The Keepers are the jailers of the Soul Cairn, the grim plane you visit in the Dawnguard add-on. They tower over the Dragonborn – among the tallest figures in the entire game, even taller than the Ebony Warrior – and are clad in dragonplate armor without the helmet. Where a head should be, there is only a cloud of black smoke with two glowing blue eyes. Each carries a dragonbone weapon: a mace, a battleaxe, or a bow.
There are only three of them, and they exist for one purpose in the story: as long as they stand, the magical barrier around Valerica stays up.
Variants
- Mace Keeper – dragonbone mace and a dragonplate shield.
- Axe Keeper – dragonbone battleaxe.
- Archer Keeper – dragonbone bow and arrows.
Where to find them
All three Keepers stand in the Soul Cairn and can only be fought during Beyond Death. Measured from the Boneyard:
- One waits on top of a tall floating tower to the right of the Boneyard.
- The second is further south, in an open ruin.
- The third guards the courtyard of a mid-sized fort south of the Boneyard.
You don’t have to speak with Valerica first – Keepers slain beforehand still count towards the quest. Once dead, they never respawn.
Notes
- Their remains usually hold a filled black soul gem.
- From about level 45, their dragonbone weapons can be looted. Their dragonplate armour – including the mace-wielder’s shield – cannot.
- Keepers scale with you, at roughly 1.2 times your level between 10 and 80, so they stay a real fight whenever you arrive.
- The Keepers’ infobox lists their soul as Grand, but the gem they actually carry is a black one.
