC stats came from here, as well as pretty much anything else you'd want to know. Check it out when you get a chance. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Skyrim


  • GameFAQs for the great website!




Updates

  • July 11th, 2012 - Started work on FAQ
    • Version 0.1


  • July 12th, 2012 - Finished bulk of FAQ (all major sections, initial NPCs). Not bad for a day of work. 43kb
    • Version 0.9


  • July 13th, 2012 - Put finishing touches on FAQ. Sent in for submission. 51kb
    • Version 1.0


  • July 16th, 2012 - Added Anise (P), Daynas Valen (P), Ghunzul (P). Added FAQ to Neoseeker.com. Added list of Sites currently hosting FAQ. Minor update to some context in the sections: Difference Between Thralling And Reanimating and Your Dead Thrall And You. Added a lot of stuff to Leveling Conjuration. Started to add the word "VERIFIED" under any NPC's name that I have personally verified as lasting longer than 11 days (which means he or she is permanent). Changed email from being broken up to now clickable. Does breaking up your email address really affect one's ability to not receiving spam mail? Let's find out. 69kb
    • Version 1.1




  • January 28th, 2013 - Minor updates to some NPCs and spelling corrections. Minor additions to a few sections. Minor format changes. Minor everything in this update. 128kb
    • Version 1.31


  • April 22nd, 2013 - A bunch of updates to a bunch of sections. Fleshed out a lot of information. Updated Orchendor (P). Checked out most stuff to still be in line with patch 1.9. Thralls appear to be unchanged as far as I can tell. Removed "Unique Dialogue" from thrall stat boxes. Just a few thralls actually have unique lines, so there's really no point. Added Grave Robbing section. 136kb
    • Version 1.32


  • October 21st, 2013 - Clarification about the amount of time needed to despawn some NPCs. If you visit them within 29 days the timer will reset (not 30, they disappear on the 30th day). Added note about Rigel Strong-Arm (P) disappearing after 29 days. Verified Vasha (P), Alea Quintus (P), Fultheim the Fearless (P). Merged Thralls That Retain Their Voice and Noteworthy Thralls into Unique Non-Permanent Thralls. Added Permanent Corpse Exploit section. 147kb **Version 1.33 + *March 11th, 2014 - Added Assassin's Writ, Letter from the Vampire, and Treasure Hunter's Note to Permanent Corpse Exploit section. Added notes from masterpug53 about items that stack regarding the Permanent Corpse Exploit. Removed note about viewing Formatted FAQ as one page since that option was removed. :( Added some user notes. 151kb **Version 1.34 + *May 9th, 2017 - Fixed a dumb formatting error that stretched out the page on mobile or small screens. No other changes.




Future Updates

On indefinite hold. :(

I may occasionally post small updates to this guide, but bigger updates are more unlikely to happen. Life keeps on moving and priorities shift. I will still read any PM you send me and I will still archive anymore information that you send me. I may get to it at another point in time, so don't let that stop you from sending in something, but also, if you have something worthwhile, put it out there for others to see (like on the message boards) since I can be slow updating this guide.

I've thoroughly enjoyed talking to all of you guys and reading your messages. I hope you enjoyed this FAQ and got some helpful information out of it. It really is wonderful to talk to other people of a like mind. I really do appreciate all of the kind words that I've received. I still hang around on the boards, so say "Hi" sometime.

Love,

 Stuck




Contact Information

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my FAQ. Hopefully you enjoyed reading the guide as much as I enjoyed making it. If you'd like to use this FAQ on your website, all you have to do is ask for permission and I will more than likely give it to you, provided that you do not alter the contents of the FAQ and your website is not lewd or offensive. GameFAQs is the site that I hang out at most, so more than likely the most recent version will be there. There's a lot of information regarding Thralls, especially the permanent thralls, as such, I'm sure there is a lot of information that I don't have or that is not very well known. So if you want to add something, PM me and if I can put it in, I will. Also, I'm not perfect, so if you see something wrong, correct me. I'd rather have you tell me that I have wrong information, than me misleading people that are here looking for information. If you want to contact me with questions, comments, suggestions on what to add, punctuation corrections, information corrections, or whatever else, please do so through a private message.



Send Me A Private Message On GameFAQs

If you have a message board account level 10 or higher, you can send me a PM. The link is here --> http://www.gamefaqs.com/pm/new

My forum name is "StucklnMyPants". The "I" in the word "In" is actually a lower case "L".




Introduction

The main focus of this guide is to provide clear and concise information regarding thralls. Most information regarding thralls is sparse and split up between different web pages, sites, and people. My goal is to gather as much information regarding the aspects of thralling, and contain it in one simple guide. Many players, including myself, like thralling NPCs. As such, this generally entails keeping multiple bodies in a certain area, like your house, or an indoor area (commonly referred to as a 'cell'). The problem though, is most NPCs disappear after one day (as of patch 1.9) and provided that you are out of the area. This is where this guide comes in handy. There are certain NPCs that will not disappear, even if you leave the cell for a month (in game time). This guide will tell you where you can find these Permanent Thralls, and what you can expect from them (generally not much). Also include are Unique Non-Permanent Thralls. These thralls may not be permanent, but they offer something unique to the player, whether it be unique voice clips, exceptionally strong powers, or whatever else.




Difference Between Thralling And Reanimating

If you're thinking to yourself that thralling sounds an awful lot like your reanimate corpse spell, then you are right. It's purpose is to bring dead NPCs back to 'life', so to speak. The main difference here is the amount of time the spells raise corpses for. Raise Zombie, Reanimate Corpse, and Revenant all raise a NPC or animal 60 seconds (2 minutes and 12 seconds if you dual cast the spell). Dead Thrall on the other hand, raises only humanoid NPCs for 23,976 hours which, for all intents and purposes, makes your thrall permanent. These times can be doubled if the respective perks in the Conjuration tree are taken. Necromancy doubles the amount of time that undead are raised for, and Atromancy doubles the amount of time that Atronachs are raised for. With these perks, you are now looking at 120 seconds for a single cast, 264 seconds (4 minutes and 24 seconds) for dual casting, and a massive 47,952 hours for your thrall.

Another notable difference is what happens to your Zombie after they die. With Dead Thrall, their body will go lifeless and just fall to the ground. With any other spell (Raise Zombie, etc.) they will turn into an ash pile after their time has expired. This prevents them from being raised again, whereas a body can be resurrected an infinite amount of times with the Dead Thrall spell.

So, now you are saying to yourself, "There's no point to use anything other than Dead Thrall". And you are right, to a degree. The unfortunate side to this is, you won't have access to the Dead Thrall spell until you obtain at least 90 in your Conjuration skill. Where's the fun in having the best spell from the start, right? But if you are looking for the quickest way to level up your Conjuration skill, keep reading.




Leveling Conjuration

General Strategy And Tips

Conjuration is leveled depending on what spell you use. Generally, higher leveled spells will give you more experience in Conjuration. Most spells require you to be near a hostile enemy to actually receive experience, as casting the spell isn't enough. That means, repeatedly casting your Bound Sword spell and the sheathing it, will NOT grant you any experience. However, if you are near an enemy, you will gain experience every time you recast the spell. The same goes for Zombies and thralls, you'll need to be near an enemy to receive the experience. You can however kill your Zombies or thralls without being near an enemy, to receive experience. It is also important to note, that you only receive experience the first time that you are near enemies per spell cast. That means that if you cast Bound Bow and then clear out an entire room full of mages, you only get experience for the first enemy that you were near. To maximize experience, you would need recast the spell after defeating each enemy. This is unnecessary and is probably more trouble than it's worth, and personally I wouldn't bother. It breaks the flow of the game and can force a low level player to do a lot of waiting to regenerate magicka. It will level up fast enough just by naturally casting it when you need to. But if you are looking to fast track your way through Conjuration, I've got some tips to make it easier.

The fastest way to level Conjuration is to repeatedly cast Soul Trap on a dead corpse. If you have a horse, like Frost or Shadowmere, you can cast Soul Trap on it as well if you don't have access to a corpse. Either way is equally as fast. As of patch 1.9, this still works and I'd argue that it's by far the fastest, albeit rather boring, way to level up your Conjuration Skill. You're first goal would be to get the Soul Trap spell. It can be purchased usually from any of the hold's Castle Mages. The mages are all found in the castle in each town or in the Mages Guild in Winterhold. For example: Farengar Secret Fire (that's the Mage), in Dragonsreach (the castle), in Whiterun (the early town you go to, center of the map), usually sells this spell.


Tip

  • If you don't see the spell or item that the vendor sells, a quick way to change their inventory is to attack them. Save the game first. Attack the vendor until they become hostile. Reload your save. That's all there is to it. Once the game reloads, the vendor will have different items. Repeat the process if you don't see what you want (although you don't have to save it if you didn't buy anything).


Your next goal will vary, depending on how much work you want to do. If you are eager to just get started, find a corpse or kill a hostile enemy (preferably in a secluded area so you won't be interrupted). Now start casting Soul Trap on the dead body. You can also use a horse if you don't want to use a dead body. This is more than likely an unintentional bug, but it works nonetheless. If you are low level, you will probably only be able to cast one or two Soul Traps before you are out of Magicka. So to replenish it, you will have to press the Wait button and wait for an hour. You can also wait for about 30 seconds (actual time) for you magicka to fully recharge, but pressing the Wait button and waiting for an hour is faster. If you want the spell to cost less magicka, you can do a little bit of extra footwork before you start casting Soul Trap.

If you have found or bought an item that reduces the Conjuration cost, you can enchant yourself four pieces of armor (Five pieces if you use certain equipment, more on that in a second) that can greatly reduce the amount of Magicka required to cast the spell. If you are having trouble finding an item, you can use the trick from above to reload a vendor's inventory. The items that you can enchant with Conjuration reductions are:

  • Helmet or Circlet
  • Armor
  • Ring
  • Necklace
  • Certain Helmets in addition to a Circlet

A Grand Soul gem filled with a Grand Soul is preferable, but these can be expensive or hard to get at a low level. So just fill them with whatever you are comfortable with and proceed to enchant yourself some Conjuration reduction equipment. If you are confused as to why I listed five pieces as being able to worn at the same time, here's why: For whatever reason (a bug obviously and still works as of patch 1.9), the game allows you to equip certain Helmets and a Circlet at the same time. Normally, a Circlet or Helmet count as one piece of head gear. You can only have one equipped at a time and if you equip another, the first one will be unequipped so the second one can be equipped. Certain Helmets and Circlets, however, do not de-equip each other, so you can have two pieces of head gear equipped at the same time. These Helmets that do not de-equip Circlets are:

  • Falmer Helmets
  • Pentius Oculatus Helmets
Just For Posterity's Sake

The Jagged Crown (received from the aptly named mission The Jagged Crown, which is an early quest when siding with either the Imperials or Stormcloaks in the Civil War quest line) and an Ancient Shrouded Cowl (which can be acquired from the quest Locate the Assassin of Old which is part of the Dark Brotherhood quest line), can both be worn in addition to a Circlet. However, the Jagged Crown will be removed from the player's inventory after completing the appropriate quest (it also may not be able to be enchanted, not 100% sure), and the Ancient Shrouded Cowl already has an enchantment on it, thus preventing the player from adding another one. So while they can both be worn with a Circlet, they do not benefit us in any way as we are trying to lower the cost of Conjuration.

A Falmer Helmet or Pentius Oculatus Helmet may be a bit out of the way to get, but if you want it, your option is there. So, once you have at least 90 skill in Conjuration, you will be ready to undertake the Conjuration Ritual Quest which will give you access to the Dead Thrall spell.




Free Levels in Conjuration

Mainly from Skill books found through out the world, here are some locations for getting some easy points. There are a total of Five unique books, with multiple locations, that will increase the players level of Conjuration by one. You can only receive one point in a skill increase from each book, so any extra copy of the book that you find will not provide an increase to your Conjuration skill. It may be advantageous to hold off on reading these until your level in Conjuration is relatively high (around 70 or 80, or even waiting until 85), as the higher the players skill in Conjuration, the longer it takes to gain a level. The books are listed in what order I have deemed to require the least amount of time or challenge to obtain, to most amount of time or challenge to obtain. In other words, the easier ones to acquire are listed first.




READ THIS BOX BEFORE PICKING UP ANY SKILL BOOKS

If you plan on saving your skill books, then DO NOT PICK UP ANY SKILL BOOKS. When you pick up a skill book, it will first open up to the title page, at which point it will grant you a skill point. This is what you are trying to avoid. So how do you acquire the book without interacting with it? The first way would to hold off entirely on interacting with the book until you want the skill point. This will require a little more backtracking when the player finally wants to use the skill book, but the option is there.

An easier way to acquire a skill book without reading it is to have your follower pick the book up for you. If you talk to your follower, and ask them to do something for you, a cursor will appear on the screen. Now just point the cursor at the book and tell them to take it. When they do, it will be placed into their inventory. You are now free to move the book to your inventory by trading items with them. Just be careful not to press the attack buttons in the menu as that will allow you to read the book, which you don't want to do.

There's also a neat little trick you can do to quickly ask your follower to do something. If you hold down the Interact button on them (The "A" button for 360, the "X" button for PS3, etc.) it will automatically go to the cursor allowing you to point at something for your follower to interact with. This let's you bypass directly talking to them, and then having to cycle through dialog options. It's sometimes finicky on when it decides to activate (at least on the 360 version), so I usually end up looking at my follower's left foot or left arm to get it to activate. To me, it seems to vary by what type of armor your follower is wearing. With no armor or leather armor, you can look just about anywhere and get the prompt to show up. But when wearing Ebony armor, I can usually only get it to activate when looking at the follower's left side of their body.

Just try different areas on their bodies until you get one that works reliably. Also note that if you hold the activate button and it doesn't activate, and then if you release the activate button while still having your cursor over your follower's body, you will just talk to them. To get around this, if holding the button doesn't activate the quick "follower interact with" function, just look away from them and release the activate button.




2920, Hearth Fire, v9

This book is found in multiple locations. You only need to read one to get the skill point.


