The Reaper is an optional, hidden boss in the Dawnguard expansion, lurking in the Reaper’s Lair deep inside the Soul Cairn. Nothing about it is obvious: you have to collect Reaper Gem Fragments scattered around the realm and place at least three of them on its altar before it will rise to face you. The lost souls of the Cairn whisper about it, though none of them seem to know what it actually is.
It is a huge, ghostly figure in a mask, carrying an iron battleaxe. It wears the same armour and cowl as Skyrim’s executioners, like the Imperial Headsman, with scaled bracers as its one extra touch. Those bracers can be found on the site as Reaper Bracers.
Where to find them
The Reaper exists in a single place: the Reaper’s Lair in the Soul Cairn, which you reach during the Dawnguard questline (see Dawnguard). Its minions lie hidden in the piles of bones around the chamber and rise with it when the fight begins.
Summoning the Reaper
- Find the Reaper Gem Fragments around the Soul Cairn.
- Carry at least three of them to the altar in the Reaper’s Lair and place them.
- The Reaper and its minions emerge from the bone piles and attack.
Its level scales with yours (1.5 times the player’s level, between 10 and 100), so it remains a serious fight whenever you choose to take it on.
Lore
Spirits of the Cairn warn each other in hushed tones, with lines like “Shh, he’s watching us!” The loot it leaves behind, especially the Daedra Heart, hints that the Reaper may be Daedric in origin rather than an ordinary undead, but the game never says so outright. During the fight it spits green slime much like the Afflicted do.
