Ebony

Fictional record. This page describes a mining commodity from a fictional setting, not a real material. Information is based on the cited canon, with adaptations and interpretation distinguished where necessary. It is kept separate from the real MineArchive corpus — see Fictional.

The Elder Scrolls' most precious mined material: a rare black volcanic glass, extremely hard and durable, said by legend to be the crystallised blood of the dead god Lorkhan, and smelted into the ingots from which the series' finest heavy armour and weapons are forged.

Where it occurs

Chiefly in Vvardenfell, buried in the lava flows from Red Mountain, with veins on Solstheim and occasionally on the Tamriel mainland; it also occurs on the planes of Oblivion. In Skyrim the main ebony mine is Gloombound Mine in the Orc stronghold of Narzulbur, with sixteen veins, and on Solstheim Raven Rock Mine with nine; Blackreach has six veins near its waterfalls, Redbelly Mine at Shor's Stone three, and single veins lie as far up as the summit of the Throat of the World.

How it's obtained

Mined from veins with a pickaxe, three ores to a vein, the veins replenishing after thirty days; two ores smelt to one ingot. Refining the raw ore takes six months, or a few days in a convection oven stoked with white magical flame, and ebony armour is made by folding the material repeatedly into strips that are shaped on the anvil. The Dunmer have forged it since their days as the Chimer, and King Moraelyn's retainers once held rights to mine it in the Wrothgarian Mountains in exchange for teaching the Bretons the craft.

Properties

An extremely hard, durable, black glass-like substance, also known as Godsblood. In Skyrim raw ore is worth 60 gold and an ingot 150; ebony armour and weapons appear from the early thirties of a character's level, and forging them needs the Ebony Smithing perk at a Smithing skill of 80, which also unlocks stalhrim and the Daedric and dragonbone work that builds on ebony.

Why it's valuable

The material of the series' great artefacts: Auriel's Bow, the Ebony Blade and Ebony Mail, Mehrunes' Razor, Scourge, Stendarr's Hammer and Wuuthrad, which Nordic myth says was forged from Ysgramor's tears of pure ebony as Saarthal burned. The Dwemer alloyed it with steel for their animunculi, and the Orc followers of Trinimac trim their arms with it in token of Lorkhan's blood.

Uses

Heavy armour, weapons and shields; the base of Daedric, dragonbone and Nordic carved smithing; alchemical ingredient; Dwemer alloys.

Canon & adaptations

The lore sources are in-game books and dialogue that contradict one another on purpose: ebony is Lorkhan's blood, or Lorkhaj's black blood in Khajiiti myth, or Ysgramor's tears, and the Nords of Shor's Stone call it the blood of Shor. Vein counts and yields are game data that differ between titles and editions.

Recorded claims

Each claim is marked with its basis — explicit canon, MineArchive inference, adaptation only, or fandom interpretation — and attached to the source(s) below. Where tellings disagree, both are kept.

• Ebony is a rare volcanic glass, extremely hard and durable, found chiefly in the lava flows from Red Mountain on Vvardenfell and said to be the crystallised blood of Lorkhan. (explicit canon) ¹
• In Skyrim the primary ebony mine is Gloombound Mine at Narzulbur with sixteen veins, Raven Rock Mine on Solstheim has nine, Blackreach six and Redbelly Mine three. (explicit canon) ^2,3
• Each vein yields three ores and replenishes after thirty days; two ores smelt to one ingot, and refining raw ebony takes six months by the lore. (explicit canon) ^1,2,3
• The Dunmer have forged ebony since their days as the Chimer, and King Moraelyn's retainers were granted rights to mine it in the Wrothgarian Mountains in return for teaching the Bretons to smith it. (explicit canon) ¹
• Nordic myth holds that Ysgramor wept tears of pure ebony at the burning of Saarthal, from which his son forged the axe Wuuthrad. (explicit canon) ¹

Fictional mines producing this

Included only where MineArchive's own research gives a reasonable evidential basis.

• Blackreach
  Six ebony veins near the waterfalls to the south of the cavern.

Sources

1. (primary canon) Lore:Ebony — UESP — UESP, citing in-game books and dialogue across the series
2. (primary canon) Skyrim:Ebony — UESP — UESP, reproducing the game's item and location data
3. (primary canon) Ebony Ore (Skyrim) — Elder Scrolls Wiki — Elder Scrolls Wiki (Fandom), reproducing the game's item data; read through the MediaWiki API

Record created: 16 October 2026 · Last researched: 16 October 2026