  • Found underneath the counter in the Mortar and Pestle in the town of Dawnstar


  • Found in Rimerock Burrow. The book is located in the dungeon near the end. It's on top of small table in a bedroom. Head West on the road from Solitude until you get to the Statue to Meridia. From the Statue to Meridia head directly North until you get to Wolfskull Cave. From Wolfskull Cave, go directly West on the road until you get to Lost Echo Cave. Rimerock Burrow is directly Northwest from Lost Echo Cave, but if you stay directly on the road at Lost Echo Cave and continue to head West, it will take you Rimerock Burrow.


  • Received as a quest reward for completing the quest Hitting the Books. Hitting the Books is received by talking to Urag gro-Shub at the College of Winterhold. He's usually found in the Arcaneum. NOTE: The player will only receive this book if he or she has already read or obtained The Doors of Oblivion.


  • Just a little ways North of Pinewatch. Pinewatch is Southwest of The Guardian Stones and directly West of Helgen. Walk North from Pinewatch until you get to three logs that are stacked close by each other on the ground. From there just a short ways, there is another set of 3 logs on the ground to the Northwest, and a small sacrificial place to the Northeast. The sacrificial area will have 9 thin and tall stones sticking out of the ground, as well as a cement slab with a skeleton laying on it. The book is also laying on the cement slab. There is usually a conjurer around, so take care to not knock the book off.


  • Head to Angi's Camp. From there, go East along the road until you get to Bloodlet Throne. From Bloodlet Throne go directly Southwest up a giant snow hill. Follow the hill up and to the West until you see two Orichalcum Ore Veins in the ground a short distance from each other. They are near a few trees and mixed in with a bunch of snow covered rocks. They will be easy to spot because they are black with a green glow running through the rock. From the Orichalcum vein that is most Northern, go directly West until you get a few feet from the edge of the cliff. Now if you look back South - Southeast, you will see a small black area next to the cliff face. The book is laying on the ground in-between two small candles.




2920, Frostfall, v10

This book is found in multiple locations. You only need to read one to get the skill point.


  • Belyn Hlaalu's House, which is Located in Windhelm. The book is located on the second floor, behind the dresser that is next to the bed.


  • Sunderstone Gorge, which is located a ways Southwest from Whiterun. If following the road from Whiterun Southwest, the player will eventually run into the cave. Sunderstone Gorge is just Southeast from Fort Sungard. The book itself is found in the room with the Dragon Shout wall, located on a pedestal.


  • Ironbind Barrow, which is located North-northwest of Nightgate Inn. Nightgate Inn can be found by following the river West from Windhelm and then proceeding a few hundred steps North when the river dead ends. *NEED TO FIND EXACTLY WHERE BOOK IS LOCATED*


  • Start by heading to Evergreen Grove, which is Northwest of Falkreath. It's also just Northwest of Falkreath Watchtower. From Evergreen Grove head southwest to the nearby Dragon Burial Mound. From the Burial Mound, walk directly south until you see a cement slab that is used as a sacrificial alter. The book is on the alter.


  • From Ivarstead, head East to Geirmund's Hall, which is located on a small island. From this island, look directly South and notice the ridge above the road. There is a Necromancer on top of this ridge that carries the book. *NEEDS TO BE VERIFIED*




Liminal Bridges

This book is found in multiple locations. You only need to read one to get the skill point.


  • Falkreath Watchtower, which is just Northwest of Falkreath. At the top of the watchtower will be a Necromancer that has set up his home. Inside of his tent lays the book/


  • Broken Tower Redoubt which is just East of Karthwasten. At the top of the tower, the book is in the Briarheart's room on a table.


  • Just East of Sleeping Tree Camp, which is West-Southwest from Whiterun. From Whiterun head Southwest until you hit the Western Watchtower. From there, keep going West and you will eventually hit Sleeping Tree Camp. Look for the purple-ish tree sitting in a small pond. Once you get to Sleeping Tree Camp, go directly East until you get to a stone altar. The book is on the altar.


  • Apparently 2 copies are in Shalidor's Maze, which is a subsection of Labyrinthian. Labyrinthian is Northwest of Whiterun and Northeast of Drelas' Cottage. Shalidor's Maze is just to the East of the Labyrinthian map marker. One copy can be found while going through the Maze. *NEED TO CONFIRM, AND FIND OTHER COPY''




The Doors of Oblivion

This book is found in multiple locations. You only need to read one to get the skill point.


  • The Hall of the Dead in Falkreath. Found under a bed inside the Hall of the Dead,


  • South-Southwest of the Sightless Pit. The Sightless Pit is West of the Shrine of Azura. The Shrine of Azura is Northwest of Windhelm and just South of Winterhold. From the Sightless Pit walk South-Southwest just a short ways until you see an altar with a skeleton on it. The book is on the altar.


  • Reachcliff Cave, which is Southeast from Markarth. From Markarth walk Southeast along the road until you reach Markarth Military Camp which is just outside the city limits of Markarth. From there, continue Southeast along the road until Reachwater Rock. From there, Reachcliff Cave is just Southwest. The book can be found on the bottom shelf of one of the bookcases.


  • Illinalta's Deep, which is directly North of The Lady Stone. The Lady Stone is directly West of The Guardian Stones. The book is in Illinalta's Deluge which is the second area to this dungeon. The book is in the Northwestern part of the first room in this area, on a table.


  • Fellglow Keep, which is Northeast from Whiterun. Directly Northeast from Dragonsreach is Shimmermist Cave. Directly East from there is Fellglow Keep. There are three areas to Fellglow Keep: Fellglow Keep Dungeon, Fellglow Keep, and Fellglow Keep Ritual Chamber. The book is located in Fellglow Keep. If entering into Fellglow Keep from Fellglow Keep Dungeon, the book will be on a podium in the first room.




The Warrior's Charge

This book is found in multiple locations. You only need to read one to get the skill point.


  • Understone Keep in Markarth. The book is in the Jarl's Quarters, on a table near the bed.


  • Just North of Southfringe Sanctum. Southfringe Sanctum is located Southeast of Helgen and just South of Fort Neugrad. Once you are at the entrance to Southfringe Sanctum, head North until you run into the rock-face. It is sitting next to a chest, by a tree.


  • Just Northeast of Ivarstead. If you follow the river North from Ivarstead until it splits off in two directions, the river going East will dead end into a road that goes back Northwest. It's about 150 feet up along the road. There will be some concrete rubble and a broken down cast iron door. The book will be sitting in a small alcove of the rubble on top of a basket.


  • Brittleshin Pass, which is located just Northwest of The Guardian Stones and North of Lake Illinalta. The book will be in the main chamber near the Arcane Enchanter.


  • Stillborn Cave, which is located directly North of Windhelm, just off the road. The book can be found behind the first Falmer tent, next to a trap.




+1 To Conjuration For Completing The Quest Panteas's Flute

You can receive the quest from talking to Panteas at The Bard's College in Solitude. Once completed, you will receive +1 to every magic skill, including Conjuration.




+5 To Conjuration For Reading the Oghma Infinium

This book is obtained as a quest reward for completing the quest Discerning the Transmundane, which can be started by talking to Septimus Signus at Septimus Signus's Outpost. Septimus Signus's Outpost can be found by walking directly North from Winterhold. When reading the book, the player will have the option to choose:

  • The Path of Might - Which will increase your Combat skills by 5 (Archery, Block, Heavy Armor, One-handed, Smithing, Two-handed).
  • The Path of Shadow - Which will increase your Stealth skills by 5 (Alchemy, Light Armor, Lockpicking, Pickpocket, Sneak, Speech).
  • The Path of Magic - Which will increase your Magic skills by 5 (Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Enchanting, Illusion, Restoration)




Saving all of these skill increases until you hit 79 in Conjuration will put you exactly at 90 Conjuration. This can save a lot of time and money as levels take more casts to level up the higher in skill you are, and trainers require more gold the higher level you are training in Conjuration. HOWEVER, saving these books will likely only save time if you aren't grinding your Conjuration skill on a corpse or a horse. If you already have it set up to where you're casting Soul Trap on your horse, then the extra footwork spent obtaining these books will likely take you a lot more time to get your Conjuration to the same point.




Conjuration Trainers

These NPCs can increase your skill in Conjuration. But it doesn't come cheap. They ask for gold for each skill increase, and it only gets more expensive the higher your skill is. An important caveat to remember is you can only use a trainer to increase your skill five time per level. This means that if you are at level 10, and you purchase five skill increases from a trainer, you won't be able to purchase anymore skill increases until you reach level 11. This goes for all skills too. So if you use a trainer to purchase three skill increases to Archery, you can only purchase two skill increases in Conjuration, until you level up, at which point it resets to zero. It's a bit interesting how this works regarding the player, as at low levels, your skill tends to increase fairly quickly. But the skill increases from a trainer are also relatively cheap. At higher levels, it takes a lot more time to increase your skill, but trainers cost a lot more money. So do you try to get all the levels you can early on for cheap? Or do you try to save your gold and purchase skill increases when it gets harder to level up? Honestly, I can't say if one is better than the other, since I think there is no right or wrong way to play and it really just depends on the players preference.

Take note of the box when you purchase a level in a skill. When you purchase a skill increase, the bar fills up, the skill increases by one, and the bar then resets at the beginning. It's a bit deceiving, because it looks like you just gain enough experience to level up to the next point. This however is not the case. You actually gain an entire level, meaning if you're bar is halfway filled with experience, purchasing a skill increase will start you at the same part in the experience bar on the next level. You wouldn't actually notice it unless you were to back out of the menu and then talk to the trainer again, as when the second time you talk to the trainer it will have your accurately listed experience for your skill. You could also take note of how far along you have progress in the current level in the Skills menu, use a trainer, and then go back into your Skills menu. It will show that you've retained your experience and receive a full levels worth of experience from the trainer.

It's important to note that each trainer can only level up to a certain level. Common trainers can level your skill from 1 - 50. Expert trainers can level your skill from 1 - 75. Master trainers can level your skill from 1 - 90. Also be aware that each trainer costs the same amount for that level. So a Master trainer, who can train you to a higher level, will not charge you more gold than a Common trainer will. So if you always want to use a Master Trainer, you won't have to pay any more gold than if you used a Common Trainer.




Common Trainer

Can train player from Level 1 to 50

  • Runil
    • A Priest in Falkreath, usually in the Hall of the Dead




Expert Trainer

Can train player from Level 1 to 75

  • Phinis Gestor
    • College of Winterhold, usually in the Hall of Countenance




Master Trainer

Can train player from Level 1 to 90

  • Falion
    • Falion's House in Morthal




Obtaining the Dead Thrall spell

The only prerequisite to obtain this spell is to have at least 90 skill in Conjuration. Once you have that, make your way to the College of Winterhold in the town of Winterhold. At the college, find Phinis Gestor and pick the dialog option about wanting to know more about Conjuration. He will give you a quest to find a Sigil Stone and also a Summon Unbound Dremora spell. Follow the quest marker to the top of the College and use the Summon Unbound Dremora spell. Choose the dialog option demanding that the Dremora submits, will turn it hostile, but don't worry, that is the progression of the quest. After you defeat it, summon it again. This time, you will demand a Sigil Stone, so once you defeat it and summon it again, it will give you the Sigil Stone. Bring this back to Phinis to complete the quest. Your reward will be the Flame Thrall spell. You will also be able to purchase from Phinis, the Storm Thrall spell, the Frost Thrall spell, and most importantly the Dead Thrall spell.

Quick Walkthrough

  • When you have 90 Conjuration, talk to Phinis Gestor (at the College of Winterhold) about learning more about Conjuration.

  • Go to the top of the College and cast the Summon Unbound Dremora spell that you received from Phinis.

  • Defeat the Dremora and then talk with it.

  • Summon it again.

  • Defeat it again and then talk with it again.

  • Summon it again to receive the Sigil Stone.

  • Return to Phinis




Your Dead Thrall And You

General Information

You did it! You finally have a minion/slave/friend. And they said it couldn't be done. So now that you have your permanent follower, what can you expect from them? Well, depending on the follower it can be good or bad. In the world of Skyrim, almost all NPCs are level locked. So what does this mean to you? NPCs that are level locked at a low level, aren't very effective in battle. That means that the Old Orc (P) that has been following you around since you were level 15, really isn't pulling his weight now that you are level 50. This is because he is level locked at level 25. Your thrall will level up as you level up, so if you were to thrall the Old Orc (P) while you are at level 15, he'd probably be around level 15 too. He would level up every time you leveled up, up to his maximum level (in this case level 25). So after level 25, you will continue to level up, while his stats are as high as they will go. So does that mean you shouldn't use any NPC below level 40? No, not necessarily. I'm a huge advocate for people playing the game in a way that they will enjoy. What it does mean though, is that your low level thrall will be merely a punching bag and more than likely, you'll have to pick them up after some battles. But that's okay. Sometimes it's entertaining to watch Fultheim the Fearless (P) say, "Must....Kill...." to a mudcrab only to be cut down in one swipe by its tiny little pincer.

So what are some perks of having a dead thrall? First and foremost, you now have a friend. And that's the most important thing of all. Okay, just kidding. Besides the most obvious answer of "Now you have more people to help you beat up other people", I'd say dead thralls are invaluable to the type of player that will horde items. Dead thralls give new meaning to the phrase "Pack Mule", since they can hold (theoretically) an infinite amount of items. They have no encumbrance, so you can just load them up with all of your heaviest stuff, and the most you'll get out of them is an, "UUUUHHHHHHHHHH" every once in a while. The only problem with this is, you are going to have to kill them or spawn in another conjuration so that you can loot their body. After you put all of your precious loot on their corpse, you are free to re-raise them and continue on your way. Pretty handy if you take "clearing out a dungeon" literally. Just be sure to take extra care managing your saves before loading them up with your most valuable loot. The phrase, "Don't put all of your eggs in one basket" comes to mind here. It would be a shame to lose a hour or more of time because you can no longer find your thrall, or they just happened to die to a bear when you weren't looking.

