Skyrim: Dawnguard - How to get your SOUL ESSENCE back in the Soul Cairn! *spoilers*

This tutorial will show you how to get your Soul Essence back in the Soul Cairn, in Skyrim: Dawnguard. WARNING: Contains spoilers!

[@lukeey062510]

I love the irony of the fact that your character is a High Elf (could tell from the Highborn ability), and the fact you end your videos with "May Talos guide you"

[@NoahVercetti]

He is the traiter of the thalmor

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

The weird thing is, I was totally lost about where to get the rest of my soul from the Soul Cairn. I searched over and over, checked my side-quests. It wasn't there. I was totally baffled, I thought I had to talk to Serana's mum in order to spawn it. Turns out that in my obsessive quest to find Juib's pages, I picked it up without realising. I know because the chest is empty and I remembered picking it up.

[@GenderlessSpoonie]

Thank you! This was my first play through where I wasn’t a vampire in the soul cairn so I was getting really frustrated in this stupid little building. You rock.

[@2713zero]

Thanks bro, this was literally a life saver, i was getting so close to death a lot but i have a feeling i wont with my character at his folull potential again.

[@vampishpick4606]

I know this is years old but all the other videos were just jump cutting from the castle to the building and not really showing us where to go. Thank you so much for making this video!

[@jayn8392]

this place is the worst

[@dadgbe4834]

absolutely

[@Tsumefan2]

have you noticed there is a huge eye in the sky?

[@redbird1500]

Imagine a necromancer soul trapping you, then killing you. Then being stuck there for eternity.

[@ThrashAnDash]

Flaming skulls = most annoying thing ever created

[@christenduerring7540]

Yup, I've wasted far too much time in it.

[@princessboggy]

Or to avoid the maze like building, simply ride Arvak up the side of the building! :)

[@Creeperssuck678]

Thanks Smike! Just to point something out though, Valerica can give you a misc. quest to get your soul essence back, so the only confusing part is finding your way through the small Labyrinth. But in all seriousness though, thank you for making this tutorial. It worked perfectly for me.

[@sadinx14]

werewolf's are more BADASS

[@Vfour-oi5jo]

No doubt. With the wolf form I managed to defeat Durhneviir.

[@thatsacoolusernamebih1491]

@@Vfour-oi5jo lmaoo you didn’t have a bow didn’t. You? I did the same

[@Wordslay]

Neat. I actually got back my soul without me realizing, lol. I'm just checking.

[@777DanielG]

Haha me too! I cane here to find this quest, to see if anyone in the same boat as me. Hi sailor.

[@hadi9023]

@@777DanielG Did you also not have a quest for it?

[@777DanielG]

@@hadi9023 yeah, I'm convinced myself that there's no quest to retrieve your Soul. I guess Bethesda made it a "Hidden Quest" like the "Lovers quest"

[@777DanielG]

@@hadi9023 did you get the Deadric Horse? The lava horse not the Arvac

[@hadi9023]

@@777DanielG hmm i dont know about a deadric horse in the soul Cairn

[@Filioush]

You must find Soul in Soul Cairn that wants you to find his horse's skull. Once you find Arvak's (that's that horse's name) skull, bring it back to that soul. He will give you spell ,,Summon Arvak'', so you can summon and ride him.

[@phillipallen3468]

FINALLY! A video that explains, clearly and logically, how to get back your soul from those damned Masters of the cairn.

[@dimatadore]

I just played this this week and I'm kind of feeling salty that I did this gem building last instead of first.

[@Philamosity]

New to the game. This almost drove me insane. Thank you so much 💯

[@777DanielG]

Cool I just started this game last year. And barely get to play.

[@buzzspriteyear8184]

Just started the game three weeks ago. Played it everyday since.

[@Nacjo_Farmer]

I love how in Skyrim devs design some missions that should be a puzzle to solve but have a marker on the map leading to the goal but in the case of this mission they stated "we wouldn't add a marker on the map so a frustrated player will run for 3 hours in a location where everything looks the same to finally find that one place" xD

[@hjalmarrsviakappa9666]

God damn this was helpfull!

[@exiled_0185]

It's so wild randomly playing skyrim again and needing to look something up only to find SMIKE, especially after the whole fnaf thing

[@justinsn956]

The ones who run the cairn cannot be harmed, but at the same time they are powerless to intervene.

[@piercej8843]

That was extremely helpful

[@Titan52berg]

I like going into the Soul Cairn or Forgotten Vale and spawning dragons, Dwemer centurions, crabs, chaurus bugs.... it gets crazy as hell in there!

[@lmo7724]

I had to turn off audio, because the sound of thunder was driving me batty. Eventually gave up because the strobing is threatening to give me a seizure. Will try to follow this later.

