What happens to souls when they are used to enchant or recharge an item?

Speculation: The soul is used to generate the power that keeps the spell going or svcked dry at once to replenish it. Nevermind Oblivion's game mechanics.

Yes, so what happens to the soul? Is is destroyed or slowly released?

I'd wager on slowly released. TES strikes me more of a universe where souls can never be truly destroyed, just recycled and reused.

The situation with Umaril seemed to be an exception.

I wonder if mortal souls can be destroyed or not. If the soul is slowly released when recharging, then I imagine each use of its charge tears off a piece and releases it. Perhaps that weakens a soul, but it mends.

If an item is enchanted, it would seem the soul is bound to the item.

What happens when you don't capture it? (referring to Lore)

He was part daedra so he's immortal in a sense of the word.

But my take on this is that the soul is aware of what it has become but is constantly chipped away at if it's been used for enchanting.

I meant that Umaril's soul was destroyed.

Oh. Well yeah he's pretty much gone for good.

Umarils soul being destroyed means just put back into the dreamsleeve, I think

If used to enchant something, just stuck I reckon. Otherwise empty and discarded.

http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/feyfolken.shtml is a good example of the first.

apparently, the byproduct of erasing the minds and bodies of souls is magic. So i always though that soul gems captured the magic, and then sent the soul to Atheruis. When the enchanted item is used, the magic is depleted, but it is bond to the soul and will replenish. This theory means that if your soul was soul trapped in its former life, then any item enchanted with it would draw magica from you. This is why enchanted items up until Morrowind slowly got re-charged. When you recharge an enchantment with another soul gem, you are doing the same thing but not with the long term attachment.