Im morrowind, Umbra was a male orc

Not in the form of talking to statues though, that got kind of redundant, need more variety! The quests themselves were fine, just acquiring them was so special.

Oh it'd be cool if someone asks you to destroy the sword, and if you choose not to, the quest giver tries to kill you. After a long chain of quests (finding the sword ect) so you get close with said quest giver making the decision harder

I don't think many folks in the Skyrim forum are aware of the novel.

No, I don't believe Umbra will appear in Skyrim, as a spirit in a sword. It's my impression the spirit known as Umbra is the Hunger of Alduin.

may be somekind of dreams while sleeping or visions

Some people chose to give the sword to a deadric prince though. how would he lose it?

What if Umbra is destroyed by the end of the second novel?

Then it can be included as http://www.umbrasoftware.com/index.php?page=umbra-information-center.

Actually, Umbra is a "he". I'm sure Umbra will be in the game, he will be stuffed back in his sword by Clavicus Vile. Also, Umbra was pretty difficult to fight in Oblivion though you could easily cheat and kill her with magic or ranged but even then, you have have a strong enough spell or marksman skill or she will just regenerate her health. The only problem with Umbra is that when you start to get higher level she doesn't scale in difficulty well and then she can be trivialized at a high enough level. But overall, especially when your a lower level character, Umbra was the most difficult fight in Oblivion and if you turn your difficulty bar all the way to full on Oblivion, she is the hardest fight in any TES game and that's saying something, Arena had some hard fights.

I like goldbrand more then umbra :shrug:

there can only be one!

HIGHLANDER! derrr...I mean UMBRA!

"This magical Sword is almost a complete mystery. Thieves tell tales about its golden make and how it was actually forged by ancient dragons of the North. Their tales claim that it was given to a great knight who was sworn to protect the dragons. The Sword lends its wielder the ability to do fire damage on an enemy. Goldbrand has not been sighted in recent history and is said to be awaiting a worthy hero."

Sounds like we'll see goldbrand!

I think we will almost certainly see it in some form, since it has appeared in all the ES games I've played. In Morrowind, slaying Umbra was serious business. I remember dying the first time I crossed paths with him, and nearly died the second time as well. Hopefully Skyrim gives us the challenge we deserve.

Edit: Eltonbrand > Goldenbrand, sir.

As others have said, it seems like it's all going to depend on what happens in the second novel.

yeah we had in morrowind (in order from weakest to strongest) bluebrand, goldbrand, and eltonbrand all with the same model.

Make long time wielders of UMBRA begin to take on a gangly, sick appearance.

Make the evil in the sword slowly transform the player into something otherworldy, unholy.

think Raziel from the soul reaver games.