[@madalice1152]

This really helped! Thank you Smike :3

[@manulepi]

Thanks a lot that's a nice vid. 9 years after game release still helpful !

[@cactusmccoy7011]

Theres like 3 building with gems on top ugh I cant find it for the life of me

[@elmelvich]

2023 and this video helped me 👌

[@SeriesClipzz]

Mad thanks to you dude, though I thought when I got my soul essence back I would do that thing Thanos did in Infinity War when he got all the stones lol.

[@Momba121]

No way this is the same smike who I watched do fnaf theories when I was 7 back again when I’m older and moved on to Skyrim!!!

[@edboy3644]

Thanks! Never did this always forgot

[@andrewflowers6204]

Thank you for posting videos like this it helped a lot.

[@girlpower987654321]

is the big building you start at the place where Serena's mom was kidnapped?

[@taggen5094]

yep

[@kota1849]

VMarieParent yes

[@TheImapletroll]

They will, Because if you think about it, Through the whole Quest line, Serana is hinting at it

[@smike]

Thanks! :)

[@nuggetnugget1435]

I could not thank you ENOUGH

[@pman2434]

is there anything else you can do in dawnguard, or have you covered it all?

[@AmishFantango]

You buy it from fort dawnguard, eventually, it's not that far on in the DLC. I think you can craft in in fort dawnguard too. :)

[@mememan2392]

Holy shit. I just wanted to know where to get my soul back. But i found the news dude when fnaf 1 was out.

[@Dazzleurmind28]

at 1:30, theres a daedra heart on a plate, dont miss it out!

[@antleft1]

thancks that helped me a lot!

[@Filioush]

If you accepted Lord Harkon's ,,gift'', you can't return to Dawnguard. But you can reload save before you accepted to be Harkon's minion.

[@Corilo91]

The developers: "Here, a vast, repetitive dark map. Good luck finding your soul, loser."

[@codeybohannon3535]

Me asking someone for directions: Go here, here, here, and eventually you'll find a little portal here

[@paulgrey8028]

Thank you. This was frustrating . . .

[@WhatNow858]

Thanks so much. Your vid helped a lot!

[@xMETALHOLIC94x]

If you didn't find it, or there wasn't anything there, then obviously you are a ginger.

[@rizvi0_0]

I feel like even after taking the full essence soul gem my stamina depletes faster than before

[@stauntonflips]

I love how you don’t even pull up the map so no one knows where you are.

[@HAN9339]

Can someone tell me why I cant enter the soul carin again? Iv killed harkon and done some small quests for the dawnguard, and I found out I wanted to travel back to the soul carin. so I went back to castle volkhir and found the portal, got serana to turn me into a vampire again and then I tried to enter but It wouldent let me... HELP please??

[@234Assassin]

Either join the Dawnguard then buy or craft the armor, or join the Vampires and just kill a dawnguard

[@SrPupusa]

Thx smile u da best ,this helped me a lot

[@-CrazedDreamer-]

Thanks smike a lot of ur vids have helped and i thank you and u just earned a sub thx

[@smike]

Yes.

[@aaronruss2405]

Great video! Thanks for the help.

[@OsamaBinLooney]

i just entered the soul cairn and took out all 3 keepers then got arvaak and talked to valerica then i went to go to bone yard to fight the dragon guy and game froze and i lost everything so now i have to do it all fucking over.........fuck...

[@SuzakuHeat]

I Got My Soul Essence Gem It Deleted The Effect Of Weakend Soul But It Still Drains My Health And Kills Me?? :/

[@York22]

You have to run away. The ideal masters are seeking their revenge for taking the soul essence gem

[@alvinkertanegara2871]

I'd like to explore more of this area. Too bad I got ctd like every 5 mins playing. I put dawnguard away for a while. Still, I want to ride Arvak, it will be a very suitable ride for a vampire. Imagine, as vampire, wearing honed falmer armor then riding undead horse. Will be looked like a dark knight.

[@eazyclean5319]

Ever since I left that place I been getting my ass handed to me by low level bandits even after doing this

[@MrKapoc]

Hi Smike. Very much llove ur vidz, it so helpfull sometimes. Can u make a little werewolf gameplay vid? Just to show what he can do in dawnguard dlc. I mean all new things that Bethesda add to werewolf. And. When tranformation is over, armor and weapon will be unequiped like in origin skyrim? Or not, like a vampire lord ?

[@barbiedollaffairs]

When I was in the soul cairne some of my weapons got weaker and when I left they were still weaker HELP

[@vividlord564]

Hey Mike, Can you make a video on the Legend achievment? (killing a legendary dragon) thanks and love your vids

[@octyocto6505]

I only needed to watch 50 seconds thx

[@codykester2386]

Thanks helped a lot!