Thralls are also handy for keeping the attention off of yourself. This is useful to all characters, but probably more so to a Ranged character or a Mage. If your thrall is a Melee type character, they will generally hold the enemy's attention while you can unleash you attacks from afar. This may also make it a bit easy, but a change in the games difficultly can put some challenge back in the game. Another perk of having a thrall is, it fills everyone�s dream of commanding a small army. What? Everyone doesn't have that dream? Anyway, once you have 100 in Conjuration, you can take the Twin Souls perk which lets you have two raised thralls (or Atronachs) at a time. Now, if you give these thralls staffs that conjure Flame Atronachs, Frost Atronachs, Dremora Lords, etc., they each can raise one to fight with them. Now that bunny rabbit that was looking at you funny has to deal with you, your follower, two thralls, and three pets. 7 vs. 1 is pretty fair now, isn't it rabbit? That'll teach you to hop away from me...

You Can Keep Thralls In Addition To A Follower

Just to be clear, you will not have to choose between your follower and thralls. They can be kept in addition to each other. So if you've always wanted three people following you around, well, thralling is for you.

Now, let's talk about some problems that you will face. Probably the biggest problem is the AI (Artificial Intelligence). You may have noticed it with one of your followers already. You're wandering Skyrim and decide that you'll check on your follower, only to notice that they are nowhere to be found. With a thrall, that problem seems to only be exacerbated. The NPCs are programmed with poor pathing AI, so that means anytime you jump over a rock, they will have to find a way around. Anytime you cross a stream, they will have to find a bridge to cross. Thralls constantly get stuck on small objects too. So when you are in a dungeon, you may have to wait a while for your thralls to catch up so you can jump the enemies in the next room. Luckily, pressing the wait button and waiting for an hour or two usually puts them back with you. They also almost always (as of 1.9) will teleport to you when you enter your house, so it's just a "little annoying" sometimes rather than being "not worth your time". It's also worth noting that thralls are given the same teleportation parameters as horses. Yep, horses. When you teleport to a city, they get teleported to the stables. Most cities are close enough to the stables that your thralls will actively try to find you, and usually do so within a few minutes. I guess Bethesda really does consider them pack mules. *nudge* Huh. Huh. See what I did there?

In rare cases, they can disappear entirely from your game (possibly falling through the stage or getting stuck where you can't see them). Thankfully, this really is rare (I've yet to experience it and there are rarely topics regarding it) and you more than likely won't experience it, especially if you have the latest patch. By far the biggest flaw overall is just their random behavior. Sometimes they do a good job of following you (especially if you stick to roads). Other times, their pathing makes them run in the opposite direction. I've literally passed my thrall on a road, only to stop and watch it continue to run the opposite way past me. They have trouble crossing rivers, and even sometimes, they will not zone through some doors that lead into dungeons. You'll enjoy it more if you don't keep constant tabs on your thrall, and just let them wander around like the inept, brain-dead zombies they are.

"UUUUHHHHHHHH".... "UUHHHHHHHHHHH".... "UUUUUUUHHHHHHHHH"... "UUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHH". How do you feel about having that repeated over and over and over? Well, if you have a dead thrall, you'll hear it quite a bit. Depending on the person, it can make or break keeping dead thralls as a whole. Most NPCs that you thrall don't have unique voice clips, in fact, almost all of them don't. Only a handful of NPCs will not actually moan. So you will usually hear "Uhhhh"s through almost all of a dungeon. Personally, I don't really pay attention to it, as I can only do one thing at a time. Lucky me. The only time that I really notice it is when I'm in my house, putting away items and such. Spawning two Familiars (the ghost looking wolves) will kill off your thralls, so now all you have to deal with is two wolves howling for 60 seconds. But that's nothing a Great sword won't take care of.

"Stay away, that spell looks dangerous." "Uh, that spell looks dangerous." "That spell looks dangerous." "Keep your distance, that spell looks dangerous." In keeping with the theme from above, keeping a thrall may try your patience, since you will continually hear these sentences. ALL. OF. THE. TIME. For whatever reason, Bethesda decided that they would have the NPCs constantly remind the player that they have a thrall. And by constantly, I mean literally, every single sentence out of their mouth. Let me be the first to say to Bethesda, "Thank you. Hearing the same few sentences over and over does not bother me in the slightest. Seriously. I mean it. I don't mind at all that this only happens with thralls and totally kills the immersion." Okay. That was sarcasm. I really didn't mean it. It gets rather annoying, rather quickly, and it wouldn't be as bad if this dialog was cycled into the normal dialog, but as it happens, this is really about the only thing NPCs will say to you when you have a thrall. So now you don't hear about that Dragon roosting up on Mount Anthor. All you hear about is how dangerous looking your spell is. Over. And over. And over. And I used to wonder why players would slaughter entire towns. Now I know. Thankfully, they shut up when you kill off your thralls. So, if you travel into a town, it can be beneficial to your sanity to get into a habit of killing your thralls by casting Conjure Familiar or any other type of summoning spell ( any of the "cloak" spells in the Destruction tree works too, but only if you don't have Dawnguard installed). Or better yet, just take a Warhammer to your thrall's skull while everyone stands around you, commenting on your dangerous looking spell. And be sure to yell out, "DOES IT LOOK DANGEROUS NOW!?! DOES IT!?!" as the kill cam plays. Now your ears won't bleed, and you won't go on a killing spree. Yay! Just remember to pick them back up before you leave, especially if they aren't permanent.




Potential Bugs And Problems


This entire section is written with patch 1.9 in mind. Your mileage may vary if you are running a different patch.


In this section, I'll go over any problems that one might face when keeping thralls with regards to bugs, glitches, or the like. So far, the most noticeable problem with keeping thralls is having them disappear. The first thing to check, is their permanency. You can test this by dropping your thrall off at your house, fast traveling to somewhere that is (preferably) far away, and then waiting 24 hours. If you thrall is still there once you get back, there is a really good chance that your thrall is permanent. I say that your thralls have a really good chance of being permanent because it appears that not all thralls are permanent, but at the same time, they will stay longer than 24 hours. This means that if you test your thrall, and they are still there after 24 hours, you might assume that the thrall is permanent, but if you stay away awhile, for whatever reason, the thrall might not be there when you get back. So how do you know for sure?

The general theory right now is that there are three stages of thralls. First on the list are corpses that disappear after 24 hours (as in you need to be gone for at least 25 hours. If it's less, they will still be there). Almost all NPCs in Skyrim fall into this category. The overwhelming majority of generic NPCs (i.e. nameless bandits) will disappear shortly after you kill them, as well as the majority of named NPCs. There is nothing you can do to extend this, it's just they way that they are programmed. This isn't necessarily bad, because if the thrall is actually thralled, they will not disappear after any amount of time (unless you happen to play the game for over 20,000 hours with the same thrall). This allows players to use any NPC that is dead, provided that the thrall is at a level low enough to be thralled. On the flip side, this poses a predicament for the player that wants to keep multiple thralls, as leaving a thrall unattended for just a short period of time will see in their total departure from the game.

The second most common category is, thralls that are permanent. "Most common" is a bit of a fallacy here because these permanent corpses are anything but common, but at the same time, the player will see this category or a thrall from the category above, while rarely seeing an NPC in the last category (which is detailed in the next paragraph). So far, there are a handful of permanent corpses, but it is very possible that there are much more permanent thralls than anyone anticipates (again, thanks to masterpug53 for grave robbing). Currently, I have listed in the sections below, all of the thralls that I know are permanent. However, it should not be assumed that just because there are so little thralls mentioned, with regards to the amount of actual NPCs in Skyrim, that there are not many more thralls that are permanent. Just because there are only handfuls of information here or there, doesn't mean that there could potentially be many more thralls than the community has perceived. It requires time dedicated to it and testing. But I digress. This category remarked as "permanent", means just that. You can leave them in your house without fear of you showing back up one day only to find them gone.

The final category deals with thralls that last longer than 24 hours but are not entirely permanent. Each one is different (although I'm sure some can be the same) and can last anywhere from 7 - 29 days before finally disappearing. For example, Deekus will disappear after 10 days or so, which is the amount of time required to reset the location Hela's Folly, which Deekus is resident of. Ghunzul (P) will be permanent until the quest associated with him is completed, at which point he change to a 24 hour corpse. Havjarr Iron-Hand (P) will disappear entirely from the game if he is not visited inside of 30 days. Overall, this category is very small, and I could only give you a few more examples that I know of outside of the ones already listed. As such, most NPCs do not fall into this category and will more than likely be in one of the first two.

Now that you know how to categorize dead NPCs, you will know what to look for. Generally, if you want to test if a corpse is permanent, you'll have to wait a full 30 days to be 100% sure. But when waiting 30 days, you'll find that there can be some strange behavior from your dead thralls. There are certain corpses that will reanimate themselves, meaning when you show back up to your house, you could potentially be greeted by a few angry bandits. These corpses usually tend to be ones that were initially hostile towards the player when they were alive and they even behave in one of two ways. First, they will stay inside of your house, always hostile, and wait for you. That in and of itself is incredibly creepy, especially if the player doesn't know that this can happen. I had to change my britches the first time I saw this because I had zero armor on since I had been smithing stuff (weaning smithing gear), and I had no weapons equipped. As soon as I walked into my house, I was mauled by a Bandit Chief and a Bandit Marauder. Before I even had time to understand that there were enemies inside of my house attacking me, I was decapitated. Frightening and awesome at the same time.

The second way an NPC can potentially behave is, the NPC won't be hostile towards the player, even if they were normally hostile towards the player while they were alive. I've witnessed a Forsworn Briarheart walking down the street from my house, friendly to everyone. But if you interact with these enemies, they will immediately turn hostile. Waiting 30 days can even trigger the respawning of 24 hour corpses that you left in your house. I've only witnessed these hostile corpses respawning, and the aforementioned Briarheart was the one that this happened to. I wanted to test him out and see if he was permanent. He was not and subsequently disappeared from my game after I left the area for 24 hours. Many hours later after I collected quite a few more permanent NPCs, and I decided I would test them for a full 30 days just to make sure. After the 30 days passed and I proceed back to my house, and then passed by said Briarheart, casually walking down the street of Windhelm.

Another bug that one may experience is one's thralls arms or legs becoming stuck in the floor. This prevents you from moving your corpses around by dragging their bodies, but it is easily remedied by casting the Dead Thrall spell. They will have a little trouble standing up at first, but after a few seconds they will figure it out. Outside of pathing issues generally accompanied with thralls, these are the bugs that I've experienced. There is the ever rare, "thrall going completely missing" that was mentioned in an earlier part in this FAQ, but as also mentioned before, I've never experienced this nor have I seen many accounts of this. It is possible it was addressed in one of the patches, as now, most thralls teleport to you when you enter your house.




Hey! Look at his box!

Below, I have listed some really good (and quick) facts or tips about thralls to help ease you into *cue announcer voice*

THE WORLD OF THRALLING



Summary

  • The highest level that you can thrall an NPC is 40. That means any NPC over level 40 cannot be thralled. Period. The exception to this is Vampires. Taking the Necromage perk in the Restoration tree will allow you to thrall level 48 vampires. By exploiting a glitch, you can thrall a level 42 Master Vampire and then commit a crime to be sent to jail. Once you return from jail, your thrall will turn into a level 53 Volkihar Master Vampire. If you level 53 Vampire dies though, you will be unable to re-thrall him.


  • Some stats listed below have a tilde ( ~ ) next to the number. This is used to denote that I don't know the exact number and the value is somewhere near the number that I have listed. For example, if I said, "The Flame Thrall has ~240 health...", it means the Flame Thrall has around 240 health but probably not exactly 240.


  • Savage Strike in the One-handed skill tree and Devastating Blow in the Two-handed skill tree are counterintuitive to Conjuration. They have a chance to decapitate enemies. Enemies that are decapitated CANNOT be raised. You may want to rethink taking these perks if you plan on doing a lot of raising, or you will have to get creative and kill them at range. Alternatively, you could reload and earlier save until you do not trigger the decapitating animation.


  • Kill your Thrall before interacting with The Statue to Meridia, otherwise they may disappear. Permanently. You'll see why when you activate the beacon.


  • Keep your Thralls far, far away from Broken Oar Grotto. This place will eat your thralls and if you're lucky, you will spend a long time trying to get them out. If you're not lucky, they'll probably stay there forever.


  • Thralls will not and cannot Sneak or be told to Wait. If you are playing a stealthy character, a thrall can get you caught. Or serve as a distraction. The only way to make them wait is by swinging a hard object really fast at them until they fall over.


  • Thralls level up with you as you level up, up to their maximum level. If you are level 20, and your thrall is able to be at level 20, it will be. Each NPC also has a specific rate at which they level up compared to your character's level. So NPCs are set to be at a slightly lower level than you. Some are set to be higher.


  • Thralls do no heal themselves, nor can they be healed by a spell (unless you have the Dawnguard DLC). They will however fully restore their health after the last enemy in battle has been killed.


  • "Stay away. That spell looks dangerous."


  • Non-permanent corpses placed in non-resetting cells (Non-resetting like your house) still disappear after 24 hours.


  • You don't necessarily have to keep your corpses in your house. Any cell that does not reset can be used to store thralls, items, and equipment. Don't just take anyone's advice: Be sure to save before checking if a cell is safe. Most cells reset after 10 or 30 days, depending on how it was programmed. To check if a cell is safe:
    • Clear the cell of hostiles (if there are any).
    • Put a few worthless items in different containers.
    • Go somewhere far away and wait 30 in game days.
    • Return to the cell. If all of the stuff looks the same, and your items in the containers are still there, the cell is then considered "safe".


  • To check if a NPC is permanent AS OF PATCH 1.9:
    • Drop them off at your house.
    • Fast travel to a far away town or place.
    • Wait at least 11 days (although 30 days is preferable). Check the Permanent Thralls section for more info.
    • Go back to your NPC. If they are there, you have a permanent corpse (probably).


  • The easiest way to kill off your Thralls is to cast Conjure Familiar or any other spell that summons a minion. Any type of Cloak spell also works. As do Maces. Be aware that if you have Dawnguard installed, you can no longer kill your thralls by casting a Cloak spell.


