Soul Gems are miscellaneous items which can be used to trap the soul of a dying creature or NPC. The resulting filled soul gems can be used as power sources for enchanted items, either when initially creating custom enchanted items or when recharging depleted enchanted weapons, either of which will consume the soul gem. In addition to the soul gems listed here, the Shivering Isles expansion adds a Soul Tomato that can be used as the equivalent of a grand soul gem.
They can be bought at most magical and alchemical shops.
Types of Soul Gem
| Name | Soul | ID | Weight | Value | Capacity | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Petty Soul Gem | Empty Petty |
00023D67 000382D1 |
0.1 | 10 40 |
150 | Smallest size of soul gems. |
 |
Lesser Soul Gem | Empty Petty Lesser |
00023D69 000382D2 000382D3 |
0.2 | 25 40 80 |
300 | Second smallest size of soul gems. One Lesser Soul Gem is required for Sheogorath's Daedric quest. |
| |
Common Soul Gem | Empty Petty Lesser Common |
00015B8B 000382D4 000382D5 000382D6 |
0.3 | 50 40 80 150 |
800 | Middle size of soul gems. |
| |
Greater Soul Gem | Empty Petty Lesser Common Greater |
00015B8C 000382D7 000382D8 000382D9 000382DA |
0.4 | 100 40 80 150 350 |
1200 | Second largest size of soul gems. |
| |
Grand Soul Gem | Empty Petty Lesser Common Greater Grand |
00015B8E 000382DB 000382DC 000382DD 000382DE 000382DF |
0.5 | 200 40 80 150 350 500 |
1600 | Largest size of soul gems. Five empty Grand Soul Gems are required for the Vampire Cure quest. |
 |
Black Soul Gem | Empty Grand Empty Empty |
00000192 000382E0 0003C7FC 0001EC14 |
0.5 0.5 0 0.5 |
500 1200 0 500 |
1600 | Special soul gems that can capture NPC souls as well as creatures; see Black Soul Gems for details.
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Note: These IDs and values are set at the time you acquire a soul gem, and do not get changed when you fill the soul gem with a soul. In other words, if you pick up an empty grand soul gem, its value will be 200 gold. That value does not change when you fill it. Therefore, you can end up with grand soul gems containing grand souls with two different values, both 200 gold and 500 gold.
Black Soul Gems
Regular Soul Gems can only trap creatures, not NPCs (note that some creatures, like Dremora, are actually classed as NPCs). Necromancy has researched the rituals necessary to create Black Soul Gems that are capable of trapping the souls of NPCs. The details of those rituals are described on the page describing Black Soul Gems.
Once you have a filled Black Soul Gem, it is used exactly like a regular Soul Gem. A Black Soul Gem can hold as much as a Grand Soul Gem (1600), but it is much easier to fill since any humanoid is 1600 units.
Azura's Star
Azura's Star is essentially the most powerful Soul Gem in the game, and can be obtained by completing Azura's Daedric Quest. Its quality is the same as a Grand Soul Gem; however, it has infinite uses and it is not used up after enchanting or recharging. It cannot be turned into a Black Soul Gem, and thus cannot hold NPC souls. See the page on Azura's Star for more details.
Locations
These are the only guaranteed locations of empty soul gems. Any others come from random lists.
Petty
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Lesser
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Common
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Greater
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Grand
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† These soul gems are only accessible during the Vampire Cure quest.
§ Carried by an NPC