Lore:Blade of Woe

The Blade of Woe, also known as the Night Mother's Kiss, is a ritualistic dagger associated with Sithis and the Dark Brotherhood. It is said that anyone slain with the dagger has their soul sent straight to the Void. It is named after the dagger the Night Mother used to slay her own children. It takes the form of an Ebony or Daedric dagger which can, at its most lethal, instantly kill a target that is unaware of its user, shroud the wielder from view when going for the killing blow, as well as temporarily increasing its wielder's movement speed to make an escape after killing with the blade. It is also known to damage or drain health, deplete magicka and willpower, and demoralize anyone struck by it. The blood spilled by the blade may become tainted.

History

In the mid-Second Era, every member of the Brotherhood could call upon the blade. When wielded by those of higher rank in the Brotherhood, using it to kill could hide the wielder from view. Despite it being a single weapon, it could be summoned simultaneously by any number of assassins. Though assassins were not required to use the Blade of Woe to kill their targets, some contracts offered bonuses for using it to eliminate the target. In 2E 582, the Black Hand tasked the Brotherhood's Gold Coast sanctuary with performing a ritual known as the Litany of Blood with the blade. This ritual could only be performed by the "unshriven" Vestige who had seen beyond death. The victims marked by the Litany of Blood were completely incinerated by the Blade of Woe upon their assassinations.

In 3E 433, the supposedly virgin Blade of Woe was given by Lucien Lachance to the Hero of Kvatch when he invited the latter to join the Brotherhood. The Hero did join the Brotherhood and rose through the ranks, maintaining possession of the apparently mundane dagger. After the third Purification of the Brotherhood, and the subsequent decimation of the Black Hand ending with Lachance's own death, the Hero attended a meeting to commune directly with the Night Mother below the Lucky Old Lady statue in Bravil. During that meeting the true traitor to the Brotherhood was revealed, and as a reward for the Hero's proof of loyalty, the Blade of Woe's true power was unlocked.

Circa 4E 176, the Jarl of Whiterun enlisted the help of the Sheathed Blades in thwarting the assassination attempts of the Dark Brotherhood on some of the city's beloved citizens. The adventurers decided to strike at the Brotherhood before they could make a move, and journeyed to the northern reaches of Skyrim. One tale describing the events says that during the counterattack, the Sheathed Blades obtained the Blade of Woe in a cave near Winterhold among the organization's cache of goods and weapons.

Circa 4E 188, the Blade of Woe was wielded by a Brotherhood member named Andronica, who was sent to assassinate the heads of the Eclipse and Claws skooma gangs, who waged a violent war in Bravil's streets. By the 4th of Sun's Dusk, things in Bravil had come to a head and the statue of the Lucky Old Lady was destroyed, and its members were forced to defend the Night Mother's crypt below it. The Blade of Woe's wielder Andronica perished along with the Listener Alisanne Dupre, however, a Brotherhood assassin named Garnag managed to escape with the Night Mother's body, saving it from destruction.

In 4E 201, the Blade of Woe reemerged, where it was in the possession of Astrid, the leader of the last known active chapter of the Brotherhood. Astrid was killed by the Last Dragonborn, who then took possession of the blade.

Gallery

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See Also

• For game-specific information, see the Oblivion, Skyrim, Elder Scrolls Online, and Castles articles.