  • "UUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHH"


  • If you currently don't have a Thrall, but people keep commenting on your dangerous looking magic, cast two summon spells (Conjure Familair). Flame cloak or any other type of Cloak will also work (provided you don't have Dawnguard installed), as well as going to jail.


  • If you are having trouble keeping your thrall alive, consider changing the difficulty to a higher setting. Wait, what? A higher setting? That's right. The reason being, the setting affects a global damage modifier. On Master difficulty, you deal half as much damage as you do on Adept. This also applies to every NPC in the game, meaning, your thrall will do half as much damage as they normally would to any enemy, but an enemy will also do half as much damage to your thrall. The reason enemies do so much damage to you is because a different global modifier affects the damage the player receives, and it more than likely just overwrites the previous global damage modifier. Cool, huh?




Grave Robbing

First off, huge props to masterpug53 for discovering this method. So what is Grave Robbing? In short, Grave Robbing ensures corpses are treated like corpses. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

Something unique happens when citizens that live in walled cities die; They get buried at the local Hall of the Dead. Within a day, all of their belongings are placed inside a coffin or urn. If the citizen is from Whiterun, the urn will be named. All other denizens of walled cities will have their belongings placed inside of an unnamed urn or coffin. After a day, the citizen is buried and subsequently removed from the game. So what's the problem? Well, there are NPCs that live in walled cities that are actually permanent, but because they are buried, they end up getting removed from the game instead. Grave Robbing ensures that these corpses are treated like normal corpses instead of disappearing because of the special flag that let's them be buried. The only cities with NPCs that are affected by this are:

  • Markarth
  • Riften
  • Solitude
  • Whiterun
  • Windhelm

The process itself is actually very easy. The most important thing is to keep a couple of different saves, as this is an exploit.

  • Kill and Thrall NPC.
  • Save Game.
  • Travel to a different walled city.
  • Go into an interior in the city you just fast traveled to (a house or a shop).
  • Wait 24 hours in the interior
  • The Thrall does not have to be physically with you at this point for this to work, and more than likely it won't be since they are transported to the stables when you fast travel.
  • Fast travel back to the city where you killed the NPC.
  • At this point the Thrall should be with you. If not, try entering a nearby house or walk out to the stables since thralls get teleported to the stables.
  • You can visit the Hall of the Dead to see the NPC's coffin or urn (you don't have to, but if you want to make extra sure, you can), just to make sure the process worked correctly. Whiterun is the only town that has named coffins. All other places will just have their belongings placed inside an unnamed coffin or urn. NPCs lose everything they own during this process, except their clothes, which are duplicated.
  • Corpses now behave normally. Some disappear after 24 hours, some are permanent.
Current NPCs that are turned into Permanent corpses through Grave Robbing:

  • Legate Rikke
  • Sybille Stentor
  • Vittoria Vici
  • Nilsine Shatter-Shield
  • Dinya Balu
  • Niranye
  • Idesa Sadri
  • Ysolda
  • Carlotta Valentia
  • Saffir
  • Lisette
  • Vivienne Onis
  • Lisbet

And that's all there really is to it. If you see masterpug53 around on the boards, be sure to give him a shout out and tell him what an awesome job he's done.




Permanent Corpse Exploit

So if I were to tell you that masterpug53 found yet another exploit, would you be surprised? No? Well, you should at least be excited. This exploit allows you to place certain items into dead NPC's inventories, which will prevent non-permanent thralls from disappearing. So even though you found a really cool thrall that isn't permanent, it can be now! These items are tagged with a permanent flag and do not disappear from the game. So if any of these items are placed inside a corpse's inventory, the corpse will be considered permanent, until the permanent item is removed from its inventory. It's really as easy as that. If you want to read through the topic, you can find it here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/615803-the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/65350682

Huge thanks to masterpug53 for figuring this out. Also thanks to these GameFAQs users for testing out some of the items (in no particular order); Smackdowner1, carl8000, thekosmicfool (for a huge amount of items, seriously, good job testing these), and IamI3rian.

Be sure to keep multiple saves, as always. The last thing you'd want to happen is to lose a corpse and possibly some items. Listed below are the items that have the permanent flag. To the side of the item is a link to UESP so you can find detailed instructions on how to obtain said item.


Apparel

Aetherial Crownhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Aetherial_Crown
Deathbrand Armorhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:Deathbrand_%28quest%29
Deathbrand Bootshttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:Deathbrand_%28quest%29
Deathbrand Gauntletshttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:Deathbrand_%28quest%29
Deathbrand Helmhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:Deathbrand_%28quest%29
Enchanted Ring***http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Under_Saarthal
Fjola's Wedding Bandhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Mistwatch_%28quest%29
Rahgothttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Rahgot_%28item%29
Ring of Pure Mixtureshttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dungeon_Delving_%28Caves%29
Saarthal Amulethttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Under_Saarthal
Shield of Ysgramorhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Glory_of_the_Dead

Enchanted Ring***

      • A note from masterpug53: "These are the three rings you scrounge off the floor during the Saarthal quest. However, only one of them seems to work. I don't know which one, so I just dumped all three into a single corpse's inventory to be safe, and that worked just fine."



Books and Notes

A Scrawled Notehttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Black_Star#Notes
Arvel's Journalhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Golden_Claw
Assassin's Writ (Dawnguard)http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Vampire_Assassin
Bandit's Journal (not sure which one)http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Bandit%27s_Journal
Bountyhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Bounty_Quests
Breezehome Furnishingshttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Breezehome_Furnishings
Courier's Letter (Dragon shouts)http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Courier
Cultists' Ordershttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:Cultists%27_Orders
Declaration of Warhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:March_of_the_Dead#Declaration_of_War
Dragon Investigation: Current Statushttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Diplomatic_Immunity#The_Informant
Eisa's Journalhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Pale_Lady
Eltyrs' Notehttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Forsworn_Conspiracy
Gissur's Notehttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:A_Cornered_Rat#Return_to_Delphine
Gratian's Letterhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:The_Final_Descent#The_Conspiracy
Heddic's Volunruud Noteshttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Silenced_Tongues#Detailed_Walkthrough
Invitation to Elewen's Receptionhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Diplomatic_Immunity
Isabelle's Letterhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Drowned_Sorrows#Drowned_Sorrows
Katria's Journalhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Lost_to_the_Ages#Detailed_Walkthrough
Kodlak's Journalhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Glory_of_the_Dead#The_Funeral
Lakeview Manor Charter (other two charters likely work too)http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Build_Your_Own_Home#Detailed_Walkthrough
Letter from a Friendhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Letter_from_a_Friend
Letter from Falk Firebeardhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Wolf_Queen_Awakened#Detailed_Walkthrough
Letter from Ralis Sedarys (only the first letter will work)http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:Unearthed#Detailed_Walkthrough
Letter from the Steward of Falkreathhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Tekla
Letter from the Vampire (Dawnguardhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Hunting_the_Monster
Letter From Quintus Navalehttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Repairing_the_Phial#One_Last_Attempt
Merchant's Journalhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Merchant%27s_Journal
Mogrul's Ordershttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:Mogrul%27s_Thug
Museum Pamphlethttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Pieces_of_the_Past#Receiving_the_Quest
Mysterious Note (from Delphine)http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Horn_of_Jurgen_Windcaller#Note_for_the_Dragonborn
Mysterious Note (Dark Brotherhood)http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:With_Friends_Like_These...#A_Mysterious_Note_and_a_Good_Night.27s_Sleep
Repair Supplieshttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:A_Night_To_Remember#The_Temple
Scrap of Paperhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Arkngthamz
Scribbles of a Madmanhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:Black_Book_%28quest%29
Skorm Snow-Strider's Journalhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Siege_on_the_Dragon_Cult#Forelhost_Stronghold
The Journal of Ralis Sedarys (All journals work)http://www.uesp.net/w/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&search=The+Journal+of+Ralis+Sedarys&button=
The Ulen Matterhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:Served_Cold#The_Ulen_Matter
Thalmor Ordershttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Thalmor_Orders
Treasure Hunter's Notehttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Treasure_Hunter_%28NPC%29
Treasure Map III (other maps may possibly work)http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Riverside_Shack
Weylin's Notehttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Forsworn_Conspiracy#Weylin
Writ of Executionhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:Morag_Tong_Assassin
Writ of Sealing (possibly all 3?)http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Writ_of_Sealing



Keys

Dustman's Cairn Keyhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dustman%27s_Crypt#Dustman.27s_Crypt
Goldenglow Safe Keyhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Goldenglow_Estate#Basement
Gyldenhul Barrow Keyhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:Deathbrand_%28quest%29#Bristleback_Mine_.28Northwest.29
Key to Alftand Lifthttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Alftand
Mani's Cellar Keyhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Frostflow_Lighthouse
Mistwatch Keyhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Mistwatch
Pelagius Wing Keyhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Mind_of_Madness#Blue_Palace
Raven Rock Mine Keyhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:The_Final_Descent#The_Conspiracy



Miscellaneous

Balbus's Forkhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Balbus
Diamond Dragon Clawhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_World-Eater%27s_Eyrie#Skuldafn_Temple
Emerald Dragon Clawhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Forbidden_Legend#Reachwater_Rock
Essence Extractorhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Discerning_the_Transmundane
Glass Clawhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Siege_on_the_Dragon_Cult
Iron Dragon Clawhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Evil_in_Waiting#The_Catacombs
Pelagius' Hip Bonehttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Mind_of_Madness#Solitude



Weapons

Bloodskal Bladehttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:Bloodskal_Blade
Kahvozein's Fanghttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Alteration_Ritual_Spell
Nettlebanehttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Blessings_of_Nature
Zephyrhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Lost_to_the_Ages



While almost all of these items can be obtained only once, it appears that certain items can be obtained multiple times. This means that you can theoretically have an infinite amount of permanent corpses. The items that respawn are things like; Mogrul's Orders, Writ of Executions, and A Scrawled Letter. Mogrul's Orders and the Writs of Executions happen to be from Dragonborn though, so if you don't have that DLC, you're best bet will be A Scrawled Letter that spawns on randomly encountered Necromancers after you complete the quest The Black Star (that is, if you're actually in need of permanent items and you've already collected the ones listed above). These encounters don't happen nearly as frequently as Mogrul's Thugs or even the Morag Tong Assassins that carry the Writ of Executions though, but they are technically infinite. And just to be clear, you need to be on Solstheim to get the first two random encounters to trigger, and once you complete the quest New Debt, Mogrul's thugs will no longer spawn. And just so you know, obtaining a copy of Mogrul's Orders is likely the fastest way if you plan on farming permanent items, as explained by masterpug53:

Mogrul's Orders seems to be the easiest to get, as the Mogrul hit squad encounter seems to have a fairly high spawn rate compared to other encounters. By repeatedly tooling around four different encounter points on the southern part of Solstheim (barely E of Raven Rock, then south of Highpoint Tower, then south of the Ramshackle Trading Post, then back to south of Attius Farm, then repeat the loop), the Mogrul's thugs encounter spawned roughly 1-in-4 times, and I walked away with at least 3 copies of the note every time I visited the island.

There is a special caveat to multiples of singular items though; if two copies of one item (like Morgrul's Orders) stack together in your inventory, then it is very likely that one of them has lost the permanency flag (which is crucial for this to work). masterpug53 explains it,

You know how sometimes repeating items will lose their potency? Well, this is because they're allowed to stack in your inventory; if two separate Mogrul's Orders becomes Mogrul's Orders (2) for any reason, one will lose its potency. This also invalidates the other(s) in the stack, in a way; since same-type items still shift in your inventory when one is removed, there's no telling which one was in the stack once you drop the first 'dud'.

So once you take a repeating note-type item into your inventory for the first time, you can't let it leave your inventory until you place it on the desired corpse; no dropping and re-grabbing to save space, no storing them in containers, nothing like that.

There's a couple exceptions to this rule. Bounties can occasionally be moved in and out of your inventory and not stack, but it's not a guarantee; best to play it safe.

On the other hand, Scrawled Notes will stack even if you're just picking up new ones for the first time, so get the one in your inventory into a corpse before the next necro-hit squad comes along (to my knowledge, the Scrawled Notes are the only ones have this particular problem).

Finally, duping these items seems to remove the "permanent" flag from the newly duped item, so while one could use glitches to obtain a numberless amount of items, it wouldn't matter since the game won't consider them permanent. Oh well. Anyways, with this glitch in your arsenal, you won't have to worry about losing those really unique thralls now. Thanks to masterpug53 and all the dedicated GameFAQs board users for doing the hard work and figuring this stuff out.




Equipping Your Thrall

Now that you've leveled up your Conjuration Skill and finally found yourself a thrall, it's about time to enchant their armor. First, a word on how their armor works. Thralls are unique to the fact that they technically can spawn an infinite amount of armor. This works by taking all of the items off of their corpse. The next step is to thrall them and then proceed through a loading zone (i.e. a door). This will make your naked thrall generate a new set of clothes. Take for instance, if you have a bandit chief, he or she will spawn a new full set of Steel Plate Armor. Or if you have a Mage, he or she will spawn a new set of robes and boots. Now there are certain caveats to this. First, not all NPCs always spawn the same amount of armor. Your bandit chief could spawn with or without a helmet. Some NPCs can even spawn with different types of armor, like Elven gloves with Steel Plate Armor. Secondly, your Thrall will not wear any -armor that you give them. They only wear the EXACT armor that they spawned in. Meaning, if you made leather gloves at a forge, and then give it to a thrall that spawned with leather gloves, they will NEVER wear the ones that you made. This means, your thrall is basically stuck with the armor that they spawn in. Thirdly, NPCs that spawn with items that are already enchanted (except for Mages' robes), tend to never equip them. Why? I don't know. It's just the way that it is.

The Exception To This

Are Forsworn thralls and any NPC that was added by Dawnguard. They'll equip most anything you give them.

