How to Fill Soul Gems in Skyrim: Everything You Need to Know

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Learn how to find Soul Gems, fill them, and use Soul Trap

Co-authored by Hannah Dillon

Last Updated: July 15, 2024 Fact Checked

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Filling Soul Gems

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Obtaining Soul Gems

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Obtaining Soul Traps

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Using Soul Gems

Are you trying to figure out how to fill Soul Gems in Skyrim? It's not super intuitive how you're supposed to fill it, or what you're supposed to do with it once it's filled, but we're here to help. Soul Gems can be filled with the Soul Trap spell, and you use these gems to enchant weapons or recharge expended enchanted weapons. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about Soul Gems and how to fill them.

How Do You Fill a Soul Gem in Skyrim?

To fill a Soul Gem, you must use the Soul Trap spell on a creature before it dies. You must also have an empty Soul Gem in your inventory. Once the creature dies, the Gem will capture the soul. You'll need a Soul Gem that matches the soul's size (i.e. a Petty Soul Gem holds a Petty Soul, which is a level 1-3 creature).

Section 1 of 4:

Filling Soul Gems

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Cast the Soul Trap spell while having an empty Soul Gem in your inventory. You can cast a Soul Trap spell on any living creature, and when it dies the soul will be put into the empty Soul Gem in your inventory. Note that if you don't have an empty Soul Gem, the soul will disappear when the creature dies.
- To capture a soul in a Soul Gem, you need to have the correct type of Soul Gem. Each soul has a particular level, which corresponds to a Soul Gem:^{[1]
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  - Lesser: Creature level 1 to 3, requires a Lesser Soul Gem
  - Common: Creature level 4 to 15, requires a Common Soul Gem
  - Greater: Creature level 16 to 27, requires a Greater Soul Gem
  - Grand: Creature level 28 to 37, requires a Grand Soul Gem
  - Petty: Creature level 38 or higher, requires a Petty Soul Gem
  - Black: All NPCs have Black Souls, which are the same level as Grand Souls but can only be captured in a Black Soul Gem or The Black Star.
  - Dremora and ghosts are also considered NPCs for the purposes of soul collection.

Section 2 of 4:

Obtaining Soul Gems

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To trap souls, you need an empty Soul Gem. Soul Gems come in five sizes: petty, lesser, common, greater, and grand. Each soul gem can carry a different-sized soul, though to get a humanoid soul you must have a Black Soul Gem or Azura's Star.^{[2]
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- You must have an empty Soul Gem on hand of the appropriate size to capture a soul.
- Empty Soul Gems can be harvested in Blackreach from geode veins, but you can also find them around the world as various loot.
- If you try to capture a humanoid (NPC) soul with a Grand Soul Gem you'll get an error message stating that the Soul Gem is too small. You'll need a Black Soul Gem to get a humanoid soul.

Section 3 of 4:

Ways to Obtain Soul Traps

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The only location of a Soul Trap scroll is in Tel Mithryn, which is east of Fort Frostmoth on Solstheim.^{[3]
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Research source} You must have the Skyrim Dragonborn DLC to have access to Solstheim, and Tel Mithryn by extension. Tel Mithryn is the only place you can get a Scroll of Soul Trap. As this is a one-time-use item, the scroll will be destroyed once it's used.
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Purchase a Soul Trap tome. A number of merchants sell the Soul Trap tome, or you can craft it at the Atronach Forge with Salt Pile, Ruined Book, Torchbug Thorax, and any size Soul Gem. Using a Soul Trap tome will teach your character the Soul Trap spell, which costs 107 Magicka. The following vendors sell the Soul Trap tome:^{[4]
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- Calcemo, at the Understone Keep in Makarth
- Falion, at his house in Morthal
- Farengar Secret-Fire, in Dragonsreach in Whiterun
- Madena, at the White Hall in Dawnstar
- Nelacar, at the Frozen Hearth in Winterhold
- Phinis Gestor, in the Hall of Countenance in the College of Winterhold
- Sybille Stentor, in the Blue Palace in Solitude
- Wuunferth the Unliving, in the Palace of the Kings in Windhelm
- Wylandriah, in Mistveil Keep in Riften
- Talvas Fathryon, in Tel Mithryn on Solstheim
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Obtain a weapon with a Soul Trap enchantment. In the game, you can find weapons that have Soul Trap enchantments which allow you to use Soul Trap without expending extra Magicka. The following weapons have Soul Trap enchantments:^{[5]
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- Staff of Soul Trapping^{[6]
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- (weapon) of Souls, where (weapon) is a various weapon type
- (weapon) of Soul Snares, where (weapon) is a various weapon type
- (weapon) of Binding, where (weapon) is a various weapon type
- (weapon) of Animus, where (weapon) is a various weapon type
- (weapon) of Malediction, where (weapon) is a various weapon type
- (weapon) of Damnation, where (weapon) is a various weapon type
You must level up Conjuration and unlock Novice Conjuration and then Mystic Binding to have the opportunity to unlock Soul Stealer. With Soul Stealer, bound weapons will cast Soul Trap on targets. This is an easy way to get souls without needing to expend extra Magicka.^{[7]
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Section 4 of 4:

Using Soul Gems

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Once you have a filled Soul Gem, you can enchant a weapon at enchanting tables found in various places across Skyrim. If you want to recharge a previously enchanted weapon, you can do so directly from your inventory.