The vast array of excessively rare items tucked away inside of Skyrim offer plenty of trinkets, artifacts, and oddities for intrepid collectors to hunt down. But try as they might, there are some items that even the most diligent treasure hunter can't get their hands on. Whether they're coded specifically for use by a particular NPC or never make an in-game appearance beyond snippets of unused code, they simply cannot be obtained.
Well, not by any means short of breaking the golden rule and popping open the console, anyway. Regardless, they're a rare and peculiar sight for most, which is why TheGamer is shining a spotlight on them today. Keep scrolling to check out ten of the coolest unobtainable items in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
10 Karliah's Bow
At first glance, the bow that Karliah wields appears to be the Nightingale Bow. In fact, when she gives us "her" bow, the Nightingale Bow is precisely what winds up in our inventory. However, it turns out that Karliah's actual bow is just a wee bit different.
Karliah's Bow actually possesses a much higher base damage rating than the Nightingale Bow does, appearing to be superior at first. However, since Karliah's Bow doesn't benefit from any of the smithing perks, the Nightingale Bow actually ends up winning out at the end of the day.
9 Spriggan Shield
The Spriggan Shield is a light armor shield with a defense rating of 24, which isn't too shabby. It also happens to be completely invisible, because the sole reason for its existence was to provide Spriggans with a blocking method without visibly equipping them with a shield.
Despite its official status as "unobtainable item," there have been some scattered reports of them appearing in the inventories of slain Spriggans in Skyrim's Special Edition release. So Special Edition players might actually be in luck if they fancy the idea of an invisible shield, for some reason.
8 Nocturnal's Clothing
The Daedric patron of thieves certainly knows how to make an impression with this... ahem, very skin-forward ensemble. It can be hacked into the player's inventory, but if playing a male character, it becomes wildly apparent that it was never designed with the masculine body in mind.
Nocturnal's revealing robe was never designed to be equipped onto characters lacking certain womanly attributes. Upon equipping it, a bug will cause male characters to quite suddenly develop these attributes in order to fit the mesh.
7 Herebane's Fortress
Herebane's Fortress is one of two unused items belonging to a cut NPC by the name of Herebane Sorenshield, apparently an Imperial soldier of some repute, judging by his attire. As to his exact role and any quests he might've been involved in, your guess is as good as anyone else's.
His so-called Fortress is actually a fairly decent Elven Shield. It's enchanted with a considerable fifty percent increase to frost resistance, which isn't something to thumb your nose at.
6 Sild's Staff
Sild the Warlock, the man who would've held this magical stick, made it into the game just fine, even though his staff didn't. He can be encountered at Rannveig's Fast, where he traps overly curious adventurers for cruel experimentation and spiritual enslavement. He's not the nicest guy you could hope to meet in the depths of a dusty old Nordic ruin.
Curiously, the staff has a base damage rating (which can't be utilized as you cannot attack with it) and possesses an enchantment that summons a Frost Atronach for a paltry ten seconds. It's theorized that the enchantment was originally supposed to summon forth one of the unique Subjugated Ghost NPCs that are guarding the entrance of Sild's lair.
5 Herebane's Courage
Herebane's Courage is the second of the mysteriously unused Herebane's heirlooms. His courage is very sharp, apparently, or at least as sharp as an Elven Sword, and it's quite fiery.
It has a fairly potent fire enchantment placed on it, dealing twenty-five points of fire damage per swipe and setting the target on fire. This makes for a pretty sturdy piece of kit, all things considered, but unfortunately, it's not one we can make use of without a little console magic.
4 General Carius' Armor & Heartstone Necklace
The presence of Falx Carius in Skyrim's Dragonborn DLC serves as a nice callback to his original role in the Bloodmoon expansion for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Granted, he's a lot less friendly and a lot more undead now, but at least we get the opportunity to lay our old friend to rest.
Carius' possesses a unique set of armor, the most notable being the torso armor and necklace. His torso armor features a chest harness holding an empty slot, into which a necromancer has inserted a Heartstone in order to assert control over him. However, the Heartstone itself counts as a necklace item and is absent from the armor unless equipped.
3 Briarheart Geis
The Briarheart Geis, in a nutshell, is a unique Forsworn Axe with beefed-up damage as well as a unique enchantment that does extra damage against Nords. It would've been a nice bit of flavor to include in the Forsworn arsenal, though it's mysteriously absent from the proper game.
As to why, well, that's a mystery. It doesn't seem particularly overpowered or broken, and given the dark magics known to be practiced by the Forsworn, it seems like it'd fit in incredibly well with their associated lore.
2 Frost Giant's Club
Much like the Giant's Club, the Frost Giant's Club is, unsurprisingly, a club reserved for giants that spent a little too much time languishing in the back of the freezer, alongside that bag of mixed vegetables you keep swearing you're going to start including in your rotating diet of cup noodles and grilled peanut butter sandwiches.
Although it doesn't look much different from its less frosty cousin, it actually packs a far greater punch. It possesses twenty more base damage than the original and is enchanted with a nasty frost damage effect that deals twenty damage to both health and stamina.
1 Zahkrii Do Dovahkiin
This mysterious blade was buried in the files of the Dragonborn DLC but made no corporeal appearance therein. The sword's name, loosely translated from dragon language, means "Sword of the Dragonborn."
For all intents and purposes, it's functionally and aesthetically identical to a Daedric sword, but its accompanying text blurb alleges that "the sword's true power can only be unlocked by the Thuum of the Dovahkiin," which sounds abundantly promising and cool. But unfortunately, it doesn't seem we'll ever get to figure out the implications behind its "true power."