Hello.

While reading Artifact descriptions from Daggerfall, I noticed that it mentioned using Azura's Star would release the soul it had trapped, and let it continue onwards to Oblivion, instead of destroying it outright or sending it to the Soul Cairn.

From UESP:

"The soul of any creature killed by the bearer of the Star is trapped within it. If the Star already carries a soul, nothing happens. Using Azura's Star empties it, freeing the trapped soul to make its journey to Oblivion. Azura's Star can be used to make magical items over and over and over."

I suppose Oblivion could mean http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_oblivion, but since Oblivion is capitalized and is an actual place in TES lore, I doubt they mean eternal oblivion.

Am I just misinterpreting the item description, or did Soul Trapping get even more sinister as the games and their lore progressed?

It's gone from temporary bondage to outright destruction or being sent to the Soul Cairn, with the latter being arguably worse than then destruction.

I'd love to hear some explanations or discussion about this from people more versed in the lore of older TES games.

Well, Soul Cairn is part of a Oblivion.

True; but the wording in the description suggests that the Soul is being freed, or released to its proper place; the Soul Cairn, which wasn't even conceived of when Daggerfall was made, is a rather unnatural location. Unless you want to see the Soul Cairn as the "proper place," but since it isn't mentioned in Daggerfall as far as I know, I doubt it would have ever been brought into consideration.

I'm just wondering if there are any other pieces of lore from Daggerfall that agree or refute with the description of Azura's star, or elaborate on Soul Trapping further.

If Daggerfall lacks, then I'm looking for the oldest (by game release date) piece of information about what happens to Trapped Souls when used in enchanting.