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Ever wondered where all those poor sods go when they're absorbed into a soul gem? It's called the Soul Cairn, a blueish purgatory akin to Coldharbour where the dead are left to fester, forgotten.
We get there during the Chasing Echoes quest in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Skyrim's DLC, finding a portal in Castle Volkihar. It's ruled by the Ideal Masters who are believed to feed on the souls given to them by the living while necromancers often call on the Soul Cairn for their undead magic.
Inside are dilapidated ruins, a bleak mirror held to Tamriel, and undead husks instead of luscious flora. Rather than ghosts, skeletons, and the usual assortment of undead we face, there are Bonemen, Wrathmen, Mistmen, and Keepers. They're unlike anything else in Skyrim, making the Soul Cairn an even more alien locale. But while our trip there is short and sweet in Skyrim, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:there's a lot to unpack when it comes to this mysterious other world, so let's pick apart everything we know.
What Is The Soul Cairn?
The Soul Cairn wasn't actually introduced in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Skyrim's Dawnguard DLC - it was introduced in Battlespire back in 1997. Since then, we've learned a lot more about it, the Ideal Masters introduced in the '90s, and the nature of the souls who reside there.
Battlespire's story tells us of Paxti Bittor, who opened a portal for the Daedric Prince Mehrune Dagon. He then invaded the Soul Cairn so that he could use it as a border world, allowing for him to breach into Tamriel and other pockets of Oblivion. However, this made an enemy of the Ideal Masters who rule over the Soul Cairn much as 168澳洲幸运🍬5开奖网:Daedric Princes do their own realms of Oblivion.
It has a much more extensive history than its first appearance, yet that history is largely unknown and shrouded in mystery. We know that the elusive Ideal Masters rule the Soul Cairn and offer a hand to those who find themselves trapped in its walls, a chance to be in their service. They barter, never forcing anyone to follow them, but those that do often regret it. Many n🥃ecromancers have struck bargains with the Ideal Masters only to end up trapped in the Soul Cairn for eternity.
Even after Mehrune Dagon's invasion, Daedra were forced to stay in the Cairn to satisfy the Ideal Masters. Aside from that, there's little we know about the Ideal Masters. But what we do know is that these disembodied rulers inhabit a pocket dimension where souls go after being trapped. It's rare for mortals to get into the Soul Cairn, let alone return from it. But many theorise that the Ideal Masters created the Soul Cairn to collect souls so that they can keep a hold of their immortal😼ity. Dialogue in Battlespire seems to corroborate this.
Unless you join our service, we offer you no aid. Affairs of mortals are not our concern. Each mote of mana s🙈pent diminishes our eternity. Go and trouble me no more. But you speak with our brethren, who perhaps better recall wearing flesh, and who may look more ge🐻nerously upon your request.
It appears as though the Ideal Masters need souls or mortals in their service to keep afloat, although their mysterious and ethereal nature makes it hard to pinpoint what they are, let alone how they survive. They have transcended physical form &mdas🐈h; that much is known.
The Soul Cairn Map
You enter the Soul Cairn at the bottom left of the map. Along the way, you'll find Bonemen, Keepers, Arvak's Skull (for a new mount), quests, spell tomes, gems, and a returning hero called Jiub.
You can see how to navigate it above, or you can on PC. But what's interesting is that there are crystals dotted about throughout the Soul Cairn that let the Ideal Masters speak or feed, giving a glimpse into how they 'work' as a species. They aren't humanoid or comparable to any of the other species in Tamriel, not even the Aedra or Daedra, and these crystals seem paramount to understanding that.
Who Is Arvak?
Very little is known about Dawnguard's skeletal mount. You find Arvak's skull in the Soul Cairn, leading to a quest where you get an undying mount much like Shadowmere from 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the Dark Brotherhood. But aside from that, Arvak is a blank slate.
The quest is started by meeting a lost soul in the Cairn who is calling out for Arvak, leading many to belie🗹ve that Arvak is simply an undead horse who was soul trapped. We manage to get them out of the Cairn even if only for limited periods of time by using conjuration, likely necromancy, furthering this idea of them being an undead horse.
Who Is Jiub?
We first meet Jiub in Morrowind. When you arrive at Vvardenfell on the prisoner boat, he's the one who wakes you up. After that, you don't see him again, but we do know what he got up to while we stopped the Sixth House and saved Tamriel. He became Saint Jiub the Eradicator of the Tribunal and New Temple, slaying all the Cliff Racers that called Vvardenfell home.
He later moved to Kvatch to focus on his autobiography which would prove his undoing. During the Oblivion Crisis, you find a severed head resembling Jiub's. As it turns out, he was killed and sent to the Soul Cairn where we find him in Skyrim, hopelessly trying to find the pages of his autobiography so he might be remembered back in the world of the living.
Who Is Durnehviir?
Strangely enough, you can find a dragon in the Soul Cairn. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:It wouldn't be Skyrim without one, eh? Durnehviir is from the Merethic Era, back when Alduin and his dragons ruled over Tamriel. He wasn't meant to be stuck in the Soul Cairn, though. In fact, the Ideal Masters tricked Durnehviir, leading to his self-inflicted imprisonment.
At some point, a Vampire Lord called Valerica went to the Soul Cairn with an Elder Scroll only to be imprisoned by the Ideal Masters who sent Keepers to make sure she couldn't escape. Later, Durnehviir arrived to bargain with the Ideal Masters to strengthen his necromancy. They agreed on one condition — he guards Valerica until she dies.
Durnehviir agreed without realising who he was guarding, an immortal vampire. Over the years, he began to change and morph to fit the Soul Cairn's environment until eventually, he twisted such that he could never leave, binding himself to the Cairn for eternity.
There's a mention of Durnehviir as far back as Battlespire as we find a mural of a dragon in the Soul Cairn who many now, in retrospect, believe to be Durnehviir, one of the Keepers who protect the Vampire Lord and her Elder Scroll.