It's important to note, however, that your thrall generates their gear from a table, commonly referred to as a loot table or gear table. That's why you could thrall a Bandit and see him or her spawn in Leather gear or Fur gear. So, if you don't like what gear your thrall has, just take all of its gear and then go through a loading zone. You can do this an infinite amount of times, but don't expect a whole lot of difference between their gear. You won't find a bandit that normally generates Leather Armor now generating Ebony gear. It will generally be pretty close to what they already have. Mages, for example, almost always spawn in robes. Some, however, might equip a set of Leather gear. You can just keep playing around with it for a little while to see what they spawn in.

Once you have found a set of armor that you like, you can now enchant it. Remember, that if you want your thrall to wear it, they have to spawn with it and it has to be that exact piece. If you took multiple sets of gear from your thrall, trying to get something different, you can enchant any of those pieces and give it back to them. It just has to come directly off of their body. Naming equipment is a good way of helping you keep track of it too. Your thralls can make use of a decent amount of enchantments on their armor. Assuming that they work just like followers, the only enchantments that will affect your thrall are:

  • Fortify Health
  • Fortify Heavy Armor
  • Fortify Light Armor
  • Fortify Magicka
  • Fortify Stamina
  • Fortify Unarmed
  • Muffle
  • Resist Fire
  • Resist Frost
  • Resist Magic
  • Resist Poison
  • Resist Shock
  • Waterbreathing

Weapons are a lot less restrictive than armor. Your thralls will equip any weapon that you give them and also make full use out of it. You can upgrade these weapons by using a grindstone and then you can enchant them too. It doesn't matter what you do to them, your thrall will still use these weapons. It may take a loading screen before they equip it, though. Your thrall will equip a weapon based on its material rather than it damage. So if you've smithed an Elven Dagger to a very high amount of damage, but you just gave your thrall a un-smithed Ebony Dagger to hold on to, your thrall will equip the Ebony Dagger that does less damage. Patch 1.9 was supposed to change this for followers so that now they will equip whatever does the highest amount of damage given their current skills, so I'm assuming that it would affect thralls as well. I haven't tested it yet, so take it for what you will.

Giving your thralls multiple weapon types will allow them to switch between them freely. This means they can use a Bow for long ranged attacks and then a Sword when the enemy gets close. Just remember to give them at least one arrow so they can use the bow. That's right, you only need to give them one arrow and from that point on, your thrall will have an infinite supply. And just like your followers, they'll constantly choose staves over weapons, so if you have Staves on your thrall, be mindful of that. It seems that they tend to choose Staves >>> Ranged >>> Melee. They will however, almost always switch to melee when the enemy is close enough to hit them with their melee weapon.

Now onto the even better news. Your thralls will make use out of shields and dual wielding. They will equip any shield that you give them, regardless of enchantments or material. They'll equip higher grade materials first, even if it provides a lower armor rating (might be fixed with 1.9). Now, about dual wielding: The most important thing about dual wielding is, the left hand weapon needs to be a Forsworn weapon. A Forsworn Axe or Sword will both work. Your thrall will use the Forsworn weapon in their offhand provided that you give them a weapon made of Steel or better for their right hand weapon. Anything lower and your thrall will use the Forsworn weapon in their main hand and refuse to dual wield. Dual wielding puts out by far the most damage per second. Giving your thrall a shield can help keep them alive longer as they make pretty good use out of the shield.

I saved the worst for last. After testing, equipping your thrall with any piece of enchanted gear does in fact negate the bonus from the perk Dark Souls, which increases your thralls health by 100. There is a workaround however. After giving your thrall their enchanted gear, you'll need to thrall them and then go through a long loading screen to get them to equip it (the loading screen where it shows a person or object, or a loading screen in or out of your house). Once on the other side, the bug will be in effect. Now your thrall is not receiving the health bonus. If you kill your thrall and then re-thrall it, it will now receive the proper bonus from Dark Souls. The enchanted armor will now be in effect too. The problem is, whenever you go through a long loading screen, the bug takes over once again. Meaning, you will have to kill and re-thrall your thrall each time you enter a new area. Annoying, to say the least. It basically comes down to whether or not you care about the extra health points over enchanted armor. This bug also affects mages that come with enchanted robes already equipped. If you want the health bonus from Dark Souls, then you'll need to either kill them and re-thrall them each time you enter in a new area or take their robes away and let them run around in boots only.




Atronach Thralls

Introduction And General Information

While the general scope of this FAQ is about humanoid thralls, I think these too are worth commenting on. All Atronach thrall spells can be bought from Phinis Gestor at the College in Winterhold, with the exception of the Flame thrall, which is automatically received from Phinis for completing the Conjuration Ritual side-quest. Atronach thralls come in three types: Flame Atronach, Frost Atronach, and Storm Atronach. If you've played the game for a little while, you'll probably have noticed a common theme; the only elements represented in the game are fire, ice, and electricity. These are the only damaging elements you can put on your weapons, these are the only damage reducing enchantments you can put on your gear (not counting the general magic reduction), these are the only magical attacks enemies will use, and these are the only damaging magical attacks that you can use. Fire works well against Frost, and conversely, Frost works well against Fire. Lightning is in the middle with no weakness or advantage to an opposing element. Simplicity at it's finest. Atronach thralls fall into this category. A flame thrall will do well against an enemy that is weak to fire, and little damage to an enemy that resists it. A frost thrall will do well against fire and a storm thrall will be less effective (but not really since they have the highest damage potential), but not as vulnerable to a potential element. In addition to element, these thralls each have different strengths and weaknesses. A fire thrall, for example, has low health but is smaller and quicker, thus presenting a harder-to-hit target. It also tends to stay at range when fighting enemies which helps it retain its, otherwise paltry, health. In these next few sections, I'll go over potential strengths and overall detriments of these thralls.

TL:DR version, I don't think any of them are particularly bad. They are each are useful in their own ways, although the Storm Atronach certainly has an advantage in damage compared to the other two. If you like using any of the thralls, don't let me dissuade you from using a specific one because it's not the "statistically" best thrall. Each one will effectively serve their purpose and aid the player. None are "so bad that they are not worth using", so don't feel obligated to use only one because you have deemed it the strongest. Now, when the Atronachs are compared to dead thralls, well, there really isn't much comparison if you have beefed up your thralls with armor and weapons and if you have picked a strong human to thrall. A well equipped and high level dead thrall will utterly destroy any Atronach. That's just the way it is. Does this mean that Atronachs are not worth using then? On the contrary actually, I'd say that they are useful for a few different reasons. If you've read through the bulk of this FAQ, you can probably guess the first point I'm going to mention.

Thought of it yet? "That spell looks dangerous." "UUUUUHHHHHHH". Does that ring a bell? If you've played around with your dead thrall a while, you've probably already grown a little tired of these two phrases. If not, you must have the patience of a snail. You know, because a snail is slow and it takes a long time to get somewhere.....oh, whatever. The point I'm making is, any Atronach thrall that you summon will not annoy you with their constant and incessant yammering about the lack of you allowing them to sit in a chair and rest for a while. At least, that's what I take "UUUUHHHH" to mean. Aside from the soothing crackling of fire from your Flame thrall, or the thud of crunching ice underneath your Frost thrall's feet, or the quiet sound, that can be best described as having a sound akin to thunder but closer to the volume of someone speaking softly, that emanates from your Storm thrall, they are completely silent. You will hear no groans and no moans. You will not hear asinine comments that habitually spew out of the denizens of Skyrim's mouths about your current spell, that you intentionally and knowingly cast ( Yes, it really bothers me in case you couldn't tell ). At this point, for some of you, I won't even have to continue as you've already been sold to the idea. But I shall proceed nonetheless.

The next point of eminence, is the ability to summon them whenever you please. You do not have to kill someone. You do not have to worry about storing bodies in your house. You do not have to wait on your thrall to catch up to you. You do not need to revisit the previous area to look for your dead thrall because he or she sometimes forgets how to use doors and is now missing. All you need to worry about is having enough magicka to cast the spell. The player definitely has to micro-manage a lot less. The ability to freely summon whenever and wherever, as well as not having to worry about re-thralling, since they are always the same when you summon them, is a huge benefit. They can provide instant assistance with little worry to the player about maintaining track of their presence. This alone is a great benefit that Atronach thralls have over dead thralls. Being able to cast the same spell and receive the same Atronach lifts a certain "supervisory" feeling that a player can sometime perceive when maintaining and keeping dead thralls.

Really, the biggest detriment of an Atronach thrall, is the lack of potential power compared to fully realized dead thrall. I mentioned this earlier, but it is the reason why many players prefer dead thralls. However, I think the dispensable nature of Atronach thralls counteracts the lack killing power and, generally, low health pool. Atronachs have useful attributes, marred by downright physical weakness. It is, a fair trade, I think. It's also important to remember to take any perks deemed necessary in the Conjuration tree relating to the Atronachs if one is going to constantly rely on them. Notably, Elemental Potency, which increases the health your Atronach has by 50%, is the main one to strive for. Speaking of which, Elemental Potency does not increase the damage done by your Atronach, just its health. I have verified that it is a 50% increase, except the Frost Atronach (the 60 second version), which appears to get an even bigger bonus, however, the Frost Thrall (the permanent version) gets an increase to health that is much less than 50%. I'm not sure if this was intentional or not, but I'll cover it more in the Frost Thrall section. And before you ask, Atronachs are the only things affected by Elemental Potency. That means your Dremora Lord or your Familiar does not receive any extra health. Unfortunate, I know. It's a pity that there isn't permanent versions of all of the minions that you can summon.


I am 99.9% positive that thralls have static amounts of health. They have the same amount of health when the player is level 10 or level 60. From what I can tell, Atronachs do not have, or rather, have no need of magicka or stamina. Particularly, I've never witnessed them unable to cast magick, so I'm assuming that magick is treated more so as an ability rather than magick that requires magicka, at least with regards to how magicka is treated with the player or other NPCs. In other words, players use magicka to cast spells while Atronachs use no magicka but are still able to cast what is essentially the same spell, if that makes sense.




Flame Thrall


First up is the Flame Thrall, which is the first thrall that the player will have access to in the game. This is because it is a reward for completing the Conjuration Ritual Quest, as stated in the Obtaining the Dead Thrall spell section. All other thrall spells have to be purchased. The flame thrall generally is the weakest of the three, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's the worst. It is very agile, prefers to stay at range when fighting enemies, and uses a different tactic when fighting close range encounters. The Conjure Flame Atronach spell (the 60 second spell, which summons a slightly different version of the flame Atronach, more on that in a minute) has a weak melee attack when enemies get close, doing right at 15 points of damage. Once it's AI has been triggered to switch to close range, it tends to stay that way, only switching back to long range if the enemy loses its attention or if the enemy or the Atronach happen to put a bit of distance between each other for a few seconds or more. This, however, is not carried over to the Flame thrall. The Flame thrall gets a Flames spell for its close encounters, that it casts with two hands (which apparently does NOT get the 2.2x damage bonus of Dual Casting). From what I've seen, the thralled version uses this in place of the melee attack that its weaker 60 second counterpart gets. The Flame thrall also gets a noticeable boost to it's health compared to the Flame Atronach. In fact, it gets the biggest overall percentage boost out of the three (technically two, I'll talk more about it in the Storm Thrall section), with over a 200% increase to health between the two versions, while the frost thrall gets around a 49% increase from its 60 second version to permanent version.

In addition to it's Flames spell, it gets the Firebolt spell, which does 20 points of damage and sets the target on fire. Any target that is already on fire will take 10% additional damage (of the initial damage of the attack) over the period of one second. This also applies to the dual casting of the Flames spell mentioned earlier, but to a lesser effect as it also adds 10% additional damage over the period of a second, but at lesser damage because of the difference in damage between the Flames spell and the Firebolt spell. Realistically, we're only talking about a point of damage between the additional fire damage of two spells, but it's still there. Since the Flame thrall loses its melee attack, only to be replaced by a weak version of the Flames spell (that only does 8 damage a second), it is very possible that it will do overall less damage per second while fighting close range. It should be noted that the Flame thrall's dual-casted flames spell appears to be dual-casted in animation ONLY. It does not receive the 2.2x damage bonus, which would put it at 17 damage a second, which is unfortunate. It also does not appear to receive the correct damage of casting two flames spells at the same time. If two Flames spells are not dual-casted, but instead are cast in each hand at the same time (or roughly the same time since the dual-casting perk makes this impossible), the damage should be around 16 or so a second. This however is not the case and it appears that it is only counting damage as if there was one flames spell activated, which means a meager 8 points a second of fire damage. My guess is, even though we see the animation for two flames spells being cast, it's just that. An animation. Likely, it's just one flames spell being cast but the animation was done is a way that makes it look like two are going.

When the Flame thrall is at range, it relies on Firebolt to do damage. It also has a Flame Cloak that does 10 damage a second to any enemy at close range, and an extra 10% damage per second when the enemy is on fire. Flame Cloak is always activate on the Flame thrall. One last bonus that the thrall gets is a fortified healing effect of 1pt per second. It doesn't sound like much, but it's better than nothing.

Below is listed the attributes of the thrall, compared to it's regular counterpart, as well as various abilities that it possess. Also take note that health is estimated as I have been unable to find any information regarding this. I used a 100 damage axe, a 25 damage sword, and a 9 damage dagger to test amount of health, on Adept (normal) difficulty. It's also important to note the biggest differences between the permanent thrall and the 60 second version. The thrall gets additional health, an additional attack, and a fortified healing buff. Damage done is the same between the two.




AtronachHealthHealth with Elemental Potency
Flame Atronach~115~ 172
Flame Thrall~240~ 360


  • Abilities
    • 100% Resistant to Fire damage
    • 33% Weakness to Frost damage
    • Waterwalking
    • Immune to Paralysis
    • Fortified Healing 1pt per second.
      • Unique to the Flame Thrall. The Flame Atronach does not possess this ability.


  • Attacks
    • Melee Strike - Used by the Atronach version. The Thrall version uses Dual-casted Flames in place of this.
      • Does 15 point of damage


    • Dual-casted Flames - Close range attack that does 8 points of damage per second. Enemy on fire takes an additional 10% of damage per second.
      • Unique to the Flame thrall. Flame Atronach does not possess this attack.