[@meep_9823]

Every time when i would approach the big soul gem really quick it showed a dude floating there and glitch back to the big gem

[@kanegoodwin8331]

That’s something else bud your game needs a doctor

[@wishingstar8701]

They made it needlessly complicated to find, if there wasnt a ton of buildings with gems on them already it wouldnt be so difficult

[@hiyapal7719]

I'm not sure what building you are starting from when you head west. 👀

[@bennyojeda3614]

I can find the building but the gem appeared as a black soul gem

[@MaximumCarnag3]

MrYoda7000 I have the same problem :((((

[@enesdirican8785]

After 11 years still helping this videos 🥹

[@tylerdeardeuff1885]

Thanks smike this helped me a lot

[@jaday2246]

VAMPIRES ARE BADASS

[@jlara101]

Thanks bro this helped alot

[@sirwinterofwinterland9901]

Very helpful, thanks

[@natinekochan6489]

Thanks ^-^ it was helpful

[@waltuh6202]

I didn’t know smike made Skyrim videos?

[@Sparkxtube]

It has to be, unless you chose to be a vampire to get in, then you dont need to

[@CrazyFreak714]

Awsome, Thanks for the help. What where they thinking with this bullshit quest

[@Orionsgaming]

Show us how to get the Dawn Guard Armor!

[@bassmanwolff]

that wouldn't be lore friendly, she is a pure blooded vampire tied to the daedric prince Molag Bal

[@Vfour-oi5jo]

Thank you, I almost lost it.😐

[@simonsmith5741]

Finally wont have to keep becoming a vampire lol

[@YogscastJoel]

My Skyrim freezes when I press start on the main menu it says loading add ons then freezes and I deleted Dawnguard dlc off the hardrive and Skyrim works perfect so HELP ME SOMEBODY PLEASE!?

[@nw_orbit6236]

I’m a bit late, but the files might be corrupted

[@mariahmonica2001]

NW_Orbit nevermind that I misread

[@TheeMaddyWesker]

So once you collect your soul gem then your back to normal right?

[@arnogaming5895]

Maddy Haag yup

[@TheeMaddyWesker]

Thank you i had trouble finding it like where in the heck is it lol but i got it and nice video

[@smike]

Sadly, no :( I wish you could, maybe in an upcoming patch?

[@lindakooistra1889]

Soooo Awesome, TY!!!!!!

[@SambagTK]

How in the heck do i get out with my essence? I got my essence but then there was that purple barrier blocking me from the portal. I cant get back to Tamriel, some one plz help me!

[@NastyaStarbuck]

Does anybody know what happens if you skip this and , and just head home without getting back your soul?what are the consequences?

[@sleptking1707]

Very low health and stamina

[@NastyaStarbuck]

+Thatone Dude tnx, at the end I did try come back without it, and the alchemist in Whiterun started noticing what a strong Nord am I, despite me being a Dunmer. XD I guess not having whole soul triggers some kind of existential crisis lol

[@2888Arne]

can you do a vid about the new spells like necromantic healing, stendars aura and conjure boneman?

[@dorianvodopia]

Hy mike could you make a sort of walkthrough gameplay episodes of skyrim? it would be really cool :P

[@Turrican]

Thanks!

[@Horangus]

can you show use how to zoom out in 3rd person so you see more of your character? thanks

[@xspeedyjjx7419]

Thanks man

[@ProtoNoah]

Can you do a video on how to get the soul trap shout?

[@GnelM24]

Can u make a video on how to get the dwarves crossbow and bolts! Thanks

[@underscxre7452]

Theres a bairiar protecting me from getting out of there. ;(

[@underscxre7452]

xXX_D0V4KH11N_XXx Nvm lol ;D

[@Anonymous-hk3zu]

Cant kill a brair?

[@underscxre7452]

TeknoGaming I'm polish dude, I have spelling problems, not all the time.

[@finnbazz6315]

Anonymous He must mean barrier.

[@starquaked]

Thanks so much

[@ulisesromero2921]

Nice Vid. thx!!

[@CoonGordon]

How to find all of Opus' book pages please :)

[@swervinbishh3238]

Thanks

[@lalylaly27]

TTTTHHHAAANNNKKK YYYOOOUUU

[@ElFelixMafioso]

Thanks a lot!!!!!!

[@Trisrocks13]

Do a how to in the master illusion spells

[@TheGhastQueen]

I understand this is old but, if at the end of the questline, if you refuse Serana to be your follower, will she stay with the Dawnguard and you can make her your follower whenever? Or is it the only chance when you ask her?