what kind of sword is the umbra sword if it were to be unenchanted?

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Umbra_Sword

It can't be enchanted. it already has one.

I think he is asking what it is based on. Certainly not Daedric or Ebony, looks more like steel to me.

I know that I'm asking what kind of sword. (i.e., iron dagger, steel longsword, silver claymore).

Oops. It looks a bit between adamantium and steel to me. Maybe the devs can shed some light on this.

Devs?

Bethesda Game Developers. They sometimes lurk the forums.

oh,ok.

I am not certain there are many devs from the Morrowind days who could answer this.

However, maybe the lore boys and girls will be able to shed some light on it, so off we go ...................

Eh... while I suppose I understand why you moved the topic, it's not exactly a wellspring of interesting subjects. Ah, well. Can't keep everything clean all the time. *reaches for broom*

All we know is that the Umbra Sword was made by a witch called Naenra Waerr for the purpose of trapping souls (http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/tamrieliclore.shtml).

Yeah, I was aware of the TIL answer, which does not answer the OP, but I thought there would be possibly other information from someone in this knowledgeable forum. :shrug:

Ah, no worries. But unfortunately all we have to go on is that book. Anything else is speculation.

It doesn't really help that the sword changes somewhat in appearance between Morrowind and Oblivion. In Morrowind it was a two-handed version of an Ebony longsword. In Oblivion it had a unique model. IMO, it almost had a crystalline appearance.

i always thought it was an ebony claymore for some reason. Just way above the handle looks it reminds me of ebony :shrug:

I think you have a point. It almost looked steel at times and ebony at others. I'm not sure at all what it is.

I have looked on Umbra with fear, understanding, reverence, and respect. I was passing by and thought to complete his fate, but having that, so much umbrage, just left. I have no idea what that looks like, now I will have to kill him, sounds like new art.

wow

It is made out of stirofoam

Nah, man: wood. It's made of painted wood.

MK told me in a cleaning fluid-induced dreamsleeve transmission.

Could it perhaps be made of a black soulgem? If its made to capture souls that would sorta make sense. As for the op the only relevent info I have to spare is that Clavicus Vile claimed it contained the soul of a Hero named Umbra. I know that it (either the soul in the sword or the sword itself) eventually poccesses the user.

Not really, the vielder just looses his sense of himself. Well, that is almost the same thing, really, so it doesn't really matter. But anyway, for example, the Orc-Umbra did not seem to me like a possessed man. He was himself, but he had forgotten who he was - so he called himself Umbra. He wasn't possessed, for if he would have been, he would not have been able to ask the PC to kill him. Remember, he was not unable to kill himself - he just wanted to die a warrior's death.

After reading through the Morrowind dialogue - it also seems that Orc-Umbra might actually remember who he is, but does not want to tell the PC, for it does not matter, according to him. However, that might still just be lies to avoid admitting that he actually doesn't know.

There has been some discussion on this subject on the http://www.imperial-library.info/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1208870522. I quite like Bubz's idea. It actually fits quite well. Shades of Feyfolken.

its made out of caved soul gem m8
trust me i know :spotted owl:
exept the hilt dont know about that

's just a piece of plastic.

looking closely, it looks sorta like madness ore on the black, and adamantium for the blade

Necromancy is illegal.

Since we can't get a conherent answer and since (as far as we are aware of) any more complex alloys than steel and whatever turns ebony to Daedric don't exist, I'm going to say that through complex magic was it forged of material from Oblivion. Here's why: It was made by a Witch. Doesn't say commissioned by a Witch, doesn't say enchanted by a Witch, it says made by a Witch. Nothing against Witches, but they aren't well known for their blacksmithing, are they?

You want a wild, theoretical explanation? Ok, here goes: it was made by acumulating enough Oblvionic super-matter (the same basic matter that is used to make a sigil stone) and, by using extensive magickal controls, hammering the matter to keep the shape of a sword. However, it being made of chaotic matter, the sword is always subtly shifting. Due to a flaw in the manufacture (or by design), the sword continually leaks energy into a certain subrealm of Oblivion. It compensates by either absorbing the magickal energy from the sun and similar sources, giving it its black appearance as it is gobbling up whatever energy touches it, or, more efficiently, by stealing the soul of whatever creature touches it. Prolonged exposure (through wielding) eventually destroys the person's soul and the sword supplants it with its own consciousness.