    • Flame Cloak - 10 points of damage per second when enemy is in melee range. Enemy on fire takes an additional 10% of damage per second.


    • Firebolt - Missile attack that does 20 points of damage. Enemy on fire takes an additional 10% of damage per second.




Frost Thrall


This is the bruiser of the bunch. He lacks any ranged attacks but makes up for it with the biggest health pool and decently damaging physical attacks. I must confess, while taking down notes on damage done, he was the source of much confusion. It appears that at least one of his attacks has a chance to do extra damage, which isn't necessarily noted by anything particular that I could tell. His Slam attack that would normally do 30 damage would now do 60, and there was no difference that I could tell in the animation. I'm not entirely sure what to call this, as it may have a percentage to do more damage based on the type of attack he is using or by some other means. I'm going to refer to it as a critical, but it's really not in the same sense as a critical for the player (as those do paltry sums of damage). The only attack that I could reliably notice this extra damage on was its Slam move. This apparent randomness makes him an interesting choice, as his attacks aren't all that strong to begin with, but he has the potential to fill his "heavy bruiser" archetype accordingly. Another interesting tidbit is all of his attacks are considered physical attacks and as such, are affected by one's armor rating. Most enemies in the game have very little armor rating, so this isn't a huge problem, but it should be taken into account all the same. He attacks in fairly rapid succession and does a decent job of keeping continual damage on the enemy. He's always within melee range, so his frost cloak is almost always adding small amounts of damage on top of that. From my testing, Frost Cloak only does 5 points of damage per second compared to that of the Flame Thrall and Storm Thrall which do 10 points of damage per second. UESP claims that the Frost Thrall's Frost Cloak does 10 points a second, but as of 1.6, it does not. Whether or not this is intentional, or whether or not this has been changed in an update, I cannot say, but it definitely is only 5 points of damage per second. Test it out in game if you don't believe me.

One prominent problem is his bulky mass can sometimes impede the player's ability to move through small spaces. At which point, the player is forced to walk backwards to kite the Frost Atronach from the said small space. A plus side is he can unintentionally take hits that were otherwise meant for the player. I have not noticed a unique effect from the permanent version compared to the 60 second version, like that of the Flame thrall's flames spell. It is more than likely because he does not have one. It is worth mentioning though that his attacks drain enemies stamina by the same damage that is done to their health. This is much like the Flame thrall's ability to do extra damage to enemies that are on fire or the Storm Thrall's ability to do extra damage to magicka.

Lastly, it appears that there is some type of mix up in the coding when the player has Elemental Potency. Normally with this perk, the Atronach receives a 50% increase to its health, but in the case of the Frost Atronach and the Frost Thrall, that is not true. The Atronach version (the 60 second spell) gets around a 65% increase to its max health, while the Thrall version only gets around a 33% increase.




AtronachHealthHealth with Elemental Potency
Frost Atronach~ 305~ 505
Frost Thrall~ 455~ 605


  • Abilities
    • 100% Resistant to Frost damage
    • 33% Weakness to Fire damage
    • Waterbreathing
    • Immune to Paralysis
    • Fortified Healing 1pt per second.
      • Unique to the Frost thrall. The Frost Atronach does not possess this ability.


  • Attacks
    • Regular attack - This includes the right hook, uppercut, and backhand.
      • Does 20 points of damage.


    • Charge - Uses this only from a distance, and very rarely at that.
      • Does 30 points of damage.


    • Slam - Staggers the enemy.
      • Does 30 points of damage.
      • Does 60 Points of damage for a critical hit.


    • Frost Cloak - Damages any nearby enemies
      • Does 5 points of damage a second to health and stamina.




Storm Thrall

The final of the three and the intended strongest. I say intended because, there is an unfortunate bug holding this version back. The Flame and Frost thralls each receive additional health and a fortified healing effect over their 60 second version counterparts. The Storm thrall, however, does not. This is more than likely an oversight and an unintended function, but it is currently part of the game (still as of 1.9). The same version of the Storm Atronach is used for both versions of the spells, instead of the thrall being a completely different version (which should have its own unique ID number). What the Storm thrall does receive however, is particularly strong melee attacks and a decently strong spell that is not resisted by any enemy. Toss in the fact that it is not weak against fire or frost and you get an all around, above average thrall. It has access to a 30 damage spell that will jump to another enemy nearby for (assumedly) the same damage. It also has available to it, huge amounts of melee damage, which is a bit of a slap in the face to the Frost thrall, as it is intended to be the melee type. Single target attacks that are in the 50 - 65 range, and a melee explosion that does a little less damage, but will hit all nearby. Unfortunately, the Storm thrall really doesn't get to bask in all it's glory because of the aforementioned bug, but despite that, it is still very usable and arguably the strongest Atronach even without the increased health. You just may end up summoning a new one pretty often though.

I know different places have the Storm thrall listed as having two spells that do 50 and 60 damage, but from my testing, I've never seen these. Just the 30 damage chain lighting spell. It's also important to note that all of the Storm thralls melee attacks are mitigated by armor, while its chain lighting spell is only affected by shock or magic reducing enchantments.




AtronachHealthHealth with Elemental Potency
Storm Atronach~ 250~ 375
Storm Thrall~ 250~ 375


  • Abilities
    • 100% Resistant to Shock damage
    • Waterwalking
    • Immune to Paralysis


  • Attacks
    • Right hand slap
      • 50 Damage


    • Left hand slap
      • 60 Damage


    • Charge
      • ~ 65 Damage


    • Short range explosion
      • 40 - 60 Damage to all within melee range (may do different damage based on how close the enemy is, not sure)


    • Chain Lightning
      • 30 Damage


    • Storm Cloak
      • 10 Damage per second, 5 damage to magicka per second.




Permanent Thralls

THIS SECTION IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT

Please read the next three paragraphs about permanent thralls. It can save you a lot of trouble in the future.

These thralls listed below have one of the most desirable effects: Permanency. If you leave them in your house, they will not disappear. This gives you the opportunity to collect and use these thralls at your whim without fear of having them disappear from your game. As always, you should keep multiple rolling saves, and if you are leery of leaving a corpse alone for awhile, it's best to save and test so you can revert if something goes awry. The best way to do this is:

  • Save the game
  • Kill off your Thrall, preferably in your house
  • Leave the cell with your thrall. You need to make sure you get a long loading screen (a loading screen with an Item or NPC) before you wait. Short loading screens (No items, just smoke) will invalidate your testing.
  • Wait (the back button) for at least 24 hours, or up to 11 days
  • Return to your body

If they are still there, and you have patch 1.9, congratulations, that corpse is more than likely permanent. It's important to note that in the vanilla game and patched versions 1.2 and below, bodies will to stay around for 7 or 8 days before disappearing, so if you are playing an un-patched version or a patched version 1.2 or below, and you visit your corpse every few days, it won't disappear. As of patch 1.3 though, most bodies disappear after one day, so revisiting your house within every 24 hours can become quite difficult. I said your thrall is more than likely permanent because there are still bodies that can stay around longer than one day, but not be permanent, as of Patch 1.9. These bodies can stay an upwards of 7 or 8 days before disappearing (and even 29 days in some cases!), which to the untrained eye, can give an impression of being permanent if the player doesn't check them thoroughly enough.

Each body was stayed around for at least 7 or 8 days with patches 1.2 and below, which made keeping thralls a lot easier. So now, to fully test if a body is permanent, in my opinion, you need to wait at least 11 days to be sure (although a full 30 days is the absolute best way to confirm). It's slow and boring, but if you want to make sure, this is the best way. I am going to put "VERIFIED" in big letters under the names of NPCs that I have personally tested as lasting longer than 10 days (which means they are permanent). I am fairly sure that any other NPC listed in the permanent section, is in fact permanent, but I have yet to test it. As a precaution, you should keep multiple saves if you are worried about losing any of these thralls. Any other important notes regarding the permanency of the thrall will be listed right under their name too (like how Rigel disappears after 30 days, or if a NPC needs to be grave robbed).




  • A "(P)" besides someone's name means they are a permanent corpse.




How To Read The Stat Boxes

  • Max Player Level - This is the maximum level the player can be at and still thrall the NPC. A lot of NPC's are different in how their level is calculated with regards to the players. Some are set to be higher than the players, and some are set to be lower. This means that there will be some thralls that have a max level of 50, but the player can only thrall them if their level is 34 or below. Alternatively, some NPCs have a max level of 40 and can still be thralled after the player is above level 40. "Always" in this box means the player can always thrall the NPC, regardless of the player's level.


  • Race - The NPCs race. Altmer (High Elves), Argonian, Bosmer (Wood Elves), Breton, Dunmer (Dark Elves), Imperial, Khajiit, Nord, Orc, Redguard, and Elder (only old NPCs)


  • Gender - The NPCs Gender. Male or Female.


  • Class - The NPCs class. This isn't shown anywhere in the game. It determines how many points of skill and attributes are gained per level. A full listing of classes can be found here. --> http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Classes


  • Max Level - This is the max level the NPC will level up to.


  • Max Health - This is the NPC's max health when they have hit their max level.


  • Max Magicka - This is the NPC's max magicka when they have hit their max level.


  • Max Stamina - This is the NPC's max stamina when they have hit their max level.


  • Primary Skills - These skills are determined by their Class. The skills listed here will be the NPC's highest skills, and the ones that they are most proficient in.


  • Moans - This will tell you if the NPC constantly moans or groans. "Yes" means they do moan. "No" means they do not moan. Almost all thralls do moan. A ? means I don't know.


  • Follower - This will tell you if the NPC can be a follower while they are alive. You can have one follower at a time.





This section is written with patch 1.9 installed. If you have a different patch, these NPCs may or may not be permanent.


Agrius (P)

  • VERIFIED

Agrius is found in Halldir's Carin (located just Southwest of Falkreath), and he's already dead when the player enters. His two companions Vidgrod and Raen lay near him, but don't appear to be permanent corpses, as they've since disappeared from my game while Agrius remains (even after a lengthy 11 day intentional absence). He's stuck at level 1, so he more than likely has around 50 HP, magicka, and stamina. Dark Souls (which provides thralls with 100 more health) can help, but since he never levels up, don't expect too much out of him.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysImperialMaleBandit1???Archery, Light Armor, One-handed, Two-handedYesNo




Alea Quintus (P)

  • VERIFIED

Alea is found in the Abandoned Shack during the quest With Friends Like These.... The Abandoned Shack is found just East of Solitude. The player is asked to kill one of the NPCs (or all). This is the second quest in the Dark Brotherhood quest line. The first quest Innocence Lost can be received from Aventus Aretino in Windhelm. She won't win too many battles with her max 1 HP, but she knows how to sit in a chair, in your house, very well.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysNordFemaleWarrior115050Archery, Block, Heavy Armor, One-handedYesNo




Angi (P)

  • VERIFIED

A Ranger living all alone in the middle of nowhere. Before Thralling her, make sure to talk to her and complete the small unmarked side quest for a total of 6 level increases to Archery. She's found in Angi's Camp which is located directly South of Falkreath in the mountains.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysNordFemaleRanger101505050Archery, Block, Light Armor, One-handedYesNo




Anise (P)

  • VERIFIED

An Elderly lady living at Anise's Cabin. Anise's Cabin is located North of The Guardian Stones. She is friendly towards the player, but apparently she will turn hostile if the player returns from the basement of Anise's Cabin. One must take care when traveling through this area, as there are multiple dragon spawn points nearby, as well as trolls. When I found her, it was amidst a battle of two dragons and a troll. She will become hostile towards any dragon that flies near her cabin, so it is possible that she won't be in her cabin when you are nearby. She seems retain access to some of her spells as I've witnessed her casting some type of mage armor (probably Oakflesh, 40 points to armor rating for 60 seconds) and a conjure familiar spell. She relies on her Flames spell for damage, so she'll just kind of be, "there", instead of killing stuff. Also, "Elder" is not a typo. Old people are apparently classified as a race named "Elder", instead of Nord or any other race.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysElderFemaleConjurer3646738325Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, RestorationYesNo




Ardwen (P)

A mage that spawns as a random encounter after completing the quest in Whiterun, Blessings of Nature, which has to deal with restoring the Gildergreen for Danica. After you initially find Ardwen in the wilderness, it seems she makes her way to the stables outside of Whiterun and proceeds to stay there indefinitely. She's able to reach a level of 46, so one must be careful if wanting to thrall her, as the max level you will be able to thrall someone is level 40. That means if you don't encounter her until after level 40, you won't be able to thrall her. Likewise, if you thrall her before you reach level 40, and then she dies or you kill her when you are past level 40, you won't be able to re-thrall her.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
40BosmerFemaleElemental Mage4657550050Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Restoration?No




Arondil (P)

  • VERIFIED

Arondil is found in Yngvild which is Northeast of Dawnstar on an Island. The quest Toying with the Dead will take you through here. The quest can be received from Vekel the Man after joining up with the Thieves Guild. He was originally listed as retaining his voice, but this is untrue. He says nothing unique and constantly moans. Just goes to show, don't believe everything you read. He will occasionally say one of his lines that he would say when he was alive, but don't expect him to chat your ear off.

As a thrall, he is particularly powerful. He retains his damaging spells Ice Spike and Ice Storm, as well as a version of mage armor (not even going to try to guess here which version it is because it would be pure speculation). Not the most powerful of the permanent mages, but he's definitely up there.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysAltmerMaleMage4050046025Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, RestorationYesNo




Camilla Valerius (P)

A Female Imperial that resides in the town of Riverwood. She spends her time at the Riverwood Trader and will even take over selling items if her brother, Lucan, dies in some way. She'll no longer sell anything if you thrall her though.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysImperialFemalePawnbroker4756060Lockpicking, Pickpocket, Sneak, Speech?No




Daynas Valen (P)

  • VERIFIED

Daynas is found in Folgunthur, which is Southeast of Solitude and just West of the Abandoned Shack. He is already dead when you come across him. On his corpse is a journal, which starts the quest Forbidden Legend, and also the Ivory Dragon Claw, which you will need to make it through Folgunthur. He prefers to stay at medium range when fighting enemies and only uses the Flames spell for his choice of attack. That's right, the Flames spell that does a meager 8 points of damage. He also has access to a mage armor spell (probably Oakflesh, 40 pts armor rating for 60 seconds) and to Conjure Familiar. He will switch to a weapon when the enemy gets right in his face, but if he can help it, he relies solely on his Flames spell for damage. As such, don't expect a great deal from him. (If you're on the PC and you can test out his health, magicka, and stamina when he is at level 25, please PM me.)

