Who can I safely kill with the Ebony Blade?

I want to empower the Ebony Blade, and I understand that means I need to kill NPCs that trust me, but I don't want to miss out on any quests or advantages. Several NPCs will become followers, merchants, marriageable, etc. on completion of a quest, and in some cases killing an NPC will affect other NPCs. Which NPCs can I safely kill to empower the Ebony Blade?

This isn't a quest, but I'm trying to get a good two-handed sword and I like this one the best.

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7 Answers

You can use the Dead Thrall spell to repeatedly kill just one NPC who trusts you, instead of having to kill many different ones.

1

Befriend anyone (such as ) who is a Dark Brotherhood assignment. Use Dead Thrall and kill them again and again and again. That way, you complete the Dark Brotherhood Quest and complete the Ebony Blade

See here:

2

I keep resurrecting Cicero. He is obnoxious and a pleasure to kill. It charges the ebony blade nicely.

I killed Lydia since she was annoying me, then Jarzargo became my follower and I sort of accidentally killed him when I was swinging at a bunch of Thalmor...dudes...

They have to be your follower, or your spouse ;)

If you did the "In My Time of Need" quest, but didn't kill Kematu at the end, go back to Swindler's Den and kill Kematu and his Alik'r warriors in the room with the waterfall with the Ebony Blade.

2

I killed people at Riverwood they give bad quests and most of everyone trusts you there

Any NPC with a relationship value [disposition] of 1, 2, or 4 [friend, confidant or lover] will power up the blade when slain with it...

- UESP wiki, on the Ebony Blade

Here's what I do to power it up, without getting any of the regular named NPCs killed:

I murder* multiple clones of my spouse (through the player.placeatme <object/base ID> console command) to power up the Ebony Blade. Each time you enter the player.placeatme <object/base ID> console command, you spawn one copy of the NPC whose object/base ID you have targeted.

This should work even with non-spouse, killable (non-essential) NPCs, as long as they are a friend, confidant or lover. To know an NPC's disposition towards you, use the getrelationshiprank player (while NPC is targeted) or player.getrelationshiprank <target NPC refID> console commands. All spouses are lovers, that's why I'm sure that their clone's deaths will power up the Ebony Blade.

It is best to spawn clones of the person you want to murder in a secluded area where no one else will see you and the clones (to avoid bounties and other NPCs ganging up on you upon witnessing you murdering someone). I prefer doing it in the testing area myself, where no NPC ever goes to. You can go there using the coc qasmoke console command. (You can also use the coc <cellname> console command to get out of the testing area.)

^{* HAIL SITHIS! (and Mephala, too)}