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysDunmerMaleConjurer25~ 255??Alteration, Conjuration, Enchanting, RestorationYesNo




Fastred (P)

A Nord Farmer found in the Fellstar Farm in Ivarstead. She can also be found in Riften if the player tells Bassianus that her parents are supportive of their relationship during the quest The Book of Love, which is started by talking to Dinya Balu in the Temple of Mara in city of Riften.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysNordFemaleFarmer6916767Alchemy, Enchanting, Smithing?No




Fultheim the Fearless (P)

  • VERIFIED

A Nord Warrior that is found in the Abandoned Shack during the quest With Friends Like These.... The Abandoned Shack is found just East of Solitude. The player is asked to kill one of the NPCs (or all). This is the second quest in the Dark Brotherhood quest line. The first quest Innocence Lost can be received from Aventus Aretino in Windhelm. Makes a great table decoration. Sure to start a conversation at a party. Buy one today!

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysNordMaleWarrior115050Archery, Block, Heavy Armor, One-handedYesNo




Ghunzul (P)

  • VERIFIED
  • Unflagged as Permanent when Pieces of the Past is complete

After completing the quest Pieces of the Past, HE IS NO LONGER PERMANENT, and subsequently disappears after 24 hours. His body is set to disappear after 24 hours even if he is thralled while completing this quest. There is nothing the player can do to augment or prevent this, short of never completing the quest.

He's essentially a Bandit Chief with a unique name, as he has the usual plate armor and sometimes a plate helmet equipped. He's found in Cracked Tusk Keep, which is just a short walk West of Falkreath. Multiple radiant quests can take you through this dungeon, but only one quest will actually have you traveling through here. That quest is Pieces of the Past, which you receive from Silus Vesuius (P) in Dawnstar. If you're looking for a permanent melee Orc follower, he's not a bad choice. Something unique to note is, he always has his weapon drawn, even when there are no enemies around. Although I'm not sure if this is an isolated incident on my end.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysOrcMaleBandit2849725258Block, Light Armor, One-handed, Two-handedYesNo




Hajvarr Iron-Hand (P)

  • VERIFIED
  • Disappears after 29 days

Hajvarr disappears after 29 in game days. This means on the 30th day if he is left unattended. If you visit him within 29 days, the timer resets. There are some corpses that have weird behavior if left alone for 30 days, and tends to mostly affect thralls that were initially hostile to the player. Usually these permanent thralls that were hostile towards the player, go back to their original area in which they spawned. Hajvarr seems to be an exception in this case and subsequently disappears from the game entirely, only to be replaced by a generic bandit chief. He stays around for 30 days and since the player will more than likely never be away from the thrall that long, he is for all intents and purposes, what I consider permanent.

Hajvarr is found at White River Watch, which is just East of Whiterun. You'll have to go all the way through the dungeon and exit back into Skyrim, at which point you'll be high atop a mountain. He's essentially, a named Bandit Chief, and the game even treats him as such, as casting Healing Hands on him while he is thralled, you'll get a message at top that will say, "Bandit Chief resisted Healing Hands". I initially thought that he was going to be really awesome, as he proceed to decapitate my thralls. I've yet to see him do this while he is thralled, so he may not retain that ability. That can be good or bad, as on one hand, my mouth was agape the first time he did it to my thrall. But on the other hand, you won't have to worry about your thrall possibly decapitating NPCs, as headless NPCs cannot be resurrected.

He's a bit more deceptive than one initially perceives, as, yes, he does stop leveling at 28, but he also has relatively high HP for his level. His Two-handed power attacks do a sizable amount of damage and when the player is at higher levels, Hajvarr comes equipped with Steel Plate Armor. Add in a 100 health bonus from Dark Souls and I think he can hang with you until you are at least double his level.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysNordMaleBandit2849740258Block, Light Armor, One-handed, Two-handedYesNo




Helvard (P)

A warrior that also makes a better house decoration than companion. With a max level of 4 and a whopping 85 health, he won't last long. Found in the Jarl's Longhouse in Falkreath, you will also meet him through the Dark Brotherhood quest (aptly named) Kill Helvard, received from Three D... I mean...Nazir.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysNordMaleWarrior4855060Archery, Block, One-handed, Two-handed?No




Illia (P)

An elemental mage found in Darklight Tower, which is located West-Southwest of Riften and South of Goldenglow Estate. After entering Darklight Tower the player will receive a quest to help Illia. Once completed, Illia will be available as a follower. As a thrall, she is able to hit the max range for most NPCs, 40. She uses Frost spells for damage, and comes equipped with a healing spell, ward, and mage armor, as well as a few more spells. Also, while her primary skills are in Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, and Restoration, she lacks any spells in the Conjuration school. A good mage follower or thrall.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysImperialFemaleElemental Mage4042531050Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Restoration?Yes




Karita (P)

The lovely Bard found in Dawnstar. Hottest NPC in the game. There. I said it. Unfortunately, the player is unable to marry her, so what's the next best thing? That's right, killing her and stashing her body in your house (wow, that sounded a lot less creepy in my head). But really, that's probably all she's good for as her max level is 6 and her primary skill is Speech. If only she continued to sing me her lovely songs after she was thralled while I'm enthralled. Oh well.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysNordFemaleBard6897264Speech?No




Kornalus (P)

An elemental mage. Found in Harmugstahl, which is located North of Karthwasten (which is East of Markarth). There are multiple radiant quests that will take your through this dungeon. These quests are: Arniel's Endeavor, which you can receive from Arniel Gane at the College of Winterhold; Onmund's Request, also at the College of Winterhold; and Salty Sea-Dogs, given by Captain Wayfinder at the docks in Dawnstar. Many other radiant quests have the possibility to take you through this dungeon too.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysAltmerMaleElemental Mage4050041050Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Restoration?No




Legate Rikke (P)

  • Needs to be Grave Robbed

She is only permanent if grave robbed. See Grave Robbing. An Imperial Soldier, she is General Tullius' chief lieutenant. She is usually found in Castle Dour in Solitude, but if you side with the Imperials for the Civil War quest line, you will also find her in various Imperial camps throughout the quest line. She is marked "Essential" and thus cannot be killed until the quest Battle for Solitude, which is gained only by joining up with the Stormcloaks for the Civil War quest line. Therefore, it may be impossible to gain her as a dead thrall if you sided with the Imperials.

GameFAQs user iMACobra said, "An interesting note about Legate Rikke, she will not have her helmet on at the end of Liberation of Skyrim unless you initially joined the Imperials and defected to the Stormcloaks during The Jagged Crown. She only puts her helmet on when she goes to Korvanjund and keeps it on for the rest of the civil war at Castle Dour."

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysNordFemaleImperial Soldier3078250253Archery, Block, Heavy Armor, Light Armor, One-handed, Two-handed?No




Medresi Dran (P)

  • VERIFIED

Found in Angarvunde which is found: Starting from Riften, Directly West from Riften is Goldenglow Estate. Directly West from Goldenglow Estate is Heartwood Mill. Directly West from Heartwood Mill is Angarvunde. Classified as a "Citizen" and level capped at 1 (read: terrible stats), she seems to be more for decoration or fodder for the enemy. Also useful for holding your junk.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysDunmerFemaleCitizen1505050Alchemy, Enchanting, SmithingYesNo




Muiri (P)

  • Needs to be Grave Robbed

She is only permanent if grave robbed. See Grave Robbing. Commonly found in The Hag's Cure in Markarth, Muiri is able to be thralled after completing her quest Mourning Never Comes. You receive this quest from Astrid of the Dark Brotherhood early in the Dark Brotherhood quest line. After completing her quest, she is no longer flagged "Essential", at which point she is able to meet an untimely death if the player so chooses. She is also available for marriage after completing her quest, but only if she's still alive, you sicko.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysBrentonFemaleApothecary6505050Alchemy, Pickpocket, Sneak, Speech?No




Nirya (P)

Found in the College of Winterhold, usually in the Hall of Attainment. She is not involved in any quest, nor does she sell any spells or items. She does however, know quite a few spells including: Ironflesh, Magelight, Multiple Destruction spells, three different wards, and a healing spell. Needs to be tested if she will actually use these while thralled. The main drawback for her is her level cap of 4.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysAltmerFemaleSorcerer4756555Destruction, Heavy Armor, Illusion, One-handed?No




Old Orc (P)

Old Orc can only be found in a random encounter, so actually coming across him may prove quite arduous. A bit below average since he's capped at level 25, but he's one of the few permanent Orc thralls. He wants you to kill him, so if you agree, he'll immediately turn hostile saving you the guilt of killing an innocent person. Ah, who are we kidding? I shot him before he even got close enough to speak. What? He looked like an enemy, okay!

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysOrcMaleBandit2548925246Block, Light Armor, One-handed, Two-handed?No




Orchendor (P)

  • Verified

Generally regarded as one of the better Thralls. He's immune to Fire, Frost, Shock, and shouts (yours and Draugrs). He retains a sizable chunk of his spells, his toxic spewing attack, and he can teleport to boot. Talk about cool. He is found at Bthardmaz Arcanex during the quest The Only Cure. Bthardmaz is North of Markarth and then slightly East. The Only Cure quest can be received from Kesh at the Shrine to Peyrite. The Shrine to Peyrite is located Southeast from Bthardmaz.

He has a fairly impressive array of spells:

  • Mage Armor (Listed as having Oakflesh, Stoneflesh, Ironflesh, and Ebonyflesh. Which one he will cast, I don't know)
  • Frostbite (8pts of DPS which he can and will dual cast for 2.2x damage)
  • Icy Spear (60pt of damage)
  • Incinerate (60pt of damage)
  • Thunderbolt (60pt of damage)
  • Invisibility (rarely casts this and it's usually only up for a second or two before he breaks it)
  • Healing spells that he will actually use as a thrall (Healing, Fast Healing, Grand Healing)
  • Greater Ward
  • Teleportation (unique to Orchendor and he's invincible while the purple aura is still up)
  • Vile Vapor (does around 40pt of damage and looks like it might poison too)

He's listed as having a few more spells, but those are the ones that I've seen him cast. There's just a small problem that can sometimes hold Orchendor back though; When enemies get close, he falls back to Frostbite. The 8pts of damage a second spell. He doesn't seem to want to stop using it either as when an enemy gets close he makes no effort to put any distance between himself and the enemy, but instead will deliberately try to stay close to the enemy while using his meager Frostbite spell. Sometimes he couples it with Incinerate and sometimes he just wants to dual cast it. Again, it's a very small problem, especially when considering how powerful he is.

Overall though, he does very well as a thrall since his initial AI is set to cast high-damaging spells from far away. He usually opens the encounter with a mage armor spell and then follows it up with thunderbolt or incinerate until an enemy gets close. If you are playing a melee oriented character, Orchendor will compliment you build very nicely. He can have a bit of trouble against really strong melee oriented enemies, but he will laugh in the face's of his enemies while he destroys them.

He will also always respawn with an enchanted ring of Destruction and a necklace that either boosts his maximum health or increases the speed at which it regenerates. Thanks to metatrongrhm1 for the heads up.

He's got a lot of bulk, high damaging spells, and he's immune to the 3 elements and shouts. You want to watch things die? Get Orchendor.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysBosmerMaleSpellsword40688455230Destruction, Heavy Armor, One-Handed, RestorationYesNo




Rigel Strong-Arm (P)

  • VERIFIED
  • Disappears after 29 days

Rigel disappears after 29 in game days. On the 30th day, she disappears if you have not visited her. If you visit her within 29 days, the timer resets. Rigel is found in the second area at Pinewatch. Pinewatch is located in-between Helgen and Falkreath. She is another character that is basically a named Bandit Chief. When the player is at higher levels she spawns with a full set of Steel Plate Armor. All of her stats are missing from multiple sites, so if you are on the PC and can test her full stats, send me a PM. More than likely, her stats will be very similar to other named Bandit Chiefs, like Hajvarr Iron-Hand (P) or Ghunzul (P). I can tell you, however, she is not above the level of 40.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysNordFemaleBandit????Block, Light Armor, One-handed, Two-handedYesNo




Sild the Warlock (P)

A mage with above average stats for a permanent corpse. He's in Rannveig's Fast, which is located South from Morthal and West from Drelas' Cottage. His body is not supposed to reset and neither is the dungeon, but I wouldn't risk leaving him alone in Rannveig's Fast for a long time, as I've had him disappear in an earlier play through.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysNordMaleElemental Mage4050041050Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, RestorationYesNo




Silus Vesuius (P)

  • VERIFIED

A mage that owns the Museum of the Mythic Dawn in Dawnstar. He sends you off on the quest Pieces of the Past to find Mehrune's Razor, and at the end of the quest you are given the option of killing him and taking the dagger or sparing him and not receiving the dagger. He makes a better than expected thrall, as he gets a wide selection of spells:

  • Conjure Familair
  • Some type of mage armor (probably Oakflesh or Stoneflesh)
  • Some type of ward
  • Healing (which he will actually use while thralled)
  • Fast Heal (will also use while thralled)
  • Sparks (does 8 points of damage a second)
  • Flames (does 8 points of damage a second)
  • Firebolt (25 points of damage),
  • Lightning bolt (25 points of damage)
  • Ice spike (25 points of damage).

He also appears to be able to dual cast any Destruction spell for 2.2x the damage. I have yet to witness him dual casting anything else though. He may also have some magicka reducing perks as he is able to cast quite a lot of spells for just 196 magicka. He's actually a pretty decent thrall just because he makes use of more spells than most other thralls. Most other Mage thralls will just come equipped with a low level destruction spell and a Conjure Familair spell, so seeing a thrall capable of a wider variety of moves is very refreshing.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysImperialMaleDestruction Mage3023019650Alteration, Destruction, Restoration, SneakYesNo




Susanna the Wicked (P)

A Bard at the Candlehearth Hall in Windhelm. Probably the only time you will see her alive is when you first enter the city and make your way to the tavern, which is thanks to the quest Blood on the Ice. There is a hidden counter that triggers this quest. You'll get 1 point every time you enter Windhelm or any of the immediate surrounding areas (like the stables or nearby farms). Once the counter hits four, the next time you enter Windhelm between the hours of 7 PM and 7 AM, Susanna will have been slain and strewn across the street and the quest will start after talking to the nearby guard. After a day, her body is taken to the Hall of the Dead so it is possible to pick her up there. Don't wait too long since her body will eventually disappear. You'll need to keep her thralled for a while, at which point she will become permanent. Need to test how long exactly, but my initial guess would be around 11 days.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysNordFemaleRogue4805065Block, Light Armor, One-handed, Sneak?No




Telrav (P)

One of the few named (and currently only listed permanent) Archers. He appears as a radiant quest, so his location may vary, but usually appears on the roads near Nilheim, which is just East of Ivarstead on the other side of the lake. You might also check near Sarethi Farm which is Southeast of Nilheim. With a max level of 25, he is lacking compared to others that can hit the normal cap of 40. But don't be discouraged from using him if you like though, as he is one of the few Archers. And you can always pick him back up when he dies.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysImperialMaleArcher2548925246Archery, Light Armor, One-handed, Sneak?No




Vasha (P)

  • VERIFIED

A Khajiit Warrior that is found in the Abandoned Shack during the quest With Friends Like These.... The Abandoned Shack is found just East of Solitude. The player is asked to kill one of the NPCs (or all). This is the second quest in the Dark Brotherhood quest line. The first quest Innocence Lost can be received from Aventus Aretino in Windhelm. Vasha makes a great rug or mount over the mantle.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysKhajiitMaleWarrior115050Archery, Block, Heavy Armor, One-handedYesNo




Velehk Sain (P)

  • VERIFIED

Unique in the fact that Sain is currently (that I know of) the only named Dremora that can be thralled. He's completely silent outside of a few battle lines. That means no moaning. No chattering. He's located in The Midden Dark which is a dungeon beneath the College of Winterhold. You can start the unmarked quest Forgotten Names by wandering into The Midden Dark and picking up the "Incident report" on a table. From there you will have to find the rings that are in the Arcanaeum, and then bring them back to the gauntlet, placing them in the correct sequence to spawn Sain. From here, the player can release him or kill him. Killing him will allow you to thrall his body, releasing him make him instantly disappear, forever losing the ability to thrall him.

Not terribly useful with a max level of 4, but if you dreamed thralling a battle-only-talking Dremora, that doesn't moan, in Redguard garb, well, today is your lucky day. Also, that's a really specific dream to have. I don't know if I would actually believe you if you were to tell me that was your exact dream.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysDremoraMaleWarrior4855060Archery, Block, Heavy Armor, One-handedNoNo




Wyndelius Gatharian (P)

  • VERIFIED

Another really unique thrall because he will turn into his ghostly form when the player enters through a long loading screen. He also has that phantasm exploding effect and sound when he dies too. He's found at Shroud Hearth Barrow which is on the outskirts of Ivarstead. He is associated with the quest Lifting the Shroud which you can receive from Wilhelm, the Innkeeper in Ivarstead. He will attack you as you progress through the quest, so all you'll have to worry about is thralling him. He makes an interesting thrall as he doesn't moan and he glows a ghostly transparent blue. Thralls will respawn their equipment if you kill them, take their stuff, thrall them, and then go through a long loading screen. Gatharian will do just that, but unfortunately does not respawn the potions that make you appear as a ghost. From what I've seen, two potions is the most you'll get. :(

A user by the name of iMACobra sent me some info saying that Wyndelius was no longer permanent and subsequently disappeared from his game. I haven't got the chance to load it up and test it, so you may want to take some extra precaution when storing his body.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysDunmerMaleBandit Wizard25441294150Alteration, Destruction, Restoration, SneakNoNo




Unique Non-Permanent Thralls

These thralls lack permanency, but make up for it by having a unique quality. This can range from being exceptionally powerful, unique dialog while thralled, the ability to dance, an absurd amount of health, and much more. These will generally be less desired than permanent thralls because they don't stick around, but they can be interesting nonetheless. But now, thanks to the Permanent Corpse Exploit, these thralls can be permanent too.




How To Read The Stat Boxes

  • Max Player Level - This is the maximum level the player can be at and still thrall the NPC. A lot of NPC's are different in how their level is calculated with regards to the players. Some are set to be higher than the players, and some are set to be lower. This means that there will be some thralls that have a max level of 50, but the player can only thrall them if their level is 34 or below. Alternatively, some NPCs have a max level of 40 and can still be thralled after the player is above level 40. "Always" in this box means the player can always thrall the NPC, regardless of the player's level.


  • Race - The NPCs race. Altmer (High Elves), Argonian, Bosmer (Wood Elves), Breton, Dunmer (Dark Elves), Imperial, Khajiit, Nord, Orc, Redguard, and Elder (only old NPCs)


  • Gender - The NPCs Gender. Male or Female.


  • Class - The NPCs class. This isn't shown anywhere in the game. It determines how many points of skill and attributes are gained per level. A full listing of classes can be found here. --> http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Classes


  • Max Level - This is the max level the NPC will level up to.


  • Max Health - This is the NPC's max health when they have hit their max level.


  • Max Magicka - This is the NPC's max magicka when they have hit their max level.


  • Max Stamina - This is the NPC's max stamina when they have hit their max level.


  • Primary Skills - These skills are determined by their Class. The skills listed here will be the NPC's highest skills, and the ones that they are most proficient in.


  • Moans - This will tell you if the NPC constantly moans or groans. "Yes" means they do moan. "No" means they do not moan. Almost all thralls do moan. A "?" means I don't know.


  • Follower - This will tell you if the NPC can be a follower while they are alive. You can have one follower at a time.





Ancano

An Altmer Elemental Mage found at the College of Winterhold. If you follow the Mages Guild story line, you'll end up dealing with him later on, thus preventing you from killing him early and having everyone get mad at you. The quest that you deal with him is called The Eye of Magnus. It's important to note that he has a max level of 50, so once you are above level 40, he is un-thrallable.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
40AltmerMaleElemental Mage5045637850Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, RestorationNoNo




Champion of Boethiah

A Dunmer Forsworn (yep, you read that right) found in Knifepoint Mine. You'll find him at the end of the quest Boethiah's Calling. Once you reach level 30, a Boethiah Cultist will attack you. This is a random encounter and after dispatching the Cultist, the player can then loot a book off of the Cultist's corpse which. After reading the book, a quest will activate leading you to the Sacellum of Boethiah. Alternatively, you can travel to the Sacellum of Boethiah to start the quest. Sacellum of Boethiah is located just Southeast of Windhelm. It's important to note the level of the Champion. If the player is below level 58, then the Champion will be at level 38. If the player is level 59 or higher, the Champion will be level 51, making him un-thrall able. (Needs to be confirmed)

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
58 (see above)DunmerMaleForsworn51623250195Destruction, Light Armor, One-handed, Sneak?No




Chief Yamarz

An Orc Warrior found in Largashbur which is located just Southwest of Riften and just Southwest of Goldenglow Estate. A low level cap of 20, but is unique in the fact of the amount of health he has (1272). At the end of the quest The Cursed Tribe, which is started when wandering into Largashbur or by hearing rumors in Riften from the guards, the player will have the option of killing the giant and letting Yamarz take credit for it. If the player agrees, Yamarz turns on the player forcing you to kill him. Thralling him afterwards will ensure that he has his enormous health pool, and saves the player from otherwise slaughtering him while he sleeps.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysOrcMaleOrc Warrior20127211250Archery, Heavy Armor, One-handed, Sneak?No




Cicero

An Imperial Assassin, Cicero is found in the Dawnstar Sanctuary (Just West of Dawnstar) during the quest The Cure for Madness (which is one of the final quests in the Dark Brotherhood quest line). He's probably the most unique follower in that he has over 30 unique lines while thralled (and alive) and he will spontaneously dance. The problem that you will run into is that he has a max level of 50, so you can potentially miss him as a thrall if you wait too long to finish the Dark Brotherhood quest line. Cicero apparently will not level up past 40 as a thrall (provided that he never gets above 40 in the first place), so you should be able to keep him around even if he dies in combat. Another potential problem is that if you decide to spare him, he is then marked essential and cannot be killed. So it's pretty much a one time chance to get him as a thrall. He is also a chatty Cathy, so he may grate on your nerves quicker than other thralls.

Finally, you may have also notice that Cicero has unique clothes. And they're wearable by the player. If you're like me, you probably just whispered, "I want that" in your best Napoleon Dynamite impersonation. Normally, the only way you could obtain these clothes is by killing Cicero and then looting his corpse, but there is an exploit that allows you to loot and wear the Jester clothing without killing poor, little Cicero. All you need to do is to give Cicero armor so he'll equip it, dismiss him as a follower, cast paralyze on him or hit him with a weapon with the paralyze enchantment, and then pickpocket him as he stands back up. You'll be able to take his clothes at that particular time, and he'll actually generate new clothes once he moves to a new cell (as will anyone else including thralls, see Equipping Your Thrall). I normally wouldn't go out of my way to mention exploits regarding normal NPC's, but Cicero is such a unique case with unique items.

Thanks to iMACobra for sending in the info about the level cap of 40 and the info about his clothes.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
40ImperialMaleAssassin50556133295Archery, Light Armor, One-handed, SneakNoYes




Elenwen

An Altmer Sorcerer, she is almost always located in the Thalmor Embassy. However, she is marked essential and cannot be killed there. After completing the quest Season Unending, which only triggers after the quest The Fallen (part of the main quest) has started, will she be un-flagged as essential. However, it will not trigger if you have already assisted in capturing 8 of the 9 holds, so you can potentially miss this thrall altogether. After the completion of Season Unending, Elenwen is removed of her "Essential" tag, meaning she can be killed. A good time to thrall her is after completing Season Unending, while she makes her way back to Solitude by way of roads. Distract her with the throw voice shout or use a long range sneak attack to avoid being detected by her traveling companions.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysAltmerFemaleSorcerer3029219598Destruction, Heavy Armor, Illusion, One-handedNoNo




Galmar Stone-Fist

  • POSSIBLY permanent through Grave Robbing

Colonel Campbell is usually found at Ulfric Stormcloak's side. Initially, he is at the Palace of the Kings in Windhelm, but once the player starts progressing through the Liberation of Skyrim quest line (by siding with the Stormcloaks), he will move between various camps. So far, it appears that he is only killable if you side with the Imperials, as he is otherwise marked essential. The quest in which you can kill him is The Battle for Windhelm, which is gained from siding with the Imperials during the Civil War quest line.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysNordMaleWarrior3038950145Archery, Block, Heavy Armor, One-handedNoNo




General Tullius

  • POSSIBLY permanent through Grave Robbing

An Imperial Soldier and General of the Imperial Army, he's usually found in Castle Dour in Solitude. He is marked Essential until the quest Battle for Solitude, which the player can only receive if they sided with the Stormcloaks during the Civil War quest line. During this quest, Tullius can be killed and thralled, but only if the player is level 34 or below. Tullius and Ulfric are unique because they are set to be 1.2x the level of the player. It is very possible to miss him as a thrall since getting above level 34 doesn't take that long, and I'd wager a lot of players will spend a lot of time leveling up and doing miscellaneous quests before completing the main quest.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
34ImperialMaleImperial Soldier5051850459Archery, Block, Heavy Armor, Light Armor, One-handed, Two-handed?No




Malkoran

Malkoran is found in Kilkreath Ruins, which you can find by going West along the road from Solitude. The actual name of the landmark is Statue to Meridia, but the place you enter into is Kilkreath Ruins. If you interact with Meridia's Beacon in front of her statue, you will get the quest The Break of Dawn which will lead you directly to Malkoran. Unique in the fact that when he dies, a shade will spawn which may or may not be hostile towards the player.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysBrentonMaleConjurer4050046025Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, RestorationNoNo




Sebastian Lort

A Brenton Conjurer found in Rimerock Burrow. The easiest way to get to this place is to start from Solitude. Go West on the road until you get to Statue to Meridia. From there go directly North to Wolfskull Cave. From there, go directly West on the road and you will hit Rimerock Burrow (it's to the West of Lost Echo Cave). Nothing terribly unique about him. The best I can tell is he's a named NPC that's fairly powerful, but I've seen people swear by him.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
AlwaysBrentonMaleConjurer4050046025Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Restoration?No




Ulfric Stormcloak

  • POSSIBLY permanent through Grave Robbing

One of the main protagonists/antagonists (depending on how you look at it) of the story. He spends almost all of his time at the Palace of the Kings in Windhelm. He is marked as an "Essential" follower and is only un-flagged during the quest Battle for Windhelm, which can only be received if you sided with the Imperials for the Civil War quest line. Otherwise, he remains "Essential" at all times. He has a max level of 50, and is set to be 1.2x the level of the player. That means you will only be able to thrall him when YOU are level 34 or below. Once you hit level 35, he will be at too high of a level to be thralled. It is said that not only does he retain his voice clips, but he'll use shouts too while thralled. I have not yet confirmed this, so take it for what you will.

Max Player LevelRaceGenderClassMax LevelMax HealthMax MagickaMax StaminaPrimary SkillsMoansFollower
34NordMaleWarrior5073350245Archery, Block, Heavy Armor, One-handedNoNo




Closing

That's it for right now. Thanks a whole lot for reading this FAQ. Hopefully you got some good use out of it. If you want to add anything regarding unique thralls or you just want to say "Hi", click right here --> Contact Information. This FAQ is intended for private use and may not be sold for money, nor may it be hosted on any website other than listed below.




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